According to the band website, El Ten Eleven’s debut album is being reissued on 180g vinyl with mp3 download by Bar None Records– the label the band was on for this album. Limited to 1000 copies.
El Ten Eleven just finished recording their new album to be titled It’s Still Like A Secret. Currently without a label, the band is reaching out to fans to build an investment base for the release. Options spanning from a $30 pre-order of a signed copy to a frankly very reasonable $750 donation which gets you the signed release, Executive Producer credit and an hour helicopter ride around Los Angeles piloted by Kristian Dunn. Other pricepoints include lunches and phone calls– for $100 you get a signed copy of the album and the option of punching Tim Fogarty in the face (with a boxing glove). I love seeing these kinds of inspired investment models being done by bands.
The title of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers first collaborative effort in nine years is appropriately-enough Mojo which releases on June 15th. If it seems like we’ve heard from Tom in the last nine years, it is because he had a solo release as well as a “side project.” The “concept album” and last studio release with the Heartbreakers The Last DJ was released in 2002. Highway Companion came out in 2006, and he had a reunion of sorts of his pre-Heartbreakers band Mudcrutch in 2008. It’s important to note, however, that except for the Mudcrutch shows, he tours pretty much exclusively with the Heartbreakers anyway, so even though those releases were considered non-Heartbreakers releases, he never toured with a different band that I know of.
But, it is the Mudcrutch project where Mojo gets its groove-happy roots. Tom was quoted on rollingstone.com, “I knew there was something in the band that hadn’t been brought out. I was listening to early Jeff Beck Group, Peter Green, Muddy Waters and even a little JJ Cale– so that’s kind of the way I was thinking when I was writing.” According to an article in Billboard last week, the album was recorded live in the studio in a similar fashion to the Mudcrutch sessions which add to the immediacy of the tracks I’ve heard so far.
In a pretty smart fashion, the Tom Petty camp has been sneaking out tracks starting with “Good Enough” since the announcement of the album and supporting tour in February. For members of the Highway Companions fanclub who purchased presale tickets for the upcoming tour, they were given free downloads of “Good Enough” and “First Flash of Freedom” (you can listen to it below).
Additionally, Tom previewed Mojo tracks on his XM Radio show “Buried Treasure.” In addition to “First Flash of Freedom” which was played on April 22nd, he also shared the road story track “The Trip to Pirate’s Cove” on April 15th, and “Running Man’s Bible” on April 8th. If you have XM Radio you could hear these songs, and if you are a member of the Highway Companions fanclub, you can stream these shows. If you participated in the pre-sale of the tickets you will also be able to get a free download of the complete Mojo album on 6/15 and will also be able to download a 10-track compilation of songs from the upcoming summer tour.
So, four of the 15 tracks have been “leaked” so far and, in interviews conducted since February we found out about two other tracks. Apparently “Don’t Pull Me Over” is actually a song in a Reggae-style, and a first for the band (at least on album), and the song “I Should Have Known It” is one of three tracks co-written with Heartbreaker/Mudcrutch guitarist Mike Campbell. The other two co-written tracks were the nearly-seven-minute (!!) “First Flash of Freedom” and the nearly-six-minute (!!) “Good Enough.”
I’ve had a chance to hear all four tracks and it was a bit shocking for me. Particularly the acid-trippy nearly Grateful Dead-sounding “First Flash of Freedom” which is pretty much the mission statement for Mojo, I think. It’s sprawling disregard for the typical Heartbreakers economy of melody and composition sort of left me a bit disoriented the first couple of times through! It’s particularly satisfying to hear Campbell flex his soloing muscles on “First Flash” and “Good Enough.” It will be really great to hear what the band does with these songs on tour.
It makes me happy that the nearly-sixty-year old Petty is feeling like it isn’t time to rest on his laurels just yet and is interested in shaking things up a bit. That said, it is a change that isn’t 180-degrees away from his regular sound– no Neil Young Trans, here. The chops he’s bringing out come from the same place the Heartbreakers always come– 60′s blues and rock.
