Premieres "Open the Floodgates", "Lotus Flower", "Skirting on the Surface" and "Judge, Jury, Executioner" Friday evening at the Echoplex club.

By Blurt Staff

Hitting the web over the weekend was footage of Thom Yorke and his ad hoc new "band" - Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea, Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich, drummer Joey Waronker, and multi-instrumentalist Mauro Refosco (Forro in the Dark) - performing at Los Angeles' Echoplex club as a warmup date for the Sunday and Monday night concerts at the Orpheum.

According to Pitchfork, Yorke & Co. did his solo album The Eraser from start to finish, then for an encore Yorke came out by himself to do three brand new songs: "Open the Floodgates" (on piano), "Lotus Flower" (guitar), "Skirting on the Surface" (piano). For a second encore the band came out to join Yorke on another unreleased track, "Judge, Jury, Executioner"; Ateaseweb.com noted that "the latter is also the alternate title of Radiohead's ‘Myxomatosis' (from Hail To The Thief), but several people have confirmed it's a completely new song." Three more songs were then done: Radiohead's "Paperbag Writer" plus "The Hollow Earth" and "Feeling Pulled Apart by Horses," both of which comprise the new 12" single.

Videos of the new songs are below - "Open the Floodgates", "Lotus Flower", "Skirting on the Surface," "Judge, Jury, Executioner".

"Wrecking Ball" written to help "shut the old lady down"...

By Blurt Staff

Hitting the web over the weekend was footage of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band performing a new, unreleased song, "Wrecking Ball," during the Boss' five-night run at Giant's Stadium in E. Rutherford, NJ.

According to BruceSpringsteen.net, the tune was written "in honor of the imminent demolition of the longtime home of giants and Giants" (Springsteen acknowledged same in his introduction to the song, a folk-rock flavored number which wouldn't have sounded out of place on his The Seeger Sessions album of several years ago). On Oct. 2 the band also performed the album Darkness on the Edge of Town in its entirety; on Sept. 30 they did the complete Born to Run, and on Saturday, Oct. 3, Born in the USA. The Giants Stadium residency continues on Oct. 8 and 9 with both BTR and BITUSA, respectively, being performed again.

Below are two video versions of the song - the first one comes from Sept. 30, and the second is an unedited pro-shot, originally posted at BruceSpringsteen.net, comes from Oct. 2.

WWST? (What would Scientologists think?) Trench coats and cardigan sweaters meet mosh pits and anarchy symbols pasted to cheerleaders' tits: Rickrolling with Kurt Cobain & Tha Crew...

By Blurt Staff

So we're in a YouTube mood today, sue us. But it just occurred that since we're now into October, a lot of long lead-time magazines and critics are compiling their 2009 year-end best-ofs. Admittedly, that's borderline absurd; there are some awesome releases about to drop in late Oct. and early Nov., so how can you make your annual picks this early? (Trust us; we've had to do it ourselves, so we feel your pain, fellow scribes.) But we digress.

At any rate, since we're posting Thom Yorke and Bruce Springsteen vids to the BLURT site (now THERE is a mashup waiting to happen... "Born In The Paranoid Android," anyone?), and we have some spare time before leaving for our Monday morning pedicure, we decided to also post our hands-down, no-debate-necessary, favorite video of the past year, below. In the rare event that you didn't nab the MP3 first time around - the song originally appeard on DJ Morgoth's Mash-Up Your Bootz Vol. 4 album - or are not among the million-plus who have viewed the clip already, it should still be self-explanatory.

All props to DJ Morgoth for the music, along with YouTube maestro thriftshopxl for posting the video clip back in the summer, and making our lives immeasurably richer.

Seriously. This is pure genius. Keep on Rickrolling. "Never Gonna Give Your Teen Spirit Up":

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: