Kings of Leon return with Sundown

Oct. 3, 2010

Kings of Leon Return with... Sundown
Kings of Leon have wrapped work on their fifth album, which was
recorded in New York at Avatar Studios. The band’s Nathan Followill,
in a recent Billboard interview, said that the new songs, which the
band has been playing on tour this summer, have been going over
“really well, a lot better than we thought they would.” Fans have even
been seen singing along to the new tunes, which can be heard here and
there on YouTube. The album itself, titled Come Around Sundown, is due
in stores on October 19...

Tricky has just released his latest album, Mixed Race, and introduces
a globally-influenced set of sounds into the set, from Jamaica to the
U.S., France to North Africa. The multi-talented performer also put
together a diverse roster of guest musicians to accompany him on the
set, including Hakim Hamadouche, Blackman, Frankey Riley, Bobby
Gillespie, and Tricky’s own brother Marlon Thaws. Rumor has it he
might even start doing some work with Massive Attack again soon,
too...

The Nasher Museum of Art in Durham, North Carolina will play host to a
new exhibition this fall titled The Record: Contemporary Art and
Vinyl, which will explore the culture of vinyl records within the
history of art through sound work, sculpture, drawing, painting,
photography, video, performance, and other installations. Set to run
through February 6, 2011, the exhibit will feature works by Talking
Heads’ David Byrne, Laurie Anderson, TV on the Radio’s Kyp Malone and
Tunde Adebimpe, Superchunk’s Mac McCaughan,
and more...

And Soundgarden are following up their impressive reunion performance
at this year’s Lollapalooza fest with a new best-of CD, Telephantism,
which will include a dozen songs, one of them being a
previously-unreleased track, “Black Rain,” from some of the band’s
early recording sessions. You can snag Telephantism this week if you
want to get it bundled with the new Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock
videogame, or you can wait until October 5 to buy the album on its
own...

MODERN ROCK LINK OF THE WEEK:
The Black Crowes have released a series of webisodes in support of
their new two-CD career-spanning set, Croweology.
The webisodes, filmed at singer Chris Robinson’s own house, cover
topics such as the relationship between Chris and his brother Rich,
the band’s upcoming hiatus, and their tour with Aerosmith.
Check ‘em all out at www.youtube.com/user/croweology...
MINI BUZZ:
The National will embark on a winter UK tour in support of their new
album, High Violet, which was released earlier this summer; the band
will kick off the jaunt in Bristol on November 24...
Producer Daniel Lanois has recorded a new album with Neil Young, which
is reportedly being mixed in Los Angeles...
Status Quo will be touring the UK this winter, too - now newly updated
with extra shows, their Quid Pro Quo Tour will encompass 28 dates in
all...
Charlatans have announced a UK tour for this fall that’s set to kick
off on October 7; the band will feature Shaun Ryder as opening act,
and will make stops in Leeds (Manchester (10/16), Norwich (10/21), and
London (10/22)...
Jay-Z is set to release a book of his memoirs on November 16; the book
will trace his life from growing up in Brooklyn to his current role as
a hip-hop artist...
A new Michael Jackson album of ten unreleased songs will reportedly be
released this November; Jackson’s former manager said in a recent
interview that Jackson’s vaults contain over 100 completed and
unreleased songs, from older tunes to recent collaborations with
Ne-Yo, Will.i.am, and Akon...

And here are this week’s new CD releases from other artists... Vincent
Minor’s Vincent Minor... Ne-Yo’s Libra Scale… Margot and the Nuclear
So and So’s Buzzard… and Amberlin’s Dark is the Way, Light is a
Place... 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