Eyeing a June 2010 release for their next long-player.

By Zachary Herrmann

Ed. note: Our man in Philly, Zach Herrmann, caught NYC's Walkmen a couple of weeks ago in concert at Philadelphia's Theatre of Living Arts. In addition to being able to check out the combo's recent physical overhaul, he got some of the details on what's coming up for the Walkmen.

The group now tours regularly with a four-piece horn section (one of whom is lead singer Hamilton Leithauser's wife), reflecting the sonic shift and maturation The Walkmen made on last year's seminal release, You & Me.

Also, Walter Martin (bass, originally organist) plays organ on the old songs, though he and Peter Bauer have switched instruments for the most part. It's a subtle change the band made before A Hundred Miles Off, but one that has definitely paid off from You & Me on.

"I don't know how to play piano so it takes a while and it's sort of frustrating because everyone else in the band plays the same instrument and has played it for like 30 years," Bauer said. "So it's fun, but confusing."

According Bauer, they're looking at a June 2010 target date for their next album, which he added is shaping up to be "very quiet... Right now, it is a slow one. And it sort of works that way.

"I think it just sort of depends what the last five songs are. If we could write some big, fast songs, maybe they would fit. Or maybe they would just sound stupid. We don't know yet what the end result will be."

Go here to read Herrman's full concert review of the Walkmen.

Tantalizing tidbit about a forthcoming new Superchunk album, too...

By Fred Mills

"It may be their noise, but it's our - Amerindie, USA- story. Happy birthday to us." Thus writes the BLURT reviewer (in the new issue of the magazine), of the just-published history of Chapel Hill's Merge Records Our Noise (Algonquin Books). The label celebrated its 20^th birthday this year, and to cap what has been a crazy '09 (the multi-night festival, Merge XX, was one of the summer's high points), the book arrived in stores a couple of weeks ago. It's a story of the label and the people behind it, of course, but as our review points out, it's also "a series of snapshots (frequently literally; there are more than 300 images reproduced), that chronicle an entire musical milieu via microcosm, an alternate alt-rock history in which the good guys won and the Matchbox 20s, the Third Eye Blinds and the Limp Bizkits never even happened." Hats off to author John Cook who assembled a superb oral history for the project.

Merge/Superchunk founders Mac McCaughan and Laura Ballance also collaborated with Cook to give the book a definitive stamp of authority, and since its publication the pair has been doing a series of book signings at independent shops. Friday night (Oct. 2) they turned up at Asheville, NC, at Malaprop's Bookstore Cafe and the place was jammed with well-wishers, Merge and ‘chunk fans, and book lovers of all stripes.

McCaughan and Ballance first strapped on acoustic guitar and electric bass, respectively to do a Superchunk song, then the pair took turns reading a couple of passages from Our Noise. Mac handled a section about early Merge band Butterglory, while Laura read the part about a somewhat star-crossed trip to the Northwest they undertook in which their van caught on fire (and burned up, leaving them temporarily stranded in the middle of nowhere until they could arrange a rental) en route to Seattle, where they got to observe firsthand the office operations of Sub Pop and the proverbial lightbulb went on over their heads: "We could do this, too."

Next, Mac did covers of Spoon and Magnetic Fields tunes, subsequently reading a passage from the book about Magnetic Fields and talking a bit about the peculiarities of that band's Stephin Merritt. Prefacing a passage about the career vicissitudes that Spoon has endured, Laura observed, "I think this illustrates the indignities that bands have to go through." 

Another Superchunk song followed, then it was time to take questions and comments. One thing they disclosed was that they've been working on new material for a proposed Superchunk album, and the hope is that it will see release sometime in 2010.

A query came from the audience about what's the role of an indie label in 2009 when all the traditional roles and rules have been upended - Pearl Jam striking a deal with Target, Radiohead deploying a radical new commercial model, etc. - and Mac pointed out that with so much going on and so much music out there, Merge's role is "as a filter" with people trusting Merge to find good music and bands trusting Merge to do a good job. Another question about the perennial "what is indie?" issue prompted them to suggest that the term might not be all that relevant any more other than as shorthand, Laura adding that when they started out, what they were doing was called "college rock" - nowadays, a meaningless term.

