Minneapolis’ Legendary First Avenue Has a Podcast

Prince’s Minneapolis’ historic music venue First Avenue, along with its loyal sidekick the 7th St Entry, has a weekly podcast filled with music and Twin Cities music news.  It’s definitely worth checking out for any midwestern guy or gal.

MP3: Atmosphere-The Woman with the Tattooed Hands [Live at First Avenue]

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Some Quick Updates From the Break

During the brief hiatus this blog has just experienced, music has seen some significant moves.  Spoon’s got a new song out, Beck is channeling his inner-Lou-Reed, and of course…MJ. Check out the details below:

Spoon

No album details here, but web sites and blogs have got their dirty paws on a new track from the band. The song is an immediate stand-out, like “The Underdog” was when first leaked from Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga. The more plays this one gets, however, the more you can begin to recognize the grooviness of the sounds they combine here: subtle ’70s guitar riffs played against shoe-gazing guitars that create a uniquely dissident sound, plunking and driving keys that have given Spoon nice weight in the past, and Brit Daniel’s half-rebelious, half-hopeless voice singing about having “nuffin to lose.”

MP3: Spoon-Got Nuffin

Beck

Beck, the man who has more genres than Joseph has colors in his coat, has taken up a new project called The Record Club. In this exercise, Beck and his bandmates get together and record a cover of an entire album in one day’s time.  Then, they slowly post the videos onto the internet, one song at a time. Their first effort has produced some beautiful results, as they have been working releasing their work covering 1967’s revolutionary work, The Velvet Underground and Nico, the Andy Warhol-produced debut album from The Velvet Underground. Thus far, Beck has unveiled three tracks: the opening track “Sunday Morning,” the Harlem/drug dealer-inspired “I’m Waiting for the Man,” and the song Warhol asked Lou Reed to write about Factory Girl Edie Sedwick “Femme Fatale.”  All three are worth repeated listens, and I am very excited to see how this is released in some sort of purchaseable/downloadable format once the entire project is released.

MP3: Beck-Sunday Morning (Velvet Underground cover)

MP3: Beck-I’m Waiting for My Main (Velvet Underground cover)

MJ

Too much has been said already. Just enjoy the video, and if that isn’t cathartic enough, head over to NME to vote for your favorite MJ songs.

MP3: Jackson 5-I Want You Back

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NY Times reports increase in number of DJs

And they blame it on the economic downturn! The NYTimes can associate anything with the collapse of our financial markets, but this one may top them all.  They provide some anecdotal evidence, but seem to ignore the fact that access to music and equipment has made the biz easier for just about anyone who likes music. Definitely worth a read. Free subscription requird.

MP3: The Hold Steady-Most People Are DJs [ysi]

MP3: The Ting Tings-Great DJ

MP3: Patrice Holloway-Those DJ Shows [ysi]

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Sen. Charles Schumer (D-New York) Proposes Legislation Targeting Ticket Resellers

Interesting idea that would force companies like TicketsNow to wait two days until buying extra tickets to concerts and then jacking up the price.  Read Pitchfork for the full story.

MP3: The Hives-Diabolic Scheme

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Legendary Hip Hop Producer Tony D Killed in Car Accident

Via ?uestlove’s Twitter, historic hip hop producer Tony D died in a car crash last night in his hometown of Hamilton, NJ. Check out AllHipHop for the full story.  Fat Lace Magazine did an interesting interview with him and provides you with a couple of MP3s that demonstrate his producing abilities.

MP3: Tony D-Get Off the Rhythm

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Pitchfork April Fool’s Roundup

Pitchfork gathered April Fool’s pranks from musicians (usually just in the form of wacky rumors).  My favorite is about Coldplay:

Who: Coldplay
The “big news”: Coldplay and producer Brian Eno plan to record in zero gravity on a specially-designed Boeing 727.
Believability: You mean those “Viva La Vida” strings were recorded in regular gravity?
Would it be cool if this was real? Yes, if only to see guitarist Jonny Buckland’s hat fly off his head to reveal a very tiny version of the Edge’s head.

So should you fall victim to a musical rumor or any other prank, just take some advice from Coldplay

MP3: Coldplay-Don’t Panic

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?uestlove Twitters?

I’ve recently gotten into this whole Twitter thing (though I’m not quite sold on it yet, neither is Jon Stewart). But it has produced some entertaining results.  For example, I recently found a legit Twitter feed for ?uestlove from The Roots.

Obviously this is not the only big news for the funk hop band The Roots.  They have taken over as Jimmy Fallon’s backing band on his new late-night spot, and have a(n almost) weekly gig at the Highline Ballroom in New York City.  ADDITIONALLY, ?uesto also has a weekly DJ gig starting in late March at the überhip (Le) Poisson Rouge, also in the big apple.  So, congrats to the bunch: Captain Kirk, Owen Biddle, Black Thought, F. Knuckles, ?uesto, and the rest.

MP3: The Roots-Rising Down (featuring Mos Def and Styles P)

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Prince to Release 3-Album Set Through Target

Nary a Prince news item should pass without mention on this blog.  Via Pitchfork, exclusively at Target, Prince will be releasing two of his own albums, LOtUSFLOW3R and MPLSoUND, with a third album by Bria Valente, a vocalist who backed 2007’s Planet Earth album. The interweb seems to have been scrubbed of anything in which you could hear her own material.  So, I guess it is to Target we shall all go to see what this mystery man of pop has in store for us.

MP3: Prince-I Would Die For You

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Change Has Come to Washington, D.C. (Not an Obama post)

Via CNN, the U.S. Mint has released the newest quarter into circulation: the Washington, D.C. quarter.  Featured on the back is jazz composer and pianist Duke Ellington.  One of the most prolific and successful jazz artists, Ellington is the first African-American to be minted.

Listen to some of his more famous tunes at DukeEllington.com.

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10 Minute Recording of Beatles’ “Revolution 1″ Leaked

The band that keeps on giving, I guess.  I’m typing this as I listen to it my first time.  (Someone just encouraged me to take my knickers off!)  In the opening they refer to this recording as “Revolution, Take 20.”  The song is a little slower, more laid back than the one that made the final cut, Mungo Jerry-esque really.  (No, I did not just compare The Fab Five to Mungo.)  As we wait for the remastered CDs to come out sometime later this year, this recording will do for now.

Update-It might not be slower, but there is definitely a more Mungo Jerry feel to this one.

MP3: The Beatles-Revolution 1 (Take 20)

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