TICKETNATION

Ticketmaster & Live Nation are in talks to merge. It could happen as early as this week - read this article for all the deets!

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/05/business/05ticket.html?ref=business

ABSOLUTE LILY

Lily Allen was recently on the UK's Absolute Radio where she was interviewed and performed a few new tracks from her album 'It's Not Me, It's You'. Watch Lily perform "22", "The Fear" and "He Wasn't There" here: http://www.absoluteradio.co.uk/player/6508/zoo_session.html:hd

Check out the interview here: http://www.absoluteradio.co.uk/player/6487/interview_with_geoff_lloyd.html

NPR @ SXSW WITH THE DECEMBERISTS

NPR MUSIC PRESENTS SOUTH BY SOUTHWEST SHOWCASE
WITH THE DECEMBERISTS, MARCH 18 AT STUBBS

THE DECEMBERISTS TO GIVE FIRST LIVE PERFORMANCE

OF ENTIRE NEW ALBUM THE HAZARDS OF LOVE

NPR Music and Five NPR Member Stations

To Live Broadcast, Webcast and Podcast Entire Show

February 2, 2009; Washington, D.C. – NPR Music will present a South by Southwest showcase headlined by The Decemberists at Stubbs on Wednesday, March 18, kicking off the opening night of this year’s SXSW Music Conference and Festival in Austin, TX. The concert will mark the Portland-based band’s first live performance of its forthcoming album The Hazards of Love, which The Decemberists will debut in its entirety. Additional bands in the lineup, and NPR Music’s complete schedule of events at SXSW 2009, are to be announced.

Following the popularity of its concerts and on-air and online coverage at SXSW last year, NPR Music will live webcast and broadcast the entire concert. The concert will be streamed live, podcast and archived at www.NPR.org/music, and will be available for broadcast on NPR Member stations across the country. As in years past, NPR Music is partnering with five NPR Member stations – KUT Austin, WFUV New York, WXPN Philadelphia, KEXP Seattle and The Current from Minnesota Public Radio – to offer extensive coverage of the influential music festival on-air and online.

At SXSW, The Decemberists will perform all 17 songs from The Hazards of Love in sequence –how the band intends for the record to be heard. The Hazards of Love, out March 24 from Capitol Records, is the follow up to the quintet’s 2006 breakthrough The Crane Wife, and augments the band’s standing as one of the most creative forces in music. This album tells the tale of a woman named Margaret who is ravaged by a shape-shifting animal; her lover, William; a forest queen; and a cold-blooded, immoral rake. Joining The Decemberists members Colin Meloy, Chris Funk, Jenny Conlee, Nate Query and John Moen on stage at Stubbs will be Lavendar Diamond’s Becky Stark and My Brightest Diamond’s Shara Worden, who lend leading vocals to the album.

NPR Music’s broadcast and webcast of the concert will be anchored by Bob Boilen, host and creator of the popular show All Songs Considered and its Live in Concert series. Joining Bob will be NPR Music blogger Carrie Brownstein and David Brown, host of Austin Music Unlimited on KUT in Austin. “Usually, you go to a concert to hear your favorite band perform your favorite songs, but this 17 song journey will be a completely new to the audience,” says Bob Boilen. “It’s going to be so much fun to see everyone experience this absolutely epic and fun song cycle performed live for the first time.” Boilen announced the SXSW show on today’s episode of All Songs Considered, which features a track – “The Rake’s Song” – off The Hazards of Love. The All Songs episode is available at: www.NPR.org/allsongs

Last year, NPR Music and the five stations live webcast and broadcast 14 of the most anticipated concerts from SXSW, among them R.E.M., My Morning Jacket and Vampire Weekend. NPR Music’s daytime concert at The Parish was one of the festival’s must-hears, with headliners Vampire Weekend joined by Bon Iver, Yeasayer, The Shout Out Louds, Jens Lekman and A.A. Bondy. Those concerts, along with artist interviews and live audio and video performance sessions, are archived at: www.NPR.org/sxsw

NPR Music is a multimedia music site that features content from NPR and 12 NPR Member public radio stations, including live performances, studio sessions, exclusive first listens to new albums, interviews, reviews and blogs. The site’s continuously expanding sections are dedicated to rock/pop/folk, classical, jazz/blues, world and urban music. NPR Music culls from NPR’s and the stations’ extensive music archives to present thousands of features; more than 240 new features are added to the site every month. The site’s popular Concert section offers hundreds of streaming concerts in every genre

