The Mountain Goats planned tour of Australia next month has unfortunately been cancelled. Main goat-man John Darnielle writes "for personal medical reasons the Mountain Goats are unable to do the Australian tour as scheduled. The band wants Australia to know how much we regret this: coming to Oz is a big highlight of the year for us and we were really looking forward to playing these shows. We will make it up to you all!"
There is hope that the dates can be rescheduled for later in 2008, but until the medical situation is resolved there is no clear indication of when the band will be back. All tickets will be refunded from point of purchase.
www.mountain-goats.com
Rocket Science, a band renowned for their organ-driven rock’n’roll sound and stupendous live shows, with three Modular albums under their belt are ready for a new season of independence. The band have self-produced their new album and have signed to Fuse Music (local releases of Sharon Jones & Martha Tilston). The ensuing album Different Like You will be released in July.
The first single from the album 'Psychic Man' is doing the rounds of local radio stations and will hit the shelves on 3rd May in three formats: a very limited edition 48gm 7” Vinyl, limited edition 4 track CDEP and download.
The band have announced a string of dates around Australia in May.
Dates:
Thurs 1 May - The Zoo, Brisbane QLD
Fri 2 May - The Cambridge, Newcastle NSW
Sat 3 May - The Annandale, Sydney NSW
Fri 9 May - Jive, Adelaide SA
Sat 10 May - East Brunswick Club, Melbourne, VIC
Get out your diaries - because one of Australia's premier festivals Splendour in the Grass has confirmed when and where it will be held in 2008. After a bitter feud with the local council to get the festival held at their proposed new site, the festival returns to the wonderful Belongil Fields in Byron Bay.
Portishead announce the release of Third their hugely anticipated new album, their fourth album in total and first since 1998’s Roseland NYC live.
Third is to be released on Mercury/Island on April 29th 2008 and the band are scheduled to appear on the main stage at Coachella on Saturday April 26, 2008
Tracklisting
1. Silence
2. Hunter
3. Nylon Smile
4. The Rip
5. Plastic
6. We Carry On
7. Deep Water
8. Machine Gun
9. Small
10. Magic Doors
11. Threads
Renowned Brooklyn-based funk and soul band Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings are planning nine days and nine nights in the UK and Ireland in April. After the release of 2007's 100 Days, 100 Nights, the tour promises to be some of the best shows that the UK has seen for a while.
Tour Dates:
Thurs 10 April - Button Factory, Dublin IRE
Fri 11 April - Mint Lounge, Manchester ENG
Sat 12 April - Concorde 2, Brighton ENG
Sun 13 April - Yardbird, Birmingham ENG
Wed 16 April - Jazz Café, London ENG
Thurs 17 April - Jazz Café, London ENG
Fri 18 April - Jazz Café, London ENG
Sat 19 April - The Sage, Gateshead ENG
Datarock, in Australia for the Future Music Festival, have announced a handful of sideshows in New South Wales only - some country shows for the folks out there.
WB writer Matthew Bahr-Wright recently chatted with the disco popster, check out what they had to say here.
Dates:
Wed 5 March - ANU Bar, Canberra ACT
Thurs 6 March - Waves, Wollongong, NSW
Fri 7 March - Panthers, Newcastle NSW
Evangelicals have shared with the world the first video from The Evening Descends, their 2008 album. 'Midnight Vignette' is a playful scary and strange video and well worth a look. Check the video out at: http://youtube.com/watch?v=4ydrfGYaO8Q.
The band has also recently kicked off a massive US tour with Headlights. Check out the dates at their Myspace: www.myspace.com/evangelicals.
The Evening Descends is out now through Dead Oceans, see our review here as well as Mark Simms interview with Josh Jones here.
The Australian leg of the V Festival has just announced the second crop of bands to add to a bag of bands that haven't really done much lately. The list of bands already announced are: The Smashing Pumpkins, Duran Duran, Queens of the Stone Age, The Jesus & Mary Chain, The Presets, Air, CSS, The Tough Alliance, Plug In City.
And the second announcement is:
Modest Mouse
Roisin Murphy
Cut Copy
Hot Hot Heat
The Rakes
Glass Candy
The dates are:
Sat 29 March - Centennial Park, Sydney NSW
Sun 30 March - Avica Resort, Gold Coast NSW
Saturday 5 April - Showgrounds, Melbourne VIC
Sun 6 April - The Esplanade (City), Perth WA
In the lead up to the release of The Epoch's self-titled debut album brothers Ryan & Hays Holladay have decided to put out a remix EP for free. The four tracks include The Epochs remix of The Death Set's 'Collision'.
Tracklisting:
1. 'Opposite Sides' (Hays Holladay Remix)
2. 'Head in the Fire' (Hays Holladay Remix)
3. 'Giving Tree' (Kotchy Remix)
4. 'Collision' - The Death Set - (The Epochs Remix)
Melbourne trio My Disco launch the release of their second album Paradise with a national tour over March and April 2008.
Paradise is set for release through Stomp on the 25th of February 2008. Recorded in Chicago at Electrical Audio Studio, sound engineer extraordinaire Steve Albini (Pixies, Mono, PJ Harvey, The Stooges) has captured My Disco’s minimal yet intricate sound perfectly.
My Disco will be playing around Australia to support the launch of Paradise, tickets on sale Friday 8th February.
Dates:
Sat 22 March – Corner Hotel, Melbourne VIC
Fri 4 April - Rocket Bar, Adelaide SA
Fri 11 April – Bakery, Perth WA
Sat 12 April - Mojo's, Fremantle WA
Fri 18 April – Karova Lounge, Ballarat VIC
Sat 19 April – The National, Geelong VIC
Thurs 24 April – Zoo, Brisbane QLD
Fri 25 April – Oxford Arts Factory, Sydney NSW
Sat 26 April – Transit Bar, Canberra ACT
Fri 2nd May –The New Market, Bendigo VIC
Sat 17 May – The Republic Bar, Hobart
A couple of items of news on the Festival front in Australia-land: the superb and award winning festival the Laneway Fetival has just announced that the Brisbane leg of the show has sold out. This will be the first time that the festival has taken place in Bris-vegas and it's an amazing effort to sell the thing out. That leaves only the Adelaide date with tickets remaining and none of us are going to make any comments about that - John Brumby has already done it for us.
Sell outs are as popular as bread at the moment as the impressive Golden Plains festival has sold out in only it's second year which should be congratulated, but there will be some disappointed people out there who will miss out on the likes of Iron & Wine, Ween and Beirut all in the wonder of the Supernatural Amphitheatre -- too bad so sad we say.
, their 2008 album. 'Midnight Vignette' is a playful scary and strange video and well worth a look. Check the video out at: