Some months ago we learned that Coke-darling Jack White had done the Art Brut thing and formed a[nother] band, this time with singer-buddy Brendan Benson and two guys from the Greenhornes. Calling themselves the Raconteurs, White's new act single-handedly increased dictionary sales on Amazon.com by 652%.
Okay, that's a total fib, but this isn't: it's new single time. The Raconteurs have just today presented the fruits of their studio labour to the UK masses, in the form of a limited edition 7" single for "Steady, As She Goes" (no, that isn't a grammatical error). That same single won't arrive on U.
S. shores until March 7; until then, our American readership can stare at these track titles and imagine just how these tunes might rock (or sample them on the Raconteurs' website, which is designed to look like those computers we played Green Globs on in middle school): According to their cheeky retro website, the Raconteurs will unleash their debut sometime this May, titled Broken Boy Soldiers. And who would have guessed?
A full-scale tour is presently in the works. One thing's for sure, though: the between-song banter had better be damned good. In related White news, the White Stripes have rescheduled the Japanese tour that was postponed earlier this month due to White's vocal cord problems.
Those new dates are: Exclusive: New Sufjan, Meloy on Kill Rock Stars Comp Hey look, another compilation with an unreleased Colin Meloy track! Following his contribution to the latest Yeti magazine disc (see the news story directly below this), the Decemberists captain will share another new gem with the world, this time on a snazzy lil' smattering of songcraft being put together by the Dec'ists' former home, Kill Rock Stars. Entitled The Sound the Hare Heard, the compilation is due in May.
In addition to Meloy's offering, the all-star extravaganza features hot new cuts from Wooden Wand, Death Vessel, Great Lake Swimmers, Jeff Hanson, Nedelle, and Lovers, as well as an Illinoisey treat from the man the P-fork news office affectionately calls Suf-jeezy. With The Sound the Hare Heard, KRS continues their illustrious compilation tradition, highlighting big-name songsmiths, label luminaries, and Pac Northwest upstarts. What's more, according to KRS prez Slim Moon, the label hopes to put together a tour chock full of Hare Heard talent.
Until those fateful dates arrive, feast yr eyes on this fashionable, double-LP-styled tracklist: 2006 is set to be a huge year for Kill Rock Stars, with 48 releases scheduled for release in these 12 months. KRS and its artsy lil' sister label 5RC have gone on a serious signing spree of late, bringing a whopping ten new artists into the fold. According to Slim Moon, KRS just picked up Mary Timony, Wooden Wand and the Sky High Band (jeez, another Wooden Wand project?
), Erase Errata, They Shoot Horses Don't They, Imaad Wasif (of alaska! and the Folk Implosion), and Mikamiko, while 5RC totally scored with Inca Ore, Knife Skills, Mick Barr (Orthrelm) and Zach Hill (Hella), and OCS. Put yr Google skillz to work and hear all these rad bands before your friends!
Yes! In addition, new discs from KRS vets Seconds, Anna Oxygen, Two Ton Boa, John Congleton of the pAper chAse, and Aliccia BB of Slumber Party, are all in the works. Whew.
And finally, KRS has at last revealed its designs on that big indie bacchanalia in the sky, South by Southwest. The Olympia-based label will dominate Thursday, March 16 with two star-studded soirees. How festive!
03-16 Austin, TX - The Flamingo Cantina - Laura Veirs, Wooden Wand, Imaad Wasif, Comet Gain, Knife Skills, Spider and the Webs, Panther Rare Devendra, Postal Service, Meloy on Yeti Comp All right, put down The Da Vinci Code. We have some new reading material for you, and it comes with a great mix CD, too. Dan Brown didn't give you that, did he?
Exactly. The third volume of the esteemed zine Yeti has finally arrived, and it's a multimedia monster crushing any and all small presses in its path. Among its many treasures, the 244-page book contains interviews with Devendra Banhart, Neko Case, and William S.
Burroughs (the latter previously unpublished); writing by avant-garde figurehead Henry Flynt, Galaxie 500/Damon and Naomi bassist Naomi Yang, and psych-sludge band the Apes; and illustrations by E*Rock and Carson Ellis (a.k.a.
the Decemberists' graphics mistress and Colin Meloy's babymama). Cot damn. And then there's the CD.
Everything on it is previously unreleased, with the exception of three extremely rare recordings from alt-folkie Jolie Holland, gospel legend Washington Phillips, and I, Rowboat (a.k.a.
Fruit Bats in their protozoan stage). So that means Yeti's got songs by Devendra, Iron and Wine, the Postal Service, and Colin Meloy that you've never heard before. What an embarrassment of riches.
24 Nov. 16 - "I'd Like to Think" 27 Washington Phillips - "What Are They Doing in Heaven Today?" According to Yeti powerman Mike McGonigal, "healthy confusion is always the goal.
" McGonigal plans to continue blowing minds in 2006 with the April release of Yeti 4, featuring Werner Herzog, Destroyer, Michael Hurley, and Judee Sill in its pages and Mike Doughty's recordings of Ethiopian musicians on disc. To give you an idea of what else to expect from future issues, Yetis 1 and 2 included tracks from Elliott Smith, Calexico, Harry Smith, and Iron Wine (covering Stereolab's "Peng!" and the Flaming Lips' "Waiting for Superman").
