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Thursday News Threads

Zach, KEXP — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 16:09:22 +0000

Canadian indie pop group Stars will release The Five Ghosts, their fifth full-length studio album, on June 22nd, adding to the already impressive list of upcoming releases. This is their first since 2007’s In Our Bedroom After the War, and will be the first release on the band’s own new label, Soft Revolution.

By now, you should know about Beck’s crazy Record Club that has already brought together a number of notable artists in it’s relatively short history to record a cover of an entire album in a single day. Annie Clark of St. Vincent announced on her Twitter that she, Beck, Liars, and Os Mutantes worked on the most recent incarnation recently.

Of Montreal performed on a kid’s TV Show, Yo Gabba Gabba. They play an original song called “Bananas Rice Applesauce Toast” about taking care of yourself when you’re sick. Check out video, below, from their segment of the show.

British singer-songwriter/rock icon Billy Idol is heading back out on the road and will be debuting his new band along the way, as he travels this summer for performances at major music festivals throughout Europe. North American dates are set to be announced soon.

OutKast’s Big Boi just released a new video for his track, “Fo Yo Sorrows”, which additionally features George Clinton and Too $hort. It was directed by Zach Wolfe and Dr. Dax. Below!

Band of Horses have found a label and nailed down a release date for Infinite Arms: the disc, due May 18th, will arrive via Brown Records/Fat Possum Records/Columbia Records. The band co-produced the disc with Phil Ek.

Where is MGMT? Possibly having a private party with you! For 6 U.S. cities, the band is giving clues via this website to the secret location and a password, and the first 6 people to arrive at each one with the password will be “part of a very special MGMT experience,” whatever that might be. Yesterday’s New York clues seemed to be longitude/latitude coordinates leading to a remote spot outside of Poughkeepsie.

M. Ward and Zooey Deschanel, otherwise known as She & Him, have just put out a video for their new single, “In the Sun.” Their new record, Volume Two, is out March 23rd. And, okay, this video is charming.

This Week In WTF: D’Angelo was arrested for solicitation, according to the New York Post. He reportedly offered an undercover policewoman $40 for oral sex in New York’s West Village at 2:30 a.m. Saturday night. Really? $40?!? What a cheapskate! In a statement, D’Angelo’s publicist said the singer would plead not guilty and reported he “is in good health and extremely excited about his forthcoming new album.” yikes.

Thursday News Threads

Zach, KEXP — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 13:55:12 +0000

I missed it, but I guess some people on the internets thought Kanye West was dead. He’s not. You’d think his million blog posts a day would’ve stopped the rumors dead in their tracks, but meh.

Yeasayer signed to Secretly Canadian for the North American release of their highly anticipated 2nd album. It’s called Odd Blood, and it will be released on February 9, 2010. They join the ranks of artists like Jens Lekman, Damien Jurado, Magnolia Electric Company, and Antony and the Johnsons on Secretly Canadian.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s October 29th/30th concerts at Madison Square Garden have gotten more incredible: Ozzy Osbourne will perform with Metallica, Buddy Guy will join Eric Clapton, B.B. King is pairing with Stevie Wonder and Annie Lennox and Lenny Kravitz are teaming with Aretha Franklin.

Below you’ll find a new People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) advertisement featuring the members of Animal Collective. They’re teaming up to show support for ending seal slaughter in Canada. Huh.

Uh, really? Some guys from his label say Lil Wayne is going to be releasing not one but TWO new albums before the end of the year! According to Cash Money CEO Birdman, The Rebirth, “the dubious Lil Wayne rock album that’s been pushed back a few times, will come out this year. And so will Tha Carter 4, the next entry in Wayne’s… Carter series. Birdman even has a projected released date for Tha Carter 4: December 15.”

MGMT’s new album now has a name. Their label confirmed it will be titled “Congratulations” and will be released “sometime next year.” They’re playing some of the new stuff live these days, including the title track:

Yep, it’s Death Cab news of the week! As you probably know, Ben Gibbard is making his big screen debut in the movie “Brief Interviews With Hideous Men.” Stereogum just posted clips from his performance. Now Zooey isn’t the closest he’s come to acting.

Trent Reznor is, I guess, married now? Congratulations to him and his lucky(?) new bride. Check out the extremely awkward photographic evidence here.

Courtney Love has reunited her band Hole for the first time since 2002, after they formed in ‘ninety four after Love was widowed. I guess we’ll see.

Thursday News Threads

Eric, KEXP — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 13:15:06 +0000

The legendary Queen of the Blues, Koko Taylor, died yesterday at age 80 due to complications resulting from her recent surgery to correct a gastrointestinal bleed. Last month Taylor received her 29th award as a blues musician, making her the most honored artist in the genre and has shared the state with just about every other great blues musician during her long career. Read more about her life here.

Tour dates have been announced for the Dan Deacon/ Deerhunter/ No Age extravaganza this summer. In addition to being an amazing billing, the shows will feature members of all three bands collaborating on stage throughout the set. As if they needed a gimmick to sell this one. Pitchfork has the full story and complete list of dates.

Ten years ago this month Sean Fanning launched Napster and the ensuing P2P craze that has had the music industry on its head ever since. Billboard just sat down with Hilary Rosen who resided over the RIAA when Napster launched up until her resignation in ‘03. The Q&A session brings to light a lot of complexities involving the industries’ possible adoption of online music and is well worth a read and may give pause to anyone with blind anger towards the industries’ actions over the past decade.

After merging with Atlantic five years ago and getting a time out, Elektra Records is back. Known mostly for housing staple rock acts like The Doors, The Stooges and The Eagles, Elektra is poised to make a comeback with an initial lineup that includes Justice, Little Boots and Cee-Lo. Since next year also marks the 60th anniversary of Elektra’s founding, expect to see some hefty reissues in the near future.

In festival news, Calgary’s Sled Island Fest, set for June 24-27 (with some spillover), now has a complete lineup. Taking place at dozens of venues across the city, Sled Island consists of an overwhelming array of music, art, film and other media. The varied batch of bands includes HEALTH, Biz Markie, The Breeders, Final Fantasy, Seattle’s lost boys Japanther and a ton of others. Get thee to Calgary!

On a sadder note, Exene Cervenka of the band X has revealed she’s been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Regarding her illness, Cervenka had this to say:

My focus will certainly be on maintaining my health,” Cervenka, 53, said. “Many people remain strong and continue to live their lives as productively as they had before an MS diagnosis, and I plan to be one of those people.

Regarding her near-future plans with X, Cervenka says, While this diagnosis will most certainly mean some changes for me, personally, it will not affect my commitments to the current X U.S. tour, nor will it affect my solo album that is slated for release this fall.

It appears Roger Waters has his own Road Map to peace in the Middle East. According to NME, Waters has offered to play Pink Floyd’s ‘79 album The Wall, in its entirety and on location, if the wall in the West Bank comes down. The performance would be a repeat of Waters’ show in Berlin following the 1990 bringing down of the Berlin Wall.

Who says traumatizing little kids can’t be fun? Check out the brand new video for MGMT’s “Kids”: