The Walkmen @ Masonic Temple in December (more by Natasha Ryan)

"We live in scary times. Sure, we might wonder how that inane Southern California woman is going to feed fourteen mouths, but what about the family whose breadwinners lost their jobs, and now have not only no money to pay the mortgage, but feed their kids?

No one seems to care about those people. Everyone's too selfish. I've got mine, fuck you. But what if you suddenly don't have yours anymore?

You used to sell ten million records, now you can't even sell two. Those damn pirates! But those pirates are real people. Who overpaid to hear one good track on a CD. They've got no sympathy for you. And they may overpay to see superstars once, but not forever. The Stones don't sell out anymore. Nor does Springsteen, not even Madonna. The printed grosses are high, but that's because of the inflated ticket prices.

Is the concert industry headed for a fall? Just like the recorded music industry?" [Bob Lefsetz]

Most of the bands in this post recently announced a tour, or an update to their previously announced tour, and did not include a NYC-area date. All of them below...

Continue reading "TOUR DATES: Kings of Leon, Walkmen, Coldplay, Bloc Party, Black Mountain, Jason Isbell, Dr Dog, Little Ones & more"

Tickets are on sale (@ noon) for the Ratatat show at Terminal 5.

Felice Brothers are playing Webster Hall on April 17th. Tickets are on sale (@ noon).

Ray LaMontagne is playing the Wellmont Theatre in Montclair on April 2nd. Tickets are on sale.

Tickets go on sale at noon for Gomez shows happening at Bowery Ballroom and Music Hall of Williamsburg.

Travis is playing Webster Hall on April 25th. Tickets are on sale (@ noon).

Tickets are on sale (@ noon) for the Pela shows at Mercury Lounge.

Tickets are on sale (@ noon) for the Kills shows coming up at Music Hall and Webster Hall.

Tickets are on sale (@ noon) for the Crystal Stilts / Women show coming up at Music Hall.

Tickets are on sale (@ noon) for the Vivian Girls / Ariel Pink show coming up at Music Hall.

Tickets are on sale (@ noon) for the Bowerbirds show at Mercury Lounge.

A bunch of other shows also went on sale earlier today.

Since July 23rd, Largehearted Boy has been running a feature on his own site where he asks musicians to answer the question, "Why Obama?". If you haven't already (or lately), check that out before continuing with his listing of this week's new music releases...

Ode to J. Smith, the latest album by Travis, sees its US release tomorrow.

Though there may be a shortage of marquee releases this week, there is no shortage of quality music. From the promos I have already sifted through, I can recommend Black Moth Super Rainbow's Drippers EP, Cale Parks' Sparklace, Dragonette's Galore, Eulogies' Tempted to Do Nothing, Grampall Jookabox's Rope Chain, Little Joy's self-titled debut (which features the Strokes' Fabrizio Moretti), The Music Lovers' Masculine Feminine, and Wilderness's (k)no(w)here.

If you were waiting for the vinyl, Ryan Adams' Cardinology, The Streets' Everything Is Borrowed, and Prototypes' Synthetique are all in stores tomorrow.

Merge Records has the week's two outstanding reissues. Both Magnetic Fields' Get Lost and Polvo's Celebrate The New Dark Age EP have been remastered and are available tomorrow on vinyl. Camera Obscura's Underachievers Please Try Harder is also finally available on vinyl.

Lou Reed's Coney Island Baby and Berlin are available as a two-for-one reissue at a bargain price, as is Bruce Springsteen's Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. & The Wild, The Innocent and the E-Street Shuffle.

Any recommendations from the week's music release list?

Continue reading "LB's Interesting CD Releases This Week ++ Why Obama?"