Academy Awards honor Irish Indie Rock

March 9, 2008

Academy Awards Honor Irish Indie Rock with Best Song Oscar
Indie rockers (most specifically, ones from Ireland) scored one for the little guy at last week’s Academy Awards, where Frames frontman Glen Hansard and his collaborator Marketa Irglova won the Oscar for Best Original Song (“Falling Slowly”) from their also-indie film project, Once. Other music-related awards at the big Oscar night included Dario Marianelli, who won Best Original Score for his work on Atonement, Best Achievement in Art Direction for the Johnny Depp musical (yes, musical!) Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, and Best Actress for Marion Cotillard, who took on the lead role of Edith Piaf in La Vie En Rose...
Meanwhile, overseas, the UK’s NME held their annual Shockwaves Awards Show last week, with Arctic Monkeys sweeping a trio of honors including Best British Band, Best Video (for “Teddy Picker”), and Best Track. Other honorees included Klaxons for Best Album (“Myths of the Near Future”), Muse for Best Live Band, Kate Nash for Best Solo Artist, and The Killers for Best International Band. Meanwhile, the overhyped and overrated Amy Winehouse won only one of the four categories she was nominated in - Worst Dressed...
Neo-soul singer-meets-electronica artist Jamie Lidell, who has just released his latest album, Jim, which was recorded with studio mastermind Justin Stanley and Lidell’s collaborator, Canada-via-Berlin artist Mocky, is prepping to promote that same album with a tour that will see him step away from his usual live approach. Lidell has become known for his experimental solo shows, on which he mans the stage on his own with a host of gear as his “band” - but this time around, Lidell is slated to tour with an actual band, on a tour schedule that will take him both around Europe and the U.S. Dates on Lidell’s tour will include stops in Bordeaux, France (4/15), Vevey, Switzerland (4/23), Edinburgh, Scotland (4/26), London (4/29), Berlin, Germany (5/10), Chicago (6/4), Toronto (6/5), Boston (6/7), NYC (6/8), Philly (6/11), and Washington, DC (6/12)...
Mark May 24 on your calendar if you’re going to be anywhere near Washington state on that date, because that’s the weekend of this year’s Sasquatch! Music Festival, slated to take place in Quincy. R.E.M. and The Flaming Lips are serving as headliners at the event, with the bill also including sets from Battles, The Hives, Modest Mouse, Death Cab for Cutie, The National, Mates of State, Stephen Malkmus, and the aforementioned Jamie Lidell, among others; tix go on sale this week and can be snagged at http://sasquatchfestival.com/2008...

MODERN ROCK LINK OF THE WEEK: Ghostly International’s favorite musical son Matthew Dear is releasing a brand new track as an internet-only download; get it now, gratis, at http://rcrdlbl.com/sublabels/GHOSTLY ...

MINI BUZZ:
Coldplay are finally at the end of the recording/mixing process for their new Brian-Eno-produced album, which frontman Chris Martin claims is a “different sound” that “may alienate” some fans; Martin says that they saw the first three major Coldplay albums as a trilogy, and that they’re now trying to do something different; the album is slated for an as-yet-unspecified 2008 release date...
The Enemy jammed with Paul Weller last week at a special gig in London to benefit the Crisis charity; the band and Weller performed The Enemy’s own “We’ll Live and Die in These Towns” and The Jam’s (Weller’s landmark band) “That’s Entertainment”...
Now that their break is over, Beirut has announced that they’ll be taking on a set of Australian/European/North American tour dates, beginning in Australia, continuing with U.S. dates to include a stop in Los Angeles (5/30), and moving on to Germany and Spain in July...
Elbow are following up their 2005 release, Leaders of the Free World with a new album that will arrive in stores on April 22, complete with 11 new Elbow tracks on Fiction/Geffen Records...
Soul-punksters The Gaslight Anthem have just signed to SideOneDummy Records, and will release their debut disc for the label, as produced by Tedd Hutt, in fall 2008...
And Fox Entertainment will be releasing a special edition two-disc DVD of the Academy Award-winning film Walk the Line, which chronicles the story of Johnny Cash, the legendary Man in Black; Walk The Line: The Extended Cut will feature almost 20 minutes of never before seen footage, plus director commentary, deleted scenes, making-of featurettes, and extended performance footage; it’ll be available March 25...
Available right now are this week’s new releases; look for ‘em in a multimedia store near you... ON CD: The Black Crowes’ Warpaint... Sesame Street’s Platinum All-Time Favorites... Ringo Starr’s Ringo 5.1... David Wilcox’s Airstream... Swing Out Sister’s Butterfly... and Billy Bragg’s Mr. Love and Justice... ON DVD: Simply Red: Live at the Royal Albert Hall... The Kinks: You Really Got Me... Stevie Wonder - In Their Own Words... and Blue Note - A Story of Modern Jazz... 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