Box Set from Blur! 18 cds and 3 DVDs!

21 years since the release of their debut album Leisure in 1991 and due to popular demand, Blur's body of work has been personally compiled by the band and gathered together in one box, due out July 31st (US).  18 cds and 3 DVD!

All seven studio albums are collected with over 5½ hours of unreleased material including 65 previously unreleased tracks and more than twice as many rarities, 3 DVDs, a collector's edition book featuring rare and unseen photos and a new and exclusive interview with the band, and a special limited edition 7-inch vinyl featuring a track recorded under the band's original name, Seymour. The box will also include a digital download code for the albums and all bonus material.

The collection - which sees the first 5 albums re-mastered by Frank Arkwright in Abbey Road Studios - has been fully overseen by Graham Coxon and producer Stephen Street.

Highlights of the box include early versions of tracks recorded for Leisure, bare bones early demos of the classic singles 'For Tomorrow' and 'Beetlebum', previously unheard songs 'Saturday Morning' and 'Hope You Find Your Suburbs' and never released sessions with Bill Laswell and the legendary session with XTC's Andy Partridge. Other rarities are 'Don't Bomb When You're The Bomb', 'The Wassailling Song' and 'Fools Day' which appear on CD for the first time. DVD material includes Live at Alexandra Palace 1994 and Live at Wembley 'The Singles Night' 1999.

In addition to the 21-disc Deluxe Box Set, all 7 studio albums will be available individually, each with a second disc of b-sides, previously hard-to-find tracks and exclusive bonus material.

A vinyl box set will also be available, with six of the seven albums on double-vinyl, highlighting iconic artwork and visuals from Banksy, David Shrigley and Graham Coxon among others. The vinyl box set will include a download code to access all of the bonus material digitally. Each of the 7 LPs will also be available separately on heavyweight vinyl.

Blur's 7 studio albums are: Leisure (1991), Modern Life Is Rubbish (1993), Parklife (1994), The Great Escape (1995), Blur (1997), 13 (1999) and Think Tank (2003).

All the information/track listing etc for the set can be found right here

Vintage Punk Rock - The Guns!

So in 1982 a bunch of 12-15 year olds called "The Guns" had their debut performance at "The BEer Bash" which was in the home of a Cleveland band "Spike in Vain".  One show did it all
The performance generated an instant following for the band because of songs like "I'm Not Right," about a lack of acceptance from their peers, and "Locked Inside," about feeling trapped without adult freedoms.

The trio immediately started gigging at places like The Pop Shop, a club that was in the basement of the larger Agora venue; The Cleveland Underground, a bar in The Flats that was a strip club up to the moment the bands came in (meaning bands played with stripper poles between themselves and the audience); The Lakefront, a derelict hole-in-the-wall of a bar just a couple blocks up from where Cleveland Browns Stadium now stands...

Smog Veil Records reissue of the album is coming soon.  Check out
"I'm Not Right" (audio only via You Tube) to hear some really great 80's punk.

Jeremy Fisher - Mint Julep. Steam track/bluegrass

I've warmed up a lot this year to acoutic/bluegrass type stuff.

After four albums and two Juno award nominations, this album extends the path that Fisher has already created. The acoustic-driven collection of 12 songs reunites Fisher with his folk-drenched musical roots and is a veritable throwback to the golden era of the singer-songwriter.

Check out "Built To Last"

I know a few of you will really dig....

New Music coming from Matt + Kim!

LIGHTNING OUT OCTOBER 2nd

Matt and Kim announce an October 2nd release date for their new album Lightning on FADER Label. Written and produced by Matt and Kim, Lightning was recorded by the Brooklyn duo in their Grand Street apartment and features ten outstanding tracks written in true Matt and Kim fashion.

Drawing from their powerful live shows, while still adhering to their minimal two-person studio approach, Matt and Kim set out to create their most diverse, realized, and at times raw release to date with Lightning.

With the album  now finished, the indie dance duo are currently working up an exciting new stage show for the fall
.
Lightning follows Matt and Kim's third full-length Sidewalks, which debuted at #1 on the iTunes Alternative Chart, hit #3 on their Top 200, received huge praise from the likes of SPIN, Entertainment Weekly, and Billboard, and found them selling out two headlining US tours. They also brought their high-energy live show on an arena tour with blink-182 and My Chemical Romance and performed on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and Last Call with Carson Daly.

Fall tour to be announced soon.

