Music News, the return

Primal Scream:

Primal Scream... are currently putting the finishing touches to their new album...

http://www.music-news.com/ShowNews.asp?nItemID=8359

Richard Ashcroft album details:

Richard Ashcroft has confirmed the details of his third solo album, to be released early next year.

'Keys To The Word' is released on January 23...

Talking exclusively to NME.COM, Ashcroft explained: 'I've been working on it on and off all year, but the main recording of the songs took just a couple of nights.'

The new album's tracklisting is:

'Why Not Nothing?'
'Music Is Power'
'Break the Night With Colour'
'Words Just Get in the Way'
'Keys to the World'
'Sweet Brother Malcolm'
'Cry Til the Morning'
'Why Do Lovers?'
'Simple Song'
'World Keeps Turning'

http://www.music-news.com/ShowNews.asp?nItemID=8364

and

Gwen Stefani planning No Doubt return:

Gwen Stefani is planning to make another album with No Doubt - despite her success as a solo artist.

The singer, who is currently touring her album 'Love Angel Music Baby' in the US, says she intends to go back into the studio with her band but she doesn't know when at this stage.

She said: "That's the plan. I really didn't know that it would take so long to make 'Love Angel Music Baby'. Then we ended up putting a greatest hits record out and that took up time. We went on tour. It was amazing.

"I never intended for this record to take so long, but I want to ride this wave while it's out there."

The last album the band brought out was 'Rock Steady' three years ago.

http://www.music-news.com/ShowNews.asp?nItemID=8367

and

Rufus Wainwright album:

Rufus Wainwright will release a new album on 28 November 'Want'

The special edition LP will combine his previous 2 albums 'Want 1'and 'Want 2' plus 2 brand new tracks, a cover of Leonard Cohen's Chelsea Hotel #2 and 'In with The Ladies' co-written with Alex Gifford of the Propellerheads.

http://www.music-news.com/ShowNews.asp?nItemID=8369

and

Green Day reveal new album plans:

Green Day have revealed that they will be 'taking their time' writing the follow-up to the hugely successful 'American Idiot'.

The band are also still looking at a full length movie version of their seventh LP, and have said that they will not be rushing into making the follow-up.

"We're gonna take our time," singer Billie Joe Armstrong said. "We'll probably start writing after the first of the year and then just regroup. We've gotta take our time - this year was such a big year for us. I think it's a good time to regroup and have good substance to write about instead of hopping into something really fast."

Despite talks of an 'American Idiot' film, the band say that they are unlikely to be appearing in the flick themselves.

"We're gonna make a movie going along the story of 'American Idiot'," drummer Tre Cool told Xfm. "A rock opera. We need to go home, put some thought into it, talk to directors and writers and get the script together, stuff like that. I don't think that I'm going to have to (be in the film), because we're making the movie and I
wouldn't do that to myself."

Armstrong added: "I'm not an actor at all. I'd rather be behind the writing and the production, and leave the acting to the actors."
Bassist Mike Dirnt has also explained how Green Day dealt with the initial criticism after breaking out of the Californian underground scene to a worldwide fanbase.

He said: "We were so busy concentrating on living our lives and touring and working and growing into who we are as a band. You've gotta put the blinders on sometimes and go forward and say 'To hell with what anyone says'. You've just got to move forward and I think, at the end of the day, I'm glad we're here."

http://www.nme.com/news/green-day/21480

and

All star line up for Peaches album:

The electro-clash star reveals all about her new record -

Peaches has roped in a host of stars to feature on her forthcoming third studio album, due out next April.

Queens Of The Stone Age singer Josh Homme, ex-Hole drummer Sam Maloney and '80s songstress Joan Jett all put in an appearance on the follow up to 2003's 'Fatherfucker' along with Canadian singer-songwriter Feist and Electrocute frontwoman Nicole Morier.

Peaches told Rolling Stone: "The track 'Giver' features Josh (Homme) on guitar. There's a solo that I could play but I couldn't play it like Josh. He learned it in a second, and was playing all over it. It's exciting that I'm branching out. I just want to make things harder. I want to go more hardcore. I just want to make things
harder. I want to go more hardcore."

The singer has been working with Beck producer Mickey Petralia in Los Angeles on the as-yet-untitled album.

Earlier sessions of the LP were recorded in her own Berlin studio with Eagles Of Death metal singer Jesse 'The Devil' Hughes.

