Paul Weller gets all Good Morning America on ya ass with new album Wake Up the Nation
By Liz Louche on Mar 4 2010
Paul Weller is getting himself ready to wake up the nation. No, not through the taste sensation that is International Delight blend instant coffee. Not through chipper morning TV show banter. And most definitely not through the launch of his own Salt Lake City Morning Zoo radio hour (although that would be great). Aw, I can’t fool you guys! It’s the name of his new album. Wake Up the Nation is Weller’s 10th album, out May 4 on Yep Roc.
This latest effort is being called “mean” and “uncompromising,” and features awesome guest appearances from the likes of former The Jam bassist Bruce Foxton, My Bloody Valentine’s Kevin Shields, Bev Bevan of The Move, and legendary session drummer Clem Cattini. So, theoretically speaking, if Weller got all these good people to sign up, my dreams of a Weller-centric Morning Zoo could actually come true.
Wake Up the Nation tracklisting:
01. Moonshine
02. Wake Up the Nation
03. No Tears to Cry
04. Fast Car/Slow Traffic
05. Andromeda
06. In Amsterdam
07. She Speaks
08. Find the Torch, Burn the Plans
09. Aim High
10. Trees
11. Grasp and Still Connect
12. Whatever Next
13. 7 & 3 Is the Striker’s Name
14. Up the Dosage
15. Pieces of a Dream
16. Two Fat Ladies
US tourdates are on the way, but in the meantime, I guess you could try sneaking into one of these sold-out shows in London.
05.24.10 - London, UK - Royal Albert Hall
05.25.10 - London, UK - Royal Albert Hall
05.26.10 - London, UK - Royal Albert Hall
05.27.10 - London, UK - Royal Albert Hall
05.28.10 - London, UK - Royal Albert Hall
• Paul Weller: http://www.paulweller.com
• Yep Roc: http://www.yeproc.com
Grass Widow sign to Kill Rock Stars for August full-length debut
By Harold Shueberg on Mar 4 2010
San Fran “up and comers” Grass Widow have made quite the name for themselves in the past year. With only two critically acclaimed 12-inches, a CD-R, and a split cassette with Rank/Xerox, the band have built up some mad hype, and it appears to be warranted, because news is out that prestigious Portland label Kill Rock Stars has taken a concerted interest in the well-being of this fem-powered three-piece. KRS will be releasing the band’s debut full-length on August 24, currently being recorded by Mississippi Records (!) body and brains Alex Yusimov. I think we should all be at least a little excited about this.
Also to be excited about: tourdates!!
03.11.10 - San Francisco, CA - The Depot (SFSU)
03.18.10 - Austin, TX - Baby Blue Studio
03.19.10 - Austin, TX - The Mohawk
03.20.10 - Austin, TX - Spiderland
05.27.10 - Austin, TX - Red Seven (Chaos in Tejas)
• Grass Widow: http://wizardmountain.org/grasswidow
• Kill Rock Stars: http://killrockstars.com
Busdriver tour (probably in a van, sans bus driver)
By Nobodaddy on Mar 4 2010
Look out, pedestrians of the US and Australia! Your old pal Busdriver — probably the only L.A.-based indie-rapper who’s punk rock enough to be signed to Epitaph and spend his Friday nights playing ski-ball with Fat Mike — is busdrivin’ himself to your city this spring without a permit! Actually, the three-man show of Regan John Farquhar, himself, and he can probably easily fit themselves into a fully-loaded Canyonero. But hey, you can’t blame a guy for making lazy “bus driver” puns right before his lunch break, now can you?
Anyway, “B-driddy,” as he’s known here in the L.A. branch of the TMT offices, hasn’t put out a record since last summer’s Jhelli Beam, but he’s probably got a few aces up his sleeve. Maybe some NOFX covers, then?
