IN ROD WE TRUST
Warner Bros. Reissues ATLANTIC CROSSING And
A NIGHT ON THE TOWN
As Limited-Edition Two-Disc Sets With Remastered Original Album,
Plus Unreleased Versions Of Each Album Track and Outtakes
To Be Released June 30, Collector’s Editions Are
Only Available This Summer
For Rod Stewart, 1975 was a year of profound personal and professional change. Because of Britain’s high tax rate, he moved from London to Los Angeles, where he signed with Warner Bros. Records, and left his longtime mates in the Faces to finally commit himself as a solo artist. His first two “American” albums—ATLANTIC CROSSING and A NIGHT ON THE TOWN—went gold and double platinum respectively, charting with signature hits like “I Don’t Want To Talk About It” and “Tonight’s The Night (Gonna Be Alright).”
For a limited time, Warner Bros. will reissue both albums as two-disc Collector’s Editions that contain the original album remastered with a bonus track and a second disc that contains unreleased takes of every album track, plus unreleased outtakes. ATLANTIC CROSSING and A NIGHT ON THE TOWN will be available June 30 at all retail outlets, including www.rhino.com, for a suggested list price of $24.98 (CD), and digitally for $13.99 (Atlantic Crossing) and $11.99 (A Night On The Town). The two-disc version is only available this summer and will be replaced by a single-disc collection with fewer bonus tracks.
Along with Stewart’s new home came a new producer, Tom Dowd, a man whose gifted ears led him to run sessions for some of Stewart’s soul idols, including Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett and Ray Charles. It was Dowd’s idea to record Stewart with many of soul music’s legendary musicians: guitarist Steve Cropper, bassist Donald “Duck” Dunn, and drummer Al Jackson Jr., known as the MGs (minus Booker T.); and the Swampers, the renowned studio band from Muscle Shoals, Alabama, who played on many of Aretha Franklin’s best. This fresh beginning marks the point where Stewart left behind his frequently rustic, folk-inflected sound and replaced it with the glossy stadium anthems that would become his new imprimatur.
BLK JKS’ highly anticipated full-length debut After Robots will be released September 8 on Secretly Canadian. Following the March release of their MYSTERY EP and return appearance at South by Southwest, South Africa’s BLK JKS are receiving critical praise from The New York Times, SPIN, The Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker, LA Weekly, Time Out New York, New York Daily News and Under the Radar, among others.
Amidst all this critical praise the essence of BLK JKS’ music—a collision of township blues, fringe jazz and renegade dub, heard via the lens of prog—shines through. Music from Africa has never sounded like this, as BLK JKS bring the concept of afro-futurism into a new century.
After Robots was recorded January in Bloomington, IN as BLK JKS traded a South African summer for winter in America and burrowed in for marathon recording sessions of one live take after the next. Brandon Curtis of Secret Machines returned to join the band at the controls and Hypnotic Brass Ensemble appears on several tracks with the swagger of aggressive horn stabs, but throughout After Robots is an original BLK JKS affair—a distinctly South African vision of rock’s global travel and the possibility of what it can sound like from here on out.
BLK JKS first came to the U.S. in the spring of 2008 after a chance meeting with über-producer Diplo while he was on tour in South Africa. The band’s appearance on the cover of the Fader, as well as highly acclaimed sets at South by Southwest, sparked recording sessions at New York’s famed Electric Lady studios that resulted in the MYSTERY EP. They have gone on to share stages in North America and Europe with a celebrated and disparate array of artists including Femi Kuti, Santigold, Dirty Projectors, Michael Franti and Cody Chesnutt; they have played Sasquatch and Soweto Arts Festival; and drummer Tshepang Ramoba has been celebrated by Billboard as “the best musician” at SXSW.
BLK JKS consists of childhood friends Lindani Buthelezi and Mpumi Mcata who grew up on the same block in Johannesburg’s East Rand where they taught themselves guitar. After the band’s current lineup took shape with the addition of bassist Molefi Makananise and drummer Tshepang Ramoba, both of Soweto, they embarked on a schedule of heavy touring throughout South Africa that earned them a loyal national following.
