Here come the Liars

Aug. 8, 2007

Here come the Liars
Liars are prepping to release their fourth studio disc, the eponymous Liars, and the band seems equally geeked about their upcoming U.S. tour with fellow NYC band Interpol, which will kick off on September 9th in Albany, NY. Other live Liars/Interpol dates will include stops in Philly (9/15), Nashville (9/22), Minneapolis (10/12), and Seattle (10/18) - and, if you miss ‘em on the road, you can catch their new album’s first single, “Plaster Casts of Everything,” which will be available as a digital download beginning August 14th, with the B-side tracks featuring “Volcano Police” and “Mimic the Hurricano.” The full Liars album will hit stores on August 28th on Mute Records...

Arctic Monkeys are returning to the U.S. themselves, for yet another tour in promotion of their second set, Favourite Worst Nightmare. Hopping on the bus in NYC on September 5th, where the guys will perform at NYC’s famed Summerstage in Central Park, they’ll continue their trek until the end of September, making stops in Providence, Rhode Island (9/6), Toronto (9/8), Chicago (9/12 at the Aragon Ballroom), and L.A. (9/25). Also in September, the Monkeys will drop a 4-track U.S. EP that they’ve dubbed Fluorescent Adolescent...

Black Eyed Peas leader will.i.am is stepping out on a will.i.limb and is offering up his first solo album late in September, a set he’s calling Songs About Girls. Calling the disc a “semi-autobiographical conceptual piece, will.i.am says that the songs tell a story of the many transitions through love, a journey that makes these particular songs “unique.” In addition to the dozen songs on the album, he also shot videos for 8 of the tracks and will present them woven together into a movie of sorts that will accompany the CD. But don’t fear, Peas fans - will.i.am is also about half finished putting together tracks for the next Black Eyed Peas album, which is expected late in 2008 after he and Fergie are done spending a little time with their respective solo ventures...

This year’s Siren Festival, the yearly music event that takes place at New York’s Coney Island, may have started a half an hour late due to technical difficulties, but it didn’t keep the show from being a big hit. Openers were Scottish indie-emo-rockers The Twilight Sad, who were followed by standout sets from new buzz band White Rabbits, a more psychedelic version of We Are Scientists, Texas popsters Voxtrot, hip-hop diva M.I.A., and fest closing act the legendary New York Dolls...

MODERN ROCK LINK OF THE WEEK: Can’t make it to Lollapalooza this weekend? No fear - just hop on to www.nme.com for backstage news and peeks at all your fave Lolla-playing bands. And you don’t even have to buy a $6 soda to view any of it...

MINI BUZZ:
Coldplay have posted a few website scribbles giving a few hints on what their Brian-Eno-produced fourth studio album might sound like, and, according to frontman Chris Martin, the disc might just have an unexpectedly Latin theme - “no maracas or castanets,” though, according to Martin...
The aforementioned White Rabbits will depart their native Brooklyn and have hopped (sorry, couldn’t resist) on the tour bus for a national tour that will see them playing as openers for Kaiser Chiefs and The Cribs, including stops in Chicago (8/4), Detroit (8/6), back in Detroit on 9/25, and on to Toronto on 9/26...
Nada Surf are working on a new album that they expect to release in 2008, and will also be on the road, playing shows this fall in Columbus OH (10/15), Chicago (10/19 and 10/20), Nashville (10/23), Athens GA (10/29), and Baltimore, Maryland (11/2)...
Northwestern indie rockers Minus the Bear are yet another band hitting the road this fall, beginning in their hometown of Seattle for the KNDD Endfest, and then moving on to Detroit (9/27), Buffalo NY (9/30), Toronto (10/1), and Hotlanta (10/12)...
Speaking of fests, if you happen to be in Santa Monica, California on September 2nd, don’t miss the 2nd Annual Summer Strummer Festival, which will take place at Bergamot Station and will feature sets from Jesse Malin, Mat Kearney, and Augustana...
The double bill of LCD Soundsystem and Arcade Fire have added a few more tour dates, including stops in Los Angeles (9/20), St. Paul, Minnesota (9/30), Columbus, Ohio (10/5), and on NYC’s Randall’s Island (10/6)...
And here are this week’s new releases, stopping soon at a multimedia store near you... ON CD: A Fine Frenzy’s One Cell in the Sea... The Chemical Brothers’ We Are the Night... Editors’ An End Has a Start... Minnie Driver’s Seastories... Suzanne Vega’s Beauty and Crime... and the 25th, yep, 25th volume of the NOW That’s What I Call Music! CD series, this one including tracks from Kelly Clarkson, Fall Out Boy, Justin Timberlake, and Fergie... ON DVD: American Folk-Blues Festival: The British Tours 1963-1966... Loreena McKennitt’s Nights from the Alhambra... Underoath’s 777... and The Bangles’ Return to Bangleonia: Live in Concert... and that’s the buzz for this week’s Modern Rock.

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