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
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... 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
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... 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
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