Today only you can get "special presentation pack"featuring Clash, Rolling Stones, New Order, Bowie, Pink Floyd, Coldplay, etc.

By Blurt Staff

Britain's Royal Mail today unveiled a range of postage stamps that feature album covers that are "as culturally significant as the music they represent." Most notably, the iconic artwork of The Clash's London Calling appears alongside nine other classic covers.

The album sleeve has been the canvas for some of the most imaginative artists in the world,' said Royal Mail's Julietta Edgar.

The titles:

Pink Floyd - Division Bell

Clash - London Calling

Coldplay - A Rush of Blood to the Head

Blur - Parklife

New Order - Power, Corruption and Lies

Rolling Stones - Beggar's Banquet

Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells

Led Zeppelin - IV

Primal Scream - Screamadelica

David Bowie - Ziggy Stardust

The first class stamps are available to buy from 7th January 2010 and are available to both UK & Non-UK customers. A special presentation pack is available, for today only, including a First Day Cover and a set of stamp cards.

Go here to place your order, collector geeks!

The Latino-rockin' musical polyglots captured in full flight on December 9 at Los Angeles' Nokia Theatre.

By Jose Martinez

Wrapping up its world tour in support of the 2007 release Don't Mess With The Dragon, L.A. favorite sons Ozomatli went out in style with two sold out shows at Nokia Theatre.

Known for its dance-friendly blend of urban-Latino meets hip-hop and salsa, dancehall and cumbia, samba and funk, merengue and comparsa, East L.A. R&B and New Orleans second line, Ozomatli has long followed one key mantra: it will take you around the world by taking you around the City of Angels.

Originally formed to play at local area labor protests 14 years ago, Ozomatli spent some of its early days participating in everything from earthquake prep "hip-hop ghetto plays" at inner-city elementary schools to community activist events, protests, and city fundraisers.

"This band could not have happened anywhere else but L.A.," saxophonist and clarinetist Ulises Bella has said. "Man, the tension of it, the multiculturalism of it. L.A. is like, we're bonded by bridges."

At these Club Nokia shows, Ozomatli brought up past members like rapper Chali 2na, as well as turntablist Cut Chemist, and MC Jabu offering a sense of nostalgia among the good times. Playing a little bit of everything, Ozo delighted its fans that couldn't stop dancing to the band's catchy beats.

Playing in the same location that once sparked a riot during an Ozomatli performance outside the 1999 Democratic National Convention (see related Blurt-online exclusive story), the band even played new songs from its upcoming April release that will mark the band's 15^th anniversary together as an explosive, dynamic force.

From hometown do-gooders to being named U.S. State Department Cultural Ambassadors, Ozomatli proudly wears its heart on its sleeve and relishes in throwing the ultimate house party. Ending the show by performing in the crowd, as is Ozomatli tradition, they are a band of the people ("raza" as Spanish speakers like to say) and play for the people (or "gente").

With a handful of 2010 California dates scheduled (Jan 22 and 23 in Solana Beach near San Diego, and Feb 4 in Agoura Hills outside L.A., and Feb 6 in San Luis Obispo), lookout for the band's upcoming release this spring followed by another world tour no doubt.

Let the good times roll!

It's a rock opera, but don't expect any deaf, dumb and blind pinball players...

By Blurt Staff

The Knife, in collaboration with Mt. Sims and Planningtorock, are to release the studio version of the opera ‘Tomorrow, In A Year', will be in stores March 9. The album will be released on digital download sites February 2, 2010.

Commissioned by Danish performance group Hotel Pro Forma to write the music for their opera based on Charles Darwin and his book ‘On the Origin of the Species', The Knife decided to make this a collaborative process, working with artists Mt. Sims and Planningtorock for the first time, to capture the huge width of the Darwin and evolution theme. They extensively researched Darwin related literature and articles, with Olof attending a field recording workshop in the Amazon to find inspiration and to record sounds.

