Al Green records new album with The Roots' ?uestlove
Musical collaborations happen all the time. From Alicia Keys and Maroon 5 to The Killers and Lou Reed to Jamie Foxx and Rascal Flatts, many fans cease to so much as bat an eye when told news of a new pairing between musicians. However, that's because most musical match-ups aren't nearly as cool as this one. Soul legend Al Green has new album (due May 27), which he worked on with The Roots' ?uestlove. Other artists featured on the album include John Legend, Corinne Bailey Rae, and neo-soul singer Anthony Hamilton. Luckily, ?uestlove seems to recognize the need for Green... read more
Colour Revolt puts shovel to ground, tours with Breeders
Dinosaur Jr, Brand New, Black Lips, Okkervil River, Menomena, Explosions in the Sky—the list of bands that Mississippians Colour Revolt have toured with reads like an all-star roster of indie rock. This spring, the band will add the Breeders to the list. The guys brought their incandescent grunge rock to the Dell Lounge at SXSW and have already played a smattering of dates in anticipation of their debut full-length Plunder, Beg and Curse, which hit stores April 1. Clay Jones returned to produce the project, who also worked with Colour Revolt on its self-titled 2006 EP Check out the first... read more
Don't dream, Crowded House is not over
Crowded House, that band you probably know more songs by than you think you do, has announced its 2008 North American tour. The trek will support the newly reunited band’s first album since 1993, Time On Earth, released last year. Rather than hitting many cities with single date appearances, the band has planned a tour which visits fewer cites for a couple of days each, in smaller, more intimate venues. Originally formed in Melbourne, Australia in 1985, Crowded House attained major global success with it’s shimmering pop hit of 1987, “Don’t Dream It’s Over,” followed by further hits over the... read more
Fleet Foxes reveal debut album details, tour info
Seattle-based five-man tongue twister, Fleet Foxes, have been pretty busy lately. On top of playing at SXSW mere weeks ago, they are also in the middle of touring LIKE CRAZY with fellow Northwesterners, Blitzen Trapper. It must be something in the water up there. The two Sub Pop bands are going all over the place, but don't take our word for it; see below. Summertime highlights include Sasquatch! in their home state and Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago. And just to make sure they wouldn’t get bored, Robin Pecknold and the rest of the gang released the date of their... read more
Robert Plant and Alison Krauss release new video
Robert Plant and Alison Krauss have released a video for “Please Read the Letter,” the second single off of their joint album Raising Sand, released late last year on Rounder Records. “Please Read the Letter” was written by Plant and Led Zeppelin bandmate Jimmy Page. Director Rocky Schneck shot the video in Los Angeles at a sparsely decorated gothic mansion, meant to portray the haunting sadness of the song’s lyrics. The video debuted recently on the Country Music Television network, and is available at Rounder.com. As previously reported, Plant, Krauss and their band (led by celebrated producer T-Bone Burnett) will... read more
Lyle Lovett and Justin Timberlake walk The Open Road
When the throes of life have a soul seeking relief, doesn’t everyone want a bartender like balladeer Lyle Lovett? We thought so, and apparently so did writer-director Michael Meredith. Lovett has been cast alongside Jeff Bridges, Harry Dean Stanton and Justin Timberlake in The Open Road. The film follows the son of a baseball legend on a road trip home to see his ailing mother. Timberlake plays the son, Bridges his father and Stanton his grandfather. This is not the first time that Timberlake and Stanton have appeared on screen together; they were both in the gang flick Alpha Dog... read more
Death Cab for Cutie reveals Stairs art, adds dates
It's been a couple months full of Death Cab for Cutie news, with the news that their new album had a name and the subsequent release of said album's first single via the magic of the interweb. Now, the band has revealed the album art (see above) and announced a few new dates. Death Cab will brings its new jams to a city that's possibly near you, if you happen to live in the Northeast, or in Oregon, Colorado, the Mid-Atlantic, Ohio or Texas. Hmmm... After looking at that schedule, it seems Ben Gibbard and Co. should petition for a... read more
