Lollapalooza Line-Up Announced, Tickets Go Public
Reinventing the wheel was always a bad idea.  When Perry Farrell announced he would fix the much broken original festival of music, most sighed.  Lollapalooza was a broken machine for the past decade since the 3^rd incarnation.  But last years Chicago Grant Park show was the first true independent/sub pop festival in decades that had the cutting edge and soon-to-bees lineup to back up its claim.  This year seems to be no different and could quite possibly be one of the best festivals in recent years.  Check out this line-up: 

Red Hot Chili Peppers
Kanye West
Manu Chao
Wilco
Death Cab For Cutie
The Raconteurs
The Flaming Lips
Ween
Queens of the Stone Age
The Shins
Common
Matisyahu
Ryan Adams
Umphrey's McGee
Sonic Youth
Thievery Corporation
Sleater-Kinney
Nickel Creek
Blues Traveler
Broken Social Scene
The New Pornographers
Iron & Wine
Poi Dog Pondering
Coheed And Cambria
The Secret Machines
Eels
Panic! At the Disco
The Disco Biscuits
She Wants Revenge
The Dresden Dolls
Reverend Horton Heat
The Smoking Popes
Andrew Bird
Gnarls Barkley
Stars
Cursive
Blackalicious
Editors
Lyrics Born
Lady Sovereign
Hard-Fi
Calexico
Nada Surf
Feist
Aqualung
The Frames
The Hold Steady
The Go! Team
Mates of State
Pepper
Particle
The Redwalls
Mute Math
Wolfmother
Sparta
The Subways
Of Montreal
Blue October
Jeremy Enigk
Living Things
Sound Team
The M's
Hot Chip
The Benevento-Russo Duo
Matt Costa
The New Amsterdams
deadboy & the Elephantmen
Sybris
Anathallo
The Burden Brothers
What Made Milwaukee Famous
Manishevitz
Husky Rescue
The Towers of London
Ohmega Watts
Boy Kill Boy
Jim Noir
The Standard
Be Your Own Pet
Elvis Perkins
Trevor Hall
Midlake 

Strokes Guitarist Lends Hand to Regina Spektor
Strokes guitarist Nick Valensi is currently working with Regina Spektor on her new album.  The two previously crossed paths when Spektor toured with the Strokes last year.  The Strokes producer, David Kahue also lends his help to Spektor to almost complete a hat trick or Kevin Bacon proportions.  Tour dates follow: 

Art Brut On Tour; Small Time No Longer
The bands first full blown American Tour is under way.  Check out the dates below! 

03-15 Austin, TX - The Parish (Fleet Team/Artrocker SXSW showcase)
03-16 Austin, TX - Vice Outdoor Stage
03-17 Austin, TX - Emo's Annex (Pitchfork/Windish Agency SXSW day party)
03-18 Austin, TX - Beauty Bar (Southpaw / Maxwell's SXSW day party)
03-19 Los Angeles, CA - Troubadour
03-20 San Francisco, CA - Bottom of the Hill
03-21 San Francisco, CA - The Independent (Popscene)
03-23 Portland, OR - Doug Fir Lounge
03-24 Vancouver, British Columbia - Richard's on Richards
03-25 Seattle, WA - Neumos
03-28 Minneapolis, MN - 7th Street Entry
03-30 Chicago, IL - Metro
03-31 Cleveland, OH - Beachland Ballroom
04-01 Toronto, Ontario - Horseshoe Tavern
04-02 Montreal, Quebec - La Sala Rossa
04-03 Cambridge, MA - Middle East Downstairs
04-04 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom
04-05 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom
04-07 Philadelphia, PA - First Unitarian Church
04-08 Haverford, PA - Haverford College
04-09 Washington, DC - Black Cat
04-10 Baltimore, MD - Ottobar
04-12 Brooklyn, NY - Southpaw
04-13 London, England - The Insomniac's Ball
04-30 Indio, CA - Empire Polo Field (Coachella)
05-02 San Diego, CA - Casbah
05-03 Tucson, AZ - Plush
05-06 Lawrence, KS - The Granada
05-11 Athens, GA - 40 Watt
05-13 Atlanta, GA - Drunken Unicorn

Hold Steady Moves Labels
Everyone’s favorite poets of the bar scene have jumped ship.  The Hold Steady, previously under French Kiss Records have gone the coastal shuffle in favor of Vagrant Records.  Is this a sell out move?  Only time will tell as Vagrant is known for its punk-mall friendly bands. 

In other Steady news, expect them back in the studio around May for a fall album release.

Blackalicious Hit North American Tour
First and foremost – this is a must see.  Office favorite hip-hop act Blackalicious has headed back out to tour their current release, The Craft.  Also look for them at Lollapalooza this summer.

