Over the Rhine makes Snow Angels
It’s astounding how few new Christmas songs stick onto the flypaper of traditional holiday music. Every year artists rehash oldies with more sugar than yearly soda reinventions of Cherry Vanilla More Adjectives cola. But Over the Rhine elicits both cheer—“Snowed In With You”—and gloom—“All I Get For Christmas Is Blue”—on the new tradition-straying Snow Angels, slated for October. The bluesy couple puts a new twist on “O Little Town of Bethlehem,” a response to a fan’s photo of their lyrics spray-painted on a Bethlehem wall. Even a Charles Schultz tribute appears. So when your snot freezes, sneak in some Snow... read more
Bruce Springsteen makes Magic in October
No, he hasn't relegated himself to performing card tricks or pulling cute, fuzzy creatures out of cartoonishly large head garments. Rather, Bruce Springsteen will release Magic, his first studio recording with the E Street Band in five years, on October 2 via Columbia Records. Produced and mixed by reclusive industry veteran Brendan O'Brien (Pearl Jam, Neil Young, Aimee Mann, Bob Dylan and, um, Limp Bizkit) at Southern Tracks Recording Studio in Atlanta, Ga., Magic is O'Brien and Springsteen's third project together. Although not much is known about Magic outside of the above two paragraphs and a Rolling Stone interview with... read more
New Order spars as Corbijn exudes Control
[Above: Sam Riley as Ian Curtis and Joe Anderson as Peter Hook in Anton Corbijn's Control] Amidst an ongoing rift between New Order's Bernard Sumner and Peter Hook, Control, Anton Corbijn's film based on their former band, Joy Division, is slated for U.S. Release on October 10. Based on Deborah Curtis' memoir (Touching From a Distance) about life with her troubled husband Ian, Control follows the Joy Division frontman from the early days of adulthood to his untimely death at age 23 in 1980. Control also marks the feature film debut for Corbijn, an avid Joy Division fan who left... read more
Regina Spektor announces fall tour
For those of you beginning to hope for a Regina Spektor tour, things just got better. Spektor has announced a 26 fall dates in support of Begin to Hope, her disarming 2006 record. The quirky chanteuse will also have a performance featured on PBS’ Austin City Limits, set to air in early 2008. And on August 28, Sire Records will release a re-cut version of “Better,” the second single off Begin to Hope. Those dates: September 16 - Austin, Texas @ Austin City Limits Festival 19 - Baltimore, Md. @ Ram's Head Live 25 - Northampton, Mass. @ Calvin Theater... read more
MusicFest NW comp. features exclusive Deerhunter
Musicfest Northwest has one major advantage over Musicfest Colorado, Musicfest Arizona and Musicfest Australia – a rhyming name. And, believe it or not, the party doesn’t stop there. The Portland-based event, which goes down Sept. 6-9, has a magnificently diverse lineup, best highlighted by this year’s official compilation. Have a looksee: MusicFest NW Vol. 2 1. So Post All ‘Em – YACHT 2. None Shall Pass – Aesop Rock 3. Shitty Future – The Bronx 4. Returning To The Fold – The Thermals 5. The Underdog – Spoon 6. 1,000,000 Feet Below – Herman Jolly 7. Westward Ho – Richmond... read more
Jazz pioneer Max Roach dead at 83
Legendary jazz drummer Max Roach died in his sleep last night in New York City. He was 83 years old. An innovator of the highest level, Roach was one of the first jazz musicians to coax lyricism out of the drums. Roach ushered in a new expressive style of percussion in jazz, and subsequently all of pop music. One of bebop’s founding members, Roach performed alongside Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespee, and appeared on numerous seminal recordings in the 1940s and 1950s, among them Miles Davis’ Birth of the Cool, Thelonious Monk’s Genius of Modern Music: Volume 2, and Bud... read more
Paste editor hails the King on NPR
Elvis Presley died three decades ago to the date, making this year’s media-rehashing of his legacy a legitimately notable one. Thus, Paste Editor-at-large Jay Sweet discussed Elvis’s cultural impact during NPR’s “On Point,” alongside a Nashville USA Today correspondent, a Duke University professor of African-American studies and the president of the Elvis Fever Fan Club – apparently one of eight trillion Elvis fanclubs in operation (the one in Istanbul calls it self “Elvis is in Istanbul Now”). “He’s one of the touchstones that I think anyone who’s trying to reach the cultural paradigm will go back to,” Sweet argues. Related... read more
