From NME.com:
Arctic Monkeys have announced their comeback single will be ‘Crying Lightning’.
The first track taken from third album ‘Humbug’ (out August 24) will be released physically - artwork pictured - on August 17.
However, the song will get its first radio play on Zane Lowe’s Radio 1 show next Monday (July 6), and the track will be made available as a download through iTunes from midnight on the same evening.
In the meantime, here’s the latest update from the band:
Taylor Hicks’ brand new video for “What’s Right Is Right” has just premiered on Yahoo! Music. Head over to Yahoo! to watch the crooner do his thing in the video and perform in a dark lounge with his trademark soulful sound. “What’s Right Is Right” will appear on Taylor’s upcoming release, The Distance, due out March 10th.
Metallica just released the second single off their upcoming album, Death Magnetic today. Entitled “My Apocalypse,” the track is now available for download on iTunes. Metallica fans should also check out iTunes where you can also purchase the track “The Day That Never Comes” which premiered last week.
Death Magnetic will be available everywhere on September 12th.
Dr. Dog’s Fate is now available in stores! Much like 2007’s We All Belong, this long-awaited follow-up invites comparisons to rock faves The Beach Boys and the Beatles, but in the words of Vanity Fair, “Fate adds up to something completely original.” Hear all 11 tracks for yourself on the band’s MySpace page and at AOL’s Spinner.com and head over to iTunes for an extra special version of the album including two bonus tracks – “The Dearly Departed” and “Drop Me Off” – a bonus video for “From,” and a digital booklet for only $7.99.
Put the money saved towards (quickly selling out) tix to one of the band’s 33 remaining shows – including two rescheduled NYC dates originally planned for this week. The shows have been moved to late August following the Midwest and West Coast legs of the tour, and all tix already purchased for this week’s shows will be honored for the new events.
Watch Dr. Dog “Hang On” from Fate
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
Download and Share Dr. Dog “The Ark” from Fate
http://dailyrindblog.com/
Download and Share Dr. Dog “The Old Days” from Fate
http://dailyrindblog.com/
What the Press Said about Fate:
“93%” - Filter Magazine
“a stunning addition to the groups impeccable groove-oriented stockpile - Alternative Press
“so instantly pleasing” - Paste Magazine
“mining the burn-out melancholia of late Beatles and then distilling it to perfection - Under the Radar
“their psychedelic pop hops onto your lap like a puppy–frisky, desperate to be liked, and pretty entertaining” – Blender
Tour Dates:
07-26 Boulder Annual Music Festival - Rochester, NY
07-27 Forcastle Festival - Louisville, KY
07-29 Mojo’s - Columbia, MO
07-30 Bluebird - St. Louis, MO
07-31 Radio Radio - Indianapolis, IN
08-01 Lollapalooza (at Grant Park) - Chicago, IL
08-04 Beachland Ballroom - Cleveland, OH
08-05 The Basement - Columbus, OH
08-08 The El Rey - Los Angeles, CA
08-13 Rittenhouse Square - Philadelphia, PA
08-26 Music Hall of Williamsburg - Brooklyn, NY
08-27 Bowery Ballroom - New York, NY
09-05 IOTA Club & Café - Arlington, VA
09-06 The Earl - Atlanta, GA
09-07 3rd and Lindsley - Nashville, TN
09-08 Bottletree - Birmingham, AL
09-09 Thirsty Hippo - Hattiesburg, MS
09-11 Walter’s On Washington - Houston, TX
09-12 Lola’s Saloon - Ft. Worth, TX
09-13 The Parish - Austin, TX
09-16 Club Congress - Tucson, AZ
09-17 The Casbah - San Diego, CA
09-19 The Detroit Bar - Costa Mesa, CA
09-20 Cellar Door - Visalia, CA
09-23 Doug Fir’s Lounge - Portland, OR
09-24 Tractor Tavern - Seattle, WA
09-26 Urban Lounge - Salt Lake City, UT
09-27 Hi-Dive - Denver, CO
09-29 The Waiting Room - Omaha, NB
09-30 The Record Bar - Kansas City, MO
10-01 High Noon Saloon - Madison, WI
10-02 Blind Pig - Ann Arbor, MI
10-10 Middle East (downstairs) - Cambridge, MA
10-30 Night & Day – Manchester, UK
10-31 King Tuts – Glasgow
11-01 Spring & Airbrake – Belfast
11-02 Whelans – Dublin
11-03 Glee Club – Birmingham
11-04 Borderline – London
11-05 Fleche D’or – Paris
11-07 Apolo 2 – Barcelona
11-09 El Lokal – Zurich
11-10 59 to 1 – Munich
11-11 La Casa – Milan
11-12 Luxor – Cologne
11-14 Voxhall – Aarhus
11-15 Debaser – Stockholm
11-16 KB – Malmo
11-17 Sticky Fingers – Gothenburg
11-19 Lido – Berlin
11-20 Knust – Hamburg
11-21 Merleyn – Nijmegen
11-22 Ekko – Utrecht
11-23 Paradiso - Amsterdam
On August 5, 2008, STM Records artist, ism, will be releasing their new album titled Urgency. In support of this release, ism frontman Andre Mistier has started his own blog, check it out at http://andremistier.blogspot.com. ism’s sophomore album, produced by Joe Blaney (The Clash, Tom Waits, Prince), builds on the solid foundation of 2006’s critically acclaimed Monkey Underneath. ism also has a few upcoming tour dates,be sure to catch them if they’re visiting your town!
Audio stream of the first single, “Sacred Cows”
ism’s Official Facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/
MySpace page:
Youtube page:
http://www.youtube.com/user/
and official site:
Upcoming Tour Dates:
July 25 - Rickshaw Stop San Francisco, California
Aug 1 - Knitting Factory Hollywood, California
Aug 5 - FYE in store appearance TORRANCE, California
Aug 8 - M Bar
Aug 15 - Bowery Ballroom
Aug 23 - CD101 Summerfest - WWCD FM Columbus, Ohio
BIO:
A lot of “isms” threaten to tear modern society apart at the seams: sexism, racism, extremism, radicalism, terrorism and more. In such an era of decay (moral, societal and otherwise), perhaps an apocalypse wouldn’t be such a bad idea – at least that’s how Andre Mistier sees it. The charismatic lead singer and songwriter for the New York-based quartet ism describes his band’s potent blend of rock and electronica as “music for the party at the end of the world.” After all, not all “isms” are bad: Altruism, activism and heroism could help make the next world a better place, and there’s no reason we can’t start practicing them right now.
Urgency, ism’s sophomore album on STM Records, poses unflinching questions about the human condition in songs equally as bold in construction. Smart, melodic and hypnotic, Urgency builds on the solid foundation of 2006’s critically acclaimed Monkey Underneath with 14 tracks produced by Joe Blaney (The Clash, Tom Waits, Prince).
Along with Mistier on guitar, ism’s other skilled members are the passionate Mike Higgins on drums, fret master Gerard Toriello on lead guitar, and effects wizard Leigh Battle on bass. Behind the scenes, legendary A&R guru Michael Caplan served as patriarch of the project, assembling an impressive production team that shaped the final recording.
On the road supporting Monkey Underneath, band members began to flip the script, taking their focus away from standard musical sensibilities. An industrial rumble and a resonant electronic soundscape gradually became the base of their live sets, with the more organic instruments (guitar, bass, drums) better integrated into the mix. That sensibility – and the many new songs that were honed on tour – became key as ism re-entered the studio for Urgency.
Mistier isn’t shy about kudos for his bandmates, who use his lyrics and basic song structures as jumping-off points for their own abilities. He credits Battle’s unique technique with much of Urgency’s atmosphere: “Leigh puts a bunch of different guitar-pedal effects on the bass, but then also does things where he can mute the bass signal itself, so you just hear the effects. They resonate differently on a bass than they do on guitars, so it ends up sounding like a lot of weird keyboard sounds.” Behind the drum kit, Higgins is the “heart” of ism, “a very powerful performer – the kind of drummer who stands up in the middle of things and sings along.” And Toriello, a not-so-secret ‘80s metalhead, proves time and again to be “a craftsman of the guitar – he has a great feel for taking an idea for a guitar line and making it go much further than it has before, to a place I never would have thought of.”
Put them together in the same studio, and Urgency practically crackles with energy. After the UFO-like takeoff “0:32” – one of the album’s three instrumental pieces – “Urgency” the title song has Toriello front and center, throwing out U2-like riffs. In a voice that mixes both dread and redemption, Mistier calls down the end of days: “If you wondered what you’re made of / Now’s the time to see / Bring on Apocalypse / And we will feel alive today / If we were standing on the edge / We just might find that we believe.”
