Wintery Serbia Welcomes Pumpkins Fun

Dec. 12, 2007

The once-thought-defunct Smashing Pumpkins, fresh off of their American tour dates, have announced that they’ll be hitting the road (and the airways) yet again for a major headlining UK/European tour kicking off in late January in Serbia. This will be the third trek of overseas countries for the Pumpkins, who continue to promote their new album, Zeitgeist. No word yet on future U.S. dates, but chances are they’ll happen, if not now then likely in the spring. For this jaunt, the band will also be making stops in most of Western Europe, all of the UK, and Scandinavia, where the tour hits its last stop on March 3 in Helsinki.  And speaking of Zeitgeist, you can now snag a special copy of the album at Best Buy stores, complete with three bonus tunes from the album’s original recording sessions, plus a bonus 20-minute documentary DVD and music videos...
 
The White Stripes are prepping to release their previously shrouded-in-secrecy “Conquest” single this week, and now the big secret has finally been revealed, and it involves four very big “Bs.”  The Stripes have roped in pal Beck to produce and contribute to the single’s three “specially collaborated” B-sides, which will be included on a U.S. iTunes single as of December 18, along with an “Acoustic Mariachi Version” of the “Conquest” track. Three limited color (black, white, or red, of course) seven-inch vinyl records will be made available, too. The three B-sides are slated to be “It’s My Fault for Being Famous” with Beck on vocals and piano; “Cash Grab Complications on the Matter,” which Beck produced, and “Honey, We Can’t Afford to Look This Cheap” with the Beckster on slide guitar...
Good thing you’ve got that Stripes release to tide you over, because you’ll have to wait until early next year for the latest from the Eels, which is taking the form of two diametrically-different compliation CDs. For the surface-level Eels fans (“Yeah, that’s the band that did that “Novocaine” song!”), they’re offering up Eels: Essential Eels Vol. 1 1996-2006, which is serving as a career-to-date retrospective; and for the die-hard Eels followers, they’re releasing Useless Trinkets, a whopping 50-track set of rarities, B-sides, and other unreleased tunes. Both releases include a bonus DVD and will hit stores January 15...
 
DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist are teaming up to embark on a month-long tour to promote their respective solo discs (Shadow’s The Outsider and CC’s The Audience’s Listening), and they’re not doing things small-scale. Nope. Instead, attendees can expect to see the pair working with an extensive setup of eight turntables, four mixers, and effects pedals. Dates will include stops in Dallas, TX (1/19), Philly (1/25), Montreal (1/28), Toronto (1/29), Chicago (2/1), and L.A. (2/15)...

MODERN ROCK LINK OF THE WEEK:
Magnetic Fields are going on the road for a rare month long tour, starting in February on the East Coast, crossing over to L.A., and wrapping up at Chicago’s Old Town School of Folk Music for a three-night gig on 3/14, 3/15, and 3/16... details and tix are available at
www.houseoftomorrow.com/calendar.php...
 
MINI BUZZ:
Paul McCartney is set to work with his son, James, on the latter’s possible debut solo disc, although at this point Macca sez the plan is just to do some recording and see what happens; if the album does surface, it will join the list of projects of fellow Beatles’ kids Zak Starkey (Ringo’s son, who drummed in The Who and Oasis) and John’s son Sean Lennon, who has his own solo records...
Sheryl Crow’s sixth studio set, Detours, is set to hit stores early in February, complete with production from Tuesday Night Music Club’s Bill Bottrell and tracks “Love is Free,” “Lullaby for Wyatt,” and her current iTunes single “Shine Over Babylon”...
Silversun Pickups are releasing a digital EP of Carnavas remixes by Jimmy Tamborello, KCRW DJ Jason Bentley, and others on iTunes starting this week...
The Black Crowes have wrapped work on Warpaint, their first album since 2001; the disc, which will include tracks “Locust Street,” “Movin’ on Down the Line,” and “Whoa Mule,” is due out on March 4...
The much-anticipated CD of Super Furry Animal’s latest LP, Hey, Venus! will finally hit U.S shores on January 22; previously, the record was only available on MP3 and vinyl formats... And Gnarls Barkley have announced that they’ll be releasing their newest set this upcoming spring...
But you won’t have to wait until then for these new releases, which are out this week... ON CD: Sheryl Crow’s Hits and Rarities... Keane’s Night Sky EP... Sun Ra Arkestra’s The Creator of the Universe... My Chemical Romance’s Live and Rare... T.H. White’s The Private Spotlight... and Pop Ambient 2008, which features tracks from a variety of musicians including The Field, DJ Koze, and Ulf Lohmann... ON DVD:  Live Earth: The Concerts for a Climate in Crisis... The Beatles’ Help: Deluxe Edition... Dave Matthews’ Live at Piedmont Park... and Johnny Cash Christmas 1977... and that’s the buzz for this week’s Modern Rock.
 
Questions, comments, rants, raves, suggestions on this column or your fave musicians? Send ‘em to Kristi at
modernrocker@gmail.com.