And of the genesis of the book? Our Noise almost didn't happen, amid the stress and clutter of running the label and preparing for the 20^th anniversary events. Mac noted that he felt, initially, that it wasn't even that particularly a dramatic tale worth telling, but when author Cook presented the additional context of how it was also a story of the record industry and some of the changes that had been occurring over the past two decades, it all clicked for him.

I'm glad it did, as Our Noise is one of the best music books I've taken in all year, and I don't hand that sort of praise out lightly. For anyone with a vested interest in the indie milieu (regardless of the relative relevance of the term "indie"), it should be at the top of your reading list. Buy a couple of copies, for that matter - it'll make a great Christmas gift for someone you love.

Go to the book's official website, www.ournoisethebook.com, for some visual treats. You can also get info about an online chat with Mac, Laura and John Cook, moderated by Michael Azerrad, that will take place next Monday, Oct. 12.

[Photos by Fred Mills and Michael Traister, www.traisterphoto.com]

Rumbling and rambling around the 2009 Austin City Limits Festival with photographer (and Blurt Associate Editor) Andy Tennille... Andy's also Twittering from ACL all weekend, so follow his Blurtweets...


Above, Grizzly Bear testifying to the gospel truth.
Below, The Alberta Cross, preparing for an outbreak of guitar face.

Below, Felice Brothers, with an outbreak of accordion face.





Bon Iver, still working on that guitar face.





Henry Butler, working on getting his mojo workin'.

Welcome to ACL! Here, have some grass!


Rumbling and rambling around the 2009 Austin City Limits Festival with photographer (and Blurt Associate Editor) Andy Tennille... Andy's also Twittering from ACL all weekend, so follow his Blurtweets...


Seth Avett of the Avett Brothers has some mid-afternoon wood:

An ever-earnest Phoenix gets even more earnest... gee fellas, it's kinda hot out here in this sun...

Daniel Johnston would like to sell you a drawing he made 5 minutes ago backstage with a Sharpie...

Raphael Sadiq would like all the Joss Stone lookalikes in the crowd to please take off their tops....

Caleb Followil of Kings Of Leon goes off yet again about all the "haters" out there... memo to Caleb, humility will get you through times of no respect better than respect can get you through times of no humility. Just draping a small crucifix around your neck won't cut it.

"Goodbye Again" from latest album is part of a 12-song, multi-videographer project.

By Blurt Staff

To promote Lucero's new album 1372 Overton Park (reviewed, incidentally, in the new issue of Blurt) the band commissioned a music video for each song on the record - 12 videos total. While these videographers' levels of experience varied, some holding only handy-cams, others with years of training under their belt, the band sought out videographers with one thing in common: that they're all huge Lucero fans and wanted to make a video.

We've got an exclusive sneak preview of the project - here, "Goodbye Again" -  and we're pretty honored to be able to present this for one of long-time favorite bands, so please check it out in our video kiosk: www.blurt-online.com/video/view/238/  Memo to self: after seen all these images of Memphis in one place, I'm booking a vacation to the music city very soon. Los Angeles? Who needs it!

The last thing Lucero wanted was a slick video for a major label record. Or even worse, a cheap video trying too hard. And, they wanted something off center... something you wouldn't expect from a Lucero video. Think of it as "a studio documentary of sorts," as the band puts it.

This project was meant not only to promote Lucero's new album, but also their remarkable fans who, time and time again, prove their strong dedication to the band.

Legendary singer-songwriter undertakes rare tour, hitting key venues in the Netherlands.

By John Lentz

Several months ago BLURT was extremely pleased and honored to be able to profile chanteuse Chi Coltrane. In an exclusive interview she discussed her long career in music (and her massive ‘70s hit, "Thunder and Lightning") how health issues in the late ‘80s and extending into the ‘90s threatened to derail that career, and her latterday comeback - including her prediction that she'll be touring again soon. "I will be playing piano, of course, and will be accompanied by bass and drums," said Coltrane. "My first concert to kick-off my comeback will be for about 50,000 people, in Vienna, in June."

