Alex Chilton/Big Star

Alex Chilton's first post-Box Tops and pre-Big Star recordings are set to drop in January. Alex Chilton Free Again: The '1970' Sessions will be available January 10th on cd, digital LP, and vinyl LP (the first 1500 copies will be pressed on clear vinyl) through Omnivore Recordings. Stream a track from the release below and pre-order the release here.

"The E.M.I. Song (Smile For Me)" (Original Mono Mix)



In other related news, a documentary about Big Star is currently in production. Check out the official trailer from Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me below and visit the film's website here.



"Big Star served as a Rosetta Stone for a whole generation of musicians" ~Peter Buck, R.E.M.

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PETA Photostamp Collection

Morrissey, Chrissie Hynde, Joan Jett, Natalie Portman, Pythagoras, and others are featured in a new limited edition PETA Photostamp collection honoring famous vegetarians throughout history. The Vegetarian Celebrity US Photostamps are sold in sheets of 20 and can be ordered here for a limited time.

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VCMG

The debut EP from VCMG is available today exclusively from Beatport. EP1/Spock will be available at other digital retailers starting December 12th, and the 12 inch version drops December 19th. A full length record is expected sometime in the spring. VCMG is the new project featuring Vince Clarke and Martin L. Gore who haven't worked together since Depeche Mode's 1981 debut Speak & Spell.

VCMG "Spock" (Edit Remix)



And for fun, trip all the way back to 1981 and watch Depeche Mode play their very first single "Dreaming Of Me" live (with an awesome reel to reel player onstage.)



Here's a Depeche Mode 1981 television performance of "Puppets" (another track from Speak & Spell). Fair warning--it cuts off kind of abruptly at the end.

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Morrissey

Morrissey performed his new song, "People Are The Same Everywhere" on Conan last night.



"People Are The Same Everywhere" is one of three new tracks Morrissey premiered in June on the BBC's Radio 2. Unfortunately, the show archive is no longer available online, but you can listen to another Morrissey interview from April where he discussed the Smiths, his solo material and forthcoming autobiography on BBC Radio 4 here.

"People Are The Same Everywhere"



"The Kid's A Looker"



"Action Is My Middle Name"

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The King Of Limbs

Radiohead's The King Of Limbs was the best selling vinyl album of the year, and even though a lot of fans weren't blown away by the music on the record, the special "newspaper" edition and packaging for the release was truly something to behold. Mojo magazine named The King Of Limbs their favorite "music package" of the year, and they've done a pretty fantastic feature on the release in their Best Of 2011 edition. Radiohead's Colin Greenwood and Stanley Donwood (the art director of the package) were interviewed for Mojo's year end issue and revealed a ton of details regarding the release, production, and design of the album packaging. You'll have to purchase the magazine to read the entire interview, however since Donwood had SO much to say in the interview, Mojo decided to publish the "director's cut" of the interview here. I posted one excerpt from the piece below--Donwood's comments on the good ol' compact disc:

"They are atrocious. Human invention has made some serious errors, the private motor vehicle being chief among them. Compact discs are not in that league, but they are still extremely annoying: and in a few years they'll all be landfill. No-one has any serious love for them; they look cheap, and promise much that they cannot deliver. They merely allowed the bloated 'music industry' to continue for a few more stolen years whilst millions of people bought music they already owned in this new, hideous format. And those jewel cases! What a waste of our hydrocarbon resources. I will not mourn them."

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Morrissey!

Morrissey played a show at the Pomona Theater in California last night. Wow, what a finale--watch Morrissey sing "Still Ill" while TONS of fans crowd surf to get to the front to shake his hand. Not to spoil it, but there's more than one fan to make it onstage. And a shirt comes off.

Morrissey will be on Conan tonight, but I'm going to go ahead and say, it's gonna be hard to top the video below:



I'm still reeling (around the fountain) about Spinner putting Morrissey in the same category as ICP, Nickelback, Creed, and Limp Bizkit...

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Beady Eye

Beady Eye has announced a short North American tour.  The 9 date tour kicks off tomorrow in Vancouver and ends December 10th in Boston.  After the tour, the band will take a few weeks off for the holidays, then start working on the follow up to their debut cd, Different Gear, Still Speeding.  Check out Beady Eye's tour itinerary here.

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Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds

Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds debuted a video titled "Ride The Tiger" which features all of the band's previous music videos, bridged together with some previously unreleased/unused footage. The 19 minute video is sort of like a western mini-movie set to Noel's music. Watch it below (contains "If I Had A Gun," "The Death Of You & Me," and "AKA...What A Life.")

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Tears For Fears cover

I'm pretty sure you've never heard "Mad World" from Tears For Fears covered quite like this. Wow.

