Sir Bono

U2's Bono was officially knighted into's Britain's lexicon today. Moreso for his humanitarian work than his music. Although we are pretty sure the Queen was all like "Where the streets have no name' is my jam son!" while she high fived Bono before looking at Her royal subjects and saying "We're done!"


Since England dubbed Bono with an official titled. We wanted to dub another member of U2:

THE EDGE- OFFICIALLY A BAMF!

Free Owen Set

If you aren't sad yet, you haven't listened to Owen today. Mikey K's got a free 4 song set up at day trotter, so you might want to go here:

http://www.daytrotter.com/article/614/free-songs-owen

Sit Boo Boo sit. Good dog.

Greg Graffin

Despite his recent "appearance" on the buddyhead webcams, he is the frontman from Bad Religion and he released a pretty decent folk album, which should say enough. Greg Graffin also has pretty good interview to read over here:

http://www.magazine.ucla.edu/exclusives/bad-religion_greg-graffin/

Hot Hot Heat

These guys are not really my thing at all, but Hot Hot Heat has a new album coming out soon, and apparently they almost wrote two albums worth of material.

Here's the track listing:

'Happiness Ltd.'
'Let Me In'
'5 Times Out of 100'
'Harmonicas & Tambourines'
'Outta Heart'
'My Best Fiend'
'Conversation'
'Give Up?'
'Good Way To Die'
'So So Cold''Waiting For Nothing'


Oh yeah, here is what we here at the city thought the cover should look like:

SPOON!

The new Spoon is coming, and indie kids are going nuts for it already. For those of you who are going to scower the net looking for the songs, here is a track listing:

1. 'Don't Make Me a Target'
2. 'The Ghost of You Lingers'
3. 'You Got Yr Cherry Bomb'
4. 'Don't You Evah'
5. 'Rhthm and Soul'
6. 'Eddie's Ragga'
7. 'The Underdog'
8. 'My Little Japanese Cigarette Case'
9. 'Finer Feelings'
10. 'Black Like Me'


http://www.spoontheband.com

Mest? No. STABBED is more like it!

Tony Lovato, frontman of crap-punk group Mest, was arrested the other day for alledgedly stabbing some dude to death! A witness says Lovato and the victim were fighting over a girl when crazy Tony pulled out a knife and shanked the dude repeatedly. Although, we're pretty sure someone was talking crap about Goldfinger and then things got Ugly.

Guh guh guh guh guh guh GOOD!

G-Unit's resident tool, Tony Yayo (aka MARVIN), was put in jail the order day by proving he was a man who wasn't about to take crap from anyone... not even a 14 year old. Good one there genius, you're a real man now... a really stupid one.

Oh man...

Ok, if you don't want to hear language, don't watch this... But if you want to hear what the teenage mutant ninja turtles sound like covering throwdown, you must watch this...

I LOVE NPR

I love NPR. I do, and since I couldn't find anything newsworthy through the regular channels, I thought you should know that a good deal of their live concert series are set up as downloadable.

Fans of Explosions In The Sky and The Arcade Fire should check it out, as the downloads don't stay up forever.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4627437

Coldplay Singles Collection

Coldplay are set to release their singles collection exclusively on a collection of 14 7-inch Vinyls. It retails for about $115, and if you add up that the most expensive 7-inch records usually go for about 5 bucks, it should be only about 70 bucks. That is almost the price of another 7-inch! I support people buying vinyl and all, but when you are paying over hundred bucks, you should be getting more than 25 songs.

Lips on Broadway!?!

Oklahoma's pride and joy, The Flaming Lips are in the works with a creative team that brought us The West Wing and The Who's Tommy for a musicial based on their smash Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots. I don't know how that's gonna play out, but she's got a black belt in karate.

The National's New Album

If any of you have been searching to hear some of upcoming album from The National, I can tell you that some of the tracks are out there and they are amazing. The Boxer seems as it will be just as good-if not better than Alligator, "Start A War" is... wow.

http://www.americanmary.com

http://www.myspace.com/thenational

Clubbed

With pre-production in play, "Clubbed" is going to be a movie about the rise of two-tone ska in the early 80's U.K. I wonder how that will work. I would really moreso like to see a documentary on the matter.

Minus The Bear, Minus Staying Home, Plus The Road

I think the whole lot of us are ready for the new Minus The Bear cd to come out in August. I really wonder what the new songs will sound like. What I do know is that they are going on tour again up until Sasquatch, so try to make one of these dates:

April 26: Seattle (Vera Project)
April 27: Portland, Ore. (Hawthorne Theatre)
April 28: Eugene, Ore. (Indigo District)
April 29: Reno, Nev. (The New Oasis)
May 1: Orangevale, Calif. (The Boardwalk)
May 2: Santa Cruz, Calif. (The Catalyst)
May 3: San Francisco (Great American Music Hall)
May 4: San Luis Obispo, Calif (Downtown Brew)
May 5: Los Angeles (Ex Plex)
May 6: Solana Beach, Calif. (Bely Up Tavern)
May 8: Las Vegas (House of Blues)
May 10: Colorado Springs, Colo. (The Black Sheep)
May 11: Lawrence, Kan. (Granada Theatre)
May 12: Iowa City, Iowa (Picador)
May 13: Champaign, Ill. (High Dive)
May 14: Sauget, Mo. (Pops)
May 15: Chicago (Beat Kitchen)
May 16: Milwaukee (Pabst Theatre)
May 17-18: Minneapolis (Triple Rock Social Club)
May 21: Omaha, Neb. (Sokol Underground)
May 23: Denver (Bluebird)
May 24: Aspen, Colo. (Belly Up)
May 25: Salt Lake City (Club Sound)
May 27: Quincy, Wash. (Gorge Amphitheatre)


I know they are some busy guys, but another Botch record or release from Sharks Keep Moving would be nice too.

http://www.minusthebear.com

http://www.myspace.com/minusthebear

Alkaline Trio

Alkaline Trio aren't signed right now. I am suprised Side One Dummy hasn't snapped them up, or even Epitaph. Whatever the case, they could probably start their own label right now and do fairly well with it.

The Used

According to www.punknews.org, the Used have a new single out for their upcoming album.

5 best songs of the 80's (that you might have overlooked)

I was watching VH1's "Best Songs of the 80's", and with exception of a few tracks, I was quite unhappy with their choices (which should come to no suprise). Also, I could put U2 down here, but if you didn't already know that they put out the majority of the greatest songs of the 80's, then you gotta do your homework.

Most of those (non-U2) tracks really have no bearing outside of their time, and since most of our readers were born in the 70's and 80's, we weren't really listening to that stuff as it was going on anyway. I do know though of a few tracks that have really surpassed their time and that have become classics no decade can pin down, here are some of those songs:




The Replacments- "Left of The Dial" off of Tim (1985)



Finding a good performance of this on YouTube is near impossible, but it doesn't change the fact that this is an AMAZING song. I could have picked any other Replacements song and it would have been ok, but this song is near anthemic for any kid growing up and wanting to be in a band. Before the days of the net, finding a good place to hear music was few and far between. This song basically details the kinship we have from independently searching for the idetifiable in good music. In a way, it is the most and least punk song of it's time, and still resonates with people beyond it's genre today.



The Descendents- "Coolidge" off of All (1987)



You know how most punk bands will tell you how they were influenced by bands like the Descendents? Their album All is the reason why. If you have heard their newer stuff it isn't much different, but consider that it's time there really wasn't an album like it. The days before mixing skateboarding and punk rock like chocolate and peanut butter had not been cliche'd yet, this was a breath of fresh air from punk trying to beat on you. "Coolidge" was one of those songs that help punk grow up by coming from a band that was unquestioned in their status as a punk band. Some of the most mature and thought provoking lyrics to come out at the time, it still sounds through today.


