Archive for December, 2009

[tweetmeme]Al Jourgensen may be hard at work on a purported synthpop album (and recording Christmas songs), but he’s not quite done with Ministry, the proto-industrial act he allegedly retired this year. Next summer will see the release of “Fix: The Ministry Movie,” a documentary about Uncle Al and Ministry featuring appearances by Nine Inch Nails’ [...]

[tweetmeme]Australian guitar innovator Rowland S. Howard — a member of Nick Cave’s early ’80s postpunk act The Birthday Party, a guitarist for Crime and the City Solution and onetime Lydia Lunch collaborator — died Wednesday in Melbourne from liver cancer, according to The Age newspaper. He was 50.
Known for his ragged, reverb-drenched guitar playing, Howard [...]

[tweetmeme]This has been around for some time, but it’s certainly worth sharing for fans who haven’t seen it: The Replacements, in all of their early glory, playing a label showcase put on by Minneapolis’ Twin/Tone Records at the 7th Street Entry on Sept. 5, 1981. The ‘Mats, who had released Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take [...]

[tweetmeme]L.A. punk stalwarts Social Distortion today announced plans for the band’s first tour of South America in its 30-year history — or, more specifically, a short four-date trek that will hit clubs in Brazil and Argentina in late April.
The band — reportedly at work on its seventh album, and first since 2004’s Sex, Love and [...]

[tweetmeme]Despite the dour material, recording The Cure’s epic Disintegration album was a “very happy and jokey” time for the Robert Smith-led band, recalls former keyboard player Roger O’Donnell in a new 11,000-word essay on the 20th anniversary of the recording of that classic record.
As promised, O’Donnell — who played in The Cure from 1987 to [...]

[tweetmeme]Fans of Aussie rock legends The Church have three reasons to do a bit of post-Christmas shopping this week: The band is releasing a brand-new EP — featuring a 34-minute jam, no less — and making two of its recent website-only discs available commercially worldwide.
Due out Tuesday, the four-track Operetta EP features material left over [...]

[tweetmeme]Mute Records is capitalizing on renewed interest in Nitzer Ebb — the reunited British EBM act has a new album out, and is touring with Depeche Mode once again — to release Compilation and Catalogue, two new multi-disc box sets that highlight the group’s past output.
Due out Jan. 25 in Europe, the five-disc Catalogue collects [...]

[tweetmeme]The two studio albums by The Other Two — the New Order spinoff featuring husband-and-wife team Stephen Morris and Gillian Gilbert — will be reissued next month in digitally remastered editions featuring nine bonus remixes.
Due out Jan. 26 in Europe, the synthpop duo’s 1993 debut The Other Two & You comes with new artwork and [...]

[tweetmeme]Daniel Ash — key player in ’80s darkwave acts Bauhaus, Love and Rockets and Tones on Tail — this month quietly released the four-track It’s a Burn Out EP on iTunes, marking the singer’s first original solo recordings in eight years.
The collection, released Dec. 8 with little fanfare, features four of the tracks that Ash [...]