Nine Inch Nails Final Tour, Plus Some Advice for Aspiring Musicians from Mr Reznor Himself

By Brom on

Nine Inch Nails have confirmed their final 10 dates before they go on indefinite hiatus. Pre-sales will begin July 17 with general sales available July 31.

As the band prepares to bow-out, Trent Reznor has given us his views on what it now takes to become a successful musician on the NIN messageboard. He gives some fairly candid opinions suggesting that, to achieve Coldplay-style mega-stardom, you need to be prepared to relinquish creative control and revenue streams to the major labels. However, for those wanting to make their own way through the pitfalls of the music industry, Reznor recommends utilizing the internet to its fullest extent. Whether it’s giving away your music as free MP3s, constantly updating your website with interesting content, or building your own online community, the only way forward, according to Reznor, is attempting to bend the internet to your will.

All in all, it’s good stuff, just a shame that the record labels seem to have failed to cotton on to this and are intent on pursuing ridiculous lawsuits and unable to adapt their business models, etc.

Nine Inch Nails wave goodbye:
08.22.09 - New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom #
08.23.09 - New York, NY - Webster Hall #
08.25.09 - New York, NY - Terminal 5 #
08.26.09 - New York, NY - Terminal 5
08.28.09 - Chicago, IL - Aragon Ballroom %
08.29.09 - Chicago, IL - Aragon Ballroom
09.02.09 - Los Angeles, CA - Hollywood Palladium %
09.03.09 - Los Angeles, CA - Henry Fonda Theatre %
09.05.09 - Los Angeles, CA - The Wiltern
09.06.09 - Los Angeles, CA – Echoplex

# The Horrors

% Mew

Black Keys Drummer Starts Side Band Called Drummer; As a Result, Phil Collins Forced to Rename Autobiography to Douchebag

By Mike McHugh on 07-14-2009

Jimi Hendrix could have just named himself Guitar and totally gotten away with it. Freddy Mercury could have ditched Queen and started a group called Good Voice without eliciting so much as a blush. Mick Jagger could’ve gone solo in the mid-60s as Very Skinny Man and still would’ve ended up a legend. But no, your heroes were all cowards. They macked the rep, but lacked the sack to call themselves exactly what they damn well were: extraordinary people who could penetrate the regular man’s soul through skillful manipulation of a common object. Instead, they cowered behind sobriquets and wasted their careers as “The Experience” or “The Stones” when they could have been caressed in the light of straightforward arrogance. In the end, only The Band had the brass to tell every other musician to fuck off right from the get go.

In such intimate company does The Black Keys’ skin-slapper Patrick Carney now find himself. Along with a few pals from bands like Teeth of the Hydra and The Six Parts Seven, Carney and company are Drummer, the band. Could this be a power play? Is Carney seeking what so many before him were too craven to pursue: worldwide domination over a particular instrument? Will he be percussion’s Galactus, devouring any who dare challenge his dominion? Probably not.

With the band’s cheekily titled debut Feel Good Together due to drop September 29, Drummer looks more like a band about friends having fun than some sinister musical coup. While I hold no ire towards bros being bros, I can’t help but be disappointed. I wanted war. I wanted bloodshed. Now I’ll just have to settle with an album and an October tour. Oh well, I guess some metaphorical battles were never meant to be fought.
10.08.09 - Brooklyn, NY – Southpaw #
10.09.09 - Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brenda’s #
10.10.09 - New York, NY - Mercury Lounge #
10.11.09 - Cambridge, MA - T.T. the Bear’s #
10.12.09 - Washington, DC - DC9 #
10.13.09 - Baltimore, MD - The Ottobar #
10.14.09 - Chapel Hill, NC - Local 506 #
10.15.09 - Knoxville, TN - The Pilot Light #
10.16.09 - Atlanta, GA - The Earl #
10.17.09 - Nashville, TN - Mercy Lounge #
10.19.09 - Louisville, KY - Skull Alley #
10.20.09 - Indianapolis, IN - Spin Nightclub #
10.21.09 - Madison, WI - High Noon Saloon #
10.22.09 - Minneapolis, MN - 7th Street Entry #
10.23.09 - Chicago, IL - Schubas Tavern #
10.24.09 - Cleveland, OH - Beachland Ballroom # †
#with The Royal Bangs

