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Stream: Alison Mosshart & James Spankie´s "Electricity"

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:51:00 -0800

“Why prowl around and make a spectacle of yourself when you can lay in wait under some darkened bridge and swill whiskey like a troll full of hate until your victim appears?” That’s the Dead Weather’s Alison Mosshart in this cinematic spoken word piece she made with UK-based composer James Spankie.

The pair collaborated on “Electricity” after Spankie was asked to write the soundtrack to a few short films by Supersweet Magazine’s Eleanor Harvey. As he writes on his blog:

Before long I had sound files with people like Alison Mosshart (one of my favorite singers), Tom Bellamy from Cooper Temple Clause, Pity Party, Finn from White Rose Movement, my favorite Polar Map song and a few others sitting on my computer.

Stream “Electricity” here or below and check out its short film after the jump. Also, Spankie will send you a free CD-quality download if you email him here: jamesspankielist@aol.com

Nick Cave & John Hillcoat Plot Bunny Munro TV Series

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:31:00 -0800

Nick Cave and director John Hillcoat are developing quite the symbiotic relationship: Cave wrote the script for (and scored) Hillcoat’s The Proposition (one of our favorite movies here at 24b) and scored Hillcoat’s upcoming The Road. Now the pair are working on two new projects: bringing The Death of Bunny Munro to the telly and new film The Wettest County to the big screen.

Cave mentioned to Spinner last month that he’d be interested in taking his latest book, The Death of Bunny Munro, from the page to the screen:

“I want to do a TV series or at least like a three-part TV series. You can go deeper with TV in a way, within actually creating a character. You have more time to live with the character.”

And Hillcoat confirms their progress on that front: “We’re going to turn that into television. We’re going to try and wake up the BBC and, or, actually Channel 4. We’re trying to say to British television,’look at HBO, I mean what the hell are you doing?’” Just as long as we can get Bunny Munro here in the States, I’ll be happy.

Cave’s written another script for Hillcoat’s directorial prowess: The Wettest County. The director was loath to give details (“it’s in the middle of all sorts of stuff”), but did explain it’s “West Virginia, moonshine, backwoods, and Prohibition” and has a “phenomenal cast,” which includes actors Ryan Gosling and Shia LaBeouf.

Well, to hold us over till the series and movie are finally released, you can always check out The Road in a couple weeks, download Bunny Munro’s soundtrack and listen to Cave’s readings. Or come over to our place and we’ll rewatch The Proposition for about the zillionth time.

NIN Fans Demand Liz Cheney Apologize for Trent Reznor "Pathetic" Comment

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:01:00 -0800

As previously reported, NIN’s Trent Reznor, Rage’s Tom Morello, R.E.M., Pearl Jam, the Roots, Rise Against, Billy Bragg, Jackson Browne, and other famous musicians have joined the National Campaign to Close Guantanamo and released a string of statements condemning the use of music for torture at Gitmo. Well, it looks like the debate is heating up a bit:

Debra Burlingame, director of Keep America Safe, a political organization co-founded by Liz Cheney that focuses “on issues like troop levels, missile defense, detainees, and interrogation,” called Reznor and company’s political stand “pathetic,” telling the Washington Times:

It’s almost laughable to think that heavy metal bands like Nine Inch Nails and Rage Against the Machine have a moral authority on national security issues.

They’re worried about torture of hard-core terrorists? This is really something I would expect to read in the Onion.

As you might imagine, NIN fans are disgruntled over these disparaging comments, and now prominent fansite The NIN Hotline has launched an email campaign demanding a “public apology by the group’s founder, Liz Cheney, to Trent Reznor, Tom Morello, and all the other ‘immoral musicians they’ve insulted.”

New Security Action has even taken notice of the campaign, saying they “applaud the efforts of the NIN Hotline” and, “[a]s a show of solidarity, we have NIN’s ‘March of the Pigs’ playing on our MySpace page now.”

Pixies Release Free Doolittle Live EP

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 09:34:00 -0800

While the Pixies were onstage in LA last night, they dropped a little surprise for Twitter and Facebook followers that were likely wishing they were at the show (via SUE):

“FREE Doolittle Live EP!” the Twitter announcement reads. “Four tracks taken from the Oct. 16 Paris gig, the last stop on the European leg of the…[tour].”

