March 18, 2024

Fatboy Slim Plays the Tease...

Aug. 25, 2004
Fatboy Slim is in the midst of releasing his latest single, “Slash Dot Dash,” and he’s managed to draft legendary director Tim Pope for the song’s accompanying video, making this Pope’s first music video work in almost a decade. Pope is known for his accomplishments in music videos with such ’80s hitmakers as Soft Cell and Talk Talk. Although Slim has yet to release a creative outline for what the video might look like, he does say that it will be “as equally unapologetic as the song” - and, with Pope on board, that could take the form of nearly anything. “Slash Dot Dash” will be out on September 13...

UK modern popster Robbie Williams is also preparing for a new release, his being his forthcoming Greatest Hits album, which will collect the majority of Williams’ big hits (including “Angels,” “Millenium,” “She’s The One” and “Rock DJ”) and will also add two new songs, “Radio” and “Misunderstood.” The album won’t, however, include his acclaimed duet, “Something Stupid,” with actress/singer Nicole Kidman. No release date has been given yet for William’s Greatest Hits collection...

For the first time in Olympic history, a DJ performed as part of the opening ceremonies of the Olympic games - namely, the 2004 Summer Games in Athens, Greece, where turntable guru DJ Tiesto performed for nearly an hour and a half on Friday, August 13 during the parade of atheletes. He reportedly added a bit of “Olympic flavor” to his set, which was spun live. Icelandic songstress Bjork also sang at the ceremonies, debut-performing “Oceania,” a song she reportedly wrote specifically for the event...

Speaking of Bjork, she’s finally completed her seventh album, Medulla, and it’s quite the collection of songs. The mostly-acapella (songs sung with just vocals and little or no instrumental accompaniment) album is filled with songs that range from modern-day pop to near-hymnals to indescribable vocal experiments. Several other vocalists, throatsingers, and beat-boxers join Bjork on this disc, including former Roots member Rahzel, Faith No More singer Mike Patton, Japanese beatboxer Dokaka and a 20-member choir, creating an impressive range of introverted vocal symphonies with a little piano and programming thrown in for good measure. This impressive and quite unusual Bjork effort is set to hit stores on August 30...

And the Nintendo Fusion Tour - merging “edgy” music with gaming - will kick off its second run on September 18 in Phoenix, Arizona, hitting 37 cities on the way. Headliners this year include Story of the Year, Lostprophets, My Chemical Romance and Autopilot Off, while Taking Back Sunday and Fall Out Boy will also make special appearances at the Seattle shows. At each stop of the tour, Nintendo will take over the venue lobby with gaming kiosks (featuring Nintendo games, of course), custom lighting and more music, plus giveaways; fans will also get a sneak peek of the new Nintendo DS, a dual-screen, hand-held, wireless videogame system. Tix for most shows - including stops in Los Angeles (10/3), Minneapolis (10/14), Milwaukee (10/15), Chicago (10/16), and Cleveland (10/22) are priced at less than $20 bucks (plus service charges) and are on sale now...

MINI BUZZ:
Hey! You can listen to the new R.E.M single, “Leaving New York,” right now by checking out this weblink (be prepared, it’s a long one): http://www.warnerreprise.com/qt-ref/r3m_1_l34v1ngny_2_ref.mov - and, if you like what you hear, R.E.M.’s 13th studio album, Around the Sun, will hit stores on October 4...
The reunited Pixies have announced that they’ll be making several concert stops in the Midwest in November, including shows in Milwaukee (11/9), Chicago (11/13-16), Detroit (11/18 and 11/20), and Toronto (11/24 and 11/25)...
November is also the month that will host the fourth annual Sounds Eclectic Evening benefit concert, hosted by influential Cali radio station KCRW - this year’s event will take place on November 20 in L.A., with Rilo Kiley, Nellie McKay, and Coldplay’s Chris Martin and Jonny Buckland all scheduled to appear...
Regarding Coldplay, the Sounds Eclectic event will be one of your few chances to see any of the band’s members live this year - the band have been holed up working on their much-anticipated third studio album, which, according to reports, is nearly complete and should drop in February or March of next year...
And also coming up in L.A., also-hot LA radio station KROQ is hosting their 4th Inland Invasion concert fest on September 18, with Morrissey, Franz Ferdinand, The Killers, Death Cab For Cutie, Muse, Devo, Missing Persons, and A Flock of Seagulls all on the bill...

On the bill as far as new releases go this week are these offerings... ON CD: Forty Fives’ High Life, High Volume... Scissor Sisters’ Scissor Sisters... Taking Back Sunday’s Where You Want To Be... Pearl Jam’s Live at Benaroya Hall... Paul Oakenfold’s Creamfields... and the soundtrack for the new movie Garden State, which includes well-chosen tracks from The Shins, Colin Hay, Nick Drake, Thievery Corporation, Simon & Garfunkel and The Postal Service... ON DVD: Soulful Sixties... Joni Mitchell’s Refuge of the Roads... and a whole range of Elvis Presley flicks, from Viva Las Vegas and Spinout to Harum Scarum and Speedway - complete with Elvis tunes, of course... and that’s the buzz for this week’s Modern Rock.

Questions, comments, rants, raves about your fave artists or this column? Send ‘em to Kristi at expressmodernrock@hotmail.com!

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