popwreckoning

Exclusively from Buzznet:

We know you’re excited about Blink-182′s album coming out on September 27th, and today we’re unveiling the first glimpse of a piece of the album cover art exclusively on Buzznet!  You can see another piece of the album cover tomorrow via Idolator and Absolutepunk will have the final masterpiece up on Thursday, along with other exciting news!

You can view the album cover teaser exclusively on Buzznet today at http://buzznet.com/~5cdb087

Acclaimed singer-songwriter, Rachael Yamagata, will release Chesapeake, her first studio album in three years on October 11, 2011. The album, produced by John Alagia, producer of Yamagata’s Happenstance album as well as albums from Liz Phair, Dave Matthews Band and Jason Mraz, will be self-released on her very own Frankenfish Records. Twelve days following the release of Chesapeake, Yamagata will hit the road on an extensive tour of the United States starting on October 24th in Portland, Maine at the Port City Music Hall and wind down on December 22nd in New York City at City Winery.

For Chesapeake, Yamagata recruited her “dream team” consisting of Victor Indrizzo (Sheryl Crow) on drums, guitarists Mike Viola (Candy Butchers), Michael Chaves (John Mayer), and Kevin Salem, (Dump Truck, Yo La Tengo), cellist Oli Kraus (Sia, Duffy) and Tom Freund on the upright bass. The result is an eclectic collection of songs projecting Yamagata’s new-found optimism and hopefulness, showcasing her sultry and smoky voice, rich, layered harmonies, striking ballads and soulful grooves.

Listeners can get a taste of what’s to come by downloading the song “Starlight” by visiting http://snd.sc/n6ajQf.

Praised by critics for her intimately confessional songwriting and arrangements, Rachael released her last album, Elephants…Teeth Sinking Into Heart on Warner Bros. Records in October of 2008.   Entertainment Weekly called her delivery “gorgeous” and Rolling Stone said her “soulful, cigarette-scratched voice and melancholy lyrics recall Fiona Apple and PJ Harvey.” She toured extensively in support of the album playing to crowds throughout the United States, Europe and Asia. The New York Times hailed “With a deep, melancholy, breathy alto and a fondness for slow, sparsely chorded songs, Ms. Yamagata has a lot in common with Fiona Apple, Norah Jones and Sarah McLachlan. And in her upbeat moments she can sound like a fuller-voiced Liz Phair or a less volatile Chrissie Hynde.” Songs from the album appeared in various television programs and films including Grey’s Anatomy, Private Practice, Brothers and Sisters and more. She also made an appearance in the season finale of 30 Rock in 2009.

Tour Dates:

OCTOBER

24th - Portland, ME - Port City Music Hall

25th - Burlington, VT - Higher Ground Lodge

27th - Ithaca, NY - Deliah’s

28th -  Northampton, MA - Iron Horse

30th - Boston, MA - Brighton Music Hall

31st - Philadelphia, PA - World Café Live

NOVEMBER

1st - Washington, DC - Birchmere

2nd - Baltimore, MD - Sound Stage

4th - Brooklyn, NY - Knitting Factory

5th -  Pittsburgh, PA - Club Café

6th - Cleveland, OH - Beachland Ballroom (Small Room)

