Bob Dylan Bursts into Flames, Is Discovered Reborn in His Own Ashes, Releases New Album Together Through Life April 28

By Kat Gardiner on

One of the things any true Bob Dylan fan loves about the man is his ability to change. To shift shapes abruptly and drastically and not to give one iota what you think. And for every single reissue, rehash, best of, essential collection, and bootleg series, there's an album out there that the majority of fans probably hate (Infidels, Street Legal, and Shot of Love to name a few). Which really shows some balls, if you ask me. When was the last time The Rolling Stones attempted change? 1982? It would be so easy for him to rest on his 1966 laurels. Hell, a lot of his fans really wish he would numerous times throughout his career.

All I'm saying is that I hope you weren't getting too attached to the way things were going, because there's word that this new album, {Together Through Life, promises to drop his newest incarnation (from 1997's Time Out of Mind, through 2001's Love and Theft, onto 2006's Modern Times) in favor a new one. Well, a new old one. From what I gather, it's to be a kind of self-aware nod to old Chess Records of the 1950s. When asked about that comparison, he didn't really flinch that much: "...the old Chess records, the Sun records... I think that’s my favorite sound for a record," Dylan said in a recent interview with Bill Flanagan. "I like the mood of those records -- the intensity. The sound is uncluttered. There’s power and suspense. The whole vibration feels like it could be coming from inside your mind. It’s alive. It’s right there. Kind of sticks in your head like a toothache."

I think that describes most of this guy's music, but hey, he could be talking about Chuck Berry and Memphis Slim, too. Just as long as he doesn't get all Blueshammer on this shit, I think we'll be just fine.

Dylan's European tour:
03.23.09 - Stockholm, Sweden - Globe Arena
03.25.09 - Oslo, Norway - Spektrum
03.27.09 - Jönköping , Sweden - Kinnarps Arena
03.28.09 - Malmö , Sweden - Malmö Arena
03.29.09 - Copenhagen, Denmark - Forum
03.31.09 - Hanover, Germany - AWD Arena
04.01.09 - Berlin, Germany - Max- Schmeling - Halle
04.02.09 - Erfurt , Germany - Messehalle
04.04.09 - Munich, Germany - Zenith
04.05.09 - Saarbrücken , Germany - Saarlandhalle
04.07.09 - Paris, France - Palais des Congres
04.08.09 - Paris, France - Palais des Congres
04.10.09 - Amsterdam, Netherlands - Heineken Music Hall
04.12.09 - Amsterdam, Netherlands - Heineken Music Hall
04.14.09 - Basel, Switzerland - St. Jakobshalle
04.15.09 - Milan, Italy - MediolanumForum
04.17.09 - Rome, Italy - PalaLottomatica
04.18.09 - Florence, Italy - MandelaForum
04.20.09 - Geneva, Switzerland - Geneva Arena
04.21.09 - Strasbourg, France - Zenith
04.22.09 - Brussels, Belgium - Forest National
04.24.09 - Sheffield, England - Sheffield Arena
04.25.09 - London, England - O2 Arena
04.28.09 - Cardiff, Wales - CIA
04.29.09 - Birmingham, England - NIA
05.01.09 - Liverpool, England - Echo Arena
05.02.09 - Glasgow, Scotland - SECC
05.03.09 - Edinburgh, Scotland - Edinburgh Playhouse
05.05.09 - Dublin, Ireland - O2 Arena
05.06.09 - Dublin, Ireland - O2 Arena

RIP: Cachao López, mambo pioneer

By Shane Mack on 03-23-2009

From The New York Times:

Israel Cachao López, the Cuban bassist and composer who was a pioneer of the mambo, died on Saturday in Coral Gables, Fla. He was 89 and lived in Coral Gables.

The cause was complications resulting from kidney failure, said Nelson Albareda, whose company, Eventus, was his manager.

Cachao, as he was universally known, transformed the rhythm of Cuban music when he and his brother, the pianist and cellist Orestes López, extended and accelerated the final section of the stately Cuban danzón into the mambo. “My brother and I would say to each other, ‘Mambea, mambea ahí,’ which meant to add swing to that part,” he said in a 2006 interview with The Miami Herald. The springy mambo bass lines Cachao created in the late 1930’s — simultaneously driving and playful — became a foundation of modern Cuban music, of the salsa that grew out of it, and also of Latin-influenced rock ’n’ roll and rhythm-and-blues. For much of the 20th century, Cachao’s innovations set the world dancing.

- Cachao López Wikipedia entry

Jimmy Chamberlin Leaves Smashing Pumpkins; Billy Corgan Continues Alone

By Kat Gardiner on 03-23-2009

Q: What do you get when you take The Smashing Pumpkins, remove all the original members except for Billy "John Locke" Corgan, and record an album in the ’00s?

A: Zwan?

Wrong! Trick question. You call it The Smashing Pumpkins. Yes, that's right. America's favorite megalomaniacal has-been front man has either finally kicked Jimmy Chamberlin, his last original bandmate/foothold on legitimacy, out of the band or annoyed him enough to get him to leave the group. According to a post on SP's website, Corgan will retain the Smashing Pumpkins name and record a new album this spring.

This isn't very surprising, though. This is, after all, the man who, five years after breaking up his band, took out a full-page ad in The Chicago Tribune to announce to the world (and his uninformed ex-bandmates) of his intentions to reunite. This is the man who last November berated a fan in mid-set, telling him "By the way, I like that song that you wrote. I believe it was number one. ‘Take Your Dick Out of My Ass and Stick It in My Mouth’? That was a big hit in Europe." This is the man who tricked a poor defenseless Dorothy into killing the Wicked Witch of the West.

So, really. How can we possibly be surprised?

Tiny Mix Tapes @ SXSW 2009!

By TMT Staff on 03-23-2009

A bunch of us incorrigible TMTers are at SXSW 2009, so regular ol' news will take a backseat for a bit. In its place, we'll be posting a ton of showcase/band reviews direct from the "Live Music Capital of the World" (ahem -- Austin, TX).

Check out our coverage below, updated in real-time -- sorta kinda.

Wednesday
- Bitch Magazine / Kill Rock Stars Day Party @ Club De Ville
- Akron/Family, Endless Boogie, The Week That Was @ various venues
- Austin Music Awards @ Austin Music Hall
- 4AD Showcase @ Central Presbyterian Church
- Fat Fox, My Old Kentucky Blog, Austin Rock Camp for Girls Showcases
- Spaceland Throw Down Party @ Maggie Mae's
- Austinist Party / Austin Music Awards / Dananananakroyd

Thursday
- Found Magazine and Quackmedia Party Pt. I, Thee Oh Sees
- Primal Scream (Sponsored by BlackBerry!) @ Cedar Street Courtyard
- Found Magazine and Quackmedia Party Pt. II
- The Carrots, Eat Skull, Brimstone Howl, Psychedelic Horseshit
- Flower Love Traveling Band, Wavves, Max Tundra
- The Henry Clay People, Vetiver, Nite Jewel, Crystal Stilts, Let’s Wrestle
- Secretly Canadian/Jagjaguwar/Dead Oceans & YouTube @ Mohawk

Friday
- Todd P. Presents Ground Control Party
- Insound Day Party @ Club DeVille
- Touch & Go/Quarterstick Showcase @ Flamingo Cantina
- Hungarian Indie Rock/Islamic Metal and Rap @ Club 115
- Beach House, Mi Ami, P.O.S., Silver Apples
- Parenthetical Girls, Future of the Left, Trail of Dead, Third Eye Blind
- Manhattan Love Suicides, Peter Bjorn and John, Grizzly Bear, Dinosaur Jr

Saturday
- caUSE co-MOTION!, The Knux, The Bird and the Bee
- Mess With Texas Party @ Waterloo Park; AIDS Wolf, Clipd Beaks, HEALTH
- Daniel Johnston, Grupo Fantasma @ Emo's

----

Visit SXSW by going here or here.

OM New LP to Drop in the Fall, Tentatively Titled Nom Nom Nom

By Kasia Galaxy on 03-19-2009

OM began as a duo with bassist/vocalist Al Cisneros and drummer Chris Hakius -- both founders of the ‘90s stoner-metal band Sleep. But after Hakius left the project last year, Emil Amos stepped in on percussion, making a pretty hefty shift in the OM lineup.

The last we heard from the new partnership was on the Sub Pop 7-inch for “Gebel Barkal,” so this will be the first OM studio full-length with Amos. No title has been announced yet, but Drag City will release the album September 8. The press release promises new instrumentation and a “surprise.”

