R.E.M. Getting ready to accelerate

Feb. 3, 2008

R.E.M. Getting Ready to Accelerate
Athens, Georgia’s legendary modern rockers R.E.M. have been hard at work with skilled producer Jacknife Lee (U2, Snow Patrol, Bloc Party) on their fourteenth studio album, which they’ve dubbed Accelerate, and which is set to include songs “Living Well is the Best Revenge,” “I’m Gonna DJ,” and “Staring Down the Barrel of Middle Distance.” Said to have been the “fastest” album that the band has made, it’s also said to be the most focused of their later releases, and is now scheduled to hit stores this April...
Wilco will take on a five-night live show run at Chicago’s Riviera Theater this month, with the band attempting to perform what they’re calling the “complete Wilco,” playing many songs and forgotten numbers from their back catalog. The Chicago event, which will take place on February 15-16 and 18-20, will serve as the launchpad for a short American tour for Wilco, a tour that will take them through Cleveland (2/22), Nashville (3/2), New Orleans (3/4 and 3/5) and Houston (3/7), among other cities...
The unlikely but very successful Police reunion has fans of another group hoping that the rumors are true - based on some comments that The Kinks’ own Ray Davies recently made, speculation has it that there may be a tour and perhaps even a new album relatively soon from another of England’s most influential classic bands. It’s hoped that all four original Kinks members - Ray Davies, Dave Davies, Mick Avory, and Pete Quaife will be on board for the jaunt, but Dave is said to be the reluctant one so far, so time will tell...
And Chicago indie-rockers OK Go, after having spent the last three years promoting their 2005 Capitol Records album Oh No, are finally ready to get writing on their next album. The band, who are pondering working again with their Oh No producer, Tore Johansson, hope to finish writing all the tunes needed before they hit the recording studio this upcoming summer. In the meantime, fans can keep their eyes out for a benefit EP that the band recorded with New Orleans’ own Bonerama; the EP includes new versions of OK Go’s songs, plus covers of David Bowie and Bob Dylan songs, and will hit stores February 5...

MODERN ROCK LINK OF THE WEEK:
A rock opera written by Neil Young and dubbed Greendale is set to make its world premiere musical debut in Dallas later this month, but fans of Neil can check out the production early online and get tickets for preview showings (mid-March) via the Undermain Theater’s website, www.undermain.org...

MINI BUZZ:
Shawn Mullins is prepping to release his new self-produced album, Honeydew, which is now set to hit stores March 11 and which features appearances from Sheryl Crow guitarist Peter Stroud and Lyle Lovett bandmate Francine Reed...
Morcheeba have wrapped work on their sixth album, which features production by the Godfrey Brothers and which will hit CD stores on February 19...
Swedish indie-popster Jens Lekman will embark on a U.S. set of tour dates starting at SXSW on March 13, and wrapping up in early April in NYC; dates in between will include stops in Milwaukee (3/29), Chicago (3/31), and Boston (4/4)...
Also on tour - but not until summer - will be Panic! at the Disco, who are set to headline this year’s eighth annual Honda Civic Tour, which will hit 45 cities across the U.S....
Cool personalized Internet radio service Pandora will close its last non-American service next week, stating that royalty fees are too high to keep the service going; the American Pandora service will remain in operation...
And Pepsi and Amazon.com are set to soon announce their promotion in which Pepsi customers will be able to save up points by registering codes on bottlecaps, those points to be exchanged for downloads and merch from Amazon.com; the promo will reportedly run early this month through the end of the year...
And here are this week’s modern rockin’ new releases... ON CD: Hot Chip’s Made in the Dark... Nada Surf’s Lucky... Lenny Kravitz’ It Is Time For a Love Revolution... Sheryl Crow’s Detours... Jack Johnson’s Sleep Through the Static... and The Cardigans’ Best of The
Cardigans... ON DVD: Across the Universe: Special Edition... Steve Miller Band: Live from Chicago... Jill Scott’s Live in Paris... and The Who: Up Close and Personal... 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!