The first glimpse of the full length, “Mololatladi”(right click, save as) which literally means rainbow in Zulu, is available now as a free mp3.
BLK JKS Tour Dates
June 9 Philadelphia, PA Kungfu Necktie
June 11 Washington, DC The Black Cat
July 5 Brooklyn, NY Weeksville Heritage Center
If there’s one thing that legendary Pretender’s front woman Chrissie Hynde swears by, it’s a good Fender Telecaster. Now’s your chance to enter to win this one of a kind autographed guitar from LP33.tv and the Pretenders. You can enter once a day, so the more you come back–the better your chances. The contest ends on May 13th.
In the meantime, here’s The Pretenders performing a classic:
DM Stith will release his debut EP recording, CURTAIN SPEECH, next week (Dec 9). Critics at home and abroad are already talking about Stith, a recent signee to Asthmatic Kitty Records: Pitchfork, TheFader.com, Time Out London, Les Inrocks and others have praised this first bit of music from Stith.
Label-mates Sufjan Stevens and Shara Worden of My Brightest Diamond contribute to the song “Around the Lion Legs,” which is available here to download:
DM Stith - “Around the Lion Legs” (right click, save as)
Bio:
David Stith comes from a musical family: his father is a college wind ensemble director and former church choir director; his grandfather is professor emeritus in the music department at Cornell University; his mother is a pianist; his sisters sing opera, play piano, tap dance, play timpani and are excellent soft ball players. David Stith grew up dreading the family ensemble’s appearances in church, preferring instead to draw mazes on the blank sides of church bulletins during services. In fifth grade, a harrowing performance of Phantom of the Opera at a school assembly (accompanied by his mother on piano) nearly turned him off to music for good. He started a noise band in high school, called Starchild (or Starchildren, or The Pool –they never did quite decide); but they preferred painting their guitars over playing them. David wrote a lot of bad poetry during this time.
In college, David attempted writing a novel and a children’s book, illustrating his work with original woodcut prints. His pursuit of writing and illustration brought him from Rochester to Brooklyn, where he took up work as a graphic designer. While in Brooklyn, David befriended Shara Worden (of My Brightest Diamond), and soon after began facilitating, in small technical ways, the recording of her album Bring Me The Workhorse. This, in turn, spurred David to begin writing and recording songs of his own. It was a casual, private affair. He spent countless days stored away in his bedroom, sketching folk songs with epic electronic gestures, a rekindling of passions for his first familial love: music.
David completed his first catalog of songs for an album called Ichabod and Apple, written and recorded in the first month of his song-writing experiments. Since then, he has set out to record his first album with Asthmatic Kitty, available sometime next year.
It was no grand injunction that encouraged David to return to music. He writes songs for the same reasons he enjoys a good conversation: it’s just natural. His songs come out of a knock-about life, pressed by the urge to overcome insecurities, to probe questions, to revisit dreams and visions.
Check DM Stith out online:
http://www.myspace.com/dmstith
#
NYC band zerobridge continues to release a new track every month from July until with end of the year with September’s previously unreleased and not available until now selection entitled “There We Were, Now Here We Are” – available as a FREE download at their MySpace page: myspace.com/zerobridge and as a direct link below. Here’s a note on the song from lead singer/songwriter Din with more information:
“There We Were…” is a tune that I dug out from the vault from like 10 years ago. It was a song I had written with a friend of mine at the time for a different band. It was shafted but I had always loved it and kept it in the back of my mind. I finally decided to revisit the song and wrote a new arrangement and lyrics. It ended up fitting really nicely with the rest of our music and has since become a live favorite. Someone once said it’s the best Replacements song they’ve heard since the Replacements broke up!
I guess the song is some ways about coming to terms with the past or people in your past. What happens when you come face to face with someone you lost touch with or wanted to forget? You want to be as graceful as possible but it’s impossible to completely forget all that happened. Living well is ultimately the best revenge, right? Interesting note, there’s a reference in the song to Oasis for all the trainspotters.”
Download the song here: “There We Were, Now Here We Are”
More:
It may seem like a gimmick, but zerobridge are self-releasing a single every month for the remainder of 2008 because there is no other alternative. Din explains, “We’ve been STRICTLY independent for as long as we’ve been together and maybe even more than we would like to be. We’ve accumulated a catalog of songs that no one’s heard outside our regional fan base and have not recorded until now. It seems that in this digital age for music, the single is the format of choice by the fans – and what better way for a band like us to establish ourselves and get our music heard than to use the internet as our distribution company. It’s still a challenge. Creating music still takes time and money, but it’s on our terms and while I still think they are necessary, we don’t have to deal with labels - just directly with music fans.”
It’s not often you hear about a band like zerobridge. Lead singer/guitarist and songwriter Mubashir “Din” Mohi-ud-Din and drummer Mohsin “Mo” Mohi-ud-Din are two brothers whose parents are from the disputed territory of Kashmir, nestled between northern India and Pakistan. Greg “The Quota”, seasoned NYC bass player, and guitarist Jay Barclay (Ben Kweller, Damnwells), round out the quartet who have been playing their own unique brand of melodic, guitar driven rock n’ roll for the last three years. With two independent releases behind them, zerobridge released the Havre de Grace EP that illustrates the band’s penchant for classic song writing and a passion to become the only band that matters.
The name zerobridge comes from an actual bridge in Kashmir’s capital, Srinagar, which earned the lesser known epithet of the “the city of seven bridges.” The story goes that when they built an 8th bridge, no one knew what to call the original first bridge. The solution is a case of pragmatics taken to the extreme: they decided to name it zerobridge. The bridge itself is a sentimental place for anyone familiar with Kashmir. Just across the bridge, after passing through military checkpoints and barbed wire fences, is a cafe called the Zero Inn; a place where the bothers, family and friends go when reunited in Kashmir to hang out and have “cold coffees” (which are like frapuchinos, but far better according to the brothers).
Other songs on the EP include the title track, “Havre de Grace,” the name of a town in northern Maryland, close to where the brothers grew up, meaning “Harbor of Grace.” The incendiary political satire of “The Shake” sheds light on the hypocrisies of religious extremism. A reworking of “Suffering Moses,” originally off the bands first LP, is an unabashedly beautiful ode to Kashmir which is followed by the razor edged bravado of “This is My Version,” a live favorite that sounds like a mashup of the Smiths and the ragged snarl of Iggy Pop. Mo passionately adds, “No gimmicks. We put our hearts, souls and sweat into whatever we do. It’s about love, war, and curiosity I suppose. It’s just painfully true, good rock n’ roll.”
MySpace page:
http://www.myspace.com/zerobridge
YouTube channel:
The Raveonettes unveil the second installment in their digital-only EP series this week, with the release of Sometimes They Drop By. The Danish noir-rock duo made headlines earlier this month after surprising fans with a free remix EP to kick off the series, designed to follow up this year’s critical smash, Lust Lust Lust, with new perspectives and heretofore untouched aesthetics. The inaugural remix release features radically altered versions of Lust Lust Lust standouts – from 80KIDZ’s take on ”Dead Sound,” to Alec Empire-conspirator Nic Endo’s remix of “Aly, Walk With Me,” and Danish DJ extraordinaire Trentemøller’s re-envisioned “Lust”. Sometimes They Drop By extends the first EPs pension for electronics with a deeper investment into the sampled beats and textures that have always lurked underneath the band’s sound. Later this fall, the series continues with releases on October 21st and November 25th, the first twisting the Rave’s signature guitar-based sound, and the last modernizing the band’s favorite Christmas songs.