I just downloaded the Doolittle 20th Anniversary Live Sampler and found that Black Francis and company were kind enough to provide nice 320kbps-encoded MP3s, as well. Enter your email here or in the widget embedded below for your free copy, which includes the following tracklist:

1) “Dancing the Manta Ray”
2) “Monkey Gone to Heaven”
3) “Crackity Jones”
4) “Gouge Away”

Echo & The Bunnymen Cancel U.S. Tour [Update]

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 19:45:00 -0800

The Internal Revenue Service has thwarted Echo & the Bunnymen’s invasion of the United States before they even ventured beyond the West Coast. Despite having played two successful shows, including performances of Ocean Rain in its entirety in Los Angeles and Oakland, CA, November dates have gotten the axe (until next year at least). Here’s the news update via their official site:

It’s with the deepest regret that Echo & The Bunnymen have had to cancel their USA November tour.

This is due to unreasonable demands that have been presented by the IRS for the band to enter the USA to tour.

This is not a VISA issue as some websites have stated.

Echo & The Bunnymen will be touring the USA in April of 2010.

Please contact venues for refunds.

And the canceled dates are:

~~Nov 15 Atlanta, GA - Masquerade~~
~~Nov 17 Washington, DC - Black Cat~~
~~Nov 18 State College, PA - The State Theatre~~
~~Nov 20 Glenside, PA - Keswick Theatre~~
~~Nov 21 Fairfield, CT - Stage One~~
~~Nov 22 New York, NY - Hammerstein Ballroom~~
~~Nov 23 Boston, MA - House Of Blues~~
~~Nov 25 Chicago, IL - Metro~~

Meanwhile, you can still download the Bunnymen’s new single “I Think I Need It Too” 100% tax-free here.

**Update: The band’s claim about “unreasonable demands” made by the IRS has been clarified in a statement (via CoS). As it turns out, Echo & The Bunnymen’s Central Withholding Agreement (CWA) was rejected by the IRS, even though the band’s “team submitted the necessary paperwork in due time and in accordance with the process that had been followed on previous tours.” What’s more, “the IRS offered no reasoning for the rejection and was unresponsive to [their] inquiries.” Without an accepted CWA on file promoters are “legally required to withhold a minimum of 30% in lieu of tax which ultimately will not allow for a tour to happen at this time.”

Diplo: M.I.A. Album Sounds "Like Gucci Mane Meets Animal Collective"

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 18:49:00 -0800

Perhaps you haven’t noticed, but with new albums on the way from Arcade Fire (likely), LCD Soundsystem (def.), Spoon (yup), Leonard Cohen (?), and M.I.A. next year, it’s shaping up to be an epic ‘10. The anticipation for M.I.A.’s upcoming third LP is particularly high, as it will have been three years since her last album and the post-Pineapple Express explosion of “Paper Planes” (among other feats) has brought her into another realm of notoriety.

Pedstrian.tv got Diplo, a producer on both of M.I.A.’s previous albums, on the phone recently and we have our first quote about what Ms. Arulpragasam has in store:

“Been in the studio with M.I.A. working on her new record,” Diplo told Pedestrian. “It’s like Gucci Mane meets Animal Collective. I think there are a couple of people [producing] but we’re going to finish it off, me and Switch. We’ve done like four tracks already.”

Wow: Jay-Z’s having shots at Grizzly Bear gigs and M.I.A’s channeling Animal Collective? Things are getting mighty interesting, I say.

Bauhaus´ Peter Murphy Makes Cameo in Next Twilight Sequel, Eclipse

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:12:00 -0800

Now that the New Moon soundtrack has been leaked, officially released, and reviewed, hype has already begun for Eclipse, the next film in the Twilight saga. No talk of the soundtrack yet, thank god, but the musical world will likely take notice of a cameo by a certain Godfather of Goth in the upcoming vampire teen drama.

“[Bauhaus’ Peter Murphy] plays a vampire in a flashback sequence,” Twilight actor Billy Burke revealed to MTV. “I didn’t get to see any of it, but all reports from the director David Slade, and everyone around say he just kicked ass.”

Murphy, who plays “an old Spanish, sort of unrelated vampire” in the flashback, joined Trent Reznor onstage recently for a stop on Nine Inch Nails’ “Wave Goodbye” tour in NYC. Perhaps now that Trent has some free time on his hands, his former collaborator will pull him into the film franchise. I mean, Trent is already dabbling in television work.

Bloc Party´s Kele Okereke is Going Solo

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 13:07:00 -0800

Bloc Party drummer Matt Tong pretty much called it earlier this summer when he said that the band members “definitely need to have a break and gain a bit of perspective on life outside of the band.” Not only that, but Tong seemed to have a hunch that frontman Kele Okereke would be the first to go solo, adding, “Kele is an insatiable workaholic and creating is something he is so connected to so you’ll definitely hear from him again.”

