Mos Def gets Ecstatic on Downtown Records

Dec. 7, 2008

Mos Def Gets Ecstatic on Downtown Records
Mos Def is set to release his latest album, The Ecstatic, on February 9; it’ll be his first on Downtown Records. The first single, “Life in Marvelous Times,” is already on iTunes, where you can also snag Def’s previous albums, Tru3 Magic and The New Danger. In support of said album, Mos Def has been keeping busy on the road performing in the European version of the Rock the Bells tour, on which he’s sharing stages with Nas and De La Soul among others; he also plays Chuck Berry in the movie Cadillac Records, which hits theaters this week...
The Beastie Boys wrapped their Get Out and Vote tour last month, on which they brought along such musical pals as Sheryl Crow, Ben Harper, Jack Johnson, and Tenacious D; and now, they’re in the middle of recording the follow-up album to their 2007 instrumental disc, The Mix-Up. The new album is said to be anything but instrumental, according to the Beasties’ Ad-Rock, who said in a recent interview that it’s “a lot of vocals, a lot of words, very wordy.” Well, apparantly there will be a lot of... words, then...
Quickly-moving Irish hard rock band The Answer have just signed their first record deal in America, namely with Brooklyn’s The End Records; their first U.S. venture will be an EP that is in stores this week. The new EP will include tunes “The Doctor,” a Japanese live version of the band’s “Come Follow Me,” “Highwater or Hell,” and their song “Never Too Late,” which will be featured on Guitar Hero: World Tour which also hits stores this fall. Now let’s see if they can live up to their magazine-dubbed title of “the biggest new rock band of the decade”...
Bloc Party is considering never releasing singles on CD format again after the release of their current effort, “Talons” - the band is still likely to release future albums in more traditional formats, but say that they’re “unconcerned” with chart positions, which is one of the reasons bands release single tracks on CD. However, being vinyl fans, they may continue to put out songs on vinyl, as one of the last records they released was a vinyl picture disc. “All the stuff that’s dying out, we’re still into as a band,” they recently explained to the press...

MODERN ROCK LINK OF THE WEEK:
If you’re heading to either Chicago, New York, or San Francisco, better make sure you’ve got your voice all warmed up - Memorex is staging a quirky musical promotion to bring a little attention to their new SingStand, featuring a full-sized microphone, stand, and speakers that allows users to sing along with music. Six taxi cabs in each city will be car-wrapped with a SingStand ad, and the cars themselves will be equipped with karaoke systems; people will be encouraged to sing for their taxi ride, and clips of those impromptu, er, performances, will be uploaded to www.mykaraokecab.com where you can view your own performance or chuckle at those of others...

MINI BUZZ:
John Legend is working on the very end of his fall tour with Columbia Records labelmate Raphael Saadiq; the tour will celebrate its closing date on December 13 in Durham, North Carolina...
Ben Folds is heading over to the UK For a short series of live dates, in which he’ll make stops in London, Bournemouth, and Birmingham...
London will also be the locale for a special pop art exhibition consisting of a plethora of gig posters from both of Pete Doherty’s bands, The Libertines and Babyshambles; the exhibition will be staged in north London at the McNasty’s pub...
The Black Keys just wrapped up some songwriting sessions in Los Angeles with producer Rick Rubin and ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons, working on some tunes for the latter group’s upcoming Rubin-produced album...
Although Ted Leo and the Pharmacists had to cancel their band’s U.S. shows last month, frontman Ted Leo is continuing with his solo tour; you can catch him live in Pontiac, MI (12/8), Chicago (12/10), and Cleveland (12/11)...
And composer Hans Zimmer, whose most recent work was on the soundtrack for the Batman movie The Dark Knight, recently wrapped musical work on Ron Howard’s film Frost/Nixon, in theaters this week...
Meanwhile, these acts have new tunes and DVDs too, in stores this week... ON CD: 50 Cent’s Before I Self-Destruct... Fire on Fire’s The Orchard... Cadillac Records Original Soundtrack... Take That’s Circus... Ricky Martin’s 17... and Britney Spears’ Circus... ON DVD: Panic at the Disco: Live in Chicago... STOMP: Live... and Placido Domingo’s Great Arias with Placido Domingo and Friends... 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