Prolific Rufus Wainwright

Singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright, who is currently on the road promoting his latest disc, Want One, had recorded so many tunes for the album that he ended up splitting the sessions into two full-length CDs, the aforementioned Want One and the upcoming Want Two. Four tracks from the second disc - which are said to be more unusual, darker, and more classically-influenced than Wainwright’s first set - are going to be released this week on iTunes under the EP name Waiting For a Want. Downloadable artwork for the iTunes EP can be snagged from www.rufuswainwright.com, and a second installment of tunes from Want Two is planned for this fall...

Hope of the States have begun work on their next disc, which is reportedly taking on a “heavier” sound than their debut disc, The Lost Riots. The band hit the studio last week to record a few B-sides for their new single and also to demo half a dozen songs for the next record. Frontman Sam Herlihy is playing more electric guitar than before, and has been writing songs, as he puts it, “about Russia and alcoholics in London.” That aforementioned new Hope of the States single, “Nehemiah,” hits radio on August 16...

Tom Waits fans won’t have to wait much longer for a new disc from the artist - Waits’ Real Gone is set for release this fall. The 15-track album, written and produced by Waits and longtime collaborator/wife Kathleen Brennan, was recorded in an old Mississippi schoolhouse, and includes contributions from guitarists Larry Taylor, Marc Ribot, and Harry Cody, drummer Brian Mantia, and Waits’ son Cody; conspicuously missing from the disc is the piano, an instrument Waits uses on most of his albums, while hip-hop turntable elements make their debut appearance. Waits has been busy with more than his own album as of late - his songs have appeared on recent discs by Norah Jones, Diana Krall, and Lucinda Williams, and Waits himself has contributed tunes to the soundtracks of the films Coffee and Cigarettes and Shrek 2...

A Perfect Circle are on a search for a new video director, and they’re aiming to find that director through their very own contest. Looking to find the “most creative, arresting, and imaginative realization in film, animation, or any visual medium,” A Perfect Circle have offered up their next single, “Blue,” as the canvas for that creation. Those interested can enter by signing up for the band’s mailing list at www.aperfectcircle.net in order to get the contest details and a special version of the song to use in the video. The stakes? The grand-prize winner will nab $1,000 and a chance to have their version of the video included on an upcoming A Perfect Circle DVD...

MINI BUZZ:
Tunes from Kelly Clarkson, Pink, Smash Mouth’s Steve Harwell, Wilson Phillips, Avril Lavigne, and guitarist Adam Levy featuring Norah Jones will be included on the soundtrack to the film The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement, with the soundtrack due out August 10and the film out the following day...
Coldplay have taken up residence at an undisclosed recording studio in NYC to continue work on their third album, which they demoed in Chicago and began recording in London earlier this year; new tune “Moses” is expected to be included, as are other new songs “World Turns Upside Down” and “Poor Me”... Heading
to San Francisco? Don’t
miss the Street Scene Festival, which is set to hit the city on August 27 and 28, complete with the Foo Fighters, Black Eyed Peas, Ben Harper, Jimmy Eat World, and more...
Los Lobos tackle the world of cover tunes on their latest album, The Ride, on which they offer up their interpretations of songs by Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, The Blasters, Richard Thompson, and Thelonious Monk...
David Bowie has reluctantly agreed to cancel the remainder of his current European tour due to his doctor’s advice about Bowie’s injured shoulder; no word yet on rescheduling...
The Donnas have returned to the studio to begin work on their next album with producer Butch Walker (Avril Lavigne)...
And Michelle Branch beat Britney to the punch, marrying her bass player, Teddy Landau, last week...

In stores this week are these new releases... ON CD: Incubus’ Live in Sweden 2004 (available at www.incubusbootlegs.com)... Lit’s Lit... Slum Village’s Detroit Deli: A Taste of Detroit... The Vandals’ Hollywood Potato Chips... Dave Matthews Band’s Live at the Gorge... and The Tragically Hip’s In Between Evolution... ON DVD: Placebo: Soulmates Never Die: Live in Paris 2003... Hammerfall’s One Crimson Night... and Toronto Rocks... 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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