A year ago, when Shana Morrison sat down for an interview about her then-forthcoming latest release “Joyride,” her once-flowing auburn tresses were trimmed to a no-nonsense business bob that barely touched her shoulders. The ’do went with the territory, she explained. She’d just left a Silicon Valley startup company where he’d been punching the 9-5 clock, fully vested and eager to get back to music again. After all, as the daughter of reigning Celtic/blues king Van Morrison, she couldn’t deny her regal rock heritage for very long.
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Zero hour for all you slaver-jowled Oasis boosters has finally arrived. Next Tuesday, Beady Eye — the remaining members after songwriter Noel Gallagher’s departure, including co-guitarists Andy Bell and Gem Archer, along that mouthiest of malcontent Mancunians, Noel’s vocalist kid brother Liam — are finally unleashing their “Different Gear, Still Speeding” debut on the world (via — what else? — their own Beady Eye Records imprint).
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Back in 1998, Michael Gira, in a unique method, announced the breakup of his cryptic alternative outfit Swans by issuing an anthology of its best live work under the clinical title “Swans Are Dead” — an epitaph if ever there was one. Then he split with his longtime bandmate-partner Jarboe, began signing artists like Lisa Germano, Wooden Wand and Devendra Banhart to his offbeat imprint Young God Records, and carried on for five albums with his next group, Angels of Light.
But only a year ago, Gira’s MySpace page bore an eerie message: “Swans are not dead.”
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Yes, it’s coming, downloader’s: that strange, annual 24-hour period where you actually might want to switch off the iTunes and leave the house, AKA Record Store Day, on April 16. And the posh, always top-quality imprint Mute, at least, is making it well worth your while. They’re issuing a special LP/CD release called “Vorwarts,” in a limited, hand-numbered edition of only 1,000, on orange vinyl, no less. So what artists are involved?
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Guinness-powered Irish-American rockers the Dropkick Murphys have always been something of a working-class phenomenon. And now, they’re not just pleasing the blue-collar masses with an anthemic new album, “Going Out In Style,” released March 1 on their own Born & Bred Records.
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Sunny-voiced Bethany Cosentino might be the most in-demand collaborator in modern music. The Best Coast singer’s roster of recent outside assignments includes recordings with Black Iris (“When Will I Feel Love”), Weezer (“Go Away”), Kid Cudi and Vampire Weekend’s Rostam Batmanglij (“All Summer,” tracked for Converse shoes), and Britain’s brilliant Go! Team (“Rolling Blackouts” and “Buy Nothing Day”). But she’s even more famous as indie rock’s reigning Crazy Cat Lady, whose pampered feline Snacks — featured on the cover of Best Coast’s “Crazy for You” — has his own Twitter account.
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So you’ve caught the pair of glittery Prince concerts in the Bay Area this week, right? But you say you still want more? Gather ’round, all you gluttons for punishment, because — believe it or not — still more lilac-themed madness is on its way.
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It’s another one of those names on a marquee that you could easily overlook — Gold Motel. But take a second look when you see it at Slim’s next Monday, Feb. 28 — it’s actually the sunny new Cali-pop side project from Chicago artist Greta Morgan, of Hush Sound renown. And they’re backing a Best Coast-ish debut disc called, quite aptly, “Summer House.” Morgan, nee Salpeter, literally changed her entire life to arrive at this new outlet.
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Some folks might be wondering what in the heck ever happened to that nutty singer-actress-comedian Judy Tenuta?Did she and Emo Phillips hop in a balloon, Lucky Charms-style, and just fly away?
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Having first interviewed these guys on their native turf in Manchester, at the tiny Night And Day Café where their career began, it’s truly great to note just how popular the prog-minded Elbow has finally become. They just played a hometown stadium gig before 17,000 ardent fans.
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The past year has been a banner one for Justin Townes Earle.The 29-year-old twangsmith landed a cameo on HBO’s New Orleans-based drama “Treme,” playing guitar behind the troubadour character Harley — played by his real-life father, Steve Earle.GQ Magazine just named him one of 2010’s 25 Best Dressed Men, thanks to his angular Billy Reid-designed suits. And he’s just made the best album of his career, the R&B-meets-Carter-Family-ish new “Harlem River Blues” on Bloodshot. All rock-solid reasons to be cheerful.
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She could’ve just rested on the gilded laurels of “Music For Men,” her year-old breakthrough album with her bracing band Gossip. But plus-sized frontvixen Beth Ditto has been busy on a variety of fronts.
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Want to see an arena-huge UK combo in a relatively small San Francisco space? Trust us — it’ll be worth your while to head down to the Rickshaw Stop next Monday, Feb. 28, for a compressed edition of Scotland’s stadium-filling supergroup Biffy Clyro, who hammer out a unique Helmet-intricate brand of heavy metal with jazz–meticulous precision.
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If you start doing the math, it will add up pretty clearly. Why is Death Cab for Cutie frontman Ben Gibbard suddenly materializing out of a long hibernation to close Noise Pop next Sunday at the Great American Music Hall?
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Talk about your strange pairings. Lenny Kravitz has chosen an unusual method for announcing his upcoming ninth salvo, the summer-released “Black And White America” on Roadrunner/Atlantic. He’s hooking up with the NBA.
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