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Neato Babyshambles Video
The Babyshambles
"The Blinding"
"The Blinding"
Krist Novoselic of Nirvana Joins Flipper
I have no idea who Flipper is, but it's true. HERE's the article.
Uncut Releases Top 50 Albums of 2006
Voila. Click HERE.
Interpol and a Third Record
It's true, finally, Interpol has begun work on their third full-length studio album.
The posted the following on their website:
"The atmosphere and environs of a recording facility affect the sound and feel of an album in the subtlest ways. And we are affected. And it is subtle."
The NYSoho-recorded hottie is expected to hit the streets in late 2007.
The posted the following on their website:
"The atmosphere and environs of a recording facility affect the sound and feel of an album in the subtlest ways. And we are affected. And it is subtle."
The NYSoho-recorded hottie is expected to hit the streets in late 2007.
Shirley Manson To Release Solo Effort
It's ture, Shirley Manson of Garbage fame will be working with the likes of Billy Corgan and Jack White to release her first solo record. The record will be out at some point in 2007.
Jacko Booed In London Last Night
Jacko is backo but with boos to boot. Yeah, you can beat me up for that lede later. Jackson was at the World Music Awards at Earls Court in London, England to receive his Diamond Award for selling 100 million copies of Thriller.
Apparently, Jackson did not greet his fans who waited outside and announced that he would not be performing (he was expected to).
However, he did join in on "Do They Know It's Christmas?" but was booed when he sang by the unsatisified fans.
Furthermore, when he received his award from Ms. Beyonce, he said the following:
"I'm greatly humbled by this award. It was my dream that 'Thriller' would become the biggest selling album ever. I thank God and you for its success. There have been so many who have loved and stood by me for the 25 years I have been in the entertainment industry. I'd like to thank my children particularly. Paris, Prince Michael and Blanket (Prince Michael II) for their unconditional love. I love all my fans from the bottom of my heart."
Apparently, Jackson did not greet his fans who waited outside and announced that he would not be performing (he was expected to).
However, he did join in on "Do They Know It's Christmas?" but was booed when he sang by the unsatisified fans.
Furthermore, when he received his award from Ms. Beyonce, he said the following:
"I'm greatly humbled by this award. It was my dream that 'Thriller' would become the biggest selling album ever. I thank God and you for its success. There have been so many who have loved and stood by me for the 25 years I have been in the entertainment industry. I'd like to thank my children particularly. Paris, Prince Michael and Blanket (Prince Michael II) for their unconditional love. I love all my fans from the bottom of my heart."
Beirut Cancels Tour
Beirut cancelled their tour, here was the official statement:
"It is with great regret that we must cancel the upcoming Beirut shows. This was an extremely difficult decision to make, and was only decided on after doing everything we possibly could to make it work out.
This is Beirut's first-ever tour, and while the band played some of the greatest shows of their lives, the attendant stress of organizing and traveling with a full-blown, 12-person orkestar took its toll. Having put all of his energy into each and every performance, Zach was briefly hospitalized for extreme exhaustion.
The band hopes to reschedule some of the shows in the future. Zach, meanwhile, is attempting to channel the spirit of Jacques Brel using a cowbell and a gong."
"It is with great regret that we must cancel the upcoming Beirut shows. This was an extremely difficult decision to make, and was only decided on after doing everything we possibly could to make it work out.
This is Beirut's first-ever tour, and while the band played some of the greatest shows of their lives, the attendant stress of organizing and traveling with a full-blown, 12-person orkestar took its toll. Having put all of his energy into each and every performance, Zach was briefly hospitalized for extreme exhaustion.
The band hopes to reschedule some of the shows in the future. Zach, meanwhile, is attempting to channel the spirit of Jacques Brel using a cowbell and a gong."
Beirut Cancels Tour
Beirut cancelled their tour, here was the official statement:
"It is with great regret that we must cancel the upcoming Beirut shows. This was an extremely difficult decision to make, and was only decided on after doing everything we possibly could to make it work out.
This is Beirut's first-ever tour, and while the band played some of the greatest shows of their lives, the attendant stress of organizing and traveling with a full-blown, 12-person orkestar took its toll. Having put all of his energy into each and every performance, Zach was briefly hospitalized for extreme exhaustion.
The band hopes to reschedule some of the shows in the future. Zach, meanwhile, is attempting to channel the spirit of Jacques Brel using a cowbell and a gong."
"It is with great regret that we must cancel the upcoming Beirut shows. This was an extremely difficult decision to make, and was only decided on after doing everything we possibly could to make it work out.
This is Beirut's first-ever tour, and while the band played some of the greatest shows of their lives, the attendant stress of organizing and traveling with a full-blown, 12-person orkestar took its toll. Having put all of his energy into each and every performance, Zach was briefly hospitalized for extreme exhaustion.
