RIP: Chuck Biscuits , drummer for Black Flag, Danzig HOAX!!
Apparently this was a hoax! Apologies for any confusion.
From NPR:
Chuck Biscuits, the legendary punk and hard rock drummer, has died after a prolonged battle with throat cancer. He was 44 years old.Here is an obituary of the artist, written by James Greene Jr.
Biscuits was best known for his work with Black Flag and Danzig, but he also lent his talents to Run DMC, Social Distortion and The Circle Jerks.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs to Tour the British Empire Like It's 1919
With their latest gramophone recording in tow, It's Blitz! (TMT Review) (currently available to you via Sears Roebuck and Co. Fall Catalog, no. MUS-176-B), American flapper mainstay Karen O and her two gentlemen escorts in the popular new 'Jazz'- and 'Ragtime'-influenced Yeah Yeah Yeahs Traveling Music Company and Medicine Show are setting sail for a 14-date limited engagement exhibition of the United Kingdom and outlying British Sovereignty of Australia.
Departing the United States of America by clipper ship near the start of November, Captain and crew remain optimistic that the performance troupe, along with its personal and company effects, will arrive safely in Leeds, U.K. in time for their first engagement on the 29th of the aforementioned month. An expanded tour of the British Empire in full is likely to follow, likely to include stops in Burma, Sudan, the Falkland Islands, Fiji, North Borneo, Gibraltar, Nigeria, Barbados, Egypt, South Africa, Bermuda, Gambia, Uganda, Malta, Newfoundland, the Cayman Islands, Tuvalu, Ireland, Jamaica, Kenya, St. Helena, North Rhodesia, South Rhodedia, Ceylon, British Honduras, The Gold Coast, Swaziland, Basutoland, the South Sandwich Islands, Singapore, Sierra Leone, Trinidad, Granada, the Virgin Islands, Tanganyika, Zanzibar, and -- weather permitting -- British Antarctica.
God save the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. May the sun never set upon their tour
11.29.09 - Leeds, UK - O2 Academy
11.30.09 - London, UK - Brixton Academy
12.01.09 - London, UK - Brixton Academy
12.03.09 - Newcastle, UK - Newcastle Academy
12.04.09 - Glasgow, UK - Academy
12.06.09 - Manchester, UK - Apollo
12.07.09 - Sheffield, UK - O2 Academy Sheffield
12.09.09 - Birmingham, UK - Birmingham Academy
12.10.09 - Bournemouth, UK - Opera House
12.11.09 - Minehead, UK - ATP: 10 Years of ATP Fest
12.30.09 - Tasmania, Australia - Falls Festival Marion Bay
12.31.09 - Lorne, Australia - Falls Festival
01.06.10 - Brisbane, Australia - Sunset Sounds Festival
01.10.10 - Busselton, Australia - Southbound Festival
Google Officially Announce New Music Search Capabilities
As we prepped you on last week (TMT News), Google announced the launch of a new search system yesterday, October 28, to assist in finding music to both purchase and stream. Now, every time you search for an artist, song, album title, or even lyric, the results will be displayed in a specific section that will include artwork and a link to stream the music through the new Google music player, powered by MySpace Music and Lala. Each song can only be played once through in full. Users can then purchase the song by clicking a “Buy” link or be directed to other music sites like Pandora, IMEEM, and Rhapsody.
While Yahoo has a similar music search partnership with Rhapsody, Google still holds 64.6% of the search market, with Yahoo coming in second at only 16%, according to Nielsen MegaView Search. Billboard spoke to several record label executives about Google’s new music search system, drawing positive feedback: “I think it’s amazing,” EMI Music senior VP of global digital marketing Syd Schwartz told Billboard. “Any situation where we can make the process of discovery and helping artist and audience find one another in better ways is something that's going to help the business.”
U.S. readers: expect the new search results over the next few days. Everyone else? Sorry, this is a U.S.-only deal for the time being.
Shout Out Louds Announce Third LP; You Guys Can Stop Shouting So Much, We’re Indoors
Anthemic Swedish rockers Shout Out Louds have been awfully quiet the last couple of years for a band called, well, Shout Out Louds. Since the release of their 2007 Merge LP Our Ill Wills (TMT Review), there’s been nary a peep from them. Well that’s stopping right now, since the group has a new record that they feel the need to just... shout out loud about. Here ends the “shout pun” portion of this news story.
Work, the band’s third LP, will be out on February 23 via Merge Records. Shout Out Louds singer Alec Olenius explains that the record’s title comes from the double-meaning of "work" as “the process of creating something and almost working yourself to death” and "that something ‘does work,’ to reach a goal.” The title was also inspired by a song off Songs for Drella, an album by two guys a lot of people like a whole lot: Lou Reed and John Cale. Another guy a lot of people like a whole lot is Phil Ek, who produced Work in Seattle’s Bear Creek Studio. Phil Ek; what can’t he do? Not produce scores of indie rock records, that’s what.
