Albert Hammond Jr. covers Frank Black
In the recent past, The Strokes have paid homage to Tom Petty, appeared in a video with Guided By Voices, and performed with Eddie Vedder. In what amounts to a continuing quest to honor legendary Older Dudes of Rock, Strokes guitarist Albert Hammond Jr. has recorded a cover of Pixies frontman Frank Black’s “Old Black Drawing.” Hammond’s cover, which was recorded live at New York’s Bowery Balloom, will appear as a b-side for his new single, “In Transit.” The song appears on his solo album, Yours To Keep, and the single also features a video for “In Transit,” directed by... read more
CMJ Unveils Initial Lineup
As if you needed another reason to " Taking place Oct. 16-20, CMJ will feature everything from veteran indie rockers Spoon and Mates of State to gritty garage rockers The Dirtbombs and The Ponys. UNKLE will also be making its U.S. debut at the music marathon. And don’t worry electro-hipsters, CMJ hasn’t forgotten you either. The current lineup includes not only includes French electro-duo Justice, but also Simian Mobile Disco. So expect a lot of American Apparel and talk of “ski slopes.” In the lead up to the festival, CMJ will be announcing more bands as well as details on... read more
Paste streams Josh Ritter's new album
Test drives are win-win situations. Best case scenario, the vehicle is like a home away from home, or an extension of your own self, even though it’s really weird to imagine a human body with windshield wipers. Worst case scenario, you still to go for a nice spin in a new car, and maybe get a free pound cake or Golden Corral coupon out of the deal. Look to the right of this news update, and you will find an exclusive Paste Station test drive-like preview of Josh Ritter’s new album, The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter, out Aug. 21... read more
You Oughta Know Brandi Carlile
Certain things, though not part of formal education, should just be common knowledge; “leaves of three, let it be,” don’t buy street meat from a cart without a sink, “up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, b, a, select, start” and the awesome dynamics of Brandi Carlile’s voice. Hence, VH1’s You Oughta Know tour this fall, which Carlile is headlining in the manner of previous up-and-comers Amy Winehouse and KT Tunstall. Featuring “special guest” (is “opening band” considered derogatory, now?) A Fine Frenzy, the tour will donate 50 cents from each ticket to the CO2 emission-offsetting efforts of Reverb.... read more
Get ready for Robyn Hitchcock reissues
Were you worried that singer-songwriter Robyn Hitchcock would move forward without looking back? After all, Hitchcock has recently released Spooked and Ole! Tarantula and has even been the subject of a documentary, so wouldn’t it make sense for him to march steadily into the future? You don’t have to worry, Hitchcock fan. On October 16, North Carolina’s Yep Roc Records will release I Wanna Go Backwards, a box set that compiles expanded editions of three major Hitchcock albums from the 1980s: Black Snake Diamond Role, I Often Dream of Trains, and Eye. The set will also feature While Thatcher Mauled... read more
Damn, Sam (I Love a Ryan Adams Tour)
It’s a hard way to fall, but it’s certainly getting easier with a slew of new tour dates from Ryan Adams and the Cardinals. Chugging like Hüsker Dü on a country binge, Reckoning like a 1981 Grateful Dead, RA and Co. will blaze through like an expressway to your skull this fall and winter with an extensive run with dates in Australia, the US, Canada, and the UK. Tomorrow’s on its way and there’s always new songs to sing. So all you halloweenheads and sad draculas put down your suicide handbooks, come out of your exile on Franklin Street and... read more
Amy Winehouse goes back to bed
As starlets keep dropping like flies and frequenting jails, reports that British song-raven Amy Winehouse recently canceled a string of performances are worrying some fans. Although her management cites “extreme exhaustion,” the rumour (see what we did there?) mill is churning with allegations that Winehouse dipped her hand into the drug jar too many times. Brit publication The Times also cites the 23-year-old being admitted to the hospital on the cusp of receiving three MTV nominations. But her MySpace page still lists gigs over the next few months, so we’re not going to buckle to severe urges to quote “Rehab”... read more
