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
CocoRosie Takes Ghosthorse On Tour
With its third album set for release on April 10th, avant-sister duo CocoRosie has announced a number of spring tour dates for the US and Canada, including a previously announced appearance at Coachella on April 28th. With The Adventures of Ghosthorse And Stillborn, sisters Bianca and Sierra Casady seem poised to further push the stylistic and lyrical boundaries already considerably nudged on their first two releases, 2004’s La Maison de Mon Rêve and 2005’s Noah’s Ark. Tour stops include: April: 20 - Brooklyn, N.Y. @ Warsaw 28 - Coachella, Calif. @ Coachella Festival 29 - Los Angeles, Calif. @ El... read more
Man Man to Tour with Modest Mouse
Tonight Only: the Capital M tour with Man Man and Modest Modest Mouse Mouse. Okay, sometimes we get carried away. Regardless, indie-rock madmen Man Man will be on the road with indie-rock main men Modest Mouse later this year for a round of shows around the U.S. and Canada. The forever-touring Man Man has just left Chicago’s Shape Shoppe Studios with some new material you can read about here. And for more info on Modest Mouse, check out this month’s Paste cover story. Man Man tour dates (sans Modest Mouse): April 1 - Vancouver, British Columbia @ Richards on Richards... read more
Block Readies The Last Single Guy
Anti-folk survivor Jamie Block has been through thick and thin in Manhattan’s East Village, and thankfully for music fans everywhere, he’s lived to tell the tale. On The Last Single Guy, slated for a June 12 release on sonaBLAST! Records, Block chronicles his trials in 13 largely autobiographical songs based around one acoustic guitar, an array of live instruments and a healthy dose of sampling and vocal effects. No word yet on any touring plans to support the release, but stay tuned for more. Related links: Block’s homepage sonaBLAST! Records’ homepage ... read more
Paste Wants Your Favorite U.S. Music Venue!
Every music lover has one. That dingy hole that gets every act that is about to blow up. The classy theater with perfect sound at each show. That basement room that only fits 30 people at most, but the sweat and stuffy air is worth it. We want to hear about your favorite music venue. Let us know below. Thanks! Click here to take survey ... read more
Art Brut announce new album, mini-tour
In anticipation of their forthcoming sophomore LP, London rockers Art Brut just announced the titles to five tracks from the record, namely “Pump Up The Volume,” “Direct Hit,” “Post Soothing Out,” “Late Sunday” and first single “Nag Nag Nag Nag.” Though only a mini-tour for late April has been announced thus far, expect tons more dates throughout the summer with fellow Brits Maximo Park in tow. Tour dates include: April 17 - New York, N.Y. @ Bowery Ballroom 18 - Brooklyn, N.Y. @ Studio B 19 - Toronto, Ontario @ The Mod Club 20 - Chicago, Ill. @ Subterranean 21... read more
Flaming Lips, Killers To Grace Spidey Soundtrack
The Killers, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Wolfmother, The Flaming Lips and Snow Patrol all in the same place? Sounds like the lineup to one of this summer's star-studded festivals...or the tracklist to a killer soundtrack. On May 1, California label Record Collection will release the surprisingly stacked soundtrack to Spider-Man 3, which hits theaters everywhere three days later. On said album, the aforementioned artists join such diverse talents as stoner-rock collective Black Mountain, Aussie import Jet and the duo of Jason Schwartzman and Kirsten Dunst for 15 all-new tracks of indie rock goodness that would do even a superhero proud. Spider-Man... read more
Avett Brothers Tour Like Crazy, Release New LP
Set to release their Emotionalism LP on May 15th, the Avett Brothers will be playing a steady stream of shows around the US throughout the spring and into the summer, including a number of festival dates at events as large as Coachella and not-so-large as Boone, North Carolina’s Appalachian Roots Revival. Artists playing in support of the Avett’s oft-punkish country blues on the tour include Johnson City, Tenn.’s everybodyfields and alternative folkster Langhorne Slim. The band was featured in Paste issue 20 last year. Read it here! Tour dates include: March: 29 - Huntsville, Ala. Crossroads 30 - Nashville, Tenn.... read more
Andrew Bird To Leave Armchair, Tour