7th - Detroit, MI - St Andrews Hall

8th - Chicago, IL - Logan Square

10th - Milwaukee, WI - Turner Ballroom

11th - Minneapolis, MN - Fine Line

12th - Davenport, IA - Redstone Room

14th - Kansas City, KS - Record Bar

16th - Denver, CO - Larimer Lounge

18th - Salt Lake City, UT - State Room

20th - Spokane, WA - A Club

21st - Vancouver, BC - Media Club

22nd - Seattle, WA - Crocodile

23rd - Portland, OR - Doug Fir

25th - San Francisco, CA - Slim’s

27th - San Diego, CA - Casbah

29th - Los Angeles, CA - Troubadour

30th - Tuscon, AZ - Crescent Ballroom

DECEMBER

2nd - Austin, TX - Parish

3rd - Houston, TX - Fitzgerald’s Upstairs

4th - Dallas, TX - The Loft

5th - Tulsa, OK - Cain’s Ballroom – 2nd Stage

7th - St. Louis, MO - Blueberry Hill

8th - Nashville, TN - 12th and Porter

9th - Birmingham, AL - Work Play

10th - Atlanta, GA - Vinyl

12th - Charleston, SC - New Brookland Tavern

13th - Charlotte, NC - Visulite Theatre

15th - Chapel Hill, NC - Local 506

16th - Charlottesville, VA - The Southern

17th - Louisville, KY - Headliners

18th - Columbus, OH - The Basement

20th - Hoboken, NJ - Maxwell’s

21st - New York, NY - City Winery

22nd - New York, NY - City Winery

www.rachaelyamagata.com

It’s Lollapalooza‘s 20th anniversary and as we’re packing our bags to spend the weekend in Chicago’s Grant Park, here are 20 things that we’re most anticipating for Lollapalooza‘s 20th:

20. Grant Park. The park is beautiful and great place to visit even without a festival going. The long stretch of land is right next to Lake Michigan and wedged next to the Chicago skyline.

19. The artwork. Every year Lolla has some amazing sculptures setting a theme for the park and they always invite talented artists to design the official posters. We can’t wait to see what decorations will be set up this year.

18. Sold out. Ok, so some people may not be excited about this, but we love that over 200,000+ people are about to electrify the atmosphere with their excitement over the fest.

17. The Green Initiative. Volunteers go around picking up trash and collecting recyclables. There’s even a section of the venue that rewards you for turning in collected trash. Even water containers have been specially ordered to reduce Lolla’s carbon footprint.

16. The volunteers. A lot of this wouldn’t be possible without them, so be sure to thank them if you see them in their t-shirts giving out instructions or cleaning up somewhere around the park.

15. Cool down centers. It’s one of the hottest summers on record, but Lolla is kind enough to set up spray hoses and air conditioned buses.

14. Chicago tourist spots. A lot of Lolla attendees are from out of town, so this is a great opportunity to check out the Bean or Shedd Aquarium for the first time…or second…or 90 millionith. Chicago tourist spots are pretty amazing.

13. Free gear. Visit some of the radio station tents for cool gear and a chance to sit in the shade. Last year we got some great Lolla bandanas and paper fans that helped protect us from the sun.

12. Food. Chicago has some great spots to eat – hello deep dish pizza, but you don’t even have to leave the fest to grab a great meal. Be sure to stop by Chowtown where they have your standard fried festival fare, but also some great healthy options.

11. Veggie-friendly. Speaking of food, vegans and vegetarians are taken care of in Chowtown. There are plenty of options for everyone. Another reason why Lolla is awesome.

10. Kidzapalooza. Lolla really does think of everyone. With Kidzapalooza, people of all ages are able to have a great time at the fest. There are games and family friendly music that is special for the kids, but still enjoyable for parents.

9. Special guests. Lots of musicians are friends, so you never know who might pop up during another person’s set. A few years ago, Slash surprised everyone. This year, we’re keeping an eye on Black Cards and Patrick Stump, former members of Fall Out Boy that are playing the fest.

8. Cover songs. Lolla artist little hurricane just released a cover song and you can bet that plenty of artists have their own goodie bags of covers. We’ll more than likely hear a few of these live.

“Born in a small house in the country” of Oxford, Miss., Young Buffalo released their first EP, Young von Prettylips, on July 19.

And from this debut, it’s clear this two-year-old band is anything but small town.

They are currently on tour in the U.S. and Canada – opening for the Arctic Monkeys on select dates – and signed to Fat Possum Records, which houses bands like Band of Horses, Dinosaur Jr. and The Black Keys.

While they may not take album or track titles (and probably themselves) too seriously, their music is another story.

As a three-piece band, they each play guitar, bass and drums, and they all sing, a talent that they exploit on all five tracks by stacking harmonies on top of more swelling harmonies.

