Latest Jagjaguwar Signing Dinosaur Jr. Embark on Spring Tour, Give You Free Stuff
By Liz Louche on 02-27-2009
I saw Dinosaur Jr. once a few years back. It was very exciting, because I got to leave work early to see one of my favorite bands. Plus, while it was a really hot day, the club had some serious air-conditioning, which I didn't have at my apartment. But then drinks were like $6, and I was like, "noooo waaay," so I just shared a glass of water with my date for the show, who I'm sure was duly impressed by my, um, frugality. And now, with this extensive new Dinosaur Jr. tour schedule, a similarly fascinating and remarkable experience could be yours! Really, I mean it! Every bit as interesting!
The band recently signed on to Jagjaguwar, and a new album is in the works. Hence, this tour. Everyone who buys a ticket gets either a limited 7-inch or a digital download of a new track called "I Don't Want To Go There" (B-side: a reworked version of You're Living All Over Me's "Tarpit"), recorded during a Pitchfork.tv feature. No release dates on that promised album yet, but attendees at any of the following shows should get a healthy dose of new material
03.20.09 - Austin, TX - Cedar St. Courtyard
04.01.09 - Milford, CT - Daniel Street
04.02.09 - Providence, RI - Club Hell
04.03.09 - Portland, ME - The Station
04.04.09 - South Burlington, VT - Higher Ground
04.06.09 - Buffalo, NY - The Town Ballroom
04.07.09 - State College, PA- Lulu's
04.08.09 - Akron, OH - Musica
04.09.09 - East Lansing, MI - The Small Planet
04.10.09 - Bloomington, IN - Bluebird Nightclub
04.11.09 - Dekalb, IL - Otto's Nightclub
04.13.09 - Chattanooga, TN - Rhythm and Brews
04.14.09 - Memphis, TN - Minglewood Hall
04.15.09 - Baton Rouge, LA - The Varsity Theatre
04.16.09 - Little Rock, AR - Revolution Music Room
04.17.09 - Fayetteville, AR - George's Majestic Lounge
04.18.09 - Oxford, MS - Proud Larry's
04.20.09 - Athens, GA - 40 Watt Club
04.21.09 - Sky City - Augusta, GA
04.22.09 - Gainesville, FL - Common Grounds
04.23.09 - Tallahassee, FL - The Moon
04.24.09 - Jacksonville Beach, FL - Freebird Live
04.25.09 - Charleston, SC - The Music Farm
04.26.09 - Asheville, NC - The Orange Peel
04.27.09 - Carrboro, NC - Cat's Cradle
04.29.09 - Charlotte, NC - Neighborhood Theatre
04.30.09 - Richmond, VA - Toad's Place Richmond
05.01.09 - Lancaster, PA - Chameleon Club
05.02.09 - Baltimore, MD - Ottobar
Mexican Summer Release Schedule: Valet, Kurt Vile, Little Girls, Wooden Shjips, and Bobby BeauSoleil
By Kat Gardiner on 02-26-2009
The sparkling fresh, sixth-month-old record label Mexican Summer has announced its spring release schedule. Valet will release False Face Society; Kurt Vile of The War On Drugs has gone all solo with God Is Saying This To You; Little Girls are giving you Thrills; Wooden Shjips are releasing one called Contact; and Bobby BeauSoleil & The Orkustra will release a definitive compilation of almost all of their recordings. Five albums in the span of a few months from a brand spankin' new label? All I can say is whoa!
Okay, so Mexican Summer is loosely, ambiguously, kind of covertly connected to Kemado Records, but get this: all the releases are printed in limited editions of high-quality LPs (all the spring releases are in batches of 500) -- some colored, some pictured -- and are later sold as MP3s exclusively online through their site. They even offer subscriptions for those of you who don't want to chance it.
The label's short discography is already riddled with gems, including releases by Dungen, Tallest Man on Earth, Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffitti, and Black Moth Super Rainbow. Killer business model, no? I so wish I did it first.
So, you get me? Get what I'm saying here? If not, here it is: Hot Damn! Mexican Summer's got it right!
The Entrance Band Sign to Ecstatic Peace!; Thurston Moore Says They Are the “Soundtrack for the New Groove”
By Jon Lorenz on 02-26-2009
Ever since Thurston Moore's Ecstatic Peace! inked a deal with Universal, it's experienced some major changes. Seems like now it is signing either ultra-hippie bands like MV & EE that maybe my dad would like or cute, young "punky" bands like Be Your Own Pet that maybe my younger sister would like. Meanwhile, the noisier jams are kept in the background. Ecstatic Peace! still releases limited-edition cassettes and LPs of some of the more wild sounds being made, but most of this isn't exactly part of the label's roster.
