new Art Brut + tour dates.

"Nag Nag Nag Nag" - first single from next record at myspacey. record out June 26.

Apr 17 - New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
Apr 18 - Brooklyn, NY @ Studio B
Apr 19 - Toronto, ONT @ The Mod Club
Apr 20 - Chicago, IL @ Subterranean
Apr 21 - Los Angeles, CA @ Troubadour

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it looks good on paper.

a bunch of shows "curated" by David Bowie. curated. Air, Arcade Fire, Poly Spree +
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Green Apple Music & Arts Festival April 20-22....with a zero waste goal! earth day. now more than ever. even though we're already screwed.

the wierd, eclectic line-ups include, among many others:

Central Park in New York - Taylor Hicks, Brand New, Slick Rick
Lincoln Park in Chicago- The Decemberists, Kaiser Chiefs, The Smithereens, The Walkmen, Andrew Bird
Golden Gate Park in San Francisco- Bob Weir and Ratdog, Trans Am, The English Beat, Smoosh

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doesn't look as good on paper.

Smashing Pumpkins playing big festivals in Europe. U.S. dates tba, includes August 5 in D.C.
new record, Zeitgeist, out July 7, 2007. the line-up? don't ask. let's just say we can add it to the list of incomplete reunions.

The Dollyrots: Because I'm Awesome (Blackheart)
release: March 13, 2007
style: punk pop rock
rating: **
Kicking things off with a title track that's wrapped with Blur's "Song 2", a streamlined Sleater-Kinney and Veruca Salt, the Dollyrots' cheery songs remind me of any random rock band from 1996 who were riding the post-grunge age. Or Blink-182 with a girl singing. I'm hardly the target audience for this, but 15-year old girls looking for an alternative to Avril Lavigne will love it. -Kenyon

classic vintage video.
New Edition- "Mr. Telephone Man" (1984)

man, life was rough back in the day before cell phones.

Erasure. yea! Debbie Harry. yea! the Gossip. yea! Margaret Cho. >>crickets chirping<< June 18 at Radio City Music Hall. more dates here.

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the Stooges. no kidding.

Apr 7 - Orpheum Boston, MA
Apr 9 - United Palace New York, NY
Apr 13 - Fox Theatre DETROIT, MI
Apr 17 - Filmore Auditorium Denver, CO
Apr 19 - The Warfield San Francisco, CA
Apr 27 - WaMu Theater at Qwest Field Events Seattle, WA
Jul 21 - Tromso Open Air Festival Bukta

other bands re-united so far this year: police, van halen (sorta), genesis

and finally, Roger Waters is re-uniting with...HIMSELF!

4hero: Play With the Changes (Milan)
release: February 27, 2007
style: electronic progressive soul
rating: ***
Artists who are mainly the producers while using various guest voices is usually an interesting concept leading to a diverse album. UNKLE and Massive Attack are a couple that have been successful with the formula (minus that last MA record!) and 4hero (not to be confused with rock band 764-Hero) can be added to the short list. Known in the London area for their jungle/drum 'n' bass, 4hero has adapted proficiently to modern soul with drum 'n' bass-type beats (aka the latest style, "broken beat"). If the soul singers on American Idol want to sound 2007, they might want to consider pursuing this path instead of singing an Aretha Franklin song for for the millionth time. -Kenyon

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Prosser: s/t (Clickpop/SpinART)
release: March 13, 2007
style: soft country folk rock
rating: **1/2
This project from ex-Delay member Eric Woodruff doesn't do enough to stand out from any other drifty country-indie rock hybrid. Here and there, he does find his way on this mostly slower-paced album that nestles in a wilderness with bears so friendly he can ride them. -Kenyon

breathe in the French band AIR.

4/21 Vancouver, BC Richards On Richards
4/22 Portland, OR Crystal Ballroom
4/23 Tacoma, WA Pantages Theatre
4/25 San Francisco, CA Nob Hill Masonic Center
4/26 Las Vegas, NV The Joint
4/27 Phoenix, AZ The Marquee
4/29 Indio, CA Coachella Festival
5/02 Minneapolis, MN First Avenue
5/04 Chicago, IL Riviera Theatre
5/05 Toronto, ON Kool Haus
5/06 Montreal, PQ Metropolis
5/08 Philadelphia, PA Theatre Of Living Arts
5/09 Washington, DC 9:30 Club
5/10 New York, NY Theatre at Madison Square Garden

turn it on, turn it on again. Genesis 2007. only $57-227 at Giants stadium.

Mike Rutherford, Phil Collins and Tony Banks. No Peter Gabriel, but come on, it's no worse than no Michael Anthony for a Van Halen reunion. Live line-up includes long-time Genesis sidemen, Chester Thompson on drums and Daryl Stuermer on guitar.

Sept. 7 - Toronto, Ontario BMO Field
Sept. 11 - Boston, MA TD Banknorth Gardem
Sept. 14 - Montreal, Quebec Olympic Stadium
Sept. 16 - Hartford, CT Hartford Civic Center
Sept. 18 - Philadelphia, PA Wachovia Center
Sept. 22 - Columbus, OH Nationwide Center
Sept. 23 - Washington D.C. Verizon Center
Sept. 27 - East Rutherford, NJ Giants Stadium
Sept. 29 - Cleveland, OH Quicken Loans Arena
Oct. 2 - Chicago, IL United Center
Oct. 9 - San Jose, CA HP Pavilion
Oct. 12 - Los Angeles, CA Hollywood Bowl

i should probably be blogging about Arcade Fire this week, right? .....whoops!

girl you know it's new.


