Let’s get this out of the way first: the first new Meat Puppets record in seven years (twelve if you’re really counting) isn’t a glorious return to form. Luckily, it’s an exceedingly good one.
Music
Small Brown Bike, Big Reason to Reunite
The Spice Girls, Rage Against the Machine, The Smashing Pumpkins — what does Small Brown Bike have in common with these groups? You guessed it: a 2007 reunion. But this post-punk indie rock band actually has a reason to get back together besides capitalizing on past achievement.
Aesop Rock Schedules Touring Bonanza
Definitive Jux has announced that Aesop Rock will be gracing us all with his manic, mind-altering presence for thirty-nine tour dates this Fall in support of his forthcoming album, None Shall Pass, due out August 28.
Nanos Operetta, Nils Frykdahl Join Absurdist Opera
Performance company inkBoat has joined forces with the seven-member music ensemble Nanos Operetta and vocalist Nils Frykdahl (shown left) to compose a multi-disciplinary opera entitled “Our Breath is as Thin as a Hummbingbird’s Spine.”
MM.. an MF Doom Tour!
MF Doom, the man of a thousand collaborations and aliases, has announced the dates for his first foray into the concert circuit since his 2004 MM.. Food Drive Tour. In addition, Rhymesayers has scheduled the re-release of his MM..Food? album, which will feature a DVD of footage from the ’04 tour, for July 24.
The Early Bird Gets the $25,000
Picture this: You recognize Frank Black‘s brilliant, balding figure walking down the street. Somehow you find it in you to run up to him and say, “Hey, Frank. How about you listen to my demo and tell me what you think?”
You give him a CD-R with a lo-fi, poorly mixed recording of your best song. He likes it, so he plays it for Tom Waits, Loretta Lynn, and Robert Smith. They all love it.
Rogue Buddha Gallery Prepares Jon Langford Exhibit
Jon Langford is not only the co-founder of The Mekons (one of the few formative British punk bands born in ’77 still kicking today), the ringleader of alt-country progenitor Waco Brothers, or even the right-hand man to Chicago’s punk-country label Bloodshot Records. He’s also an incredible visual artist with a large number of paintings dedicated to the portraiture of his inspiration: bygone country music stars.
The Mars Volta Add Drummer, Brace for Bedlam
With ex-drummer Jon Theodore out of the picture, The Mars Volta are preparing for the release of their fourth full-length album, tentatively due out late August/early September. The title, The Bedlam in Goliath, promises nary a slip in the musical fortitude with which they’ve approached albums in the past.
Into Television: Battlestar Galactica
The incessant recycling of popular culture is one of the more loathsome qualities of American entertainment. Television shows based on movies, movies based on television shows, video games based on both, and every permutation in between crowd our media landscape.
Genghis Tron Unveil Colony Collapse Demo
Want to take a peek behind the curtain of Genghis Tron‘s upcoming Relapse debut? Check out the self-recorded demo of “Colony Collapse,” a tune posted today on the spastic electro-grinders’ MySpace page.
Visit ALARM at Chicago’s Printers’ Ball
Will you be in the Chicagoland area next Friday, July 20? Stop by The Printers’ Ball and greet your friendly neighborhood ALARM booth to get a free issue of the mag!
No, highly acclaimed hip hop producer