Originally, the album was slated to be released in the Spring, assumedly to coincide with the original May 6th start of the tour. On the 16th, it was announced that the release date of the album was June 15th. At the same time, it was announced that the first nine shows would be moved to the end of the tour which extended the tour into October.
tracklisting for Mojo:
1. Jefferson Jericho Blues
2. First Flash Of Freedom
3. Running Man’s Bible
4. The Trip To Pirate’s Cove
5. Candy
6. No Reason To Cry
7. I Should Have Known It
8. U.S. 41
9. Takin’ My Time
10. Let Yourself Go
11. Don’t Pull Me Over
12. Lover’s Touch
13. High In The Morning
14. Something Good Coming
15. Good Enough
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers Summer Tour (from Billboard):
June 5: Oakland, Calif. (Oracle Pavilion)*
June 8: Vancouver, BC (GM Place)*
June 11: Seattle, Wash. (The Gorge)*
June 12: Seattle, Wash. (The Gorge)*
June 15: Calgary, Alberta (Pengrowth Saddledome)*
June 16: Edmonton, Alberta (Rexall Place)*
June 19: Winnipeg, Manitoba (MTS Centre)*
June 22: St Paul, Minn. (Xcel Energy Center)**
June 23: Omaha, Neb. (Qwest Center)**
June 25: Milwaukee, Wis. (Summerfest)***
July 10: Indianapolis, Ind. (Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre)**
July 13: Kansas City, Mo. (Sprint Center)**
July 15: Cincinnati, Ohio (Riverbend Music Center)**
July 17: Chicago, Ill. (United Center)**
July 20: Cleveland, Ohio (Blossom Music Center)**
July 22: Detroit, Mich. (Palace of Auburn Hills)**
July 24: Pittsburgh, Pa. (First Niagra Pavilion)**
July 28: New York, N.Y. (Madison Square Garden) $
July 31: Philadelphia, Pa. (Wachovia Center) $
Aug. 1: Philadelphia, Pa. (Wachovia Center) $
Aug. 11: Atlanta, Ga. (Philips Arena)****
Aug. 12: Nashville, Tenn. (Sommet Center)****
Aug. 14: Darien Lake, N.Y. (Darien Lake Performing Arts Center)****
Aug. 15: Bristow, Va. (Jiffy Lube Live)****
Aug. 17: Hartford, Conn. (Comcast Theater)****
Aug. 19: Boston, Mass. (Comcast Center)*****
Aug. 21: Boston, Mass. (Comcast Center)*****
Aug. 24: East Rutherford, N.J. (IZOD Center)*****
Aug. 25: Toronto, Ontario (Air Canada Center)****
Aug. 27: Saratoga Springs, N.Y. (Saratoga Performing Arts Center)****
Sept. 16: Tampa, Fla. (St. Petersburg Times Forum)
Sept. 18: Raleigh, N.C. (Time Warner Cable Pavilion)
Sept. 19: Charlotte, N.C. (Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre)
Sept. 21: Dallas, Texas (Superpages.com Center)
Sept. 24: Houston, Texas (Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion)
Sept. 26: Phoenix, Ariz. (US Airways Arena)
Sept. 28: San Diego, Calif. (Cricket Wireless Pavilion)
Oct. 1: Los Angeles, Calif. (Hollywood Bowl)
Oct. 2: Irvine, Calif. (Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre)
* with Joe Cocker
** with Drive-by Truckers
*** with ZZ Top $ with Buddy Guy
**** with Crosby, Stills & Nash
***** with My Morning Jacket
As posted earlier here, Cracker has been working on a new album– their last studio album Greenland was released in 2006. The album titled Sunrise in the Land of Milk and Honey will be released on May 5th, 2009 on a new label 429 Records. 429 Records is “a unit of the Savoy Label Group (SLG). SLG is the North American unit of CME (Columbia Music Entertainment), the oldest music company in Japan.” According to Wikipedia, CME is not affiliated with SonyBMG, who own the U.S. label Columbia Records. I guess that is why this company operates as Savoy Label Group in the U.S. Either way, I’m sure Cracker got a better deal than they ended up with at Virgin.
