Music News

Modern Sky Festival Coming to U.S.

The Modern Sky Festival is expanding to the United States in October after being successful in China. The first festival is set for October 4th and 5th at Rumsey Playfield, Central Park in New York City. The lineup features Cat Power, The Blood Brothers, Liars, Stars, The Both (Aimee Mann and Ted Leo), a tribute to Nigerian funk musician, William Onyeabor. There are also various Chinese bands performing such as Zhang Xuan, Re-TROS, Queen Sea Big Shark, and Second Hand Rose.

Festival passes, which include two-day, one-day, and VIP, are avaliable at the festival’s website.

Divided Heaven Announces Tour in Japan

Divided Heaven, singer-songwriter, announced dates for later this month with RYOKO from Yamanashi. This is the second international tour for Divided Heaven, initially touring extensively in Europe. Also, they played several dates during Warped Tour and separate shows alongside that.

Touring in support of their sophomore album, Youngblood, which was released March 25th of this year on Say-10 Records.

Singer-songwriter Jeff Berman pulls lyrical inspiration from the places he has lived in and from the various bands he has played with, such as Protagonist.

August 28 – Bush Bash – Kiowa
August 29 – Moon Step – Tokyo
August 30 – Colo Bockle – Enzan
August 30 – Sun King Café – Katsunuma
August 31 – Kazoo Hall – Kofu

Man Proposes at Arcade Fire Concert

At Arcade Fire’s concert in Mountain View, California Wednesday night, as the band finished playing “Neighborhood #1,″ a man proposed to his girlfriend in the front row. When Win Butler saw what was going on, he handed the man his microphone and began to sing to the couple.

Proposals at concerts have been popular lately, happening at a Paul McCartney show and Bonnaroo as of recently.

Watch a fan-captured video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObdvoVU36nU

Said the Whale Announces Tour

Said the Whale, Vancouver-based indie rock band, announced a small U.S. tour beginning in late September. The band consists of Ben Worcester (guitar and vocals), Tyler Bancroft (guitar and vocals), Spencer Schoening (drums), Jaycelyn Brown (keyboards), and Nathan Shaw (bass)

Said the Whale released their fourth full-length studio album, Hawaii, in September 17th 2013.

Sept 26 – Spokane, WA @ The Bartlett
Sept 27 – Portland, OR @ Lola’s Room
Sept 28 – Seattle, WA @ Chop Suey
Sept 30 – San Francisco, CA @ Hotel Utah
Oct 1 – Fullerton, CA @ The Slidebar
Oct 2 – San Diego, CA @ Soda Bar
Oct 3 – Tucson, AZ @ The Flycatcher
Oct 4 – Los Angeles, CA @ Bootleg HiFi

The New Pornographers Create Their Own Signature Coffee

Following the lead of St. Vincent, who recently teamed up with Intelligentsia Coffee, the New Pornographers are creating their own brand of coffee, Brill Brew.

Drawing it’s name from the band’s first release in four years, Brill Bruisers. Collaboration began when Intelligentsia invited Carl Newman to sample coffee after the company heard the band were avid coffee drinkers. The coffee is described as “cheerful and sweet” and said to have flavors of “mango, nectarine and green apple shine.”

Newman said in a statement, “As absurd as it may seem for us to have a signature blend, I think it is important that there is some sort of marker, some flag planted in the earth, so that whoever walks into Intelligentsia, whoever drinks this, will know: ‘The New Pornographers really really loved coffee.’”

Pre-orders for the coffee are available and with every purchase, there is a free download to the Brill Bruisers LP. A bundle is also available, which comes with two tote bags and two coffee mugs.

Brill Bruisers is due out August 26th, and the New Pornographers have a tour lined-up in the fall in support, including a date at Riot Fest Toronto.

Foo Fighters Have Finished Album Eight

Butch Vig, producer, announced on twitter that the untitled LP has been finished recording and mixing. Big tweeted: “We are officially done with the new Foo Fighters album. 23 straight days mixing! IT’S EPIC!!!” The album remains untitled and could be their longest yet. The album will hit shelves in November.

The release will come a month after the premiere of Grohl’s HBO series, entitled Sonic Highways, documenting the process of recording the LP. Sonic Highways follow the Foo Fighters as they travel to eight recording studios and work with Joe Walsh from the Eagles, Gary Clark Jr., and Rick Nielsen from Cheap Trick.

The band already have shows in support of the LP, confirming dates in South Africa, the UK, and Las Vegas at the Life is Beautiful festival in the fall. They have also played surprise shows in Nashville, Washington D.C, and New Orleans.

PBR Throwing a Music Festival in Portland

Pabst Blue Ribbon, a predominantly hipster beer, is throwing a music festival featuring hipster bands in Portland, the hipster capital of the world. The first annual Project Pabst takes place in venues across Portland on September 26th-28th. Performances for this festival include Modest Mouse, Guided By Voices, Tears For Fears, GZA, Phosphorescent, Violent Femmes, Shabazz Palaces, Constantines, Rocket From the Crypt, Speedy Ortiz, Menomona, The Thermals, Surfer Blood, Lord Huron, Red Fang, High on Fire, Craft Spells, Deap Vally, Small Black, and more to come.

Tickets are available at the festival’s website.

 

Pussy Riot to Sue Russian Government

Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina, the two freed members of Pussy Riot, are suing the Russian government over their arrest in 2012 for their “punk prayer.” The Guardian states that the two women are looking for €120,000 ($161272) each in compensation as well as €10,000 in court fees. Both served 21 months in imprisonment, released in December of last year. 

Agora, the human rights legal group representing the two, stated, “They didn’t get fair trial here in Russia so they want to get it finally in the European court of human rights. Plus they want this case to set a precedent that Russians can speak publicly on sensitive political issues, even if this speech is not supported by majority. This is a case about freedom of expression and fair trial first of all.”

Pussy Riot continue their political activism since their release. Alyokhina and Tolokonnikova have since set up an English-speaking Twitter account, initially commenting at Russian censorship.  

American Authors Announce Tour

American Authors, a New York City-based indie rock band, recently announced tour dates with the Mowgli’s, Echosmith, and Oh Honey in support of their new album, Oh What a Life. Tour dates can be found above and presages can be found here.

Meeting at Berklee College of Music in 2007, members, Zac Barnett (vocals and guitar), James Adam Shelley (guitar and banjo), Dave Rublin (bass), and Matt Sanchez (drums) originally started at “The Blue Pages” and eventually changed their name before releasing “Believer” under their new pseudo, American Authors.

Festival Bans Native American Headdress

Canadian music and arts festival, Bass Coast, released a statement, banning attendees from wearing Native American headdress on site.

The festival takes place in Merritt, British Columbia, August 1-4. The festival stated the the headdress would not be appropriate as the festival takes place on indigenous grounds.

The statement reads: “We understand why people are attracted to war bonnets. They have a magnificent aesthetic. But their spiritual, cultural and aesthetic significance cannot be separated… Bass Coast festival takes place on indigenous land and… we feel our policy aligns with [aboriginal peoples’] views and wishes regarding the subject. Their opinion is what matters to us.”