The band hopes to reschedule some of the shows in the future. Zach, meanwhile, is attempting to channel the spirit of Jacques Brel using a cowbell and a gong."
The Simpsons, the Movie
Come July next year, the Simpsons will be coming out with their very own feature-length film.
View the trailer HERE.
View the trailer HERE.
11/10 Annuals at Empty Bottle, Chicago
Annuals
11/10/06
Empty Bottle, Chicago
Openers: Twilight Sad, Dodo Bird, Evangelicals
By Jon Graef
Staff Writer
Last Friday had to have been an intimidating night to play a show in Chicago for Annuals, considering the unholy downpour that engulfed the entire city. Seriously, unholy is the only way to describe it. Do they get weather like this in Raleigh?
The forecast called for light rain. Boy, was that an underestimation. Though the amount of rain didn't approach apocalyptic levels, anyone unfortunate enough to spend more than a New York second outside got soaked, including yours truly. It seems very fitting that Annuals has a song called "Dry Clothes" because I doubt that there was a single person in the audience at the Empty Bottle who was actually wearing any.
However, for those who decided to buck the elements and see Annuals play saw a remarkably confident live band, given that no one in the band is older than 22. Though they played a short set - about five or six songs from their latest release, the Ace Fu released Be He Me - Annuals proved that if brevity is the soul of wit, then it almost certainly can be the soul of rock.
My only complaint is that the live versions of the songs from Be He Me lost some of the dreamier aspects that were in the recorded versions. "Brother," for example, had its lovely keyboard line at the beginning of the song muffled (though the second part of the song brought the rock hammer down!), and "Dry Clothes" lost some of its sonic edges. However, the flipside to any lost sonic subtlety from record to stage is that the songs became more driving, more rockin'. In my review of Be He Me, I compared the experience I had listening to Be He Me to just waking up on a pleasant Saturday morning. To extend the metaphor, I would say that seeing Annuals live was like taking a stroll down a city street on that same Saturday and then encountering the best street performers you have ever seen in your entire life.
The instrumentation and instrumental flexibility of the band proved to be its biggest strength, and was the main reason why songs like "Complete or Completed" gained a bit of oomph that they did not have on record. Annuals are a six piece band, with two guitarists (Kenny Florence, Zach Oden), two keyboardists (Anna Spence and Adam Baker), a bassist (Mike Robinson, who was incredibly fun to watch) and a drummer (Nick Radford). A lineup like that makes the shuffling, insouciant dream rock of "Brother" a special treat to which the audience can listen. But they are also multi-instrumentalists - Baker and Oden switched instruments quite a bit - and they were smart enough to take advantage of these skills, particularly on the aforementioned "Complete or Completed."
The emphasized auxiliary percussion added a carnival fun house vibe which wasn't there before. The song's swaying breakdown Baker playing keyboards and drums at the same time. The heavy drumming was a definite plus for the song. Also benefiting from the added drumming was "Carry Around," which got both the Annuals and the audience into an irresistible and unified groove. God, was that was a fun song to watch the band play live.
Fun is definitely the operative word. For those Empty Bottle patrons seeking warmth from the rain in the form of music, the Annuals "Dry Clothes" were all that they needed.
Of the openers listed at the top of the page, Dodo Bird was the only one who made any sort of impression on this reviewer. I picked up his so-far self-released album, Beware of the Maniacs based on the impassioned, energetically simple performance they gave. My first impression of their sound was that of an eastern-influenced, acoustic White Stripes. Look for a review soon.
11/10/06
Empty Bottle, Chicago
Openers: Twilight Sad, Dodo Bird, Evangelicals
By Jon Graef
Staff Writer
Last Friday had to have been an intimidating night to play a show in Chicago for Annuals, considering the unholy downpour that engulfed the entire city. Seriously, unholy is the only way to describe it. Do they get weather like this in Raleigh?
The forecast called for light rain. Boy, was that an underestimation. Though the amount of rain didn't approach apocalyptic levels, anyone unfortunate enough to spend more than a New York second outside got soaked, including yours truly. It seems very fitting that Annuals has a song called "Dry Clothes" because I doubt that there was a single person in the audience at the Empty Bottle who was actually wearing any.
However, for those who decided to buck the elements and see Annuals play saw a remarkably confident live band, given that no one in the band is older than 22. Though they played a short set - about five or six songs from their latest release, the Ace Fu released Be He Me - Annuals proved that if brevity is the soul of wit, then it almost certainly can be the soul of rock.