‘Tomorrow, In A Year' is a unique musical project. Richard Dawkins' gene trees have formed the basis of some of the musical composition, artificial sounds have been mixed with field recordings, with the music inspired by everything from the different stages of a bird learning its melody, to a song based on Darwin's loving letters about his daughter Anne. These are compositions that challenge the conventional conception of opera music.

Pushing the experimental process further still, composer, choreographer, costume designer and set designer worked separately, only coming together 3 and a half months before the first performance of ‘Tomorrow, In A Year' in Copenhagen on the 2nd September 2009. Described as "shifting the position of operartic art in a single leap", further performances of ‘Tomorrow, In A Year' are confirmed to take place in Athens (8-9 Jan), Stockholm (29 Jan-1 Feb), and Munster (5 June), with further dates to be announced.

Olof Dreijer says: "At first it was very difficult as we really didn't know anything about opera.  We'd never been to one. I didn't even know what the word libretto meant. But after some studying, and just getting used to opera's essence of pretentious and dramatic gestures, I found that there is a lot to learn and play with. In fact, our ignorance gave us a positive respectless approach to making opera. It took me about a year to become emotionally moved by an opera singer and now I really do. I really like the basic theatrical values of opera and the easy way it brings forward a narrative. We've approached this before in The Knife but never in such a clear way."


Tracklist:

CD 1
01. Intro
02. Epochs
03. Geology
04. Upheaved
05. Minerals
06. Ebb Tide Explorer
07. Variation of Birds
08. Letter to Henslow
09. Schoal Swarm Orchestra

CD 2
01. Annie's Box
02. Tumult
03. Colouring of Pigeons
04. Seeds
05. Tomorrow in a Year
06. The Height of Summer

Bonus track
07. Annie's Box (alt. vocal)

Kate Bush, Dwight Twilley, Go-Betweens, Bill Fox, Mecromina, Depeche Mode, Soft Pack, Arthur Russell and... the Moody Blues?!? But what about CSN?

By Blurt Staff

Nada Surf bring their trademark sense of harmony and musical craftsmanship to 12 of their favorite songs with their latest release, if i had a hi-fi, their first album of covers. Only a group with their wide-ranging and eclectic taste could bring songs from such artists as Kate Bush, Dwight Twilley and the Go-Betweens together into a coherent, intelligent record. hi-fi also includes some intriguingly obscure numbers like Spanish band Mecromina's "Evolution" and Bill Fox's power-pop "Electrocution."

Although a great deal of thought went into the song selections, the band's intent is not to make an overarching musical statement. Singer-guitarist Matthew Caws says, "We really just wanted to do it organically, whatever we felt like covering in the moment, rather than trying to sum up our influences or something. It's whatever we were excited about in the months before making it. And I think we got to everything we wanted to." The result is both inspired and casual, like a conversation with a friend who shares your taste but also pushes your musical boundaries. A vintage Moody Blues tune, the proto-prog tempo-shifting "Question," shares space with The Soft Pack's blissfully rudimentary "Bright Side," Depeche Mode's grand "Enjoy the Silence," and experimental music icon Arthur Russell's terse but sweet "Janine."

Although the band had just returned from a worldwide tour in support of their 2008 release Lucky, and had looked forward to some time off, if i had a hi-fi mysteriously reenergized them. "The material came together spontaneously," says Caws. "We'd get together and kick ideas around and soon we had an A list, a B list, a C list.... ."  They're particularly proud of the title, which is both a callback to the musical platform of their youth and a palindrome.

if i had a hi-fi was recorded over three weeks in September at Resonate Studios in Austin, TX with long-time collaborator and part-time keyboardist Louie Lino. Fans who attend shows during the spring tour will be able to get their hands on the record before it's in stores, offering true believers the opportunity for a double-first: hearing the songs for the first time and being able to take them home.

The tour begins March 25th with three "Album Shows" in NYC. On consecutive nights, Nada Surf will perform their three most recent albums: Let Go, The Weight Is A Gift, and Lucky in full, along with songs from if i had a hi-fi, fan favorites and b-sides. The band will then continue on to cover both the East and West coasts.