Crimson Death "Mad World"

Mad World (Tears for Fears cover 2002) by Crimson Death

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Fugazi online archive

Fugazi's record label, Dischord announced earlier this year that they were working on a special website which would serve to chronicle the band's live history. The site has been in beta testing (for Dischord members) but Fugazi Live Series is finally ready to officially launch this Thursday, December 1st. Starting Thursday, you'll be able to watch a ton of live Fugazi shows, view original posters/flyers from the shows, and in some cases download live MP3s. Some of the shows will be free to view, others will be available to download for a small fee (either 5 dollars, or you can enjoy a sliding scale 'name your own price' option.) The band plans on eventually archiving 800 concerts, but they'll start with 130 and go from there. Visit the official Dischord site for more info, plus read the New York Times' interview with Ian McKaye and Guy Picciotto.

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Shelagh Delaney

One of Morrissey's biggest influences, Shelagh Delaney, died last Sunday, November 20th. Delaney was a poet and writer, and probably best known for her 1958 debut A Taste Of Honey. Delaney appeared on the cover of the Smiths' 1987 record Louder Than Bombs, and the song "This Night Has Opened My Eyes" is based on A Taste Of Honey. Morrissey wrote a short tribute to Delaney on fan page true-to-you which you can read here. Check out an interview with Delaney from 1960 below.

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Noel Gallagher

Check out today's New York Times to read an interview with Noel Gallagher. My favorite part of the interview is Gallagher's reply to why the ex-members of Oasis all joined Beady Eye (Liam's band) instead of his solo project. Here's his response:

I never said to them, ‘‘I’m leaving, and if you want to come with me, come.’’ Liam being Liam bullied them into starting a band that night. It’s like Lyndon Johnson being sworn in on the airplane on the way back from Dallas before the body is even cold.

Read the condensed/edited online version of the interview in the New York Times online edition here.

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The Cure--Reflections, NYC night 2

Video from last night's show:

Wow, Robert Smith took fan requests outside the venue in NYC...



...and played the request!




Tonight the Reflections tour concludes in NYC

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The Cure--Reflections

This is the best Cure video ever! Robert Smith was incredibly animated for this performance of "Let's Go To Bed." And he got a big kiss too. Awesome.

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Bob Mould & friends...

Check out video from the Bob Mould tribute concert that took place a couple of days ago in Los Angeles:

David Grohl + Bob Mould "Hardly Getting Over It/Could You Be The One/Ice Cold Ice"



Ryan Adams "Heartbreak A Stranger"



Bob Mould + friends (encore) "See A Little Light"

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Band Aid

Band-Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas" was recorded on November 25th in 1984. Check out a great article on the charity single here, (via Duran Duran) and watch the video below.

The video is soooooooooo fun to watch--everyone looks so young and innocent (well, sorta) and the hairstyles are phenomenal. There's an awesome shot of Bono (at 1:31) where his hair/headphones give off an Amy Winehouse vibe, and a truly amazing rat-tail makes an appearance at 2:54. Oh, and in 1984 Boy George was going through his red-hair phase, but he clearly was in dire need of a roots touch up on the day this was recorded. Good times.

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Morrissey

Morrissey has been on the road for well over a week on his short North American tour. I've been watching a lot of the footage from shows on YouTube and was surprised I hadn't come across any video of fans trying to make it up onstage. Until now.

The video below is from last night's show in Las Vegas, and the sound is pretty bad, but it's definitely worth sitting through to get to the Moz fan at the end.

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The Cure

The Cure kicked off their three night Reflections residency at the Beacon Theater in New York City last night. Watch some footage from the show:












DO NOT WATCH THIS FINAL VIDEO IF YOU HAVE PHOTOSENSITIVE EPILEPSY. There are a ton of flashing lights. Watch at your own risk.

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Morrissey

Morrissey played "Meat Is Murder" the night before Thanksgiving at the Music Box in Hollywood. He made a short Thanksgiving comment before launching into the song:

"Apparently tomorrow is Thanksgiving. Try your best not to kill anything"

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The Cure--Reflections

The Cure will kick off their 3-night Reflections residency in New York City tonight.

Check out some video from the band's final Los Angeles show from Wednesday night.

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The Stone Roses

The Stone Roses have launched a new merchandise store, so if you're in the market for wearables, go for it.

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Black Friday

Yup, it's here. Black Friday Record Store Day. It'll be wayyyy more low key to visit your favorite independent record store than brave the masses at malls and big outlet stores. (And be sure to stay away from Wal-Mart. There's always annual Black Friday drama at Wal-Mart, usually it's some kind of stampede issue. And look this year's issue--so far--didn't take long did it?)

Anyway. The point is, Black Friday Record Store Day is here. Take a look at the list of participating stores, check out the list of goodies available and go. Good luck!