Now Coltrane, fresh from that June 27 appearance at the DonauinselFest outdoor music event in Vienna, Austria, where she performed before an estimated 100,000 music fans in her first major concert in two decades, has embarked on a two week tour of the Netherlands. Her first performance took place Sept. 30 in Venlo and it resumes tonight, Oct. 2, in Enschede.

The tour is to promote her new CD, "Yesterday, Today, and Forever", available from her website at www.ChiColtrane.com . Arranger Paul Buckmaster has said of the title song that he ". . . had to stop a few times while working on the arrangement (of the song) because of the profound emotions it stirred up in me. It is that great of a song. I think this may be the most beautiful song that I've ever heard."

Concert dates and locations are as follows, w/contact numbers for ticketing; tickets are also available by contacting pbmusicprom@zeelandnet.nl .

Go to Coltrane's website or MySpace page for more details and updates.

Fri. Oct. 2, 2009  : Muziekcentrum - Enschede   +31 53 485 85 00

Sun. Oct. 4, 2009 : Philharmonie - Haarlem (Amsterdam)  +31 23 5121212

Tue. Oct. 6, 2009 : De Lawei - Drachten   +31 512 33 50 50

Fri. Oct. 9, 2009 : Stadsschouwburg - Middelburg   +31 900 3300033

Sat. Oct. 10, 2009 : Vredenburg - Utrecht  +31 30 2314544

Tue. Oct. 13, 2009 : De Tamboer - Hoogeveen   +31 528 280180

 Wed. Oct. 14, 2009 :  Stedelijk Concertgebouw - Leiden  +31 71 5131704

Our latest pick in a new series: Concord, NC, band's new album is what's twirling our tassels as we head into the weekend. Photo credit, above: Michael Plumides.

By Fred Mills

The Avett Brothers are our Band O' The Week, the fourth selection in our increasingly popular and prestigious series. Previous artists we picked - the Clean, Os Mutantes and Panther - have all gained massive fame and reaped amazing riches in the BLURT afterglow, so we see no reason why the Avetts won't do likewise. For proof, check out our  review of their new Rick Rubin-produced album I and Love and You.

As BLURT's astute critic put it in a 9-stars-out-of-10 review, "While I and Love and You is suffused in an almost Zen-like restraint, there's still a fervor, a roaring passion lurking just beneath the surface that will be familiar to anyone who's followed the Avett Brothers thus far... Mossy and warm, full of breathing room and plenty of space for individual voices and instruments to flex, it locates itself at the Venn intersection of the Kinks' Muswell Hillbillies, Rod Stewart's Gasoline Alley and Tom Petty's Wildflowers."

Check back each Friday for the latest BLURT Band O' The Week. Meanwhile, the Avetts are on the cover of our new issue, hitting newsstands any day. Contributing Editor A.D. Amorosi interviewed the Avetts and producer Rubin for a revealing, intimate profile of a band most observers feel is about to make a huge critical and commercial break through.

They were also on the Letterman show this week doing the title track from the album:

Everyone's favorite Fujiyama mama is just about ready to pop - so she pops in to a special event for the students....

By Blurt Staff

Students and faculty from the Academy of Contemporary Music performed with recent Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee and first lady of Rockabilly Wanda Jackson at an Oklahoma City dedication ceremony this week renaming a street in her honor. The musicians included students Jon Bohlen (bass) and Luke Buthman (guitar) along with faculty members Peter Pollack (drums) Chris Hicks (guitar).

Jackson, known as "the sweet lady with the nasty voice" played a mini-concert that included her songs "Right or Wrong," "Mean, Mean Man" and her most popular, "Let's Have a Party." See video of the performance and read more here.

