The Rakes Set US Release and Tour

While the past two years have witnessed a series of transformations in the UK, where no one smokes in pubs anymore, everyone's on Twitter, and those 22 grand jobs in the city are definitely NOT alright, musically speaking, most bands who emerged alongside these post-punk/new-wave Londoners have ceased to exist. The Rakes have managed to stay strong through this period of great change and have witnessed some new changes of their own – reinventing their sound, and creating their freshest, most innovative album to date. - more on this story

Fans Biting On The Moog's You Raised A Vampire

PR reports: Budapest's The Moog just released their sophomore album Razzmatazz Orfeum last month and their track "You Raised A Vampire" is having an unusual run.

Our continent is obsessed with the undead at the moment and nothing can be bigger than Twilight, it's upcoming sequel New Moon or HBO fang-bangers True Blood. "You Raised A Vampire" is no different.

Though the single from the Budapest quintet is nowhere to be found in any of these shows, we found it necessary to mention the obscenely fitting track in the company of these blood-thirsty juggernauts. - more on this story

Skeletonwitch Lineup Dates With Black Dahlia Murder and Children Of Bodom

PR reports: Prosthetic Records' acts Skeletonwitch and Trap Them have been tapped to support The Black Dahlia Murder in October and November. Toxic Holocaust are also on the bill.

Skeletonwitch and The Black Dahlia Murder are also supporting Children Of Bodom from September 18 through October 12. Skeletonwitch's new album, "Breathing the Fire," hits the streets on the first day of the tour, October 13.

Skeletonwitch vocalist, Chance Garnette commented, "This is something we've wanted to do for some time. We're stoked to be a part of such a great tour package. It's awesome start to finish! I can't think of a better way to unleash our new album, 'Breathing the Fire', than with Trap Them, Toxic Holocaust, and The Black Dhalia Murder! This tour kicks major ass, it's defiantly a liver killer!! Let's get it started! This thing will absolutely crush you beyond dust!" - more on this story

Hopewell Get Stranger

Tee Pee reports: Staying true to their 90's space rock roots, Hopewell releases the track "Stranger", the second single off their newest album, Good Good Desperation (2009 Tee Pee Records). A swirling, aggressive, hazy waltz in the tradition of Loop, Flying Saucer Attack, Ride and early Mercury Rev, sound is treated more as sculpture, becoming a sonic canvas for whispered vocals, heavy phase and polyrhythms as layers of feedback and fuzz wash through the speakers.

The term space rock, originally describing bands in the late 60's like The Pink Floyd or albums like Bowie's Space Oddity, gave way to a 90's version that was decidedly more shoegaze oriented. Hopewell, being part of that original Detroit Space Rock revival on Burnt Hair Records are now getting louder and hazier than ever, combining the best of both the 60's and the 90's movements.

Hopewell will perform a version of the single "Stranger", along with several other tracks from Good Good Desperation at this year's All Tomorrow's Parties Festival in Monticello, NY. Asked by The Flaming Lips to do something "out of the norm" for their set, Hopewell's performance will include a medley of song variations both old and new, topped off with a Jane's Addiction cover. Dubbing it "The Desperation Suite", the 45 minute piece will also include the addition of a female choir as well as the the avant-garde sax player Mark Marinoff. - more on this story

New Hall & Oats Retrospect To Include 16 Previously Unreleased Tracks

PR reports: Do What You Want, be What You Are, The Music of Daryl Hall & John Oates will be in stores this October. Here is a little info Legacy Recordings sent over:

Spanning the years 1966-2009, DO WHAT YOU WANT, BE WHAT YOU ARE: THE MUSIC OF DARYL HALL & JOHN OATES, the definitive Hall & Oates anthology, collects 74 sublime tracks, culled from seven different labels, on its four discs.