Lightning Track Listing:

1. Lets Go
2. Now
3. It's Alright
4. Not That Bad
5. Overexposed
6. I Said
7. Tonight
8. I Wonder
9. Much Too Late
10. 10 Dollars I Found
Official Site and Facebook

New Music from Circa Survive. Tour and Album info

New Album "Violent Waves" due in stores on August 28, 2012.

If you like "spacy/proggy rock" check em out.  This is the bands fourth album and they've decided to
self-finance, self-produce, and self-release Violent Waves with no record label at all.

400K+ albums sold in the US!
This is the lead off single called "Suitcase"

They're doing a full U.S. Tour in the fall - all dates are listed below:

8/24 - Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer
8/25 - Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer
9/13 - New Haven, CT @ Toad's Place
9/14 - New York, NY @ Terminal 5
9/15 - Boston, MA @ House of Blues
9/16 - Baltimore, MD @ Ram's Head Live
9/18 - Norfolk, VA @ The Norva
9/19 - Charlotte, NC @ Amos' Southend
9/21 - Atlanta, GA @ Center Stage
9/22 - Orlando, FL @ Beacham Theatre
9/23 - Ft. Lauderdale, FL @ Revolution
9/26 - Nashville, TN @ Cannery Ballroom
9/28 - New Orleans, LA @ House of Blues
9/29 - Houston, TX @ House of Blues
9/30 - Dallas, TX @ House of Blues
10/2 - Austin, TX @ Emo's East
10/3 - San Antonio, TX @ Sunset Station
10/5 - Tempe, AZ @ The Marquee
10/7 - Pomona, CA @ Fox Theater
10/10 - Los Angeles, CA @ Club Nokia at L.A. Live
10/11 - San Francisco, CA @ The Regency
10/12 - Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom
10/13 - Seattle, WA @ Showbox at the Market
10/15 - Salt Lake City, UT @ In The Venue
10/16 - Denver, CO @ The Summit Music Hall
10/18 - Lawrence, KS @ The Granada
10/19 - Minneapolis, MN @ Cabooze on the West Bank
10/20 - Chicago, IL @ Vic Theatre
10/21 - Pontiac, MI @ The Crofoot
10/24 - Cleveland, OH @ House of Blues
10/25 - Buffalo, NY @ Town Ballroom
10/26 - Syracuse, NY @ Westcott Theater

The band on line: Official Site and or/Facebook

So whats been cookin?

So, what is up?  How you been?  Quiet around here I take?  Okay, lets try to have some fun.

How has your summer been? Its early on so there is time to catch that sunburn and get those bug bites.

So far 2012 has seen a lot of cd releases and I've been very excited with the output. Few records have disappointed

Here is what I am looking forward to in the second half of the year.

No strangers to this blog are Boston Post rockers Caspian .  Hopeful for an early fall release by all accounts. More on that once I hear. Irish band "Therapy?" has been churning out records for years and have been ignored here in the US (hence no Boston show since 2001). I am 99% sure the record is out I just need to order it. Dead Can Dance are due with a new record in August (with tour but no Boston show) and there are strong indications that The Sword, Maserati, The Avett Brothers,

The Sea and Cake, Dinosaur Jr., Band of Horses and Animal Collective will have things out in September.

Other stuff that may see a release here that I am curious about are Codes in the Clouds  and Goonies Never Say Die

On the live show front been a little light this year for me with 8 shows in the books but the summer in to the fall is really heating up. There are always things I'd “like” to go to.

And So I Watch You From Afar  play TT The Bears Place  on July 26^th and then

Built to Spill  stop by the The Met Cafe  Providence on August 31^st, but the same night is rumblings of Caspian opening for Arms and Sleepers  at TT the Bears.    What to do what to do.......

Life is Good Festival returns for two days in September. I have some media pass requests in now so I am hopeful. The line up is very strong. Then, Monday right after I hit the TD Garden  for Peter Gabriel as he does “So” in full. The night after that I'd love to see the Alan Evans Trio  at the Met Cafe, but...I might find myself a single man by then. The following Monday God Speed You Black Emperor come to the Orpheum Theater

Toss a few jazz shows in there as well as Bob Mould  doing his "Copper Blue" (Sugar)
album in full..and just about anything else you can toss my way.

I told a buddy that all bands that I like need to NOT book shows From September 1^st to October 20^th. I want to see stuff, but they are piling up!

As always I'll try to post more on Caspian news cuz I just dig em way too much and there will be more on Life is Good.

Hopefully updates a little more often...but then again I always say that.

Thanks for stopping over.