Amoeba offers free Gram Parsons track, more
One week deadlines can be difficult to remember. Eons away, they seem, until suddenly you’ve got $100 in Blockbuster charges, un-redeemable Six Flags coupons and food poison. Keeping that in mind, you might as well go ahead and take care of this now: for one week only, through August 23, newly launched Amoeba Records is handing out free MP3s like Sam’s Club sausage-ball samples. Only two of them, mind you, but they’re pretty swell: Brandi Shearer’s “Lullabies” from her upcoming album, Close to Dark (Aug. 28) and a never-before-heard (by anyone not at the April 4, 1969 concert) Gram Parsons... read more
Kanye, Pharrell, and Lupe Fiasco plan supergroup
Kanye West has been on our minds lately. Then again, when you're one of the biggest MCs in the game and you put Daft Punk and Peter, Bjorn and John on your mixtape, it's hard for us to not pay attention. The Can’t Tell Me Nothing mixtape also included a song from something called CRS (Child Rebel Soldiers), which features Lupe Fiasco and Pharrell Williams doing their things over a Thom Yorke sample. Now, Lupe Fiasco is telling Billboard.com that he, Kanye and Williams are looking to do an entire album as CRS. The word "supergroup" gets tossed around liberally... read more
Behind-the-scenes peek at Daptone Studios
Let your eyes linger on the seductive soundboards, spinning tape and meticulous self-preening of Brooklyn’s Daptone studios in this three-minute glimpse into the making of Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings' 100 Days, 100 Nights, out October 2 on what else but Daptone Records. Sadly, this video lacks substantial tomfoolery. “Playing with Amy is cool, but playing with Sharon is an experience,” the Dap-Kings told Spinner after working with tabloid-ubiquitous British soulstress Amy Winehouse. “There is a lot spontaneous stuff going on with Sharon. You never know where she is going to go with a tune, so the band has to... read more
New Elton John documentary slated for fall
You’ve been losing trivia nights ever since Pop-Up Video and Behind the Music went off the air, haven’t you? Well, here’s a tidbit you can use to impress your friends: Reginald Dwight is the name behind the myth, the man and the geometrically-inclined-sunglasses-wearing Sir Elton John. Someone Like Me, a new documentary about the knighted rocker, is chock full of everything they warned us about during high school assemblies — drug addictions, depression and tantrums. A lesser man would have caved years ago. But after 60 years and over 200 million in album sales, John just keeps on providing ripe... read more
Thurston Moore tours for trees
When Thurston Moore's not busy being an awesome rock star, getting his hair cut by his awesome rock star wife, running an awesome label, or doing other awesome things that people named Thurston do, he does occasionally performs live as a solo artist. And he'll be doing just that this fall with a series of dates in support of his first solo album since 1995, trees outside the academy. As previously reported, the album comes out on September 18 via Moore's own Ecstatic Peace! imprint, and thanks to said label's website, you can download five tracks from the release: "Frozen... read more
Trent Reznor pitching/planning television show
According to numerous reports, the most-relevant dark prince of rock and sole proprietor of Nine Inch Nails, Trent Reznor, is developing a television series based on his latest album, Year Zero. Reznor told a U.K. magazine, "We’re about to pitch it to the network, so we’re a couple of weeks away from meeting all of the main people, and we’ll see what happens. We may record a new soundtrack for the show. We’ll see, but there’s already the Year Zero record attached to the story.” Whether or not Reznor himself will star in the show is undetermined, but we can... read more
Frank Black releases digital-only tracks
