fak3r

UPDATE: according to a Pitchfork post, 05-14 St. Louis, MO - Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre

So it’s been confirmed, Radiohead will play St. Louis on this tour; what incredible news.  I last saw them during the tour for The Bends, far, far too long ago.  “St. Louis is confirmed as a stop on British rock band Radiohead’s upcoming North American tour. Exact dates and venues are to be announced. The tour will be broken down in two parts – a first leg prior to a European summer tour, and another leg after the European tour. Radiohead’s “In Rainbows” CD is the top-selling album in the country this week.“  F - yes!  I have seen far too many concerts of them on video - must see the new shit live…so damn cool.

It’s that time again, our annual list of our favorite music from each year. New for 2007’s best of list is far more detail and interactivity than before, and it’s even linked to the fak3r’s aStore at Amazon in case you want to pick up any of the recommendations from the page, how convenient!. As always, scroll to the bottom for picks from years past. Leave comments here if you have ones you disagree with, or ones we missed. See ya next year…

Last night at Dinner, my son, soon to be 5, let it be known that his favorite They Might Be Giants album is Flood.  My kids got into TMBG after we got them the band’s first kids cd, NO!, followed by the amazing Here Come The ABCs on both cd and DVD (*highly* recommended if you have kids).  A greatest hits compilation, A User’s Guide… rounds out the bunch which gives them a wider swath of material to judge TMBG, who now perform family shows, as well as the traditional 21 and over shows, while on tour.  Of couse his mention of Flood being his favorite only reminded me that I still need to burn him a copy of Lincoln, and also about the time I bought their first release, They Might Be Giants (pictured) on vinyl in 1986. At the time it was only available on vinyl, so I had to go to a friend’s house who had his parent’s stereo setup with a good turntable so I could tape it, and then play it in my car. Yeah, that’s funny, both in how long ago it was, and that I remember all of it.  As I’ve mentioned before, I love music, and even the act of visiting a music store is some religious experince for me, there’s no telling what will happen that I’ll be retelling some 20 years later…

Carrie Brownstein (former Sleater-Kinney guitarist) now has a great blog on NPR called Monitor Mix.  A recent post talked about her learning what bands were important to her father over the years, and it leads to a question I’ve always wondered, what music that is important to us be as important for our kids when they grow up?  In other words, what will make the jump.  I posted a comment, and the submission form wouldn’t let me post it!  I’ll try again later, but for now I’ve put it here.  What bands are important to you, or were growing up, that you can see making the jump to the next generation? (more…)

Wow, here’s an unexpected blast from the past, Paul Raven, bass player for industrial bands that I used to love like Pigface and Murder, Inc., as well as Killing Joke and Ministry contributer, has died in his sleep of a heart attack in France at the age of 46. “MINISTRY bassist Paul Raven was found dead yesterday (Saturday, October 20) in a private home in a small French village on the Swiss border after suffering an apparent heart attack. Raven (who is also known for his work with KILLING JOKE and PRONG) was in Geneva working with French recording artists TREPONEM PAL on their new release alongside drummer Ted Parsons (PRONG) and members of THE YOUNG GODS. Born in Wolverhampton, UK on January 16, 1961, Paul Vincent Raven established himself with his work in the seminal post-punk/industrial act KILLING JOKE after he replaced the band’s original bassist in 1982, recording and touring with the group throughout its most commercially successful period, performing on “Fire Dances”, “Night Time” and “Brighter than a Thousand Suns”. Throughout his extensive career, Raven participated in other collaborations, including PRONG, MURDER, INC., PIGFACE and GODFLESH. Most recently, Raven was nominated for a 2006 Grammy for “Best Metal Performance” for his work with MINISTRY’s Al Jourgensen, with whom he had begun collaborating in late 2005 on the MINISTRY release “Rio Grande Blood”. After a 2006 world tour with the group, Raven helped Jourgensen and PRONG’s Tommy Victor pen the latest MINISTRY CD, “The Last Sucker”, which is also the band’s final studio release.” While much of the industrial music I dug years ago (listed above, and bands like Skinny Puppy, Nitzer Ebb, Revolting Cocks and the like) haven’t stood the test of time, I need to break out the Murder, Inc. CD and give it another go. The combination of rhythm with Chris Connelly’s vocals made it a classic industrial record, with Paul Raven and the then current incarnation of Killing Joke.

So last week we thought the biggest Johnny Marr (who is currently still touring with Modest Mouse) news was that he’s ”…been announced as Salford’s new professor of music. Not just an honorary title, Marr’s responsibilities will include hosting workshops on the composition and performance of popular music.”  Salford University is in Manchester, England, where Johnny was born, and the Salford Lads Club is famously featured in an indside picture of The Smiths 1985 release, The Queen Is Dead. So while that’s pretty cool, the fact that he’s going to be teaching students about music in a Unversity, it’s nothing compared to what he blurted out this week.  Johnny Marr has said that The Smiths may reform.  While it’s been rumored to be in the works (with offers being made) for years, no one in the band has ever said it would ever happen, so that he’s not ruling it out seems a big change.  “Different members of the band have ruled out offers of reuniting over the years, with Morrissey most recently revealing that he turned down a near $80 million offer to tour again.  He added: “It’s no biggie. Maybe we will in 10 or 15 years time, when we all need to for whatever reasons, but right now Morrissey is doing his thing and I’m doing mine–so that’s the answer, really.”  O’RLY?  It’s no BIGGIE?  To WHO?  Are you KIDDING ME?  “Marr has said that “stranger things have happened.”  He added: “Not much stranger things, but stranger things have happened. So you know who knows.”  … “Right now I am personally working in a band that I have been in for the last 2 years, with Modest Mouse,” he told the BBC.  “You know we are doing a lot of good stuff and kind of strikes me, hits me with surprise really whenever I’m asked it because I’m like well if you are interested in what I’m doing, there is a record I put out in February that a lot of people like so why would I want to talk about a band I was in 20 years ago.”  Um, hello, because that band was The Smiths, a huge band for many from the era, yours truly included. I’ve really liked Modest Mouse for years now, and am really excited about Marr’s contribution there, but come on, to act surprised that people are more interested in The Smiths?

np - The Smiths “Strangeways Here We Come”