† Other Girls

RIP: Dani Baquet-Long of Celer

By Shane Mack on 07-14-2009

From Celer's official website:

With great sadness I have to announce to you, our friends, that Dani passed away yesterday, July 8. On Tuesday morning I woke to find her unconscious, and not breathing. The medics were called, and she was revived, but fell directly into a coma and didn't wake up. She passed away yesterday at 3pm, with her family by her. All that is known to say why is that her heart stopped, for no foreseeable reason. The only relation is that her father died in the same way, of a cardiac arrest at the age of 29. She was 26.

Right now I don't know how to express the loss and sadness I feel, knowing that someone so ultimately close to me, and such an inspiration and friend to so many other people in the world is gone. All I can say is that she won't be forgotten, or pushed aside only because she's gone. She'll always be with me, as my inspiration, my love, my everything. All I can say is I miss her, every second.

Thanks to Eric Fourman for the news tip.

- Celer official website
- Celer MySpace

Grizzly Bear and Beach House: Benzodiazepines Tour 2K9

By Nobodaddy on 07-14-2009

Are you sick of going to rock shows where everything’s all kinds of loud? Are you tired of getting “slam-danced” out of your cozy spot in front of the stage by punk-ass motherfuckers who are too busy flailing, spilling sticky drinks, and dry-dumping to the beat of the bong water-bubbling bass that’s spilling out of the way-too-hot P.A. and punching you in the stomach until you're nauseous and dehydrated to notice that, well, you were kinda standing there first? Heck, are you sick and tired of “standing” at shows in the first place?

Don’t worry. Brooklyn’s Grizzly Bear and Baltimore’s Beach House got your back. That’s right, two of the haziest, wooziest, dreamiest, prettiest acts in indie rock are teaming up this summer and fall to offer the most relaxing tandem tour since Graham Russell teamed up with Russell Hitchcock.

Swirl and swoon as Grizzly Bear play unimposingly mid-tempoed hits off of their recent Vekatimiest (TMT Review). Fawn and fizz as Beach House breeze through a few nonchalant numbers from last year’s critically acclaimed Devotion (TMT Review). Meet a few people, take a few pills, and make up your OWN words to describe your physical reactions to their songs: maybe you’ll “swizz” with friends to the “swaultry thicktitude”... or perhaps you’d like to “schwobble” through the “croomy blue galauziness”? You know, it’s your own thing; do whatever! Uh, just don’t drive to the shows, maybe.

Oh, and be sure to check out Grizzly Bear on The Late Show With David Letterman this Thursday to see what you’re in for from the headliners. In the mean time, check out the bands’ individual dates for this summer and fall, and start planning your fall show-going excursions now. It’s not as easy as you’d think to find yourself a good horse-tranks dealer.

Grizzly Bear and Beach House:
08.30.09 - Brooklyn, NY - Williamsburg Waterfront - Jelly Pool Party
09.26.09 - Ann Arbor, MI - Michigan Theater
09.27.09 - Chicago, IL - Metro
09.28.09 - Chicago, IL - Metro
09.30.09 - Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue
10.01.09 - Columbia, MO - Blue Note
10.05.09 - Atlanta, GA - Variety Playhouse
10.06.09 - Norfolk, VA - The NorVA
10.07.09 - Philadelphia, PA - Electric Factory
10.08.09 - Boston, MA - Orpheum Theatre
10.20.09 - Los Angeles, CA - Hollywood Palladium
10.21.09 - Solana Beach, CA - Belly Up Tavern

