Pelvises, Take Note: Diplo and Switch Announce Major Lazer Tour
By Chase Kamp on Feb 24 2010
DJ/producer extraordinaires Diplo and Switch are taking their dancehall collab Major Lazer out on the “Lazers Never Die” Tour. They’ll be pulling down bangers from their critically-lauded debut Guns Don’t Kill People… Lazers Do, and joining them will be dubstep producer and new Mad Decent signee Rusko. These shows are guaranteed to be crippling, seeing as Major Lazer had no problem blowing the lid off and daggering randoms at a Best Buy last year. Be sure to stretch first!
03.27.10 - Miami, FL -Ultra Music Festival
03.28.10 - Atlanta, GA - Masquerade
03.30.10 - Carrboro, NC - Cats Cradle
03.31.10 - Baltimore, MD - Bourbon St
04.02.10 - Philadelphia, PA - Starlight Ballroom
04.03.10 - New York, NY - Terminal 5
04.04.10 - Cambridge, MA - Middle East
04.06.10 - Columbus, OH - BoMa
04.07.10 - Cleveland, OH - House of Blues
04.08.10 - Indianapolis, IN - The Vogue
04.09.10 - Detroit, MI - The Fillmore
04.10.10 - Chicago, IL - Metro
04.11.10 - Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue
04.13.10 - Denver, CO - Cervantes Masterpiece Ballroom
04.15.10 - Reno, NV - The Knitting Factory
04.16.10 - San Francisco, CA - Mezzanine
04.17.10 - Indio, CA - Coachella
• Major Lazer: http://www.majorlazer.com
• Mad Decent: http://maddecent.com/blog
the morning benders Sign to Rough Trade For New LP, Discover America, Selves on Super-Lengthy Tour
By Liz Louche on Feb 24 2010
Pop quiz! “the morning benders” is (a) an a-ok name for a band, (b) a great concept for drinking, or (c) all of the above, plus being the new signee to Rough Trade? If you answered (c), congratulations! You obviously understand that you are reading a website that deals with music news. Anyway, Rough Trade is releasing the morning benders’ sophomore album, Big Echo, on March 9 in the US. Our Chocolate Grinder has spat out two morsels from the forthcoming album: listen to “Promises” and watch a live version of lead-off track “Excuses”.
The new album was produced by Christopher Chu and Chris Taylor of Grizzly Bear. Coincidentally, the morning benders recently wrapped up tourdates with Girls and Grizzly Bear and are set to head off on a headlining tour of their own.
02.25.10 - New York, NY - Housing Works
02.27.10 - Brooklyn, NY - Market Hotel
03.10.10 - Philadelphia, PA - Jonny Brenda’s
03.11.10 - Washington, DC - The Black Cat
03.12.10 - Chapel Hill, NC - Local 506
03.13.10 - Atlanta, GA - The Drunken Unicorn
03.15.10 - Birmingham, AL - The Bottletree
03.17.1o - Austin, TX - Emo’s Jr. (SXSW)
03.23.10 - Phoenix, AZ - The Rhythm Room
03.25.10 - Los Angeles, CA - Troubadour
03.26.10 - San Diego, CA - Casbah
03.27.10 - Costa Mesa, CA - Detroit Bar
03.28.10 - Santa Barbara, CA - Muddy Waters
03.30.10 - San Francisco, CA - The Independent
04.01.10 - Portland, OR - Holocene
04.02.10 - Seattle, WA - Crocodile Café
04.03.10 - Vancouver, BC - Media Club
04.05.10 - Provo, UT - Club Velour
04.07.10 - Denver, CO - Hi-Dive
04.09.10 - Des Moines, IA - The Vaudeville Mews
04.10.10 - Ames, IA - The Maintenance Shop
04.11.10 - Rock Island, IL - Huckleberry’s Pizza
04.12.10 - Chicago, IL - Schubas Tavern
04.14.10 - Toronto, ON - The Drake Hotel
04.15.10 - Montreal, QC - La Sala Rossa
04.16.10 - Winooski, VT - The Monkey House
04.17.10 - Boston, MA - T.T. The Bear’s
04.22.10 - New York, NY - The Mercury Lounge
• the morning benders: http://themorningbenders.com
• Rough Trade: http://www.roughtrade.com
[Photo: Brooke Sheridan]
My Morning Jacket’s Jim James and Cousin Johnny Quaid Launch Record Label, But We’re Not Sure How Coherent It Is
By Rachel B on Feb 24 2010
It’s always nice when well-known musicians begin funneling their income towards helping their lesser-known comrades. Alt-country singer and frontman of My Morning Jacket Jim James (a.k.a. Yim Yames) has decided to do just this – start a record label of his own with cousin Johnny Quaid. The label, which is called “Removador Recordings and Solutions,” will be an online music arena for James’ favorite underground artists. So far, James has added the following bands to his label: Cortney Tidwell, The Ravenna Colt, Follow the Train, and Mont de Sundua, as well as James’ own recordings and those of My Morning Jacket.