Ecstatic Peace's latest signing is The Entrance Band. Comprised of singer/guitarist Guy Blakeslee, drummer Derek James, and bassist Paz Lenchantin (Zwan, A Perfect Circle), The Entrance Band are currently at Infrasonic Sound Recording (Los Angeles) working on their Ecstatic debut album, the follow-up to 2006’s Prayer of Death.
According to Infrasonic’s Jeff Ehrenberg: “Tracking the band altogether in the live room, just as they would perform on stage, is really capturing their overall energy very well. Guy, Derek and Paz are locking together and playing off each other way tight.” Meanwhile, 50-year-old Thurston Moore says, "The Entrance Band's new music is the most alluring and, yes, entrancing vibe I've yet to experience in this new age. A soundtrack for the new groove."
The record is due later this year, with live dates expected before its release.
No Age Keep Adding Dates. Really, The Boys Just Want An Excuse To Go On A Road Trip.
By Scott Lauer on 02-26-2009
Okay, there isn't a whole lot of news here, so those of you who don’t like to read thick slabs of text, time to get excited! No Age begin a tour this Saturday that'll take them through SXSW, with April dates slowly trickling in too. Dates have been added here and there over the past couple weeks, so keep an eye on their MySpace for more dates. Meanwhile, if for some reason you still haven’t heard Nouns (TMT Review), do yourself a favor and amend this error. Just remember there are no small stories, only small music writers -- or something like that.
02.28.09 - Santa Barbara, CA - Velvet Jones
03.01.09 - San Francisco, CA - Bottom of the Hill
03.06.09 - Mexico City - Lunario
03.07.09 - Guadalajara, JAL - Teatro Estudio Cavaret
03.10.09 - Phoenix, AZ - Modified
03.12.09 - Flagstaff, AZ - Tacos Locos
03.14.09 - Albuquerque, NM - 1Kind Studios
03.16.09 - Lubbock, TX - Bash Riprocks
03.19.09 - Austin, TX - Radio Room
04.02.09 - Wellesley, MA - TBA
04.03.09 - Saratoga Spring, NY - TBA
04.04.09 - Iowa City, IA - The Picador
04.17.09 - Indio, CA - Coachella
05.15.09 - Portland, OR - Worksound
05.16.09 - Eugene, OR - TBA
Senate Judiciary Subcommitee Bodyslams Potential Ticketmaster-Live Nation Merger with Harsh Words and the Ghost of Bruce Springsteen
By Kat Gardiner on 02-26-2009
Last Tuesday, the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Anti-Trust sat at a hearing over the potential merger between Ticketmaster -- largest ticket seller in the world/notorious dong huffers -- and Live Nation -- the largest event promoter in the world, ’05 Clear Channel spinoff, general lackey to the devils of bland music. This, only a month or so since Live Nation started selling tickets on its own, thus creating the first bit of legitimate competition Ticketmaster has seen since either the dawn of time, the fall Rome, or the Grunge era, depending on your sources. The resulting merger could potentially open the gates of hell, and we could enter into a whole new era of over-pricing, convenience fee soliciting, Springsteen-hating madness like the kind we have never seen before.
Then again, some people don't think so. Eddie Van Halen, in a letter to the subcommittee, said that this deal will "help bring our fans closer to the band." I'm sorry, Eddie, but wha? He did go on to say, "It's going to ensure that... I have a future in music," which is a far more legitimate argument for him to be making, one most likely behind a lot of these big-name supporters like Shakira, Journey, Seal, Madonna, The Jonas Bros, and Bono.
But not The Boss. No. Bruce Springsteen, you stood like a great glowing spirit behind that subcommittee hearing, playing some mean licks, singing some songs about the working man, and watching the administration call Ticketmaster a behemoth as their CEO Irving Azoff and Live Nation chief executive Micheal Rapino squirmed in their seats. It made you want to bosscock all over C-Span one, two, and three, didn't it Boss? Didn't it? Some of my favorite quotes from the night:
- "What does Live nation's decision to merge with its competitor, rather than fight it out on the open market, tell us about any company's ability to compete with Ticketmaster? If LiveNation can't compete, after all, who can?" --Sen Herb Kohl, D-WI.
- "Bruce Springsteen says Ticketmaster abused his fans and I agree with The Boss" --Sen. Charles Schumer D-NY
- "Vertical integration on steroids." --Jerry Mickelson, JAM Productions.
- "The one thing that would make the current ticket situation even worse for the fan than it is now would be for Ticketmaster and Live Nation coming up with a single system..." --The Boss (attending in spirit) as read by Jerry Mickelson.
- "You can't blame Live Nation at this point anymore than you can blame a shark for eating people." --Seth Hurwitz, IMP productions & 9:30 Club co-owner.
So, good news: the law's on our side. Bad news: the Senate doesn't really have the jurisdiction to stop the merger. That's the Justice Department, and they're not saying a word yet. Maybe if we ask nicely we can get Little Steven to lean on them a bit.