03.06.10 - Brisbane, Australia - Sounds of Spring Festival
03.10.10 - Adelaide, Australia - Adelaide Fringe Festival
03.12.10 - Adelaide, Australia - Rocket Bar
03.13.10 - Melbourne, Australia - Espy Melbourne
04.02.10 - Denver, CO - Bluebird Theater
04.03.10 - Durango, CO - Strater Theatre
04.04.10 - Phoenix, AZ - Rhythm Room
04.05.10 - San Diego, CA - Casbah
04.06.10 - Los Angeles, CA - El Rey Theatre
04.07.10 - San Francisco, CA - The Independent
04.08.10 - Eureka, CA - Red Fox Tavern
04.09.10 - Portland, OR - Dantes
04.10.10 - Bellingham, WA - The Nightlight Lounge
04.11.10 - Seattle, WA - Neumos
05.01.10 - San Diego, CA - Winstons Beach Club
06.12.10 - Reno, NV - Tonic Bar
• Busdriver: http://www.myspace.com/busdriver
• Epitaph: http://www.epitaph.com
No fair! No Fun Fest takes the year off; New York still isn’t much quieter
By Erika H on Mar 3 2010
Carlos Giffoni, the man behind No Fun Fest, No Fun Productions, and his own electronic/experimental project, No Fun Acid, has announced that there will sadly be no No Fun Fest in 2010.
This year would have marked seven years of No Fun Fest, blasting eardrums and annoying Brooklynite neighbors each spring since 2004. Last year, No Fun Fest surprised its fair share of noise fans by incorporating Sonic Youth, Cold Cave, Blank Dogs, and Bardo Pond into the lineup for those who find the likes of Merzbow, Religious Knives, and Wolf Eyes a little inaccessible.
No can do this year. While there won’t be a No Fun Fest, however, Giffoni assures his fans that this is not the end of No Fun endeavors. According to the No Fun Fest website, his decline to curate a festival this year comes in an effort to focus on the No Fun Productions label and his personal music projects, as Carlos Giffoni and No Fun Acid. True to his word, news for the year’s events is slowly trickling out from No Fun & Co. While the New York gig is a no-go, Giffoni claims that there will be a one-day No Fun Fest in Montreal this June (featuring Hair Police, No Fun Acid, Oneohtrix Point Never, and Religious Knives, for starters), plus a possible international date.
No Fun Acid is also touring Europe throughout March with Oneohtrix Point Never. Check out Carlos Giffoni’s MySpace for tourdates.
And remember, there’s always Fun Fun Fun Fest in Austin.
• No Fun Fest: http://www.nofunfest.com
More ACTA Leaks Show Challenges to American-style Copyright Rules. They Do Agree That Nobody Likes Joe Biden's Shit-Eating Grin, Though.
By Ze Pequeno on Mar 3 2010
Man, it’s a hard time to be America. The economy is in ruins (despite claims of recovery), the legislature seems ungovernable, and nobody wants to really fix it because it would take too long. It makes everyone around you turn into sharks, waiting for you to cut yourself. Such is the case with new revelations come from the incredibly leaky ACTA negotiations. When the current draft of the trade agreement — spearheaded by Vice President Joe Biden, Attorney General Eric Holder, and the RIAA — was leaked to the public recently, it seemed to be both a massive concession (the three-strikes policy has been all but removed) and a massive expansion (rules resembling the Digital Millennium Copyright Act would be implemented on a global scale) of American copyright policy.
Yet, with leery eyes, nations have indeed exploited the small signs of weakness that the American delegation is falling back, according to new leaks in the negotiations. First, the American delegation seeks ACTA no longer as a treaty but as an “executive agreement.” This allows governments to ratify it without legislative approval, but it also means it CANNOT alter current national law. Both the Japanese and European delegations made note of that, with the Japanese stating it would have to “examine its own laws” before agreeing to any of this, and the Europeans stating that the draft is “not consistent” with EU law.
Further, the American delegation attempted to justify the rules as full implementation of the WIPO Treaty signed back in 1996. However, the vague wording of the treaty granted nations some flexibility in implementing the rules (for example, the use of DRM) agreed to. This was noted heavily by the Japanese delegation, who also questioned how much harm was was actually caused by passing DRM, as well as how useful protections against such bypasses are. (Hey! We know the answer to that one!)
Probably the most revelatory agreement made in negotiations, however, was that all nations agreed that the implementation of ISP monitoring for file-sharing, as well as mandatory enforcement of such a measure to protect ISPs from lawsuits, is off the table. Such harmful and costly monitoring significantly weakens the effectiveness of a three-strikes policy, even though that effectiveness is questionable at best to begin with.
Looks like we don’t have to call Ron Paul, after all.
