Ever since Conor Oberst went out on that album-naming limb and dubbed his 2008 solo album Conor Oberst (TMT Review), he's been traveling and playing and singing his little heart out with The Mystic Valley Band (Taylor Hollingsworth, Nik Freitas, Macey Taylor, Nathaniel Walcott and Jason Boesel). This same, fabulous quintet of talented musicians is again lending a hand to Conor's upcoming album, more adventurously named Outer South. It'll be coming to us May 5 through Merge Records.
Taking a break from the Bright Eyes moniker, Conor gave us sing-songy goodness on the topics of time, heartache, life, and death on his eponymous album. We can only hope Outer South will be more of the lyrical adeptness that we've become accustomed to.
While patiently waiting for the album release, you can view a performance of "Nikorette," one of 16 tracks being released on Outer South, here. Meanwhile, those of you living on the Left Side can catch Conor Oberst and The Mystic Valley Band in the flesh.
Check it out: 04.09.09 - Omaha, NE - Slowdown 04.10.09 - Denver, CO - Ogden Theatre 04.11.09 - Aspen, CO - Belly Up 04.12.09 - El Paso, TX - Barnett Harley Davidson # 04.13.09 - Albuquerque, NM - Sunshine Theatre 04.14.09 - Tempe, AZ - Marquee Theatre 04.15.09 - Pomona, CA - Glass House 04.17.09 - Indio, CA - Coachella Music & Arts Festival 06.18.09 - Telluride, CO Telluride - Bluegrass Festival
Back in December, viewers of CBS' Late Show with David Letterman let out a terse but piercing cry as perennial man-child Adam Sandler performed a pedestrian cover of Neil Young's winding guitar epic "Like a Hurricane." It was a chilling performance, if not so much for its mere terribleness then for the spooky revelation that Adam Sandler's annoying baby voice actually sounds a lot like Neil Young.
Well, those of you who saw the performance and still didn't develop a tremor in your remote-flipping hand will be thrilled to know that Warner Bros. is releasing Sandler's cover alongside 11 more contemporary covers of classic WB-owned songs. Covered: A Revolution in Sound, which will be released exclusively on Amazon.com March 10 and in stores everywhere on March 24, begs fan to consider questions such as "What could a band so bereft of melody as Taking Back Sunday possibly do with a Tom Petty song?" and "Is there any way I could dislike The Used more than hearing their what-is-sure-to-be-awful cover of The Talking Heads' ‘Burning Down the House’?" Oh, and, "Are the Flaming Lips really so bored that they need to take part in this?"
Okay, sure, there's a few eye-catching tracks on the list: it'd be near-impossible for Against Me! to screw up The Replacements' classic "Here Comes a Regular"; Mastodon are pretty solid for a ZZ Top cover; and The Black Keys get class points for covering a non-Trout Mask Replica Captain Beefheart tune (though minus points for the fact that it's the only other Beefheart tune most people know because it's on the Big Lebowski soundtrack). But let's be honest: in a year's time, it's a safe bet that, like all covers compilations, the only place Covered will be making any sort of "revolutions" is in the dollar bin.
And now, Adam Sandler's Dec. 15, 2008 performance of Neil Young's "Like a Hurricane" on the CBS Late Show:
Covered: A Revolution in Sound tracklist:
1. Mastodon: "Just Got Paid" (by ZZ Top) 2. The Black Keys: "Her Eyes Are A Blue Million Miles" (by Captain Beefheart) 3. Michelle Branch: "A Case Of You" (by Joni Mitchell) 4. Against Me!: "Here Comes A Regular" (by The Replacements) 5. Missy Higgins: "More Than This" (by Roxy Music) 6. James Otto: "Into The Mystic" (by Van Morrison) 7. Adam Sandler: "Like A Hurricane" (by Neil Young) 8. Taking Back Sunday: "You Wreck Me" (by Tom Petty) 9. The Used: "Burning Down The House" (by Talking Heads) 10. Disturbed: "Midlife Crisis" (by Faith No More) 11. Avenged Sevenfold: "Paranoid" (by Black Sabbath) 12. The Flaming Lips With Stardeath And White Dwarfs: "Borderline" (by Madonna)
Are you interested in following the path that our freshly restored nation chooses to follow? Do you believe major mergers like that between Ticketmaster and Live Nation (TMT News) affect us as consumers and concert attendees? Are you still pissed about your Bruce Springsteen ticket purchase ($350 per ticket or six male legs)? Do you find super managers and CEOs wringing out their neckerchiefs at a steady interval while being filmed strangely intimate?
Well, hurry up and click here because the parade and subsequent proceedings are streaming live today at 2:30 PM (EST), and Ticketmaster CEO Irving Azoff will not repeat his final joke. House hearings will follow on Thursday, and Friday is judicial recess for the i:Scintilla show.