There is a Fan pre-sale for most US shows on Wednesday, January 6^th at 10 am Local Time at http://nadasurf.musictoday.com

Tour Dates:

MARCH

25 - New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom ("Let Go")

26 - Brooklyn, NY - Bell House ("The Weight is a Gift")

27 - Brooklyn, NY - Music Hall of Williamsburg ("Lucky")

29 - Toronto, ON - Lee's Palace

30 - Montreal, QC - Cabaret du Musee Juste Pour

31 - Northampton, MA - Pearl Street

APRIL

01 - Philadelphia, PA - First Unitarian Church

02 - Washington, DC - 9:30 Club

03 - Boston, MA - Paradise Rock Club

13 - London, UK - ICA

15 - France - Printemps de Bourges Festival

17 - France - Strasbourg Artefact Festival

18 - Utrecht, Holland - Tivoli De Helling

19 - Brussels, Belgium - Botanique

20 - Cologne, Germany - Gloria

21 - Lausanne, Switzerland - D! Club

23 - Zurich, Switzerland - Abart

24 - Vienna, Austria - WUK

25 - Prague, Czech Republic - Lucerna Music Bar

26 - Berlin, Germany - Lido

27 - Hamburg, Germany - Knust

28 - Paris, France - Trabendo

29 - Madrid, Spain - Joy Eslava

30 - Murcia, Spain - Estrella Levante SOS 4.8 Festival

MAY

01 - Galicia, Spain - Villagarcia de arosa

15 - Longirod, Switzerland - Long'l'rock Festival

24 - Solana Beach, CA - Belly Up Tavern

25 - West Hollywood, CA - Troubadour

27 - San Francisco, CA - Great American Music Hall

29 - Portland, OR - Wonder Ballroom

Members of the Stooges (but no Iggy), Jane's Addiction, Red Hot Chili Peppers and others will be part of the closing jam session.

By Blurt Staff

To commemorate the one-year anniversary of Ron Asheton's passing, friends, family and fans will gather on Wednesday, January 13 at The Roxy Theatre in Los Angeles for the 'Jam For Ron Asheton-A Tribute to the Late Guitarist of The Stooges.'

 Organized by Leanna Asheton, Ron's 18 year-old niece, the evening will feature performances by Clem Burke, Derek Stanton, Circus Boy and Night Horse.  A massive jam session with Scott Asheton, Mike Watt and Steve Mackay of The Stooges, Stephen Perkins (Jane's Addiction), Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers), Jesse Hughes (Eagles of Death Metal) and others will close out the night.

 Tickets for the 'Jam For Ron Asheton' now are available for $20.00 via The Roxy box office or at www.theroxyonsunset.com.  As Ron Asheton was an avid animal lover, proceeds from the evening will go to the Los Angeles Animal Welfare Trust Fund.

Read BLURT's tribute to Ron Asheton, "Making the Marshall Stack Swear," here.

 [Photo Credit: Robert Matheu]

Legendary Hi Records producer oversaw the cream of Memphis soul and many more.

By Fred Mills

It's not just Memphis music buffs who are mourning the news of producer Willie Mitchell's death - the man had a hand in so many classic recordings, you could say he was part of our collective musical DNA.

Or as Bob Mehr of the Memphis Commercial-Appeal writes in his Mitchell obituary today:

They called him "Poppa." In the end, he was exactly that: patriarch to an extended family of musicians, big daddy to a large brood of blood kin and progenitor of a soul sound known the world over.

Mitchell passed away yesterday, January 5, at the age of 81, at Methodist University Hospital in Memphis. In September he'd broken his hip, and then last month he'd also gone into cardiac arrest.

Mitchell had held musical court a Memphis' Royal Studios and, of course, Hi Records, which released Mitchell-produced records by Al Green, Syl Johnson, Ann Peebles and many others. The award-winning producer also worked with Green in 2003 and 2005 when Green made a critically acclaimed comeback with I Can't Stop and Everything's OK.

