Festive 50 2006 Announced

The annual Festive 50 list, originated by the late, great John Peel and looked to as representative of "The New Hotness," has been released by Dandelion Radio, a web-based radio station. This represents a torch-passing from Radio 1 Presenters Huw Stephens, Ras Kwame and Rob Da Bank, who populated the list from Peel's death until last year, when the list was dropped from the Radio 1 gameplan. Would you like to see the list?

1. Tall Pony - I'm Your Boyfriend Now
2. The Autons - Snakes
3. Camera Obscura - Lloyd, I'm Ready To Be Heartbroken
4. Decoration - Job In London
5. Peter, Bjorn And John - Young Folks
6. Beatnik Filmstars - Really Quite Bizarre
7. The Playing Fields - Hello New World
8. TV On The Radio - Wolf Like Me
9. Misty's Big Adventure - Fashion Parade
10. Mogwai - Friend Of The Night
11. Decoration - Candidate
12. Los Campesinos! - You! Me! Dancing!
13. Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly - The Chronicles Of A Bohemian Teenager (Part 1)
14. Das Wanderlust - The Orange Shop
15. Mogwai - Glasgow Mega Snake
16. The Bobby Mcgees - Ivor Cutler Is Dead
17. Mugstar - My Baby Skull Has Not Yet Flowered
18. Bearsuit - Steven Fucking Spielberg
19. The Pipettes - Pull Shapes
20. I'm From Barcelona - We're From Barcelona
21. Cartridge - Fooling Around
22. Mugstar - Good Posture Vs Bad Posture
23. Beatnik Filmstars - It's Not What You Know
24. Gossip - Standing In The Way Of Control
25. The Nightingales - Born Again In Birmingham
26. The Nightingales - Black Country
27. Klaxons - Magick
28. Joanna Newsom - Only Skin
29. Morrissey - Life Is A Pigsty
30. The Knife - We Share Our Mothers Health
31. Uffie - Pop The Glock
32. Cat Power - The Greatest
33. Metric - Monster Hospital
34. The Raconteurs - Steady As She Goes
35. The Long Blondes - Once And Never Again
36. Gnarls Barkley - Crazy
37. Booka Shade - In White Rooms
38. Mates Of State - Fraud In The '80s
39. Iliketrains - The Beeching Report
40. Dustin's Bar Mitzvah - To The Ramones
41. Jarvis Cocker - Running The World
42. N-Type - Tolerance
43. Forest Giants - So You Think You're Unhappy
44. Chalkdust - Cheddar Would Be Better
45. Lost Penguin - I Believe I Can Fly
46. Tilly & The Wall - Reckless
47. Seize - The Day Flying
48. Lost Penguin - Mr. Whippy
49. Gilbert - Willow
50. Uke Stanza - You Will With Ivor Cutler

Courtney Love to Replace Paula Abdul on Idol, Promises Predictable 'Always-Drunk' Behavior

In order to best understand the misguidedness of the possible replacement of Paula Abdul with Courtney Love, the following video is essential:

Fireable offense? Well, when you consider that she's acted that way in essentially every interview promoting the new season of Idol, probably, but not if you're gonna replace her with Courtney Love. Hey, speaking of her, can we have the source of the rumor please?

Courtney to Us Weekly: "He called. He was wondering if I was interested. I thought it was kind of weird but brilliant."

Us Weekly Readers: "I am having a hard time reading this. Well, reading most things, I suppose. Oh well."

Secretly Canadian Openly Release Compilation

To commemorate 11 years in the biz, Secretly Canadian is putting out 'SC100' (which is nigh unpronouncable; perhaps those letters and numbers have a deeper meaning...) a covers compilation featuring their roster of artists including, but not limited to, Jens Lekman, Songs:Ohia and the band that released the best album last year, Danielson covering each others' tunes. How sweet.