In addition to supplying fans with artist bios and free downloads, the label’s website also has a “Solutions” page, where James and Quaid quite literally offer solutions to the problems of “time,” “people,” “teeth,” and “sleep.” The solutions to these “problems” are found in cartoonish videos that (if we’re being frank) seem completely and profoundly random when paired with the rest of the website’s material. What do these “problem-solution” videos have to do with distributing music? No idea. Or is this section just the equivalent of IKEA’s ball room kiddie play place? Again, no idea. Oh well. Just judge for yourself.
• Removador Recordings and Solutions: http://removador.com
• J(Y)im J(Y)ames: http://www.yimyames.com
Mission Creek Festival Returns to Iowa City, with Booker T, Meat Puppets, Xiu Xiu, Wet Hair, and More
By Jon Lorenz on Feb 24 2010
For its fifth year, the Mission Creek Festival is taking over Iowa City’s downtown art spaces and venues for a whole five (5) days. Starting on March 30 and ending April 3, this year’s fest will feature such notable acts as Booker T. (sans M.G.’s,) Xiu Xiu, Meat Puppets, Camera Obscura, Acid Mothers Temple, Tim Hecker, The Bomb Squad, Little Dragon, David Bazan, Talk Normal, Wet Hair, and Peaking Lights, as well as over 100 artists spanning the realms of music, literature, and visual art. Everything is within five minutes of everything else and the shows range from 50- to 700-capacity venues. Tickets will be $50 for the gold-access pass and $80 for the platinum all-access pass (if you desperately need to see Booker T. and Greg Brown).
• Mission Creek Festival: http://festival.missionfreak.com
New Studio Album From Ethio Jazz Legend Mulatu Astatke Out in March
By Erika H on Feb 24 2010
Like so many of the Afropop artists that are finally gaining prominence in the Western musical consciousness, Mulatu Astatke, the renowned father of Ethio jazz, has been recording for years. Only in the last half-decade has his work begun to earn the recognition that it deserves. In 1998, the French label Buda Musique released a short compilation of Mulatu’s work, entitled Ethiopiques, Vol. 4: Ethio Jazz & Musique Instrumentale, 1969-1974. However, it wasn’t until 2005 that Jim Jarmusch’s film Broken Flowers, whose soundtrack featured several tracks from the revolutionary musician, brought him to the attention of the semi-mainstream.
In 2009, Astatke reached an even greater audience after melding his style of Ethio jazz with the music of The Heliocentrics, in a collaboration which yielded Inspiration Information (TMT Review). Later that year, Strut (the label behind Inspiration) released the retrospective New York-Addis-London: The Story of Ethio Jazz 1965-1975, garnering even more success and exposure for Mulatu.
In the wake of his increasing popularity, Mulatu Astatke began work on a new studio album last year. The album, Mulatu Steps Ahead, features the same style of Ethio jazz collected on New York-Addis-London, but as the name implies, stylistic stagnation isn’t an issue. According to the press release, Mulatu Steps Ahead “explores new directions in fusions of Western jazz with Ethiopian modes, moving forward the pioneering sound Mulatu developed during the 60s and 70s.” For the album, Astatke recruited members of Either/Orchestra, The Heliocentrics, and various jazz and traditional Ethiopian musicians.
Mulatu Steps Ahead is out March 30 from Strut. Shortly after, Mulatu Astatke will begin a worldwide tour, including dates with The Heliocentrics.
• Mulatu Steps Ahead: http://www.mulatu-steps-ahead.com
• Strut: http://www.strut-records.com
