Music News

Vetiver - More of the Past

In stores today (Nov 11th) Vetiver releases a new 5 song e.p. More of the Past. The collection of covers is a companion piece to the full length Thing of the Past covers album released earlier this year. Also released today is a 7" single (remember those?) with the band's version of A.R. Kane's "Miles Apart".

Vetiver has also recently signed to Sub Pop records, who will release the band's upcoming album of new original material. Tight Knit is tentavively scheduled for release on February 17, 2009. The band is currently on tour in the Midwest, playing a mix of headling shows and opening for The Black Crowes.

Tour Dates:

12/4 Louisville, KY @ 21C Museum Atrium Gallery
12/5 Chicago, IL @ Riviera Theater w/ The Black Crowes
12/6 Detroit, MI @ The Fillmore Detroit w/ The Black Crowes
12/7 Milwaukee, WI @ Eagles Ballroom w/ The Black Crowes
12/8 Grinnell, IA @ Herrick Chapel at Grinnell College
12/9 Fargo, ND @ The Venue w/ The Black Crowes
12/10 Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue w/ The Black Crowes
12/11 Des Moines, IA @ Val Air Ballroom w/ The Black Crowes
12/12 Omaha, NE @ Slowdown Jr.
12/13 Denver, CO @ Fillmore Auditorium w/ The Black Crowes
12/14 Lawrence, KS @ Jack Pot Saloon
12/15 St. Louis, MO @ Off Broadway Night Club
12/17 New York City, NY @ Le Poisson Rouge












Relentless7

When he is not hanging with wife Laura Dern or his main backing band The Innocent Criminals, Ben Harper has lately been using his two hands to put aside his usual musical fixations of soul/funk and folk for a full on rock 'n roll onslaught of amp buzz and his inner-Zepplin impulses with his new band Relentless7. You can hear two songs on the band's website and MySpace page as well as note the fact the band is doing a small California tour in December.

According to an article with Harper on RollingStone.com, Relentless7 will release their debut album White Lies for Dark Times sometime in May 2009.

Tour Dates:
12/3 San Diego, CA Belly Up Tavern
12/4 Los Angeles, CA Spaceland
12/5 Los Angeles, CA The Mint
12/7 Santa Cruz, CA Catalyst Club
12/8 San Francisco, CA The Independent

Calmer Than You Are

Wow. What a week. As we collectively watch the National economy eat itself into non-existence and the Presidential elections take a late-inning nasty turn into racial mud-slinging and excessive non-truths, it's good to know there music out there to elevate our minds and spirits to a better place.

Some music news:

According to Billboard.com, the Beastie Boys are planning a series of shows to encourage fans to get and vote. Ben Harper, Norah Jones, Sheryl Crow, David Crosby & Graham Nash and Jack Johnson will help fans fall asleep, err I mean energize people to make the trip to their local polling stations in November.

Check www.beastieboys.com for details of the tour.



My Morning Jacket lead man Jim James took a nasty spill during the band's concert at the University of Iowa. According to various reports on the web, James' went to lean on a stage monitor with his foot while rocking out and ended up stepping right off the front of the stage and hitting his noggin pretty hard. The injury forced the band to cancel the rest of the show and postpone a series of dates including shows in Chicago and a Jim James acoustic show at a Barack Obama event as well. Rest up and get better Jim!




Noel Gallagher thwarts fans of iTunes. Alway's a goldmine for quotes, Gallagher recently spoke to XFM radio and discussed his disdain for the modern youth's penchant for cherry picking a few tunes off a new album and not listening to the album as a whole.

"I think it's the first album we've ever made where we're consciously not hanging a collection of songs around three songs, which is what seems to happen these days." Gallagher says. "That's why all the songs fade into each other and there's sound effects that join them all together. It was a conscious effort to say to people 'Well, if you're going to cherry pick songs off iTunes, you can have a few seconds either side of what you're missing. It's a real album - 'Get Off Your High Horse' or 'Falling Down' don't make sense if you haven't heard the rest of the record....The new technology's a great thing, but the 'album' had died a little bit. The reason people only want three songs off an album is 'cos most albums are shite."

Well said Noel.

Lastly, here's Ryan Adams & the Cardinals performing "Cobwebs" off their upcoming album Cardinology in Boston, MA last month. Rock.