Wilco’s All Ready for
Record Store Day
April 18 is this year’s Record Store Day, and Wilco is marking the occasion by making their new Nonesuch concert DVD available early solely to indie retail record stores for the occasion. Recorded across the U.S. during Wilco’s 2008 tour, the DVD - dubbed Ashes of American Flags - will serve as a precursor for Wilco’s next studio album, which is on the way later this year. As for Record Store Day, it was created to promote independent record stores nationwide, and the clerks that work in them who can always find the disc you’re looking for, so make sure you stop into your local record store on April 18 to pick up some cool new music...
Skillful singer Adam Lambert recently scored a big nod on American Idol after having changed up his glam-rock persona for a pewter suit and changing up his punk hair with a ’50s-style pompadour. But it wasn’t just the visuals that impressed the AI judges; Lambert also decided to perform unplugged on the typically over-the-top show, sitting quietly with a guitarist and standup bass player to deliver a smooth and melodically wide-ranging performance of the Motown classic “The Tracks of My Tears.” Lambert did so well, as a matter of fact, that Simon Cowell dubbed him a “star” - and that week’s AI mentor, Smokey Robinson (who originally performed “Tracks of My Tears” with The Miracles), gave Lambert a standing ovation...
His album won’t actually be in stores until fall 2009, but Diddy says he’s “ushering in a new movement called ‘train music’” with his upcoming disc Last Train to Paris.Diddy brought in a plethora of producers for the hip-hop-meets-soul-meets-funk-meets-electro set, including Tricky, The Neptunes, and Mario Winans, and says that he’s focusing on “being an artist again” instead of the sunglassed businessman he’s claimed to be for the past several years. You’ll be able to decide whether or not to hop on the train on September 22...
And although the Dave Matthews Band had already announced a spring tour, they’re now adding an extensive summer tour onto their spring dates that will keep the crew on the road until early October. The whole thing launches with a sold-out show at NYC’s Madison Square Garden on April 14 (with The Roots as opening act), and charges forward with shows in Nashville (4/25), Las Vegas (5/8), East Troy, WI (7/18 and 7/19), Detroit (7/28), Tinley Park, IL (9/26), and Kansas City (9/30); several European dates in June and July are also slated to be added. DMB’s latest studio album as produced by Rob Cavallo (Green Day) will be in stores on June 2...
MODERN ROCK LINK OF THE WEEK
Verizon and Next New Networks have launched a website called $99 Music Videos to showcase the talents of emerging musicians and filmmakers. The companies say they’re aiming to ‘create an MTV for the digital age’ - and the approach of the site is to pair up musicians and filmmakers to produce original music videos for no more than $99. The videos will be showcased on the site to get more exposure for both the musicians and producer/directors. Check it out at www.99dollarmusicvideos.com - new videos will premiere every Thursday...
MINI BUZZ:
British Sea Power have announced the release of their redux soundtrack for the classic 1934 movie Man of Aran; the film, which won the Grand Prix prize at the 1935 Venice Film Festival, is being re-released on DVD with the new BSP soundtrack on May 5...
Leonard Cohen, who broke his 15-year hiatus from touring in 2008, will now kick off a North American tour on April 2 in Austin, Texas; the tour will run through June 2...
Pavement kinda-sorta reunited recently as four of the five band members jammed at Nashville club the 5 Spot to celebrate the marriage of former percussionist Bob Nastanovich...
Sum 41 have announced that they’ll release a new album later in 2009; the band will also hop on the tour bus for some live dates in the U.S. and Japan over the next few months...
Toronto rockers Evans Blue are back in the recording studio, working on their third album with producer Trevor Kustiak; the album is expected to be released on June 23...
Bon Jovi, Wilco, DMB, Tony Bennett, and the aforementioned Kings of Leon will be on the lineup for the 2009 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, taking place this year over the course of two weekends in April and May...
ON CD: Doves’ Kingdom of Rust... Papercuts’ You Can Have What You Want... Silversun Pickups’ Swoon... Pierre Bensusan’s Solilai... Bell X1’s Blue Lights on the Runway... and So Many Dynamos’ The Loud Wars... ON DVD: Joni Mitchell - An Intimate Performance... Nickelback’s Live at Sturgis 2006... Kylie Minogue’s Kylie X 2008... and U2: The Early Years... and that’s the buzz for this week’s Modern Rock.