03-14 Dallas, TX - Gypsy Tea Room
03-16 Austin, TX - Town Lake Stage at Auditorium Shores (eMusic SXSW showcase)
03-16 Austin, TX - Blue Genie Art Industries  (no Fatlip)
03-17 New Orleans, LA - House of Blues
03-18 Nashville, TN - City Hall
03-21 Bloomington, IN - Bluebird Nightclub
03-22 Lansing, MI - Temple Club
03-25 Pittsburgh, PA - Mr. Smalls Theater
03-27 Columbus, OH - Newport Music Hall
03-28 Toronto, Ontario - Opera House
03-29 Ottawa, Ontario - Capital Music Hall
03-31 Buffalo, NY - Icon
04-01 New York, NY - B.B. King's Blues Club
04-02 South Burlington, VT - Higher Ground Ballroom
04-04 Boston, MA - Paradise Rock Club
04-06 New Haven, CT - Toad's Place
04-09 Philadelphia, PA - TLA
04-11 Washington DC - 9:30 Club
04-12 Winston Salem, NC - Ziggy's
04-13 Columbia, SC - Russell House Ballroom
04-14 Atlanta, GA - Roxy
04-15 Memphis, TN - New Daisy Theatre
04-16 Lawrence, KS - Granada Theatre
04-20 Seattle, WA - Showbox
04-21 Vancouver, British Columbia - Commodore Ballroom
04-22 Whistler, British Columbia - Blackcomb Mountain
04-23 Portland, OR - Roseland Theater
04-24 Berkeley, CA - Pauley Ballroom
04-29 Medford, MA - President's Lawn @ Tufts University

Walkman On Tour
Need we say more on this multi faceted group; what with a novel in the works penned by the group themselves?  Here are some of the dates – and none of them are even a book signing at your local Boarders.  Keep an eye open for them on the stage in a legit venue. 

03-15 Boston, MA - Orpheum Theater
03-17 New York, NY - Nokia Theater
03-24 Boston, MA - Northeastern University
03-31 Northampton, MA - Pearl St.
04-01 Clinton, NY - Hamilton College
04-07 Harrisonburg, VA - Macrock
04-22 Albany, NY - College of Saint Rose
04-29 Indio, CA - Empire Polo Field (Coachella)
05-02 Glasgow, Scotland - ABC
05-03 London, England - Scala
05-04 Manchester, England - Manchester Night & Day
05-24 New York, NY - Webster Hall
05-25 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club
05-30 Cleveland, OH - Beachland Ballroom
05-31 Detroit, MI - St Andrew's Hall
06-01 Chicago, IL - Metro
06-03 Minneapolis, MN - 400 Bar
06-05 Englewood, CO - Gothic Theatre
06-06 Salt Lake City, UT - In the Venue
06-08 Portland, OR - Berbati's Pan
06-09 Seattle, WA - Showbox
06-10 Vancouver, British Columbia - Richard's on Richards
06-12 San Francisco, CA - Great American Music Hall
06-13 San Francisco, CA - Great American Music Hall
06-16 San Diego, CA - House of Blues
06-17 Tempe, AZ - The Clubhouse
06-19 Austin, TX - La Zona Rosa
06-20 Houston, TX - Numbers
06-21 Dallas, TX - Granada Theater
06-23 Nashville, TN - Exit/In
06-24 Louisville, KY - Headliners Music Hall
06-26 Toronto, ON - Phoenix Concert Theatre
06-28 Montreal, Quebec - La Tulipe
06-29 Boston, MA – Avalon 

The Rakes To Release In US; Tour Dates Announced
For those late to the import game, behold a silver lining in your shallow mail order lives!  The Rakes are releasing their solid debut Capture/Release in the US under V2 Records.  The 12 track manifesto is slated for an April 18^th release. 

Raking up more news…or is that rack-ing…regardless the band is on tour in the Americas as well.  The dates are currently as follows: 

The Modern Kicked Out Of UK Charts
In an OCC ruling, The Modern’s single Industry has been booted from the UK Charts in response to ‘irregular’ sales patterns.  The OCC claims that presales numbers sent alarms that illegal purchasing or ‘pushing’ was going on in order to up the bands status the charts. 

New Material From Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
A new EP is scheduled for release by The Black Rebel Motorcycle Club.  While no release date was given for the EP recorded in conjunction with the recently release Howl, the band has released a track listing:

Grind My Bones
Mercy
Wishing Well
Steal A Ride
Feel It Now
Pretend

BRMC are soon to release tour dates so stay tuned for more info.