Grizzly Bear:
07.19.09 - Chicago, IL - Pitchfork Music Festival
08.07.09 - Osaka, Japan - Summer Sonic
08.09.09 - Osaka, Japan - Summer Sonic
08.13.09 - Oslo, Norway - Oya Festival
08.14.09 - Goteborg, Sweden - Way Out West Festival
08.15.09 - Rees-Haldern, Germany - Haldern Pop
08.16.09 - St. Malo, France - La Route du Rock Festival
08.18.09 - London, England - Koko
08.20.09 - Hasselt, Belgium - Pukkelpop Festival
08.21.09 - Biddinghuizen, Netherlands - Lowlands Paradise
08.22.09 - Glanusk, Wales - Green Man Festival
10.03.09 - Austin, TX - Austin City Limits Festival
10.14.09 - Vancouver, British Columbia - Vogue Theatre
10.15.09 - Portland, OR - Crystal Ballroom
10.16.09 - Seattle, WA - Moore Theatre
10.18.09 - San Francisco, CA - Treasure Island Music Festival
11.01.09 - Dublin, Ireland - Vicar Street
11.02.09 - Glasgow, Scotland - ABC
11.04.09 - Manchester, England - Cathedral
11.05.09 - Leeds, England - Leeds Metropolitan University
11.06.09 - Bristol, England - Anson Rooms
11.08.09 - Brussels, Belgium - Cirque Royal
11.09.09 - Amsterdam, Netherlands - Melkweg
11.10.09 - Hamburg, Germany - Grunspan
11.11.09 - Berlin, Germany - Postbahnhof
11.12.09 - Munich, Germany - Theaterfabrik
11.15.09 - Fribourg, Switzerland - Fri-Son
11.16.09 - Vienna, Austria - WuK
11.17.09 - Basel, Switzerland - Volkshaus
11.19.09 - Koln, Germany - Kulturkirche
11.21.09 - Paris, France - La Cigale
11.24.09 - Copenhagen, Denmark - Lille Vega

Beach House:
08.07.09 - Baltimore, MD - Metro Gallery
09.19.09 - Portland, OR - Berbati's Pan
09.20.09 - Seattle, WA - Neumos
09.22.09 - Anacortes, WA - Dept. of Safety
09.23.09 - Bellingham, WA - The Nightlife
09.24.09 - Victoria, British Columbia - Rifflandia

EMI’s New Cost-Cutting Measure: Refusing to Sell Music to Mom & Pop Stores!

By Monocular Cognition on 07-13-2009

We all know that times are tough for record labels thanks to declining CD sales and the slowness and/or refusal to adapt to online file-sharing. Consequently, you would expect that music executives would try to cling on to any kind of business they could possibly get.

Which is why EMI has taken the innovative (and surprising step) of refusing to sell music to mom and pop stores. The reason for this flash of inspiration? To help reduce costs and encourage customers to buy music at one-stops rather than independent retailers (even though the likes of Wal-Mart are stocking catalog less and less).

One can’t help but feel this is another vindictive move against stores that have the cheek to sell albums promoted and marketed by musicians themselves (see the Kill the Record Labels DVD release), who have got better things to do than suffocate under a major label’s control.

EMI’s New Cost-Cutting Measure: Refusing to Sell Music to Mom & Pop Stores!

By Brom on 07-13-2009

We all know that times are tough for record labels thanks to declining CD sales and the slowness and/or refusal to adapt to online file-sharing. Consequently, you would expect that music executives would try to cling on to any kind of business they could possibly get.

Which is why EMI has taken the innovative (and surprising step) of refusing to sell music to mom and pop stores. The reason for this flash of inspiration? To help reduce costs and encourage customers to buy music at one-stops rather than independent retailers (even though the likes of Wal-Mart are stocking catalog less and less).

One can’t help but feel this is another vindictive move against stores that have the cheek to sell albums promoted and marketed by musicians themselves (see the Kill the Record Labels DVD release), who have got better things to do than suffocate under a major label’s control.

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