Dëthkløk to unleash mega Dethalbum
Sign your pain waivers, headbangers, cause it’s about to get brutal. Spewing more venom than a cannibal corpse, causing more mayhem than a child of bodom, Dëthkløk, the face-melting, deathstars of Adult Swim’s Metalocalypse, are set to unleash the beast, the thrash, the pain, the behemoth hellhammer of Dethalbum—a record so heavy not even the entombed are safe—on Sept. 25. Featuring several new tracks (so, bloodbaths) as well as a few full-length series favorites (so, death-anthems), this disc promises to slay. For all the dirty rotten imbeciles that just can’t get enough, there will also be a deluxe edition released... read more
Of Montreal, Over the Rhine, more kid rock
Putting together a kids' compilation that both parents and children will appreciate is much harder than it sounds. First, there are the best-selling, but kinda-creepy Kidz Bop albums with all your dance-club favorites sung by pre-teens. And, really, who doesn't want to hear kids singing about an unfaithful lover on Justin Timberlake's "What Goes Around... Comes Around?" Then there are the indie noise-rock compilations that every tatoo'ed ten-year-old living in Williamsburg thinks they're supposed to love. I tested one of these on my own little focus group of three (ages eight, seven and three) and they begged me to turn... read more
Rilo Kiley talks to Paste, announces fall tour
Rilo Kiley is returning in full force for a fall tour across the States to support its upcoming (August 21) album, Under the Blacklight. While 2006 saw the release of Jenny Lewis’ first solo (or semi-solo) effort, Rabbit Fur Coat, and Blake Sennett and Jason Boesel’s other band The Elected put out its sophomore album, Sun, Sun, Sun, the group always had plans of getting back together. “We had signed a pact in blood to come back together and make a record after one year so here we are. We spilled some blood for this one,” Lewis and Sennett tell... read more
Folks get freaky in Banhart video
Hippies and the internet — they go together like peas and ferrets. In the run-up to the release of his newest album, Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon, due September 25, Devendra Banhart has been leaking small bits of the album for fans via his new website. First, the website started streaming two tracks from Smokey every Friday. And now we have a further glimpse into the life of Banhart and Co.: A new behind-the-scenes video of the writing and recording sessions for Smokey. The clip is set to "Seahorse," an eight-minute epic off the new album. The website is careful... read more
Remember Otis Redding with new live DVD
Continuing the half-centennial celebration of its own indelible influence, Memphis-based Stax Records has announced the Sept. 18 DVD release of Dreams to Remember: The Legacy of Otis Redding, which features 16 full-length television performances, never-before-seen photos from the Redding family and a new video for “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay.” According to the folks at Stax, “In the case of lip-sync performances, the original Stax master recordings have been used, replacing the original TV broadcast audio and making for a much more enjoyable viewing and listening experience.” Fascinating touch. Notably, none of the Otis Redding live clips on... read more
Kanye reveals Graduation tracklist, cover
When he's not asking hilarious, bearded comedians to make him hilarious, bearded videos, or collaborating with über-hyped indie-rock bands, or getting nominated for MTV VMA Video of the Year awards, or... Well, suffice it to say, dude's got a few things on his plate. Namely, Graduation (cover photo shown above, track list below), which comes out on September 11. The record features guest spots from Chris Martin, Mos Def and T-Pain, and (perhaps surprisingly) only two skits. It also comes out the same day as 50 Cent's Curtis, marking mid-September 2007 as a big time for hip-hop. The Chicago rapper... read more
The Stooges rock your British TV
