by Black Bubblegum

DOWNLOAD: Jarboe - "House Of Void" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Batillus - S/T EP (Zipped MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Batillus - "Tunguska" (MP3)

Ex-Swans dark goddess Jarboe is currently touring Europe until the end of June, but has scheduled a lone date in the US, June 27th at Santos Party House with IUD (mems-Gang Gang Dance), Bloody Panda, and Cult of Youth! Tickets are on sale.

Jarboe is currently touring with members of NYC's own Inswarm as well as Erik Wunder, half of the amazing Cobalt, on her current trek through Europe (and in NYC). So where is the other half of Cobalt? Serving in Iraq, according to Decibel:

The last time I talked to Erik, about a year ago, he mentioned that you had about a year left in your time with the Army. Are you indeed close to being finished, or will you be serving for longer?

I reenlisted for 5 more years. I fucking love the Army and I am an excellent Soldier. This is where I belong, in another country with a gun in my hand.

Just how dangerous has it been for you over there?

I will put it this way, 90% of people in Iraq are on huge camps called FOB's with huge intertwined security systems and people there don't have a thing in the world to be worried about. I, on the other hand, have spent 3 days on a FOB in the last few months and am living IN the population and gunfire and explosions are heard every day where I sleep. The threat is very real but we are prepared.

Fade Kainer of Inswarm, in addition to playing with Jarboe, recently joined local faves Batillus, contributing his shredded vox and fx. Batillus has only played one show in this configuration thus far, and will revert back to trio formation on June 27th (while Kainer is playing Santos Party House) and play a previously unreleased and comparatively minimalistic piece "Tunguska" (downloadable above) in Providence, RI. The June 27th show is part of a handful of Northeast dates that the band has scheduled with Elder and Riff Cannon.

Full Jarboe and Batillus tour dates, and a few vids are below...

Continue reading "Jarboe playing NYC after European tour, 1/2 of Cobalt in Iraq"

Tom Morello, Zach de la Rocha & Flobots MC Jamie Laurie, a.k.a. Jonny 5

Joined by like-minded anti-war rockers State Radio, The Coup, Flobots, Jello Biafra and Wayne Kramer from the MC5, Rage Against the Machine headlined an impassioned midday concert at the Denver Coliseum featuring the band's hits, political speeches and calls for nonviolence.

More than anything, the concert was a respectful nod to Iraq Veterans Against the War, which, along with Tent State, mounted the show to call attention to their agenda: Encouraging a hasty end to the war, providing veterans with comprehensive healthcare, and rebuilding Iraq.

After the headliners capped off a loud, amped up performance with the fan favorite "Killin in the name," Rage guitarist Tom Morello called on the roughly 8,000 concertgoers to join him and other entertainers in a march for peace to the Pepsi Center.

"We're going right now," he said. "We'll meet you outside." [Denver Post]

DENVER COLISEUM -- The Iraqi Veterans Against the War took the stage and read an open letter to Barack Obama demanding he solidify his commitment against the war as the crowd chanted "U.S.A! U.S.A!"

Then Rage Against the Machine came onstage, gave the vets a military salute and burst into the explosive set that has made their live shows legendary. Kicking off with "Guerrilla Radio," the band blasted through crowd-pleasers like "Bulls On Parade."

Wayne Kramer of the MC5 soon joined them for the anthem "Kick Out the Jams." Before they started, Kramer reminded everyone why they were here.

"Forty years ago we went to Chicago to protest an illegal war we were lied into. Today we're in Denver to protest an illegal war we were lied into," he told the crowd. [Rocky Mountain News]

photos by Bao Nguyen

"We wanted to make some statement from New York City -- the center of the universe," said Lou Reed in a hallway press conference for Speak Up!, an anti-war benefit held last night (March 18) at intimate Brooklyn theater St. Ann's Warehouse. While the 65-year-old NYC icon isn't in any shape to be chaining himself to a recruiting station, he certainly can gather a who's who of the lefty art-rocker geekerati: David Byrne, Moby, Blonde Redhead, Scissor Sisters, Damien Rice, Norah Jones and co-organizers Laurie Anderson and Antony, who helped conceive the event in Anderson's living room. It was a night where every song felt like a protest anthem -- even when the Scissor Sisters sang "I ain't got nothing but your seed on my face/You'll put them babies to waste." That could be about sending kids to war, right? [Rolling Stone]

Reed, Anderson, Antony and Moby opened the show with a broken version of "The Star Spangled Banner." Lou's feedback never quite nailed the notes and he mangled the words a little bit ("home of the free and the home of the brave"), but it all made perfect sense. On the fifth anniversary of a war that has been pushed off the headlines in favor of an election, our national anthem was given an appropriate luster of unease and trepidation. Norah Jones performed slinky versions of her "My Dear Country" and Randy Newman's "I Think It's Going To Rain Today." David Byrne, armed with a four-person choir, led an art-gospel sermon full of huge choruses. Damien Rice was on hand to add harmonies (and the shittiest tambourine playing since Tracy Partridge), but Byrne's mesmerizing presence kept his pair of originals spiraling heavenward. The perenially chilly Laurie Anderson pulled out the snarky electrofunk of her recent "Only An Expert," vivisecting corporations and Oprah and weapons of mass destruction and global warming in that arch, scientific, matter-of-fact Laurie Anderson way. [Rolling Stone]

Continue reading "Lou Reed, Antony, David Byrne & other photos from the Speak Up! benefit @ St Ann's in Brooklyn"

Continue reading "SPEAK UP! benefit w/ Antony, Blonde Redhead, Lou Reed, David Byrne, Laurie Anderson, Moby, Scissor Sisters...."