EMI, Google, YouTube form "axis of consumption"

A nice suckerpunch to NewsCorp and anyone else standing in the way of the user-generated monster.  From Billboard.com:

Under the terms of a new agreement, unveiled in a statement issued Thursday, the British-based music major has agreed to enable YouTube users "unprecedented" access to authorized sound and visual recordings from its roster, which includes David Bowie, Coldplay, The Decemberists, Fat Boy Slim, Gorillaz, Lily Allen.

"With this deal," comments Chad Hurley, CEO and co-founder of YouTube, "all four of the world's major music companies are now official YouTube partners."

He adds, "EMI is a proven leader in the emerging digital music landscape and one of the world's largest and most respected music companies."

EMI Group CEO Eric Nicoli notes,

"Working with YouTube under this agreement meets EMI's objectives to offer consumers the best possible entertainment experiences, to create new ways to connect our artists to fans and to enter into innovative business models that will generate revenues for our
business and our creators."

As part of the arrangement, EMI Music will liaise with YouTube and its parent Google to develop revenue-generating business models, which will enable the company to track, monetize and control its content.

(video)    Gorillaz - El Mañana, from the Demon Days LP

Godspeed!

Video: Garbage - "Tell Me Where It Hurts"

The fight for relevancy is still underway for Shirley, Butch & company.  Have they succeeded??  You decide.  We here at the culture of me feel like putting this track side-by-side with "Giddy Stratospheres" from The Long Blondes and seeing which one has the staying power.  Our bet: Sheffield's finest.

Godspeed!

Tours: Brian Wilson brings new material to the UK

(credit)

From the press release:

In addition to that premiere, there will be quite a few other surprises in the concerts: Brian will be digging even deeper into his remarkable song catalogue and with his formidable ten-piece band, will be presenting a number of his classic compositions that he has never performed live as well as at least one song in honour of a very important anniversary.

Brian’s past shows have sold out immediately and have been greeted with such acclaim that Wilson was invited to perform at the Queen’s Jubilee Concert in 2002 at Buckingham Palace.  Among those who attended Brian’s performances were, Paul McCartney, Roger Daltrey, Eric Clapton, Elvis Costello, Richard Ashcroft, and others.

In February 2004, for the first time in his 40-year career, Wilson performed his mythical unreleased masterpiece, Smile, live in the UK, propelling that symphonic work to global acclaim, a gold record in the UK and worldwide sales approaching one million.  Those 2004 concerts included classic Beach Boys and Brian Wilson favourites as well as selections from his most recent solo album Gettin’ In Over My Head (Rhino 2004), his first 21st -century studio album.

Dates (with Vege-tuh-bles):

September 10    Royal Festival Hall
September 11    Royal Festival Hall
September 12    Royal Festival Hall
September 14    Royal Festival Hall
September 15    Royal Festival Hall
September 16    Royal Festival Hall
September 18    Bristol,Colston Hall
September 20    Bournemouth, Opera House
September 22    Edinburgh, Festival Theatre
September 23    Manchester, Palace Theatre
September 24    Birmingham, Symphony Hall

(mp3)   The Beach Boys - Vegetables, from the Smiley Smile LP

Godspeed!

TV on the Radio to play McCarren Park Pool

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Remember in February when that dude jeff went to the Plug Awards and said that a little birdy told him that TVOTR would be doing a JellyNYC free show at the formerly largest community pool in North America?  Yes?  Well....Brooklyn Vegan has graciously gone and confirmed it.  Thanks BV!

Dates:

Jun 28 - Hove Festival Hove
Jun 29 - Accelerator Festival Stockholm
Jul  01 - Eurockeenes Festival Belfort
Jul  03 - Apolo Barcelona
Jul  04 - Joy Eslava Madrid
Jul  05 - Super Bock Super Rock Lisbon
Jul  29 - McCarren Pool Brooklyn, New York
Jul  31 - State Center Detroit, Michigan
Aug 03 - Mr. Smalls Theatre Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Aug 04 - Virgin Festival Baltimore, Maryland
Aug 05 - Lollapalooza @ Grant Park Chicago, Illinois

(video)    TV on the Radio - Me-I, from the Adult Swim: Warm & Scratchy LP

Godspeed!