It's one thing to just listen to the ferocious sounds of Iggy and the Stooges. Yes, your speakers may explode, and your stereo may start moshing with other home furnishings, but beyond that, it's a pretty safe experience. If, however, you are watching the band on a large, flatscreen TV, it's entirely possible that your eyes will shatter because of the visual force of Iggy Pop's insanely toned, mandatorily shirtless body. England, you have been warned; on September 17, Stooges fans from across the pond will be able to purchase Iggy Pop and The Stooges: Escaped Maniacs, a live DVD... read more
Justice nominated for VMA Video of the Year
Are animated t-shirt designs on par with the brilliance of space zeppelins, Outkast Beatlemania and homoerotic cherubs? French duo Justice’s innovative cotton-driven video for "D.A.N.C.E." has been nominated for MTV VMA Video of the Year, and is certainly closer to the "Tonight, Tonight"/"Hey Ya" ideal than 2006 winner Panic! At the Disco's derivative wedding-turned freak show for “I Write Sins Not Tragedies.” Even MTV seems surprised at its own good taste, acknowledging Justice’s place in the awards as “perhaps the biggest shock of the entire nominations field.” For the VMAs, which take place Sept. 9 in Las Vegas, Justice... read more
National Geographic harnesses music and radio
Live Earth and those fancy swirl light bulbs are supposed to make us more conscious of the third rock from the sun. Now National Geographic Ventures is grabbing another (probably organic and cruelty-free) rein of the same vein. It announced that like the ubiquitous Starbucks, it too will venture into music—but to inspire folks to care about ol’ Mother Earth. National Geographic Music and Radio (NGMR) features performances, sells $0.99 mp3s and will have syndicated radio shows alongside HD and Internet channels. Artists that are environmentally involved—Ben Harper, Jack Johnson and Peter Gabriel, for example—are and will be working with... read more
Songwriting competition offers expert judges, $$$
There you are, sitting on your couch, trying to find the remote inside a giant tub of buttered popcorn, hoping that someone will magically bring you another beer from the fridge. But then—a revelation! Inspiration invades your brain with an unprecedented force, and you bound up from your sedate lifestyle to grab a pen and paper. Ten minutes later, you have composed a song of unspeakable brilliance. A true work of genius. But what then? How do you show the world that you have just made history? You could sit back down on the couch and hope for a record... read more
Neil Young announces graphic novel
Neil Young has got a new calling: graphic novelist. The Canadian rocker has transformed his 2003 album (and subsequent film) Greendale into a graphic novel, and it will be published by DC Comics subsidiary Vertigo. How did Neil Young realize his bubble-dialogued world? He had help. Young created the work with the help of artist Sean Murphy as well as writer Joshua Dysart (who, incidentally, wrote the Avril-Lavigne-commissioned manga Make 5 Wishes, so Young’s in good hands, clearly). In other news, Charlie Kaufman is writing a script for a new pseudo-documentary called Being Neil Young, where a struggling graphic novelist... read more
New Paste podcast about Lollapalooza
August: a good month for buying school supplies and a great month for new Paste Culture Club podcasts. Today's episode features Josh and Caren discussing the Lollapalooza experience, an interview with G.Love from a Paste party in Chicago, live tracks from Great Lake Swimmers and Denison Witmer, and music from Nick Drake. Subscribe to the enhanced podcast ~ or ~ Subscribe to the mp3 podcast. ~ or ~ Download mp3 of this episode only. Related links: Paste Culture Club Official G. Love Lollapalooza.com Got news tips for Paste? Email news@pastemagazine.com ... read more
Björk announces winner of fan-made video contest
Hundreds of fans honed in on the strangely sublime to create music videos for Björk’s “Innocence” – not merely for viral video fame but to be dubbed “official” by the Icelandic genre-detonator herself. Announced today, the winner is a CGI-rendered piece by French pair Fred&Annabelle, who “caught Björk for being close to the music and emotion of the song.” Such a connection was effectively attained through kaleidoscopic colors that pulse to the electro thumps like nightmarish Windows Media visuals, as a giant stuffed bear and baby doll loom over Björk like those creepy esper-things from Akira. You can check out... read more
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