03
May
2005
• Styx returns next week with a new CD of cover tunes and a remake of one of the band's own classics. Entitled Big Bang Theory, the New Door Records release is subtitled "The Great Rock Songbook" and takes a stab at a host of 1960s and 1970s hits, from The Who's "I Can See For Miles" to Jethro Tull's "Locomotive Breath." Inspired by its success last year with the group's cover of The Beatles' "I Am the Walrus," Styx has recorded a whole album's worth of salutes, including Free's "Wishing Well," Procol Harum's "A Salty Dog," Jimi Hendrix's "Manic Depression," and The Pretty Things' "Talkin' About the Good Times." A new take on their own "Blue Collar Man" slides in, as well, featuring guest vocalist Koko Taylor and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame pianist Johnnie Johnson. ...
• A third volume of the U2 cover series, Even Better Than the Real Thing, has just been released in Ireland by the popular Today FM radio station. With proceeds benefiting the UNICEF Tsunami Relief Fund, the two-CD set features The Frames' take on "40," Luka Bloom's spin on "Bad," and other cover contributions from Declan O'Rourke, Paddy Casey, Tom Baxter, Divine Comedy, Picturehouse, and other Irish artists. ...
• Think cover projects suck? Cleveland's Cobra Verde is out to prove you wrong with its just released Copycat Killers set on the Scat imprint. Wearing a dozen personal picks like badges of honor, strange influences and wild surprises are laid out in all their sludge and squeal glory, spread thick with shadowy, sexy cool. From the stoned swagger of Pink's "Get the Party Started" to the dramatic take on New Order's "Temptation," these are cover tracks that do more than raise a tickled eyebrow of "huh?" I dare you not to get lost in the churning, tribal psychedelica of the group's spin on Donna Summer's "I Feel Love" or the stalker's gait of The Troggs' "I Want You." Other choice cuts under the knife include Hawkwind's "Urban Guerilla," The Flamin' Groovies' "Yesterday's Numbers," the Easter Monkey's catchy college-radio hit "Underpants," and Leonard Cohen's "So Long, Marianne," as well as other songs by The Rolling Stones, The Undertones, The Fall, and Mott the Hoople.
Television Alert:
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno welcomes Aimee Mann on Thursday, Beck on Friday, Moby on Monday, and Theory of a Dead Man on Tuesday; The Late Show with David Letterman hosts the return of Robert Plant on Monday; Late Night with Conan O'Brien boasts Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry on Thursday overnight and Fall Out Boy on Tuesday overnight; The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson features Brendan Benson & Ozzy Osbourne on Thursday overnight and the eels on Friday overnight; Jimmy Kimmel Live presents Los Amigos Invisibles on Thursday overnight, Faith Evans on Friday overnight, Stevie Wonder on Monday overnight, and Moby on Tuesday overnight; and Saturday Night Live's musical guest this weekend is System of a Down.
New Releases Coming Tuesday, May 10
... and like the winds, young grasshopper, are subject to change
400 Blows - Angel's Trumpets & Devil's Trombones(Gold Standard Laboratories) brutal Los Angeles punk, named not for the Francois Truffaut film, but from a quote in Anthony Burgess' A Clockwork Orange
Boredoms - Seadrum/House of Sun(Vice) the group's first domestic release in six years
Alison Brown - Stolen Moments(Compass) banjo and fiddle heaven featuring covers of Jimi Hendrix's "Angel" and Paul Simon's "Homeward Bound," with guests The Indigo Girls, Mary Chapin Carpenter, and The Boomchicks
Circus Devils - Five(Fading Captain) the strangely titled fourth album from Guided by Voices' Robert Pollard and producer Todd Tobias
John Digweed - Choice: A Collection of Classics(Azuli) two-CD set of remixes of The Cure, Underworld, INXS, and Saint Etienne
Duplex! - Ablum by Duplex!(Mint) cheery, cheeky, and zippy songs from this musical collective of a three-year-old, an 11-year-old, a 12-year-old, and a few parents, playing their own instruments and singing about salad, multiplication, DNA, and "Pooing & Peeing"
Electrelane- Axes (Too Pure/Beggars Banquet) look for the first seven-inch single, "This Deed," to feature a cover of Roxy Music's "More Than This" on the B side
Foetus- LOVE (Birdman) CD and DVD package featuring a duet with Jennifer Charles of Elysian Fields, and theremin master Pamelia Kurtin
Gentle Giant - Free Hand and A Glass House (DRT) re-mastered re-issues celebrating the band's 35th anniversary
Goldie Lookin Chain- Straight Outta Newport (Record Collection) KERRANG! magazine calls this group "the Darkness of the hip-hop world"
GZR - Ohmwork (Sanctuary) new from Black Sabbath's Geezer Butler
Headphones- Headphones (Suicide Squeeze) with guests Tim Walsh and David Bazan of Pedro the Lion
Hot Karl - The Great Escape(Headless Heroes) with guests MC Serch, Ali Abnormal, and Maktub's Reggie Watts
Jane - Berserker (Paw Tracks) four extended hypnotic-robotic jams from Noah Lennox - a.k.a. Panda Bear of the Animal Collective - and Scott Mou
Robert Earl Keen - What I Really Mean(Koch) with guest Danny Barnes of the Bad Livers
James Kochalka Superstar - Our Most Beloved(Rykodisc) new from the cult comic-book artist, featuring a bonus DVD of videos and an ode to cunnilingus in "Talk to the Wookie"
Dave Matthews Band - Stand Up(RCA) available as a CD or DualDisc, with bonus discs of B sides and live tracks available to those who order from the band's Web site
Monster-In-Law- original motion picture soundtrack (New Line) with music by Tegan & Sara, Madeleine Peyroux, Joss Stone, Esthero, and more
Old School Freight Train - Run(Acoustic Disc) terrific debut produced by label founder David Grisman, featuring cool covers of Randy Newman's "Louisiana 1927" and Stevie Wonder's "Superstition"
Utah Phillips - Starlight on the Rails: A Songbook(Daemon) four-CD box-set anthology of his wonderful storytelling and folk songs
Robert Plant and the Strange Sensation - Mighty Rearranger(Sanctuary) featuring the single "Shine It All Around"
Pray For the Soul of Betty- Pray for the Soul of Betty (Baby Julius/Koch) debut from the New York band fronted by Constantine Maroulis, just booted off American Idol
Prince Paul - Itstrumental(Female Fun)
Langhorne Slim - When the Sun's Gone Down (Narnack) highly recommended foot stompin', hyperactive old-timey music with a playful, innocent zeal
Supagroup- Rules (Foodchain) rockin' guitar-driven good-time party music in the vein of early Van Halen boogie and AC/DC debauchery
Team Sleep - Team Sleep(Maverick) new from Chino Moreno of the Deftones, featuring one song inspired by the Edgar Allen Poe poem "Tomb of Liegia"
Tindersticks- Working for the Man: Greatest Hits (Koch) with a bonus disc of rarities in the first pressing
Unsane - Blood Run(Relapse) the band's first new music since 1998, also available in a limited-edition gatefold LP
Doug Wamble - Bluestate(Rounder) tasty, classy jazz combo featuring covers of Peter Gabriel's "The Washing of Water" and Stevie Wonder's "Have a Talk with God"
Weezer- Make Believe (Geffen)
Why? - Sanddollars(Anticon) eight-track CD EP of psychedelic hip-hop trip-hop with a folksy, stoned edge; featuring Yoni Wolf of cLOUDDEAD
Robert Wyatt - His Greatest Misses (Rykodisc) featuring his beautiful cover of Elvis Costello's "Shipbuilding"
various artists - Atantiquity (Atlantic) melding classic tracks from the label's catalogue with modern remix masters King Britt, DJ Nu-Mark of Jurassic 5, and more
various artists - World Shut Your Mouth(Family) two-CD soundtrack to the BBC hidden-camera prank show, featuring The Clash, Julian Cope, Mazzy Star, Prefab Sprout, Bronski Beat, and more
• A third volume of the U2 cover series, Even Better Than the Real Thing, has just been released in Ireland by the popular Today FM radio station. With proceeds benefiting the UNICEF Tsunami Relief Fund, the two-CD set features The Frames' take on "40," Luka Bloom's spin on "Bad," and other cover contributions from Declan O'Rourke, Paddy Casey, Tom Baxter, Divine Comedy, Picturehouse, and other Irish artists. ...
• Think cover projects suck? Cleveland's Cobra Verde is out to prove you wrong with its just released Copycat Killers set on the Scat imprint. Wearing a dozen personal picks like badges of honor, strange influences and wild surprises are laid out in all their sludge and squeal glory, spread thick with shadowy, sexy cool. From the stoned swagger of Pink's "Get the Party Started" to the dramatic take on New Order's "Temptation," these are cover tracks that do more than raise a tickled eyebrow of "huh?" I dare you not to get lost in the churning, tribal psychedelica of the group's spin on Donna Summer's "I Feel Love" or the stalker's gait of The Troggs' "I Want You." Other choice cuts under the knife include Hawkwind's "Urban Guerilla," The Flamin' Groovies' "Yesterday's Numbers," the Easter Monkey's catchy college-radio hit "Underpants," and Leonard Cohen's "So Long, Marianne," as well as other songs by The Rolling Stones, The Undertones, The Fall, and Mott the Hoople.
Television Alert:
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno welcomes Aimee Mann on Thursday, Beck on Friday, Moby on Monday, and Theory of a Dead Man on Tuesday; The Late Show with David Letterman hosts the return of Robert Plant on Monday; Late Night with Conan O'Brien boasts Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry on Thursday overnight and Fall Out Boy on Tuesday overnight; The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson features Brendan Benson & Ozzy Osbourne on Thursday overnight and the eels on Friday overnight; Jimmy Kimmel Live presents Los Amigos Invisibles on Thursday overnight, Faith Evans on Friday overnight, Stevie Wonder on Monday overnight, and Moby on Tuesday overnight; and Saturday Night Live's musical guest this weekend is System of a Down.