According to the Press Release the first single will be “Turn On, Tune In Drop Out With Me” which will be added to whatever radio plays Cracker on April 7th. “Turn On” has been getting a workout on the road lately, and it is a pretty spirited rocker like the other tracks seem to be on the record, which was produced by one-time Sugar member David Barbe, which seems like a copasetic partnership. Other noted musicians joined the fold for Sunrise. In addition to Barbe’s production, Patterson Hood from Drive-By Truckers (who was also produced by Barbe) lends a hand on long-time live favorite “Friends” as well as Adam Duritz of the Counting Crows on “Darling One” and John Doe from X on “We All Shine A Light.”
Here is the tracklisting with links to archive.org when a song has been played:
Anna Laube is a singer-songwriter in the folk-tinged Americana vein from San Francisco via Iowa City and Madison. She lists her influences on her MySpace Page as being Lucinda, Emmylou, Ani, and Joni Mitchell in addition to Iowa City artists Bo Ramsey and Dave Zollo. She certainly delivers all of this in her debut 2006 release Outta My Head. Anna’s lazy and seemingly effortless delivery floats beautifully over spare instrumentation placing the listener with the band on the couch in the various livingrooms in the Bay area where the album was recorded.
Anna is coming back to her childhood home of Iowa City to play two shows at the Downtown Iowa City Java House location (211 1/2 East Washington Street) on Friday, January 2nd in support of her upcoming album Pool All The Love * Pool All The Knowledge. The first show will be at Noon as part of the very cool “Java Blend” show with Ben Kieffer recorded live and aired later on Iowa Public Radio. It’s also usually video taped for airing on UITV. The second show on Friday is part of the Java House’s regular Friday Night Music series at 8 PM. Both shows are free to the public, and would be a great way to kick off the new year.
Anna sent me three tracks from Pool All The Love. And, based on those songs, and I would agree with her statement on her site that Pool All The Love picks up where Outta My Head left off. There is a song that I feel is a bit of a departure and that is the very percussive and slinky– almost ska “Hippie Boyfriend.” “Hippie Boyfriend” is funny and light song that I could see crowds of women singing along with at Anna’s shows! Anna graciously let me host “Hippie Boyfriend” here at playbsides, so download it!
Both shows Friday night are free, so if you’re in town, why not stop in? Unless I’m hung over or the weather is bad, I’m planning to hit a show.
Click Here to download “Hippie Boyfriend” from Anna Laube’s upcoming album Pool All The Love * Pool All The Knowledge
The UM camp released some more information about Mantis recently including a large version of the album artwork, the track listing, another track from the radio promo and some nifty wallpapers. From The Floor blog, we get the radio edit of “Spires” as well. Notably, the “Made to Measure” that the band made available to everyone who signed up for a UMLive account is the full version of the track at 3:12. If you want to hear “Preamble” it is the first song played in the player on the Mantis mini-site.
Here is the tracklisting for Mantis:
1. Made to Measure 3:12
2. Preamble 0:36
3. Mantis 11:49
4. Cemetery Walk 7:30
5. Cemetery Walk II 2:19
6. Turn & Run 7:25
7. Spires 7:41
8. Prophecy Now 2:47
9. Red Tape 5:43
10. 1348 4:49
Total Running Time : 54:04
In case anyone was worried that Mantis was going to be some exploration in radio-friendly pop music based on “Made to Measure,” check out the track times. There are four songs over seven minutes, and one song clocks in at 11:49! So, while this may be an album representing a change in the band, they aren’t eschewing extended workouts from their catalog.
Since I’m watching the developments on the new Umphrey’s McGee album closely, ya’ll get to benefit by getting updates. It seems that January 20th is a long way off, so the UM camp has figured out that they are going to need to keep the fire going by throwing out little tastes of the album and bonus goodies to the fans.
Yesterday it was announced that the monster Chicago FM station XRT would be playing the first track from Mantis– “Made to Measure” as part of their new music Thursday today.
Additionally, a one-minute audio “teaser” was posted to The Floor today (the band’s blog). It has snippets of a couple of songs in it. Click Here to listen.
And, if that wasn’t enough– everyone who has pre-ordered Mantis will be given instructions on Friday on how to download an mp3 of “Made to Measure” for free!