Questions, comments, rants, raves,
suggestions on this column? Send ’em to Kristi at modernrocker@gmail.com
Record Store Day
April 18 is this year’s Record Store Day, and Wilco is marking the occasion by making their new Nonesuch concert DVD available early solely to indie retail record stores for the occasion. Recorded across the U.S. during Wilco’s 2008 tour, the DVD - dubbed Ashes of American Flags - will serve as a precursor for Wilco’s next studio album, which is on the way later this year. As for Record Store Day, it was created to promote independent record stores nationwide, and the clerks that work in them who can always find the disc you’re looking for, so make sure you stop into your local record store on April 18 to pick up some cool new music...
Skillful singer Adam Lambert recently scored a big nod on American Idol after having changed up his glam-rock persona for a pewter suit and changing up his punk hair with a ’50s-style pompadour. But it wasn’t just the visuals that impressed the AI judges; Lambert also decided to perform unplugged on the typically over-the-top show, sitting quietly with a guitarist and standup bass player to deliver a smooth and melodically wide-ranging performance of the Motown classic “The Tracks of My Tears.” Lambert did so well, as a matter of fact, that Simon Cowell dubbed him a “star” - and that week’s AI mentor, Smokey Robinson (who originally performed “Tracks of My Tears” with The Miracles), gave Lambert a standing ovation...
His album won’t actually be in stores until fall 2009, but Diddy says he’s “ushering in a new movement called ‘train music’” with his upcoming disc Last Train to Paris.Diddy brought in a plethora of producers for the hip-hop-meets-soul-meets-funk-meets-electro set, including Tricky, The Neptunes, and Mario Winans, and says that he’s focusing on “being an artist again” instead of the sunglassed businessman he’s claimed to be for the past several years. You’ll be able to decide whether or not to hop on the train on September 22...
And although the Dave Matthews Band had already announced a spring tour, they’re now adding an extensive summer tour onto their spring dates that will keep the crew on the road until early October. The whole thing launches with a sold-out show at NYC’s Madison Square Garden on April 14 (with The Roots as opening act), and charges forward with shows in Nashville (4/25), Las Vegas (5/8), East Troy, WI (7/18 and 7/19), Detroit (7/28), Tinley Park, IL (9/26), and Kansas City (9/30); several European dates in June and July are also slated to be added. DMB’s latest studio album as produced by Rob Cavallo (Green Day) will be in stores on June 2...
MODERN ROCK LINK OF THE WEEK
Verizon and Next New Networks have launched a website called $99 Music Videos to showcase the talents of emerging musicians and filmmakers. The companies say they’re aiming to ‘create an MTV for the digital age’ - and the approach of the site is to pair up musicians and filmmakers to produce original music videos for no more than $99. The videos will be showcased on the site to get more exposure for both the musicians and producer/directors. Check it out at www.99dollarmusicvideos.com - new videos will premiere every Thursday...
MINI BUZZ:
British Sea Power have announced the release of their redux soundtrack for the classic 1934 movie Man of Aran; the film, which won the Grand Prix prize at the 1935 Venice Film Festival, is being re-released on DVD with the new BSP soundtrack on May 5...
Leonard Cohen, who broke his 15-year hiatus from touring in 2008, will now kick off a North American tour on April 2 in Austin, Texas; the tour will run through June 2...
Pavement kinda-sorta reunited recently as four of the five band members jammed at Nashville club the 5 Spot to celebrate the marriage of former percussionist Bob Nastanovich...
Sum 41 have announced that they’ll release a new album later in 2009; the band will also hop on the tour bus for some live dates in the U.S. and Japan over the next few months...
Toronto rockers Evans Blue are back in the recording studio, working on their third album with producer Trevor Kustiak; the album is expected to be released on June 23...
Bon Jovi, Wilco, DMB, Tony Bennett, and the aforementioned Kings of Leon will be on the lineup for the 2009 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, taking place this year over the course of two weekends in April and May...
ON CD: Doves’ Kingdom of Rust... Papercuts’ You Can Have What You Want... Silversun Pickups’ Swoon... Pierre Bensusan’s Solilai... Bell X1’s Blue Lights on the Runway... and So Many Dynamos’ The Loud Wars... ON DVD: Joni Mitchell - An Intimate Performance... Nickelback’s Live at Sturgis 2006... Kylie Minogue’s Kylie X 2008... and U2: The Early Years... and that’s the buzz for this week’s Modern Rock.
Questions, comments, rants, raves,
suggestions on this column? Send ’em to Kristi at modernrocker@gmail.com
