Pages tagged “record release”

We here at Paste have lied awake more than a few cold nights this past year pacing back and forth through the hall waiting for something new to come from Band of the Week alum Bishop Allen. Sure, it's only been a little over a year, but we find ourselves lost without the group's soothing melodies, clever lyricism and indie-film sensibility in our daily lives. And we like the slap-in-the-face of oversaturation (the band released one EP in each month of 2006). We were so inspired we decided to come out with one magazine for every month of the year. (That is, except December and January, because they're simply too cute together. Who could keep those crazy kids apart?)

She might be most famous for fronting family band The Staple Singers, a group often credited with providing a spiritual soundtrack to the civil rights movement, but Mavis Staples has been releasing solo work with the same soulful ferocity since the late '60s. And it's about time you noticed.

If there were a musical Olympics, Canadian artist Chad VanGaalen would be its Michael Phelps. As VanGaalen crouches on the starting block awaiting the Sept. 9 release of his third LP, Soft Airplane, let's check out his stats.

The Gonzo Tapes: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson, a five-disc collection of Thompson’s frenzied ramblings, speed freakouts, and drug-addled insights into The American Psyche will see the light of day for the first time on Oct. 28. The tapes document what Thompsonites consider the high point of the Dr. of Journalism's career ('65-'75), featuring notes and interviews that led to Hell’s Angels and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, as well as numerous unfinished or aborted articles on disparate topics like Sigmund Freud's cocaine habit and the end of the Vietnam war. So expect a lot of unfiltered ramblings about acid freaks, the Death of the American Dream, marrywanna, and—of course—The Fear.

Coldplay is starting to get too good at its job. At the writing session for Viva La Vida, Chris Martin and Co. got a little overzealous, writing too much to fit on one album. The tracks that were left off Viva La Vida might make an appearance as another album as soon as next year.

Mike Skinner likes to blog. Let's rephrase. Mike Skinner loves to blog. This is great, especially for hardcore Streets fans that can't get enough of his crazy stories about drum machines and gambling. However, it is often the case that we have no idea what he is talking about. Exhibit A:

"I made a demand earlier this week that I wouldn't allow anyone to take my photo in front of anything incorporating modern life...We ended up standing by a tree right by a main road. It's going to look great. Like it could have been a million years ago."

A.C. Newman doesn't have any novel erotica for the masses just yet, but he's more than willing to serve up a guilty verdict on his own complicity in the erosion of Puritanical values. Specifically, Get Guilty, the second solo offering from the New Pornographer's leading man.

"Always the bridesmaid, never the bride." Comfortingly, this little gem of self-pity is finally going to move beyond the clutches of a mouthwash industry preying on the manufactured fears of early 20th-century women (post-feminism at work, people). And who better to carry that torch than The Decemberists, with a series of singles planned for release in the next few months?

You know, sometimes the Indigo Girls get a little tired of the same old thing, and they really need something new and exciting to keep that zest and spice in their lives. Maybe they want to make a change, simplify. Maybe they want to release their next album as an independent rather than on a major label.

Your playlist could potentially soon have 27 more Yo La Tengo tunes from four different movie soundtracks all by way of one album, They Shoot, We Score. The disc, which is available for pre-order on the band’s website, is an instrumental compilation from the movies to which YLT has contributed music, comprising nearly an hour altogether.

The hunger for new music in the current Internet culture, as well as the lengths artists go to counter it, might be getting a bit out of hand. Ben Folds purposely leaked one half of his own album. Deerhunter's Bradford Cox accidentally leaked his own album and set the Internet abuzz. Lil Wayne's Carter III leaked somewhere between three and 237 times during the three years he was making it.

Number 35 was a respectable showing for the Scandinavian triumvirate known as Peter, Bjorn and John. That was the numerical assessment that the Singin' Swedes (© Paste 2008)* received for Writer's Block, an album that featured the whistlingest tune of the millennium.

Apparently, Jeff Tweedy "kinda hate[s]" all six of Wilco's albums to date. That's right, according to Billboard.com, Tweedy recently told Albany N.Y. radio station WAMC, "none of them are a statement that I would be comfortable making right now at this point in my life. They all served their purpose, and in that respect I'm proud of all of them." What does he plan on doing about this newfound distaste for all things Wilco pre-mid-2007? Record another album, of course.

Much like love, Jay Bennett-related material tends to come in spurts. The timeline of releases:

2002: Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (Bennett's last album with the group) and his collaboration with Edward Burch, The Palace at 4 A.M., hit store shelves.
2004: Solo efforts Bigger Than Blue and The Beloved Enemy arrive within months of each other.
2006: The Magnificent Defeat completes Bennett's solo trilogy.

Ever since the ancient times, it has been said a son shall carry on a father's legacy. Luke Skywalker didn't do so well, but Shooter Jennings is here to pick up the slack. And all the proof you need is the upcoming album, Waylon Forever.

[Above: the album art for Everything That Happens Will Happen Today]

David Byrne and Brian Eno are still making sweet music together, even when they’re on separate continents. The digital fruits of their second collaboration, Everything That Happens Will Happen Today, is available online for download today at EverythingThatHappens.com.

