Weezer to Tour with Jonas Brothers, Hannah Montana, Kidz Bop Cast! (Not Really, but Isn’t It Funny How Not Surprised You Were?)
Mwwhhaa-ha-ha-haaaaa! Excellent, Igor! Weezer's complete transmogrification into Bowling for Soup is nearing completion! Phase one: Sooooooon, very soooooon (November 3), Raditude will drop from Geffen onto the panic-stricken populace in a torrential rain of pure cheese so THICK... that the poor fools won’t even be able to scream.
Next, phase two: my beautiful Franken-pop creations will play one... no, no! I have it, Igor! They’ll play TWO straight nights on Conan... no, no! Even BETTER: on The Late Show with David Letterman! (on October 29-30). Wmmmmuuuaaaahhahahaha! Ah, the sheer torture of watching Letterman, Igor, I can barely even contain my... Well, nevermind!
Then the Final Phase will commence: Weezer will embark on a tour of North America (yes, yes, Igor, there’s also a couple of shows at the end of this month, including a... ohh, yessss, a Halloween gig in the most DAMNED place on earth: New York City). Oh, the unholy madness of it all! These fools will never even see it coming. And once this homogenized post-mod-goof-geek-power-pop slurry is shoveled down their throats? Why, it’ll simply be too late, my friend. Mmmmhahaha. Chaos will rule, Igor. Chaos. Will. Rule.
TO BE CONTINUED:
10.24.09 - Los Angeles, CA - Palladium
10.31.09 - New York, NY - Hammerstein Ballroom
12.01.09 - Chicago, IL - Aragon Ballroom
12.03.09 - Milwaukee, WI - Eagles Ballroom
12.05.09 - Toronto, ON - Air Canada Center
12.07.09 - Boston, MA - Agganis Arena
12.09.09 - Baltimore, MD - UMBC Fieldhouse
12.10.09 - Philadelphia, PA - Susquehanna Center
New iPhone App Promises to Save You the Trouble of Going to the Record Store to Find Out What’s Cool in Music This Week; It’s Almost As If They Haven’t Heard of Tiny Mix Tapes Before... Except That’s Impossible
Okay, here we go again. Despite our on-the-pulse news delivery, next-level graphic design, “don’t go there, girl”-style record reviews, easy-to-use interface, up-to-the-minute commentary, a crack team of writers, a self-proclaimed “highly sexual” team of editors, and all of the references you could ever want to this one band called Zazen Boys (?), some of you out there still insist on allowing Expert Listening Services (ELS's) other than Tiny Mix Tapes (TMT) to soullessly manufacture the pop culture-related sections of your Social Networking Site (SNS) profiles from the, uh... you know, “ground up.”
So fine. We can handle this. Now, iTunes is getting in on our racket? We say “let them come.”
Panel is a new app in the, you know, App Store founded by L.A. producer Darius Fong that aims to provide music lovers (read: “the opposite of music lovers”) with recommendations from a so-called panel of music industry experts who will stream two albums per week in various iTunes-centric categories (rock, pop, alternative, indie, jazz, hip-hop, etc.) and then, basically, tell you what they like about these albums. It’s kinda like when you go into a good record store and they always have those little handwritten descriptions stickered onto the CDs in the New Releases rack. Except that you’ll also be able to stream the albums (er, that’s the eventual plan, it seems, anyway).
As of now, confirmed panelists include Mark and Wendy Redfern, founders of Under the Radar magazine, Jason Hughes, owner of Seattle's iconic Sonic Boom Records, popular music blogger Justin Gage of Aquarium Drunkard, producer/musician Matt Bayles, and Peter Harper -- sculptor and... wait for it... Ben Harper's brother. Again, each of these cats will offer interviews, album descriptions, etc. for two albums each week. Of course, Panel offers users that dangerous, dangerous one-touch access to the iTunes store where they can be the first to eagerly swipe up The Next Pavement (TNP), carry it over to the digital counter, purchase with their creased and crumpled digital tip money from their analog jobs, tear off the digital shrink-wrap, affix that digital sticker-label thing proudly to the digital trashcan outside where everyone sticks their digital sticker-label things like badges of consumerist valor, run to their digital cars, throw the thing into the digital tray, and mmm-mmm-mmhmmm: savor the sweet, sweet sound of that compressed, downsampled Wowie Digital Zowie (WDZ).
Well, shit. I guess that’s pretty much it for us here at TMT, then. Good luck in the new decade, folks. Mr P, could you hand me that gas can over there? P??? Yeah... the gas can. No... it’s... yeah, over there, it’s back there. Okay cool... thanks.
RIP: Liam Maher of Flowered Up
From NME:
Liam Maher the frontman of Flowered Up has died.Little is known at this point about the singers death, but reports from the band's record label have emerged to confirm the news.
