RIP: Chuck Biscuits , drummer for Black Flag, Danzig HOAX!!

By Shane Mack on

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.

- Chuck Biscuits Wikipedia entry

Yeah Yeah Yeahs to Tour the British Empire Like It’s 1919

By Nobodaddy on 10-29-2009

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

By Annapocalypse on 10-29-2009

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

By E. Nagurney on 10-28-2009

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

By Jon Lorenz on 10-28-2009

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

By Rachel B on 10-28-2009

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.

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