The Psychedelic Furs Reunite… Again, Tour America… Again
By Liz Louche on 05-19-2009
Late-1970s post-punk/new wave/John Hughes movie soundtrack hitmakers The Psychedelic Furs are preparing to rock America during a brief summer tour. Word on the street (internet) is that brothers/founding members vocalist Richard Butler and bassist Tim Butler, along with guitarist John Ashton, were all living in upstate New York prior to their 2000 reunion, which means touring the northeastern states is perfectly logical and seems like the obvious choice, but now it totally ruins the whole "They were formed in London in 1977! They're, like, such a seminal English band and now they're totally COMING TO AMERICA for a no-holds-barred spectacular reunion tour!!" angle that I was going to take. Oh well. They've got a date at the Benicassim Festival in Spain, and more U.S./European dates on the way. That's exciting enough on its own, right? Right??
Anyway, The Psychedelic Furs are on the move. The lineup this time features the aforementioned Butlers, John Ashton, drummer Frank Ferrer of Love Spit Love (Richard Butler's post-Furs band) and Guns N' Roses, former Information Society and World Party keyboardist Amanda Kramer, and previous Furs collaborator saxophonist Mars Williams. That's like, four bands for the price of one -- maybe even five.
Dates:
06.06.09 - Foxborough, MA - Showcase Live
06.07.09 - Farmingdale, NY - Crazy Donkey
06.08.09 - Londonderry, NH - Tupelo Music Hall
06.09.09 - Fairfield, CT - StageOne
06.11.09 - Baltimore, MD - Rams Head on Stage
06.12.09 - Atlantic City, NJ - House of Blues
06.13.09 - Montclair, NJ - Wellmont Theatre
07.19.09 - Benicassim, SPAIN - Benicassim Festival
Chicago Instrumental Groovers CAVE Announce Summer Tour
By Couscous on 05-18-2009
This summer the stalactites will be falling from club ceilings across the country as Chicago neo-hippie/punk instrumentalists CAVE announce a tour in support of their new album Psychic Psummer. Former members of now-defunct Missouri-based Warhammer 48K and other Chicago musicians comprise CAVE, whose album should be expected to receive better visibility on Important Records than the band's previous self-releases. If the record's merging of Can-like grooves, winding guitars, and howling dub echoes presupposes the band's live set, it should make for a pretty killer show. The band will be making stops in some off-the-beaten-path cities such as El Paso, TX, Ventura, CA, Mobile, AL, and East Moline, IL
05.18.09 - Denver, CO - BarBar
05.20.09 - Sacramento, CA - the HUB
05.21.09 - Petaluma, CA - the Phoenix Theater
05.22.09 - San Francisco, CA - Hemlock Tavern w/ Mammatus
05.23.09 - Oakland, CA - LOBOT w/ Nothing People + Lemmon Pretend
05.24.09 - Santa Cruz, CA - Blue Lagoon w/ Mammatus + Jealousy
05.26.09 - Los Angeles, CA - Club Ding-A-Ling w/ Jealousy
05.27.09 - Ventura, CA - Gradys Record Refuge
05.28.09 - Los Angeles, CA - SMELL w/ Nite Jewel + Jealousy
05.29.09 - LA area, CA - space w/ Skarekrau Radio (excerpt)
05.30.09 - Tucson, AZ - Dry River
05.31.09 - El Paso, TX - House w/ Dozal Brothers
05.03.09 - Austin, TX - Beerland
05.04.09 - Houston, TX - the MINK w/ Balaclavas
05.05.09 - New Orleans, LA - Nowe Miasto w/ Quintron + Fishercat
05.06.09 - Pensacola, FL - House w/ JUICEBOXXX
05.07.09 - Mobile, AL - Alabama Music Box w/ JUICEBOXXX
05.08.09 - Nashville, TN - House
05.09.09 - St. Louis, MO - Lemmons w/ Skarekrau Radio + Ghost Ice
05.10.09 - East Moline, IL - Racers Edge w/ Mondo Drag + Eyes
05.12.09 - Chicago, IL - Automatic Space w/ Chandeliers + Prince Rama
Yeah Yeah Yeahs Announce Summer Tour, but Don’t Expect to See Karen O. Spit Beer in Your Face Anytime Soon
By Annapocalypse on 05-18-2009
Remember back in the day when a Yeah Yeah Yeahs live performance would have Karen O. doing this, this, or even maybe something like this? Well, no more! The last time Karen spit beer into the crowd, she was bombarded by beer companies trying to sponsor her next loogie. After a short stint with PBR (hated the taste), a lengthy partnership with Old Rasputin thanks to Nick Zinner, and some good times with Corona (hey, she was touring in Mexico!), Karen has announced that she is done with corporate sponsorship and is sticking to water. Uh oh, someone alert the reps at Poland Spring and Aquafina... I hear they love It’s Blitz! (TMT Review), the new Yeah Yeah Yeahs album out now on Interscope.