Maher fronted the baggy band Flowered Up in the early 90's who for most, were London's equivalent to bands like Happy Mondays and Inspiral Carpets.
Most notably known for their number 20 single ‘Weekender’, the 12 minute 55 second track was Flowered Up's highest charting single.
Google to Launch Music Service as Early as Next Week, The Details of Which are Left to Our Imaginations
Once upon a time, creativity could be packaged, marketed, and distributed to loving music fans across the world. CDs were a new technology, and a successful source of revenue. Record Executives and musicians alike became prosperous and all was peaceful in the land. Until the fallow years came. Plucky college students began a quest to not only be music's consumers, but to become its distributors, too. Using the immortal powers of the internet, music could now be shared between internet users and CDs quickly became all but irrelevant.
In a terminally ill industry, music execs felt the burn of their losses. "Help us, oh Lord!!" they cried. And the Lord heard their prayers. The clouds parted and God said… "let there be streaming music services sponsored by select media outlets." Google heard the command and said "how far we have come from being but a lonely search engine! We have satellites and iPhone apps, calendars and Gchat, but let us expand once more! We will create a streaming music service!"
That's right, kids. Google wants a piece of the streaming music pie. They're keeping mum regarding the details of their service, which is rumored to be called either "Google Music," "Google Audio," or "OneBox," but we do know that the service has the cooperation of major labels. A simple Google Music search will supposedly give you a streaming link taken directly from LaLa or iLike. Plenty more details will leak out over the next few days, but it's also reported that the service is launching as soon as next Wednesday.
…And God saw that it was good, etc.
Mika Miko Decide to Break Up
After playing together for six years, Los Angeles’ Mika Miko have decided to call it quits, due to new projects, jobs, relationships, and school. In an interview with The Los Angeles Times, guitarist Michelle Suarez spoke at length about the breakup: “There's no bad blood at all, we're all still really good friends,” said Suarez. “We've just been a band since high school and all of us are ready to move onto different things. We started the band for fun and wanted to end on a positive note.” Mika Miko’s 2009 album, We Be Xuxa (TMT Review), will be their final release.
If you’re still hoping to catch Mika Miko live before they say goodbye forever, they are playing Austin’s Fun Fun Fun Fest November 8, and a final farewell show at The Smell is being planned as well. Suarez also revealed that the group plans on releasing one more 7-inch before they call it a day.
RIP: Vic Mizzy, TV and film composer
From the NY Daily News:
Brooklyn-born songwriter Vic Mizzy, who had a string of No. 1 pop hits and penned the memorable theme songs for the 1960s sitcoms "Green Acres" and "The Addams Family," died Saturday. He was 93.Mizzy's popular hits included "Pretty Kitty Blue Eyes" and "The Whole World Is Singing My Song," as well as novelty hits like "With a Hey and a Hi and a Ho-Ho-Ho."
Mizzy said he didn't mind if people remember him only for the finger snaps at the start of the "The Addams Family" theme song, according to a statement from his publicist. After all, he said, "Two snaps got me a mansion in Bel Air."
MPAA Fires Three Anti-Piracy Bosses Because they Failed to Protect the Family
Gangland warfare between copyright holders and file-sharers took a twisted bloody turn for the worse on October 16 when the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) turned in on itself and fired three of its anti-piracy bosses. The MPAA’s general counsel, director of worldwide anti-piracy operations, and the deputy director of internet anti-piracy were all lined up in the company’s garage and disposed of with immediate effect (the general counsel, Greg Goeckner, is being thrown out of his 25-story office at the end of the year).
Film industry sources say that the “three were thrown out because the anti-piracy operations of the MPAA were unsatisfactory, and ‘lacked aggressiveness’” or, in other words, for failing to protect the family. In a delightful euphemism, the MPAA’s anti-piracy division will be renamed as ‘content protection’ – just like the way it wants to “silence” isoHunt’s founder Gary Fung.
These latest developments are likely to result in more belligerent moves against file-sharers, with the copyright holders' favored method of “persuading” lawmakers to take more rapacious action.
Brilliant Colors Debut LP To Come Out On Slumberland; Twee Pop One Step Closer To Killing Lady Gaga and Taking Over the Charts
Legendary post-C86 twee pop label Slumberland has been dishin' out some cool jams lately -- most notably The Pains of Being Pure At Heart and Crystal Stilts -- and it shows no slowing down: next up on its list of must-hear up-and-comers is San Francisco's Brilliant Colors, led by Jess Scott and the now-finalized lineup of Diane Anastasio and Michelle Hill (The Slits). After quickly selling out an EP on Make A Mess Records and a 7-inch on Captured Tracks, Scott and crew are ready to introduce themselves to the LP-buying, EP-hatin' crowd with their first full length, Introducing. Recorded in Portland, OR by Mississippi Records' Alex Yusimov, Introducing will fill your ears with a whole mess of fuzzed-out, crunchy pop songs chock full of Rough Trade, early Flying Nun, DIY twee pop love.
Introducing will hit stores on November 3, just in time to finish off your top records of 2009 list.
Introducing tracklist:
1. I Searched
2. Absolutely Anything
3. English Cities
4. Yell In The Air
5. You Say You Want
6. Over There
7. Mythic
8. Short Sleeves At Night
9. Motherland
10. Should I Tell You
Bonnaroo To Release Live DVD; What's Not Included: That Time You Ate A Lot Of Mushrooms And Accidently Watched The String Cheese Incident For Five Hours
Want to remember all those Bonnaroo performances that you were too, uh, far gone to remember? Well, lucky for you and your stoned companions, Bonnaroo is releasing a live DVD on December 15 via Superfly and A.C. Entertainment, entitled Live From Bonnaroo 2009. The cost for the DVD will be $16.95, and a limited number will be available for pre-order for $15 through the Bonnaroo website. You can check out a trailer for the DVD here.
The complete tracklisting of performances is as follows:
1. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band - Outlaw Pete
2. Phish - Down With Disease
3. Beastie Boys - Intergalactic
4. Snoop Dogg - I Want To Love You
5. Elvis Costello with Jenny Lewis and Her Sound - Go Away
6. Ben Harper and Relentless7 - Fly One Time
7. Andrew Bird - Fitz and the Dizzspells
8. The Decemberists - The Wanting Comes In Waves/Repaid
9. Del McCoury Band - Moneyland
10. Coheed and Cambria -Welcome Home
11. Amadou & Miriam - Masiteladi
12. Santigold - LES Artistes
13. Zac Brown Band - Who Knows
14. Passion Pit - Little Secrets
15. Raphael Saadiq - Keep Marching
16. Cage the Elephant - Ain't No Rest
Evangelicals Announce Fall Tour, Refrain from Appearing on EWTN
One of my favorite things to do around 3 AM is watch televangelists on EWTN (Eternal Word Television Network, for those not hip to the lingo). Overly excited folks are always entertaining, but the fervor those guys get from the good lord is especially ace. To awkwardly transition into the point of this story, “Midnight Vignette” from Evangelicals’ second record, The Evening Descends (TMT Review), was one of my favorite songs of last year. No matter how you look at it, evangelicals get a thumbs up in my book.
Only one kind of Evangelicals is going on tour, though, and it’s the band. Good news for psych-rock fans, bad news for Jesus fans, I suppose. Anyway, Oklahoma’s other favorite sons are hitting the road, starting with a hometown Halloween show and charging through November. Word has it they’ll be premiering some new material from their forthcoming new album on these dates, most of which will be opened by Tallahassee’s Holiday Shores
10.31.09 - Norman, OK - Opolis
11.02.09 - Phoenix, AZ - Modified Arts *
11.03.09 - Los Angeles, CA - Echo ^
11.04.09 - San Francisco, CA - Hemlock Tavern *
11.05.09 - Portland, OR - Holocene *
11.06.09 - Seattle, WA - The Vera Project *
11.07.09 - Missoula, MT - The Palace *
11.08.09 - Salt Lake City, UT - Kilby Court *
11.09.09 - Denver, CO - Hi Dive *
11.11.09 - Kansas City, MO - The Record Bar *$
11.12.09 - St. Louis, MO - Firebird *
11.16.09 - Washington, DC - The Red and the Black *
11.17.09 - Philadelphia, PA - Kung Fu Necktie *
11.18.09 - Brooklyn, NY - Union Hall *
11.19.09 - Allston, MA - Great Scott *
11.20.09 - Buffalo, NY - Mohawk Place *
11.21.09 - Cleveland, OH - Beachland Tavern *
11.22.09 - Chicago, IL - Schubas *
11.23.09 - Bloomington, IN - The Bishop *
* Holiday Shores
^ Port O’Brien
$ Eli August
Judge Declares Ringtones Not Considered Performances, Cell Phone Companies Need Not Pay Royalties
This federal court ruling goes out to all those idiots who think anyone would actually want to hear their cell phone blast the new Kid Cudi song through their shitty one-inch speaker: this week, a federal court ruled that ringtones that are played aloud in public are not an actual performance of an artist’s song, so therefore cell phone providers do not have to pay royalties on them. In the ruling, U.S. District Judge Denise Cote acknowledged the fact that the cell phone provider both has no control over when a ringtone is played and earns no money when it is played.
Oddly enough, what would seem like an obvious case was actually an argument brought to light by the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) earlier this year when it decided to sue several U.S. cell phone providers in order to force them to pay royalties whenever a “performance,” or ringtone, was played. Its argument was that the download rights that providers were already paying weren’t enough. But the court shot down ASCAP because it failed to show infringement of providers or its customers, ruling that a ringtone is not a public performance, like how a radio on the beach blasting the new Kid Cudi song is not considered one either.