Original artist is in parentheses. Try not to step on the tracklist:

“See(ing) Double,” Nikki Sudden (June Panic)
“The Last Bandit,” Songs: Ohia (Nikki Sudden)
“Structure: Necessity,” Suzanne Langille (Songs: Ohia)
“The Escape,” Early Day Miners (Suzanne Langille and Loren MazzaCane Connors)
“Upstate,” Damien Jurado (Early Day Miners)
“Abeline,” Dave Fischoff (Damien Jurado)
“Propaganda for a Comic,” Danielson (Dave Fischoff)
“Fruitful Weekend,” June Panic (Danielson)
“Soft Evenings,” Ativin (Marmoset)
“Lungs for the Race,” Swearing At Motorists (Havergal)
“Riding and Romaing,” Havergal (Ativin)
“The Real Thing,” Racebannon (Swearing At Motorists)
“Clubber Lang,” Cornelius Boots (Racebannon)
“We’re All Gonna Die,” Jens Lekman (Scout Niblett)
“Sky Phenomenon,” Marmoset (Jens Lekman)
“40 Years of Our Family,” the Impossible Shapes (Japonize Elephants)
“Birds,” Panoply Academy (the Impossible Shapes)
“Highlight and Marginalia,” Japonize Elephants (Panoply Academy)

Broken Social Scene Produce Film Score, Manage To Leave All Scenes Intact

Broken Social Scene have announced via their website that they have finished the score for The Tracey Fragments, an upcoming motion picture starring Ellen Page which director Bruce McDonald has likened to "Degrassi meets Hendrix". The movie, reportedly filmed in just 14 days, will have its world premiere at the Berlin International Film Fest; Feb. 8 to 18. It will most likely be available on DVD at a later date, which would be cheaper for those of us who live far away from Berlin.

Little Brother Drop 9th Wonder, Atlantic Records

Hip Hop Game brings us sad news from the world of hip-hop today, as Little Brother has parted ways with MC 9th Wonder. Here's what fellow bro Pooh (lol) had to say about it:

“Little Brother has decided, in the best interest of the group, for Little Brother and 9th Wonder to part ways. There are no hard feelings and no beef. This is just a decision that had to be made so all three of us could move forward and continue to provide the world with dope music."

Another big change for the younger siblings is their split with Atlantic which, to hear the boys tell it, has nothing to do with them being dropped and has a lot to do with them leaving. The rumor mill would have you believe that they will release their next record, 'The Getback', on Asylum. I wonder what Pooh has to say about it.

“First, I want to say that Little Brother has not been dropped from Atlantic. At this time we are in the process of negotiating our release from the label due to a difference in philosophies.”

Ah, sibling rivalry. Break it up, you guys, or I'm turning this group right back around and going home!

Dim Mak Signs The Deadly Syndrome, Ignores Unsigned Hype of S.A.R.S.

It's a big day for L.A., with The Deadly Syndrome joining the Dim Mak roster, meaning that if you start talking about them now you'll seem really really cool in about a year. They plan to release an album and an EP worth of material, so find some demos and get excited.

Oh, hey, wait, they're also touring with Oh No! Oh My!:

2/1 - Los Angeles, CA - Cafe Du Nord*
2/3 - Los Angeles, CA - Troubadour*
2/15 - Dallas, TX - THe Cavern
2/17 - Austin, TX - Emo's
2/20 - Phoenix, AZ - Modified
2/21 - San Diego, CA - House of Blues
2/22 - Long Beach, CA - Blue Cafe
2/24 - Los Angeles, CA - Echo

* with Moving Units, not Oh No! Oh My!

In other Dim Mak news, they are currently selling some bitchin' DinoHoodies in their online store!

Walkmen Announce Tour; From the Looks of Things, They'll Be Driving

Folks, it's time to request March and April off and tune up the tie-dyed volvo, it's tour time! The Walkmen will be out for a jaunt (with a suspicious gap eerily similar to the dates of SXSW) with LA's The Broken West and Ferraby Lionheart. If you wanna see them, it can be arranged on the in the following locations on the following dates at the following times:

3.08.07 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom
3.09.07 Baltimore, MD - Ottobar
3.10.07 Columbus, OH - Little Brother's
3.11.07 Chicago, IL - Schubas
3.12.07 Newport, KY - Southgate House
3.13.07 Louisville, KY - Headliners
3.18.07 New Orleans, LA - Parish
3.19.07 Tallahassee, FL - Beta Bar
3.20.07 Athens, GA - 40 Watt Club
3.21.07 Asheville, NC - Grey Eagle
3.22.97 Chapel Hill, NC - Local 506
3.23.07 Washington, DC - Rock & Roll Hotel
4.06.07 Philadelphia, PA - Electric Factory *^
4.07.07 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club *^
4.09.07 Boston, MA - Avalon *^
4.12.07 New York, NY - Roseland Ballroom *^
4.17.07 Montreal, Quebec - Spectrum *^
4.18.07 Toronto, Ontario - Kool Haus *^
4.20.07 Chicago, IL - Vic Theatre *#
4.21.07 Minneapolis, MN - Trocadero *#
4.24.07 Vancouver, British Columbia - Commodore Ballroom *#
4.25.07 Seattle, WA - Showbox Theatre *#
4.26.07 Portland, OR - Crystal Ballroom *#
4.27.07 San Francisco, CA - Warfield *#
4.28.07 Los Angeles, CA - venue TBA

* with Kaiser Chiefs
^ with Annuals
# with The Little Ones

Page France to Release New Album; We Paged France About it, They Didn't Call

Sage Francis, on the other hand, won't leave us alone. Baltimore's Page France have announced the impending release of their third album, ...And The Family Telephone, available on May 8th via Suicide Squeeze. You wanna tracklist?

