Beatles‘ Son Sean is on the go

April 25, 2007

Beatles’ son Sean is on the go
Singer-songwriter Sean Lennon, who recently dropped his first album since 1998 - namely, his sophomore disc Friendly Fire, has just confirmed a spring tour in support of the album, which arrived packaged with a series of short films, one for each track on the CD. Lennon, who has already played several shows in the southwest, will continue on making stops right across the U.S., including shows in New York City (4/12), Boston (4/13), Detroit (4/16 at St. Andrews Hall), Milwaukee (4/17), and Los Angeles (4/24); Lennon was also just added to the bill for this year’s upcoming Lollapalooza show in Chicago in August...

June is the month for singer Sinead O’Connor, who will be offering up her latest set of songs, a double-disc set, to be exact, on June 26. Featuring original tunes as well as several covers, the disc, titled Theology, will include eight original compositions by O’Connor as well as tracks by Curtis Mayfield and Webber and Rice. O’Connor calls the album her response to the negative things that have been happening in the world - she says that Theology is her “attempt to create a place of peace in a time of war.” The album was recorded in Dublin and London...

Canadian modern indie rockers Hot Hot Heat have a new album on the way, too, according to lead singer Steve Bays; the band has named the new set Happiness Ltd., and Bays says it’s got a lot of keyboards, the influence of T-Rex, and is more “alive” and “rockin’” than anything that the band has recorded before. No exact release date as of yet, but Hot Hot Heat fans can expect the disc some time this fall, along with a world tour for the band that will kick off this summer...

Speaking of “rockin’,” rocker supergroup Velvet Revolver are prepping for a world tour, too, that will get underway before the release of their Brendan O’Brien-produced second album, Libertad. The new album is said to feature a much stronger sounding lead singer Scott Weiland, who marks this as the first album he’s recorded clean of drugs; Weiland also claims a stronger emotional connection to his musical work as a result of his sobriety. The band, who are currently playing shows in South America, will spend May performing in the U.S. and Toronto, and will head over to Europe for a few weeks, and will then return to North America for more shows at the end of the summer. Whew...

MODERN ROCK LINK OF THE WEEK:
And speaking of Velvet Revolver, check out the band’s MySpace page (www.myspace.com/velvetrevolver) to watch video blogs made during the recording of Libertad (just click where it says THIS IS NUMBER THREE)...

MINI BUZZ:
Electro-duo Underworld have been out of the proverbial electronica loop for the past few years, but they’re returning this fall with a mini-tour that will likely see them debut tracks from an upcoming yet-to-be-confirmed album...
Brits the Klaxons were just dubbed “Best New Band” by weekly Brit music paper NME, beating out the likes of The Kooks, The Horrors, The View, and The Fratellis...
The Hold Steady are still hard at work promoting their 2006 release, Boy and Girls in America, and will be trekking across the U.S. this spring for a series of live shows that will include stops in Cleveland (5/13), Detroit (5/15 at The Magic Stick), Grand Rapids, MI (5/16 at The Intersection), Milwaukee (5/17 at Miramar), Denver (5/22), and Los Angeles (5/31), with more dates on the way in June...
So-Cal boys Limbeck are offering up their third album this week on Doghouse Records - the follow up to their 2005 set, Let Me Come Home, the new disc, simply titled Limbeck, was produced by Ed Rose and includes some new sounds, among them bar chimes, vocoder, horns, and a ukelele...
Atreyu are busy in California, too, namely Los Angeles, where they are working on their fourth studio album with producer John Feldmann; the untitled disc is set to hit stores late this summer...
Aussie modern rockers Jet are introducing their songs to the movies via their contributions to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Spiderman 3 soundtracks; TMNT will include Jet’s song “Rip It Up”...

And being introduced to you this week are these new releases... ON CD: Cowboy Junkies’ At the End of Paths Taken... Dubfire’s Global Underground 031 Taipei... Michael Penn’s Palms and Runes: The Best of Michael Penn... Paul Rodgers’ Live in Glasgow... John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers’
In the Palace of the King... and Avril
LaVigne’s poppy The Best Damn Thing...
ON DVD: Incubus: Alive at Red Rocks... Corinne Bailey Rae’s Live in London and New York... Andy Warhol - Life and Death... and Ella Fitzgerald: The Legendary First Lady of Song... 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