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New Releases, Daniel Johnson, Wild Beasts, Ferret CPR |
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Tuesday, August 04, 2009 - 08:00 AM Posted by: Karl
BAT FOR LASHES released a video for "Sleep Alone." NEW RELEASES: Modest Mouse, Fruit Bats, Yim Yames (Jim James) , Patrick Wolf and more are streaming this week via Spinner. NEWPORT REDUX: NPR has more archived performances from the Newport Folk Festival, including sets from Neko Case, Deer Tick, Iron and Wine, Del McCoury, and more... DANIEL JOHNSON did the four free songs thing for Daytrotter at SxSW. WILD BEASTS also did the four free songs thing for Daytrotter at SxSW. Tom Fleming talks to Drowned In Sound, with embedded videos. TOM JONES sings "It's Not Ununsal" and the new "If He Should Ever Leave You" on Canadian Idol, which opens with some great archival footage. JOE PERNICE talks to Wicked Local about his new novel and soundtrack album. (Thx, LHB.) GUIDED BY VOICES: The A.V. Club lists gateways into the band's extensive discography. MAGNETIC FIELDS: Stephin Merritt drops hints to Spinner about his next album, likely due in January. TORI AMOS: Decider lists five reasons the singer-songwriter is cooler than you think. TRON LEGACY has a trailer online (where else?). NAOMI CAMPBELL has been accused of attacking a photographer and putting him in hospital. RYAN O'NEILL hit on his daughter Tatum at Farrah Fawcett's funeral. And gave his son cocaine at age 11. Other than thta, a super dad, I'm sure. LINDSAY LOHAN sparkles in the photoshoot where thieves stole £24,000 of gems. Will she appear in Machete? STEVEN SPIELBERG plans to remake "Harvey," which seems like bad idea. JUDD APATOW: Is his hot streak over? BURMA: Defectors have provided evidence which suggests Burma has enlisted North Korean help to build its own nuclear bomb within the next five years. IRAN: The Obama administration is talking with allies and Congress about the possibility of imposing an extreme economic sanction against Iran if it fails to respond to President Obama's offer to negotiate on its nuclear program: cutting off the country's imports of gasoline and other refined oil products. AFGHANISTAN: Michael Yon goes on patrol, and comments on the US rules of engagement. A FERRET gets CPR. AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT: The bra-wearing donkey. ARE YOU A MOSQUITO MAGNET? Tips for people like me. GIRAFFE MANOR: Where the giraffes join you for breakfast. Pics and video at the link. CROC on a PLANE: None of the passengers on Friday's EgyptAir flight claimed ownership.
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Yo La Tengo, Newport Folk Fest, Mindy Smith, Commuter Cat |
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Monday, August 03, 2009 - 08:00 AM Posted by: Karl
YO LA TENGO drops the clip for "Here To Fall" -- a startling selection from the upcoming Popular Songs album. NEWPORT FOLK FESTIVAL: NPR is streaming a variety of sets from the historic fest, including The Decemberists, Gillian Welch, The Avett Bros, Fleet Foxes, Billy Bragg and more... MINDY SMITH played the World Cafe of Friday; you can stream the whole gig now via NPR. WHAT HAPPENS IN VEGAS: A lucky 13 Sin City songs, courtesy of Spinner, with embedded audio. THE AVETT BROS.: Scott Avett talks to the Boston Globe about the band's upcoming major-label debut, Lionel Richie, and more... MATTHEW SWEET & SUSANNA HOFFS cover "Rain," which strangely does not appear on their second "Under the Covers" LP. DAVID BYRNE talks to the Times of London why he and his partner, Cindy Sherman, are nothing like Hill and Bill, and how he became obsessed with cycling. PATTERSON HOOD talks to JamBands about the Drive-By Truckers, Booker T. and the future. DAVID BAZAN: The Chicago Reader profiles the former Pedro the Lion frontman -- and his struggle with his faith -- as he returned to the Cornerstone Christian music festival. M WARD talks to the Austin American-Statesman abot childhood, touring, and the usefulness of bad songs. WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: Funny People takes the top slot with 23.4 million -- but that's underperforming for both Adam Sandler and director Judd Apatow (one of a string of underperforming Universal pics), leading to an underperforming weekend overall. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince drops 40 percent with 17.7 million; it is now slightly ahead of Order of the Phoenix at the same point of its run. G-Force takes third with 17 million, but that 46 percent drop is a bit steep for a 3-D family film. The Ugly Truth dropped 53 percent (even worse for a rom-com) to fourth with 13 million. Aliens in the Attic rounds out the Top Five with a 7.8 million debut -- given the huge number of screens, this one seems unlikely to have legs. ALI LARTER got hitched, though not to me. JAMIE PRESSLY got engaged, though not to me. MARK WALBERG got hitched... and I would have turned him down. THE SEINFELD CAST will reunite for a five-episode arc of HBO's "Curb Your Enthusiasm." GHOSTBUSTERS (1954). Sort of. KATHERINE HEIGL: The L.A. Times explains why she is so disliked. JESSICA ALBA hits the beach with her husband for Gratuitous Monday. DARK SHADOWS wil be Tim Burton's next project, with Johnny Depp tapped to play vampire Barnabas Collins. ALIEN: Ridley Scott plans to helm a prequel to the 1979 classic. VENEZUELA's top prosecutor insists that freedom of expression "must be limited" and proposed a law to slap additional restrictions on the country's news media. ISLAMISM in the UK: A senior Tory MP has asked the home secretary whether al-Qaeda sympathisers were mistakenly recruited by MI5. IRAN has perfected the technology to create and detonate a nuclear warhead and is merely awaiting the word from its Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, to produce its first bomb, Western intelligence sources have told The Times. AFGHANISTAN: Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal is preparing a new strategy that calls for major changes in the way US and other NATO troops there operate, a vast increase in the size of Afghan security forces and an intensified military effort to root out corruption among local government officials. CASPER the COMMUTER CAT: Let's go to the video. GIRAFFE and GOAT, living together.. mass hysteria! KADOGO, the world's only bald gorilla. A BUFFALO, A CROC-INFESTED RIVER, and a truck full of cucumbers.
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Lovin' Spoonful, Horse Feathers, Cat Power, Cutout Bin, Swing Dog |
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Friday, July 31, 2009 - 08:00 AM Posted by: Karl
THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE: ...with THE LOVIN' SPOONFUL! The obligatory "Summer in the City" put me in mood, as I had not featured them is some time. That's a lipsync, as is "Daydream" (based on the lack of guitar cords), but the twofer of "Do You Believe in Magic" and "You Didn't Have To Be So Nice" is clearly live, since the band clearly blows the entry. The band gets some orchestral backing on "Darlin' Be Home Soon," which is lesser-known today, but which reached No. 15 on the Billboard charts in 1967. HORSE FEATHERS syopped by Oregon Public Broadcasting for a chat and mini-set streaming on demand as audio or video. CAT POWER at the BBC, compiled and streaming at Captain's Dead. THE POSIES talk to NPR about making money 15 years after their major label days. Video and audio at the link, too. THE TEN BEST 80's SONGS, according to AOL Radio listeners, is rather horrifying, even though I may have to concede six of them. Embedded audio at the link, too. THE RAMONES: "California Sun." THE 20 BEST R.E.M. SONGS OF ALL TIME, according to Paste magazine. With embedded audio. THE DECEMBERISTS: Colin Meloy defends his concept LP, The Hazards of Love, in the Providence Journal. There's a less defensive piece at the Chicago Tribune. DIRTY PROJECTORS & The Curse Of Brooklyn's Hipster Ephemera. Is this summer's most talked about group everything that's wrong with the hipster mentality? CUTOUT BIN: From Carl Douglas to Richard Thompson, from Roger Miller to Teenage Fanclub, from the Supermes to the Raconteurs, from the Kinks to the Kind, plus Blondie, The Hold Steady, Cheap Trick, Metric and more -- this Friday's fortuitous finds are streaming from the Pate page at the ol' HM. NOW SHOWING: This weekend's wide releases are Judd Apatow's Funny People, currently scoring 65 percent on the ol' Tomatometer; plus Aliens in the Attic and The Collector, neither of which were screened for critics, so caveat emptor. 