Kaiser Chiefs Say No Thanks To World Cup
While most of the world is gearing up for the World Cup hosted Germany starting in June, the Kaiser Chiefs look like they could care less.  While rumored as of late to be in the front running to sing the England World Cup song, the group has flat out denied any interest in following the footsteps of The Spice Girls. 

In a statement from the band, they stated, "We're flattered about these rumors regarding the England football team's World Cup song, but there's no truth in them, they are just rumors. The only writing we'll be doing in the next few months will be for our next album. We have no plans to write the England football team's World Cup song. Sorry to dispel the myth."

Dilla’s The Shining in July

One of the best producers in the hip-hop business, whose untimely death at the age of 32 in February shocked the industry, is getting a curtain call thanks to a yet unreleased final album tentatively titled The Shining.  While most would not be in the wrong to assume this is simply a cash scheme to rake in a post hip-hop icon’s death with remixed tracks or B-sides, you would be dead wrong (!) in doing so.  In fact, this project was already completed before Dilla passed away and is being finalized by his long time collaborator and friend Karriem Riggins.  The album will feature hot acts like Common, Madlib, and Busta Rhymes to name a few.  The album is scheduled for release on July 11^th. 

Another record is in the works that is a compilation of his works for random artists before his passing.  Intended for the record are works for Common, MF Doom, Skillz, Ghostface and more, proving his grand diversity within the industry. 

The Arctic Monkeys On The Loose
The coming of Christ, also known as The Arctic Monkeys, and more specifically the Franz Ferdinand/Coldplay killers of Euro are launching their all-over-the-place tour today.  Check out the dates below and good luck getting a ticket – as most have been sold out for months.  Some shows include The Spinto Band and Oasis so check your local listings.

03-13 San Francisco, CA - Great American Music Hall
03-15 Los Angeles, CA - Henry Fonda Theatre
03-17 Austin, TX - La Zona Rosa (Domino SXSW Showcase)
03-18 Chicago, IL - Metro
03-20 Toronto, Ontario - Air Canada Centre
03-21 Toronto, Ontario - Phoenix Concert Theatre
03-22 Montreal, Quebec - Spectrum de Montreal
03-23 Boston, MA - Paradise Rock Club
03-25 New York, NY - Webster Hall
03-26 Philadelphia, PA - Starlight Ballroom
03-27 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club
03-29 Seattle, WA - Crocodile Cafe
04-02 Osaka, Japan - Zepp
04-03 Nagoya, Japan - Diamond Hall
04-04 Tokyo, Japan - Studio Coast
04-13 Nottingham, England - Rock City
04-14 Glasgow, Scotland - Carling Academy
04-15 Newcastle, England - Carling Academy
04-17 Bournemouth, England - BIC
04-18 Plymouth, England - Pavilions
04-19 Wolverhampton, England - The Civic Hall
04-21 Newport, England - Newport Centre
04-22 Rotherham, England - Magna Centre
04-23 Blackpool, England - Empress Ballroom
04-25 Hull, England - Hull Arena
04-26 Cambridge, England - Corn Exchange
04-27 London, England - Brixton Academy
04-29 Bourges, France - Le Printemps de Bourges Festival
04-30 Lyon, France - Transbordeur
05-02 Paris, France - Batacian
05-03 Nantes, France - Olympic
05-04 Mannheim, Germany - Delta Connection
05-06 Cologne, Germany - E-Werk
05-07 Amsterdam, Holland - Paradiso
05-08 Munster, Germany - Jovel
05-09 Dresden, Germany - Alter Schlachthof
05-11 Munich, Germany - Elserhalle
05-12 Modena, Italy - Vox
05-13 Milan, Italy - Rolling Stone
05-14 Marseille, France - Le Theatre du Moulin
05-16 Barcelona, Spain - Razzmatazz
05-17 Madrid, Spain - Sala Heineken
05-18 Lisbon, Portugal - Garage
05-28 George, WA - The Gorge (Sasquatch Festival)
07-08 Naas, Ireland - Punchestown Racecourse (Oxegen Festival)
07-09 Balado, Scotland - T in the Park Festival

Ryan Adams Sues Pirates
Keeping up with the FECA piracy act that governed by law will not allow distribution of any tracks electronically that are knowingly intended for commercial release, Ryan Adams flexes his muscles against a few unfortunate fans.  Universal Music slapped a groundbreaking lawsuit against Jared Bowser and Robert Thomas for leaking tracks from Ryan Adams new album Jacksonville City Nights last August to a fan based website.  Each face up to 11 years in prison if found guilty.  It would be pretty embarrassing to explain to Butch, your new cell mate that you were a pirate – but not that kind.