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[News] The Beach Boys Reunite, Announce 50th Anniversary Plans for 2012
After a few rumours that'd been floating around the internet for a few months confirmation from The Beach Boys has finally come. They've announced "a global 50th Anniversary CELEBRATION in 2012". So, what can you expect from the surfers next year. Well, there'll be a brand new studio album, a 50 date tour starting in April at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival as well as special commemorative releases of their catalog via Capitol/EMI. The new LP is apparently already all recorded.
Speaking about the 50th anniversary plans Brian Wilson said that "This anniversary is special to me because I miss the boys and it will be a thrill for me to make a new record and be on stage with them again". That's pretty cool isn't it?!
More details along with statements from the band members can be found over on their official site.
[News] Foster the People Announce 2012 U.S. Tour Dates
Coming off an incredibly successful year, Los Angeles indie rock trio Foster the People aren't ready to slow down just yet. The band has announced yet another North American headlining tour, this time with the help of The Kooks, Tokyo Police Club and Mayer Hawthorne & The County. Starting with two shows in New York City on May 29th and 30th, the tour will take the band to twenty-one cities across the continent, with a final show in Las Vegas, NV on July 7th. You can check out all of the band's tour dates and locations after the jump.
Coming off an incredibly successful year, Los Angeles indie rock trio Foster the People aren't ready to slow down just yet. The band has announced yet another North American headlining tour, this time with the help of The Kooks, Tokyo Police Club and Mayer Hawthorne & The County. Starting with two shows in New York City on May 29th and 30th, the tour will take the band to twenty-one cities across the continent, with a final show in Las Vegas, NV on July 7th. You can check out all of the band's tour dates and locations after the jump.
Foster The People 2012 Tour Dates:
- 5/29 New York, NY Rumsey Playfield *
- 5/30 New York, NY Rumsey Playfield *
- 6/1 Columbus, OH The LC Pavilion *
- 6/4 Grand Prairie, TX Verizon Theatre *
- 6/5 Austin, TX The Backyard *
- 6/7 Alpharetta, GA Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre *
- 6/10 Columbia, MD Merriweather Post Pavilion *
- 6/12 Montreal, QC Lachine Canal #
- 6/14 Philadelphia, PA Mann Center for the Performing Arts #
- 6/15 Boston, MA Bank Of America Pavilion #
- 6/16 Detroit, MI The Fillmore Detroit #
- 6/19 Toronto, ON Downsview Park #
- 6/20 Chicago, IL Congress Theater #
- 6/22 Minneapolis, MN US Bank Theater #
- 6/25 Burnaby, BC Deer Lake Park &
- 6/26 Seattle, WA WaMu Theatre &
- 6/27 Portland, OR Edgefield &
- 6/29 Berkeley, CA Greek Theatre &
- 6/30 Los Angeles, CA Gibson Amphitheatre &
- 7/3 Morrison, CO Red Rocks Amphitheatre &
- 7/5 Salt Lake City, UT The Great Salttair &
- 7/6 Phoenix, AZ Comerica Theatre &
- 7/7 Las Vegas, NV The Cosmopolitan &
* (w/The Kooks)
# (w/Tokyo Police Club)
& (w/Mayer Hawthorne & The County)
[News] The Ting Tings Detail Sophomore Album 'Sounds From Nowheresville'
On February 27th, Manchester pop rock duo The Ting Tings will be releasing their long awaited sophomore studio album, now titled Sounds From Nowheresville. The album is a departure from the mainstream, pop-oriented sound of their first album, with Jules de Martino revealing to SPIN.com that "[w]e didn't want to repeat everything we'd been through in Manchester, working in that environment. So we wanted to find a new challenge, and living in Berlin was a massive challenge: the language barrier, the food, the isolation." First, the duo went to Paris to write the album, then spent eight months in Berlin and Mercia, Spain recording what they had written.
When talking about influences, the duo revealed that Pet Shop Boys, Fleetwood Mac, Beastie Boys, Talking Heads and even Merill Garbus of tUnE-yArDs, all influenced the finished product. Leading lady Katie White even stated that Garbus' live performances were very influential: "We had a look onstage at what she was doing with her loop pedals. She's an amazing singer."
Sounds From Nowhere is out on February 27th in the U.K. and in early March in the U.S. As well, you can take a look at the album's track listing after the jump.
On February 27th, Manchester pop rock duo The Ting Tings will be releasing their long awaited sophomore studio album, now titled Sounds From Nowheresville. The album is a departure from the mainstream, pop-oriented sound of their first album, with Jules de Martino revealing to SPIN.com that "[w]e didn't want to repeat everything we'd been through in Manchester, working in that environment. So we wanted to find a new challenge, and living in Berlin was a massive challenge: the language barrier, the food, the isolation." First, the duo went to Paris to write the album, then spent eight months in Berlin and Mercia, Spain recording what they had written.