500 Days of Summer, scoring 88 percent, expands to 266 screens, so check your local listings. MICHAEL JACKSON: Debbie Rowe has settled her custody issues over Jacko's children and it doesn't involve a single penny ... but it does involve a shrink. (Katherine Jackson will be the guardian of Michael's children.) Joe Jackson claims Michael had a love child. MAD MEL UPDATE: Did Gibson beat a fan? The cops don't believe it. MISCHA BARTON's recent hospital stay was due to "suicidal" actions, claims an insider, who adds the attempt may have coincided with the CW's The Beautiful Life deciding they no longer desired her services. SCARLETT JOHANSSON & RYAN REYNOLDS did not have a fight that kept the latter from promoting Green lantern at Comic-Con, according to their reps. FANTASTIC MR. FOX: Wes Anderson's adaptation of the Roald Dahl book now has a trailer online. DIANE KEATON is venturing into series television with a half-hour comedy at HBO. JENNIFER ANISTON will star in a rom-com titled, "Pumas." Can't imagine what the press for that will be like. RICHARD RODRIGUEZ talks to Cinematical about Shorts, Sin City 2, Machete, and Lipitor. IRAN: Thousands and possibly tens of thousands of mourners, many of them black-clad young women carrying roses, overwhelmed security forces today at Tehran's largest cemetery to gather around the grave of Neda Agha-Soltan, the young woman whose videotaped shooting at a June 20 demonstration stunned the world. Uniformed security forces initially clashed violently today with some of the mourners, supporters and leaders of the opposition, who were there to protest and grieve for those killed in recent unrest. DOG ON A SWING: Let's go to the video. BELUGA WHALE saves a drowning diver when she suffered crippling cramps. CANARY FIGHTING RING BUSTED in Shelton, Connecticut. SEA LION mates himself to death: "For sea lion bulls with a harem this is the most exhausting time."
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Mountain Goats, Monsters of Folk, Best of 2009, Baboon Attack |
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Thursday, July 30, 2009 - 08:00 AM Posted by: Karl
SILVERSUN PICKUPS hit the "Panic Switch" at the Ed Sullivan Theater. Dave seemed impressed. THE MOUNTAIN GOATS: John Darnielle's next album will have 12 songs named from Bible verses. MOKB has an advance track, "Genesis 3:23." MONSTERS OF FOLK are currently streaming two new songs, "Dear God" and "The Sandman." THE BEST SONGS (and albums) OF 2009 (so far): NPR is streaming songs as voted by its listeners. AU REVOIR SIMONE stopped by the KEXP studios for a session streaming via NPR. THE NATIONAL plays "Mr. November" at the Pitchfork Music Festival. AMY MILLAN talks to The Singing Lamb about her new solo LP, Stars, Broken Social Scene, and more... ONE-TRICK PONIES: Bands that keep reworking the same song. Of course, if it's a good song... SONIC YOUTH: Thurston Moore and Lee Renaldo talk to Exclaim about the new album, a new bass player, a new label, Randy Bachman and more... DAVID BYRNE thanks and criticizes U2 for their extravagant touring. MEGAN FOX: A dozen male-focused Web sites have sanctioned Aug. 4 as a Megan Fox media blackout day. MICHAEL JACKSON slept with a child-sized porcelain doll that had a dress on, according to a report that said he spent his final days in a messy bedroom with the heating turned up. JUDE LAW is going to be a father for the fourth time. SCARLETT JOHANSSON & RYAN REYNOLDS: Did a marital spat put Reynolds in the doghouse with Warner Bros? TONY ROMO met another woman at a Jessica Simpson concert. MISCHA BARTON is apparently back on the road to recovery after she jetted into New York to begin work on her latest TV project. MADONNA's workout is unhealthy. NINE: The apocalyptic animated flick has a four minute clip online. INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS: At the German premiere of the latest from Quentin Tarantino, Brad Pitt joked that his partying ends at 6 p.m., while co-star Diane Kruger's leggy arrival stole the show. THE LORAX is headed to the big screen, targeted for release on the late Dr. Seuss's birthday in 2012. IRAN responded to growing criticism over political detainees by freeing 140 inmates incarcerated in its most notorious jail following the recent post-election upheavals. Some 150 political prisoners remain inside, according to official figures. IRAQ: The head of the Awakening Conference is close to an alliance with Premier al-Maliki's list in the next elections. In Kurdish Iraq, hostilities simmer with Iran and Turkey. US Defense Secretary Gates said conditions in Iraq have improved to the extent that the US combat brigade drawdown from the country may accelerate. WHEN BABOONS ATTACK: Let's go to the video! VICIOUS KILLER CHIPMUNKS that escaped from a British park four years ago have never been found - and could now have bred into a horde thousands strong. Meanwhile, in Washington, DC, Muriel Long fled her cellar to escape a "killer" Siberian chipmunk. DOGGIE LOVEDOLL: For dogs who are often left alone. HEY, IS THAT A SNAKE in your pants, or just a made-up excuse for reckless driving? ANN the PYTHON dies at the Memphis Zoo. Might have been the whole-hog diet.
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Spirits in the Sky, Sarah Siskind, Obits, Quick Brown Fox |
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Wednesday, July 29, 2009 - 08:00 AM Posted by: Karl
SPIRITS in the SKY: Billy Corgan, new Smashing Pumpkins drummer Mike Byrne, Electric Prune bassist Mark Tulin, and Strawberry Alarm Clock keyboardist Mark Weitz are among those playing a new song, "Freak" at a tribute to the late Sky Saxon. SARAH SISKIND played a Tiny Desk Concert for NPR. OBITS stopped by The Current for a chat and mini-set streaming via MPR. RIVERBOAT GAMBLERS' 25th anniversary cover of Prince's "Let's Go Crazy" is NPR's Song of the Day. MARSHALL CRENSHAW answers the infamous 20 Questions for PopMatters. FOUNTAINS OF WAYNE: "Denise." You can't hear it on the Tube, but here it is. Denise is Jolene Blalock, as it turns out. THE PIXIES announced a nine-city, 14-date Doolittle birthday run in the USA. JOSH RITTER talks to the Louisville Courier-Journal about making a career as a singer-songwriter: "If I do this for all my life, there's going to be a whole lot of time when I'm not cool." A FINE FRENZY: Alison Sudol does a Twitterview compiled by Spinner, which also streams her new single. THREE REASONS music magazines are dying. (hint: Two are The Internet.) MICHAEL JACKSON: DEA agents, Los Angeles police and Las Vegas police are executing search warrants on the Las Vegas home and office of Michael Jackson's personal physician Dr. Conrad Murray. Dr. Murray reportedly told police that he administered Propofol to Jacko. MADONNA: Previously unreleased video and audio recordings and love letters Madge sent to an ex-boyfriend are set to hit the market. AMY WINEHOUSE allegedly stole cocaine from Kate Moss's handbag, her ex-husband has claimed. KIM KARDASHIAN & REGGIE BUSH: Dunzo. GEORGE CLOONEY has been spending time with Italian beauty Elisabetta Canalis, according to RadarOnline. WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE: Maurice Sendak, Spike Jonze, and Dave Eggers, among others, talk about the upcoming adaptation of the classic kids' book. ROBERT PATTINSON & KRISTEN STEWART: Together on the QT? JOHN TRAVOLTA is a Scientologist now and forever, according to his rep. KELSEY GRAMMER made an emotional plea to deny parole to the man who raped and murdered his 18-year-old sister in 1975. AFGHANISTAN: Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal does a Q & A with the L.A. Times. THE QUICK BROWN FOX... you know. DOLPHINS & LIGER making friends with each other... GO CHEETA! The purported autobiography of a movie-star chimpanzee is among the contenders for Britain's most prestigious literary award. THE BEAR NECESSITIES: It took three rounds from a shotgun, five bullets from a handgun and two shots from a rifle to kill the 120-pound black bear that broke into a Boulder County home early Monday morning.
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