Modern Rock

April 20, 2005

Detroit’s musical heroes The White Stripes have finally settled on a title for their much-anticipated upcoming new album, which is scheduled to be released on June 14 - dubbed Get Behind Me Satan, the disc will be accompanied by a series of live shows, which the Stripes are currently in the midst of making plans for. Their initial idea is reportedly to start out in smaller cities and venues, eventually moving up to Chicago, New York City, and L.A. - they’ve also got three dates booked in Mexico in May, and will be making stops at both Atlanta, Georgia’s Music Midtown Festival on June 10, and at England’s Glastonbury Festival, also in June. Get Behind Me Satan will be preceded to radio by the album’s first single, “Blue Orchid,” on May 30...

Ocean Colour Scene has just released their seventh studio album, A Hyperactive Workout For The Flying Squad, and it’s already getting rave reviews from fans (which include the members of Oasis, Johnny Depp, and U2’s The Edge) and critics alike. Recorded in just five weeks in a remote location in Scotland, the disc includes several interesting collaborations with the likes of Paul Weller, Jools Holland, and singer Carleen Anderson, and also includes appearances from two new Ocean Colour Scene band members, namely additional guitarist Andy Bennett and replacement bassist Dan Seeley. The first single from the new album is “Free My Name,” and can be heard on cool radio stations everywhere as you read this...

Ex-Hole bassist Melissa Auf Der Maur has finished writing songs for her Capitol Records sophomore album, and will now be spending the next several weeks in pre-production, hitting the recording studio in early June. Longtime collaborator Steve Durand will again work with Auf Der Maur on the disc, which is being slated for release in late 2005; Auf Der Maur is still casting around for musicians to play on the album, wanting a different “cast” of musicians on this release instead of just reutilizing the musicians who played on her first album, which featured such rock notables as Smashing Pumpkins’ James Iha, Hole’s Eric Erlandson, and Queen of the Stone Age’s Josh Homme...

Blink 182 may have gone on hiatus back in February, but that doesn’t mean that Blink’s Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker aren’t staying busy. The duo have started a side project that they’ve dubbed Plus 44, which has been described as “all very electronic” and which features Hoppus singing vocals along with a female singer (who’s rumored to be Carol Heller, formerly of the California all-girl punk band Get the Girl). Hoppus and Barker plan to record material for Plus 44 until Barker heads off on this year’s Warped Tour with The Transplants, and they hope to have some sort of album release out later this year...

MINI BUZZ:
Gorillaz, who will be back on the charts with their new album, Demon Days, on May 23, have already released a single and video for the disc’s first intriguing radio track, the genre-mixing “Feel Good Inc.,” with its accompanying, equally intriguing video...
Sigur Ros will be back themselves later this year, with a new as-yet-untitled new album, and a world tour that will begin in Glasgow on July 8 and will trek the band across Europe...
Lou Reed will see his new live, greatest-hits DVD hit stores on May 17 - titled Lou Reed - Spanish Fly: Live in Spain, the DVD was filmed in 2004, and includes 11 songs, among them “Sweet Jane” and “Walk on the Wild Side”...
Beck has added several dates to his UK tour, playing a second night in London at the Hammersmith Apollo in June and also appearing at the Homelands Festival in late May...
Norwegian modern rock duo Royksopp have announced that they’ll release their new album, The Understanding, on June 27 on Wall of Sound Records...
And local concert promoter Kendall Francis has another show on deck, this one set to take place at 8 pm on Saturday, May 21 at Harmony Grounds coffeehouse in Petoskey and featuring live sets from Tanooki Suit and Mason Proper...

NEW ON CD: Music From the O.C. Mix 4, with tunes from Beck, Modest Mouse, Pinback, and Michigan’s own Sufjan Stevens... The Futureheads’ Hounds of Love... Tony Levin’s Prime Cuts... Mudvayne’s Lost and Found... Rosebuds’ Rosebuds Unwind... and Mariah Carey’s The Emancipation of Mimi...

ON DVD: Muse’s Manic Depression... Elvis Costello and the Imposter’s Club Date - Live in Memphis... Johnny Cash’s Ridin’ the Rails... and Boomtown Rats - Live at Hammersmith Odeon 1978... and that’s the buzz for this week’s Modern Rock.

Questions, comments, rants, raves, about this column or your fave musicians? Send ‘em to Kristi at modernrocker@gmail.com!