The Noisettes- "Mind the Gap" (from upcoming record out April 17 on Universal) I can't say that I've heard a song like this in the past month, possibly in the past six. Not to say that "Mind the Gap" is blowing my mind. But its punk is more arty than the Yeah Yeah Yeahs , as dizzying as Deerhoof and almost as experimental as any big '70s prog rock band. They'll be on tour with TV on the Radio, which makes total sense.
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Mouthful of Bees- "The Now" from the End (out now on Afternoon Records) Mouthful of Bees? what WILL they think of next!? oh those crazy kids. lo-fi rock n roll with a '60s backbone. though halfway into the song i forgot the vocals were even present.

This is Me Smiling: s/t (One Haven/Red Ink/Sony)
release: March 6, 2007
style: Piano-lead rock pop
rating: ***
Oh man I could totally write something witty and forcefully humorous here regarding the band's name. You know like, this is me [fill in the blank]. Ha. Nah, that's dumb, I don't have time for that. Chicago area band This is Me Smiling is going to, without a doubt, be compared to Ben Folds Five. Not just for the piano, but for the vocals as well. It would be like Ben Folds looking into a mirror. But hold up, cause This is Me Smiling rocks harder. They toured with All American Rejects and by the time this debut gets to "Goodbye to Each New Day" and "So Excited to Sleep" it's easy to hear why. -Kenyon
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Oreskaband: s/t teaser EP (Terry Dollar/Sony)
release: ???
style: Ska
rating: **1/2
Oreskaband is puzzling. I'm just not sure what to make of them. On one hand, they're, well, ska. The third wave of which died about 8 years ago and more or less replaced for the suburban kids by emo (especially on long island!) Plus they have the obligatory "ska" in the band name. On the other hand, they're a really cute, young, fun, upbeat all-female Japanese band. Either the Japanese are far behind in trends or these girls will be leading the way for a fourth ska wave. -Kenyon

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Big Business: Here Comes the Waterworks (Hydra Head)
release: March 6
style: big sludge metal stuff
rating: **1/2
The song title "Another Fourth of July...Ruined" is awesome. The old-school metal-rooted noise of Big Business (not to be confused with the Business) is so bass-end sludgey and heavy we need some construction vehicles to move it. -Kenyon

Tiger Saw- "Under the Samba Moon" from Tigers on Fire (Tract, April 3).
sounds like Lambchop + Devandra Banhart with a global influence

Leonard Cohen- "Suzanne" from Songs of Leonard Cohen (originally released 1967) timeless forever!
first three albums reissued with extras on April 24 (Columbia/Legacy) to honor 40th annivers of first album.
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totally old school-

-all of pioneering experimental band Can's records getting digitally released March 13
-Megaforce Records will release Bad Brains record late spring, produced by MCA of Beastie Boys.

Dirty on Purpose (for those in the know it's DoP):

March 2 - Relative Theory Records (Norfolk, VA) +
March 3 - Local 506 (Chapel Hill, NC) %
March 5 - Earl (Atlanta, GA) #
March 7 - Social (Orlando, FL) @
March 8 - Respectable Street / The Honeycomb (Palm Beach, FL)
March 11 - Cafe Eleven (St. Augustine, FL) $
March 12 - Beta Bar (Tallahassee, FL) #
March 14 - Gen Art SXSW Party (Austin, TX)
March 15 - Spaceland & LiveDaily SXSW Party (Austin, TX)
March 16 - Official SXSW Showcase (Austin, TX)
March 19 - The Paper Heart (Phoenix, AZ) *
March 20 - Echo (Los Angeles, CA) **
March 22 - Detroit Bar (Costa Mesa, CA) **
March 23 - Rickshaw Shop (San Francisco, CA) **
March 25 - Kilby Court (Salt Lake City, UT) *
March 26 - Hi-Dive (Denver, CO) *
March 27 - Jackpot (Lawrence, KS) *
March 28 - The Waiting Room (Omaha, NE) *
March 29 - Schubas Tavern (Chicago, IL) *

+ = w/ Lymbyc System & Relay
% = w/ Grizzly Bear, Papercuts
# = w/ Apollo Sunshine, Earl Greyhound
$ = w/ The Thermals, The Big Sleep
@ = w/ Maria Taylor
* = w/ Besnard Lakes
** = w/ Helio Sequence, Besnard Lakes
!"&***<> = ??????

their latest ingenius, unique constructive video for "Car No Driver".

Panda Bear: Person Pitch (Paw Tracks)
release: March 20, 2007
style: contemporary psychedelia
rating: ****

Animal Collective's Panda Bear (Noah Lennox) may have just won the honor of best replicating Brian Wilson's vocals. What makes it more admirable is that the tracks on Person Pitch are far from the symphonic rock of Pet Sounds, from which a million other artists get inspiration. Panda Bear's methods are soothingly experimental and feature all kinds of wonderous sounds, unusual percussion and vocal manipulation. Heavenly. I guess this is what happens when you move to Portugal. -Kenyon

PLACEBO

Apr 6 Roxy Boston, MA
Apr 7 Metropolis Montreal, QC
Apr 9 Guvernment Toronto, ON
Apr 10 Theater of Living Arts Philadelphia, PA
Apr 11 Roseland New York, NY
Apr 13 House of Blues Chicago, IL
Apr 14 Beaumont Club Kansas City, MO
Apr 15 Pizza Hut Park Frisco, TX
Apr 18 Fillmore Denver, CO
Apr 21 The Fenix Seattle, WA
Apr 22 Roseland Portland, OR
Apr 23 Fillmore San Francisco, CA
Apr 26 House of Blues Las Vegas, NV
Apr 27 Marquee Theater Tempe, AZ
Apr 29 Empire Polo Field Indio, CA