When talking about influences, the duo revealed that Pet Shop Boys, Fleetwood Mac, Beastie Boys, Talking Heads and even Merill Garbus of tUnE-yArDs, all influenced the finished product. Leading lady Katie White even stated that Garbus' live performances were very influential: "We had a look onstage at what she was doing with her loop pedals. She's an amazing singer."
Sounds From Nowhere is out on February 27th in the U.K. and in early March in the U.S. As well, you can take a look at the album's track listing after the jump.
Sounds From Nowheresville Tracklist:
01. Silence
02. Hit Me Down Sonny
03. Hang It Up
04. Give It Back
05. Guggenheim
06. Soul Killing
07. One By One
08. Day to Day
09. Help
10. In Your Life
[News] The 2 Bears Detail Debut LP 'Be Strong'
When not together as dance outfit Hot Chip, each of the group's members keeps the creativity flowing in other musical endeavors. Just this year, frontman Alexis Taylor has done work the About Group, Felix Martin and Al Doyle formed New Build along with their engineer Tom Hopkins, and Joe Goddard has teamed up with fellow U.K. DJ Raf Daddy to form The 2 Bears.
As The 2 Bears, the duo has remixed Death Cab for Cutie and was featured on their Keys and Codes Remix EP, released three EPs of their own, and, as was announced today, are set to release their debut LP on January 31st via DFA Records. The album, titled Be Strong, is set to release digitally on January 31st with a physical release coming later in the spring. After the jump, you can take a look at the upcoming album's track listing, as well as watch the video for "Work." The song, which is our first taste of the album, draws significant influence from 90s house, albeit adding it's own flavour. Check it out for yourself after the jump!
When not together as dance outfit Hot Chip, each of the group's members keeps the creativity flowing in other musical endeavors. Just this year, frontman Alexis Taylor has done work the About Group, Felix Martin and Al Doyle formed New Build along with their engineer Tom Hopkins, and Joe Goddard has teamed up with fellow U.K. DJ Raf Daddy to form The 2 Bears.
As The 2 Bears, the duo has remixed Death Cab for Cutie and was featured on their Keys and Codes Remix EP, released three EPs of their own, and, as was announced today, are set to release their debut LP on January 31st via DFA Records. The album, titled Be Strong, is set to release digitally on January 31st with a physical release coming later in the spring. After the jump, you can take a look at the upcoming album's track listing, as well as watch the video for "Work." The song, which is our first taste of the album, draws significant influence from 90s house, albeit adding it's own flavour. Check it out for yourself after the jump!
The 2 Bears "Work" from DFA Records on Vimeo.
Be Strong Tracklist:
01. The Birds & The Bees
02. Be Strong
03. Bear Hug
04. Work
05. Warm & Easy
06. Take A Look Around
07. Ghosts & Zombies
08. Time In Mind
09. Increase Your Faith
10. Heart Of The Congos
11. Get Together
12. Church
[Watch] The Black Keys Open Up About Blocking 'El Camino' Stream From Spotify
Following the release of their superb new album El Camino, a few were a little disappointed that The Black Keys didn't offer their album on websites like We7 and Spotify, ie, free streaming sites. In a recent interview with VH1 Patrick Carney opened up a little about why they did that, and rightly so:
"It's becoming more popular, but it still isn't at a point where you're able to replace royalties from record sales with royalties from streams... I think for unknown bands and smaller bands, it's a really good thing to kind of get yourself out there... for a band that makes a living selling music, it's not at a point to be feasible for us."
So in short, the amount of money you get from putting your music up for free streaming is bare minimum in comparison to record sales royalties. I can't count the amount of tweets I've seen in my feed from bands saying things along the lines of "Got paid £8 for 90000 plays. Fuck Spotify". Some artists just don't agree with the ethics of Spotify. Coldplay are another example, they similar thing recently when they released their album Mylo Xyloto not allowing it to be streamed on any sharing sites. As a result it helped them sell 80K from digital sales alone in its first week.
On the flip side, Florence and the Machine didn't stop their new album Ceremonials being stream anywhere and they then sold 94k and knocked Coldplay off the top spot. It's an argument that could go round and round. See what Patrick has to say about it at the top and let us know how you feel about streaming services.
[News] The Shins Reveal New Album Details, Including Tracklisting, Album Artwork
Clearly the album cycle for Broken Bells is fully over because The Shins have announced that they will be releasing a new album in March 2012. The upcoming album is called Port Of Morrow and you can have a look at the gloomy artwork above. The album follows their 2007 release, Wincing The Night Away. The band has also released the tracklisting for the upcoming album, which you can check out after the jump.
Clearly the album cycle for Broken Bells is fully over because The Shins have announced that they will be releasing a new album in March 2012. The upcoming album is called Port Of Morrow and you can have a look at the gloomy artwork above. The album follows their 2007 release, Wincing The Night Away. The band has also released the tracklisting for the upcoming album, which you can check out after the jump.