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Nine Inch Nails auction

Nine Inch Nails has posted more items on Ebay as part of the band's memorabilia charity auction. View all the NIN items here. All proceeds will go to California Greyhound Adoption Promotion (CalGAP) which is an advocacy group dedicated to promoting ex-racing greyhound adoption and to assist rescue agencies in placing greyhounds to adoptive homes.

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Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds

Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds played "AKA...What A Life" on Jools Holland last night. Don't miss Noel live at the Royal Oak Music Theater on March 31st.

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The Cure--Reflections

Yesterday was night #2 of The Cure's Reflection residency in Los Angeles. The band will play their final show in L.A. tonight, then head to New York City for three nights there starting Friday.

"Funeral Party"



"All Cats Are Grey"

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Morrissey

Here's some footage from last night's show in Escondido, California. As mentioned yesterday, Morrissey will not be performing on Jimmy Kimmel tonight, but you'll be able to see him on Conan next Tuesday, plus he'll be at the Royal Oak Music Theater on December 18th.

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Paul Weller

Paul Weller has announced he'll be releasing his eleventh solo record, Sonik Kicks, March 26th. Guests on the 14 track record include Noel Gallagher* and Graham Coxon (Blur). The record's first single, "Around The Lake" is available now via iTunes U.K. You can catch up with Weller here and listen to Weller's single below.

Paul Weller "Around The Lake"



*FYI, Weller doesn't play favorites with the Gallagher brothers. Earlier this year Liam's fashion label Pretty Green introduced a Paul Weller clothing collection.

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Social Distortion

Social Distortion has been on the road over the past year promoting their seventh studio record, Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes. Mike Ness has revealed in an interview with the Weekender, that the band is aiming to not take so long between records stating, "We have kind of set a goal to be just a little more prolific and not let the gaps be so big in between records." Read the entire interview here.

If you're in the Toledo area, or up for a road trip, don't miss Social Distortion at the Omni in Toledo this Saturday.

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Inspiral Carpets

Earlier this year Inspiral Carpets announced they were working on their first new music in 15 years, and original member Stephen Holt* was returning to the band as vocalist. Well, they made good on their promise. Yesterday Inspiral Carpets released two songs--their new single, "You're So Good For Me" and b-side "Head For The Sun." Download both now from iTunes. And listen to a stream of both songs below (yes, both feature that famous Manchester organ!)

"You're So Good For Me"



"Head For The Sun"



Also check out two songs from the band's Live XM Session yesterday

"This Is How It Feels"



"Saturn 5"



In North America, Inspiral Carpets are probably best known for their hit "Commerical Rain" (from Life)



*Tom Hingley was the vocalist for the band in their heyday. Fun fact: Noel Gallagher auditioned to replace Holt, but Hingley was chosen. Noel famously did spend time with the Carpets as their roadie until he found out his pesky brother Liam was forming his own band.)

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Sonic Youth

Matador Records posted a link to the video below yesterday on Twitter. It's thought to be the first ever Sonic Youth recording dating back to 1981. Check it out:

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Morrissey

Morrissey's November 23rd appearance on Jimmy Kimmel has been canceled due to a scheduling conflict. Morrissey's other late night tv performance scheduled for November 29th on Conan is still a go.

Don't miss Morrissey at the Royal Oak Music Theater on December 18th.

"Still Ill"

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The Cure--Reflections

The Cure's Reflections tour kicked off a three evening residency in Los Angeles last night. Trent Reznor was among the celebrities checking out last night's show. Another celebrity attempted to play off being at last night's show by posting an OLD live picture of the band on Twitter. Good times.

I'll be updating with more video as it becomes available. If nothing else, watch the stunning up close footage of "A Forest."

"A Forest"



"Jumping Someone Else's Train"



"Faith"

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Vince Clarke/Martin L. Gore

The awesome of the day (for old schoolers): Vince Clarke and Martin L. Gore are recording new music together! Clarke used to be in Depeche Mode back in the Speak & Spell era before he quit to form Yaz and Erasure. The two will be calling themselves VCMG (not exactly creative, but hey, the music is going to rule). The first release will be an EP titled SPOCK and will be available November 30th on Beatport, then everywhere else on December 12th. A full album will drop in the spring of next year.

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Morrissey

Go ahead and mock me, but I'm posting more live video from Morrissey--this time from his show in Phoenix last night:

"I Know It's Over"



Here's some footage from Moz's show in Dallas

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Liam vs Noel part 5001

If you thought the litigation between Gallagher brothers Liam and Noel was over, think again. Earlier this year Liam filed suit against Noel for comments Noel had made about Liam forcing Oasis to pull out of the V Festival a few years ago because of a hangover. Noel eventually apologized to Liam and everyone thought the matter was over. Apparently not. According to an exclusive report in today's Mirror, Noel filed legal documents in the matter on November 1st, and some of the documents have some pretty choice words about Liam saying he's "disrupted gig" displayed "generally irresponsible and unreasonable behavior" and was "spiteful and childish." According to the Mirror, Liam had no comment about the matter other than things were in the hands of lawyers at this point. Yeah, the Mirror is a tabloid, and tabloids get things wrong all the time, but they do have screenshots of some legal documents. Check out the full report in the Mirror here.

