Billy Corgan collapses at a Smashing Pumpkins show in Florida, SP still plan to play Matthew Leone benefit concert
By Erika H on Jul 23 2010
Jokes have their place, and it’s usually alongside Billy Corgan. However, to speak of his silly tweets, manifestos, or anything since Zwan would be in poor taste here. Wednesday night, in the middle of a Smashing Pumpkins show at the Ritz Ybor in Tampa, Billy Corgan collapsed.
This wasn’t like Kurt Cobain’s little act in Reading over “The Rose” — Corgan stumbled and legitimately fell during “Bullet with Butterfly Wings.” According to his Twitter (which, needless to say, wasn’t funny this time), “That wasn’t a stage move or clumsiness, that was me blacking out and wiping out.” There is no explicable reason for the blackout yet, but Billy claims to have a bruise to show for it.
With no ostensible serious reason for this falter, The Smashing Pumpkins are going on with the tour as planned. In fact, they play a benefit concert July 27 in Chicago for Matthew Leone, bassist of Madina Lake. Leone was severely and tragically injured (now lacking a third of his skull due to of brain swelling) after coming to the defense of a woman in a domestic fight.
Good health to Billy Corgan, and sincere hope and wishes for Matthew Leone’s recovery.
• The Smashing Pumpkins: http://www.smashingpumpkins.com
• Matthew Leone: http://www.madinalake.com
Three Mile Pilot plan new album for the fall, reverse their strictly-held policy of not releasing a new album
By E. Nagurney on Jul 23 2010
I used to think Three Mile Pilot stood for something. Ever since the San Diego trio released their 1997 record, Another Sea, Another Desert, they’ve held true to the simple principle of not releasing any records at all. I hate it when bands release new records; it’s just more stuff to put in my brain, and my brain’s starting to hurt real bad. While I’ve tried my hardest to remain ignorant of the extensive discographies of Pinback and The Black Heart Procession, both of which boast Three Mile Pilot members, I can’t hide from the knowledge that Three Mile Pilot are betraying me by putting out a new record. To my chagrin, the recently reunited group are releasing The Inevitable Past is the Long Forgotten Future (the title of which hurts my brain for completely different reasons) on September 28 via the folks at Temporary Residence Ltd. Oh, my brain.
The Inevitable Past is the Long Forgotten Future tracklist:
01. Battle
02. Still Alive
03. Grey Clouds
04. Same Mistake
05. What I Lose
06. Left in Vain
07. The Threshold
08. One Falls Away
09. Days Of Wrath
10. Planets
11. What’s In The Air
12. The Premonition
• Three Mile Pilot: http://threemilepilot.com
• Temporary Residence Ltd: http://temporaryresidence.com
Xiu Xiu’s Jamie Stewart and Shearwater’s Jonathan Meiburg form Blue Water White Death, because …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead was already taken
By Annapocalypse on Jul 22 2010
In what may be the most random musical pairing ever, Shearwater’s Jonathan Meiburg (he of a beautiful baritone and love of birds) and Xiu Xiu’s Jamie Stewart (he of emotional purging and general on-stage oddity) have decided to form a new band together called Blue Water White Death. Their self-titled debut album will be released October 12 through Graveface Records. While their band name may sound equally random, apparently it was taken from a 1971 documentary about a team of explorers on a quest to discover sharks in Australia’s Dangerous Reef. But what could their music possibly sound like? Before your brain explodes trying to figure it out on your own, a press release has been provided with an apt description:
On first listen Blue Water White Death may sound like a pair of reclusive eccentrics making music in a derelict mansion, perilously balancing beauty and horror with the absurd. Soon, it becomes apparent that there are three distinct modes at play – clean, even tones and the nonchalant picking of acoustic guitars that recall life on the open sea, notes and words paced like breaststrokes on the journey to the depths and finally, jarring mysterious noises meshed with vocals that echo the isolated, garbled quantities of the inside of a diver’s mask.
See what they did there? With the ocean metaphors being used to describe the music? Looks like someone took a creative writing class! In addition to Meiburg and Stewart, John Congleton (St. Vincent, Modest Mouse, The Roots) handled production for the album.
Blue Water White Death tracklisting:
01. This Is the Scrunchyface of My Dreams
02. Song for the Greater Jihad
03. Grunt Tube
04. Nerd Future
05. The End of Sex
06. Death for Christmas
07. Gall
08. Rendering the Juggalos
• Blue Water White Death: http://bluewaterwhitedeath.com
• Graveface Records: http://www.graveface.com
Marnie Stern to blow chillwave bands off their surfboards with new album in October
By Annapocalypse on Jul 22 2010
Guitar goddess Marnie Stern has grown sick of all those chillwave bands with their jangly riffs and lackadaisical attitudes populating her fans’ headphones this past year. To fight back, she will be releasing her third album, a self-titled affair, on October 5 via Kill Rock Stars. Teaming up once again with longtime cohort Zach Hill, Stern also brought along bassist Matthew Flegel (Women) and mixer Lars Stalfors (Mars Volta) for the recording process. The end result is… well, let’s see what Stern had to say about it via a press release: “It’s direct and honest and real. I’m no longer taking cover under guitar lines or yelping vocals.” So chill.
Check out the first track, “For Ash,” at the Chocolate Grinder.
Marnie Stern tracklisting:
01. For Ash
02. Nothing Left
03. Transparency is the New Mystery
04. Risky Biz
05. Female Guitar Players are the New Black
06. Gimme
07. Cinco De Mayo
08. Building a Body
09. Her Confidence
10. The Things You Notice
• Marnie Stern: http://www.myspace.com/marniestern1
• Kill Rock Stars: http://www.killrockstars.com
[Photo: Marnie Stern]
Jimi Hendrix has gotten enough posthumous praise, so let’s give him a posthumous lawsuit! Former bandmate sues
By Kid Midnight on Jul 22 2010
As we all know, Jimi Hendrix is dead, and while his death has surely not curtailed his due praise and legacy, it has slowed any lawsuits against the former guitarist. However, slowed is not the same as stopped, as former saxophone-wielding bandmate Lonnie Youngblood has filed a lawsuit against Jimi, his Hendrix family estate, MCA Records, and director Martin Scorsese.
Youngblood’s case centers around the song “Georgia Blues,” which Hendrix and Youngblood wrote and recorded in the 60s, and appears on the Hendrix-centric volume of the Martin Scorsese Presents the Blues album series released in conjunction with the TV series of the same name. What Youngblood claims is that no one sought his approval for use of the track and that, consequently, as the owner of the copyright on the song, he must defend the copyright that he owns.
According to the Associated Press, court documents state that the Hendrix Family Estate offered Youngblood $3,000 dollars for the rights, with Youngblood refusing and stating that, “It’s the principle, I want my song back. They had no right to take my song.” The lawsuit is seeking an unspecified amount of lost-income damages and claims that Youngblood released the song himself through the internet and that it received a copyright in 2002.
• Jimi Hendrix: http://www.jimihendrix.com