And they constantly keep the energy alive, even on the slowest track of the EP – the opener – “Only We Can Keep You From Harm,” which starts out with a more simple guitar and low chanting vocals that lead into a schizophrenic layered vocal pattern and guitar riff that I swear gets so stuck in my head, I’ve heard it in my dreams.

They sustain this same building effect over blended various styles, one never standing so far out from the others that you can pinpoint it. They list their genre as “Soul Vibez” – meaning, “If this doesn’t sum it up, you’re thinking too hard.”

So don’t think – just enjoy this assortment of surf rock, pop rock, indie rock – and all of the other little glints below the surface that make Young Buffalo indefinable.

Visit Young Buffalo at Facebook.com/YoungBuffalo.

Track Listing:
1. Only We Can Keep You From Harm
2. Speak EZ
3. Full Metal Whacket
4. Catapilah
5. Bury Me

Chicago quartet Maps & Atlases is about to make its Lollapalooza debut. The band plays Saturday at 2:15 p.m. on the Google + Stage. In lieu of their hometown festival appearance, singer Dave Davison took some time out of the band’s busy tour schedule to talk about the group’s music, festival appearance and some of his favorite spots in the Windy City.

Bethany, PopWreckoning: You guys are getting ready to play the Lollapalooza festival. For people who haven’t heard you, how would you describe your sound?
Dave Davison, Maps & Atlases: A lot of times, people describe it as sort of technical pop music or something. I think we have a big focus on songs and song structure and we go a little further out with that in using technicality in music. So, it’s as simple as you want to make it, I guess.

PW: I know you guys met in art school. How does your art background translate into your music?
Dave: I know that for me personally that because we started at a time where we’re learning so much about everything, especially art, that the band sort of served as a sort of place where we could experiment with a lot of the ideas that we had been exposed to and had been learning about. It lets us experiment with concepts that we had learned about in school and stuff. I think that developmentally that played a role like that. It’s been an extension-forming ideas into how music can evolve.

PW: Does the art background also carry over to your videos? You just released a video for “Solid Ground.” How much input did you guys have personally in that video?
Dave: Erin [Elders], our guitar player, and Chris Hainey, our drummer, they both majored in film and the video that we did for “Living Decorations,” Chris shot the video and Erin directed. So they’re the video experts. “Solid Ground,” we didn’t have as much input because Taryn Gould directed and had an interesting concept, so we let Gould direct that and that was fun. I think we definitely try to use whatever things we’ve learned, especially for video; and you know, Shiraz [Dada], the bass player, he majored in sound engineering, and recorded our first two EPs. So the stuff we learned in school, we definitely try to use as possible.

PW: Now that song, “Solid Ground” is off your first LP, Perch Patchwork, which came out a year ago. Are you guys already thinking about a new record or working on some new songs?
Dave: We try to stay consistently productive and all that. I personally try to not think too deeply about the actual release aspect of music until we get further along. We’re definitely thinking about doing something in the future and have recorded some music and played around with some ideas, but it’s hard to say when it will come out because we want to make sure that it’s something that we feel like we need and want to do as opposed to just having something new to release, so we’ll see when we have that. Hopefully something like that will just come together and be something we’re really excited to put out.

PW: Will you guys be playing anything new at Lollapalooza and your upcoming tour? What can people kind of expect from those performances?
Dave: I think Lollapalooza, we’ll be doing a lot of songs from Perch Patchwork. I think that they’re good songs where we can tour quite a bit and the songs have just naturally evolved from being played a lot, so there’s definitely some different stuff in there – our take on the songs that have evolved on Perch Patchwork, as well as some songs from previous EPs. I think the same can be said for the tour in October, but you can’t really say yet. We might play some newer songs on that tour, but we’ll see how it goes.