We got yer stinkin' tracklist:

1. The Ruby Ring Man
2. Wet Dog Afternoon
3. Me, Violin, And Dancing Bear
4. Be My Pianist
5. Pigeons
6. Hat And Rabbit
7. A Belly To The Sea
8. A Belly In The Fish
9. Rooster And Its Crow
10. The Jokers Joke
11. Here's A Telephone
12. Beggar's Table Legs
13. Circus Head (Nobody Knows)
14. Casting Day

Grinderman Album Leaks, Reveals Updated Tracklisting

For those of you who have been heralding it as Album of the Year 2007 for a couple months now, the news of Nick Cave's Grinderman project leaking may seem a bit late. For those of you who enjoyed the following tracks:

Chain of Flowers
Rise
Trip
Decoration Day
Vortex

you will find the news quite sad, as they have found themselves on the bloody end of Cave's brutal track-cutting axe, and are nowhere to be seen on the final list. It's sad, we know.

Grind 'em out:

1. Get It On
2. No Pussy Blues
3. Electric Alice
4. Grinderman
5. Depth Charge Ethel
6. Go Tell The Woman
7. I Don't Need You (To Set Me Free)
8. Honey Bee (Let's Fly To Mars)
9. Man In The Moon
10. When My Love Comes Down
11. Love Bomb

Lady Sovereign Confirms Desire for a Lady Complaisant

The tiniest jewel in the Def Jam crown, Lady Sovereign, has gone tellin' tales outside of school to the Minnesota Daily, confirming her rumored lesbianism. SCANDALOOOUUUSSSZZZ! The best rationalization MonsterBlood can find for acting like this is actual news is that she may, hopefully, do something for gays in the rap game. Also, women, Brits and the vertically challenged. Step one: Sell some records! There are reports that Sov's underperformance in that area may get her midget-tossed right off the mighty Def Jam roster. MonsterBlood offers the following advice to Sov regarding workplace dealings; He's not a businessman, he's a business, man!

The Apples in Stereo. On Video. With Audio.

Elephant Six lo-fi-ers The Apples in Stereo have lo-found a way into the spotlight; low-budget, silly, single-shot viral video! Don't laugh, I've heard it's worked in the past. Here's their take on the concept, filmed in Park City, Utah, for the Sundance Film Festival. Guess they found themselves inspired to commit their track "Same Old Drag" to motion pictures.

We Didn't Start the (Arcade) Fire, But They Started a Tour!

Hey, The Arcade Fire are playing 5 shows in London, and you already missed one of 'em. Oops.



Neon Setlist:

Black Mirror
Keep the Car Running
No Cars Go
Black Wave/Bad Vibrations
Haiti
My Body Is A Cage
Ocean Of Noise
Rebellion (Lies)
Intervention
Windowsill
Neighbourhood #1 (Tunnels)
The Well And The Lighthouse
(Antichrist Television Blues)
Neighbourhood #3 (Power Out)
---
Wake Up

Don't worry if you can't make any of the other four shows, MonsterBlood's got your back with a video of how good the show would be even if you had only been able to stand in line.

Just Wait 'Til We Get Our Haines on You

In yet another example of late-night crap factory Last Call with Carson Daly playing host to musicians who should be wiping themselves with his booking peoples' messages, video-taping it and putting it on YouTube, the Lovely and Talented Emily Haines will be playing the show on Wednesday night. Tune in, he'll make you cringe!

Noise Pop Festival Reveals 2007 Lineup, SXSW Facetiously Shakes in Boots

Hey, Spin's got some dates, something Chuck Klosterman never accomplished during his time as a senior writer for the publication. haHA, take that, ya pasty dweeb. Anyway, the 15th iteration of Noise Pop will be occurring February 27th through March 4th, in San Francisco. That's California, so be sure to bring a dumb little dog to show people how cute you are.