Yeah Yeah H20 Yeah:
05.23.09 - Quincy, WA - Sasquatch Festival
05.26.09 - Chicago, IL - Riviera Theatre
05.27.09 - Detroit, MI - Clutch Cargos
05.28.09 - Columbus, OH - Newport Music Hall
05.30.09 - Minneapolis, MN - First Ave
05.31.09 - Milwaukee, WI - Eagles Club
06.02.09 - St. Louis, MO - The Pageant
06.03.09 - Kansas City, MO - The Beaumont
06.06.09 - Mountain View, CA - Live 105 BFD
06.12.09 - Manchester, TN - Bonnaroo
07.31.09 - Jersey City, NJ - All Points West
David Byrne Records Live EP for Amnesty International, Makes It Even Harder to Find Fault in Him
By Couscous on 05-18-2009
David Byrne, fresh off the unanimous critical praise of his recent collaboration with Brian Eno, Everything That Happens Will Happen Today (TMT Review), has announced his latest collaboration. This time it's with hallowed non-governmental organization Amnesty International, who will receive the proceeds from the online sales of a four-song EP, cheekily entitled [Everything That Happens Will Happen on This Tour], recorded during Byrne's latest tour.
Says Byrne of the EP: "Some time ago Amnesty International asked if I might do "something" for that organization this year- (in previous years I had done one of my tour dates as a benefit for them). Amnesty has such an amazing and consistent track record of speaking out and helping to illuminate courageous people who might otherwise not be heard from so the answer was 'yes.'"
Preview the album here.
Radiohead Officially Starts Recording New Album with Nigel Godrich, BUT WHAT IS THE RELEASE METHOD
By Mango Starr on 05-18-2009
Radiohead, the little band that could, have officially started recording their follow-up to 2007's In Rainbows (TMT Review). Speaking to NME at Brighton's Great Escape festival, bassist Colin Greenwood said "We've just started work [in the studio] last week. It's really cool and everything is sounding great. It's early days and it is a bit like having a scrapbook at the moment because everything is up in the air, but it's good to be back in the studio."
"It was very noisy and chaotic and really fun," Greenwood said in a different interview with the BBC. "It’s at the stage where we’ve got the big Lego box out and we’ve tipped it out on the floor and we're just looking at all the bits and thinking what’s next?"
Radiohead are in the studio again with producer Nigel Godrich, who is best known for his work with Travis, the "alternative rock band" Radiohead ripped off for 1995's The Bends. So what does Colin think about the famed Travis producer? "He's brilliant. He can make everything sound like it's working together rather than us trying to kill each other." (Jeez, get a room!)
It's definitely exciting to know that new Radiohead music is on the way, but how will they distribute the album? Hopefully someone leaks a text file explaining what's sure to be another paradigm shift in music distribution. Perhaps they should release the album solely on compact discs with cutting-edge anti-ripping technology? C'mon, Radiohead, let's get the industry back on CDs!!