Meanwhile Q interviewed Noel recently (their interview will be published in their new issue next week) and they quoted Noel as saying, "I want them (Beady Eye) to do well. I don't want to get involved in that shit."

Watch some video from Q's interview with Noel (contains no comments about Liam or Beady eye):

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Morrissey

More awesome video of Morrissey--this time it's from his show in Dallas. You can also check out other footage I posted previously.

"Satellite Of Love" (Lou Reed cover)



"I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris"



"People Are The Same Everywhere"

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Trent Reznor/NIN

Trent Reznor was full of updates this weekend. Saturday he announced Nine Inch Nails have started to auction off band memorabilia/gear for charity (bid here), and today he revealed he's mastering the score to The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (info to be announced December 2nd) and he's mixing music for his How To Destroy Angels project.

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Radiohead

Check out two songs by the band On A Friday, the 1986 version of Radiohead (minus Jonny Greenbrook). Listen to two tracks below via poptart, what's our mission.

"Everybody Knows"



"Girl"

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Time Warp

Here's a quick and dirty rundown of Time Warp-ish posts from this past week. Clicky clicky and you're good to go:

Morrissey ticket info, live footage from shows this week, plus Moz got his hair cut and kept his locks!

Noel Gallagher ticket information plus video of him covering Oasis songs live.

Sinead O'Connor has a new song & you can listen to it here.

Linkage to an interview with Garbage

Replacements film Color Me Impressed

Trailer for Oxford music film Anyone Can Play Guitar, plus video of a Q & A with members of Ride, Radiohead, Supergrass, and more

Time reviewed every song (yup, all 38) on R.E.M.'s career retrospective

A TON of live footage from The Cure's 'Reflections' show in London (part 1)

A TON of live footage from The Cure's 'Reflections' show in London (part 2)

Radiohead's "Codex" covered by Deadmau5

Q's tribute to Achtung Baby (featuring covers from NIN, Garbage, Depeche Mode & more) is now available on iTunes

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Noel 007?

The Sun reported earlier that Noel Gallagher was quite possibly recording the theme for Skyfall, the new 007 movie. According to Gallagher's blog (posting titled Apparently I'm Being Courted By 007 Bosses) that's sure news to him:

Now, I don't know whether you've seen a story that's doing the rounds about me being offered the job of penning the tune for the new James Bond film? Apparently I'm being courted by "007 bosses"!!!!! A meeting will be "taking place in the next few days"!!!! With some guy called "Michael G. Wilson" (whoever he is)!!! A "source" says, "nothing has been signed or made official"!!!! Of course it fuckin' hasn't!!!!!! Who IS this fuckin' "source"? Has he been on the "sauce"? Bizarre indeed.

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Nine Inch Nails auction

Nine Inch Nails are auctioning off memorabilia and gear on Ebay over the next couple of weeks with all proceeds going to rescue greyhounds. The auction kicked off today--the first three items up for bidding are guitars. Check 'em out and bid right here.

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Morrissey

Morrissey is coming to Detroit, well, actually the Royal Oak Music Theater on December 18th. If you didn't get involved with the internet pre-sale, don't forget that the general onsale (plus box office tickets, if you want to blow off the service charge!) go on sale today at noon.

Moz's North American tour kicked off this week and he appears to be in fine form! It's such a rare treat for The Man, The Myth, The Legend to stop by Detroit, so grab tickets while you can. If you need more convincing read this.

Check out some footage from Tuesday night's show (and be sure to scroll down to the bottom of the post to read a funny story about Moz getting his hair cut while in Austin).

"I Know It's Over"



"Everyday Is Like Sunday"



"Still Ill"



And I'll leave you with this entertaining story out of Austin: When Morrissey was in town for his show on Tuesday, he and his entourage went to a barbershop to get haircuts. Well, according to this report, Morrissey took his cut hair with him, bumming out anyone who was thinking of taking it and putting it under a pillow for good luck (or whatever.)

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Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds

Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds will play the Royal Oak Music Theater on March 31st. Perhaps it was bad timing for two great shows (Noel + Morrissey) to be announced during the same week, and to go on sale the same day, at the same time.

Don't forget tickets to see Noel Gallagher go on sale today at noon! It's awesome to see Noel isn't shying away from playing some Oasis classics!

Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds "Wonderwall"



Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds "Supersonic"

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Anyone Can Play Guitar

The documentary on the Oxford music scene, Anyone Can Play Guitar, was released on DVD a couple of weeks ago (buy it here and read more about it here). Earlier this week a 'Q & A' session with a few notable Oxford musicians took place before a screening of the film in the U.K. Mark Gardener (Ride), Ed O'Brien (Radiohead), Nick Cope (Candyskins), and Gaz Coombes (Supergrass) participated in the event and you can watch a portion of it below:



Trailer for Anyone Can Play Guitar

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Radiohead

Radiohead posted a few more remixes that, according to the band, didn't have time to make it to the vinyl release of TKOL RMX 8. Listen to the remixes below:




Also Radiohead's Live From The Basement television performance is available to order, the collection will ship in mid-December.

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The Replacements

A film about the Replacements, Color Me Obsessed, is currently being screened across North America. Of course there isn't a Detroit screening yet, but you can check out a ton of stuff from the documentary including the three different trailers here. Or just visit the film's official website here.

The film gets its name from the band's 1983 track. Listen to it below:

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R.E.M.

Time published a lengthy review of R.E.M.'s career retrospective Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage 1982-2011 (the collection was released yesterday, btw). Time's review is 4 pages long (no, you can't view it as a single page) because they made comments about each of the album's 38 tracks. At first I thought this was a great idea (and jealous I didn't do it myself) but something got lost in the execution--the review gets annoying at times, but still, it's worth a click, even if just to check out other articles they've linked to. Wow, did I just review their review? Check out Annotated For The People: A Track By Track Look At The New R.E.M. Retrospective here.

By the way, Michael Stipe will be on Jimmy Fallon tonight.

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The Cure--Reflections

The Cure played their Reflections concert at Royal Albert Hall in London. Here's a review from The Telegraph and here's one from The Guardian. I am f'ing stunned that NME hasn't posted something on the show yet. Earlier I posted a bunch of fan-shot footage from the event here. Check out even more video below:

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The Smiths

The Smiths' classic track "Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want" has been covered for a John Lewis Christmas ad in the U.K. Watch the ad below:



The Smiths have received criticism over allowing the song to be covered for an ad, and now Johnny Marr has responded to critics via Twitter: "Writing Please Please one Friday in 84 is one of the best memories of my life. This ad has not sullied that memory one bit." (Bonus points for working "sullied" into a Tweet, btw).

Gigwise pointed out that Marr also linked to a video of Henry Rollins talking about music and selling out:

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The Cure--Reflections

The Cure played London's Royal Albert Hall tonight*--the band is currently on their Reflections tour where they play their first three albums, Three Imaginary Boys, Seventeen Seconds, and Faith from beginning to end, then play an encore set. The Cure even dusted off the b-side "World War" for the encore tonight! Some early video has already been posted from tonight's show and you can watch it below. The Reflections tour visits Los Angeles next week for three shows, then moves to New York City for three more. Stub Hub anyone?

"10:15 Saturday Night"



"Foxy Lady/The Subway Song"



"Meat Hook"



"So What"



"Fire In Cairo"



"Three/Final Sound/A Forest"



"Seventeen Seconds"



"All Cats Are Grey"



"Charlotte Sometimes"



"Let's Go To Bed"



"Lovecats"



"World War"



"Splintered In Her Head"



Published on November 15th, 2011 @ 7:54 PM (*edited at 8am on 11/16 to add more video)

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Detroit: Blueprint For Techno

If you're into techno music at all, you'll want to watch the documentary posted below. Detroit: Blueprint For Techno is a Much Music production and aired on the music channel back in 2000. Techno luminaries from the scene like Derrick May, Kevin Saunderson, Carl Craig, Juan Atkins are featured and interviewed, plus there's some cool club shots of Motor (remember Motor in Hamtramck?). Check it out below:

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Morrissey/Noel Gallagher

Ok, so here's the ticketing info for Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds and Morrissey--both shows are at the Royal Oak Music Theater--and it turns out the info is pretty much the same for both shows:

Morrissey plays the Royal Oak Music Theater on December 18th. The internet pre-sale kicks off tomorrow (Wednesday, November 16th) at noon. The general onsale kicks off Friday, November 18th at noon. Here's the link for more info, and here's the link to buy tickets (active when tickets go on sale).

Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds play the Royal Oak Music Theater on March 31st. The internet pre-sale kicks off tomorrow (Wednesday, November 16th) at noon. The general onsale kicks off Friday, November 18th at noon. Here's the link for more info, and here's the link to buy tickets (active when tickets go on sale). Take note that the Royal Oak Music Theater Facebook page has the date of show displayed as March 12th, but the date on their official website (and Noel Gallagher's official website) is March 31st. The show is March 31st, not March 12th.