Noise Pop go the following weasels at the following times:

Tuesday, Feb. 27
Opening Night Party (Mezzanine)

Wednesday, Feb. 28
Hella, with Pop Levi, Macromantics, Tartufi (Bottom of the Hill)
Richard Swift, with the Watson Twins, Ryan Auffenberg, Built for the Sea (Cafe Du Nord)
Sebadoh, with the Bent Mustache, Love of Diagrams, The New Trust (Great American Music Hall) John Vanderslice, with Damien Jurado, the Submarines, Black Fiction (the Independent)
Josh Ritter (Solo Acoustic), with Okkervil River’s Will Sheff (Swedish American Hall)

Thursday, March 1
Matt and Kim, with Erase Errata, No Age (Bottom of the Hill)
Lyrics Born, with the Coup, Lifesavas (the Fillmore)
Roky Erickson and the Explosives (13th Floor Elevators), with Howlin Rain, Oranger, Wooden Shjips (Great American Music Hall)
French Kicks, with Scissors for Lefty, the Oohlas, Magic Bullets (Slim’s) Trainwreck Riders and Langhorn Slim (co-headlining), with Poor Bailey, the Morning Benders (Rickshaw Stop)
Alexi Murdoch, with Aqueduct, the Bird and the Bee (Cafe Du Nord)

Friday, March 2
The Donnas, with Boyskut (Bottom of the Hill)
Annuals, with Simon Dawes, Ray Barbee and the Mattson 2 (Cafe Du Nord)
Jolie Holland, with David Dondero, St. Vincent (the Fillmore)
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, with Georgie James, So Many Dynamos, Pony Come Lately (Great American Music Hall)
Autolux, with Snowden, Malajube, Death of a Party (the Independent)
The Dandy Warhols, with Audrye Sessions, Elephone, DJ Aaron Axelson (Mezzanine)
State Radio, with the New Amsterdams, Streets to Nowhere, the Actual (Slim’s)
Vic Chesnutt, with Zach Rogue, Thao, Alela Diane (Swedish American Hall)

Saturday, March 3
The Ponys, with the Gris Gris, Lemon Sun (Bottom of the Hill)
Brightblack Morning Light, with Women and Children, Glass Ship Builder, Carl Blau (Great American Music Hall)
Clinic, with Earlimart, Sea Wolf, the Mumlers (the Independent)
Ghostland Observatory, with Honeycut, the Gray Kid (Mezzanine)
Spinto Band, with Dios Malos, the Changes, the Old Fashioned Way (Rickshaw Stop)

Sunday, March 4
Cake, with Money Mark, the Botticellis, Scrabbel (Bimbos)
Midlake, with Minipop, Ester Drang (Bottom of the Hill)
The Dwarves, with the White Barons (Bottom of the Hill)
Comedians of Comedy, with Patton Oswalt, Brian Posehn, Maria Bamford and special guests TBA (the Independent)

Geoff Rickly of Thursday and Daryl Palumbo of Head Automatica and Glassjaw Get Serious about United Nations (of Music)

"See, no sticky white residue!"

Until just now, MonsterBlood was unaware that such a thing as a "long-awaited grindcore side-project," but here's a case-in-point for you- Mike Palumbo, Crohn's disease survivor, and Geoff Rickly, who specializes in more metaphorical bleeding-heart-on-sleeve-type diseases, have written some songs for their new act United Nations, and will record them shortly. In Rickly's words,

"We were supposed to record before we started this tour but my grandmother died on the last few days of the Rise Against tour so I needed to go home and deal with family stuff. We have a solid lineup and we have seven or eight songs written. We’re gonna write a few more and put the record out later this year. It’s going to take a little more planning because everyone is so busy. We lost a big block of time that we could have worked on it and the Glassjaw tour was so last minute and that also took away from time that we could have spent on it."

Check it out at thursdayonline.net, which is accessible on all 7 days of the week.

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club Set Release Date for New Album, Pop Sweet Wheelie. Of Rock.

Remember the band that was pretty good, and then suddenly everyone paid attention, and then they stopped paying attention? Well, get ready to pay attention again, as the Black Rebel Motorcycle Club have released the details of their soon-to-be-new-album, Baby 81, TBR on May 1st care of RCA. Guitarist Peter Hayes told Billboard

“Things open up and break down within the songs, a lot. There are some songs that are kind of groove-oriented, not so blues- or country influenced [as ‘Howl’].”

