A-ha's Morten Harket on Billboard Music Awards

A-ha's Morten Harket appeared on the Billboard Music Awards last night to perform part of "Take On Me." A-ha's 1985 hit is sampled in the Pitbull/Christina Aguilera song, "Feel This Moment," which was up for an award. Harket joined the duo at the end of the song, and a clip of the vintage "Take On Me" video flashed on the screen during his part of the performance. Check out the performance and short interview with Harket below:

If you don't want to endure the entire performance, watch the first video below:



Full song performance



Interview with Morten Harket - he reveals there is no reunion/record/live dates planned and the members are busy with solo projects.

Time Warp

Time Warp airs on 89X on Sundays from 8am until noon ET and streams live on the net. For more on the artists played on Time Warp, check out my blog which is updated daily with music news, video, and other kernels of info.

8 am hour:

Bob Marley "Jamming"
Lenny Kravitz "Let Love Rule"
U2 "The Electric Co."
Social Distortion "Ring Of Fire"
Cracker "Happy Birthday To Me"
Bananarama "Cruel Summer"
Tears For Fears "Pale Shelter"
Nick Heyward "Kite"
Orb "Little Fluffy Clouds"
Neil Young "Rocking In The Free World"
Ramones "We Want The Airwaves"
Red Hot Chili Peppers "Higher Ground"

9 am hour:

R.E.M. "Fall On Me"
Clash "Janie Jones"
Black Flag "TV Party"
David Bowie "Space Oddity"
Echo & the Bunnymen "Bring On The Dancing Horses"
Stone Roses "I Wanna Be Adored"
Nirvana "Where Did You Sleep Last Night"
Sonic Youth "Teenage Riot"
Folk Implosion "Natural One"
Rodriguez "Sugarman"
Crystal Method/Filter "Can't You Trip Like I Do"
Nine Inch Nails "Wish"

10 am hour:

Cult "She Sells Sanctuary"
Pixies "Debaser"
Flesh For Lulu "I Go Crazy"
B-Movie "Nowhere Girl"
Blue Stahli "Never Dance Again"
Cure "The Walk"
Depeche Mode "Master & Servant"
Stooges "No Fun"
Pearl Jam "State Of Love & Trust"
Faith No More "From Out Of Nowhere"
Psychedelic Furs "Until She Comes"
Rentals "Friends Of P"
Oasis "Whatever"

11 am hour:

James "Laid"
Garbage "Special"
R.E.M. "Texarkana"
Inspiral Carpets "Two Worlds Collide"
Siouxsie & the Banshees "Cities In Dust"
Sisters Of Mercy "This Corrosion"
Veruca Salt "Seether"
Jane's Addiction "Been Caught Stealing"
Smashing Pumpkins "Drown"
Joy Division "Transmission"
Joy Division "Dead Souls"

The Black Keys - Weenie Roast

The Black Keys headlined KROQ's Weenie Roast in Los Angeles last night. Though their appearance was somewhat overshadowed by the surprise appearance featuring Stone Temple Pilots with Chester Bennington on vocals, the Black Keys ripped through a 40 minute set of fan favorites. Watch the Black Keys' performance below.  Other full sets from the festival are also available to view by clicking the links:  Imagine Dragons, Jimmy Eat World, Vampire Weekend, and Of Monsters & Men.



Howlin' for You
Next Girl
Run Right Back
Same Old Thing
Dead and Gone
Little Black Submarines
Money Maker
She's Long Gone
Tighten Up
Gold on the Ceiling
Lonely Boy
I Got Mine

Nitzer Ebb early recording 'Basic Pain Procedure' to be reissued

Nitzer Ebb's first recording, Basic Pain Procedure, is celebrating its 30th anniversary and will be reissued worldwide in June. The original version of the recording was a cassette-only release and was designed mostly for label interest, though fans were able to purchase it directly from the band at shows.  Nitzer Ebb went on to record a whole new batch of songs for their debut album That Total Age, and with the exception of "The Home," which was reworked/retitled for Belief, the songs from Basic Pain Procedure were never reused or re-recorded.  Last year Pylon released a remastered version of Basic Pain Procedure on vinyl, and now for the 30th anniversary the label is releasing it on CD and adding a live concert recording taken from a December 1983 U.K. gig.   Basic Pain Procedure will be released worldwide on June 11th, though Amazon has a June 28th listing.

Nitzer Ebb uploaded a few tracks from the live album onto soundcloud and they are available to stream below. For more on the reissue, visit the official Nitzer Ebb website or Facebook page.

Ian Curtis, R.I.P.

On this day in 1980, Ian Curtis hanged himself at the age of 23.



Curtis' life was featured on the BBC program Great Lives in 2008. Host Matthew Parris, British poet Simon Armitage and Peter Hook discussed Curtis' life, musical impact, and his final days. During the show, Hook played a short snippet of an unreleased version of Ian Curtis singing "Love Will Tear Us Apart" recorded by Malcolm McLaren. Stream the episode of Great Lives below - more info on the episode is posted here.



In 2007 a excellent documentary on Joy Division was released featuring interviews with band members and key players like Tony Wilson, Rob Gretton, Peter Saville, Anton Corbijn, Kevin Cummins, and more.  Watch Joy Division below and buy a copy here.