Well it looks like I lost that five krona bet I placed in 2004, as middleweight Swedish sensations the Concretes, are getting set to release their second full length LP this March. The album, featuring the Cheap Trick-swiped title In Colour, will arrive in American stores March 28 via Astralwerks Records (March 13 in the UK), and is set to feature a Swedish dozen (aka: 12) new recordings from the charming collective. The follow-up to the Concretes' self-titled 2004 LP, In Colour was put to tape in a pair of unlikely, albeit intriguing, twin cities-- Stockholm, Sweden and Omaha, Nebraska-- with production duties helmed by Bright Eyes/Rilo Kiley/Cursive producer Mike Mogis.
While we imagine the final product won't stray too far from the sugar-spun tunes the indie-pop confectioners are known for, a press release for the album went boasts that "In Colour is classic Americana and Southern Soul rerouted via Northern Europe. Evocative of a line of records that veers between Dusty in Memphis and Fleetwood Mac's Rumours through to Cat Power's The Greatest and Bright Eyes' I'm Wide Awake It's Morning." Anyhoo, In Colour features lead vocals from guitarist Maria Eriksson and drummer Lisa Milberg for the first time, with the latter duetting with the Magic Numbers' Romeo Stodart on "Your Call".
Now that all the hubbub surrounding those newfangled mp3 blogs has died down, it's time to separate the wheat from the chaff. Sure, any hipster nerd with a DSL connection can share his/her eclectic taste with the world, but it takes real skill to keep web surfers coming back. I mean, a Kevin Federline track isn't going to leak every day.
Journalist/activist/DJ/all-around cool dude Oliver Wang (or O-Dub if you're nasty) has maintained Soul Sides, one of the best audioblogs on the net, since early 2004. An invaluable source of unearthed R B, soul, funk, and hip-hop tunes, Soul Sides uses Wang's bottomless record collection for its source material. And now, those deep cuts will be available to everyone, even those without a DSL connection.
Wang has partnered with Zealous Records to bring the listening public Zealous Records Presents Soul Sides Volume One, a compilation of rare soul music, which will hit stores March 21. How rare, you ask? It's got Aretha Franklin's sister, Erma, singing the original recording of "Piece of My Heart.
" It's got Donny Hathaway doing John Lennon's "Jealous Guy". It's got Clarence Reid before he was Blowfly. Consider yourself schooled.
Trip-hop is dead! Long live trip-hop! (See also: acid jazz, space funk, weak-ass-beats-for-people-afraid-of-hip-hop, the intro to the Masters of Illusion album.
) Semi-accurate at its best, a marketing ploy for the over-30 crowd at its worst, trip-hop at its height was blunted hip-hop beats mixed with a dash of jazz and a dollop of house music and given a fuzzy name. Nevertheless, there were a few gems to pop up from this morass. One of the masters of the genre was and is George Evelyn, aka DJ E.
A.S.E.
, aka Nightmares on Wax, who, after creating classic rave-era singles such as "Dextrous" and "Aftermath" became one of the leaders of the Headz crowd. His 1995 and 1999 albums Smokers Delight and Carboot Soul were sultry, silken, and rugged, with jazz stabs in all the right places and a penchant for inducing lazy head nods, chemically enhanced or not. After a three-year break from releasing albums, Evelyn is back in his NOW guise with In a Space Outta Sound, due out March 7 on Warp Records.
Space features songs that jump from reggae to African percussion to Motown to a "Persian snake charmer's harpsichord," according to a Warp press release. Evelyn's influences include Curtis Mayfield, Quincy Jones, Sarah Vaughn, Duke Ellington, James Brown, dancehall, and old school hip-hop, all of which can be heard in ample amounts on the new record, bouncing up against each other comfortably (check out the dub slow-burner "Flip Ya Lid"-- it's pure Sunday afternoon aural bliss). Featured vocalists on Space include Chyna B, Sara Garvey, and Moses, who has worked with Zero 7 in the past.
NOW will head out on the road in 2006 with a handpicked soundsystem, the Irration Steppas. Dates to come. Hey, remember grunge?
Silly question. Of course you do. In fact, you're probably trying to forget it.
Well, tough luck, because the Atlanta-based Livewire Recordings is set to release Sleepless in Seattle: The Birth of Grunge on February 7, featuring twenty bands that laid the groundwork for the mainstream breakthroughs of Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and the like. Alas, they also laid the groundwork for Creed and Nickelback. Sleepless in Seattle (god, could they really not come up with a better name?
) includes semi-popular cult bands (Screaming Trees, the Melvins), long-thriving success stories (Mudhoney, Supersuckers), and a bunch of groups that incubated future stars (Blackouts members joined Ministry and Nine Inch Nails, Green River peeps became Pearl Jam, Treepeople's Doug Martsch is the frontman for Built to Spill, etc.) (Babes in Toyland are also on the comp, even though they were from Minneapolis, not Seattle. But we're not complaining about that.
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