My only complaint is that the live versions of the songs from Be He Me lost some of the dreamier aspects that were in the recorded versions. "Brother," for example, had its lovely keyboard line at the beginning of the song muffled (though the second part of the song brought the rock hammer down!), and "Dry Clothes" lost some of its sonic edges. However, the flipside to any lost sonic subtlety from record to stage is that the songs became more driving, more rockin'. In my review of Be He Me, I compared the experience I had listening to Be He Me to just waking up on a pleasant Saturday morning. To extend the metaphor, I would say that seeing Annuals live was like taking a stroll down a city street on that same Saturday and then encountering the best street performers you have ever seen in your entire life.
The instrumentation and instrumental flexibility of the band proved to be its biggest strength, and was the main reason why songs like "Complete or Completed" gained a bit of oomph that they did not have on record. Annuals are a six piece band, with two guitarists (Kenny Florence, Zach Oden), two keyboardists (Anna Spence and Adam Baker), a bassist (Mike Robinson, who was incredibly fun to watch) and a drummer (Nick Radford). A lineup like that makes the shuffling, insouciant dream rock of "Brother" a special treat to which the audience can listen. But they are also multi-instrumentalists - Baker and Oden switched instruments quite a bit - and they were smart enough to take advantage of these skills, particularly on the aforementioned "Complete or Completed."
The emphasized auxiliary percussion added a carnival fun house vibe which wasn't there before. The song's swaying breakdown Baker playing keyboards and drums at the same time. The heavy drumming was a definite plus for the song. Also benefiting from the added drumming was "Carry Around," which got both the Annuals and the audience into an irresistible and unified groove. God, was that was a fun song to watch the band play live.
Fun is definitely the operative word. For those Empty Bottle patrons seeking warmth from the rain in the form of music, the Annuals "Dry Clothes" were all that they needed.
Of the openers listed at the top of the page, Dodo Bird was the only one who made any sort of impression on this reviewer. I picked up his so-far self-released album, Beware of the Maniacs based on the impassioned, energetically simple performance they gave. My first impression of their sound was that of an eastern-influenced, acoustic White Stripes. Look for a review soon.
Grizzly Bear Gets Robbed, Cancels European Tour
This is the sort of thing that infuriates us here at Sliver: people should stop stealing gear and money from bands, seriously. The very hip and very now Grizzly Bear were robbed this last week and announced on their MySpace page that they will be cancelling the rest of their European tour. Here's the full message:
"Dear all- It's with sad news I have to announce the cancellation of our final 12 European dates. Daniel's father has been struggling with cancer recently and in the past few days he's gotten increasingly worse. We were already toying with the idea of coming home early so that Daniel could be with his family...but then the straw that broke the camel's back was when our van was broken into last night in Brussels and a good amount of our instruments and gear was stolen leaving us literally with only the clothing on our backs. With that said, we are incredibly sorry to have to cancel. We don't have the money to buy new equipment right now and frankly, we are taking this as a sign that Daniel should get home immediately. We send all our thanks to the wonderful people that came out to our shows thus far this fall. Hopefully we'll have our lives sorted out this winter and can hit the road again sometime soon. Many many thanks and much love - Grizzly Bear"
Canceled shows:
11-13 Berlin, Germany - Lido/Karrera Klub
11-14 Copenhagen, Denmark - Loppen
11-15 Gothenburg, Sweden - PK Musik
11-16 Arhus, Denmark - Voxhall
11-18 Utrecht, the Netherlands - Ekko (Rumor Festival)
11-19 Cologne, Germany - Prime Club
11-20 Bruges, Belgium - Cactus
11-21 London, England - Scala
11-22 Manchester, England - Star and Garter
11-24 Dublin, Ireland - Whelan's
11-25 Edinburgh, Scotland - Cabaret Voltaire
11-26 Glasgow, Scotland - Mono
"Dear all- It's with sad news I have to announce the cancellation of our final 12 European dates. Daniel's father has been struggling with cancer recently and in the past few days he's gotten increasingly worse. We were already toying with the idea of coming home early so that Daniel could be with his family...but then the straw that broke the camel's back was when our van was broken into last night in Brussels and a good amount of our instruments and gear was stolen leaving us literally with only the clothing on our backs. With that said, we are incredibly sorry to have to cancel. We don't have the money to buy new equipment right now and frankly, we are taking this as a sign that Daniel should get home immediately. We send all our thanks to the wonderful people that came out to our shows thus far this fall. Hopefully we'll have our lives sorted out this winter and can hit the road again sometime soon. Many many thanks and much love - Grizzly Bear"
Canceled shows:
11-13 Berlin, Germany - Lido/Karrera Klub
11-14 Copenhagen, Denmark - Loppen
11-15 Gothenburg, Sweden - PK Musik
11-16 Arhus, Denmark - Voxhall
11-18 Utrecht, the Netherlands - Ekko (Rumor Festival)
11-19 Cologne, Germany - Prime Club
11-20 Bruges, Belgium - Cactus
11-21 London, England - Scala
11-22 Manchester, England - Star and Garter
11-24 Dublin, Ireland - Whelan's
11-25 Edinburgh, Scotland - Cabaret Voltaire
11-26 Glasgow, Scotland - Mono
Polyphonic Spree Lose The Robes, Find 'Tude
The Polyphonic Spree, the legion of happy sunshine music, has decided to rid themselves of the white robesa nd long hair. Now, they are following in suit with their upcoming album The Fragile Army (out early 2007) and are wearing strickly full-body, black combat jumpsuits.
