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Ume's New Album, Monuments. Listen Now

MUSIC NEWS-  Austin's rock trio Ume's sophomore album Monuments is streaming now in full thanks to Fender ! Monuments will be released on March 4th on Dangerbird Records and is the follow up to their heralded 2011 debut album Phantoms. The new album was recorded in Seattle, WA and produced by Grammy Award winning producer Adam Kasper (Queens of the Stone Age, Nirvana, Foo Fighters, and Cat Power).

Panic! at the Disco Announces Gospel Tour

MUSIC NEWS- Panic! At The Disco have shared a new video for their song "Nicotine" this morning. The striking black and white clip premiered on Neon Gold Records this morning, home to Gospel Tour-mates Magic Man. Directed by Kai Regan (Cee-Lo Green, CocoRosie), the video features a starkly lit Brendon Urie and the object of his addiction set to "Nicotine"'s thumping dance track.Urie says, "We were excited to work with Kai again. He's super creative and we love his visual aesthetic. We managed to film almost the whole thing in one day at a cemetery in Queens. It was freezing cold and snowing out but totally worth it. The end result looks amazing."

Lake Street Dive's Bad Self Portraits Gets Hot Release

MUSIC NEWS- Lake Street Dive have made their mark on the Billboard Top 200 chart this week, with their new album Bad Self Portraits debuting at #18 with over 15,000 copies sold in its first week. The album also landed at #2 on the Indie chart, #5 Rock, and #8 on the Digital Album chart.

 

The album has already received tons of acclaim, with Rolling Stone calling out the band on the front cover of the new issue as "the year's best new band," while also proclaiming that "they write and arrange with sharp hooks, dramatic dropouts and sleight-of-hand grooves," and the Wall Street Journal hailing the band's sound for "marrying Motown and '60s soul with folk and rock," asserting that the band "will have no trouble fitting in with rock and pop's major acts." NPR Fresh Air noted that "Lake Street Dive powers past nicety to connect with the passion that brings blood and sweat to the tears that heartache songs need in order to thrive."

Arcade Fire Add Dan Deacon and Kid Koala on Reflektor Tour

MUSIC NEWS - Arcade Fire have announced that Dan Deacon and Kid Koala will be joining them as support acts as part of the Reflektor Tour in North America. Deacon and Kid Koala are slated to open the inaugural nine dates of a massive tour that will span North America, South America and Europe throughout 2014.  Their confirmed North American engagements list is below, with additional support acts to be confirmed later.

Before hitting the road, Arcade Fire will make a premiere week appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon as musical guest on February 20.

Devo's Bob Casale Dead at 61

MUSIC NEWS- Devo guitarist and founding member Bob Casale has died as a result of heart failure, at 61.  Casale was known to Devo fans as “Bob 2,” as he played alongside the group’s other guitarist, Bob Mothersbaugh. Though often a background figure in the band, Casale performed on every Devo record, and was with the group from their start in 1973 through their most recent tours.

In a statement on Devo’s Facebook page, Casale’s brother and co-founder of the group, Gerald Casale, wrote:

As an original member of Devo, Bob Casale was there in the trenches with me from the beginning. He was my level-headed brother, a solid performer and talented audio engineer, always giving more than he got. He was excited about the possibility of Mark Mothersbaugh allowing Devo to play shows again. His sudden death from conditions that lead to heart failure came as a total shock to us all.

Bob Casale is survived by his wife, Lisa, and two children

Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson to Release "Homo Erraticus"

MUSIC NEWS - Legendary prog pioneer Ian Anderson will be releasing a new studio album Homo Erraticus on April 15 on his own Calliandra Records, distributed by Kscope. The album continues with the story of Anderson's favorite enfant terrible Gerald Bostock.

Ian and his band (guitarst Florian Opahle, bassist David Goodier, keyboardist John O'Hara and drummer Scott Hammond, and singer Ryan O'Donnell) will be touring the USA this September through November.

"3 Doors Down" Bassist Todd Harrell Arrested for DUI

MUSIC NEWS - 3 Doors Down bassist, Todd Harrell, faces a driving under the influence charge after his arrest Tuesday in Mississippi.  Police found Harrell "slumped over the steering wheel" of a vehicle stopped at an intersection in D'Iberville, MS, a police statement released Wednesday said.

Harrell, 42, "showed signs of impairment and was arrested and charged with 2nd offense DUI," police said.  The rocker was charged with vehicular homicide in Nashville, TN, last April after his speeding car allegedly clipped a pickup truck, sending it down an embankment and killing the driver, according to a Davidson County, TN, sheriff's spokesman.

Beck's New "Morning Phase" Streaming Now

MUSIC NEWS - Beck has pretty retreated from the public eye over the last six years since his release of his last full-length album,  Modern Guilt in 2008. He has released a full set of new songs as sheet music, recorded a number of cover tunes with his friends, and embarked on the occasional tour, but fans have been waiting for a true new album for a long time. The wait is now over; his Morning Phase is streaming now on NPR prior to its release on February 25th.

Morning Phase has been described as a "sequel" to Beck's 2002 classic Sea Change; an album that reminds listeners of his more traditional mashed-up, upbeat sound for lush, acoustic-driven soundscapes, a deliberate, sometimes ponderous tempo, and introspective, often bleak lyrics. There's no doubt that Morning Phase owes a significant debt to the sonic palette of Sea Change, but it's much more a true spiritual sequel than a derivative follow-up.  Alternatingly intimate and spacious, traditional and slighty strange, and there's always a new sound following the ever-present strum of Beck's acoustic guitar.

"Get inside the new songs," writes NPR's Tom Moon, "and a more nuanced perspective emerges. There are surprisingly approachable settings here, songs that start with humble acoustic guitar and grow into vast and dazzling canyons of sound." And despite the sonic similarity to Sea Change, there's enough new ear candy here to keep listeners enthralled — take "Wave," a song built on a string arrangement orchestrated by Beck's father David Richard Campbell. "Here, you'll find no conventional strumming, no weepy pedal-steel guitar, no drums at all," describes Moon. "Just low strings droning in support of a disconsolate, almost detached vocal." If you're in the mood to try out a darker, stranger, and arguably more experimental version of Beck, put your headphones on, tune the world out, and listen to the entirety of Morning Phase over at NP.

LISTEN, here

DAVID CROSBY Postpones Concert Tour Dates Due to Heart Procedure

MUSIC NEWS- Folk rock singer/songwriter, David Crosby has had to reschedule most of his upcoming solo concert tour dates after undergoing a heart procedure old reports that his doctors performed a cardiac  catheterization operation and angiogram following the results of a  routine stress test.

The doctors discovered that Crosby's left  anterior coronary artery was 90% blocked and placed two stents in  the vessel so that blood will be able to flow more freely to the  singer's heart.  David is expected to make a complete recovery.  He  didn't have a heart attack, but doctors were convinced that he would  have if he hadn't had the procedure.

Morrissey Announces USA Tour Plans

MUSIC NEWS- With Morrissey hard at work in France on a new record; his first since 2009’s Years of Refusal, after signing a two-album deal with Capitol Records, we receive word of a USA concert tour that will kick off in May! And, besides his music, he’s released an autobiography, and a debut novel is also on the way.

Known, unfortunately, for a history of cancelled concert dates, this new run for the former Smiths singer, is his first since having to cancel nearly all of his dates on a South American tour last summer.  Let's hope things run more smoothly this time out!

Elton John "Million Dollar Piano" Film Trailer

MUSIC NEWS- Sir Elton John is, of course, one of the biggest and most glamorous rockstars of all time. He's sold over 250 million records in his 50 year career with hit single after hit single and has topped the charts in nations around the world; his 1997 single 'Candle In The Wind' remains the biggest selling single ever released.

In true Elton style, the singer and pianist took to Caesars Palace in Las Vegas to perform one of the most spectacular and stunningly extravagant concerts of his career that featured renditions of his biggest hits played on one of the world's most remarkable pianos. The Yamaha instrument is fitted with LED screens that display a myriad of beautiful images to accompany each track. Carefully crafted over the last four years, this unique piano weighs a massive 3,200 pounds.

The event was captured on film and will play in nearly 700 theaters across the USA for a premiere at 7 pm local time on March 18, 2014 with encore screenings on March 26.

 

 

The film features hits such as 'Rocket Man', 'Tiny Dancer', 'Goodbye Yellow Brick Road' and 'Your Song'.