DFA Re-Release Pylon's Second Album Chomp; Michael Stipe Wakes Up Dancing
Many bands' careers can be linked to the help of a name check by certain rock stars. Many bands have had great success due to the fact that Kurt Cobain mentioned them in his journal or were lucky enough to make his top 50 list. In the case of Pylon, they had R.E.M. and The B-52's helping out their hometown (Athens, GA) chums by throwing their name around a bit in interviews and such.
Two years ago, DFA reissued the group's 1980 debut LP Gyrate (TMT Review), bringing the group back into the limelight for a while. Enough people must have bought Gyrate that the label decided it would be a worthy venture to release Pylon's second LP, Chomp, originally released in 1983.
Chomp continues the story of Pylon, following the same herky-jerky rhythms and art-punk guitar numbers that drew people to Gyrate. Of course, DFA threw in a few extra goodies, including "the 7” version of ‘Crazy,’ a ‘male version’ of ‘Yo-Yo,’ on which Briscoe merely guest stars, Pylon’s own frenzied, frenetic remix of ‘Gyrate,’ and the rarely heard single ‘Four Minutes,’ an ineffably beautiful pastiche of homemade and seemingly found noise." Just to make sure you know this is a new version, DFA has decided to call the whole thing Chomp More. (The label did the same thing when they reissued their first LP, calling it Gyrate Plus.)
Chomp More is available now, so head over to that DFA webstore and get yourself a copy.
Chomp tracklisting:
1. K
2. Yo-Yo
3. Beep
4. Italian Movie Theme
5. Crazy
6. M-Train
7. Buzz
8. No Clocks
9. Reptiles
10. Spider
11. Gyrate
12. Altitude
13. Crazy (Single version)
14. Yo-Yo (Male version)
15. Gyrate (Pylon mix)
16. Four Minutes
Kemado Records Cleverly Opens Their Own Record Shop During CMJ Week; Komodo Dragon Shop Planned for 2010
Kemado Records, the smallish indie record label based in NYC, is gearing up to open its very own record store in Brooklyn, called Co-Op 87. Kemado, along with its imprint Mexican Summer, decided to launch Co-Op 87 right smack in the middle of CMJ week, what with the entire music industry being in town to consume various alcoholic beverages and peep through the watering holes' windows hoping to catch the "next big thing."
Kemado's owners apparently have quite the thing for vinyl, and they figure, what could be better than to share their love with the entirety of Brooklyn? That said, Co-Op 87 is mostly comprised of indie and local band vinyl, along with a smattering of CDs and cassette tapes (a.k.a. the new vinyl -- did you hear the '90s are back?). Kemado has also fitted their new store with a hybrid analog-digital recording studio which they plan to rent out to local bands in need. So far, Kemado has utilized their new recording space by doing the local bands a solid and recording their daytime CMJ showcases. Not too shabby.
According to Andres Santo Domingo, one of Kemado's founders, "The plan is to use the studio as often as possible and keep the store open maybe three days a week. It's not going to be anything like a traditional record store."
Kemado is home to to some small but powerful indie rockers, including The Sword, Langhorne Slim, Cheeseburger, and Elefant. Check out a recent New York Times feature on the storefront here.
Dutch Court Orders Pirate Bay to Delete Torrents, Shadowy Organisation that Specializes in the Hotel Industry Supposedly Controls Everyone’s Favorite BitTorrent Tracker
On October 22, an Amsterdam court ruled that, within three months, The Pirate Bay has to remove a list of torrents linking to copyrighted works (I thought the Dutch were supposed to be liberal?). According to TorrentFreak, “The list is to be provided by BREIN,” who is the “joint anti-piracy program of authors, artists and producers of music, film and interactive software” in the Netherlands. If owners of The Pirate Bay -- Peter Sunde, Fredrik Neij, and Gottfrid Svartholm -- fail to comply, they will be fined 5,000 euros ($7,500) per person, per day. Additionally, the court said the Swedish pirates “have to block Dutch users from accessing certain parts of the site (across all their domains) where users can download copyrighted files.”
The case was notable for the defendants’ claim that they “were not the owners of the site, but a Seychelles based company named Reservella.” Despite this act of bravado, the court dismissed the assertion since the Swedes did not have sufficient proof that The Pirate Bay had been acquired by this organization. However, Peter Sunde continues to argue that the site was “given away for free” in 2006 to an unknown entity, who then sold it to Reservella. Interestingly, Ars Technica says it was given anonymous information on Reservella, the name of which is “alleged to come from a Seychelles luxury hotel called ‘La Reserve.’” The company is supposedly registered with the Mayfair Trust Group Limited in the Seychelles city of Victoria.
Holy crap, this is starting to sound like a fucking James Bond film. However, the question on self-righteous TMT readers’ lips is: Should we start hating the luxury hotel industry now in addition to the major labels and anti-piracy outfits? This Pirate Bay thing is not making it easy to channel my smug indignation.
Lightning Bolt Decide To, Uh, "Ride The Lightning" Even Longer By Adding UK Dates
In case you've been hiding in a cave this past month with plugs lodged in your ears, you may not have heard that the mighty Lightning Bolt have once again unleashed their thunderous roar upon the world with a brand new album, Earthly Delights (TMT Review). And since most people in Europe, Asia, and Australia actually hide in caves for a living, Lightning Bolt are headed their way to make sure they know.
As we previously reported on two separate occasions, Brian Chippendale and Brian Gibson -- a.k.a. The Brians, a.k.a. Lightning Bolt -- are doing 12 dates in Japan and 8 days in Australia/New Zealand starting in early November. Now for a third time, we here at TMT are giving you the official TMT Lighntning Bolt update and letting you know that, after their New ZeJapastralia tour, Lightning Bolt will then head over to the UK for 9 more dates, including a performance at the My Bloody Valentine-curated All Tomorrow's Parties Festival and the Ten Year Anniversary ATP in Butlins Minehead.
So here, yet again, is hopefully the final updated list of Lightning Bolt tour info for the year. But if you see the Brians, ask them where them U.S. dates are at. One show before Halloween ain't cutting it
10.29.09 - Providence, RI - Firehouse 13 %
11.05.09 - Tokyo Shibuya, Japan - O-Nest
11.06.09 – Nagoya, Japan - Club Rock’n’Roll
11.07.09 – Kyoto, Japan - Urbanguild
11.08.09 - Yamaguchi Houfu, Japan - Indo-Yo
11.09.09 – Fukuoka, Japan - The Voodoolounge
11.10.09 – Ooita, Japan - Athall
11.11.09 – Okayama, Japan - Pepper Land
11.12.09 – Osaka, Japan - Shangrila
11.13.09 - Tokyo Shibuya, Japan - O-Nest
11.14.09 – Enoshima, Japan - Oppa-La
11.15.09 - Tokyo Shindaita, Japan - Fever
11.16.09 - Tokyo Kouenji, Japan - UFO Club
11.20.09 - Melbourne, Victoria - Thornbury Theatre
11.21.09 - Sydney, New South Wales - Manning Bar
11.22.09 - Brisbane, Queensland - Hi Fi
11.24.09 - Auckland, New Zealand - Transmission Room
11.25.09 - Wellington, New Zealand - San Francisco Bath House
11.26.09 - Hobart, Tasmania - Mona
11.27.09 - Adelaide, South Australia - Fowlers Live
11.28.09 - Melbourne, Victoria - Trades Hall (Static Age Festival)
12.03.09 - Leeds, UK - Brudenell Social Club
12.04.09 - Bristol, UK - Fleece & Firkin
12.05.09 - Minehead, UK - All Tomorrows Parties festival @
12.06.09 - Minehead, UK - All Tomorrows Parties festival @
12.07.09 - Minehead, UK - All Tomorrows Parties festival (in-between fests show) $
12.08.09 - Birmingham, UK - Capsule's 10th Birthday @ Vivid
12.09.09 - Manchester, UK - Islington Mill
12.10.09 - London, UK - The Dome
12.11.09 - Brighton, UK - Audio
12.12.09 - Minehead, UK - All Tomorrows Parties festival #
12.13.09 - Minehead, UK - All Tomorrows Parties festival #
% benefit show for Dan Tanner with Tinsel Teeth and Beat Mountain
@ Sonic Youth, My Bloody Valentine, Yo La Tengo, Fucked Up, The Pastels, Buzzcocks, Primal Scream, etc
$ Tall Firs, Fuck Buttons, Om, Mum, Deerhoof, Growing, Bardo Pond, Polvo
# Modest Mouse, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Six Organs of Admittance, Devendra, Banhart, sunn 0))), Mudhoney, etc
Craig Finn Teams With Letterman Writer and Chuck Klosterman to Bring Fargo Rock City to the Big Screen
Craig Finn, front man of The Hold Steady, and Tom Ruprecht, longtime writer for Late Night With David Letterman, have acquired the rights to bestselling memoir Fargo Rock City, written by Chuck Klosterman, and plan to co-write and produce a feature film based on the book. Klosterman will also lend a hand in producing the film.
The book is about a bunch of nerdy teenage metal-heads from the podunk town of Fargo (located in the Devil’s asshole that is North Dakota) attempting to rise above their humble home town and its local residents, who are less than enthusiastic about either KISS or Guns N' Roses. The movie is set to revolve around a group of soon-to-be high school graduates who try to get laid, become more than just geeks, and overall live a life perfectly fit to be represented in next year’s surefire “Quirky Coming-Of Age Hit Comedy.”