Currently in the midst of its inaugural semester, The Academy of Contemporary Music at the University of Central Oklahoma (ACM@UCO) is a new school led by Flaming Lips manager Scott Booker that provides unique educational opportunities and targeted, innovative classes for students who aspire to have a career in the music industry.

Dude's been pretty damn prolific the past few years...

By Blurt Staff

Robyn Hitchcock will release concert film and live album I Often Dream of Trains in New York on November 10 on Yep Roc.

I Often Dream of Trains in New York was filmed live at Symphony Space in New York City in the fall of 2008 during the U.S. leg of Hitchcock's highly anticipated I Often Dream of Trains Tour. Deftly shot by acclaimed director John Edginton (The Pink Floyd and Syd Barrett Story) and originally aired on the Sundance Channel, this concert film DVD and accompanying audio CD captures the cult songwriting icon recreating one of his most intimate and haunting albums in its entirety.

Robyn is joined by Trains tour mates Terry Edwards (vocals, keyboards, trumpet, soprano sax, guitar) and Tim Keegan (vocals, guitar) as well as guests Gaida Hinnawi (vocals) and Amir El Saffar (trumpet) from the Robyn-led band seen in Jonathan Demme's film Rachel Getting Married.

This release will also receive the deluxe package treatment from Yep Roc in the form of a working phenakistoscope with artwork by Robyn. Further details here.

Watch Robyn perform title cut ‘I Often Dream of Trains' from the film below.

Hitchcock will be in the United States beginning today, October 2^nd, performing with the Venus 3 at the Austin City Limits festival and later this weekend on Oct. 4^th in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival.  He will follow these appearances with a select run of tour dates.

10-02-2009           Robyn Hitchcock      Austin                TX            Austin City Limits Festival, Zilker Park          

10-04-2009           Robyn Hitchcock      San Francisco  CA           Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival  

10-06-2009           Robyn Hitchcock      Los Angeles       CA           Spaceland            

10-08-2009           Robyn Hitchcock      Portland            OR           Mississippi Studios           

10-10-2009           Robyn Hitchcock      Seattle                WA          Crocodile

10-15-2009           Robyn Hitchcock      Memphis           TN           Malco Theatres' Studio on the Square           

10-17-2009           Robyn Hitchcock      Nashville           TN           Bluebird Cafe      

Previously unreleased track "Scoff" comes from forthcoming deluxe edition of Bleach.

By Blurt Staff

What better way to start October off than with a free, previously unreleased Nirvana song? Sub Pop has made available the track "Scoff" which is culled from their deluxe/expanded edition of Bleach, which is due Nov. 3. You'll be able to read a review of it in the new issue of BLURT, but meanwhile, here's the track, which was recorded at a 1990 live show at Portland's Pine Street Theatre. This show was re-mixed from the original tapes by album producer Jack Endino.

"Scoff"

Says Sub Pop, "Needless to say, we're all pretty excited about this one over here at the Sub Pop offices. The record has been on full blast at one desk or another everyday for the past couple of weeks and really it's never sounded better, even on my own personal 100th listen of this month. Love it."

Krist Novoselic blogs for the Seattle Weekly and in an entry not long ago, he enthused over the longevity of Bleach:

"November 3rd, the 20 year anniversary version of Nirvana's Bleach will be released. (The actual anniversary was last June.) I just got off the phone with producer Jack Endino for a comment regarding the occasion. He said, ‘Considering it only took about 30 hours in the studio, and the equipment we used, I'm glad it sounds as good as it does.'

"Jack - WTF?? There are many reasons for this record being an aural treat. First, I was in the band. (more on my utter lack of objectivity later). Second, Endino recorded it and finally, most importantly - the release is a tribute to the vision of Kurt Cobain.There's going to be a vinyl version too. Jack and I got test pressings earlier this summer and the vinyl sounds killer. It's going to be pressed on white vinyl - just like the first issue. I put the tone arm down and the bass growl of "Blew" is there in all its Grunge glory. The CD is re-mastered too."

As the saying goes, prepare to be bleached....