Jon Anderson Announces "Acoustic Evening" Concerts

MUSIC NEWS- Legendary prog rock singer/songwriter/performer, and original YES member, Jon Anderson has announced a series of acoustic evening concert.  Anderson, who has one of the most recognizable voices in music, and is best known for his work with YES, Vangelis and Kitaro, as well as his innovative solo efforts, recently completed a successful tour of the east coast in the USA with fellow YES member, keyboardist,  Rick Wakeman and a solo tour of South America.

Jon's 2014 solo tour will surely deliver an exciting mixture of material from his prolific solo career, collaborations with Vangelis and classic YES songs, along with new compositions from his new CD 'Survival & Other Stories'.

Joan Osborne to Release "Love and Hate" in April

MUSIC NEWS- Multi-platinum selling recording artist and seven time GRAMMY nominee Joan Osborne is set to release her eighth studio recording Love and Hate on April 8, 2014. The poignant twelve song collection, which weaves together strands of American roots music, poetic lyrics and impassioned vocals, will be released via Entertainment One (eOne), where Osborne recently signed a new, worldwide record deal.

To promote the album Osborne will embark on an extensive USA concert tour with stops in New York City, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Austin. (Current full itinerary is below.)

Osborne wrote or co-wrote every song on Love and Hate, making it her most intimate album yet.  “These songs resonate especially deep for me," she says. "I feel like I've grown so much as a songwriter, using simpler and simpler language, getting to the heart of the matter in a purer way." Osborne co-produced Love and Hate with Jack Petruzzelli (Patti Smith, Rufus Wainwright) and recorded the album in her current hometown of New York City.  The pair previously collaborated for Osborne’s Bring It On Home, which was GRAMMY nominated in the Best Blues Album Category last year.

Of the concept behind Love and Hate, Osborne explained, “The image I keep coming back to is that of a beam of white light: we think it’s one thing, but when you shine it through a prism, you see that it’s made up of many different colors, different frequencies.  Love isn’t just one thing either; it can be made up of faith and passion, power struggles, humor, anguish, deep spirituality, lust, anger, everything on that spectrum.  People we love can bring out the very best and the absolute worst in us, and we can do that to them, too.  Love is always a risk.”

The soulful vocalist, who notes such legendary artists as Etta James and Ray Charles as influences, has toured extensively with her own band and as a member of The Dead. She was one of the original artists on Lilith Fair and has performed alongside many notable musicians, including Bob Dylan, Luciano Pavarotti, Stevie Wonder, Emmylou Harris, and Patti Smith, to name a few. Osborne’s debut album Relish produced the massive MTV and international radio smash, "One of Us.” Osborne is currently a member of the rock band/creative collective Trigger Hippy formed by Black Crowes drummer Steve Gorman along with Jackie Greene, Tom Bukovac and Nick Govrik.

Joan Osborne 2014 Tour Itinerary-

April

3    Bay Shore, NY   Boulton Center

4    South Orange, NJ   SOPAC

6    Beacon, NY   Town Crier Café

9 Wilkes-Barre, PA Kirby Center

1   Ewing, NJ   Trinity UMC

12   Annapolis, MD   Rams Head

15   Alexandria, VA   Birchmere

17   Natick, MA   The Center For the Arts

18   Londonderry, NJ   Tupelo Music Hall

19   Lebanon, NJ   Lebanon Opera House

25   Norfolk, CT   Infinity Hall

26   Philadelphia, PA   World Café Live

May

15   Austin, TX   One World Theater

16   Dallas, TX   The Kessler Theater

17   Cherokee, TX   Creek Music Fest.

29 - June 1    Seattle, WA   Jazz Alley (w/Holmes Bros.)

June 5    San Francisco, CA Kanbar Hall (w/Holmes Bros.)

Conor Oberst Readies "Upside Down Mountain" Release and Tour

MUSIC NEWS- Singer-songwriter Conor Oberst recently signed to Nonesuch Records, which releases his new solo album Upside Down Mountain on May 20.  But before the album release, a limited-edition seven-inch single will be released exclusively for Record Store Day (Saturday, April 19^th). This special single will feature album track “Hundreds Of Ways” along with album outtake “Fast Friends” on the B-side. 

Oberst then kicks off the first leg of a world tour in support of the new album on May 8, 2014 in North Carolina. His friends and colleagues Dawes appear on the bill as “Special Guests”; both opening the concerts and performing as Oberst’s band for the tour.  Tickets are on sale to the general public now