Paste Magazine is reporting that Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs (of The Bangles) are working on a second covers album. In 2006, Sweet and Hoffs released “Under the Covers, Vol.1,” a collection of ’60s classics. Sweet also discusses his latest solo outing, “Sunshine Lies,” which was released Aug. 26. For the complete interview, see Paste’s Web site.
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Rilo Kiley’s frontwoman, Jenny Lewis, in set to release her latest effort “Acid Tongues” on Sept. 23 off Warner Bros. Records. The album features guest performances from Elvis Costello, Zooey Deschanel and the Black Crows’ Chris Robinson. For more on “Acid Tongues,” check out Reuters’ Web site.
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“After rampant speculation, Matador Records can confirm the label will be releasing a new studio album from Sonic Youth sometime in 2009. Having fulfilled their contractual obligations to the Universal Music Group, Sonic Youth recently reached an agreement with Matador to release the band’s 16th album of new material in all worldwide territories, save for Japan.
While Sonic Youth’s status as one of the more innovative and influential bands of the past 30 years needs little explanation, the group’s most recent recordings for Geffen — 2006’s ‘Rather Ripped’ being their final for the label — rank amongst the current decade’s best. For Matador, the opportunity to work in partnership with a group who’ve made such an profound impact on our roster/hometown/collective consciousness was one to jump at. Kim Gordon, Thurston Moore, Lee Ranaldo and Steve Shelley will commence recording the new Sonic Youth LP/CD this autumn and we look forward to sharing further details in the very near future.” - Matador Records press release
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URB publisher Raymond Leon Baker says the Millinenials have to opportunity to define their generation with the Democratic presidential candidate. For the full story, see URB’s Web site.
URB’s Joshua Glazer talks with MySpace founder Tom Anderson to discuss the launch of MySpace Music, a joint venture between the social network and the major labels that takes a 360-deal. For the full story, check out URB’s Web site.
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The Sea and Cake have announced tour dates in support of their eighth full-length studio album, “Car Alarm.” The tour begins in November. For a complete list of stops, check out Thrill Jockey’s Web site. “Car Alarm” will be released Oct. 21.
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XLR8R has a short feature on several notable releases coming this fall from the Brazilian music scene. I checked some of the artists and albums that they recommended, and I have so say it would be worth your time sample a few of the tracks.
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By Ben Edmonds/Detroit Free Press
DETROIT — Buffy Sainte-Marie. If you’re a baby boomer, the name surely rings bells. There’s probably a picture attached, circa the early-’60s folk music explosion, of a young American Indian girl with an acoustic guitar and a strange, singular vibrato as she performs protest anthems “Universal Soldier” and “Now That the Buffalo’s Gone.” If you’re a pop scholar, you think of her as the writer of “Until It’s Time for You to Go,” a hit for both Elvis Presley and Neil Diamond, and as coauthor of the 1982 Oscar-winning song “Up Where We Belong.”
In the decades since those pictures were fixed in our consciousness, the Canadian singer and songwriter has developed parallel and equally distinguished careers as a painter, computer artist and programmer, actor (there are those who know her only from her recurring “Sesame Street” role), educator and social activist.
She attributes our incomplete and out-of-date picture to U.S. government pressure resulting from her political activism, particularly regarding American Indian issues. “I was blacklisted, taken away from American audiences in my prime,” she says, “but that didn’t stop me. I had the rest of the world and lots of creative options to explore.”
Jean Grae, “Jeanius” (Blacksmith Records/ Warner Bros.)
By BRETT JOHNSON/The Associated Press
For most indie-rap diehards, pairing producer 9th Wonder (Jay-Z, Erykah Badu) with South African-born, Brooklyn-bred rapper Jean Grae is an ideal match-up. Formerly of underground hip-hop darlings Little Brother, 9th Wonder’s known for subtly textured, retro-sounding beats - looped, dusty soul samples and drum kicks that pop. Meanwhile, Grae’s respected for being among a species of rapper facing extinction - the female MC.
Her immodestly titled disc “Jeanius” fulfills much of the promise of the vaunted collaboration. (An early version of “Jeanius” surfaced as a bootleg in 2004). Grae’s conversational flow is packed with equal amounts boasting and poignant insight. She’s as adept at punchline rapson “2-32’s” she explains: “Impeccable rap flow/ second to that wordplay/ akin to a verb hitting a piñata on the eve of it’s birthday.”
Yet Grae’s also willing to reveal details of a past abortion on the solemn “My Story” and her indie rap struggles on “Don’t Rush Me.” On the latter, she rhymes: “There’s nothing like knowing yourself/ Like the way I know that smoking’s kinda broken my health/ Like the way I know my flow don’t make appropriate wealth.”
By mid-disc, it becomes more evident that mainstream success has eluded Grae in part because her dense, deliberate flow - now over Wonder’s hypnotic, mid-tempo tracks - is strictly headphone music. Her songs require close listening to be fully appreciated. But that suits a lyricist like Grae, a cult heroine who’s sorely needed in today’s hip-hop world.
CHECK THIS TRACK OUT: On the sultry “Love Thirst” Grae plays a hyper-literate rap coquette, proving she’s not all about b-girl posturing and identity politics.
By Chris Catania/PopMatters.com
“… Side effects might include just being who you really are.”
—Lyric from “Niggy Tardust”
CHICAGO — Saul Williams wants to liberate you.
As an actor, screenwriter, poet, and musician, Williams has been offering you the opportunity for the last 10 years by releasing books of poetry, a feature film, and three albums, including his 2007 effort “The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tardust” — a self-released concept album unveiled in a pay-what-you-like Radiohead-style purchase method via his Web site.
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