Over the years he also worked with rock artists including Rod Stewart, Keith Richards, Boz Scaggs and John Mayer.

Read Mehr's full appreciation and career overview of Mitchell here.

Just in time for you to spend the last of that dough you got for Christmas...

By Fred Mills

Hey kids, tired of buying those favorite albums of yours a third, fourth and in some instances a fifth time when an expanded "deluxe edition" is released containing all the shit you already own plus bonus material and/or an extra disc (or two) containing shit the record label wants to convince you that you need to own?

UMe has a deal for YOU!

The Universal Music Group, along with several of its imprints including Motown, A&M, Island and Geffen, is releasing today, January 5, the somewhat-newly-christened "Rarities Editions" of a slew of much-loved artists that include Diana Ross, Marvin Gaye, Steve Earle, Motorhead, Gin Blossoms and Weezer.

What, you ask, are these, and do you need to fork over the $11 to $14 per disc it'll take to own them? Well, for starters, you may already own them: if for example you snapped up Steve Earle's Copperhead Road: Deluxe Edition in 2008, the one that contained a second disc of songs not on the original 1988 album, then you don't need Rarities Edition, as it comprises, specifically, Disc 2 of Deluxe Edition. But if you didn't buy that, and you already have Copperhead Road proper, then this disc's for you, bubba!

Likewise with the Gin Blossoms' New Miserable Experience, Weezer's Weezer (aka The Blue Album), Eric B. & Rakim's Paid In Full, Marvin Gaye's What's Going On, Howlin' Wolf's The London Howlin' Wolf Sessions, Rick James' Street Songs, Lynyrd Skynyrd's Street Survivors, Diana Ross' Diana and Motorhead's Ace of Spades.

Those first 10 installments in the series will presumably be followed by many more (Bob Marley and Saint Etienne, for example), because who are we kidding here? Labels' back catalogs are what are keeping them afloat these days. And sure, these are retreads, but unless you're an unreconstructed collector you don't even need to consider buying them. For folks who balked at the cost of the two-disc reissues, this will give them a chance to have all the extra content. And while on occasion the bonus material has been of dubious quality and worth, most of the time (such as with the live concert on the second disc of the Earle set) it holds up.

For a look at the 10 titles along with an interesting forum discussion about the UMe series, go to the Imwan.com board.

Stump the chumps, er, the celebrity panel, and win fabulous prizes! Or at least some snog time with Kitty Carlisle...

By Fred Mills

Now THIS is one of those unusual blasts from the past that makes YouTube a true national (international?) treasure - why they can't monetize that sucker fully yet just boggles the mind.

Over the holidays some enterprising blues fanatic tracked down an episode of TV panel show To Tell the Truth, presumably dating to the mid ‘60s, featuring harmonica legend and bandleader Paul Butterfield as the guest. It's worth watching just for the part at the end when Butterfield gets up and jams with the house band, and the video quality is surprisingly good for its vintage.

The main segment, though, is priceless. For those not familiar with To Tell the Truth - Wikipedia entry here - the format involved a four-person celebrity panel attempting to figure out which of the guests is actually who he/she claims to be. That actual "person" is pledged to answer the panel's questions truthfully, but the impostors are allowed to lie through their teeth. In its initial incarnation the show ran on CBS from 1956 to 1968, later going into syndication and ultimately going through a series of revivals as well. For this episode the panel was made up of what a lot of viewers considered to be the "classic" lineup of Orson Bean, Peggy Cass, Kitty Carlisle (hot, very hot), and Tom Poston (yes, that Tom Poston, later of Newhart fame).

Here, Butterfield (as Number One) along with a college student (Number Two) and a salesman (Number Three) attempt to stump the panel; the salesman doesn't really fool anyone, but the four votes get split evenly between Butterfield and the student, and it's a whale of a lot of fun watching the panelists demonstrate varying degrees of knowledge and ignorance of the blues and the then-contemporary music scene.

