Kanye arrives on GQ's Man of the Year cover
It's been the best and the worst of years for Kanye West. Sales figures triumphs and terrific reviews accompanied his latest album, Graduation. He has a new book on the way. He appeared on several magazine covers, including Paste's. But all of that was negated with the loss of his mother two weeks ago. Another mag cover seems tiny consolation, but it does bring with it a prestigious title: GQ Magazine's Man of the Year. West will share the honor with Bill Clinton and Daniel Craig, who will also appear on different versions of the cover. GQ has a short... read more
Mahjongg announces January tour, February album release
For those interested in the most curious of musical beasts, consider Mahjongg. The amorphous, ever-rotating cast of rock 'n' roll characters first formed in Missouri, but now calls Chicago home. In 2005, the band released a thoroughly underheralded afrobeat/dance punk-inflicted masterpiece, Raydoncong 2005, on Cold Crush Records. Having apparently garnered the attention of Beat Happening/Dub Narcotic Soundsystem/Pacific Northwest musical guru Calvin Johnson, Mahjongg now calls his K Records imprint home. It's via just that particular avenue of distribution that Mahjongg's sophomore full-length, Kontpab, will hit record store shelves on Feb. 18. Additionally, the band has scheduled a handful of tour... read more
Sparks to tackle entire discography over 21 nights
The album as concert is all the rage. From Sonic Youth to Lucinda Williams to the GZA to the Zombies, the past year has seen artists of all stripes revisiting their studio masterworks note for note. But Sparks - the offbeat duo of brothers Ron and Russell Mael - plan to outdo everyone else. Beginning May 16, the brothers will play all 20 of their studio albums straight through over an extended stay at London's Carling Islington Academy. Then, on June 13, Sparks will hop over to Shepherds Bush Empire to play a set of entirely new material from their... read more
Cigarettes go indie - what's next?
It's become a hot topic of conversation in the Paste offices: has "indie rock" become the new "alternative"? Those who were around at the height of the grunge era will likely remember corporate America's attempts to co-opt the Seattle phenomenon, from record labels feverishly scouting for the "next Nirvana" to designer flannel in clothing catalogs. Just like that old "alternative" lifestyle, "indie culture" has always been fairly impossible to pin down. But that won't stop advertisers from trying. That leads us to an excellent report that the Daily Swarm filed yesterday. Camel Cigarettes, the friendly folks behind Joe Camel, apparently... read more
Band of the Week: Ha Ha Tonka
Like many a band, Ha Ha Tonka started out as a couple of friends sharing a cheap apartment and the love of music. “I don’t think we were really that serious about music at the beginning, seeing as how we were full-time college students,” says Brian Roberts, who sings and plays guitar. “Plus, our songs were terrible...” read more
Signs of Life 2007 : Best Music
Every fall, Paste’s staff piles into the conference room to hash out our favorite records of the year. Feelings get hurt. One staffer’s favorite record is inevitably the bane of another’s existence. Most come ready to champion a personal darkhorse... read more
Original Zombies reunite for three-night Odessey
Fans of The Who know how this goes: all it takes are two original members of a long-deceased group and suddenly you have a semi-official reunion on your hands. So it has been with Zombies vocalist Colin Blunstone and keyboardist Rod Argent. The two have been recording and touring under the Zombies moniker since 2004, playing a mix of their group’s classic material and newer compositions. But no matter what group it is that’s reuniting, purists will always defend the sanctity of the “original lineup.” So, to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Zombies’ celebrated album Odessey and Oracle, the... read more
Lou Reed composes new songs for Nanking
Ever since the glory days of the Velvet Underground, Lou Reed's been out doing his own thing, whether tonal or otherwise. Now, in a Hova-esque move, Reed is taking inspiration from a new piece of cinema in crafting fresh material. The film in question is Nanking, a portrayal of the brutal Japanese invasion of the Chinese city during World War II. Reed composed and recorded two songs derived from the events in the film - "Gravity" and "Safety Zone." Both songs are streaming at Lou Reed's website. Not surprisingly, the lyrical material is quite dark, with images of "war" and... read more
Springsteen fleshes out Spring 2008 tour schedule
It seems like only yesterday that Paste reported on Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band's eight new North American tour dates in support of Magic. Hmm... make that a couple of days ago. Well, as we noted when news of those shows first broke, the many gaps in the tour schedule suggested the possibility of added dates in the near future. Dear reader, the near future is now. Those eight dates have expanded to twenty-eight Springsteen shows throughout the United States and Canada. Do you have any excuses left for not catching the Boss live and in concert? Get... read more
The Walkmen take White Rabbits out on the road
Aww... isn't this sweet? The Walkmen, acting like a surrogate big brother band, are rolling out on tour with White Rabbits. Both groups are based in New York, and the White Rabbits sound has always had a few notable strands of Walkmen DNA in it (just read our Band of the Week feature on the group). What lessons will the elder Manhattanites pass on to their juniors? How to duck the blogarazzi after a gig? Tips on finding the perfect drum sound? Or will they all just get drunk and talk sports and pop culture? Oh to be a fly... read more
Mountain Goats lay out plans for next album
It's been more than a year since The Mountain Goats' last album came out, which in John Darnielle's wildly prolific world is quite some time. But the band, as much as it is a band, laid out its plans for the next album on its website earlier today. The album, titled Heretic Pride, will be out on February 19 next year. Why not release it now? "We are really excited about this album, and we wish it were out right now, but there is a law against releasing albums in December unless you are Queen," read the website entry. "Any... read more
NIN forced to halt digital release of remix album
Just when you thought they were out of the woods, Nine Inch Nails is thwarted once more by their ex-label. After expressing extreme distaste with the company’s distribution of the band’s music, leading man Trent Reznor officially broke ties with Interscope Records/Universal Management last month. Freed from the stifling grasp of their label, NIN went forward with plans to digitally release their remix album Y34RZ3R0R3MIX3D. Unfortunately, instead of finding the jazzed up recordings that were supposed to drop today, when fans went to the designated site they were redirected to Nine Inch Nails' home page where words from Reznor awaited... read more
Mars Volta - the video game
The Mars Volta have faced accusations of pretension before. And the band's latest announcement won't exactly silence those critics. Ever the explorers of strange new ground, TMV plans to release an accompanying video game to its latest opus, The Bedlam in Goliath, on Amazon.com's music page. The electronic adventure, entitled Goliath The Soothsayer, becomes available on Jan. 2. Okay, so it sounds a bit wacky, but clearly there's a rational explanation for this odd promotional device. Isn't that right, Mars Volta press release? "The Bedlam In Goliath chronicles The Mars Volta's time with the "Soothsayer" a/k/a the Ouija board owned... read more
New Final Destination on the way... in 3-D!