Video: Eve - "Tambourine"

An imaginary text message back-and-forth between Eve and Gwen Stefani:

Gwen:    omg...have u thought abt yr new vid yet?

Eve:    grrl...im havin trubble figuring out a plan for the viz's

Gwen:    hey hold on.  kingston just puked on his paul franks

Gwen:    k, back.

Eve:   i mean, how'd you come up wit those girls of yours??  i was thinkin i could bite that a little

Gwen:    like, maybe...i dunno secretaries or something.  not asians, though.

Eve:    what about maids?  yo, that'd be hott..and i could wear tons of pleather and lame and stuff yo.

Gwen:    yeah!  cool...aight, i gotta go get my hair done so i can walk the dogs.  later!

Eve:    peace, girl.  peace.

(video)    Eve - Tambourine, from the forthcoming Here I Am LP

Godspeed!

Emerging: Rasputina

Self-described "cello rock ensemble" and altogether costumed performance artists, Rasputina, are back with their sixth (!) full length effort, Oh Perilous World!, set for release on June 26th.  The kids have appeared or been involved in many a project, including the likes of Nirvana, Marilyn Manson, Porno For Pyros, Belle & Sebastian, Cheap Trick, Joan Osborne, Bob Mould and the illustrious Goo Goo Dolls.  Mixing cabaret with current events and fairy tales and nightmares in between, Rasputina is surely a group should be checking into over and over again.

Oh perilous tracklist:

01 1816, The Year Without a Summer
02 Choose Me For Champion
03 Cage In a Cave
04 Incident In a Medical Clinic
05 Draconian Crackdown
06 Child Soldier Rebellion
07 Oh Bring Back the Egg Unbroken
08 Old Yellowcake Breaking News
09 In Old Yellowcake
10 We Stay Behind
11 A Retinue Of Moons / The Infidel In Me
12 The Pruning

(mp3)    Cage In a Cave

Oh, and BTW, they're out on the road right now, with Jana Hunter and My Brightest Diamond.

Dates:

Sat-Jul-07 Detroit, MI — MAGIC STICK *
Sun-Jul-08 Chicago, IL — THE ABBEY *
Tue-Jul-10 Minneapolis, MN — VARSITY THEATER *
Wed-Jul-11 Kansas City, MO — THE RECORD BAR *
Thu-Jul-12 Denver, CO — BLUEBIRD THEATRE *
Fri-Jul-13 Colorado Springs, CO — THE BLACK SHEEP *
Sat-Jul-14 Park City, UT — SUEDE *
Mon-Jul-16 Portland, OR — HAWTHORNE THEATER *
Tue-Jul-17 Seattle, WA — NEUMO'S *
Thu-Jul-19 San Francisco, CA — GREAT AMERICAN MUSIC HALL +
Sat-Jul-21 Los Angeles, CA — EL REY THEATRE +
Sun-Jul-22 Solana Beach, CA — BELLY UP TAVERN +
Mon-Jul-23 Tempe, AZ — THE CLUBHOUSE +
Tue-Jul-24 Tucson, AZ — CLUB CONGRESS +
Fri-Jul-27 San Antonio, TX — WHITE RABBIT +
Sat-Jul-28 Austin, TX — THE PARISH +
Sun-Jul-29 New Orleans, LA — HOUSE OF BLUES +
Tue-Jul-31 Birmingham, AL — WORKPLAY THEATRE +
Wed-Aug-01 Atlanta, GA — VINYL +
Thu-Aug-02 Asheville, NC — THE GREY EAGLE +
Fri-Aug-03 Knoxville, TN — BLUE CAT'S +
Sat-Aug-04 Lexington, KY — THE DAME +
Sun-Aug-05 Newport, KY — SOUTHGATE HOUSE +
Tue-Aug-07 Cleveland, OH — GROG SHOP +
Wed-Aug-08 Baltimore, MD — OTTOBAR +

*with Jana Hunter
+with My Brightest Diamond

Godspeed!