Other songs set to feature on the record include 'Hankie Code', 'Stick It to the Pimp' and 'Two Guys for Every Girl'.

Of the latter track, she said: "The lyrics are all real dirty about guys getting down with each other, and then I join in. Everybody fantasises about the two-girl thing - to hell! Guys gotta get sexy with each other!"

http://www.nme.com/news/peaches/21459

and

Hives say that's it for 2005:

But they're already getting ready for next year. The Hives have played their last shows for 2005 and will begin recording the follow up to last years 'Tyrannosaurus Hives' at the start of next year.

Speaking during their recent show in Sydney (October 21), frontman Howlin' Pelle Almqvist told the crowd...that the band were now heading home to spend Christmas in Sweden before beginning work on their next album in January.

http://www.nme.com/news/hives/21430

and

The Vines 'back on track':

'Edgier and wilder' third album in the bag. The Vines have overcome the traumas of recent years and completed their third album.

The band have just completed a four-week stint in Sydney's BJB Studios with producer Wayne Connerly, and made an album he says is "edgier and wilder".

The sessions mark a return to action for the band, who looked on the verge of collapse when frontman Craig Nicholls was diagnosed with Aspergers Syndrome.

"There's a bunch of different styles on this record," Connerly told NME. "He's kind of got a little bit of that space rock stuff but he's also got some really intense wild punk rock, there something very primal about it."

He added: "Then he's got a couple of great Beatles kind of punk rock songs, a bit of sixties beat garage stuff, a couple of really good indie slacker tracks and a bit of soaring pop stuff like that. A few strings. He's always been a really big fan of that lush production, whether it's been obvious in the past."

Working track titles include 'Nothing's Coming', 'Any Sound' and 'Take Me Back'.

And relations within the band are good, says Connerly. "The morale's been really good because they do enjoy recording. It kind of makes it easier for everybody. Craig doesn't really devote himself to the serious issues of the day, he pretty much devotes most of his energy to hiding behind doors and scaring people. It's great to see his eccentric playful side."

However, bass player Patrick Matthews has played a minimal role in the new album, since his side project Youth Group took off.

The album is expected to be released next year, though management have previously gone on record saying that the band will "never" go on a traditional tour again.

http://www.nme.com/news/vines/21426

and

Edith Frost to Release First Album in Four Years

David Maher reports:
2005 has been good to Drag City Records, or maybe it's the other way around. Either way, the label has been putting the "sweet" in "Sweet Home Chicago" all year by releasing albums by highly acclaimed and variously bearded folk-rockers like Bonnie "Prince" Billy, Smog, Six Organs of Admittance, and the Silver Jews.

But there's something missing from this picture. "What is it?" you may ask. Well, aside from David Berman's wife Cassie, there are no women on that list. But have no fear! Edith Frost is returning from a four-year hiatus to play Joanna this year by releasing her fourth album, It's a Game.

The album was recorded with long-time Frost producer Rian Murphy and includes performances by musicians from groups as disparate as Prefuse 73 and The Mekons. Edith becomes eclectic, anyone?. It arrives in stores on November 15, just as Frost's cousin Jack begins to set in on the rest of us. The tracklist is as follows:

01 Emergency
02 It's a Game
03 What's the Use
04 A Mirage
05 Playmate
06 My Lover Won't Call
07 Lucky Charm
08 Larger Than Life
09 Just a Friend
10 If It Weren't for the Words
11 Stars Fading
12 Good to Know
13 Lovin' You Goodbye

* Edith Frost: http://www.edithfrost.com/
* Drag City: http://www.dragcity.com/

http://pitchforkmedia.com/news/05-11/11.shtml#edithfrost

and

Rose Melberg (ex-Softies/Tiger Trap):

Matthew Solarski reports:
Twee as Fuck! That tasty shibboleth greeted you for five consecutive days last week, thanks to Nitsuh Abebe's exhaustive indie pop history, and now you're struck with the urge to scour eBay for early Sarah seven inches, dust off that old cassette recorder, and cry un-ironically. Why not take a moment to brush up on the present exploits of one of the twee subculture's most crushworthy icons?

Enter Miss Rose Melberg, who played with not one but two of indie pop's seminal acts: Tiger Trap and the Softies. Now solo, Rose... Melberg aims to record her second solo album, the follow-up to 1998's Portola. The as-of-yet untitled full-length will see release sometime in 2006 on NYC's Double Agent, also home to the woefully defunct new-wave revivalists My Favorite.

