Yearly Archives: 2004

Pretty hot line-up for this year’s Siren Festival:

Death Cab For Cutie
Blonde Redhead
Har Mar Superstar
TV On The Radio
Constantines
The Fiery Furnaces
The Fever
The Ponys
Your Enemies Friends

I went last year and had an amazing time.

By now, you’ve probably seen the press about the collaboration of Loretta Lynn and Jack White for her upcoming release, “Van Lear Rose.” The pairing came about after “The Whites” dedicated their album “White Blood Cells” to Lynn.

Lynn’s album is released this Tuesday and I just heard some MP3s. I have to say that I’m digging the songs. Given White’s presence on the project, I think this album will easily cross out of the country barrier and into rock territories.

So is this kind of cross-pollination a good thing for music? Sometimes. I thought that Johnny Cash’s cover of “Hurt” by Nine Inch Nails was beautiful and adapted perfectly to the feelings of an aging music legend.

And in this case, White is obviously involved out of passion and personal interest in the influences of country and blues as predecessors to rock. He plays guitar on every song and duets with Lynn on a track called “Portland, Oregon.” His bluesy guitar riffs are a perfect background for the dark subject matter of the lyrics — which include songs about death row and the feeling of being a widower.

It’s all enough to make me want to visit my video store and ask them to dust off a copy of “Coalminer’s Daughter” for me.

Download some MP3s and see more about how the collaboration came to be at this link.

GBV lead singer Bob Pollard said the band is going to end at the end of the year.

GBV’s 21-year career will “go out in a blaze of fire,” Pollard insisted, adding that the group’s final show will be held on New Year’s Eve in New York. “We are the kings of indie rock. When we quit, indie rock will die.” (full story)

As much as I’m against the idea of the Pixies reuniting, my heart warmed with happiness when I read this story of some dude running into Frank Black at a Starbucks. A highlight:

After making sure who he is, I tell him how cool it is that they’re playing Spokane. I mention that tickets sold out so fast I wasn’t going to make the show, but that I’m really pleased to meet him. Then he says, “Why don’t you write your name on napkin. I’ll get you in.” (full review)

Really cool. Also, here’s a photo of the crowd reacting at the Spokane show. It makes me laugh, but at the same time, I totally get it:

Look mamma, donewaiting.com is the Feedster Feed of the Day for 4/24!

Tiara lead singer Eric Metronome released his lastest solo album, “The Easy Days”, completely for free on his website.

The album contains ten original songs, a demo version of “Drawings” from the last Tiara record, as well as covers from Haydn, Silver Jews and Buddy Holly.

If you’re down with musicians and bands like Elliott Smith, Death Cab for Cutie, Built to Spill and The Elected, then you’d be down with this record. I hate doing comparisons like this, but it’s the only way people will get interested in new music.

A few recommendations:

Eric Davidson writes a pretty good article about all these indie rock bands reforming lately, like the Pixies, Urge Overkill, and Mission of Burma. There’s a right way to do it and a wrong way, and you can read all about it here.

What’s not revealed in the article is that the author is also the singer of the New Bomb Turks, a band that recently broke up. Will they be reforming anytime soon? Hmmm.

[credz global pop conspiracy]

On the eve of their Plea for Peace Tour, no less. Here’s what they wrote on their website:

We would like to start this by thanking all the fans who have supported us, listened to our music, and came out to our shows. Without you, Denali would not have existed. Unfortunately, due to differences in the band Denali cannot continue in the current state. This was an amazing experience for all of us, but it’s time to move on and try something new. Please keep checking Denalimusic.com for updates, future announcements, and to pick up the remaining merchandise.

We hope Denali has meant as much to our fans as our fans have meant to us. Thank you all so much.

We also want to offer our sincerest apologies to Cursive, Darkest Hour, Mike Park, and everyone involved with the Plea for Peace tour for being unable to participate in something we believe in and felt extremely lucky to be doing.

[credz tiny mix tapes]

That’s what Billboard is reporting.

So, so far, we’ve got: Thrills, Wolf Eyes, Morrissey, String Cheese Incident, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Flaming Lips, Modest Mouse, Polyphonic Spree, Sonic Youth, Gomez and Le Tigre, PJ Harvey and maybe a few more.

This is still not enough to handle a two day festival, so I imagine more acts to be added.

The festival seems to be moving in a decent direction, but if it ends up coming through my town on a Tuesday and Wednesday, you can bet I won’t be going, regardless of ticket price.

The Chipmunks (Alvin, Simon, and Theodore) are fed up and want to collect royalties from the millions of records that they sold. They’ve made a brand new gangsta rap video. Check it out here