Video: The Arcade Fire cover Clinic's "Distortion"

This is what real covers are about.  Staying true to the vibe of the original, all the while putting your own spin (not too much spin, of course) on it.  Win & co. make a hearty attempt at the Internal Wrangler track.  What do you all think?  Good job, fair attempt, or "covers are murder"?

Godspeed!

Tours: The Cribs unveil more dates

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Those kooky (sorry) kids from the UK, The Cribs are coming back around to the US of A again, unleashing even more dates than known before in support of their most recent effort, Mens Needs, Womens Needs, Whatever.  The culture of me has learned the cities they'll hit, but no info on the venues.  Hit the site up again in the coming weeks for more on these dates.

Crowds needs whatever:

July 17 - New York, NY    Conan O'Brien appearance
July 23 - San Diego, CA
July 24 - Los Angeles, CA
July 25 - San Francisco, CA
July 27 - Portland, OR
July 28 - Seatlle, WA    Capitol Hill Block Party
July 29 - Vancouver, BC CANADA
Aug 01 - Minneapolis, MN
Aug 04 - Chicago, IL
Aug 05 - Chicago, IL    Lollapalooza
Aug 06 - Detroit, MI
Aug 07 - Toronto, ON CANADA
Aug 09 - New York, NY
Aug 10 - New York, NY
Aug 11 - Philadelphia, PA
Aug 12 - Washington, DC

(stream)    The Cribs - Various tracks [via MySpace]

Godspeed!

Emerging: The Death Set

Just fucking listen to these tracks.  Then go see them live.  Fucking killed that dude jeff.

(mp3)    Paranoia, from the To LP

(mp3)   Distressed, from the To LP

Dates:

06/01/2007 - The Depot w/ Chinese Stars
Charles St
Baltimore, Maryland

06/03/2007 - Electric Maid w/ Black Wizards          
268 Carroll Street NW
Washington DC

06/06/2007 - Tritone w/ The Sparta Philharmonic          
1508 South Street
Philly, Pennsylvania

06/16/2007 - Lord Baltimore Recording - Studio Opening Party
100 E23rd St
Baltimore, Maryland

06/16/2007 - Morphius Records Recording Studio Opening
100 E23rd St
Baltimore, Maryland

06/20/2007 - tba Tour Send Off w/Ponytail, dd/mm/yyyy (Toronto) and friends
Baltimore, Maryland

06/22/2007 - tba Parts and Labour CD release
New York, New York

You can pick up a copy of To for yourself, care of Morphius.

Godspeed!

Tours: Asobi Seksu hit Europe and Japan

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D-d-d-d-dates:

6/6 Amsterdam @ Melkweg w/Editors
6/7 Brussels (secret show) w/Editors
6/9 Copenhagen @ Small Vega w/Editors
6/12 Berlin @ Postbanhof w/Editors
6/13 Cologne @ Kulturkirche w/Editors
6/14 Rome, Italy @ Circolo degli Artisti
6/16 Ravenna, Italy @ Hana-Bi
6/18 Brighton @ Sussex Arts Club w/Dean and Britta
6/19 London - AC30 @Metro w/Dean and Britta
6/20 London AC30 @ London Industry
6/21 Nottingham @ The Social
6/22 Glasgow @ King Tuts
6/26 London @ Waterats
6/28 London @ Good Ship (club night)
7/13 Shibuya, Tokyo @ O-Nest
7/14 Shibuya, Tokyo @Chelsea Hotel

(mp3)    Asobi Seksu - Let Them Wait, from the Asobi Seksu LP

Godspeed!