Those pining for a whiff of Rose's recent musical dabblings can promenade on over to Double Agent's website, where Melberg has offered up a free mp3. The song, which she says was "just something I recorded at home on a whim," is a cover of "The Time Has Come" by elusive British folk singer Anne Briggs. Twee as folk?

* Pitchfork Weekly Feature: Twee As Fuck
* Pitchfork Review: The Softies: Holiday in Rhode Island
* Double Agent: http://www.doubleagentrecords.com

http://pitchforkmedia.com/news/05-11/04.shtml#rosemelberg

and

Legendary Punk Band X Hit the Road and Exene Exhibit:

Zach Vowell and Amy Phillips report:
After successfully exorcising their well-honed honky-tonk demons by resurrecting their alt-country alter-ego the Knitters for a reunion album and tour, legendary L.A. band X is grabbing guitarist Billy Zoom and painting the town punk... Juliana Hatfield will serve as the jaunt's opening act.

If November 5 is a bad day for some of you out in Cali, there is a slightly less energetic, and definitely less noisy, alternative. The Santa Monica Museum of Art is displaying a selection of X singer Exene Cervenka's approximately 100 journals, plus some "mixed media collages", in an exhibit called "America the Beautiful", which will
be up until November 26. According to the museum's website, the journals contain "rough drafts of songs and personal reflections rendered in a baroque calligraphic script." We hope that means there's dirt about Cervenka's ex-husbands, X bandmate John Doe and actor Viggio Mortensen, hidden somewhere in the exhibit.

There, we've namedropped every band member but the drummer. D.J. Bonebrake:

Doe himself is heading out on a European trek next week, supporting his latest solo album, Forever Hasn't Happened Yet, which came out on Yep Roc in March. Joining him on most dates are fellow singer/songwriters Peter Case (of the Plimsouls) and Michael Weston King (of the Good Sons).

* X: http://www.xtheband.com

http://pitchforkmedia.com/news/05-11/04.shtml#x

and

Comet Gain Return with New Album on Kill Rock Stars:

David Nadelle reports:
Having evolved from early rumblings of Heavenly-esque workouts, taut British guitar pop, and the odd Northern Soul tribute, Comet Gain has more recently been recording schizophrenic albums reflecting the band's far-flung musical tastes. The group's last two albums, Tigertown Pictures and Realistes took those early tendencies and added sneering toytown political shout-alongs, latent riot grrrl chutzpah, and spoken word poem-songs taken from the misshapen musings of pop addict David Feck. After years of small-time tours with the cream of the British and American indie scenes, the band has finally reached a point where it seems comfortable and confident enough to squirm into any available rabbit hole if it senses too much complacency.

In short, Comet Gain has become an exemplary Kill Rock Stars act. Like those two albums mentioned above, the latest Comet Gain album, City Fallen Leaves, will be released on that label tomorrow, November 8. Here's the tracklist:

01 The Fists in the Pocket
02 Days I Forget to Write Down
03 Daydream Scars
04 Bored Roar
05 Seven Sisters to Silverlake
06 This English Melancholy
07 The Punk Got Fucked
08 The Story of the Vivian Girls
09 Just One More Summer Before I Go
10 Draw a Smile Upon an Egg
11 Fingernailed For You
12 Your Robert!
13 Gone Before We Open Our Eyes
14 Right Now? No
15 The Ballad of a Mix Tape

This is the first of many promised Comet Gain releases to come in the near future. Feck details a number of projects on his rambling press sheet for the new album, including a lost album called Far Out Isn't Far Enough, and a track on a Northern Soul tribute EP tribute out now on Fortuna Pop. Up-and-coming NYC label What's Your Rupture? will release a Comet Gain 12" featuring the songs "Beautiful Despair", "Never Die", and "The White Radiance of Eternity" in December, and Comet Gain/Morrissey/Holly Golightly drummer Woodie Taylor produced the debut album by white-hot Swedish band Love Is All, which will be out on What's Your Rupture? December 12.