In the same week that cover subject Modest Mouse topped the Billboard 200 Chart with We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank, honorary Squirrel Nut Zipper Andrew Bird's new release Armchair Apocrypha debuted at, well...number 76. But that doesn't mean the Chicago resident doesn't have cause to celebrate. With 11,251 copies sold in its first week alone, Bird's seventh LP vaulted him into the Top 100 for the first time ever last week, and he's about to make his network television premiere April 10 on The Late Show with David Letterman before embarking on a two-month tour across the... read more
Joseph Arthur and the Lonely Astronauts to Tour North America
Joseph Arthur writes more songs than you, all of your friends, everyone you’ve ever met and Ryan Adams combined. The above paragraph is probably not at all true, but with the obligatory “Arthur is prolific” junk out of the way, we can tell you about his new tour. Two days before the release of his new album, Let’s Just Be, on April 17 (the first of two new records to be released this year), Arthur heads to Montreal with his band, the Lonely Astronauts, to kick off a 30 date tour with Stars of Track & Field supporting. Arthur and... read more
Morrissey Announces 2007 U.S. Tour
Morrissey is returning to the U.S. for a full tour for the first time in three years. Besides two isolated shows in Chicago and Pasadena, his nearly sold-out 2006 world tour skipped the states entirely. The trek will include music from the latest album, Ringleader of the Tormentors, and stops in iconic venues such as Hollywood Bowl and Madison Square Garden. London piano and drums duo KRISTEENYOUNG will support Morrissey for the entire tour. The group recently completed its fourth album, The Orphans. Official Morrissey 2007 U.S. Tour Dates: April: 27 - Stockton, Calif. @ Bob Hope Theater 28 –... read more
Wu Tang, RATM To Headline Rock The Bells
Tickets go on sale this Saturday, March 31st for Rock the Bells 2007, which in a few short years has become one of the preeminent hip-hop festivals in the country. With three core dates already scheduled and fifteen more to be announced soon, the one-day concert events will feature artists such as The Roots, Mos Def, MF Doom, and Sage Francis, among others. Headliners for the currently scheduled shows in New York and California are Rage Against the Machine (whose recent reunion now seems certain to last beyond Coachella) and Wu-Tang Clan (who reunited for Rock the Bells in 2004).... read more
Smashing Pumpkins To Tour For Zeitgeist
The Smashing Pumpkins will play their first show in six and a half years on May 22nd, 2007, at the Grand Rex in Paris, France, kicking off what is now a mostly-European tour with a few stops currently planned for North America (and more US dates in the works). After cementing their position as an alternative music powerhouse in the 1990s with albums like Siamese Dream and Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness, the Pumpkins have proven to be less prolific in the new millennium, releasing their last proper LP and playing their last show to date in 2000. In... read more
The Hold Steady Take It to the Bars
She said, “It's good to see you back in a bar band, baby.” I said, “It's great to see you're still in the bars.” And if you’re still in the bars, the world’s best bar band is coming for you. Those hard-rocking, hard-working dudes in the Hold Steady hit the road again in May for more support of 2006’s Boys and Girls in America. A trip across America and back also includes performances at both Sasquatch! and Bonnaroo festivals, with more dates promised “to come.” This is the latest in a steady flow of news flooding the news desk recently... read more
The Onion To Launch 24-Hour Newscast
As reported by Variety, The Onion will soon launch a 24-hour, ad-supported, fake-news videocast called Onion News Network, or ONN. Unlike obvious competitors “The Colbert Report” and “The Daily Show,” whose owner Viacom recently demanded that all clips from the shows be expunged from YouTube, ONN will encourage fans to post clips from its newscasts anywhere and everywhere online. Content will also be available for download as free podcasts via iTunes. For the full story, click here. Related links: The Onion’s homepage Variety.com ... read more
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