When questioned last year about the possibility of a Faith No More reunion, Mike Patton (Fantômas, Mr. Bungle, etc.) said "I highly doubt it," yet in another interview said that he "wouldn't rule it out." Well, guess what? Last night, Patton's publicist confirmed that a Faith No More reunion is indeed in the works, with a European tour slated for the summer. Faith No More's last show was way back in April 1998.
Details are currently scant, as the news was tacked onto the bottom of a press release about Mike Patton completing his first major motion film score -- for Crank 2: High Voltage -- but we'll be sure to keep you updated. Oh, which reminds me: Patton just completed his first major motion film score for a movie called Crank 2: High Voltage.
Meanwhile, Patton will perform with labelmates Zu (who are awesome) March 19 in San Francisco and at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival April 17 with beatboxing extraordinaire Rahzel.
Wilco are touring this spring in support of their forthcoming live DVD, Ashes of American Flags. Jeff Tweedy will kick off their tour with a few solo dates in late March, followed by full-band gigs nationally and internationally through August.
Ashes of American Flags, which premiered last Friday at the Big Sky Film Festival (where it won the award for Best Cinematography), will be available in select independent record stores April 18 in celebration of Record Store Day, with a wider release two weeks later. As we reported earlier (TMT News), the DVD will showcase footage from five shows from last February.
Tourdates: 03.26.09 - Burlington, VT - Higher Ground (Jeff Tweedy solo) * 03.27.09 - Northampton, MA - Calvin Theatre (Jeff Tweedy solo) * 03.28.09 - Beacon, NY - Beacon High Auditorium (Jeff Tweedy solo) (Benefit for Hudson River Sloop Clearwater) 04.14.09 - Milwaukee, WI - Pabst Theatre 04.15.09 - Milwaukee, WI - Pabst Theatre 04.16.09 - Bloomington, IN - IU Auditorium 04.17.09 - Athens, OH - Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium 04.18.09 - Knoxville, TN - Tennessee Theatre 04.20.09 - Athens, GA - Classic Center 04.21.09 - Asheville, NC - Thomas Wolfe Auditorium 04.22.09 - Birmingham, AL - Sloss Furnaces 04.23.09 - Oxford, MS - Lyric Oxford 04.25.09 - New Orleans, LA - New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival 05.23.09 - Tenerife, Spain - Tenerife Auditorium 05.25.09 - Malaga, Spain - Teatro Cervantes** 05.26.09 - Madrid, Spain - Teatro Calderon ** 05.29.09 - Seville, Spain - Territorios Festival, La Cartuja 05.30.09 - Oporto-Braga, Portugal - Teatro Circo 05.31.09 - Lisbon, Portugal - Lisbon Coliseu 06.01.09 - Santiago de Compostela-Galicia, Spain - Palacio de Congresos, Sala Braque 06.03.09 - San Sebastian, Spain - Kursaal 06.04.09 - Barcelona, Spain - Auditori Barcelona 07.11.09 - 07.14.09 - Manchester, TN - Bonnaroo Festival 07.22.09 - 07.25.09 - Detroit Lakes, MN - 10,000 Lakes Festival 08.21.09 - Erfurt-Hohenfelden, Denmark - Highfield Festival
Last year, Black Mountain appeared on Late Night with Conan O'Brien; toured with Bon Iver as part of the excellently named "Friendship Tour Two Thousand and Great"; rocked crowds at All Tomorrow's Parties, Coachella, SXSW, and Glastonbury; and released In the Future, the much-ballyhooed rock epic that made me think about wizards and stuff when I listened to it, but actually didn't have many mystical references at all when I looked up the lyrics a few minutes ago. So what's next for our Canadian friends? An album with more blatant references to wizardry and winged beasts, perhaps? For this, only time will tell. But as to tourdates, well, we totally have an answer. After rapping up a jaunt into Australia, our intrepid psych rockers will hit the West Coast with their country-styled Northern kindred, The Sadies.
The following dates include both bands, and from their previous touring history, lots and lots of friendship. Ahhh! 02.27.09 - Melbourne, AU - The Corner 02.28.09 - Melbourne, AU - The Corner 03.01.09 - Perth, AU - Beck's International Music Box - Perth Festival 03.03.09 - Brisbane, AU - The Zoo 03.04.09 - Sydney, AU - The Annandale 03.05.09 - Sydney, AU - The Annandale 03.07.09 - Victoria, AU - Golden Plains Festival 03.20.09 - San Francisco, CA - Rickshaw Shop @ 03.21.09 - Los Angeles, CA - The Echoplex @ 03.22.09 - San Diego, CA - Casbah @ 03.23.09 - Santa Cruz, CA - The Crepe Place @ 03.25.09 - Portland, OR - Hawthorne Theatre @ 03.26.09 - Bellingham, WA - The Wild Buffalo @ 03.27.09 - Seattle, WA - Neumos @ 04.24.09 - Ottawa, ON - Capital Music Hall