Well, it hasn’t been long since Tong’s quote, which catalyzed a slew of “Bloc Party Breaking Up?” headlines, and, just as he predicted, Okereke is hard at work on a solo album. Producer Hudson Mohawk spilled the beans in an interview with BBC1 (via Strangeglue):

Im kinda… it hasn’t been finalized yet, but I’m also kinda doing a little bit of stuff for Kele from Bloc Party’s solo album as well. He’s doing a record with one of the guy’s from Spank Rock, so possibly gonna be doing some stuff for that.

Daniel Day-Lewis, Marion Cotillard, Sophia Loren, and... Fergie?

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 10:05:00 -0800

There was something about the trailer to Rob Marshall’s film adaptation of a musical adaptation of a Fellini film, Nine, that just didn’t sit right with me. I mean, the cast includes the actors behind two of the best performances of 1997 (Daniel Day-Lewis in There Will Be Blood and Marion Cotillard in La Vie En Rose), screen legend Sophia Loren, Penélope Cruz, Nicole Kidman, and Dame Judi Dench. But there was something about that song—which I now know is called “Be Italian”—that was a distraction from this talent-packed Oscar shoo-in.

Enter Fergie, aka Stacy Ferguson of the Black Eyed Peas. I guess I missed the quick shots of her in the trailer, but it turns out that Fergie is playing the role of Saraghina, the Italian seductress of Day-Lewis’ Guido Contini and singer of “Be Italian.”

Fergie’s vocal acrobatics aren’t bad and she does have previous acting experience (in Poseidon and an episode of “Mr. Belvedere”), but this performance is a bit melodramatic for my taste. What do you think? Listen to the full song here or embedded below:

Listen: Producer Ethan Johns´ Solo Project, Caballeros

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 22:15:00 -0800

In a previous report on Ray LaMontagne’s split from longtime collaborator/producer Ethan Johns for his next LP, I neglected to point out that Johns did a rare run of solo performances this fall in the UK as one of Ray’s opening acts (the other was Josh Ritter).

That’s important to note because Johns, who is famous for producing Ryan Adams’ first two solo albums, LaMontagne, Crowded House, and many more, actually had a brief stint as a solo singer/songwriter before spending the majority of his career thus far behind the boards and/or drum kit.

Sure, some grainy YouTube vids provided something of a preview, but now Ethan Johns’ Three Crows Music site has added a new section for his solo project, Caballeros, where you can stream three, presumably self-produced, tracks from one of the best producers of the singer/songwriter genre in the game.

As audience applause makes apparent after each song, these are live takes, but they sound strangely like studio recordings as well (a la Neil Young’s “Needle and the Damage Done” on Harvest). Listen to “Hello Sunshine,” “Long Way Around,” and “21st Century Paranoid Blues” here.

David Byrne Rants, Tom Waits Tweets, & Spoon Song Leaks

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:26:00 -0800

In case you haven’t heard, David Byrne takes his blogging very seriously. So seriously, in fact, that past entries to his official journal have taken on Czech Republic steel foundry/coal mine complexes, “The Kindle Experience,” and Bono. But in his latest rant/essay, Byrne goes a bit more apocalyptic. Check out “Internet Antichrist” here.

Whereas Fake Tom Waits joined Twitter in the early days, the real Tom Waits didn’t start tweeting until today. (It’s probably just an intern, but at least it’s an official ghost Twitterer or something.) Anti Records pointed their followers at the new page today with: “All the Wit and Wisdom of Tom Waits is now on Twitter! Follow @anti_tomwaits.”

So what’s he tweeting in there? “Kathleen and I came up with this idea of doing music that’s surrural— it’s surreal and it’s rural, it’s surrural.” Ba dum chh.

OK, I’ve got good news and bad news. Bad news first: Spoon’s record company demanded that all bloggers remove links to download “Mystery Zone.” :( Good news: Spoon’s killer new song from upcoming album Transference leaked and it’s probably too viral to be contained at this point. :)

Radiohead Wins Asia-Pacific Child Rights Award

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:10:00 -0800

Radiohead and MTV EXIT (End Exploitation and Trafficking) have won their 16th award for their “All I Need” video, which depicts, as Thom Yorke said last year, “two parallel stories running, one of a little boy in the West and one of a little boy in a sweatshop in the East, and the boy [in the West] ends up buying the shoes from the sweatshop.”

Their latest accolade, the Asia-Pacific Child Rights Award, is given out annually to the “best television programme on children’s rights produced in the Asia-Pacific region.” MTV’s Simon Goff states in the press release: “The International reception of the video has been truly overwhelming and we hope that it has inspired people to get invovled and join the fight against modern-day slavery.”

For more info on Radiohead and MTV EXIT’s campaign to raise awareness about the more than 2.5 million people around the world who are forced, defrauded or coerced into various forms of labor or prostitution go here.

Stream: Norah Jones' "Light As a Feather" (Co-Written by Ryan Adams)

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 10:38:00 -0800

Aside from her duet with Ryan Adams on Jacksonville City Nights, “Dear John,” I can’t say I’ve listened to much Norah Jones over the years. Now that Marc Ribot, my favorite living guitarist, Joey Waronker, of Thom Yorke’s still nameless supergroup, and James Gadson (Bill Withers) are on her new record, it’s time to give Norah a second chance.

NPR is offering a perfect opportunity to do just that, as they are streaming Jones’ upcoming album The Fall in its entirety, including “Light As a Feather,” which was co-written by our favorite Internet-addicted singer/songwriter Ryan Adams. “We’ll separate our things to put us back together,” Jones sings in what sounds to me like an Adams-penned lyric.

Check out The Fall here or “Light As a Feather” thataway.

Jack White´s Third Man Records to Release Carl Sagan Remix "A Glorious Dawn" on Vinyl

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 18:54:00 -0800

Ready for another unusual surprise from Jack White and company? Third Man Records have announced the upcoming 7-inch vinyl release of “A Glorious Dawn,” an Auto-Tuned remix of Carl Sagan’s dialogue from his “Cosmos” television series; the remix, which features Stephen Hawking, first gained notoriety after composer John Boswell uploaded it to YouTube earlier this fall.

“The release is timed to coincide with the 75th anniversary of Sagan’s birth,” Third Man’s news bulletin says. “Also happening that day is a reception in United States’ Congress with speeches by senators, NASA officials and assorted scientists, all hosted by the Planetary Society, which was co-founded by Sagan.”

Ben Blackwell, White, and the rest of Third Man’s musical A-Team aren’t finished yet: A limited edition “Cosmos Colored Vinyl” version will be sold at their Nashville headquarters and randomly included with mail orders of the record. As the “A Glorious Dawn” 7-inch will not have a B-side, an etching on the flipside will be a replica of the Voyager Golden Record (shown here), which was launched into space in 1977.

I guess Auto-Tune isn’t dead after all. Listen to “A Glorious Dawn” embedded below or download it here:

Watch: David Lynch Foundation Visits Billy Corgan

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 13:43:00 -0800

David Lynch Foundation Television, aka DFL.TV, followed Billy Corgan around recently and have posted a great HD video (via Flavorwire), which includes footage from the recording studio, the audition of 19-year-old Smashing Pumpkins drummer Mike Byrne, and an interview.

In one funny bit from the Q&A, Corgan describes how a song originally written for a Shaquille O’Neal album ended up on the Lost Highway soundtrack after Lynch rejected his initial contribution. Also, the audition footage is particularly amazing because we actually get to watch as Corgan meets the new Smashing Pumpkins drummer and is subsequently floored by Byrne’s skills.

Watch it here or below:

Elliott Smith Documentary Feat. Gus Van Sant & Jennifer Chiba Hits the Festival Circuit

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 12:18:00 -0800

I first heard about Gil Reyes’ documentary Searching For Elliott Smith after stumbling upon an early IMDB page that listed the likes of Mary Lou Lord, Gus Van Sant, producer Larry Crane, Heatmiser’s Tony Lash, Smith’s friend Sean Croghan, and many more as “credited cast” members. It was intriguing to see that some of the people closest to Smith had agreed to appear in a film that was presumably about his life, but time went by and the project didn’t appear to be happening.

Perhaps it was the addition of Smith’s former girlfriend (and witness to his mysterious death), Jennifer Chiba, that spurred the project forward, however, as Searching For Elliott Smith made its world premiere at a recent CMJ screening and is slated to screen at Argentina’s Mar del Plata International Film Festival next week.

According to the film’s brand new Facebook page and official blog, the highlight of the documentary is supposedly rare onscreen interviews of “Smith’s peers” (that is, the people we mentioned above) because they had granted “very few print interviews and NO on-camera interviews. Until now.”

Very few specific details are provided in the official synopsis, but a few bloggers attended the screening and, though we won’t speculate on the film before seeing it, you can read about a “Michael Moore-esque stunt Reyes included at the end to ‘disprove’ a 2004 police report saying Chiba refused to talk to detectives” here or another interesting account of the CMJ screening thataway.

NEA Chairman Utters "Hip-Hop," Non-troversy Ensues

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 10:33:15 -0800

As evidenced by the outrage surrounding RNC chairman Michael Steele’s call for the Republican Party to get a hip-hop makeover earlier this year, whenever said music genre is uttered by politicians, non-troversies soon follow. It’s all quiet on the RNC hip-hop front as of now, but the WSJ’s Lee Rosenbaum seems to be stirring up a little hip-hop meets politics ruckus in a recent interview with National Endowment for the Arts Chairman Rocco Landesman (via Gawker). Here’s the exchange in question:

There are new forms of music … and the NEA should be there. We should be reflecting the reality in our world these days, whether it’s hip-hop, or whatever. There’s a lot going on that the NEA traditionally has no comprehension about.”

Do you think that hip-hop would be an appropriate area for NEA to fund?

Absolutely. And mural painting and graffiti are art. There are popular aspects of all the arts that I think shouldn’t be ignored.

So there’s the “Obama wants to give 50 Cent taxpayer dollars” angle that Rosenbaum wants to feed to notorious rap bashers like Bill O’Reilly. But why stop there? Is it appropriate for the NEA to fund horrorcore, Black Metal, or Rammstein (NSFW, obvs)?

I know this is hard for a business and finance newspaper like the WSJ to understand, but pigeonholing music genres is a slippery slope. A debate about the appropriate use of NEA funds is important, but to single out hip-hop once again isn’t going to help the arts or the economy.

Check Out the Kings of Leon Fashion Line

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 10:30:00 -0800

Sure, the Kings of Leon have made the cover of Rolling Stone, won a Grammy award, headlined a bunch of massive festivals, and been covered by Nickelback, but they haven’t made it until now: KOL have teamed up with French designers Surface to Air and a shop in Copenhagen called Paris Texas to release a limited edition clothing line.

I’ll bet you thought the Followill boys just rolled out of bed with a vintage-looking western shirt, leather jacket, and tattered jeans, but those threads are actually carefully chosen by these rockers-turned-fashion icons.

Paris Texas’ official blog has photos of the new KOL gear. Check it out here or below:

Iggy Pop Accepts Living Legend Award, Talks Stooges Tour

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 09:47:00 -0800

I had never heard of the Classic Rock Roll of Honour Awards before recently, but you put Stooge Iggy Pop on the bill and before you know it Queen’s Brian May, Slash, Ronnie Wood, Pete Townshend, and a host of other rock stars will show up. That’s what happened at the ‘09 Honour Awards, reports Music-News.

“It’s been a long dinner, so I’m not gonna whip out my dick,” Iggy Pop said while accepting his Living Legend award. “Alright, you know, thank you to everybody who has strong feelings about music so that when you hear something you don’t like you wanna fucking kill somebody and when you hear something you like you wanna fuck everybody.”

Now that’s an acceptance speech! Be sure to check out this awesome photo set of Iggy with his new golden statue.

Iggy may be 62 years old, but he won’t be retiring anytime soon, as the upcoming Stooges with James Williamson gig at London’s All Tomorrow’s Parties won’t be the only show on the way from the original Raw Power lineup. “We’re going to be doing a one-off show in Brazil in a few weeks,” Pop told BBC, “but the real touring starts next year.”

Between the two confirmed upcoming Iggy and the Stooges shows, said “real touring,” and that rumored Coachella slot, it looks like Leonard Cohen isn’t the only living legend plotting a 2010 takeover.

Ian Brown Arrested, Lily Allen Tour, & Jon Spencer Reissues

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 20:04:00 -0800

First some serious news: the Stone Roses’ Ian Brown was arrested by Scotland Yard today on suspicion of assaulting his wife, Fabiola Quiroz, NME reports.

Police were called to his residence in London by neighbors reporting on a disturbance early this morning. Brown was incarcerated briefly but released on bail until next month.

On a brighter note, those of you planning to visit Australia in the new year for Joanna Newsom’s upcoming concerts may also catch a few of Lily Allen’s post-retirement gigs. Allen reported on her MySpace page and official site recently that she will be playing Big Day Out shows in Perth, Sydney, Adelaide, and Melbourne in January, as well as two non-festival gigs. Go here for full dates and ticket info.

The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion are set to reissue all of their 7 studio albums and release a “best of” compilation next spring, Exclaim! reports. “We’re trying to keep them to single discs,” Jon Spencer told Billboard. “There will be B-sides from singles in Europe, stuff like that. Hopefully it will be an easy way for someone to tie things up and put them all in one place.”

That doesn’t mean they’ll be reuniting, though, as they’re “very much in deep hiatus,” Spencer added. “We’ve thought about it, talked about it, just haven’t done it.”