THE LAND OF OZ

In just under a month I am taking one of the biggest trip I have taken in my life. I have been wanting to visit Australia for years, and I finally just went ahead and planned a trip. It was kind of a spur of the moment thing, cuz I found such an amazing deal. There were all these signs, including this AMAZINGLY BEAUTIFUL commercial, so I was just like EFF it! I booked my trip and I head out on Feb. 28th and return on March 10th. I AM FREAKING OUT!! I will have lots of photos and stories to tell when I get back.

www.australia.com

PICK OF THE WEEK

Yesterday, I couldn't stop singing that new song by the Fray. It's called "You Found Me" and it has been featured on TV for the Lost promos. Well, I just realized that their CD just came out yesterday, so what perfect timing for my PICK OF THE WEEK!

Go GET your copy NOW!!

You Found Me


www.mypsace.com/thefray

• iTunes
• amazon
• zune
• rhapsody

HELLO KATY!

Katy Perry kicked off her Hello Katy tour and played to a sold out hometown crowd on Saturday night at the Wiltern in Los Angeles. I was there hanging with a couple of my friends and hundreds of screaming 15 year old girls. It really made me feel old, but I was still excited to be there nonetheless. It doesn't beat the time Katy showed up to a bar one night and got on stage for an impromptu sing-a-long, but it was great to see her actually put on a real show.

I haven't really heard Katy's album, so I wasn't familiar with her songs, but I did enjoy most of her songs. She even tossed in a few cover songs. All in all it was a great night and I'm glad I scored tix at the last minute!

WHEN DOVES CRY

DOVES ANNOUNCE NEW STUDIO ALBUM KINGDOM OF RUST SET FOR RELEASE ON APRIL 7TH ON ASTRALWERKS RECORDS
FREE EXCLUSIVE DOWNLOAD "JETSTREAM" AVAILABLE FOR 2 WEEKS ON BAND'S WEBSITE STARTING TODAY

U.S. Tour Expected To Hit Stateside Late Spring


(New York, NY - January 28th, 2009) - Acclaimed British trio the Doves will release their much anticipated new studio album, Kingdom of Rust (Astralwerks Records) on April 7th, 2009. Kingdom of Rust is the Dove's 4th studio album, their first since Some Cities debuted at # 1 on the U.K. album charts in February, 2005. The Doves, comprised of Jez Williams, Andy Williams and Jimi Goodwin are offering fans a sneak peak by offering album track "Jetstream" as a free download for two weeks on their website www.doves.net. A U.S. tour is expected to hit stateside in late spring.

Kingdom of Rust which is already being heralded by NME as 1 of the 10 most important albums of 2009 is the Dove's most sonically adventurous, intimate, cerebral, propulsive album to date. The trio has been recording the album for the past 18 months, having ensconced themselves to a farm house-come-studio in backwaters of Cheshire, England. They teamed up with long time Doves collaborator Dan Austin to co produce all but 2 tracks of Kingdom Of Rust. For the remaining 2 tracks; "10.03" and "Winter Hill," the group worked with ace producer John Leckie (Stone Roses, Radiohead).

The free download "Jetstream" is a stomping Doves classic in waiting. Fitted with a propulsive krautrock motorik, it inherits the bands dance DNA from their former Sub Sub extraction. It is with a searing intensity and the kind of brooding melancholic refrain that has become the Doves trademark that "Jetstream" blazes the trail for a new a new direction while simultaneously bearing all the hallmarks of an all time Doves classic.

For more information on the Doves and free download, please visit www.doves.net.

IN CASE YOU MISSED EM...

Franz Ferdinand was on Leno last week performing their new song "Ulysses" from their third album Tonight.

LOVE HATE AND THEN THERE'S YOU

I am loving the new Von Bondies song soooo much!! It's been a minute since we have heard from this band, but their back!!

Von Bondies album - Love Hate and Then There’s You coming out Feb 3rd on MajorDomo Records. Check out their video for "Pale Bride"!!!


www.myspace.com/vonbondies

WORLD PREMIERE VIDEO - SHINY TOY GUNS

Ghost Town


Shiny Toy Guns have just premiered their new video for “Ghost Town.” How dope is this video? It totally looks like something out of a Tim Burton movie.