Modern Rock

July 6, 2005

Beck, currently on tour in Europe, will be kicking off a series of U.S. tour dates on July 11 in Santa Cruz, California, sticking to the U.S. West coast for most of his run, which will include stops in Vancouver (7/14), Seattle (7/15), and California’s Universal City (7/22 and 7/23). The dates are limited because Beck is already booked to play Japan’s Fuji Rock Festival on July 30 - which obviously takes him out of the country - but there is reportedly a full schedule of North American dates set for September, although only a few of those dates (among them a September 24 stop in Columbus OH and a September 26 stop in Toronto) have been announced, and those are all as opening act for the Rolling Stones on their world tour. Speaking of opening acts, Beck’s openers on his own tour dates will include The Decemberists and Le Tigre. Beck’s second single, “Girl,” off of his current album Guero, will hit both radio and MTV shortly...

Our Canadian neighbors, indie-rockers Stars, have snagged several of their musical peers to help out with their latest recording project - the new effort will consist of said peers - which will include The Dears, Metric, Caribou, Junior Boys, and Broken Social Scene - remixing tunes from Stars’ Arts & Crafts International Album disc. Stars are also prepping for a week-long U.S. tour, after which they’ll head over to Europe to showcase their musical wares on the European summer festival circuit; a brand new Stars album isn’t expected until some time next year...

Television singer/guitarist Tom Verlaine has just been signed to Thrill Jockey Records, who will release Verlaine’s first effort for their label in early 2006, re-releasing Verlaine’s 1992 instrumental album, Warm and Cool, in the meantime - the original 14-track album will be enhanced with eight bonus tracks and some additional liner notes. Television themselves have a series of European tour dates on tap for this summer, including a live set at London’s Meltdown Festival and additional stops elsewhere in England, in Holland, at Belgium’s Dour Festival, and at Bataclan in Paris...

Speaking of additional stops, Live 8 organizer Bob Geldof has added three more Live 8 concerts to the schedule, which already included shows in London, Philadelphia, Rome, and Paris, as well as the Live 8 wrap up in Edinburgh. The new shows include events in Barrie, Ontario (about an hour outside of Toronto, where performers will include Billy Talent and possibly The Rolling Stones) and Tokyo, Japan, as well as Live 8 Africa, which is set to take place in Johannesburg’s Eden Arena alongside the world’s biggest greenhouses. The African event will be presented in association with Peter Gabriel’s Womad (Gabriel will also host the event), and will feature performances from Youssou N’Dour, Angelique Kidjo, Salif Keita, Tinariwen, Maryam Mursal, and Shikisha...

MINI BUZZ:
After 15 years as a group, Destiny’s Child have announced that they’re breaking up for good - although they’ll complete their current tour before they actually disband. Truth or marketing scheme? Hmm...
The soundtrack for the new movie Fantastic Four is in stores this week, conveniently being released right alongside the movie - the disc includes soundtrack contributions from Velvet Revolver, Ryan Cabrera, Alter Bridge, Taking Back Sunday, Sum 41, and Simple Plan...
Ben Harper will take to the road on July 12, kicking off a short tour in Vancouver before going back into the studio to begin tracking on his next album...
The Nike Run Hit Wonder Tour will kick off on July 20 in NYC’s Central Park and will visit Chicago, L.A., and Portland, Oregon, featuring runners competing in various races plus music from The Donnas, Fountains of Wayne, and Joan Jett...
Vancouver glam punks The Black Halos are set to release their 3rd CD, Alive Without Control, this week...
And Brit singer-songwriter David Gray will kick off a tour in Toronto on August 1 to promote his upcoming as-yet-unnamed album throughout 10 major U.S. cities - the new David Gray disc will be out in September...

And this week’s new releases are bound to pull at your wallet... ON CD: Former Smashing Pumpkin/Former Zwan singer Billy Corgan’s Thefutureembrace... Longwave’s There’s a Fire... Fountains of Wayne’s Out Of State Plates... Kelly Osbourne’s direction-turning Sleeping in the Nothing... Motion City Soundtrack’s Commit This to Memory... and Europe’s Start From the Dark... ON DVD: Puddle of Mudd’s Live at The Key Club - Striking That Familiar Chord... Plexifilm’s Moog... George Clinton, Parliament, and Funkadelic’s Live at Montreux 2004... and The Flaming Lips - The Fearless Freaks... 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!