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AHK-Toong BAY-Bi Covered

Q's tribute to U2, AHK-Toong BAY-Bi Covered was released along with the October 26th edition of the magazine in the U.K. The compilation features covers from Nine Inch Nails, Garbage, The Killers, Jack White, and more. For fans outside the U.K. who couldn't snag their own copy of Q, U2 has been selling physical copies on their website, and now it looks like the digital version is now available on iTunes. Note that you cannot purchase single tracks, only the album as a whole, and all of the proceeds from the album sales go to the charity Concern Worldwide. Read more about that here, plus you can still listen to a stream of the cd here.

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MORRISSEY!

Yes, I sure did post this last night, but being the Moz fan I am, I wanted this to be the leading post on my blog today, so yeah, I'm reposting it. Sue me. But more importantly, grab tickets.

Well, it turns out the Morrissey tour postponement was inconvenient for Chicago fans, but awesome for fans in Detroit. Morrissey re-scheduled his Chicago show for December 17th and added a Detroit show on December 18th. Don't miss Morrissey at the Royal Oak Music Theater on December 18th. There will be an internet pre-sale that kicks off tomorrow at noon and runs until Friday at 11:50 am. Here's more info on the show!



I don't think he's added any new dates after the Detroit date, so perhaps he'll stick around to spend some time in the D! Hmmm...someone's gonna need to write/record the Detroit version of this song:

Scotland Yard Gospel Choir "Morrissey In Chicago"

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MORRISSEY!

Well, it turns out the Morrissey tour postponement was inconvenient for Chicago fans, but awesome for fans in Detroit. Morrissey re-scheduled his Chicago show for December 17th and added a Detroit show on December 18th. Don't miss Morrissey at the Royal Oak Music Theater on December 18th. Tickets go on sale this Friday, November 18th at noon!



I don't think he's added any new dates after the Detroit date, so perhaps he'll stick around to spend some time in the D! Hmmm...someone's gonna need to write/record the Detroit version of this song:

Scotland Yard Gospel Choir "Morrissey In Chicago"

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Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds

Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds will play the Royal Oak Music Theater in Royal Oak on March 31st. Tickets go on sale this Friday, November 18th at noon. There is a pre-sale that kicks off November 16th at noon and runs until Friday at 11:50 am. Info on the pre-sale and general onsale can be found here.

Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds "If I Had A Gun"

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The Charlatans

Remember the Charlatans? They're probably best known for their 1990 single, "The Only One I Know" from their cd Some Friendly. The band is still around and recently took part in the BBC Radio 6 John Peel Lecture Series hosted by The Who's Pete Townshend. Check out some behind the scene pictures and interview from the event here and watch a couple of classic videos from the Charlatans below.

Charlatans "The Only One I Know"



Charlatans "Weirdo"



Also, if you have any interest in the music industry, I'd recommend listening to the full lecture Townshend gave at the John Peel event. He spoke about Peel, the music business, radio, iTunes, and more. Access the lecture here.

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Garbage

Wouldn't it be nice if Garbage stopped posting teeny song snippets and just released their new #$%^* record? Of course it would, but what's the fun in that, right?

Go ahead and listen to the latest song snippet from Garbage:



While you're waiting for the full cd (the band says it'll be released in the spring) check out their cover of U2's "Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses" from Q's Achtung Baby tribute record.

Garbage "Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses"



Listen to the rest of the U2 tribute record here.

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Leeds music documentary

Leeds radio station Radioaire produced a radio documentary titled 40 Years of Leeds Music. The documentary features a ton of interview clips with bands that were either Leeds natives (Kaiser Chiefs, Gang Of Four, The Wedding Present, Soft Cell, Utah Saints, Sisters Of Mercy/Mission U.K.), or made an impact on the scene there. Many different genres are covered--classic rock, punk, goth, indie, house, and even top 40 (beware of a full Spice Girls song at ~27 minutes in). Listen to the hour-long documentary below (the program starts with "I Predict A Riot" by Kaiser Chiefs).

40 Years of Leeds Music by Radioaire on Mixcloud

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Radiohead/Deadmau5

Radiohead got slagged BIG time for The King Of Limbs, but I don't understand it--did the critics not listen to "Codex"? "Codex" is one of the best Radiohead songs ever. EVER. Deadmau5 apparently loves the song too because he recorded a (sample-free) cover of the song which I've posted below for your listening pleasure. I also took the liberty of posting Radiohead's live version from The King Of Limbs: Live From The Basement. Swoon! Don't forget you can pre-order Live From The Basement now from Radiohead's website and it will ship before Christmas.

Radiohead - Codex (deadmau5 cover) by fuckmylife

Radiohead "Codex" (from The King Of Limbs: Live From The Basement)

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Johnny Marr/Morrissey

Johnny Marr played a show in the U.K. last night with Nile Rodgers and Chic. Check out a picture Marr posted on Twitter here, and read more about the event here.