So, I guess that means he thinks it's better than the last one. Novel stance. Also, Nick Jago is back on drums for these guys. I'm sure you were sweating it.

Gimme dem tracks:

01 Took Out a Loan
02 Berlin
03 Weapon of Choice
04 Window
05 Cold Mind
06 It’s Not What You Wanted
07 666 Conducer
08 All You Do Is Talk
09 Lien on Your Dreams
10 Need Some Air
11 Killing the Light
12 American X
13 Am I Only

Fall Out Boy Keep it Real with Newfound Hatred of the Proletariat

Pete Wentz, the cute guy who writes the songs for Fallout Boy, is staying true to the working-class roots of pop-punk, or popu if you're keeping up with the Arms Race, by blaming minimum-wage workers for the "devastating" leak of the Boy's forthcoming album Infinity on High. To more clearly illustrate just what was said, here is a quote, which is the mark of dogged journalistic research-

"Our job is to put out records and tour and make music. What are we gonna do? Sit at the plant and watch everybody? Some guy working minimum wage, why would he care how it affects us? It's a multi-pronged thing."

This could be the worst leak in the history in music, f you think that every year computers, iPod, internet music grows exponentially and we're probably one of the biggest bands in rock music on the internet."

Hopefully music will recover from this great loss while you read the full text of the Rolling Stone interview, available on The Internet.

The Police to Bust the Grammys, Ask That Latifah Not Stand So Close to Them

Heyo, it's time to bust some hits off, time to dust some mics off, the cops are back and hoping to kill it. That's right, Sting & The Police will be playing the 2007 Grammys, leading older brothers around the world to ask for their Synchronicity cassettes back.

FRATellis Bro Down with iPod; Kegstands, Sold Out Shows Ensue

If you haven't heard of Fratellis, you probably don't live in the UK. If you haven't heard of the iPod, you probably don't live in the World. If you've heard of neither, you probably don't care about the upcoming iPod advertisement featuring Fratellis's hot HOT single 'Flathead', but apparently enough people do care to sell out 2, count 'em, 2 shows at the Mercury Lounge, which is apparently a big deal. So big a deal that one, count it, one of the shows may be moved to the even more prestigious Bowery, but let's not count chickens before they hatch on our side of the pond. At any rate, here's the advertisement, best served with chips, but don't sweat it if you can only find fries.

Klaxons Klaxoff On J. Timberlake - Now How Heavy is That?

Pretty heavy. The Klaxons, that band you can't listen to in the office without someone asking if it's the new Art Brut, have covered Justin Timberlake, which is very trendy these days. Here's their take on My Love recorded live on BBC Live Lounge with Jo Whiley. If a credible band gives credit to a credible pop star, what are the chances of it being... incredible? Click to find out.

Dinosaur Jr. Release Tracklisting! Dinosaurs Senior Still Extinct. : (

"We don't look like this anymore."

Dinosaur Jr. have announced the tracklist for their first release with all founding members onboard since 1988's "Bug". This one's called "Beyond" (significantly shorter than "Beyond a Shadow of a Doubt, This Record Will Be Beyond Disappointing") and it comes out May 1st on Fat Possum. Also, the band will release a live DVD directed by J. Mascis' Bro-in-Law, and Mascis will be designing his own Nike skate shoe as well. They're silver. Dinosaurs are green.

“Beyond” Tracklisting:

1. Almost Ready
2. Crumble
3. Pick Me Up
4. Back to Your Heart
5. This Is All I Came To Do
6. Been There All the Time
7. It’s Me
8. We’re Not Alone
9. I Got Lost
10. Lightning Bulb
11. What If I Knew…

Here's Hoping This "Reunion" Will Sink Faster Than...well

"LEGENDARY rockers Led Zeppelin are set to re-group after 22 years for a money-spinning stadium tour of America. The three surviving members — singer Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page and bassist John Paul Jones — plan to hit the road next summer.The trio hope to pocket £6.4million for the shows."


If I was better at making .gifs, the following image would be rolling in its grave.

Actual journalism on the subject can be found here

I feel pretty. Oh, so pretty. I feel pretty, and girly and dead. P.S. - We're breakin' up the band.

Sad news for single men attending funerals, Pretty Girls will no longer be making Graves.

From prettygirlsmakegraves.com -

We are sorry to announce that our upcoming tour in May will be our last. Nick quit the band and the rest of us feel like it wouldn’t be right to continue on without him. The 5 of us feel very lucky to have met and worked with some truly amazing people over the years. Thank you all so much….

Oh, man, but they were having so much fun...