R.E.M.- "Orange Crush" of off Green (1988)

I will find much resistance on this one... How can you pick one R.E.M. in the 80's over another? Such blasphemy! Maybe so, but Green was the album that transtioned them into the 1990's and brought both their older sound and newer sound together. "Orange Crush" may have been a huge hit for the band... but there was a reason behind it. R.E.M. had already cemented their stranglehold outside of the major labels but when they went to Warner, they came out with a set of mature, personal, and deeply amazing songs. "Orange Crush", not only rocked but it features everything that encompassed the band's sound at the time. Both low and high vocals, dark guitars that held some kind of hope, and the rythm to drive it through to you. This may have come at the end of the 80's but it certainly struck a nerve to many.

The Editors Cover:


The R.E.M. Video:



The Specials- "Ghost Town" off of the Ghost Town single (1981)

Holy crap, they put a ska song on here. Yes we did. Everyone who has ever paid attention to ska knows who the Specials are. Rude Boys, Two-Tone, blah blah blah ska. The fact remains that this song (written in repsonse to unjust political policy that might have cost thousands of people to lose their jobs) is meaningful, beat-driven, and one of the best ska songs of all time.




The Clash- "Straight To Hell" off of Combat Rock 1982

Man, I love the Clash. Combat Rock is huge mostly to due to "Rock The Casbah", but if you look at one song, you get lose out on a geat album. "Straight To Hell", is different than most Clash songs, slower and more storyline than anything else. It was the soundtrack and movie at the same time. Telling the tale of Vietnamese children who were fathered by American Soldiers that left them after the war. A good DJ will tell you how important this song is to their discography, but due to it's unique sound and difficult subject matter, it is rarely played.

Eisley

Since the elder two Dupree sisters of Eisley are now either married or engaged, thousands of dudes in cardigans and cordury jackets have been crying their eyes out knowing there is no hope. In order to try to remedy this sadness from their fans, Eisley will have a new album before July. If it is anywhere near as good as "Room Noises" I will be happy.


http://www.eisley.com

http://www.myspace.com/eisley

Before Cars

Before Cars is a band from NW Washington. Although many bands come out from that way, most bands don't have an ex-member of a band that was huge like Nirvana. Well, it's not Chris Novaselic or Dave Ghrol... not even Pat Smear... it's Dave Ghrol's predecessor, "Bleach" drummer Chad Channing (who is fronting the band and playing bass).

Honestly, I don't think much people would be talking about this band if it didn't have a Nirvana connection.

Check the link below and decide for yourself.

http://www.myspace.com/beforecars

Boysetsfire calls it a day...

Honestly, these guys have been around for a while and I thought they had already broken up. But apparently not, they are gonna give it one last tour before they close up shop. I wasn't the biggest fan of this band, but I sure respected them.

Paramore Guitarist Quits...

Paramore's guitar player Hunter Lamb (holy crap, that's his real name) almost got Paramore to break up when he quit the band recently. Why would anyone want to quit Paramore? Why wouldn't you quit that band?! Seriously! We believe he must have cited reasons like "rational thinking" and "sanity".

Joe Strummer...

It's been a few years since legendary musician/the Clash frontman Joe Strummer had passed. But according to NME, their will be 'Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten'; a documentary about Strummer out in UK theaters this summer. The rest of us will have to wait for the DVD to come out, which will feature lots of rare material and interviews with musicians and the likes of Martin Scorcese and Bono. A soundtrack is coming too with unreleased songs by the Clash and Strummer, as well as his later projects.

Black President

I was over on www.punknews.org and I read something about this band called Black President. Turns out this band has all kinds of supergroup potential. Members of Bad Religion, Goldfinger, Unwritten Law and Dee Dee Ramone's band are in this group.

http://www.myspace.com/blackpresident

Gym Class "Heroes"

The drummer for Gym Class Heroes was put in the can the other day in Mexico. While it is not clear when he will get out of jail or why he was actually arrested, we're pretty sure because his band totally sucks.

R.E.M.