Rock Band coming to Nintendo Wii in June
Hypothetical musicians, it may be time to get out your (fake) drum set and (real) drumsticks! It’s official: Rock Band, the video game that has already won awards for its PlayStation and XBox versions, will be released on June 22 for the Wii. Although at first it seemed that Nintendo was not quite interested in pairing up with Harmonix Music Systems, the geniuses also responsible for Guitar Hero, they gradually warmed up to the idea. Lots of speculation was involved, including a cross-platform mic coming out mistakenly labeled as Wii-compatible. The game will be released as a special edition package,... read more
Langhorne Slim offers free track, tours
We've been excited about the prospect of the next Langhorne Slim release for a while. What can we say? It's been too long since we had new meat in our optimistic Appalachia diet. What we now know is that all this roots rock build-up will come to fruition in the form of a self-titled release in the middle of a lengthy tour. The city resident with a rural aesthetic will release his debut for New York indie Kemado Records April 29, his first full-length since 2005's When the Sun's Gone Down and the follow-up to 2006's Engine EP. "I’m not... read more
Amos Lee confirms his Last Days at the Lodge
After serving up the backing track for AT&T commercials, Amos Lee is ready to be front and center again. On June 24. the soulful folk singer will release his third studio album Last Days at the Lodge. Produced by Don Was (Bob Dylan, Rolling Stones, Carly Simon), this will be Lee’s first release since his 2006 gem, Supply and Demand. Tour dates will be announced in the near future, but until then you can enjoy this little snippet of the singer/songwriter’s live show: Related links: AmosLee.com Amos Lee on MySpace Paste: 4 to Watch: Amos Lee Got news tips for... read more
Jim White tours in support of Transnormal Skiperoo
The town of Athens, Ga., has never been shy about celebrating its local musicians. From Drive-By Truckers to the B-52's to Neutral Milk Hotel to The Whigs, the enormity of the Athens music scene is outstanding by most any standard, and musician Jim White has long been a formidable part of it. White (a recent Paste Artist of the Week) recently released the awesome Transnormal Skiperoo, and now he's begun to do what musicians do and tour in support of the record. He's visiting the West coast right now, so if you're reading this and live out there, grab some... read more
Diablo Cody stays busy post-Juno
It was only a month ago that Diablo Cody won the Best Screenplay Oscar for her teen-pregnancy comedy Juno, but she has hardly been sitting around and basking in the golden-statue glory. The indie phenomenon has two, possibly three, new projects in the pipeline for 2008. First up for Cody (aka Brook Busey) is a Showtime television pilot called The United States of Tara, starring Aussie actress Toni Collette as a mother suffering from multiple personalities. Steven Spielberg is producing the show, scheduled to begin shooting April 14. Cody’s next project will be her big-screen follow-up to the $125 million... read more
Justice Department gives OK to Sirius buyout of XM
Oprah Winfrey and Howard Stern will be getting a little closer to each other on the radio if a major satellite radio merger gets a nod from the Federal Communications Commission. The Department of Justice approved the Sirius buyout of XM yesterday on the grounds that not many companies can compete with their satellite service even if they remain separate. The $5 billion merger will now go before the FCC, where many expect the commission to approve the deal without much difficulty. Many critics of the deal say the monopoly will lead to higher prices, less innovation and redundancy as... read more
Hammer and Tongs holding Rambow short-film contest
The world seems to be abuzz about movie plots that revolve around making movies. One such film, Son of Rambow, is finally going to be released to American audiences after a year-long wait. But first, the movie's creators, Hammer and Tongs, are giving intrepid filmmakers a chance to be internationally recognized in a short-film contest. Keeping in the spirit of the film and the producers’ music-video background, the Filmmaking Frenzy contest encourages participants to submit a five-minute film about absolutely anything. Seeing as Paste is full of writers and not directors we have some ideas that could inspire future participants:... read more
The Raconteurs drop album today, start tour in April
Oh, what a difference a week makes. This time last week, the only reason you’d see the word “raconteur” in a Paste news article was if some musician at SXSW was particularly skilled in relating stories or anecdotes. (Editor's note: This isn't exactly true.) Fast forward to today and we now have shiny new Raconteurs records in stores available to everyone, everywhere. And just in time for their surprise, leak-proof album (well… sorta), Consolers of the Lonely, Jack White and Co. have announced the first leg of their North American tour, which includes stops at Coachella, Bonaroo and The New... read more
Girl Talk announces plans to Raise the Dead, tour
Girl Talk (AKA: Gregg Gillis) has announced plans for his fourth album, and it has one mouthful of a name. Wild Peace IV: Feed the Animals, Raise the Dead, is scheduled to come out on Illegal Art Records late this spring or early this summer. After two years of testing out new material on his audiences all over the world, Gillis said this album is still sample-heavy, but also gives his own groove a bit more room to move. No doubt you’ll be doing the same when you hear it. However, if you just can’t wait for new material, you... read more
Beatles sue over Star Club recordings again
Remaining members of the Beatles are suing Fuego Entertainment over the Star Club recordings that were acquired through the company’s British promoter Jeffrey Collins, as previously reported. Several years ago, Collins was put under three years of probation for violation of New Jersey’s anti-piracy laws with other recordings, according to Billboard.com. The agency that manages the Beatles’ legacy, Apple, considers the release to be nothing more than a crude bootleg. The company’s representatives fear that these recordings would water down memories of the band. “Whatever it is they claim to have, it’s a bootleg tape and there was no permission... read more
Gandolfini, Washington, Travolta to star in Pelham 123
James Gandolfini, Denzel Washington and John Travolta have signed on to star in the upcoming Columbia Pictures film The Taking of Pelham 123, Variety reports. Action movie aficionado Tony Scott (Top Gun, Man on Fire) will direct the film, which is a remake of the 1978 thriller starring Walter Matthau. Washington will play a transit cop forced to go head-to-head with a group of hijackers who hold a packed subway car ransom. Travolta will play the gang’s leader, and Gandolfini's casting as the mayor of New York City was announced only yesterday. Fresh off of his Golden Globe win for... read more
Comedy legends get their due, in print and on screen
After Lenny Bruce’s daring experimentation and free-speech advocacy changed the very notion of what a comedian could be—standup wizards like Richard Pryor and George Carlin picked up the comedic baton and carried it to astounding heights in the 1970s with their brazen, witty, insightful and, of course, hilarious social commentary. Pryor’s fearless confessional style and heartfelt monologues shattered walls and fostered important discussion of race and racism, using comedy as a tool to engage taboo subjects in American culture. And Carlin’s bitingly sarcastic, anti-authoritarian diatribes tore gaping holes in the façades of polite society and its nonsensical rules, eventually finding... read more
Dolly Parton to major labels: "You're history."
Country legend Dolly Parton outdid her last major-label album Those Were the Days (2005) with her new self-released Backwoods Barbie, which hit # 2 on the U.S. album chart last week. After being dropped by Sugar Hill Records because of her decline in mainstream success, the enterprising Dollywood theme park owner culled her resources to put out an album “tailor-made” for her fan-base. As a result, digital sales made up 16 percent of the album's sales in the first week, high for a country album but not for a straight-to-fans release. "Now the majors are what they used to think... read more
The 20 Best Gadgets of the Decade…
The 17 Best Romantic Comedies This Decade
The 50 Best Albums of the Decade…
The 25 Best Movie Performances of the…
The 20 Best Live Acts of the…
Kim Taylor - Days Like this
Blind Pilot - The Story I Heard
Gregory Alan Isakov - The Moon Song
Patrick Watson - Man Like You
Punch Brothers - Punch Brothers at CMJ
David Bazan - Hard To Be
Anya Marina - Whatever You Like