Joey and John visited the KXCI studios on Friday, May 23rd to perform songs, talk about their new album and to promote the benefit show they played Friday night at the Rialto in Tucson to send Mariachi Aztlan de Pueblo High School to Washington DC for the National Independence Day Parade.
During Friday’s Home Stretch show hosted by Kristi Lloyd which I heard thanks to a fan on the Calexico Yahoo group who snagged the Internet feed of that show it was announced that the new album is finished and will be called Carried to Dust and will be released September 9th in the U.S.
Calexico played three songs (I think) but I only heard two of them. The first song was new and they didn’t announce a title for it, but it was a slower song with a road or driving theme, and they played another new waltzy song titled “The News About William” played on acoustic guitar and brushes on drums. No earth-shattering change in direction in my opinion, but more strong music in the familiar Calexico vein.
The tour dates are filling in for Calexico this summer and it looks like they might be holding most of the U.S. dates until after the album release. There are three dates, though, Detroit on 7/5, The Newport Folk Festival in Newport, RI, and the World Music Festival in Chicago on 9/25. The World Music Festival will be a free one, so I might consider making a long weekend in Chicago for that one.
Can you feel it? Even through the massively cold weather the prospect of a new Lyrics Born album turns my mind to Spring and Summer. Monday night Lyrics Born’s first single from his new album Everywhere At Once out April 22nd on his new home Anti- was debuted on Bay radio station Live105.
The song “I Like It, I Love It” is an instant trunk-thumping classic. 80′s style analog synths, and 808 claps and popping distorted bass guitars drive a great dance groove and a chorus that sticks in your head. “Every time that I get up on the microphone I’ve gotta dedicate a rhyme to you, girl…” The girl, of course is his wife Joyo and he certainly does! Her new album Love and Understanding is in the can at long last and ready for its release due on Quannum this summer. That should guarantee an amazing tour headlining together!
The digital single will be released on iTunes and Amazon on February 19th. For now, you can listen to the song on Lyrics Born’s MySpace page player and on his website at lyricsborn.com.
I’m pretty excited about this song and album– I feel like it is going to blow up!
Go listen to it here:
Lyrics Born’s website (it’s the nifty cassette in the middle of the page. Requires Flash)
Lyrics Born’s MySpace page while you’re there you can see I’m credited with a picture from the last tour!
Last weekend my wife Sherry and I were in the Twin Cities for a wedding. On Sunday we visited the Sculpture Garden and hit The Wedge in Uptown, which is our favorite grocery store in the Cities and is only a couple of blocks from my wife’s sister. My wife and I have some food allergies and sensitivities so we buy foods that aren’t always readily available in regular stores.
So, we racked up a pretty sizable bill for what should have been a quick run. The checkout person suggested that we join the Co-Op by buying a share as we would get a discount on this purchase as well as future ones. We are going to be back up here at least two more times this summer and thought it might be nice to not need to pack a bag with just food. So, we joined. While we were talking to a guy in customer service it came up that we were from Cedar Rapids/Iowa City. He said that he was from Iowa City, too! It turned out that our customer service guy was Benson Ramsey from the Pines! He remembered me from the Bo Ramsey show in Dubuque where I gave him a copy of the KUNI radio show from last year. Benson said that Dave Huckfelt also works at the Wedge
We talked for a bit and he said that the new Pines release Sparrows in the Bell on Red House Records– home of other Iowa folksters Greg Brown and Dave Moore– would be June 12th. There are three record release performances: a “Live from Studio One” on KUNI on June 4th, Thursday, June 7th at the Cedar Cultural Center in Minneapolis (where I’m seeing Tortoise at the end of June), and Friday, June 8th at the Mill in Iowa City. They will be playing the Busted Lift in Dubuque on the 9th as well. We said that we’d try to make the Mill show, which is a great place to see a low-key performance like the Pines. Benson said that they’d have a full band for those shows.
Per a blog entry from Lindsey Buckingham’s MySpace page, he will be appearing on WXPN’sWorld Cafe with David Dye on October 26th. Thankfully, World Cafe is syndicated by most of the good Public Radio Stations, including Eastern Iowa’s KUNI. If you don’t get it, there will be a live feed from the website at 2PM Eastern on the 26th.
As posted earlier here, 
The UM camp 
on 
Recent Comments