Apple iTunes is not one of life’s absolute necessities, but it is the only way you can hear a handful of new tracks from ex-Pixies frontman Frank Black and his band. That’s just the way it is, ain’t no legal way around it. The five-song playlist features two Black originals and a trio of covers, one of a Tom Waits song. Surely this is just one of the oodles and oodles of things Black has in common with Scarlett Johansson. Black recently released a solo career retrospective, titled 93-03. His next album, called Bluefinger and credited to Black Francis, drops... read more
Kanye features Lil' Wayne on new album track
As September 11 nears, the pomp and circumstance surrounding Kanye West’s Graduation keeps getting bigger. West, who will grace the cover of Paste’s upcoming issue, already had famous singers (Chris Martin, T-Pain), famous artists (Takashi Murakami) and famous robots/DJs (Daft Punk) involved with his new album, but apparently he’s not done. Less than a month before the record’s release, MTV.com is reporting that Lil’ Wayne will make an appearance with West on a newly announced track, “Barry Bonds,” which uses the new baseball homerun king as a metaphor for West’s ability to create music hits (the chorus goes: “Here’s... read more
Oasis tour film coming out in October
Oasis has announced the upcoming release of Lord Don’t Slow Me Down, a film documenting the band’s 2005 world tour. Director Baillie Walsh followed Oasis through 26 countries, as the Gallagher Bros. & Co. performed for over two million fans, and he was even granted special access along the way. The DVD, due out October 29, features high definition concert footage, interviews, fan-submitted photos of the band, plus the band’s own audio commentary track (which, to us, sounds like some serious Spinal Tap potential). In addition, the film features a new track, “Lord Don’t Slow Me Down,” that plays over... read more
Wannabe spacemen replace Ryan Adams at moe.down
Those who booked moe.down tickets in anticipation of the knee-tappin', alt.country of Ryan Adams will have to trade in their comfortable denim-based wardrobes for zany electric silver space-tuxedos (or no shirts whatsoever) a la replacement headliner Satellite Party, led by former Jane’s Addiction/Porno for Pyros frontman and Lollapalooza founder Perry Farrell. moe. cites “personal reasons” as the explanation for Adams and the Cardinals' cancellation, eagerly welcoming a spot-filler that will create a wildly different ambiance. “Jane’s Addiction was a huge influence when moe. first got together,” stated moe.’s Al Schnier, adding that Lollapalooza was equally inspirational for his own... read more
Yoko Ono grants iTunes access to Lennon catalog
Time for someone to take the well-known John and Yoko “Think Different” ad and photoshop a pair of iPods in place of the flowers. While the Beatles catalogue and Apple Inc still don’t live in peace, sixteen of Lennon’s EMI solo albums are now available in the iTunes music store. It’s the third batch of Beatle-member music made downloadable through the medium, following Paul McCartney’s in May and Ringo Starr’s in June. According to the BBC, George Harrison’s widow “recently said an agreement to put the band’s recordings online (is) ‘imminent.’” For a 30-day period, “exclusive video content” is included... read more
Midlake tour closes out the summer
Somehow, the final days of summer 2007 are just around the corner. Depending on who, where and how old you are, maybe it’s depressing and maybe it isn’t - likelier the former if you didn’t swim but once and failed to make it out to any decent shows (besides your buddy’s open mic gig at in some wretchedly hot bar basement). Ah, refreshing! The folks in Midlake will make the fall transition easier during a short headlining tour this September, continuing to promote their second album, The Trials of Van Occupanther, released over one year ago on Bella Union Records.... read more
T.I. and Dead Prez join the Entourage
Where does Dead Prez play next to T.I., with Gnarls Barkley between the two? No, not on your iPod or on that "totally sweet" mix cd you made for that girl in English class (who, I'm sorry to break the news to you, never listened past the second track anyhow). No, the answer is on the new Entourage soundtrack album. With the incredibly catchy album title Entourage - Music from and Inspired by the Hit HBO Original Series, you know it must be good. Or that it must, at the very least, be music from or inspired by the hit,... read more