If you're looking for the Morrissey story I mentioned on Time Warp today and posted earlier this week, here's the link.

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Johnny Marr--The Story Of The Guitar

If you're into playing guitar or if you're into the Smiths at all, the video I posted below is REQUIRED viewing. The footage was taken from an old BBC documentary The Story of the Guitar and features Johnny Marr discussing his influences, riffs, and how he was drawn to the guitar at a young age. Bonus: Marr explains how the riff from "How Soon As Now" became that much better by using tremolo.

In this segment Marr discusses "How Soon Is Now" (at ~2 minutes in)



Marr explains how he was drawn to the guitar from an early age:



Marr discusses the relationship between a guitar player and singer in a band:

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Holy Ghost/Ministry

Holy Ghost has recorded a Ministry cover for Mountain Dew's Green Label Sound. Holy Ghost's cover is pretty loyal to the original version of "I Wanted To Tell Her" which was released on Ministry's dance-o-rific 1983 debut cd, With Sympathy. For the unaware, Ministry has been the gold standard in the world of industrial music for years, but before those WaxTrax! days they started out recording electro-pop-synthy-Howard-Jones-esque music on Arista Records. Take a listen to the original, then stream and download Holy Ghost's cover below.

Ministry "I Wanted To Tell Her"



Holy Ghost "I Wanted To Tell Her"



I also couldn't resist posting this old school Ministry video for "Revenge." Al Jourgensen would kick my ass right now if he could...check it out!



Ok, maybe I'd better post some latter-day Ministry too for a nice juxtaposition...

Ministry "Burning Inside"



If you're at all a fan of Ministry, keep an eye out on my blog for my interview with Doug Freel, the director of Fix-The Ministry Movie...I will be posting the interview soon...

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The Waterboys/Mike Scott

Earlier this year The Waterboys released the full cd, An Appointment With Mr. Yeats, which features the poetry of W B Yeats set to music composed by the band. The record wasn't released in North America, but you can purchase it as an import. If you're interested at all in this project, read this interview with the band's singer and main songwriter Mike Scott to learn how the concept came about and how exactly he went about composing music to marry with Yeats' poetry.

Mike Scott (@MickPuck) also dug through some of his early music and found this cover of David Bowie's "The Man Who Sold The World" recorded in 1982 by his pre-Waterboys band The Red & The Black. Check out the cover below:

The Man Who Sold The World (1982) by mickpuck

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Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds

Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds performed "If I Had A Gun" on Letterman last night. Watch the band's American late night television debut below (including Letterman's comments at the end telling Noel he should go on American Idol. Hey Letterman, why no Live On Letterman concert performance for Noel? Sheesh.):

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Anyone Can Play Guitar

Here's an update to the story I posted earlier on the Oxford music documentary Anyone Can Play Guitar, and it's great news for Oxford music fans in North America:

The documentary was released in the U.K. last week on DVD, and it seems the DVD is indeed compatible with DVD players in North America! This is awesome news, especially considering all the great reviews that have been coming out. And I'm particularly excited to hear of so much Ride being featured! Order your copy here.

This calls for some Ride.

"Unfamiliar"

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SYGC--Morrissey In Chicago

Scotland Yard Gospel Choir wrote a song about obsessive Morrissey fans in Chicago. Morrissey was supposed to be playing a show in Chicago tonight, but it was postponed due to a visa problem with one of Moz's band members. Apparently fans have been running around Chicago looking for Morrissey, so SYGC wrote a song titled "Morrissey In Chicago." Listen to the song below and check out the lyrics below:

Scotland Yard Gospel Choir "Morrissey In Chicago"

Something big's going down!
Morrissey's in my town!
And everybody wants to know where he's at tonight!

"He was just at the globe
watching football!"
"What were his clothes like?
What did he drink?
Was his hair in a quiff?"

Something big's going down
Morrissey's in my town
And everybody wants to know where he's at!

"I heard he went to Reckless Records in Wicker Park!
What did he buy? What was he like?
Was he with anyone?
I heard he went to the one on Broadway
Well he might be gay so that might be true
And I know that you
Wanna see him too!

Morrissey's in my town for a week!
Morrissey's in my town for a week!

I can't wait to see him live
But to know of his whereabouts is all I need for tonight
Morrissey's in my town!
Morrissey's in my town for the week

All I can say is:

Woah oh oh!
Woah oh oh!

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Anyone Can Play Guitar

The film about the Oxford music scene, Anyone Can Play Guitar, was released in the U.K. last week. The documentary features Ride, Swervedriver, Candyskins, Supergrass, Radiohead and more and let's be honest--I can't wait to see this. The film does not have a U.S. release yet, but hopefully there will be one soon. The DVD is available to purchase here BUT take note: U.K. DVDs aren't always compatible in U.S. players, so do your homework before purchasing in North America***. The trailer for the film has been around for awhile, if you haven't seen it yet take a look at it below and check out the film's site here.