According to OM's website, it looks like they just completed recording with Shellac’s Steve Albini and will be wrapping it all up in the upcoming weeks, meaning the boys will be dragging me to a show any day now. If I don’t get beat up for that headline, that is.

Animal Collective’s Much-Anticipated 3LP Box Set Auctioned for Charity, Official Release Imminent

By Mr P on 03-19-2009

Catsup Plate, responsible for early Animal Collective releases like Danse Manatee and Campfire Songs, is auctioning off the much-anticipated Animal Collective 3LP box set, Animal Crack Box, with 100% of the proceeds benefiting Doctors Without Borders, an international humanitarian organization created by doctors and journalists. The LP-only set, which hasn't been officially released yet, is comprised of live and unreleased material from AC's early career, limited to only 1,000 copies.

The eBay LPs are actually approved test pressings, not "official" versions, but they come housed in the same retail box, designed by Rob Carmichael, illustrated by Jon Vermilyea, and silkscreened by VGKids. Plus, it's for a good cause -- so don't sweat it, you benevolent philanthropist! Check the eBay auction here.

Catsup Plate will be selling the set shortly -- "within the next 4-6 weeks if all goes well" -- but you won't find it at your local independent or big box record store or on Amazon, Etsy, Catsup Plate's website, Paw Tracks, CD Universe, BuyMusic, Insound, Bleep, Home Depot, MoMA's online store, Wal-Mart, American Apparel, Gemm, or Barnes & Noble. The set will be sold exclusively through Fusetron. Get on Fusetron's mailing list, if you know what's good for you. Actually, I know what's good for you, so get on that list, READER.

Animal Crack Box tracklisting:

A1. Jimmy Raven

A2. Ahhh Good Country

A3. Iko Ovo

B1. Pumpkin Gets a Snakebite

B2. Pumpkin's Hallucination

B3. Pumpkin's Funeral

C1. Jungle Heat

C2. Hey Friend

C3. De Soto De Son

D1. Oh Sweet

D2. Young Prayer #2

D3. Do the Nurse

E1. Ice Cream Factory

E2. Hey Light

E3. Two Sails

F1. Don't Believe the Pilot

F2. Who Could Win a Rabbit

F3. Mouth Wooed Her

F4. Covered in Frogs

F5. We Tigers

- A1 and A2 recorded live to MiniDisc 18 September 2000 at the Cooler, NYC by Avey/Panda. A3 recorded live to MiniDisc fall 2000 at N. 4th Practice Space, Brooklyn by Avey/Panda.
- B1 and B3 recorded live to MiniDisc February 2001 at N. 4th Practice Space, Brooklyn by Avey/Panda/Geologist. B2 recorded live to MiniDisc 25 February 2001 at Mercury Lounge, NYC by Avey/Panda/Geologist.
- C1 and C2 recorded live to MiniDisc winter early 2001 at 67 Atlantic Ave, Brooklyn by Avey/Panda. C3 recorded live to MiniDisc August 2000 at Mercury Lounge, NYC by Avey/Panda.
- D1 partly recorded live to MiniDisc summer 2002 at N. 4th Practice Space, Brooklyn by Avey/Deakin and partly recorded live to MiniDisc 18 October 2002 at Warsaw, Brooklyn by Avey. D2 recorded live to MiniDisc fall 2002 at Bard College, NYC by Avey/Panda. D3 recorded live to MiniDisc 18 October 2002 at Warsaw, Brooklyn by Avey.
- E1 and E3 recorded live to MiniDisc March 2002 at Tonic, NYC by Avey/Panda/Geologist/Deakin. E2 recorded live to MiniDisc winter early 2002 at N. 4th Practice Space, Brooklyn by Avey/Panda/Geologist/Deakin.
- F1 and F2 recorded live to MiniDisc July 2003 at New World Brewery, Tampa, FL by Avey/Panda. F3 recorded live to MiniDisc June 2003 at a house party in Brooklyn by Avey/Panda. F4 recorded live to MiniDisc sometime and somewhere in 2003 (recording details are lost) by Avey/Panda. F5 recorded live to MiniDisc October 2003 at Concorde 2,
Brighton, UK by Avey/Panda.

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