In terms of ironic names for a franchise, Final Destination is to films what Final Fantasy is to video games. Except unlike the games, they're not, you know, very good. In any case, The Hollywood Reporter announced today that the increasingly inaccurately named series will be getting another chapter. Final Destination 4, as the film has been cleverly titled, will bring back together Final Destination 2's David R. Ellis/Eric Bress team as director/writer for the film. According to the press release, their last chapter "was praised for its elaborately orchestrated killings," so that's pretty much what you can expect in... read more
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club gets its rarities out
As they roll on through Europe, Israel, Australia and Japan on a globe-trotting tour, the gentlemen of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club are sprinkling rare tracks all about for attentive fans to pick up. Naturally, we here at Paste have dutifully collected all of the info so that you don't have to. For starters, the group is releasing a seven-track EP of outtakes from its latest effort, Baby 81, on Dec. 4. Also included in the collection is a nine-minute short film created for Baby 81 cut "American X." "We're proud of all our songs, even the ones that don't make... read more
Red Hot Chili Peppers sue Showtime over Californication
There was once a time where the Red Hot Chili Peppers were greatly admired, not only for their musical talent and courageous sock-wearing, but for who they were. To their loyal fans, the Chili Peppers have always come off as laidback, embracing the California lifestyle that has helped shape their unpretentious attitudes and wicked-funky tunes. Now, after all these years, with great sadness we report that these iconic alt-rockers have perhaps lost sight of their roots. Billboard.com has reported that yesterday (Nov. 19) the Red Hot Chili Peppers filed a suit against cable network Showtime for naming its new David... read more
Deerhunter soon to go “on hiatus”
Deerhunter fans, welcome to that murky and queasy realm of band activity: the unspecified hiatus. It's sad, but true. Pitchfork reported yesterday on a Deerhunter blog post from group leader Bradford Cox. In an entry entitled "Goodbye 21st Century," Cox wrote the following: "I would like to announce that the show we are playing at Primavera in Barcelona (I hope to god i spelled that right) will be our last for quite some time. It will also be the last time we are ever playing the Cryptograms set we have been playing for the last two years. After that the... read more
Ghostface to guest star in Iron Man film
Every time money-hungry Hollywood announces a new comic book adaptation for the big screen, our reaction is the same: how badly are they going to screw this one up? So when we heard Paramount Pictures was taking Iron Man to cinemas across the nation, the office pool was on: would it be a Spiderman-sized success or a colossal Ghost Rider-esque strikeout? Then the trailer hit. Seeing Robert Downey Jr. yuk it up as billionaire weapons dealer Tony Stark was enough to assuage most of our concerns. At least it was going to be a fun ride. But today, our expectations... read more
Karen O is Where the Wild Things Are
There were a few reasons why we did a hop and a leap into bed out of fear that something under the bed would eat us when we were five. Namely: monsters. And not amiable, cuddly creatures like Monster Inc.'s Sulley. We're talking jaundiced, googly-eyed monsters like in Maurice Sendak's classic children's book Where the Wild Things Are. With a gigantic budget of a speculated $80 million, the fiercely protective Sendak is enthused about the movie adaptation by Spike Jonze and Dave Eggers. The Daily Swarm led us to a report that Jonze's ex-flame and Yeah Yeah Yeahs doyenne Karen... read more
Blitzen Trapper unveils new video, tours Europe
One night this past summer I watched shaggy unknowns Blitzen Trapper open for The Hold Steady at a Columbia, Mo. gig. Shortly thereafter, the hipster media overlords at Pitchfork gave the band's Wild Mountain Nation a glowing review. You know what that means: I heard them before they got famous, chump! But music geek bragging aside, it's safe to say that Blitzen Trapper isn't your typical "blog hype" band. The New York crowd, for example, seems pre-packaged for maximizing immediate buzz and then fizzles out by album #3. Meanwhile, Blitzen Trapper was out blazing its own trail on two self-released... read more
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