* Kill Rock Stars: http://www.killrockstars.com/

http://pitchforkmedia.com/news/05-11/07.shtml#cometgain

and

Slowdive to Receive Reissue Treatment:

Matthew Solarski reports:
Once upon a time in England, that magical island which birthed the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Stephen Patrick Morrissey and, yes, Ali G, four lads and a lass got together and decided to make guitars glimmer and soar like none had before. They were Slowdive, and over the course of a six-year career, the quintet (in various
incarnations) graced us with three glorious full-lengths and a few EPs, and left a patina which continues to imbue the songcraft of countless contemporary acts.

Though often lumped into the same early-90s shoegaze set that included My Bloody Valentine, Curve, Ride, Chapterhouse, Revolver, and the Boo Radleys, Slowdive was treated as revelation by fans.

People cried at their shows, overcome by the compelling pulchritude of Slowdive's music (and, quite possibly, drugs). Folks still clamor for their rarer releases on eBay, while discussion lists and several fansites remain to tout Slowdive long after they dissolved into Mojave 3 and Monster Movie.

Now, hardly a year after the release of Slowdive's 9.5-rated anthology Catch The Breeze, Sanctuary Records plans to treat `gazers young and old with lavish reissues of each of the band's three celebrated full-lengths. Both Just for a Day and Souvlaki will feature bonus discs compiling sought-after EPs. According to Sanctuary, Just for a Day and the bonus discs have been "re-done", but former Slowdive singer/guitarist Neil Halstead saw no need to tinker with Souvlaki or its follow-up, Pygmalion.

Pygmalion, Slowdive's criminally underrated third and final long-player, is the real reissue treat here, as it has been fetching upwards of $50 on a certain e-auction house. The disc's sparse, ambient soundscapes alienated many, including several members of Slowdive, and precipitated the act's demise. Though dismissed in its day, the haunting ultimate opus has since garnered considerable acclaim, with Pitchfork'a Nitsuh Abebe extolling it as a post-rock cornerstone. So, in a small way, this is Big.

Just for a Day is set for a November 14 release, with the other two following shortly. Until that hallowed date arrives, why not turn your gaze to these delectable tracklistings?:

Just For A Day:

Disc 1:
01 Spanish Air
02 Celia's Dream
03 Catch the Breeze
04 Ballad of Sister Sue
05 Erik's Song
06 Waves
07 Brighter
08 The Sadman
09 Primal

Disc 2:
01 Slowdive
02 Avalyn 1
03 Avalyn 2
04 Morningrise
05 She Calls
06 Losing Today
07 Golden Hair
08 Shine
09 Albatross
10 Catch the Breeze (Peel Session)
11 Song 1 (Peel Session)
12 Golden Hair (Peel Session)

Souvlaki:

Disc 1:
01 Alison
02 Machine Gun
03 40 Days
04 Sing
05 Here She Comes
06 Souvlaki Space Station
07 When the Sun Hits
08 Altogether
09 Melon Yellow
10 Dagger

Disc 2:
01 Some Velvet Morning
02 So Tired
03 Moussaka Chaos
04 In Mind
05 Good Day Sunshine
06 Missing You
07 Country Rain
08 In Mind (Bandulu Mix)
09 In Mind (Reload Mix)

Pygmalion:

01 Rutti
02 Crazy gor You
03 Miranda
04 Trellisaze
05 Cello 07 Visions of La
08 Blue Skied An' Clear
09 All of Us

According to Sanctuary, the reissues were overseen by the members of Slowdive and will feature liner notes penned by Melody Maker and NME scribe Ian Watson. According to me, the reissues will also be fecking brilliant. Believe it.

* Slowdive: www.slowdive.co.uk

http://pitchforkmedia.com/news/05-11/07.shtml#slowdive

and

Clearlake Prep Third Album:

Jason Toon reports:
When it comes to album titles, Clearlake is a band of few words. The British quartet debuted with 2000's Lido, added a couple of letters for the 2003 follow-up Cedars, and they've recently announced that their third record, Amber, is on its way, thanks to Domino.

Amber's first single, "Good Clean Fun", will get a proper British release on December 5, with a remix by Caribou as the b-side. Because Clearlake is a rock band, a physical, slap-it-in-the-disc-tray U.S. single is not planned.

