The Rapture Play with Shiny Toy Guns
Oh, the noise, the funk. This time, it's being brought to you courtesy of the boys in that New-York-based, genre-spanning foursome, The Rapture. Currently finishing up some dates in exotic, far away places like Australia and Japan, the band just announced a co-headlining tour with Universal Motown labelmates Shiny Toy Guns starting later this month. Speaking of Shiny Toy Guns, you may want to check out the current Paste Band of the Week. And if you still can’t get enough, here, for your viewing pleasure, are the latest videos from the two bands: The Rapture – “Pieces of the People... read more
Springsteen Honored At Music For Youth Benefit
Following in the footsteps of last fall’s tribute to Bob Dylan, Carnegie Hall will once again play host to a slew of artists playing the music of yet another rock & roll legend, this time honoring the Boss himself. Steve Earle, M. Ward, Josh Ritter, Jewel, and (of course) the Hold Steady are among the artists scheduled to perform this Thursday, April 5th, at the concert honoring Bruce Springsteen’s contribution to rock and benefiting the Music For Youth initiative. Tickets may or may not still be available, but you can always try. Music For Youth strives to bring music education... read more
James Brown
From the moment you turned onto New York’s 125th Street, you could feel the love in the air. read more
Brandi Carlile
Brandi Carlile and twin brothers Tim and Phil Hanseroth jump down off the cramped stage... read more
Wilco to Tour for Sky Blue Sky
Wilco heads out on the road to support the May 15 release of its new album, Sky Blue Sky, later this month. Read more about the album here, and also check out Paste Editor-at-Large Jay Sweet’s interview with Mr. Tweedy. 2007 Wilco tour dates: April 6 - Chicago, IL @ The Vic Theatre (Jeff Tweedy solo) 16 - Brisbane, Australia @ The Tivoli 18 - Melbourne, Australia @ The Palais Theatre 19 - Melbourne, Australia @ The Palais Theatre 21 - Sydney, Australia @ Enmore Theatre 22 - Perth, Australia @ Metropolis Fremantle May 19 - Somerset, England @ Butlins... read more
37th Bumbershoot Announced in Seattle
Add yet another festival to your already crowded summer concert plans. Bumbershoot: Seattle’s Music and Arts Festival returns under the shadow of the Space Needle this Labor Day weekend for it’s 37th year, featuring the Shins, Steve Earle, Magnolia Electric Co. and Wu-Tang Clan, among others. The three day festival (September 1 – 3) also features movies, theater, comedy, poster contests, literary arts and dance on 20 indoor and outdoor stages in the Seattle Center. Three day passes are available for $75 through August 17, and will be $95 after that. Single day passes are also available. Check Bumbershoot.org for... read more
Stevie Nicks To Join Chris Isaak On Tour
Hot on the heels of last week’s “Best Of” CD/DVD release Crystal Visions, rock goddess Stevie Nicks just announced that she’ll join labelmate Chris Isaak for a month-long U.S. tour this summer. Nicks will precede this string of dates with appearances on NBC’s Today Show on March 30 and The Ellen DeGeneres Show on April 23. Tour dates include: May 17 - Concord, Calif. @ Sleep Train Amphitheatre 19 - Los Angeles, Calif. @ Greek Theatre 20 - Los Angeles, Calif. @ Greek Theatre 23 - San Diego, Calif. @ Coors Amphitheatre 25 - San Jacinto, Calif. @ Soboba... read more
Beck Releases Limited Run Shoulder Bag
Like Beck? Love satchels? Then design firm Jeremyville’s limited edition Beck Sketchel just might be your (shoulder) bag. With original artwork by Frenchman Genevieve Gauckler, the ultra-chic accessory follows in the wake of the “design your own album cover” concept behind Beck’s latest release, The Information. The $90 bag is available in the U.S. only at Beck.com, so get yours now or forever be stuck with that eggplant L.L. Bean you’ve been sporting since fifth grade. Related links: Jeremyville’s homepage Beck’s homepage Beck on MySpace ... read more
Tegan & Sara Ready The Con
After a healthy period of rest and relaxation following the breakout success of 2004’s So Jealous, Canada’s Tegan & Sara are back, in every sense of the word. Though the nonstop touring behind So Jealous may have worn the twin sisters out, Tegan and Sara spent several months apart, each writing and recording the foundations from which their newest record would be built. Co-produced by Chris Walla of Death Cab and Decemberists fame, The Con will hit stores July 24 via Neil Young’s Vapor Records. Before embarking on a national theatre tour in October, Tegan and Sara will hit the... read more
Mavis Staples Returns To Apollo Theater
As previously reported, gospel icon Mavis Staples will make her Anti- Records debut on April 24 with the surprisingly incendiary We’ll Never Turn Back. On the heels of this much-anticipated release comes an equally historic two-night stand at Harlem’s renowned Apollo Theater on May 14 and 15. Nearly 50 years after first taking the storied stage with the Staple Singers, Mavis will again grace the Harlem venue. For the aforementioned two nights only, the original Freedom Singers, drummer Jim Keltner , bassist Mike Elizando and producer/guitarist Ry Cooder, all of whom play on the new record, will back Staples... read more
Possibly Made Up: Keith Richards Snorted His Dad
