Monday Morning Newsletter (06/09/08)

The proggy-as-fuck Russian Circles added two weeks to their tour schedule with Coheed And Cambria and Secret Machines. Their hometown of Chicago has begun to show signs of withdraw.

The legendary music icon Bo Diddley has died. He’d had a stroke in May last year, then a heart attack three months later. He died at home in Archer, Florida; he was 79. His real name was Ellas Otha Bates born in McComb, MS. He may be the only person for whom a beat is named. The bio-diddly beat. Even Jose cannot speak ill of the man.

Sparks performed all 21 of their albums in their entirety in a month-long stretch of shows in London. They played one album per night at the Islington Academy, and on the 21st night debuted their 21st album. That's approximately 250 songs. Of course if the band had any stamina they could have performed double albums in half the time.

The Raveonettes have announced a string of US and European tour dates. Sadly guitarist Sharin Foo was not permitted to enter Europe because of her association with U.S. White House advisor Henry Kissinger. Her sister Sune Rose Wagner will be taking taker her place.

Oneida is releasing their ninth full-length album, Preteen Weaponry, on August 5th. This will not be on their long-time label Jagjaguwar, but on their own vanity label, Brah Records, which Jagjaguwar distributes. Yeah that’s way different. Preteen is wholly instrumental. They are resting their voices for their 10th album due out in 2009.

Car manufacturer Toyota has been releasing a string of sampler CDs co-branded with their Scion series. In a desperate attempt to embrace the indie and trendy, labels like Daptone, Vice and Iheartcomix were all courted. This strange capitalist dance has culminated recently with the two-disc, party-packed Scion Sampler Volume 21: IHEARTCOMIX Remixed. I don’t know whether to yawn or puke.

The innovative and legal peer-to-peer download site QTrax is a step closer to a real launch. They inked a deal with EMI Music this week ensuring the ad-supported music service has access to their catalog. EMI is the second major label to cave in after Universal Music signed last month. Qtrax was supposed to launch in January but well... denial is a powerful force.