PW: What was your reaction when you were told that you’re playing Lollapalooza? You’re a Chicago band and you’re playing pretty much the biggest show of the year there.
Dave: We were extremely excited. Just on a really basic level, I think it’s really fun to play outside at festivals. It seems so much like the shows I went to when as a teenager and it was the times where you sort of…what it would be like for people developing. So for me it developed with that in mind. So a big festival and a big stage, anytime we have the opportunity to do that, and Lollapalooza probably being the biggest, any time we have the opportunity to play a big festival, the crowd has been is really exciting for that reason. It’s such a Chicago specific thing now and it’s really exciting to be able to go. And we’ll get to play for a lot of people that actually know us. People from the area that haven’t really been able to see us play. And I’m excited about that.

PW: Since you are from Chicago, and there are a lot of people coming in from out of town, do you have any must see, must visit Chicago spots that you’d recommend?
Dave: That’s tough. Probably all my recommendations are all restaurants. One of the advantages of not being from a place is being OK with doing touristy stuff. And Chicago has such a concentrated area of that. When I first started going to Columbia, I really loved being down in the South Loop area and going to all the museums. Definitely that stuff-the Art Institute, Shedd Aquarium. Hopefully it will be nice…the Zoo. I really like doing that kind of stuff. As far as off the beaten path recommendations, I’d have to think a bit more.

PW: What are some of your favorite restaurants?
Dave: This will be all veggie stuff. Irazu is really good in the Bucktown area: a Costa Rican restaurant. It’s one of my favorite restaurants. The Spice Thai in Logan Square is definitely worth checking out. Hm. Trying to think of places that aren’t quite so obvious…those are like the two places that I eat everyday. Downtown, it’s not super close to Lollapalooza, but you can get good veggie stuff if you go to Karyn’s. I always try to recommend that to everyone.

PW: Sounds great. Finally, what are you guys most looking forward to about Lollapalooza?
Dave: You know, I don’t even know really. I’m just excited to play. I’ve never actually been to Lollapalooza before, so I’m really looking forward to the actual performance. We’ve been gone on tour since like June 22 or something and we’ll get home that day, so it’s such a great way to be able to come. We get to come home and play this big show. It’s been a really fun summer of touring. Then we go back on tour like a week later.

For more information on Maps & Atlases Lollapalooza schedule and upcoming tour, visit myspace.com/mapsandatlases.

Jack’s Mannequin have released a trailer for their new album, People And Things out October 4, which can be viewed below.

Death Cab For Cutie have announced a fall tour to start September 30th in Cincinnati and go through the end of October. Support includes Telekinesis, The Hold Steady, Explosions In The Sky, and The Head And The Heart. Furthermore, DCFC will also be among the headline acts appearing at Sunrise, Florida’s annual Langerado Music Festival on October 8^th and San Francisco’s Treasure Island Music Festival on October 16^th. Below is a complete list of tour dates. For more information please visit www.deathcabforcutie.com.

