April 2005

G. Love & Special Sauce, The Black Keys, Donavon Frankenreiter, Medeski Martin & Wood, Gomez, Ray Lamontagne, Toots & The Maytals, Jurassic 5 and Galactic, are among the artists who have been announced for this summer

Celebrating their fourth consecutive year, Bockman (formerly Bockman

Patti Smith will headline this summer’s Meltdown Festival at London’s South Bank Centre, which will run from June 11-26. The event will be highlighted by a complete performance of her acclaimed 1976 album “Horses” on June 25 at Royal Festival Hall, on a bill that will also feature the set’s producer, John Cale.

Smith will perform with several of the acts throughout the event, including Sinead O’Connor, Beth Orton and Kristin Hersh on June 18 under the billing “Songs of Innocence, Protest Songs and Lullabies.” She will also join My Bloody Valentine’s Kevin Shields and Cat Power for a June 22 show at Queen Elizabeth Hall.

Tickets go on sale Thursday (May 5) via the event’s official Web site.

The only other live activity on Smith’s schedule comes Sunday (May 1), when she will revisit New York’s CBGB, the club at the center of the ’70s punk explosion she led with the Ramones, Television and Blondie, among others.

Here is the Meltdown festival lineup:

June 17: Rachid Taha, Patti Smith (Royal Festival Hall); Yoko Ono (Queen Elizabeth Hall)
June 18: Patti Smith, Sinead O’Connor, Beth Orton, Kristin Hersh (RFH); Billy Bragg (QEH)
June 19: Steve Earle and Patti Smith (RFH)
June 22: Patti Smith, Cat Power, Kevin Shields (QEH)
June 23: Bertolt Brecht tribute with Patti Smith, Marc Almond, Neil and Tim Finn, Antony & the Johnsons, Dresden Dolls, London Sinfonietta (RFH)
June 24: Antony & the Johnsons (QEH)
June 25: “Horses” performance with Patti Smith and John Cale (RFH)
June 26: Jimi Hendrix tribute with Patti Smith, Jeff Beck, Flea, John Frusciante (RFH)

Source billboard.com.

Singer/songwriter Nellie McKay is making progress on her as-yet-untitled sophomore album for Columbia. The artist tells Billboard.com she is eyeing a September release for the set, which will feature a duet with Cyndi Lauper on a track titled “Bee Charmer.”

The new album will be the follow-up to McKay’s 2004 double-disc debut, “Get Away From Me,” which peaked at No. 7 on Billboard’s Heatseekers chart and has sold 100,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

A DualDisc version of “Get Away From Me” was released last month, the DVD side of which features eight songs taped in November 2004 in San Francisco, plus the previously unreleased audio tracks “Teresa” and “John-John.”

McKay says she may play some shows this summer, but at deadline, there are only two performance on her schedule: tonight (April 29) in New Orleans and a May 23 benefit at New York’s Irving Plaza with Lauper and Natalie Merchant. “I don’t want to promote the record before it’s ready,” the artist says.

Proceeds from the New York show will be donated to the family of former Elektra Records employee Theresa Wilson, who died March 20. The event will also feature performances by Chris Whitley, Steve Forbert, Dan Baird and Sandra Bernhard

In the meantime, McKay has just sealed up her debut film role in “Safety Glass,” which will also star Mandy Moore, Amanda Peet and Michelle Williams. “I play a girl named Sue, who has a bit of a ‘Children of the Corn’ thing going on,” she reveals.

Source billboard.com.

Rock trio the Secret Machines will unveil a new EP on June 7, led by the single “The Road Leads Where It’s Led.” In addition to the previously unreleased track “Better Bring Your Friends,” the Reprise set boasts covers of Krautrock pioneer Harmonia’s “De Luxe (Immer Wider),” the Motown staple “Money (That’s What I Want),” Bob Dylan’s “Girl From the North Country” and Van Morrison’s “Astral Weeks.”

The latter two tracks have been part of the band’s live sets for some time. At deadline, Secret Machines’ only two confirmed dates are this weekend at California’s Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival and June 10 at Bonnaroo in Manchester, Tenn.

Sources say Secret Machines are also eyeing a run of dates with Kings Of Leon. Although the routing has not been confirmed, based on Kings Of Leon’s tour schedule, which finds the band opening for U2 through May 28 in Boston and then headed to the United Kingdom, the outing couldn’t begin until mid- or late July at the earliest and may not materialize until the fall.

Source billboard.com.

Bob Mould has wrapped work on his first studio album in three years, “Body of Song.” As previously reported, Yep Roc will release the former Husker Du/Sugar leader’s new 12-track set on July 26. Guests include Fugazi drummer Brendan Canty, former Sugar bassist David Barbe, Garland Of Hours principal Amy Domingues and former Bob Mould Band member Matt Hammon.

Aside from the vocal effects on tracks like “(Shine Your) Light Love Hope,” the new album largely dispenses with the synth/electronica-flavored sound that dominated Mould’s 2002 release, “Modulate.” Instead, there are a handful of ballads (“Gauze of Friendship,” “High Fidelity”), several Sugar-esque rockers (“Paralyzed,” “Underneath Days”) and such intriguing sound collages as the six-minute closer “Beating Heart the Prize.”

Mould will begin a world tour in the fall with a full band featuring Canty on drums. According to a spokesperson, the trek will touch on all aspects of Mould’s back catalog.

Here is the track list for “Body of Song”:

“Circles”
“(Shine Your) Light Love Hope”
“Paralyzed”
“I am Vision, I am Sound”
“Underneath Days”
“Always Tomorrow”
“Days of Rain”
“Best Thing”
“High Fidelity”
“Missing You”
“Gauze of Friendship”
“Beating Heart the Prize”

Source billboard.com.