Year: 2008

Japanese rockers Boris will be touring the US in support of their new record Smile, available from Southern Lord.

From the Southern Lord website:

Boris hope “this is going to be a new experience for everyone beyond ‘music’ ‘Features collaborations with special guests: Stephen O’ Malley (sunn0))), KTL), and Michio Kurihara (Ghost, White Heaven, The Stars). The Southern Lord version is drastically different than the version of Smile released by Daymare records in Japan. The main difference between the Southern Lord version and the Daymare version is the mix of the actual songs themselves. Where the songs on the Japanese version have a more electronic or noisy-psychedelic vibe, the North American/European version here features a heavier more straight-forward rock aesthetic. Its truly remarkable how the band consciously have set out (and achieved) to make two completely different sounding versions of the same album. It is a testament to their continual, endless well-spring of creativity! The Southern Lord version also features a track that has never been heard by anyone! : “You Were Holding an Umbrella”.

Sigur Rós announced a new tour. Their previously announced performance at Bonnaroo will be their sole US Date. Dates below:

Along with launching a redesigned website our pals over at Insound.com have launched the “Give More! Get More!” program:

Every time you buy an MP3 album from Insound (not EPs or singles), Insound will donate $.25 of our take to a touring band.

According to CMJ:

A multi-album, worldwide deal is now officially in the can. The Matador singles that will roll out over this year (the first one is already out of print) will be compiled into a CD to be released this fall, and Reatard’s former label, In The Red, will be releasing another CD of his early solo singles in June. The first proper Matador album is projected to come out in early ’09.

Jay-Z will perform at this year’s Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts. This marks the first invitation to the event for a hip hop artist, and is being met with mixed reactions from guitar-loving wankers across the pond. Despite last year’s festival being sold out in two hours tickets are still available.

One of our favorite street artists, Espo, is currently working in Ireland on a Fulbright scholarship. Here are some images of his new work. (via WhatYouWrite.com)

Today at Coachella Prince covered Radiohead’s “Creep” before closing the set with The Beatles’ “Come Together” in front of the 60,000 attendees. It has yet to show up on YouTube, but keep your eyes open. See the video below:

Wired Magazine’s interview with Jason Pierce of Spirtualized and Spacemen 3.