“Give It Back” is a forceful, foot-stomping plea to reclaim the present, framed by a prisoner of the past and future who longs for escape. In “Animadversion,” club beats and eerie effects drive a fuzzed-out examination of how those without self-awareness (including a certain Oval Office occupant) are dragging us all down. ism dips into Radiohead territory with the simmering ballad “Fly,” which asks why society isn’t doing its job to uplift us. “Sacred Cows,” a call to arms for those stuck in autopilot, churns and roils over Higgins’s rock-steady drumming until it reaches a chaotic, all-in catharsis of noise. “The Only One,” its arrangement echoing Downward Spiral-era Nine Inch Nails, is about making connections when we are all truly alone inside our own heads. The album wraps up on a different note with “Resistance Lullaby”: A string section gives a quieter, lusher sound as it ponders the “real world” after college and urges young people to stay true to themselves.
Urgency’s themes of isolation, yearning and rising above ourselves are woven throughout the album– it’s a cohesive vision that you just can’t get from a single-song download on iTunes. That ism can wrap its philosophical musings around songs that can stick in your head and can make you dance … well, that’s versatility… dexterity. Not “isms” but in this case, we’ll make an exception.
Beautiful Distraction is the engaging debut by 22-year-old Redlands singer-songwriter Marianne Keith. Full of introspective sentiments, pop sensibilities, Marianne’s expressive emotions, and keen sense of melody, lively songs such as “Kiss Me in the Rain,” give way to the composed passion found on “That’s Just the Way Love Goes.” Sultry numbers like “The Angry Song” easily connect with the open emotions and raw musical talent found in the piano ballad, “Sideways Rain.”
“I tend to write a lot of poppy songs, but I also balance them with quirkier, more unique songs,” says Keith. “Some of my songs are kind of feel-good in a way, but they’re not bubblegum.” Integrating pop, folk, country and more into her musical mix, Marianne crosses musical boundaries much like the diverse female musicians who inspire her: Sarah McLachlan, Tori Amos, and KT Tunstall. Keith’s many fans have learned not to be fooled by her small frame and young age, her vocals command the room as if she were an old pro.
Video for Happy Girl
Keith has been singing in church from the age of six, and decided to play guitar and write her own music when she was 16. Local gigs led to bigger audiences and accolades such as winning the Orange County Music Award in the Best Country category for the charming and up-tempo “Make You Mine.”
“People think that in order to be some great songwriter, you have to have gone through some sort of tragedy. And I don’t have a tragic life at all,” she says. “But as I see more and more of the world, I think I have something to say and share about it. I think a lot of people have had lives similar to mine.”
* Beautiful Distraction is singer-songwriter Marianne Keith’s debut
* Standout songs include award-winning “Kiss Me in the Rain” and up-tempo “Make You Mine”
* Inspired by Sarah McLachlan, Tori Amos, KT Tunstall
* Keith has been singing in church from the age of six, and decided to play guitar and write her own music when she was 16.
* Voted one of the top five artists in Orange County for Best Live Acoustic Female and won the Orange County Music Award in the Best Country category for the charming and up-tempo “Make You Mine”.
“Kiss Me in the Rain” (first single) audio stream:
http://www.mariannekeith.com
Kiss Me in the Rain” video stream:
http://www.mariannekeith.com
Marianne Keith Official Site:
and MySpace page:
http://www.myspace.com/marianne
Unison Music Official Site:
Marianne Keith Beautiful Distraction Tour Dates
June 19 The Gypsy Lounge Lake Forest, California
July 3 Market Night in Redlands Redlands, California
July 12 Fender Museum Corona, California
Check out LL’s new single ‘Rockin with the G.O.A.T’ from LL Cool J’s new album Exit 13
And we just got word that new ‘Exit 13′ street date is officially August 5th.
There are a lot of reasons to celebrate the July 1 release of Night Ranger’s HOLE IN THE SUN, notably that it marks the band’s first studio album in a decade and commemorates the pioneering hard rock outfit’s 25th anniversary as a band. The best reason, as has been the case throughout Night Ranger’s heralded career, is to celebrate the music itself.
“People will hear this record and recognize our dual blazing guitars and vocals, and big choruses and melodic verses, because that’s definitely how you can describe this album,” explains singer/bassist Jack Blades of the self-produced new release, the band’s eighth studio album, and first for VH1 Classic Records. “It’s new Night Ranger, but in a lot of ways it’s classic Night Ranger.”
Guitars grind and swirl through the unrelenting opener “Tell Your Vision,” delivering a progressively-fueled crush that sets the tone for the eleven new tracks that follow, from Keagy’s Jim Morrison-like soft parade of vocals atop the blinding guitars of “Drama Queen” and the blitzing melodic charge of “You’re Gonna Hear From Me,” through the enduring depths of the piano-driven power ballad “There is Life,” and back again. HOLE IN THE SUN rings with the vibrancy of vintage Night Ranger, yet echoes with a modern relevance that endures throughout the album.
Streaming link to the first single “You’re Gonna Hear From Me”:
Quicktime
“We wanted to sound new, but still keep our roots,” says Keagy of the new release. “We grew up in the ‘70s, when pop music was really starting to thrive. Sometimes it drove you crazy because the songs were so poppy that you couldn’t get them out of your head, but they were still amazing songs. We wanted to portray some of that on this album.”
While there is definitely a pop glisten to HOLE IN THE SUN, there’s also a heavy dynamic that plants the band firmly in the millennium. “Brad brought in a lot of great ideas, some more modern-sounding things, but we were still able to keep that melodic sense in the songs. We wanted a lot of songs like ‘Drama Queen,’ great, gritty songs that reestablish our roots in hard rock,” continues Keagy.
Night Ranger—original members bassist/vocalist Jack Blades, drummer/vocalist Kelly Keagy and guitarist Brad Gillis along with guitarist Joel Hoekstra and keyboardist Christian Cullen—will be on the road throughout 2008, including a stop in Pryor, OK on Friday, July 11 to perform as part of Rocklahoma. They’ll also be doing various shows with Styx & Boston, REO Speedwagon, Foreigner and Cinderella & Warrant.
The band has been touring all over the world the past few months, including a stop at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba to perform for the men and women stationed there. For Night Ranger, it was a life changing experience.
As Keagy described, “There could not have been a more proud moment in my career then when we stepped foot on Guantanamo Bay to play for the troops there. We all had mixed emotions about going and we didn’t really know what they do there. Well we certainly found out, but the world should know that the people that are being held should be there because they are (I believe) the most dangerous people on this Earth. We heard the facts in a briefing given by one of the highest ranking officers on the base. It was amazing! To the men and women that work so very hard to keep us safe from the kinds of things that happened on 911, I salute you.”
“Going to Guantanamo Bay Cuba to play for the troops is right up there as one of the wildest things Night Ranger has ever done,” Blades continues. “We’ve been all over the world, but never have we sung “You Can Still Rock In America” in a Communist country with armed Cubans watching us in guard towers just a few clicks away. Everyone was so appreciative of us being there, and seeing them rock out was the greatest. We were given a tour of the detention facilities, got the REAL story first-hand and went face-to-face with the detainees (nice stare-down moment that I shall not soon forget). Saw it all and it made us even more appreciative for what our soldiers, sailors, marines and airman are doing to keep us safe. They’re doing their part, so we’ll keep doing our part. Rock in America baby!”
Says Gillis of the band’s current tour plans: “We started with our classic backline with the American flag and the Night Ranger logo, and then we built it all up from there – bigger lights, bigger sound, bigger everything! We’ve got the ramps, the vintage t-shirts, the old-school Night Ranger antics, and it’s going to be nothing but fun.”
Night Ranger has left an indelible mark on the music world thanks to a number of best-selling albums—starting with their 1982 DAWN PATROL debut–that sold more than 16 million copies worldwide. The band’s popularity has been fueled by an impressive string of instantly recognizable hit singles and signature album tracks, including “Sister Christian,” “(You Can Still) Rock In America,” “When You Close Your Eyes,” “Sentimental Street,” “Goodbye” and “Don’t Tell Me You Love Me.” Harnessing the frenetic drive of heavy metal to hook-laden rock songs, throwing in a stunning twin lead guitar team, and melodious, radio-friendly power ballads, Night Ranger inspired new descriptive phrases such as “melodic metal” and “metal power pop.”
“Music is constantly evolving and changing, and people need to keep evolving in life, spirit, soul and everything, or you might as well pack it in,” notes Blades. “That’s why I’m so proud of Night Ranger, and that’s why we will continue to evolve. With this new album, we’re just going to roll with it, have a blast doing it, and keep playing as long as it’s fun, and as long as people want to come out and hear us play. There are still a lot of people out there that want to get up and sing, ‘motorin’…’ and ‘Don’t Tell Me You Love Me,’ ‘You Can Still Rock in America,’ the list goes on and on…”
Night Ranger Official Site:
http://www.nightranger.com
MySpace:
http://www.myspace.com/nightranger
DATE CITY VENUE
Sat 6/14 San Juan, PR Anfiteatro Tito Puente
Thu 6/19 Oshkosh, WI Waterfest Concert Series
Fri 6/20 Brookville, IN Bicentennial Celebration
Sat 6/21 Sioux City, IA The Awesome Biker Rally
Sun 6/22 The Woodlands, TX Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion (Styx/Boston)
Sat 6/28 Cheyenne, WY William H. Brimmer Amphitheatre
Wed 7/2 Arlington Heights, IL Frontier Days Festival
Thu 7/3 Hays, KS Frontier Park
Fri 7/4 Glenview, IL Great Lakes Naval Base
Sat 7/5 Kettering, OH Fraze Pavilion at Lincoln Park
Sun 7/6 San Jose, CA Discovery Meadow Park
Fri 7/11 Pryor, OK Rocklahoma
Sat 7/12 Grapevine, TX Glass Cactus at Gaylord Texan
Sat 7/19 Fort Smith, AR Harry E. Kelly Park
Fri 7/25 St. Clair, MI Palmer Park
Sat 7/26 Maquoketa, IA Jackson County Fair Iowa
Sun 7/27 Lake Ozark, MO Horny Toad Entertainment Complex
Sat 8/2 Rifle, CO Garfield County Fair
Sat 8/9 Windsor, ONT. Lakeshore Soccer Park
Sun 8/10 Des Moines, IA Iowa State Fair/Grandstand (Cinderella/Warrant)
Sun 8/17 St. Joseph, MO Trails West Festival
Sat 8/23 Tower, MN Fortune Bay Casino
Sat 8/30 Pittsburgh, PA Heinz Field
Sun 8/31 Sparks, NV John Ascuaga’s Nugget - Parkin
Sun 9/28 Jackpot, NV Cactus Petes Casino/Ameristar Amp (Foreigner)
Wed 10/1 Tulsa, OK Tulsa State Fair
The Pussycat Dolls come of age with a brand new single “When I Grow Up” from their new album coming this summer.
The beginning of the summer just got really hot. Nicole Scherzinger, Ashley Roberts, Jessica Sutta, Melody Thornton and Kimberly Wyatt are back. The Grammy-nominated quintet kicks off the beginning of the summer in a big way with performances of “When I Grow Up” on Jimmy Kimmel Live! (May 20) and The 2008 MTV Movie Awards (June 1). The Dolls will also been seen hosting and performing on VH1’s “Maxim Hot 100” (premiering May 27) and their E! “True Hollywood Story” will premiere on May 23.
“When I Grow Up” is the first single from the follow-up to PCD, the 2005 debut album that put the Dolls on the global pop map. The Rodney Jerkins-produced track will be released commercially on May 27.
The Pussycat Dolls’ first album, PCD, has sold over 7 million copies worldwide, on the strength of 5 massive hit singles (”Don’t Cha,” “Stickwitu,” “Beep,” “Buttons” and “Wait a Minute.”) They toured the globe with The Black Eyed Peas and Christina Aguilera and made millions of fans along the way.
The Pussycat Dolls’ second album will be released later this summer.
The Pussycat Dolls iMeem page featuring “When I Grow Up”:
Also check out WatchMojo’s Profile on the Pussycat Dolls:
Those nice boys in Coldplay have offered up the first single to their new album, Viva La Vida, on their website. Produced by U2-architect Brian Eno this tune see’s the bands sound evolving… I like it, and now I’m definitely curious to hear the rest of the album.
Head over to their official website to download “Violet Hill”
PLAY
