Fiery Furnaces craft a sound of silence

Jan. 17, 2010

Fiery Furnaces Craft A Sound of Silence
The Fiery Furnaces are striking out to take a stand on file-sharing - although given the obscure wording of their recent press announcement, it’s a little difficult to tell which side they’re on - by making the production of their next album a “Silent Record” that will “consist of instruction, conventional music notation, graphic music notation...” and a good half-dozen other items. Once the album is released, the Furnaces will reportedly organize a series of “Fan-Band Concerts,” via which groups of Furnaces fans will “perform, interpret, contradict, ignore, and so on” the compositions that make up the Silent Record. Fans can write to the band at thefieryfurnacesemail@gmail.com to nominate their local venue (“post office break room, truck stop parking lot, municipal arts center, etc.) for one of the shows. Should be interesting...
The Cranberries began touring again for the first time in seven years in Baltimore, Maryland, this past November, complete with the band’s original lineup of guitarist Noel Hogan, Mike Hogan, Fergal Lawler, and of course singer Dolores O’Riordan, and have been writing, as well. More touring is being planned for this year, including stops in Europe, South America, and Russia, as well as more possible North American dates; fans can expect plenty of Cranberries hits such as “Dreams,” “Linger,” and “Zombie,” as well as some of O’Riordan’s solo material and some Cranberries B-sides. As far as that writing goes, O’Riordan says the band will “move slowly” towards a possible new Cranberries album, so we’ll just have to wait and see...
The classical opera that pop singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright has been working on has finally been completed, and it’s pretty much pop-free, according to Wainwright; instead, it contains “elements of Puccini and Ravel” plus arias and duets. The opera, Prima Donna, is now set to premiere in North America in June of 2010 at the Luminato Arts Festival in Toronto, Ontario. In addition, the prolific musician recently released the live album and DVD Milwaukee at Last! on which he worked with documentary filmmaker Albert Maysles to record Wainwright’s performance with a seven-piece band in Milwaukee; and he’s also working on a solo piano and voice record that’s expected to be released this spring...
Kraftwerk were so encouraged by the success of their 2009 live shows that they’re now aiming at 2010 for the release of their first new album since 2003. Although the band has yet to hone in on a sound for the new set, they’ve already started making tentative plans for touring to follow the new album’s release. In the meantime, Kraftwerk fans can check out The Catalogue,the eight-disc boxed Kraftwerk set that was released late last year to commemorate the 35th anniversary of the band’s first hit; The Catalogue contains all the Kraftwerk albums released between 1974-2003, each remastered and with special packaging...

MODERN ROCK LINK OF THE WEEK:
A plethora of free outdoor concerts have been added to the schedule for the upcoming 2010 Olympic Winter Games, which will take place this year in Vancouver and Whistler (Canada) from February 12 to the 28th. The Olympic concerts lineup will include Wilco, whose February performance will launch their 2010 TransCanada Tour, as well as additional shows from Sam Roberts Band, Malajube, and Blue Rodeo, among others; get more info on the games and associated events at www.vancouver2010.com...

MINI BUZZ:
The Courteeners have wrapped work on their sophomore set, and they’ve dubbed it Falcon; the new album, the band’s follow-up to their 2007 release, St Jude, will hit stores this upcoming February...
Kylie Minogue has just released a live album - Kylie Live in New York was recorded at NYC’s Hammerstein Ballroom during Minogue’s North American tour this past autumn, and the set is available as a download...
Brooklyn band The Antlers have snagged the opening band spot for hot British band Editors; the buzz bands’ tour will see them making stops in San Diego (2/9), Chicago (2/15), Toronto (2/16), Philly (2/20), and Washington DC (2/21)...
Influential classic rocker Eric Clapton has added dates to his tour schedule, including shows in Pittsburgh PA (2/15), Memphis TN (3/5), and Atlanta GA (3/9)...
Heavy rockers Like a Storm have snagged the opening spot for the 2010 tour of Shinedown, Puddle of Mudd, and Skillet, which will run January 22 through February 12th...
The Who have been confirmed as the half-time act for this year’s Super Bowl football game in February...
And if you’re looking to buy some new music, well, you’re in luck, because it’s a great week for new releases... ON CD: Editors’ In This Light and on This Evening... Eels’ End Times... and Spoon’s Transference ON DVD: Cliff and the Shadows: The Final Reunion ... and that’s the buzz for this week’s Modern Rock.
Questions, comments, rants, raves, suggestions on this column or your favorite musicians? Send ‘em to Kristi at modernrocker@gmail.com