Everyone knows about South By Southwest, or SXSW for you shorthanders, as the Spring Break of the music industry. But what do we do in the summer, us industry folk? Head to the Great White North, of course, to attend North by Northeast, or cleverly known better yet as NXNE.
This year's fest will no doubt be fun, as we touch down in Toronto for some music and lord knows what else from June 12th through the 15th. And who is participating, you ask? Well to name just a few, there is These New Puritans, Ok City Ok, We Are Balboa, Birds of Wales, and Last Days of April. And that's only the beginning. Make sure to head over to their site for the entire festival line up and to grab some tickets.
You have your SXSW hangover and St. Patty's Day hangover, and the only cure for that is Jose Fritz's Monday Morning Newsletter.
Lou Pearlman, the NAMBLA member and former manager of Backstreet Boys and 'N Sync, pleaded guilty to federal charges of money laundering and lying at his bankruptcy hearing. The guilty plea was the end to a federal probe that Pearlman stole over $300 million dollars from banks and investors.
Somebody knocked up Elvis Presley's only child, Lisa Marie Presley. The father is probably Michael Lockwood but might also be one of those Aliens that Elvis used to hang with. Where is world weekly news when you need them?
Scott Weiland has pleaded not guilty to driving under the influence of drugs when he crashed his car in November. Weiland had been arrested on November 21, 2007 after crashing his car on a California highway. In a lengthy statement given by his lawyer he claimed “I did not know that Keith Richard’s dad’s ashes contained actual drugs when I smoked them.”
Announced just this week, the prog-rock impresario band Yes is going to be back on tour. Original members Jon Anderson, Steve Howe, Chris Squire, and Alan White are booking a world tour. This will be their seventeenth reunion tour but the first one in 3 whole years.
The band Guystorm continues to not to exist despite two shows in their imagined hometown of Minneapolis and a gig at WEfest scheduled for May 25th. (Note to all who may think they are real and not figments please check for expired medications in your bathroom cabinets. In the case of accidental ingestion call the Poison control center.)
Inexplicably in the middle of SXSW Rachel Ray held a music showcase. The Beauty Bar will never live down the shame of letting Rachel Ray cater a show in the middle of BBQ country let along host one. The Cringe led by her hubby John Cusimano headlined. He was quoted as saying “Don’t look at me man, I can’t stop her.”
This week Merge Records joined the throngs of indie labels offering digital downloads. They now offer a selection of sides from their current and back catalog in both MP3 and FLAC formats. Label president Mac McCaughan said “Digital downloads are the new black, suing people over a download is so passé.”
SXSW wraps up this week leaving a legion of indie snobs, scensters, hipsters, and music fans bloated, sleep deprived and hung over. Stranded in Stereo Head Editor Dany Sloan was on scene to catch the countrified festivities. After 96 hours of straight rocking Dany was quoted as saying “mmm Frito pie.”
Prostitute Ashley Alexandra Dupre, now famous for banging Governor Spitzer at an hourly rate of over $1000 is now rumored to be signing to Koch records. Her self-released singles "What We Want" and "Move ya Body" have already made it into rotation on the New York pop station WHTZ. PD Sharon Dastur said “even I’d hit that.”
Your friends here at Stranded In Stereo will be co-sponsoring a party with our friends at the Team Grizzly label on Saturday, March 15th. The party will be going down at the Pangaea Patio located at 27th & Guadalupe. It might not be on 6th Street, but by the time Saturday rolls around, you could probably use a nice trek to walk off all the beer and BBQ you will consume.
About a year ago when the ole SiS blog was started, and we brought in that Band of the Week feature, one of the first bands to grace the sidebar was Kansas City's The Republic Tigers. In the last year, I think it's safe to say that things have worked in the band's favor: they've recently signed on to be the flagship artist of Chop Shop Records, have released their four-song EP, and now have readied their debut full length, Keep Color, due May 6th.
The quintet, fronted by ex-Golden Republic (oh how I miss them, sniffle) guitarist/keyboard player Kenn Jankowski, the band fuse together elements of folk, psychedelia, and symphonic electronic pop that adds up to equal only one thing: catchy catchy good music. Of the dozens songs that make up Color, several of them were featured over the last year on their MySpace page and they've had me eagerly anticipating their debut, especially "Made Concrete."
The band will finally leave the confines of the state of Missouri to premiere their new material at SXSW, and will hit the road later this year to support Color. Make sure to check out their MySpace page where you can stream their EP and learn more about one of the bands you soon will be reading about everywhere.
Because you need to hear "Made Concrete":
Keep Color: 01 Buildings & Mountains 02 Golden Sand 03 Feelin' The Future 04 Weatherbeaten 05 Air Guitar 06 The Nerve 07 Contortionists 08 Fight Song 09 Made Concrete 10 Give Arm To Its Socket 11 Stranger To The Eyes Of A Child-Man 12 Cast On, Cast Off
SXSW Appearances: Mar 13 Cedar Street Courtyard, Filter Party (12:45pm) Mar 13 The PureVolume Ranch, PureVolume Party (7:00pm) Mar 15 Chop Shop Records / Atlantic Records Party (4:45pm)
While you're all talking about last night's Grammys or how the Writer's Strike is finally coming to an end, Jose Fritz brings you the real news highlights in our Monday Morning Newsletter.
The Muggabears are immigrating to Denton, Texas this spring with stops in Nashville, Chicago and Philly. Texas governor Rick Perry has stated that they will immediately be deported to their country of origin unless they are willing to help pick lettuce.
Pilot to Gunner reports that they will be recording a new album this march at the Magpie Cage in Baltimore. Expect a release out on Arena Rock in the fall.
Neptune has welded their instruments back into working order and head out on tour this week. They will strike fear in to the hearts of evil men, good men, innocent women small children and everyone except a few old dogs and that deaf janitor in Topeka.
Haunting Oboe Music is on schedule to release on EP per month in 2008. If you recall they were diagnosed with ADD back in September of 2007 and after selling their Ritalin to University of Texas grad students they lacked the focus to complete another full length release.
The dirty old men of Beatcircus, have scheduled album release parties in New York and Boston at The Knitting Factory and The Middle East Café. The new album Dreamland comes out on Cuniform records. O’Death and Humanwivne open, leaving the possibility Beatcircus will be upstaged by Holly Brewer’s revolting tattoos.
Andy from the band Empty Rooms has finished duct-taping his digits back in place following a terrible motorcycle accident in January. Their new EP Lacuna is out and they are playing a few dates in California this March.
Dillinger Escape Plan played the Conan O’Brien show last week creating a completely annoying viral video that completely documents their degenerative transformation into a Faith No more cover band. Check out the performance here.
Hemmingway has recorded and is releasing a series of EPs on Broken Press. Unhappy with their difficult to follow brand of noise rock, they’ve recruited Japanese author/poet Kenji Siratori to ensure the lyrics are incomprehensible as well. To end any question of anyone ever listening to them ever again the last of these EPs will be released only as an Edison cylinders and piano roll box set import-only from Luxembourg.
SXSW has released a massive list of artists playing the March 12-16th festival. The line up includes Peter & the Wolf, the Black Angels, Alina Simone, Dalek, Le Sac vs Pip, Devotchka, Eastern Conference Champions, Tommy Guerrero, The Octopus Project, and hundreds more.
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Everyone knows about South By Southwest, or SXSW for you shorthanders, as the Spring Break of the music industry. But what do we do in the summer, us industry folk? Head to the Great White North, of course, to attend North by Northeast, or cleverly known better yet as NXNE.