Finn, who has so far made his name writing Springsteen-influenced bar rock, explained his interest in the project to Risky Business blogspot:
Seventeen or eighteen is the perfect age for characters in a movie like this, because it’s at that age that you have drivers licenses and a certain amount of independence, but you’re still young enough that you can totally make terrible decisions. And you’re still young enough that you can have a two-hour argument over whether Motley Crue would beat Guns ‘N Roses in a fight.
Finn and Ruprecht have begun their first draft of the screenplay and are hoping to secure interest and financing once the script is done.
Marissa Nadler and Alela Diane Tour, Too Mindblowingly Awesome to Inspire Even the Smallest Amount of Headline Humor
Eerie indie folk songstress Marissa Nadler recently set out on a month-long U.S. tour with the similarly styled Alela Diane. Nadler’s latest release, Little Hells, came out earlier this year on Kemado, and was — as usual — packed with haunting tunes that come off like the soundtrack to the most wistful Southern Gothic novel ever (screenplay by William Faulkner and Angela Carter, starring someone who is not Dakota Fanning — no offense intended, Dakota, it’s just not you) and also she’s wearing this really cool capelet/blouse thing on the album cover. Totally five stars!
As you can probably tell, I am excited about this tour in many ways. The East Coast-based singer is performing with a pretty rad-sounding full band, including Jonas Haskins (formerly of Earth), Carter Tanton (Tulsa) on electric guitar/harmony vocals, and Ben McConnell (Kip Malone, Espers) on drums. And did I mention touring buddy Alela Diane? Five more stars! The only thing that could possibly improve this tour is if all (or at least the stop where I live) took place in an olde-tyme revival tent. Yes — then it would be peeeerfect
10.27.09 - San Francisco, CA - Rickshaw Stop
10.29.09 - Los Angeles, CA - Echo
10.30.09 - La Jolla, CA - The Loft
11.01.09 - Phoenix, AZ - Rhythm Room
11.03.09 - Austin, TX - The Cactus Cafe
11.04.09 - Fort Worth, TX - The Fort Worth Modern Museum
11.05.09 - Baton Rouge, LA - Chelseas
11.06.09 - Birmingham, AL - Bottletree
11.07.09 - Atlanta, GA - The Earl
11.09.09 - Carrboro, NC - Arts Center
11.10.09 - Washington DC - DC9
11.11.09 - Philadelphia, PA - World Cafe
11.13.09 - New York, NY - Le Poisson Rouge
11.14.09 - Brooklyn, NY - Union Hall
11.15.09 - Montreal, QC - La Sala Rossa
11.16.09 - Toronto, ON - Legendary Horseshoe Tavern
11.17.09 - Chicago, IL - Schubas
11.18.09 - Minneapolis, MN - 7th Street Entry
11.20.09 - Denver, CO - Hi Dive
11.21.09 - Salt Lake City, UT - Kilby Court
Los Campesinos! to Release Romance Is Boring in January, Xiu Xiu's Jamie Stewart Guests
English indie-rockers Los Campesinos! seem to find an awful lot to be exciting: dancing, record collecting, obsessing over Xiu Xiu, etc. Romance, however? Not their thing, apparently. So much so that they’ve named their new record Romance Is Boring, which will be released January 26 via Arts&Crafts. “There Are Listed Buildings,” the record’s first single, will receive a digital release on November 3.
Romance Is Boring, the follow-up to 2008’s We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed (TMT Review), was recorded earlier this year with producer John Goodmanson, whose resume includes work for Sleater-Kinney and Wu-Tang Clan. Think for a second how amazing (or terrible?) it would be if the new Los Campesinos! record sounded like a mix between Sleater-Kinney and Wu-Tang Clan. Not going to happen, of course, but we can always dream.
Speaking of dreams, Romance Is Boring contains at least one dream collaboration for those Los Campesinos! kids: a guest vocal spot from Xiu Xiu’s Jamie Stewart. Along with Stewart, the new record also contains vocal work from Parenthetical Girls’s Zac Pennington and The Dead Science’s Jherek Bischoff.
Romance Is Boring tracklist:
1. In Medias Res
2. There Are Listed Buildings
3. Romance Is Boring
4. We’ve Got Your Back (Documented Minor Emotional Breakdown #2)
5. Plan A
6. 200 – 102
7. Straight In At 101
8. Who Fell Asleep In
9. I Warned You: Do Not Make An Enemy of Me
10. Heart Swells/100-1
11. I Just Sighed. I Just Sighed, Just So You Know
12. A Heat Rash In The Shape of The Show Me State; Or, Letters From Me to Charlotte
13. The Sea Is A Good Place to Think of the Future
14. This Is A Flag. There Is No Wind
15. Coda: A Burn Scar In the Shape of The Sooner State