AUGUST

1                      Boston, MA                           Bank of America Pavilion

2                      Brooklyn, NY                        Williamsburg Waterfront

5                      Philadelphia, PA                  Mann Center for Performing Arts

6                      Pittsburgh, PA                      Stage AE

7                      Columbia, MD                      Merriweather Post Pavilion

8                      Cary, NC                                Koka Booth Amphitheatre

10                    Nashville, TN                       Bridgestone Arena

11                    Alpharetta, GA                     Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre

12                    New Orleans, LA                 Kiefer UNO Lakefront Arena

13                    Grand Prairie, TX                 Verizon Theater

15                    Phoenix, AZ                          Comerica Theatre

16                    La Jolla, CA                           RIMAC Arena

18, 19              Los Angeles, CA                  Greek Theater

20                    Las Vegas, NV                      The Pool

22                    West Valley City, UT          Maverik Center

23                    Morrison, CO                        Red Rocks Amphitheatre

25                    Chicago, IL                            UIC Pavilion

26                    St. Paul, MN                          Roy Wilkins Auditorium

SEPTEMBER

30                    Cincinnati, OH                     PNC Pavilion at Riverbend Music

OCTOBER

1                      Champaign, IL                      University of Illinois-Assembly

2                      St. Louis, MO                        The Pageant

5                      Memphis, TN                       Mud Island Ampitheatre

6                      Birmingham, AL                  Alabama Theatre

7                      Jacksonville, FL                    Florida Theatre

8                      Sunrise, FL                            Langerado Music Festival

10                    Houston, TX                         Verizon Wireless Theatre

11                    Austin, TX                             Austin Music Hall

15                    Santa Barbara, CA                Santa Barbara Bowl

16                    San Francisco, CA                Treasure Island Music Festival

18                    Boise, ID                                Taco Bell Arena

20                    Portland, OR                         Portland Memorial Coliseum

21                    Vancouver, BC                     Rogers Arena

22                    Seattle, WA                           Key Arena at Seattle Center

Crystal Antlers will tour this Fall with WU LYF in support of their new release Two-Way Mirror. Prior to that, you can catch Crystal Antlers at one of their Brooklyn, San Diego, or Los Angeles area dates. Here’s a  personal note from Jonny Bell in the band with further details!

Friends,

 A week ago we released our 2nd album, Two-Way Mirror in the US (UK August 1 and EU on September 5). It was born out of a trip of isolation in Mexico following a ton of touring and the news that our old label home, Touch and Go, was downsizing to a more catalog focused operation. We recorded in Long Beach with our good friend Ikey who produced our first EP and Jack Endino mixed it. Raymond Pettibon provided the art.

Since completing the recording we’ve been dealing with a mountain of DIY manufacturing tasks, setting up distribution deals and putting together a small team to help us get the word out. It’s been a tough and costly learning experience releasing it on this scale by ourselves, but for the knowledge we’ve gained, it was well worth it.

TOUR DATES

08-04 Brooklyn, NY – Vans House Parties (w/ Man Man, Glass Candy)

08-06 Brooklyn, NY – Glasslands Gallery (w/ Gary War, Team Robespierre, Balkans)

09-10 San Diego, CA – Bar Pink (w/ White Fence)

10-19 Riverside, CA – The Barn

TOUR W/ WU LYF

11-06 Washington, DC – Rock N Roll Hotel

11-08 Brooklyn, NY – Music Hall of Williamsburg

11-10 Boston, MA – Middle East Downstairs

11-11 Montreal, QC – Il Motore

11-12 Toronto, ON – Legendary Horseshoe Tavern

11-14 Chicago, IL – Empty Bottle

11-15 Minneapolis, MN – 7^th Street Entry

11-18 Vancouver, BC – Electric Owl

11-19 Seattle, WA – Crocodile Café

11-21 San Francisco, CA – The Independent

11-22 Los Angeles, CA – The Troubadour

www.crystalantlers.com

Thanks to all the bands and DJs who competed in the Wild Bill’s Local Showcase to determine which local bands would play at Kanrocksas. The winning band, Hearts of Darkness, will play at 12:30pm Saturday on Stageasaurus Rex. The winning DJ, DJ Soap, will play the Critical Mass Tent at 4pm on Saturday. Be sure to catch the bands and DJs who were runner-ups, too. They’ll be playing on the Campground Stage throughout the festival.

WILD BILL’S LOCAL SHOWCASE BAND WINNERS:

1st Place WINNER:
The Hearts of Darkness Sat. @ 12:30 pm – Stageasaurus Rex

CAMPGROUND STAGE WINNERS:
The Grisly Hand  Fri. @ 8:30 pm – Campground Stage
Head Change  Fri. @ 9:30 pm – Campground Stage
The Dead Girls Sat. @ 6:15 pm – Campground Stage
The Beautiful Bodies Sat. @ 7:15 pm – Campground Stage
WILD BILL’S LOCAL SHOWCASE DJ WINNERS:

1st Place WINNER:
DJ Soap  Sat. @ 4:00 pm Critical Mass Tent

CAMPGROUND STAGE WINNERS:
DJ Hi EyeQ  Fri @ 6:30 pm – Campground Stage
DJ Malaka  Fri. @ 7:30 pm – Campground Stage
DJ Kittie Sat. @ 8:15 pm – Campground Stage
DJ Cynsere  Sat. @ 9:15 pm – Campground Stage