UPDATE: Apparently, the leathery old guy was just kidding. We're not sure if we buy it or not, but here is a story where a Rolling Stones representative denies the whole thing. -- You’d think that in all of his 63 years, the humanoid known as Keith Richards would have put just about everything possible up his nose. But if you thought that, while you’re probably close to the truth, you’ll still likely be surprised by a new development in the drug saga that is Keef’s life. According to a MSN.com article, Richards recently told NME that the strangest thing... read more
Richard Thompson Plugs In For Sweet Warrior
Guitar god Richard Thompson is back and, for the first time since 2003’s The Old Kit Bag, sporting an electric axe. Sweet Warrior, slated for a May 29 release by Shout! Factory, is the Londoner’s first album of all-new material in nearly two years and features appearances by frequent collaborators Danny Thompson, Michael Jerome, Judith Owen and Sara Watkins of Nickel Creek. As a whole, the record plays like a book of short stories, each with its own set of characters, including a mournful widower, a dissolute husband and wife and a young soldier stationed in Baghdad in the unabashedly... read more
Paste & the Pops
As national print media sponsor, Paste is proud to announce the line-up for this year's "Pops on the Edge" series from American music icon, the Boston Pops. Paste Issue 15 cover artist Ben Folds will kick things off on May 9. Other longtime Paste favorites in the series are the Cowboy Junkies (June 23-24) and M. Ward & Friends (June 26-27). The 122-year-old institution launched "Pops on the Edge" last year with performances from Aimee Mann, Elvis Costello and My Morning Jacket. The concerts will also feature world-premiere performances by young composers creating orchestral music for the iPod generation. Twenty-five-year-old... read more
Take the Hold Steady Out to the Ball Game
We’re going to start a new section of PasteMagazine.com dedicated solely to news of the Hold Steady. Not really, but in continuation of the band’s news overload, the rockers that seem to be everywhere are going out to the ballpark. The Metrodome to be exact. According to MTV.com, the Minnesota Twins’ musical director asked the band to record a version of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” to be played between innings at Twins home games. Listen to the Hold Steady’s version of the song on the band’s MySpace page. Related links: The Hold Steady’s site Info on the... read more
Psych-Rocker Roky Erickson Gets Film Treatment
Few lives are as fascinating, as troubled or as influential as that of musical pioneer Roky Erickson, whose 13th Floor Elevators originally coined the term "psychedelic rock." With Erickson finally out of the hospital and back in the music business, it's due time the Texas native received his just deserve in the form of an equally volatile documentary. Thankfully, Keven McAlester's directorial debut, You're Gonna Miss Me, is exactly that. The film, recently nominated for a 2007 Independent Spirit Award for Best Documentary, details the rise and fall of Erickson, every drugged-out step of the way. Though You're Gonna Miss... read more
Billy Joe Shaver Releases Record, Possibly Involved in Shooting
Billy Joe Shaver has been busy the last few days. He releases a new record today. And he is charged with aggravated assault stemming from a shooting outside a Texas bar, according to Austin360.com. As reported today on the site for the Austin American-Statesman, the shooting occurred Saturday night outside Papa Joe’s Texas Saloon in Lorena, Texas—89 miles north of Austin. A man, whose name has not been released, is listed in stable condition in a Texas hospital after being shot in the cheek. Joe Turner, a lawyer for Shaver, said the Texas singer-songwriter acted in self-defense, that the man... read more
Future Clouds & Radar To Release Sprawling Debut
When Texas musician Robert Harrison experienced a debilitating spine injury in 2002, he didn't let the pain get him down. Though bed-ridden for nearly two years, Harrison made the most of his time, intricately crafting a double-disc song cycle of psychedelic pop entirely in his head. Thanks to a number of dream sequences, a healthy dose of meditation and a ukulele given to him as a birthday present by his five-year-old daughter, the end-product of Harrison's lengthy recuperation is not a bad case of entropy, both muscular and musical, but instead the forthcoming debut from Hill Country, Texas, collective Future... read more
Ulrich Schnauss Emerges From Three Years In Studio
After three years holed up in his hometown of Kiel, Germany, shoegaze stalwart and laptop aficionado Ulrich Schnauss recently emerged from the studio for long enough to announce that his newest material will, in fact, see the light of day. On July 10, Domino will release Goodbye, Schnauss' third proper LP under his own name and first since 2003's indietronica masterpiece, A Strangely Isolated Place. Word has it the new record is more spacious, more psychedelic and more, well, awesome than its predecessor. At times, Goodbye boasts more than 100 separate audio tracks playing simultaneously to create a so-called "tower... read more
Listening to My Life: Bob Dylan
I think Jesse Colin Young mostly got it right... read more
4 to Watch: Paper Route
Stereotypical early-morning Nashville... read more
