Dr Pepper offers free soda for GNR's Democracy in 2008
Sometimes love for a particular kind of art transcends all societal boundaries and expectations. Case in point: It seems even employees at soft drink conglomerates are becoming frustrated over the wait for the next Guns N' Roses album. Speculations for the cost of the still-forthcoming followup to the GNR 1993 covers collection The Spaghetti Incident run in the $13 million range. Entitled Chinese Democracy, it's had several rumored and announced release dates, the most recent of which was March of last year, but no album has actually followed. After more than a decade, Axl Rose, the man responsible for Paste's... read more
Numero Group releases No-Hitter trading card series
Chicago’s Numero Group is releasing a series of No-Hitter trading cards featuring various artists from label’s catalog. This is great news for those of us who never had any interest in baseball cards (or sports in general), but always longed to join in the school yard swap meets every day during recess. We can finally join in the collecting fervor by searching for that elusive Man Child Singers card, or trading a friend a duplicate Helene Smith card for his Jack & the Mods. Hey, no backsies! The Numero Group has a long-standing tradition of spotlighting little-known artists from all... read more
She & Him kick off spring with some NY & CA
Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward will be making a few appearances at both coasts, with dates in New York City, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Although the dates are few, the duo of She & Him prefer to keep their fans in suspense, announcing tour dates two and three at a time. No matter, though—for those two we would wait at least as long as it takes to savor a Whole Foods chicken salad, if not longer. Not up for the road trip? She & Him will also be appearing on NPR’s Fresh Air this afternoon at 3 p.m. and... read more
The Feelies plan reunion shows
Idolator recently reported that alt-rock pioneers The Feelies will play a few shows in the New Jersey and New York area over July 4th weekend (including one opening for Sonic Youth in Central Park). If the rumors are true, the shows will be the group’s first appearance since 1991, when frontman Bill Million abruptly moved to Florida, thus dissolving the band. The Feelies crafted an unpretentious and layer-oriented sound that influenced R.E.M., Robert Christgau and Garden State writer Rick Moody. The band’s live shows are reportedly not-to-be-missed, so if you’re in the tri-state area, keep your head up and keep... read more
Elvis Costello goes vinyl/digital-only with April release
Elvis Costello, longtime utilizer of easily-deluxified compact discs for his expanded re-issues and re-issued expanded re-issues thereof, announced this week that his forthcoming album, Momofuku, will only play via the grooves of a vinyl platter and the miniature orchestras inside every computer. The vinyl/digital-format-only release will be available April 22 on Lost Highway, with the tried-and-true trick of including a download code with the vinyl to sway people toward having physical evidence of their love for the bespectacled icon. As for that alternating consonant-vowel title, Rolling Stone reported that it may be named after David Chang’s restaurants in New York:... read more
Nada Surf teams up with MySpace for Transmissions
Someday, an incisive cultural critic will write an epic book about the extraordinary transformation of music production, distribution and promotion over the last few years. Actually, that “epic book” will likely be a blog post, and that “incisive cultural critic” will likely be a 16-year-old kid. But regardless of who documents the changes, they are definitely taking place. In the most recent iteration, Nada Surf (whom Paste profiled earlier this year) has teamed up with MySpace on the social networking site’s Transmissions project. The band recorded seven songs live, and the videos are available on the Transmissions site, as well... read more
Josh Ritter tours this spring, haunts our sleep
Josh Ritter is going on tour; ah, the stuff that dreams are made of. Last time he went on a little jaunt, Ritter let us read his diary. We didn’t even have to go sneaking into his hotel room, digging under mattresses to find it. Dawn Landes is currently supporting his dates in the Netherlands and United Kingdom. Ritter will then return to the U.S. and join forces with Hilary Hahn. A Grammy-winning violinist, Hahn was the soloist in the score for The Village, among many other ventures. Langhorne Slim and Ingrid Michaelson will also be stopping in for a... read more
The Kills: Midnight Boom
Growing up on the playgrounds of Long Beach... read more
Destroyer: Trouble in Dreams
Trouble in Dreams’ opening track posits the album as... read more
Daniel Lanois Tells it Like it 'Is'
With a hand in works ranging from U2’s The Joshua Tree and Peter Gabriel’s So to Emmylou Harris’ Wrecking Ball and his own equally elegant (if less ubiquitous) solo work, artist/producer Daniel Lanois is... read more
B-52s: Funplex
Direct hit or off target? Two writers debate... read more
Ted Leo hits the road with Pearl Jam for six dates
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists will be sharing the stage with Pearl Jam for a handful of summer concerts. Leo's crew will open for Eddie Vedder and Co. for six shows in June, two of them at New York City’s Madison Square Garden. Such behemoth venues are unusual for Leo and his bandmates, but not unheard of. While the band may be better known for its intimate club performances, the Pharmacists also did a two-month tour stint with Death Cab for Cutie in 2006. In the meantime, Leo will be heading to Europe in April for a string of solo... read more
Fanboys galvanizes fanboys against Harvey Weinstein
Movie mogul Harvey Weinstein's got a new nickname. Previously labeled "Harvey Scissorhands" because of his notorious tactics with film editing, he's gone on to be compared to another famous movie character who's ambiguously amoral, but probably tends a little further toward outright evil than Edward Scissorhands. "Stop Darth Weinstein form ruining the movie Fanboys!" reads a header on one of the many grassroots sites now dedicated to preserving the original version of the Weinstein Co. movie Fanboys. Vader or not, Weinstein and his company are now entangled in turmoil (perhaps of the intergalactic variety?) surrounding the film they signed onto... read more
How well does M. Ward know Zooey Deschanel?
Singer/songwriter and producer M. Ward spent a lot of time with actress/musician Zooey Deschanel (Almost Famous, All the Real Girls, Elf) while working on Volume One, the first record from their delightful new project... read more
Billy Corgan talks about Virgin lawsuit
Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan recently discussed the band's lawsuit against Virgin Records for allowing the use of their songs in Pepsi and Amazon.com commercials. "I'm sure they indicated to Pepsi that they had a right to do this, full well knowing they do not have the right," Corgan said told Billboard. The band filed a lawsuit last week against Virgin stating that the company's commercial appropriation “irreparably harmed” Smashing Pumpkins' “reputation and goodwill” with their fans. Although several ads featuring Pumpkins songs surfaced during the band's five-year hiatus, the band's main quarrel lies with unauthorized uses of its music.... read more
Beale Street Festival announces mind-boggling lineup
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. Lou Reed, Buddy Guy and Fergie walk into a Memphis bar… Actually, there’s no joke here. This is an actual possibility at the Beale Street Music Festival taking place in Memphis this May. As part of the larger Memphis in May International Festival, The Beale Music Festival will bring over 65 artists from practically every genre to Tom Lee Park in Memphis over the over the May 2-4 weekend. The festival has lined up an impressive collection of music’s elder statesmen/women like Aretha Franklin, Lou Reed, Buddy Guy, Santana and Bettye LaVette.... read more
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
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Blind Pilot - The Story I Heard
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Punch Brothers - Punch Brothers at CMJ
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