Get Up Kids get working on a new album

Nov. 14, 2010

Get Up Kids Get Working on New Album
The Get Up Kids, who released their latest set, Simple Science, earlier in 2010, had planned out a series of EPs with release dates starting this year. That plan’s a no-go now, though - instead, the band is sketching out the details on what will be a new full-length album, as they say they have more than enough songs to fill it. As for that release date, you’ll have to wait until early next year, as the full-length, they (kinda) confirm, will take until “January, February, or spring” to complete...
The uneven but quirkily-talented comedic actor Sacha Baron Cohen, known for his roles as Borat and Bruno, among others, will finally move on into more serious acting when he takes on the role of Queen’s Freddie Mercury in an upcoming biography film about the musician and the band. The film, with script penned by Peter Morgan (The Last King of Scotland, Frost/Nixon), will start production in 2011, and will track Mercury’s career from the start of Queen to the band’s performance atethe 1985 Live Aid concert in London. Whether Cohen will attempt to sing Mercury’s high-pitched vocals or will simply sync to the original recordings remains to be seen (heard)...
In music-slash-stage news, Elton John is reportedly teaming up with writer Lee Hall for a new show based on writer George Orwell’s influential novel Animal Farm, which was a satire about the Stalinism era. After working hard on acquiring licenses for the storyline, John and Hall are set to turn Animal Farm into a musical rock opera, although they say it will likely be at least two years before the play is ready to be premiered...
And for those who prefer their rock a little less modern and a little more rootsy, John Mellencamp has a new album on the way this month, No Better Than This, and is embarking on a fall tour to promote the set. The tour will be presented in three separate segments - acoustic Mellencamp, Mellencamp with a small combo, and Mellencamp’s rock band - and kicked off in Mellencamp’s home state of Indiana last week. Additional stops on the tour will include Indianapolis, Detroit,Minneapolis, and Chicago...

MODERN ROCK LINK OF THE WEEK:
Toro Y Moi - aka (mostly) Chaz Bundick - has just embarked on a fall tour that will include stops in L.A. (11/11), Portland OR (11/15), Vancouver (11/17), and Denver (11/20), with more dates expected in both North America and Europe. Check out his experimental-dance-pop fusion of sound at www.myspace.com/toroymoi...

MINI BUZZ:
Cee Lo Green’s new solo album, The Lady Killer, is now in stores,and can also be ordered at Green’s official website, www.ceelogreen.com...
The Aquabats are said to be in the planning stages for what will be their next new full-length album...UK band The Wombats (are we seeing a band-naming theme here?) recently released their new single, “Tokyo,” and also announced that they’ll be releasing their as-yet-untitled second album at the end of this year...
Troubled soulful singer Amy Winehouse and producer Mark Ronson are teaming up for a Winehouse cover of “It’s My Party” for an upcoming Quincy Jones tribute CD... NY band Crime in Stereo are reportedly breaking up, in spite of the fact that their latest album, I Was Trying to Describe You to Someone, was just released last February...
If you’re interested in smelling like pop desperation, then you’ll want to pick up one of the new fragrances on the way from Coty Inc.; the perfume company has just signed a deal with Lady Gaga in which the diva performer will craft her own scents, with the first one due to arrive in stores in 2012...
And these CDs are arriving in stores as part of this week’s new releases... City Champs’ The Set-Up... Elton John and Leon Russell’s The Union (import)... Good Charlotte’s Cardiology... Kid Cudi’s Man on the Moon II - The Legend of Mr. Rager ... 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*