"The heart is a symbol of care of thoughtfulness. The cross represents first aid, all these humans, we're capable of. It's just a reminder," lead singer Tim DeLaughter told NME. "The image of the old robe look is actually us in the robes. We refer to it as our badge of strength and we always liked the fact it was in abstract form. A mass of some type, not particular to robes."
New Christians and Lions Video
You may know them as Sharp Teeth, but this isn't the same old hat. The Potrykus brothers bring it with their new record (review fast approaching), but their new video is just as cool. See it HERE.
New Rapture Video
Bank of America and U2, Must See
Wow, thank you TripWire for this gem. See two suits sing a song about a bank merger to the tune of a U2 song. Wow.
U2 Cover
I can't believe this is serious.
U2 Cover
I can't believe this is serious.
Rainer Maria Break Up
Rainer Maria announced (via Pitchfork) this evening that they have broken up. They released this statement earlier:
"We are grateful to our new listeners and especially our longtime fans for their endless support and attention. We feel incredibly fortunate to have come up during a unique time in rock music, in a community that grew with us from the Midwest to Brooklyn and beyond. Making records has always been a revelation, and walking onto stage together we found a vision we could share.
"For us, this transition can be nothing short of heartbreaking. But for reasons both musical and personal, the three of us have chosen this time to move on."
"We are grateful to our new listeners and especially our longtime fans for their endless support and attention. We feel incredibly fortunate to have come up during a unique time in rock music, in a community that grew with us from the Midwest to Brooklyn and beyond. Making records has always been a revelation, and walking onto stage together we found a vision we could share.
"For us, this transition can be nothing short of heartbreaking. But for reasons both musical and personal, the three of us have chosen this time to move on."
Low Announce Minneapolis Date
Low's new hot ticket The Violet Path will be out come this winter. But before that, they're playing a few shows, including a Duluth and Minneapolis date.
11-11 Duluth, MN - Pizza Luce
12-05 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom
12-06 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom
12-08 Chicago, IL - Old Town School of Folk Music *
12-09 Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue
11-11 Duluth, MN - Pizza Luce
12-05 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom
12-06 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom
12-08 Chicago, IL - Old Town School of Folk Music *
12-09 Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue
A Change of Heart Concerning Charts
As of Jan. 1, the Official UK Combined Singles Chart will begin to include downloadable singles in its charts.
This is a big deal because it is a sign of recognition in regards to digital downloads and the future authentication of the medium. Now, downloads will not need a physical format in order to qualify for the chart.
More to come as things develop.
This is a big deal because it is a sign of recognition in regards to digital downloads and the future authentication of the medium. Now, downloads will not need a physical format in order to qualify for the chart.
More to come as things develop.
New Cold War Kids Video
NME also posted the new Cold War Kids video.
View it HERE.
View it HERE.
Albert Hammond Jr plays debut New York show
I wish I was there, but NME covered it, so HERE is what they said.
Make Sondre Lerche's New Video
Sondre is running a contest to see who is truly best for him. Here is what you have to do if you want to direct his new video:
01. Write up your treatment and/or upload a video idea online.
02. Email it to astralwerks@astralwerks.net by November 30th 2006, Subject line: "PHANTOM PUNCH VIDEO CONTEST" PLEASE: No attachments accepted - text emails only. When submitting a video, please supply us with a link to view it, as well as your full name, email and phone number.
03. Winner will be notified by email.
04. Entrants must be a legal U.S. Resident.
The winner chosen by Sondre and will be given $2500 to make the final video!
(TripWire)
01. Write up your treatment and/or upload a video idea online.
02. Email it to astralwerks@astralwerks.net by November 30th 2006, Subject line: "PHANTOM PUNCH VIDEO CONTEST" PLEASE: No attachments accepted - text emails only. When submitting a video, please supply us with a link to view it, as well as your full name, email and phone number.
03. Winner will be notified by email.
04. Entrants must be a legal U.S. Resident.
The winner chosen by Sondre and will be given $2500 to make the final video!
(TripWire)
Tom Delonge Bashes Blink-182
So, Tom Delonge lashed out at Blink-182 at a concert stating:"I do not want to be in a bullshit pop band with some bullshit pop songs while you drive your fucking bullshit car and sing along to it like you're some 14 year-old girl."
Here's the video: Tom Delonge Bashing Blink
Here's the video: Tom Delonge Bashing Blink