Search Results for: r.e.m.

Think of it as mixtapes made by famous people. The North Carolina-based indie record label Merge is launching a limited-edition series of CDs curated by famous folks like Saturday Night Live’s Amy Poehler, David Byrne, R.E.M.’s Peter Buck, novelist Jonathan Lethem and others. The 14 discs of SCORE! Merge Records: The First 20 Years will feature music from the label’s catalog and begin rolling out through 2009. The subscription-only series will also benefit causes chosen by the celebs. The label has released music from Bright Eye’s Conor Oberst, Arcade FIre, the Magnetic Fields, Superchunk, Zooey Deschanel’s duo She & Him… Read more »

While millions around the world spent Sunday watching the closing ceremony of the Beijing Olympics, 7,000 fans lucky enough to score a ticket to Radiohead’s show at the Hollywood Bowl witnessed not only a band at the top of its game but also an act that at times seemed to be the best on the planet. Certainly that’s high praise, but during its two-hour set — the first of two sold-out nights at the Bowl — the quintet from Oxford, England, managed to cast a spell over the crowd without resorting to fist-pumping anthems like U2, Bruce Springsteen, Pearl Jam… Read more »

You’ll usually find R.E.M. playing arenas and esteemed concert halls. But this week, the rock hall of famers were among the acts trying to catch a break and artists looking to build their audience at the sprawling South by Southwest music festival. The multiplatinum rockers played Stubbs BBQ shortly after midnight Wednesday before an energetic crowd of a couple thousand, marking the first time they’ve played the annual extravaganza in their nearly three-decade career. But it’s hardly a downgrade: Playing a showcase at SXSW has often been a way for a veteran act to make a big splash with a… Read more »

BURBANK, CA–May 3, 2007 — Following on the heels of a triumphant appearance at this year’s Coachella Valley Music and Arts festival, Jack’s Mannequin, the side project of Something Corporate singer-keyboardist Andrew McMahon, will make the rounds of this summer’s major music festivals, including The Bamboozle in East Rutherford, NJ, on May 6th, Summerfest in Milwaukee, WI, on June 28th, and Lollapalooza in Chicago, IL, on August 3rd. McMahon formed Jack’s Mannequin with guitarist Bobby Anderson, bassist Jonathan Sullivan, and drummer Jay McMillan in Orange County, CA, in 2004. In June 2005, the day the band finished mastering the last… Read more »

Sensing a revolution in the way Internet traffic is managed, rock musicians find themselves in the unusual position of defending the status quo. Independent, lesser-known musicians and smaller record labels launched a nationwide campaign Tuesday to support the idea that all Internet traffic should be treated equally, which they said is under fire from providers who want to charge a fee to have some Web sites load faster than others. The Rock the Net campaign, made up mostly of musicians who are on smaller record labels or none at all, said they’re fearful that if the so-called “Net neutrality” principle… Read more »

Few things are sadder than aging punk rockers attempting to cash in on their misspent youth, especially their desperate act of trying to recapture the glory days of fickle preadolescents with disposable incomes. Such is the lot of Good Charlotte and Simple Plan, purveyors of a Splenda version of pop-punk so lightweight that only Top 40 radio will touch it. Not that the bands resemble glossy pop stars, per se: GC’s members look like thugged-out suburbanites who overdosed at the tattoo parlor, and the Plansters are the mischievous skater kids hellbent on crashing keggers thrown by the football jocks. Good… Read more »

Yes, Bright Eyes just finished a tour in support of their acoustic-based I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning LP last month. But indefatigable frontman Conor Oberst is hitting the road again next month with friends/Saddle Creek labelmates the Faint; this tour will focus on Bright Eyes’ other new LP, the more experimental, electronic Digital Ash in a Digital Urn. The Faint will be pulling double duty throughout the entire tour, playing their own set and serving as Oberst’s backing band, along with cellist Gretta Cohn from Cursive, guitarist Nick Zinner from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and others. The 30-date trek begins… Read more »

Hoboken, N.J. – The brooding kid hailed as rock’s next musical genius slouches next to the bar at a tiny, smoky club. No one notices. Not even this crowd of indie music fans recognizes Conor Oberst, the 24-year-old sensation behind Bright Eyes who’s been pegged as this generation’s Bob Dylan, putting words and melody behind those tormented emotions the rest of us struggle to describe. He pops up on stage to join his friends, Yo La Tengo, for their encore. Then he slides back into the crowd, just another skinny guy in jeans and a black hoodie. But the days… Read more »

SANTA MONICA, Calif. – The evolution of digital downloads marks another milestone on November 23, 2004, with the debut of UMe Digital, the world’s first all-digital download label from a major music company. UMe Digital product – individual songs, EPs, and full-length albums – will be distributed exclusively online. With its unparalleled music and video marketing capabilities and the power and scope of UMe to place songs in films and TV shows and commercials, UMe Digital offers unprecedented access and exposure for artists. The releases on UMe Digital will be consistent with UMe’s philosophy of marketing established acts and acts… Read more »

In an effort to stop the wholesale looting of U2’s forthcoming ‘How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb’ by illicit file-sharers, the band has partnered with MTV.com and VH1.com for exclusive, and legal, online streaming of the new album. Ever since an unfinished copy of the album went missing in France in July, the band and its label have been bracing for the album to hit the net before the Nov. 23 release date. Then last week, songs from the band’s eagerly anticipated 11th studio set began circulating online. While it’s not known for certain whether the AWOL copy was the… Read more »