01 The Rifle's Spiral
02 Simple Song
03 It's Only Life
04 No Way Down
05 September
06 Bait and Switch
07 Fall of '82
08 For a Fool
09 40 Mark Strasse
10 Port of Morrow
[News] Dirty Ghosts Set To Release Debut Album 'Metal Moon', Co-Produced By Aesop Rock
Our good friends Dirty Ghosts, who helped us rock our SXSW party earlier this year, are gearing up to release their long awaited debut LP Metal Moon next year on Last Gang Records. For those that don't know much about the group, the studio band consist of frontwoman Allyson Baker, Carson Binks (both formerly of the SF rock band Parchman Farm) and her hubby, indie rapper Aesop Rock who has co-produced the upcoming LP. The 10 cut album is set to be released on Feb 21st and features the previously release single "Shout It In" (also peep the Aesop Rock Remix) as well as 2 other previously surfaced songs "Battle Slang" "and Steamboat to Concord". All 3 tracks have been re-recorded for the record but you can check out the older versions of each of them below and peep the album's full tracklisting after the jump.
Allyson and her live band (consisting of Allyson Baker, Erin McDermott, Nick Andre, Jason Slota, Lumpy Stapley) will be playing a couple of local shows in California leading up to the album's release as well the 20th annual Noise Pop Festival out in San Francisco. Make sure you check them out if you are in the area and stay in tuned to the group's website and Facebook page for more upcoming dates.
Our good friends Dirty Ghosts, who helped us rock our SXSW party earlier this year, are gearing up to release their long awaited debut LP Metal Moon next year on Last Gang Records. For those that don't know much about the group, the studio band consist of frontwoman Allyson Baker, Carson Binks (both formerly of the SF rock band Parchman Farm) and her hubby, indie rapper Aesop Rock who has co-produced the upcoming LP. The 10 cut album is set to be released on Feb 21st and features the previously release single "Shout It In" (also peep the Aesop Rock Remix) as well as 2 other previously surfaced songs "Battle Slang" "and Steamboat to Concord". All 3 tracks have been re-recorded for the record but you can check out the older versions of each of them below and peep the album's full tracklisting after the jump.
Allyson and her live band (consisting of Allyson Baker, Erin McDermott, Nick Andre, Jason Slota, Lumpy Stapley) will be playing a couple of local shows in California leading up to the album's release as well the 20th annual Noise Pop Festival out in San Francisco. Make sure you check them out if you are in the area and stay in tuned to the group's website and Facebook page for more upcoming dates.
Metal Moon Tracklisting:
[News] Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. Announce West Coast Tour with Fitz and The Tantrums
Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. will be kicking off the New Year by heading out on tour alongside Los Angeles soul band Fitz and The Tantrums. Starting on January 15th, the Detroit-based duo will support Fitz and The Tantrums for a string of West Coast dates, including Denver, Seattle, Vancouver, Portland, and San Francisco. The duo will also be headlining a show at Echoplex in Los Angeles on January 31st. You can check out the remainder of Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.'s 2011 tour dates, as well as their upcoming 2012 tour dates, after the jump.
As well, head over to IFC to watch a video of the pair performing an acoustic version of "Nothing But Our Love" in a remote Icelandic village called Sólheimar. Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. will also be making their U.S. late night debut on January 30th, with plans to perform on Conan.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. will be kicking off the New Year by heading out on tour alongside Los Angeles soul band Fitz and The Tantrums. Starting on January 15th, the Detroit-based duo will support Fitz and The Tantrums for a string of West Coast dates, including Denver, Seattle, Vancouver, Portland, and San Francisco. The duo will also be headlining a show at Echoplex in Los Angeles on January 31st. You can check out the remainder of Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.'s 2011 tour dates, as well as their upcoming 2012 tour dates, after the jump.
As well, head over to IFC to watch a video of the pair performing an acoustic version of "Nothing But Our Love" in a remote Icelandic village called Sólheimar. Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. will also be making their U.S. late night debut on January 30th, with plans to perform on Conan.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. 2012 Tour Dates:
12/13 Johnny Brenda’s, Philadelphia, PA
12/15 WIRED Pop-Up Store, New York, NY
12/16 Brighton Music Hall, Boston, MA
12/17 Bowery Ballroom, New York, NY – DJ Set – Brooklyn Vegan Holiday Party
1/15 Ogden Theatre, Denver, CO *
1/17 Knitting Factory, Boise, ID *
1/19 Commodore Ballroom, Vancouver, BC *
1/20 Showbox at the Market, Seattle, WA *
1/21 Showbox at the Market, Seattle, WA *
1/24 Roseland Theater, Portland, OR *
1/26 Regency Ballroom, San Francisco, CA *
1/28 Harrah’s Lake Tahoe, Stateline, NV *
1/31 Echoplex, Los Angeles, CA (Headlining)
* w/Fitz and the Tantrums