New Releases Coming Tuesday, May 10
... and like the winds, young grasshopper, are subject to change
400 Blows - Angel's Trumpets & Devil's Trombones(Gold Standard Laboratories) brutal Los Angeles punk, named not for the Francois Truffaut film, but from a quote in Anthony Burgess' A Clockwork Orange
Boredoms - Seadrum/House of Sun(Vice) the group's first domestic release in six years
Alison Brown - Stolen Moments(Compass) banjo and fiddle heaven featuring covers of Jimi Hendrix's "Angel" and Paul Simon's "Homeward Bound," with guests The Indigo Girls, Mary Chapin Carpenter, and The Boomchicks
Circus Devils - Five(Fading Captain) the strangely titled fourth album from Guided by Voices' Robert Pollard and producer Todd Tobias
John Digweed - Choice: A Collection of Classics(Azuli) two-CD set of remixes of The Cure, Underworld, INXS, and Saint Etienne
Duplex! - Ablum by Duplex!(Mint) cheery, cheeky, and zippy songs from this musical collective of a three-year-old, an 11-year-old, a 12-year-old, and a few parents, playing their own instruments and singing about salad, multiplication, DNA, and "Pooing & Peeing"
Electrelane- Axes (Too Pure/Beggars Banquet) look for the first seven-inch single, "This Deed," to feature a cover of Roxy Music's "More Than This" on the B side
Foetus- LOVE (Birdman) CD and DVD package featuring a duet with Jennifer Charles of Elysian Fields, and theremin master Pamelia Kurtin
Gentle Giant - Free Hand and A Glass House (DRT) re-mastered re-issues celebrating the band's 35th anniversary
Goldie Lookin Chain- Straight Outta Newport (Record Collection) KERRANG! magazine calls this group "the Darkness of the hip-hop world"
GZR - Ohmwork (Sanctuary) new from Black Sabbath's Geezer Butler
Headphones- Headphones (Suicide Squeeze) with guests Tim Walsh and David Bazan of Pedro the Lion
Hot Karl - The Great Escape(Headless Heroes) with guests MC Serch, Ali Abnormal, and Maktub's Reggie Watts
Jane - Berserker (Paw Tracks) four extended hypnotic-robotic jams from Noah Lennox - a.k.a. Panda Bear of the Animal Collective - and Scott Mou
Robert Earl Keen - What I Really Mean(Koch) with guest Danny Barnes of the Bad Livers
James Kochalka Superstar - Our Most Beloved(Rykodisc) new from the cult comic-book artist, featuring a bonus DVD of videos and an ode to cunnilingus in "Talk to the Wookie"
Dave Matthews Band - Stand Up(RCA) available as a CD or DualDisc, with bonus discs of B sides and live tracks available to those who order from the band's Web site
Monster-In-Law- original motion picture soundtrack (New Line) with music by Tegan & Sara, Madeleine Peyroux, Joss Stone, Esthero, and more
Old School Freight Train - Run(Acoustic Disc) terrific debut produced by label founder David Grisman, featuring cool covers of Randy Newman's "Louisiana 1927" and Stevie Wonder's "Superstition"
Utah Phillips - Starlight on the Rails: A Songbook(Daemon) four-CD box-set anthology of his wonderful storytelling and folk songs
Robert Plant and the Strange Sensation - Mighty Rearranger(Sanctuary) featuring the single "Shine It All Around"
Pray For the Soul of Betty- Pray for the Soul of Betty (Baby Julius/Koch) debut from the New York band fronted by Constantine Maroulis, just booted off American Idol
Prince Paul - Itstrumental(Female Fun)
Langhorne Slim - When the Sun's Gone Down (Narnack) highly recommended foot stompin', hyperactive old-timey music with a playful, innocent zeal
Supagroup- Rules (Foodchain) rockin' guitar-driven good-time party music in the vein of early Van Halen boogie and AC/DC debauchery
Team Sleep - Team Sleep(Maverick) new from Chino Moreno of the Deftones, featuring one song inspired by the Edgar Allen Poe poem "Tomb of Liegia"
Tindersticks- Working for the Man: Greatest Hits (Koch) with a bonus disc of rarities in the first pressing
Unsane - Blood Run(Relapse) the band's first new music since 1998, also available in a limited-edition gatefold LP
Doug Wamble - Bluestate(Rounder) tasty, classy jazz combo featuring covers of Peter Gabriel's "The Washing of Water" and Stevie Wonder's "Have a Talk with God"
Weezer- Make Believe (Geffen)
Why? - Sanddollars(Anticon) eight-track CD EP of psychedelic hip-hop trip-hop with a folksy, stoned edge; featuring Yoni Wolf of cLOUDDEAD
Robert Wyatt - His Greatest Misses (Rykodisc) featuring his beautiful cover of Elvis Costello's "Shipbuilding"
various artists - Atantiquity (Atlantic) melding classic tracks from the label's catalogue with modern remix masters King Britt, DJ Nu-Mark of Jurassic 5, and more
various artists - World Shut Your Mouth(Family) two-CD soundtrack to the BBC hidden-camera prank show, featuring The Clash, Julian Cope, Mazzy Star, Prefab Sprout, Bronski Beat, and more
