Monday Morning Newsletter (4-13-09)

In an open letter PETA has asked the Pet Shop Boys to rename themselves the Rescue Shelter Boys. The looney civic group defended the letter, explaining that "most dogs and cats sold in pet shops are sourced from profit-hungry breeders who may have bred them in cramped, filthy conditions." The Pet shop Boys politely rebuffed them.

This April 17th ShadyVille Dj's King Magnetic is hosting a release party for his album The King and The Cauze at the sterling Hotel Allentown. It’s hard to be a rapper in coal country. It's already available as a free download here.

The Beatles are releasing a complete remastered catalog on September 9th. It’s the same day as The Beatles: Rock Band video game will be out. A digital realize is still being held up by Steve Jobs. It’s that ongoing argument between Apple Inc. and Apple Corp. damn you Steve Jobs!

Slightly less climactic is Beck’s decision to reissue his 1994 album One Foot in the Grave. The double disc release is planned for April 14th. In addition to the original 16 tracks, the second disc includes 13 unreleased tracks.

Anticon has made theFREEhoudini , a free uber-mix available as a free download. The 39-minute-long mix features appearances from Buck 65, Aesop Rock, Busdriver, Lionesque, Slug of Atmosphere, D-Styles, DJ Baku, Pedestrian, Sole, Serengeti, and Yoni Wolf and Odd Nosdam as cLOUDDEAD

Ferret Music has signed Revolution Mother. The Long beach California locals are now planning their second release "Rollin' With Tha Mutha" for a July 07th debut. Warning to liquor stores: stock up on Yeager.

Hell has frozen over and Ted Nugent is reuniting his old acid rock band The Amboy Dukes. April 17 The Amboy Dukes are receiving a Distinguished Achievement Award at the annual Detroit Music Awards. The groups appearance at the show will be their first since 1968. Nugent has described the Dukes as "the world's greatest garage band.” Which regardless of his ego... is somewhat accurate.

Billy Bob Thornton has canceled his band’s Canadian tour. It all goes back to Billy Bob’s CBC interview. The irritable actor compared Canadian fans to mashed potatoes without gravy. Despite the bland insult Canucks revolted. At a post-interview show in Toronto Thursday the band was soundly booed.

Rapper Kanye West appears in the news twice this week: Once for expanding his brand with a new sports beverage, and once for being parodied as a homosexual fish on South Park. West will soon have his own energy drink through GURU Beverages. The money will be spent on therapy to get over that whole gay fish cartoon thing.

Monday Morning Newsletter (06/23/08)

Beck will release a new album on July 8th. Modern Guilt will be his first release on DGC since 2006. Producer Brian "Danger Mouse" Burton described the LP as a melding of hip-hop and punk folk like everyrthing else Beck every did. To Support the record Beck has already scheduled dates in the US and Europe.

This week Ted Nugent sold off a large share of his wild game trophies. The iconic guitarist is a well-known hunter and gun nut. What was not well known was that the Nuge had bagged a rhinoceros and a zebra both of which are for sale. The Nugent family is selling off the trophies to simplify a move to a more remote compound a little closer to scenic Waco, Texas. For the record Jose preferred his material with the Amboy Dukes.

Volcom Records will be releasing Totomoshi's new album, Milagrosa, July 8th. The Frisco-based metal act will be touring nationally in support of the album. For the record, Totimoshi was intended to be gibberish but in the Chinese language Hakka, the word means a constipation. This is only the second record on Volcom Jose has cared about in 8 years.

I know I promised not to write about Amy Winehouse but this is just classic. After smoking more crack than Richard Pryor, Winehouse has ruined her lungs. Her father, Mitch Winehouse, has stated that Amy has early stage emphysema and will have to wear an oxygen mask unless she gives up the crack pipe. At least she didn’t set herself on fire.

The experimental and existential band Negativland is releasing a new album, Thigmotactic, July 15th. Since the 1970s, Negativland has showered us in a series of self-indulgent, loops, cut-and-paste tributes to Dadaism and self-debasement. So Jose was surprised when he heard that Thigmotactic included actual songs. Mark Hosler, a founding member of Negativland, apparently was tired of banging on pots and pans.

The new Guns & Roses album leaked this week. Gag. Jose laughs every time that he sees that YouTube video of Axl getting pegged in the nards with a water bottle. Normally Jose will not approve of a crotch shot, but Axl is an exception.

Slipknot, the biggest band in Iowa is releasing their fourth opus All Hope Is Gone. The work is slated for an August release. The band previewed the album for 24 hours on their website this week. Already naughty bloggers have leaked the unmastered versions of the songs. Nine guys in red jumpsuits: if they weren’t wearing masks I’d think they were a pit crew.

The hip-hop duo Dalek has founded a new record label, Deadverse Recordings. They already have albums by Oddateee, and Laura Minor. In the near-term, Dalek plan to stay with Ipecac Records, but in the future, there is no telling what success will do to them.