Artist name: The Raconteurs
Album name: Consolers of the Lonely
Label: Warner Bros. Records
Gender: Alternative/Blues
Release date: March 25, 2008
ZMErating: 9/10
Website: www.theraconteurs.com

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Two years ago Jack White announced his latest side project, The Raconteurs, with a bang, after the group’s debut record “Broken Boy Soldiers” was very well received. Partly, of course, because of White Stripes‘ high notoriety and cult like following. Now, the band has reached record number two in the form of “Consolers of the Lonely.” First off, I think it’s better you try to erase any preconceptions and previous notions of The Raconteurs from your head, as this sophomore release is significantly more different then anything they’ve put out before. Broken Boy Soldiers had a set sound that carried though the entire listen, which although was great and catchy, tended to get highly repetitive after a while, Consolers however is so beautifully diverse, packed with tons of different kind of tunes from 70’s classic blues, to garage rock, to pretty pop.

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Just yesterday I was saddened but not surprised to see Velvet Revolver kicking Scott Weiland out of the band. They claim that his lifestyle was almost unbearable, complaining about trips to rehab and that kind of stuff; but it’s only fair that the man speaks up for himself. dished

Billboard reports that Weiland was very upset about the statement questioning his commitment to the group, when he said that the group was already dead, on March 20 in Glasgow. Weiland said of the band’s statement:

“I have to say it is a blatant and tired excuse to cover up the truth. The truth of the matter is that the band had not gotten along on multiple levels for some time.”
He continued: “On a musical level, there were moments of joy, inspiration, fun… at times, but let’s not forget the multiple trips to rehab every member of the band had taken (with the exception of one member, no need to mention his name).”

He’s on tour with STP (Stone Temple Pilots), and continues to fire against his former band. He says playing with STP is a big change from playing with “a handful of discontents who at one time used to call themselves a gang”. Now now, no need to get rude.

Well we haven’t heard anything about Oasis for quite a while, that is if you don’t count the fact that Noel Gallagher sold his house because of James Blunt. But we know they’ve been working hard on their album.

Whatsmore, now they announced that they’re going to hit the road again; actually they are coming to North America this summer for a short run of dates that will culminate with a headlining performance at Toronto’s Virgin Festival. Ryan Adams and the Cardinals will be special guests on concerts ahead of the Sept. 7 Virgin Festival.

Meanwhile, the Gallaghers are keeping themselves busy; they released their first digital single, “Lord Don’t Slow Me Down,” which comes from the double-DVD of the same name. You can listen to it at their myspace page.

Here are the tour dates:
08/26 - Seattle, WA - WaMu Theater
08/27 - Vancouver, British Columbia - GM Place
08/29 - Edmonton, Alberta - Rexall Place
08/30 - Calgary, Alberta - Pengrowth Saddledome
09/07 - Toronto, Ontario - Toronto Island Park/Virgin Festival

Well, we’ve written a lot about Velvet Revolver, because one thing’s for sure: keeping a supergroup together is hard. Scott Weiland has always been a nut job really agitated guy, getting involved into all sort of problems. But the man’s a great frontman, you have to give him credit for that.

So, ever since he drove drunk and it was announced that the Stone Temple Pilots were reuniting, things started going downhill. Still, things seemed to be getting better and it was even believed that they would open for Led Zep.

Then, the rumors started. Now, the other four founding members of the rock band made it official that they were splitting up (just with Weiland). Velvet Revolver was confronted from the start with Weiland’s drug and legal problems as it juggled performance schedules, recording sessions and promotional work to accommodate his court dates and rehab.

Well I’m not sure how this leaves the band, especially as Slash says he wants to make a solo effort. But still, I have faith that they’re gonna go over this, find another singer and go with it. Btw… how would Velvet Revolver look like with Sebastian Bach as a frontman ?! That would be the booooomb!!!

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member says he wants to take things to the extreme with his new album, despite the title of the album is “Keep It Simple”. Well he’s always been one to keep his word, so we’re really expecting to see the results.

This is in fact his first set of self wrote-songs since 2005, and the release is going to focus on laid-back soul and relaxed blues grooves through all eleven cuts. From what I’ve listened to so far, his voice is as distinctive as ever, flexible and expressive.

The tracks seem to be just like late-night improvisation, the lyrics just lovely you would expect a ravashing performance. But… it’s as if it’s not quite finished.

Too often, the result is like an underdeveloped photograph. The images could be interesting if brought into focus. But the process stops too early, leaving everything fuzzy and ultimately less than it should be. We’ll be back with more resources really soon.

Alt rock icons R.E.M. have had their share of clumsy release lately, more exactly in the last 10 years since former drummer Bill left the band. Now with their new album Accelerate, the Georgian trio intendeds to get back on the saddle and taste again some of that late ’80s success. After all Accelerate is a return to the roots records, so all odds are in their favor, that is if things didn’t change a bit in the last 20 years and well they have. Anyway, the band did a very good job at the latest edition of La Blogotheque’s Take Away Show, where they played six new songs from the new album, in acoustic mode.

The band, consisting of Michael Stipe, Peter Buck, and Mike Mills, where filmed in their hometown of Athens, Ga., by the new notorious Vincent Moon, in his characteristic cinematic and lighting vision. I was particularly impressed by the trio’s live rendition of “Until the Day Is Done,” a acoustic song from Accelerate that matched perfectly the Take Away Show’s format. Then there’s “Living Well is the Best Revenge,” an acoustic song performed in a station wagon, very fun, although it doesn’t beat this or this. Bellow you can watch two of the six videos, the rest at The Take Away Show.

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The Irish quartet, after releasing three smashing LPs in the Eire and gaining a massive following by doing so, are set to attack the US market as well. They’ve already gained a bit of attention lately with some of their songs being featured on popular TV series like The O.C. or Grey’s Anatomy and their third album, Flock (platinum in Ireland) has just been released in the US. Look out for Bell X-1 on airwaves and TV, cause they’ll be huge anytime.

When I read about this, two ideas slammed into the walls of my brain: “great” and “blasphemy”. I mean, Queen without Freddie is like a party without booze, yet who wouldn’t go to such a gig, even just to hear Brian May do his thing? Now don’t get me wrong, I have absolutely nothing against Paul Rodgers… he’s great! But filling the shoes of a man who undoubtely was among the best frontmen in the world (probably even the best)… is not something you can get away with.

Let’s start with the facts, shall we? Brian May, Roger Taylor and Paul Rodgers have recorded their first album’s worth of material, jointly written and produced. While the title has not yet been announced, the album is being readied for release September 1, two weeks ahead of the start of the tour.

The tour, aye… They haven’t been on the tour since the Freddie days. This time, it’s going to last 4 months. But another interesting thing is that bassist John Deacon, who retired from the music business in the late 1990s, will not take part in the tour. While I have to say that he could have given the music industry and fans so much, I totally understand this decision, and the amount of respect I feel is only equaled by the sadness that I won’t see him perform again. Anyway, one question still bugs me: how come they’re still called ‘Queen’, without half of the members? I agree that Brian is the brain of the band; but Freddie was definetly its heart and Deacon was its lungs. What can you do without your heart and lungs? A transplant, I have to say. But ‘Queen + Paul Rodgers’ is a satisfying compromise, nonetheless, at least for some. Tour dates are as follow:
Leg 1:
09/16 - Moscow SCO Olympic Arena, Russia
09/17 - Moscow SCO Olympic Arena, Russia
09/20 - Gdansk Shipyard, Poland
09/21 - Berlin Velodrom, Germany
09/23 - Antwerp Sportspaleis, Belgium
09/24 - Paris Bercy, France
09/26 - Rome Palalottomatica, Italy
09/28 - Verona Arena, Italy
09/29 - Zurich Hallenstadion, Switzerland
10/01 - Munich Olympiahalle, Germany
10/02 - Mannheim SAP Arena, Germany
10/04 - Hannover TUI Arena, Germany
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Well 2007 was a year of reunions and it seems this year is going in the same direction. Now, the latest name that hit that list is English rock band formed in Wigan, the Verve.

They haven’t started a tour in more than 10 years, but they already announced thier North American tour will start at The Warfield in San Francisco, CA on April 23rd, warming up for its performance at the Coachella Valley Music Urban Hymns, which has sold eight million copies worldwide. Sounds really great!

It seems the fans agree with me, as their tickets were sold out in slightly less than 20 minutes! NME claimed that this is “The only reunion tour that could put Zeppelin in the shade kicks off and leaves us in no doubt: this is History” ! Their shows are as good as ever and they seem to have sumed up a great deal of energy.

Comprised of Richard Ashcroft (lead vocals), Simon Jones (bass), Nick McCabe (guitar) and Peter Salisbury (drums), The Verve formed in 1990 while the four were at college in Wigan, an industrial town in Greater Manchester county. But without wasting you any more time, here’s the tour dates:
04/23 - San Francisco, CA, The Warfield
04/25 - Indio, CA, Coachella Valley Music
04/26 - Las Vegas, NV, The Pearl Concert Theater at Palms Casino Resort
04/28 - New York, NY, WaMu Theatre at Madison Square Garden
04/29 - New York, NY, WaMu Theatre at Madison Square Garden
05/01 - Toronto, ON, Ricoh Coliseum

In the last few days a wave of violence has swept the Mexican state, aimed at a subculture of Mexican youth going by the label of emo. This all started about two weeks ago in, the otherwise quiet, colonial capital of Queretaro, when mobs of people attacked groups of emos, in an attempt to force them out of the city’s main plaza. The movement soon spread to the nation’s capital of Mexico City, when emos that were hanging out around Insurgentes Metro stop were attacked by gangs of punks and soccer fans.

Emo kids are easy to recognize due to their highly specific fashion style (black clothes, tight jeans, huge bangs, black eye makeup), as well as behavior. They’re characterized by a general state of depression and a sense of being not understood. Self mutilations and suicide attempts are common among the more hard followers. The whole emo movement has been detested for a pretty long time in Mexico, but up till now was mildly tolerated and ignored. The last drop to fill the glass though, was a recent videocast by popular local VJ, named Kristoff, who expressed a serious dose of anti-emo rhetoric and switched to English to say, on network television, “Fucking bullshit” referring to the emo movement.

Blogs, myspace pages, forums and various other internet websites, in Mexico, are all filled  anti-emo message, proving there’s a somewhat nation-wide spread anger.  Here’s just a few examples:

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