Anyone Can Play Guitar Trailer from video jon on Vimeo.

***UPDATE: The DVD will play in U.S. DVD players!

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U.K. Music Video Awards

Arcade Fire, Adele, Depeche Mode, Klaxons, and Manchester Orchestra won awards at the U.K. Music Video Awards on Tuesday night. Manchester Orchestra was the only act to scoop up two awards! The band's video for "Simple Math" was named Video Of The Year and Best Indie/Rock Video (International). Check out the entire list of winners here and if you haven't seen the video for "Simple Math" watch the impressive video below.

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Peter Gabriel

If you missed the Peter Gabriel webcast of Live On Letterman last night, you can watch it on demand here.

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A Place To Bury Strangers

A Place To Bury Strangers will return with a new EP next year. The Brooklyn band recently signed to indie Dead Oceans and will drop a 5 track EP titled Onwards To The Wall on February 7th. Check out the new song "So Far Away" (via Prefix Magazine) below. If you're not familiar with APTBS, they are heavily influenced by 80's acts such as Chameleons, Joy Division, Jesus & Mary Chain, and even Echo & The Bunnymen. If you like any of those bands you'll love these guys. Probably.

A Place To Bury Strangers "So Far Away"




And here's one of my favorite songs from the band's 2009 cd Exploding Head:

A Place To Bury Strangers "In Your Heart"

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Peter Gabriel

Tonight don't miss a Live On Letterman concert from Peter Gabriel. The concert streams live at 9pm ET, then is available for on-demand viewing afterwards

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Chris Connelly

Chris Connelly, one of the legendary names of the Chicago WaxTrax! industrial scene, has just released an 11 track cd called Artificial Madness. Listen to a full stream of the cd below and visit Connelly's official site to buy the record.

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Frank Black

Frank Black has launched his own record label, The Bureau. According to a report in The Guardian, Black plans on releasing his own solo material plus projects from other artists he likes. Nothing from the Pixies is expected to be released by The Bureau but the good news is there WILL be new Pixies material. Black revealed the band will either release their material in a "traditional" way or do something "a lot more radical." Read more about Black's record label plans here.

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MTV's 120 Minutes

Alternative video show 120 Minutes returned to MTV2 as a monthly program in July, and host Matt Pinfield has just revealed it'll become a weekly show starting next Friday, November 18th. Of course, the bad news is that the show's timeslot is still crappy--it'll air Fridays at 6am ET--so good thing the episodes will continue to be posted on MTV's The Hive website. Catch up with all the new episodes of 120 Minutes here.

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Radiohead

Radiohead's The King Of Limbs: Live From The Basement will be released on iTunes December 19th and will land on DVD and Blu-Ray in time for Christmas (but won't physically land in shops until January.) The release will contain two tracks that haven't been released yet, "The Daily Mail" and "Staircase," plus they've also added in "Supercollider" as a bonus. Order your copy here.

Radiohead announced dates for their North American tour earlier this week with another set of dates to be announced in the coming weeks.

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Morrissey

Morrissey's North American tour was scheduled to kick off this Thursday in Chicago, however due to some immigration issues involving one of the band members the tour will now kick off Monday in San Antonio. The Chicago date has been rescheduled for December 17th and ticket holders will be able to use their old tickets for the new date. None of the other dates on the tour nor the scheduled late night television appearances have been affected by the delay.

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Morrissey

Earlier this year Morrissey filed a lawsuit against British magazine NME for libel.  NME attempted to get the case thrown out of court, but last week a judge dismissed their request, allowing Morrissey to continue with the the litigation.  The trial is set to take place in London's High Court next year.  Morrissey fanzine TrueToYou has revealed a ton of info about the case, so if you're interested in the sordid details, click here.  

 

Morrissey's North American tour kicks off this Thursday in Chicago, then heads west.  Two late night appearances have been set up for later this month, so make sure to set your schedules accordingly:  Jimmy Kimmel on November 23rd and Conan O'Brien on November 29th. 

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Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds

The debut cd from Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds is finally out today in North America. Yeah, it was worth the wait. Grab it here, or listen to the full album on Spotify, or just click here for the full stream.

The two standout tracks from the record:

"If I Had A Gun"



"AKA...What A Life"



If you haven't seen the 8 minute epic video for "AKA...What A Life" starring Russell Brand, check it out (kind of a bizarre video that begins where "The Death Of You & Me" video leaves off, so maybe watch that one first):





Don't miss Noel Gallagher's debut U.S. television appearance on Letterman Thursday. Oh, and Letterman people, Beady Eye did a full Live On Letterman performance. No love for Noel? Just saying...

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