Through it all, Butterfield has a kind of semi-bemused look on his face. This is a guy, after all, that has played with the likes of Bob Dylan, Muddy Waters, Mike Bloomfield and Howlin' Wolf. You can practically see the thought bubble over his head going, "Please God, don't let Orson, Peggy, Kitty or Tom hit me up for a backstage pass at tonight's show down at the Café Wha?..."

Fairly uninspired mashup of Nirvana and Gaga making the rounds of the Internet. Meanwhile, what about that "Best of Bootie 2009" mashup album?

By Blurt Staff

We're not quite sure why some bloggers are going ga-ga over the recent Nirvana-Lady Gaga mashup. As you can hear below, DJ Lobsterdust hasn't exactly pushed the envelope with his remake/remodel. For starters, why does everyone feel compelled to use "Smells Like Teen Spirit" in their mashups. And GaGa's "Poker Face" isn't exactly the standout track in her oeuvre.

But hey, anytime a DJ can combine those two hot-button names and get the press (like us) to report on it, it's a guaranteed elevated profile, at least for a short while. Check it out, below.

 Meanwhile, the New York Post recently, er, posted its list of the so-called best mashups of '09. In addition to the Nirvana-Gaga track, some of the fave raves were "I Got More Than A Feeling" by Mad Mix Mustang (Boston and the Black Eyed Peas), "Chasing Cars That Way" by Dan Mel & Marc Johnce (Backstreet Boys and Snow Patrol), a positively inspired "My Life on the Crazy Train Sucks," also by Mel and Johnce (listed as Kelly Clarkson vs. Ozzy Osbourne vs. Pink vs. Daft Punk, no less) and several other Gaga entries, including mashups of her with Human League and Journey. The entire list can be found here, and they've even provided a download link so you can get the entire "album" - titled, somewhat alarmingly, "Best of Bootie 2009," free of charge.

Latest pick of cool emerging artist in our ongoing collaboration with Sonicbids.

By Fred Mills

The BLURT staff put our heads (and ears) together and we have the latest (December 2009) pick for our Blurt/Sonicbids "Best Kept Secret": it's Washington, DC-based the Public Good.

The band was formed a couple of years ago by John Elderkin and Steve Ruppenthal, a songwriting team that had previously garnered national acclaim back in the early ‘90s as members of Chapel Hill's The Popes (a big college radio fave). After the demise of that band Ruppenthal and Elderkin worked together in Stumble, followed by the Lovely Lads, eventually going their own separate ways to pursue work and academic careers.

After they both wound up in DC they resumed the partnership and by the summer of 2009 had released their debut album No. 1. The record's stuffed to the gills with hi-nrg pop, from the Husker Du/Replacements-worthy "F-105" and the irrepressibly jangly, Kinksian "(Imagine the Girlfriends I'd Have) If I Still Had Hair" to the chiming/humming, buoyantly harmonious "Cigarette". Suffice to say that the Public Good lives up to, and in many ways surpasses, the early musical promise demonstrated two decades ago by the mighty Popes.

The lineup:

John Elderkin - guitar, vocals

Steve Ruppenthal - bass, vocals

Sam Esquith - guitar, keyboards

Chris Garges - drums

We'll have an interview with the band posted to the site shortly. Check out the band's MySpace page for song samples, tour dates and more, as well as their official website.  And congratulations to the Public Good. They're one of the, ahem, good ‘uns, trust us.

***

Bands, go to www.sonicbids.com/blurtonline to submit and have us review your materials for feature consideration.

>Our November ‘08 Best Kept Secret: The Handcuffs, from Chicago.

>Our December Best Kept Secret: Black Swan Green, from Brooklyn

>Our January Best Kept Secret: stephaniesÄ­d, from Asheville

>Our March Best Kept Secret: Polly Mackey & the Pleasure Principle, from England

>Our June Best Kept Secret: Wiretree, from Austin

>Our August Best Kept Secret: Bulletproof Vests, from Memphis

>Our November Best Kept Secret: The Vivs, from Boston