Without a doubt, Gringo Star was the most dramatic act at Atlanta's 2008 Corndogorama. When they overshot the end of their set time by more than 20 minutes, the sound technicians at the outdoor stage pulled the plug on all their equipment-- microphones, amps, P.A., lights, everything. The fit that followed seemed justified to the enthralled audience: It was an unfairly premature end to one of the most enjoyable sets of the weekend, but it certainly was a spectacle.

On Feb. 6, 2007, songstress Patty Griffin performed an invitation-only show in New York City on the same day that her album Children Running Through was released. Joining her on stage for one night only were keyboardist Ian McLagan and a string quintet.

Danger Mouse and Cee-Lo aren't often (or ever, really) described as musical minimalists. Apple is more or less the gold standard in simplicity. So when the Gnarls Barkley pair recorded a live five-song EP at the Apple store in SoHo, it could have resulted in almost anything.

Chances are, if you're reading this story, you're a U2 fan. Not merely because a news item with the phrase "New U2 album" in its headline tends to attract followers of Bono and Co., but also because U2 is a quintessential Paste band. Just look at that poll on the lefthand side of your screen (scroll down a bit...to the bottom of the page). That poll was supposed to be about Brian Eno, but those sneaky Irish gentlemen up and stole the whole show! At the time of this writing, The Joshua Tree is straight up annihilating its Eno-affiliated competition by a margin of 19% or more. Well played, U2. Well. Played.

Ben Kweller will release his fourth album, Changing Horses, in January 2009. Kweller will album-tease us all with newly announced fall tour dates leading up to the fresh release.

What's on your resume? You can type 80 words per minute? You can tap dance? Well, Adrian Thaws (AKA: Tricky) has made an album NME deemed the best of an entire year and played in a band that made Rob Gordon's top five singles of all-time list in High Fidelity. So yeah, he's not really sweating it either.

Not that we were betting against it, but it turns out that Paste Emergent artist Ingrid Michaelson has got some philanthropic game to go along with those cooing acoustic tracks she self-released last September on breakout Girls and Boys.

Bradford Cox sure writes some fun blog posts. We've said it before and we'll very likely say it again as long as he keeps updating, but it's unlikely that dude was bad at sharing as a child. And as long as he keeps making music, he'll eventually steal the Golden Belt of Prolificacy away from Robert Pollard, Ryan Adams or whomever else is flaunting it these days.

Everyone's soon-to-be favorite tuxedo-sporting, Big-Boi-beloved cybergirl Janelle Monáe is finally gearing up to release the next installment of her multi-suite Metropolis project.  The upcoming Paste cover gal will release Metropolis: The Chase Suite (Special Edition) Aug. 12, the follow-up to last year's, Metropolis: Suite I of IV.

[Above: Brian May with his Honorary Fellowship from Liverpool John Moores University]

Between this day and the next, an ethereal luminescence will pour down from the sky, twisting into view just after sundown in the west, before sunrise in the east. Some will imagine it a false dawn; the more paranoid will assume UFO. But astronomers now understand this nightly celestial secretion, the Zodiacal Light, to be sunlight reflected off space debris near the center of the solar system.

At long last, Metallica's ninth studio album is wrapped up (complete with apropos cover art) and has an official release date: Sept. 12th. Always ones to push the envelope before shredding it into oblivion, they've decided to release it on a Friday, bucking the usual trend of Monday-Tuesday release cycles for albums. Metallica will likely be making the entire album playable on Guitar Hero III that day as well, so attentive gamers should keep their ear to the ground.

Todd Snider's birthday is Oct. 11, and he wants to give us a present.

A free download of his latest, Peace Queer, will be availible from Oct. 11-31 on his website.  The eight-track EP will be available in stores on October 14, pushed back from that Aug. 19 release date we told you about a bit ago.

The Eagles of Death Metal will release their latest album this fall, and the band members have vowed to deliver a batch of  “neck-lickin, boot-scootin, soul-scratchin, ass-shakin party tunes” that will rock our world.

Two thousand eight is proving to be the year that keeps on giving for A Tribe Called Quest fans. Not only did Q-Tip ask his old buddies Phife, Ali and Jarobi if they could kick it again (Answer: Yes, they can.) for this year's Rock The Bells, Q also told Billboard he is no longer GNR'ing his long-awaited follow-up to 1999's Amplified.

Can you feel it? Change is in the air. This Fall, the voice of a generation will be heard, and a fresh-faced leader will make their bid to lead a troubled culture into a bright new future. That's right, Murs (shorthand for Making Underground Raw Shit) wants to be the president of hip-hop. The underground west coast hip-hop luminary wants to change not only the rap scene, but also the way it's presented on television and radio. Of course, it won't be an easy campaign, since there's already a self-designated CEO, and every rapper these days seems required to drop a line or two about how they're the best alive.

We told you it was coming. Now the new Izza Kizza mixtape is finally here and ready for your eager ears.

And now, on to part eight in Bob Dylan's Bootleg Series of albums released since 1991, a two-disc collection of previously unreleased tracks, alternate song versions and various demos will be released as Tell Tale Signs on Oct. 7.

B.B. King has traveled around the world, released over 50 albums, won 14 Grammy Awards (not including the Lifetime Achievement Award) and so epitomizes the term "bluesman" that he can teach his guitar, Lucille, how to play in Hebrew on Shalom Sesame without losing one ounce of the note-bending cred he's earned from defining his genre for the greater part of the past century.