Subjects of the Queen will wrap their ears `round the full-length on January 16, while us Yankee Doodle dandies have to wait until January 24 to hear these top choons:

01 No Kind of Life
02 Neon
03 Good Clean Fun
04 Finally Free
05 You Can't Have Me
06 Amber
07 I Hate It That I Got What I Wanted
08 Here to Learn
09 Far Away
10 Dreamt That You Died
11 Widescreen
12 It's Getting Light Outside

So what's this new record all about, then? Guitar-slinging, keyboard-plinging frontbloke Jason Pegg says, "The music we were listening to this time was definitely more rock: Queens of the Stone Age, Neil Young, Low, My Bloody Valentine." We're not sure that really qualifies as news-- Clearlake covered Young's "Cinnamon Girl" on a
2001 single, and MBV and Low aren't exactly in another galaxy from Clearlake's sound thus far.

More headline-worthy, perhaps, is the album's production team of Pegg, the well-traveled Steve Osborne (New Order, Happy Mondays), and hot younger knobtweaker Jim Abbiss (Kasabian, Arctic Monkeys), augmented by the nigh-unto-legendary engineer Phil Brown (who's worked with Bob Marley and Jimi Hendrix, as well as various other
still-living icons). The stories those guys could tell, if only they could talk...oh, wait, they probably can.

Although founding guitarist and longtime friend of Pegg's Sam Hewitt does play on Amber, he has left the band, according to an otherwise tight-lipped official announcement. We can only hope Hewitt doesn't do anything goofy like break into his former bandmate's apartment and steal stuff to pawn for drug money, but then that might get Clearlake in the tabloids. Recent dates have been played as a trio, and the
band plans to find a replacement by the beginning of their planned February tour. We recommend either Mick Jones from the Clash or Mick Jones from Foreigner.

* Clearlake: http://www.clearlake.uk.com
* Domino: http://www.dominorecordco.us

http://pitchforkmedia.com/news/05-11/10.shtml#clearlake

and

Elf Power Touring in Support of Forthcoming Album:

Chris Rediske reports:
Neutral Milk Hotel is (presumably) no more, the Apples in Stereo haven't released an album in nearly four years, and though Olivia Tremor Control did play All Tomorrow's Parties (at the behest of the ever-so-convincing Vincent Gallo) and a few subsequent reunion shows, odds on a new OTC album are pretty damn low.

However, years after the demise of the Elephant 6 collective, Elf Power continue to pump out quality records, tour their asses off, and, in the case of Elf Power leader Andrew Rieger, run Orange Twin, a record label and "pedestrian-based eco-village." It's a busy life.

Pitchfork spoke to Rieger via email about Elf Power's current U.S. tour and upcoming full-length, which you probably didn't even know existed. Well, surprise! Rieger says they've just completed recording their as-yet-untitled eighth album, with a lineup that includes multi-instrumentalists Laura Carter and Derek Almstead, bassist Bryan
Poole, guitarist Jimmy Hughes, drummer Josh Lott, John Fernandes of Olivia Tremor Control on violin, Heather McIntosh of Japancakes on cello, and Deanna Varagonna of Lambchop on saxophone. As far as the sound of the new record, Rieger quotes fan comments like "evil gypsy music" and "R.E.M.'s Chronic Town meets Bob Dylan's Desire."

"It's definitely folkier and more orchestrated than the last few Elf Power records," Rieger continues, "though this album still rocks pretty hard at times, in... a face-melting psychedelic manner. There's lots of 12-string acoustic guitar, accordion, cello, and violin arrangements, which gives the tunes somewhat of a rockin' gypsy music flavor." According to Reiger, they're still figuring out which label to release it on, though it should be out in Spring 2006, after which they'll spend the better part of the year touring.

Rieger also set us up with the tracklist for the upcoming record, and since we like you...:

01 Come Lie Down With Me (and Sing My Song)
02 An Old Familiar Scene
03 Rolling Black Water
04 King of Earth
05 Peel Back the Moon, Beware
06 23RD Dream
07 Somewhere Down the River
08 The Spider and the Fly
09 Forming
10 All the World Is Waiting
11 Under the Northern Sky
12 Come Back to the Web

* Elf Power: http://www.elfpower.com
* Orange Twin: http://www.orangetwin.com

http://pitchforkmedia.com/news/05-11/10.shtml#elfpower

and from band Profiles at MySpace.com:

Clair Voyant are working on a new album titled Lustre.

Classic US-shoegazers Alison's Halo duo Adam and Catherine have reformed under the band name Lochheed.

Bethany Curve are working on their 6th album

Great thanks go to Jen, she knows who she is...