The Ian Curtis biopic Control, directed by Anton Corbijn was released in 2007 and was based on Deborah Curtis' book, Touching From A Distance.  The trailer is posted below along with links to watch and purchase:

Official trailer



Control is available to purchase here.  Some of the film is available to view on YouTube.  Part 1 starts here.

Q & A with director Anton Corbijn



Curtis took his own life the day before Joy Division were scheduled to leave England to come to America for their first tour. The full Joy Division North American tour itinerary isn't officially available to view, however this website attempted to piece the tour together using Rob Gretton's notes, club ads, and other scraps of info. FYI, there was a Detroit date scheduled for May 26th at Bookies.

Here's a collection of Joy Division live appearances



Stream (audio only) a full concert recorded in London in February 1980:



Stream Joy Division Peel Sessions.  Both sessions were recorded in 1979

Peel Session #1 recorded January 1979



Peel Session #2 recorded November, 1979



FYI, the Joy Divison Peel Sessions were released as separate eps, then later were compiled on one disc.

2012 interview with Bernard Sumner and Stephen Morris discussing Ian Curtis published in Sabotage Times

Finally, Peter Hook recently released his Joy Division memoir Unknown Pleasures: Inside Joy Division which is available to purchase here. A very entertaining interview with Hook is posted here and a recent audio interview with Hook discussing Joy Division and Ian Curtis was featured on the May 17th episode of Sound Opinions here (starts at 6:30 into the show).  

Beady Eye - Acoustic live session

Today Beady Eye performed an acoustic set for French radio station Oui FM. The session was the first promotional acoustic event for their forthcoming album Be.  The session began with a short interview, then they performed their single, "Second Bite of the Apple" and followed it up with the live debut of another song titled "Start Anew."  Fans will definitely notice a striking difference in Liam Gallagher's vocals, particularly on the song "Start Anew."  Take a look/listen to the interview and performance below.







Stream the BBC Radio 1/Zane Lowe interview with Beady Eye below:



Beady Eye's new album Be was produced by Dave Sitek and will be released internationally on June 10th.

Peter Hook returns to North America for a New Order LP tour

Peter Hook announced today that he's heading back to North America this fall for a handful of live dates where he'll perform New Order's albums Movement and Power, Corruption and Lies in full. Like his January/February promo tour for Unknown Pleasures: Inside Joy Division, he's visiting very few cities, and he's not scheduled to play Detroit. As for Chicago, there isn't a date for the Movement/PCL tour, but Hook will be playing a Joy Division set at this year's Riot Fest, which is scheduled to take place September 13th - 15th at Humboldt Park (looks like he'll be playing the September 15th date). Check out Hooky's Movement/PCL tour dates below:

UPDATE: A Detroit date might actually happen according to this awesome Peter Hook tweet!

@cristinarocks @underworldimage Chill out, we're working on it...
— Peter Hook (@peter_hook1) May 18, 2013

North American tour itinerary

September 10th - Boston @ Paradise Rock Club
September 13th - NYC @ Webster Hall
September 14th - Philadelphia @ The Trocadero
September 18th - Montreal @ Club Soda
September 19th - Toronto @ The Hoxton
September 21st - Los Angeles @ Henry Fonda Theater
September 23rd - Vancouver @ Venue
September 25th - Seattle @ Decibel Festival
September 26th - Portland @ Wonder Ballroom
September 27th - San Francisco @ Mezzanine
September 28th - Denver @ Gothic Theater

Peter Hook's tour announcement comes on the heels of his newly released live album, Peter Hook & the Light perform Movement & Power, Corruption and Lies. The digital release was recorded at his sold out January 18th gig at Manchester Cathedral and was the final date on his initial U.K. run of playing New Order albums. The recording is available to download here.  For a limited time, fans can download a free mp3 of  "Everything's Gone Green" from the live album  - stream it below and grab a free download here.



Peter Hook recently appeared on the Chicago based program Sound Opinions - stream the interview here (starts around 6 minutes in)

Watch some video taken from the January 18th Manchester show below:







Additional video from the Manchester Cathedral show is posted here.

Noel Gallagher wins Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Song Collection

The Ivor Novello Awards, which honor excellence in songwriting, were handed out yesterday at a ceremony in London. Noel Gallagher received the award for Outstanding Song Collection and accepted the award from Ray Davies. Other winners included Marc Almond (best known for his work in Soft Cell) was presented the Ivors Inspiration Award, and DJ/producer Calvin Harris won the prestigious Songwriter of the Year award, marking a huge breakthrough for the electronic/EDM scene. Other winners included Alt J, Randy Newman, Emeli Sandé, and Gavin Rossdale.

Since Noel Gallagher won Outstanding Song Collection, why not enjoy some performances from his amazing career below:









(cover of the Verve's "Bittersweet Symphony")

Skinny Puppy - Weapon LP stream

Weapon, the new album from Skinny Puppy, is streaming in full over at Revolver. The album will be released in Germany on May 24th, North America on May 28th, and everywhere else on May 27th. Pre-order now from iTunes, Amazon, or the Metropolis store.





FYI: Earlier in the week Rolling Stone featured the album track "saLvo" as the free download of the day and the link appears to still be active.