Razorlight, Will Smith, Annie lennox wish Happy Borthday to Nelson Mandela

July 13, 2008

Former South African president Nelson Mandela turned 90 (90!) with a whopper of a celebration in London’s Hyde Park last week, a concert that hosted 50,000 guests, who enjoyed some great music and helped raise funds for Mandela’s charity, 46664 - the charity was named after the number that Mandela was assigned during the 27 years he spent in prison for his stand against South African apartheid. Accompanied by Spice Girl Geri Halliwell, Mandela appeared on stage to address the crowd; the event itself was kicked off by an announcement from actor/musician Will Smith. Other celebs and musicians appearing/performing included Annie Lennox (who also performed at the Free Nelson Mandela Wembley concert 20 years ago), The Sugababes, UK modern rockers Razorlight, Peter Gabriel, Simple Minds, and the Soweto Gospel Choir...
Oasis have finally announced the important details about their much-anticipated new album - dubbed Dig Out Your Soul, the CD will serve as the band’s first (their seventh studio album overall) since their Don’t Believe the Truth set in 2005. The album is said to have more of a “hypnotic groove” than previous releases, and will be preceded to stores by a radio single, “The Shock of the Lightning,” which will hit airwaves on September 29; the album itself will drop October 6...
Following the successful re-mastered re-release of their Joshua Tree album in 2007, Ireland’s U2 have decided to re-master and re-release their first three albums as well. Set to be released via Universal Records, the albums, personally overseen by U2 guitarist The Edge, were re-mastered from the original audio tapes, and will be released in three formats; as a standard single CD, a deluxe double version with bonus disc of rare cuts, remixes, and B-sides, and also as a vinyl album. The packaging for each set has also been revamped. The three albums, Boy (1980), October (1981), and War (1983) will hit stores on July 22nd...
The X-Files are returning to the big screen in a new Mulder ‘n Scully movie titled X-Files: I Want to Believe - and the film will be accompanied by a couple of new tracks specifically put together by X-Files creator Chris Carter and electro-rockers UNKLE. Carter, who was looking for “a specific beat” for the end of the movie, snagged UNKLE’s “Broken,” calling UNKLE’s own James Lavelle personally to explain how he wanted to use the song in the film. After the conversation, Carter and crew decided that he also wanted Lavelle to reinterpret the X-Files theme for the movie. Fans will be able to hear the two tracks both in the movie and on the upcoming soundtrack, which is due out on July 22 via Decca Records...

MODERN ROCK LINK OF THE WEEK:
This one’s an especially cool one - if you haven’t found Spinner online yet, then make sure to check out this link, via which you can stream entire album previews by the likes of such artists as Amos Lee, Sigur Ros, The Notwist, Electric President, and Smoking Popes - listen now for free at http://spinner.aol.com/artists/new-releases-full-cds...

MINI BUZZ:
Phantom Planet are hitting the road to support their latest album, Raise the Dead - touring with Jack’s Mannequin and Paper Route as opening acts, they’ll be making stops in San Diego (8/1), Memphis (8/7), Chicago (8/12), Sterling Heights, MI (8/13), Toronto (8/23), and Cleveland (8/24)...
Indie-rockers The Duke Spirit are also on the road, kicking off their tour in California on July 15 and wrapping it up in Chicago on August 14; if you can’t catch ‘em on the road, you can see July 22 on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno...
And The Kooks are touring North America in September, with dates running from September 4 through October 28...
Echo and the Bunnymen have confirmed that they’ll be performing at NYC’s Radio City Music Hall on October 1, where they’ll play their entire Ocean Rain album backed by a 10-piece orchestra...
Aerosmith held a press conference at New York’s Hard Rock Cafe last week to answer questions about the new Guitar Hero: Aerosmith videogame, in which fans will be able to “progress” through the band’s 40-year career by playing Aerosmith songs...
And if you’re looking for a fast track to Carrie Underwood/Kelly Clarkson/David Cook-level fame, get your songs prepared now, ‘cause auditions for the eighth season of American Idol will begin July 17 in California; other audition locales will include Louisville, Kentucky (7/21), Phoenix, Arizona (7/25), Kansas City, Missouri (8/8), and East Rutherford, NJ (8/19); the show itself will premiere on Fox TV in January 2009...
ON CD: The Hold Steady’s Stay Positive... The Vines’ Melodia... Vampire Weekend’s A Punk... The Del Fuegos’ Boston, Mass.... Various Artists’ French Electro... and Cut Copy’s Hearts on Fire... ON DVD: Eric Clapton’s Masterpieces... The Smiths - The Queen is Dead: Album Under Review... Genesis - When in Rome... and Bob Dylan: 1978-1989 ... 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.