Broken Social Scene Get High And Name Their Upcoming Spring Tour “Impregnate The Skies”
By Annapocalypse on 05-01-2008
Kevin Drew: Hey Brendan, let me get a hit of that.
Brendan Canning: Sure thing, man. [Passes bong to Kevin] You know, we still need to come up with a name for our May tour.
Drew: [Exhaling smoke] Oh, I know, totally. Amy and Evan were telling me that we should just carry on with the Broken Social Scene Presents thing and call it “Broken Social Scene Presents: A Tour.” But I thought that was pretty lame.
Canning: Yeah, that is pretty lame. Well, let’s think; we’re playing all over the world from Turkey to England to Finland and etc, all across the great skies.
Drew: Hmm, skies, maybe you’re onto to something, man.
Canning: [Takes another hit] Yeah, what about, like, Take Back The Skies? Or Across The Skies?
Drew: No, no, dude, listen to this: Impregnate The Skies.
Canning: Whoa, man, that’s deep. Let’s do it.
Burning Star Core Releases New LP And Tours, Could Have Footjob Fetish And Not Know It
By Mr P on 05-01-2008
It's hard to keep up with C. Spencer Yeh's projects. I always feel one step behind him. Maybe it's because he's consistently releasing high-quality music at a dizzying pace, or maybe it's because I had to chew off one of my legs to get myself out of a bunker in ’Nam, but whatever the case, thank god for the internet. Not only did I find a plastic leg on eBay (that matches my skin tone even!), I've been exposed to tons of fetishes that I didn't even know I had. Who knew I was so into footjobs!
Which brings me to the internet website of Burning Star Core, Yeh's most-acclaimed, well-known project. Ignoring his many recent releases, let's concentrate on what's coming up: First and foremost, Burning Star Core has a new album out on Hospital Productions (run by Dominick Fernow, a.ka. Prurient), with the LP and digital downloads on Plastic Records. Titled Challenger, the album will be a bit of a departure from his previous work, as it'll have more emphasis on composition (melody, field recordings, etc.) than improvisation. According to Yeh:
I felt I was working while very much in the rapture of these feelings. Though in I was committing these emotions to sound, I was pretty engrossed in this project in a discreet manner, and I can’t say I didn’t end up allowing the project itself to influence my ‘real life’ decisions instead of what should be the healthier reverse.
Check out the video for "Beauty Hunter," a track off Challenger, here.
Additionally, Burning Star Core will receive reissue treatment for Physical Culture (on Chondritic Sound) and a 10-inch reissue (on NO-FI). He also plans to release a few more things on Hospital, including a CD titled Inside The Shadow, a couple 7-inches, and if we're lucky, some footjob fetish videos with a cameo appearance from Chris Corsano.
Finally, dates:
05.02.08 - Cincinatti, OH - Feralmade (Milk Money lit mag release party)
05.10.08 - Riga, Latvia - Sound Forest/Skanu Mezs Festival
05.12.08 - Riga, Latvia - Academy of Arts (discussion/workshop)
05.12.08 - Amsterdam, The Netherlands - DNK
05.16.08 - New York City, NY - Knitting Factory (No Fun Fest)
05.23-24.08 - Hasselt, Belgium - Kunstencentrum (Open Circuit Festival)
05.28.08 - Cincinatti, OH - Art Damage Lodge
Check out the details of these shows at C. Spencer Yeh's MySpace.
[Photo: mtt-r]
Beggars Group, 4AD, And Too Pure Together at Last (Well, More So Than Ever Before)
By Liz Louche on 05-01-2008
Imagine going to your favorite restaurant for a delicious salad made-to-order by a world famous chef. Imagine the succulent lettuce, the crispy croutons, and the subtly flavorful dressing. Now imagine that the chef is 4AD imprint Beggars Banquet, the lettuce is 4AD, the croutons are imprint Too Pure, and the dressing is people's jobs.
Never fear! Although this simile may be awkward and forced, and Billboard recently reported that the two awesome imprints won't be seeing any action "in the near future," the artists and albums previously assigned to Too Pure and Beggars will not be without a home. Instead, 4AD will house the imprint staffers and artists alike, starting with the release of Stereolab's Chemical Chords album, due August 19. And wonderfully named 4AD A&R dude Ed Horrox will get a little help IMPRINT-STYLE from Too Pure's Jason White, Beggars' Roger Trust, and Ms. Jane Abernethy.
Damon Albarn To Release Album Featuring 130ish Musicians, Apparently Monkeys Also
By Papaya on 05-01-2008
Damon Albarn (Blur, Gorillaz, various British supergroups) has announced plans to release his first solo album in nearly five years. To call it a “solo” album would perhaps be a misnomer, however, as there will be somewhere in the range of 80-130 musicians participating, a move sure to upset Polyphonic Spree members everywhere. After close analysis, the math remains unclear to me. Albarn told BBC 6Music: “This one's got about 80 or 90 musicians on it – something in that region” but also mentioned “It's got a 100-piece Chinese choir on one of the tunes, so that plus the orchestra probably goes to about 120 or 130 people." Whatever.
Albarn has not released a title for the album but has announced it will feature “a monkey or two... at least” and that the lyrics will be entirely in Mandarin. If this sounds familiar to you, maybe it's because you've been following his work with Jamie Hewlett and Chen Shi-Zheng, Monkey: Journey to the West, an adaptation of a Chinese opera. First staged in 2007, the opera will makes its U.S. debut May 22, with 17 more shows May 23 - June 8 for the 2008 Spoleto Festival in Charleston, South Carolina.
It's unclear whether or not Albarn's new album is related to the opera, but he did tell BBC 6Music that "It's not an opera [though]; it's a proper record." Confusing. In any case, what is Damon Albarn’s deal with lower primates?
When asked about his extreme prolificness -- that is, working on solo material on top of at least three other major bands at any given time -- Albarn stated: “It's nice that things kind of stick around a while, so it gives the impression that there are lots of things, but I do one thing at a time generally.” He added, “I have only two arms, two legs,” officially laying all doubts to rest.
Albarn’s new album is due for release this July.
Ticketmaster Scalping Radiohead Tickets?
By Scout Leader Kyle on 04-30-2008
In case you didn't know, Ticketmaster recently acquired ticket scalping site TicketsNow for $256 million, and a lot of people thought it was a bad idea because terrible corporate greed escapades like the intentional scalping of tickets could take place. Well, it would appear that this fear has come true with Radiohead tickets, and as of last week, Ticket News (via At Ease) claims to have a source who is close to the incident.
The particular incident occurred when potential buyers of Radiohead tickets on Ticketmaster were told that tickets were sold out and that they can be redirected to TicketsNow to purchase the tickets at scalped prices. According to Ticket News' anonymous source, a TicketsNow suit assisted Ticketmaster in selling over a million dollars in Radiohead tickets on TicketsNow, and through scalping the tickets, it allowed TicketsNow to gross more than $250,000 from their ruse.
Currently, the National Association of Ticket Brokers wants answers from both Ticketmaster and TicketsNow, but for now no further information is available on the ploy to acquire as much cash as they can on Radiohead tickets. If these companies are left unchecked, you may see a lot more scalping scams in the near future.