Listen to The Raveonettes’ Sometimes They Drop By
Download The Raveonettes’ Remixed EP
Tracklisting for Sometimes They Drop By:
1. Way Out There
2. Blood Red Leis
3. Sometimes They Drop By
4. Vintage Future
Yes, you did indeed read that right. While supplies last, when you purchase any configuration (regular cd edition, limited edition-deluxe hard-bound version and limited edition deluxe box ( 3LP’s, 2 CD, book and poster) available only at Best Buy) of the initial pressing of Judas Priest’s double disc concept album, ‘Nostradamus’ (release date – June 17th), specially marked CD’s will contain an insert with a exclusive code inside the CD package for one free lawn ticket to see Judas Priest on selected dates of the Metal Masters tour this summer, courtesy of Live Nation (see below for a complete list). Visit www.judaspriest.com for details on this special offer. This seemingly too-good-to-be-true offer will be good while supplies last. Also, this offer will not pertain to all the dates of the Metal Masters tour (see below for complete list of dates that the offer is good for).
The Metal Masters tour will undoubtedly be the top metal concert attraction of the summer. In addition to a headlining performance by Judas Priest, fans will also be treated to sets by Heaven & Hell, Motorhead, and Testament. “As ever, we look forward to screaming out loud with our metal maniac fans when we hit the road,” enthuses Priest singer, Rob Halford. “The Priest is back!”
The tour, produced by Live Nation, will be Priest’s first thorough sets of U.S. dates in nearly three years, and will be in support of the group’s aforementioned ‘Nostradamus’ release. Long in the works, ‘Nostradamus’ was recorded in the UK, and takes epic storytelling to a whole new level, as it recounts the life of this mysterious, world-known 16th century French prophet.
Some of the events that Nostradamus experts have interpreted as some of his predictions include the great fire of London in 1666, the rise of Adolf Hitler, and most recently, 9-11, among countless other renowned events.
“For me, ‘Nostradamus’ has been a musical journey without comparison,” adds guitarist KK Downing. “The intrigue and mystery that surrounds this revered man has expanded my perception of heavy metal to the highest plateau and enabled me to reach the outer limits of my imagination and transport unique feelings and emotions to the instrument that allows me to express myself.”
Praiseworthy advance reviews of ‘Nostradamus’ have only caused the buzz to grow around Priest’s 16th studio release overall. Case in point, a review by Eddie Trunk (host of the syndicated radio show ‘Eddie Trunk Rocks’), in which he raved, “Priest touches on so much new ground and really pushed the envelope on some things.
The album takes you on a nearly two-hour journey. It is without a doubt best looked at as a complete work as all true concept albums are. You can really see it living out on a stage. It sounds like Priest have truly created something special and once again lived up to their rightful billing as ‘Metal Gods’.”
As to why they chose to make a concept album about Nostradamus, Glenn Tipton explains: “We didn’t - he chose us. We feel it was meant to be!”
Soon, the Metal Gods will be destroying a concert stage near you.
Tickets for all shows on sale now at www.livenation.com.
For more information, visit:
www.judaspriest.com
Offer good only for one of the following shows, while supplies last:
06-Aug-08 Camden, NJ
07-Aug-08 Bristow, VA
09-Aug-08 Holmdel, NJ
16-Aug-08 Pittsburgh, PA
19-Aug-08 Chicago, IL
22-Aug-08 Dallas, TX
23-Aug-08 Houston, TX
24-Aug-08 San Antonio, TX
27-Aug-08 Albuquerque, NM
28-Aug-08 Phoenix, AZ
30-Aug-08 San Bernardino, CA
31-Aug-08 Mountain View, CA
DeepRockDrive (www.DeepRockDrive.com), the world’s first interactive online concert venue, has launched a global free concert series in partnership with Pepsi starring Disturbed. The series reinforces DeepRockDrive’s prominence as the world’s most popular destination for online, interactive concerts. Presented by Pepsi, Disturbed will be performing to global audiences on Thursday May 29th, 2008 @ 7PM PST. During the set, fans will be able to communicate and interact with the band in real time via the revolutionary service that DeepRockDrive has created.
Free tickets are limited and it’s first come first serve.
Users may redeem their free ticket to the show here http://www.deeprockdrive.com/event/5455/pepsi_free_concert_series_starring_disturbed
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