Alot has been going on at the R.E.M. camp as of late. Not only have they been recently inducted into the Rock N' Roll Hall of Fame, but they have been seen playing spuratically with their original drummer Bill Berry and have also given homage to their hometown of Athens, Georgia.

In addition they are hitting the studio for a new album. Hopefully, they will give us another masterpiece, as it has been a few albums since our ears have been blessed with a great R.E.M. album.

http://www.remhq.com

Buck O Nine on Warped Tour

Dude... Bro... Uh Buck O Nine are back dude! They are totally playing the Warped Tour too bro! You know... it has alot of skateboarding and a few bands.

Oh wait... that was 1997.

Now Warped Tour has barely anything to do with skating and alot to do with Hot Topic and Merch Frenzies. Buck O Nine were big in the late 90's ska wave and hadn't really had a proper hit since then, but they are back to play the Warped tour for you. Considering the average age of a kid at the Warped Tour is like 15, that would have to make their fans about 6 or 7 when they last had a song on the radio or an album that had a considerable fanbase. More power to ya, but chances are no one there will remember who you are.

Matchbook Romance calls it a day...

Matchbook Romance broke up. I wasn't really a fan but to those of you who were, please consider how the music market over-glorifies bands nowadays and you will probably have a DVD to hope for coming up soon.

Evil has a new face...

Fourth Reich Starbucks Coffee decided that selling bad comps in their stores while pushing their overpriced lattes wasn't enough and has decided to start a record label.

I thought we were supposed to have the plagues first.

Pretty Girls Make Their Grave... After Tour.

Seattle's Pretty Girls Make Graves released some pretty awesome stuff in their very short several year career. And though they have decided to call it quits due to drummer Nick Dewitt (pictured above far right) leaving the band, they have decided to give it one last tour for their fans and have a proper send off at a final hometown show.

Here are the dates:

APRIL
26th. Beijing, China @ Mao Live
27th. Hong Kong, China @ TBA
28th. Shanghai, China @ 4Live
29th. Beijing, China @ D22


MAY
10th. MIlwaukee, WI @ Todd Wehr Auditorium
11th. Iowa City, IN @ The Picador
12th. Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle
13th. Cleveland, OH @ Grog Shop
14th. Pittsburgh, PA @ Mr. Smalls
15th. OFF
16th. Philadelphia, PA @North Star
17th. Cambridge, MA @ Middle East
18th. Providence, RI @ The Living Room
19th. NYC, NY @ Gramercy Theatre
20th. Washington, DC @ Black Cat21st. OFF
22nd. Atlanta, GA @ The Earl
23rd. Tampa, FL @ The Orpheum
24th. Orlando, FL @ The Social
25th. OFF
26th. Baton Rouge, LA @ Spanish Moon
27th. Denton, TX @ Haileys
28th. Austin, TX @ Emos
29th.
30th. Tempe, Arizona @ The Clubhouse

JUNE
1st. OFF
2nd. Pomona, CA @ The Glasshouse
3rd. L.A, CA @ The Troubadour
4th. SF, CA @ Great American Music Hall
9th. Seattle, WA @ Neumos


http://www.prettygirlsmakegraves.com

Deerhoof on Carson

Kill Rock Stars' Deerhoof are a band alot of people love. I remember a few years back when they started getting hype and I went out and bought their "Milk Man" album and well... I dunno what it was about them that really rubbed me the wrong way.

I hear alot about bands coming around and Deerhoof by all means were supposed to be something I like. They play shows with bands I love and are on a good label, but I can't help thinking to myself "Do they have a secret good album that I don't know about?"

Maybe I will come around, maybe I won't, but for those of you who love them, check em' out on Carson Daily this Friday.

http://www.deerhoof.killrockstars.com

Maroon 5

Maroon 5 have a new album coming out, so your radio will be infested with it's new sounds anytime now.

We don't have many details, but we found the album cover...

Nas & Kelis

It's been confirmed that Nas and wife Kelis are going to have a reality show coming soon. What not is confirmed is the title. Here is what we have in mind:

"We just killed our careers"

"My Wife is less talented than me"

"'Milkshake'? I used to be a credible rapper and I married you?"

"Cancelled in a week"

Eddie Van Horrible

Eddie Van Halen is going to rehab, which is good because his next step would be becoming the old lady who has too many cats. I mean, come on! Look at yourself Eddie, you are starting to make Zombies look good!

Joshua Tree

This week marks the 20th anniversary of the release of one of rock greatest albums.

When I was young, I remember the video for "With or Without You" on TV and hating because I was just a kid. Now I know better.


When this album came out, U2 had a following with their previous works. But this is truly the album that had launched them into the stratosphere. Before the age of DVDs, not every band had made an album so important that it launched a movie, let alone a major motion picture which was a theatrical release.

For those people who think about U2, they might call to mind some of their antics from the 90's, or when their songs brought comfort after 9-11, but most people remember one of the songs off of "The Joshua Tree".

Every single song off of this album meant something more than just something that you listen to upon a casual jaunt. Taking you to epic places where streets don't have any names to displaying their love of American rock n' roll with "Desire", they had managed to tap the pallets of the imaginations of almost everyone who dared listen. Even the soft spoken, quiet moments that you only share with your closest deepest friends are there too ("Running To Stand Still").

One of the most important things to take away from this album is the time in which it came out. The music of the eighties was usually very superficial and rarely heard if it was not. "The Joshua Tree" not only was one of the best selling albums of its time, but it also showed that even in times where substance is something so lacked, that it can the very thing most hungered for.

Do yourself a favor get this album if you already don't own it.

Popper's gonna pop ya!

Harmonica Wizard and scariest man alive, Blues Traveler's John Popper (shown about before he ate Tera Reed and Paris Hilton), was arrested in Washington state on Tuesday for going about 111 mph. The cops founds guns and evidence of drugs (gasps in shock).

Popper tried to tell the cops he was testing out new devices installed on his car for emergency evacuation, but the cops didn't want him to give them the runaround.

He was later released and is assumed to be brought up before a court soon.

Cran-Apples

Dolores O'Riordan, singer of Ireland 90's smash-the Cranberries, is set to go it out alone for a new album entitled "Are You Listening", due out sometime in May.

If that is your thing, check this out:

http://http://www.myspace.com/doloresoriordan

http://www.doloresoriordan.ie/

Daydream Nation in Spain...

If you can make it Barcelona on June 2nd, you might be in for a real treat. Sonic Youth has promised to play "Daydream Nation", in it's entire being, at the Primavera Sound Festival.

The Smashing Pumpkins and Wilco will be there, but I think Sonic Youth fans will be in for the real treat here.

Viva La Thurston.

http://www.sonicyouth.com

Coldplay

Everyone's favorite date band, Coldplay, are set to get into the studio to make the follow up to "X& Y", here is what Dance Machine Chris Martin has to say:

"In order for us to get excited about a new album, we have to have one song that we feel like everybody has to hear ... before we die, otherwise we'll be terribly depressed, So luckily with this new record we're going to make, we have that one song."

What else could we expect? I hope nothing less but unadulterated blistering grindcore. They already all wear black... so they are half-way there.

http://www.coldplay.com

Yo La Tengo

Yo La Tengo, who realesed the best name for an album EVER last year, are set to hit the road.

Catch them at one of these dates:

4/5 - New Orleans LA Tipitina's
4/6 - Houston TX Warehouse Live
4/7 - Austin TX Stubb's
4/8 - Dallas TX Granada
4/10 - Tulsa OK Cains
4/11 - Lawrence KS Granada
4/12 - St. Louis MO the Pageant
4/13 - Indianapolis I the Vogue
4/14 - Madison WI the Barrymore
4/16 - Newport KY Southgate House
4/17 - Cleveland OH Beachland Ballroom
4/18 - Detroit, MI Majestic Theatre
4/20 - Northampton, MA Academy of Music
4/21 - Providence RI, Brown University
4/29 - NYC, NY Webster Hall

http://www.yolatengo.com