The set showcases 16 previously unreleased cuts including a host of wonderful live performances, as well as never before heard studio tracks and remixes. This set is also enhanced with an eloquent introductory essay penned by pop critic Roy Trakin, plus invaluable track-by-track annotation and commentary regarding each track by Daryl Hall and John Oates, drawn from extensive interviews with Ken Sharp. - more on this story

Leonard Cohen Live CD/DVD

PR reports: Leonard Cohen Live At The Isle of Wight 1970 CD/DVD is set to hit stores this October. Here is a little info that Legacy Recordings sent over about it:

Nearly 40 summers ago on August 31, 1970, 35-year-old Leonard Cohen was awakened at 2 a.m. from a nap in his trailer and brought onstage to perform with his band at the third annual Isle Of Wight music festival. The audience of 600,000 was in a fiery and frenzied mood, after turning the festival into a political arena, trampling the fences, setting fire to structures and equipment – and stoked by the most incendiary performance of Jimi Hendrix's career.

As Cohen followed Hendrix's set, onlookers and (fellow festival headliners) Joan Baez, Kris Kristofferson, Judy Collins and others stood sidestage in awe as the Canadian folksinger-songwriter-poet-novelist quietly tamed the crowd. Academy Award-winning documentary filmmaker Murray Lerner (From Mao To Mozart, Festival, Message To Love), perfectly captured Cohen's performance. Likewise, Columbia Records staff A&R producer Teo Macero did a brilliant job of supervising the live audio recording. - more on this story

The Cribs Go Digital

PR reports: Yorkshire punk-rock upstarts, The Cribs, will release the digital version of their brand-new album, Ignore the Ignorant, on September 8th, 2009. Fans can pre-order the album on iTunes beginning August 25th — the same day the first single, "Cheat On Me," goes on sale. The actual physical CD will be released November 10th.

To celebrate the album's release, live dates have just been confirmed for Los Angeles and New York City. These will be the first American shows with guitarist Johnny Marr added to the line-up. A full US tour will be announced soon but until then coastal dates are at the end of this report.

Ignore the Ignorant will be sold in two configurations, a standard version and a deluxe edition - which will be available exclusively through iTunes. The deluxe version includes 20 live bonus tracks recorded at The Ritz nightclub in Manchester, England on February 2009. Only those who pre-order the deluxe version will receive all 20 tracks. The deluxe version available on September 8th will feature 14 live bonus tracks recorded at The Ritz. - more on this story

The Tender Box Added To Sunset Strip Music Festival

PR reports: The Tender Box has been asked to perform at the 2009 Sunset Strip Music Festival. Expect the band to perform material from EP 1 along with songs from their previous release The Score at their SSMF slot on Saturday, September 12th, 2:30pm at The Key Club.

Tremendous, incandescent British rock is probably the last thing to expect out of South Los Angeles, so it's a revelation to hear the chiming guitars and swooning vocals of The Tender Box's collection of new songs. The band--Joey Medina (vocals, guitar), Ric Moon (guitar), Steve Mungarro (bass, vocals) and Chuck Gil (drums)—have just released EP 1, their new five-song release to advance their untitled second album to come later this fall.

Originally inspired by the post-punk and synth-pop groups of the 1980s, The Tender Box has expanded on their sound as revealed on their 2007 debut album The Score. Two years full of hard touring, love, loss, soul searching and revelation have resulted in the five new songs featured on EP 1. Produced by Warren Huart (The Fray, Augustana) and Jay Ruston (The Donnas, Morrissey), the forthcoming release will boast tracks like "Incomplete Design" and "Gravity," which reach for grand, lush spaces melodically and lyrically, while others tracks like "Another Lover" and "Beautiful Sin" keep with the original feeling of British-influenced dark and danceable songs. - more on this story

Suicide City Announce Road Frenzy

PR reports: When Suicide City formed in NYC during the cold winter of 2005 by members of Kittie, Biohazard and Groovenics, a pretty big ripple hit the undergound punk and rock scene. Their debut EP Not My Year clocked in over 7,000 copies independently and made the media raise its collective eyebrow.

Four years later, that ripple has turned into a tsunami. Their debut album Frenzy (released earlier this month on The End Records) crashed on the media's desks and splashed all over their editorial. National city portal Metromix says, "not a single bit like 'Biohazard meets Kittie... the sounds created here are both unexpected and dynamic." Frantik Magazine raves, "Melodic in every piece of sense, even when the music gets tough like snakeskin, Frenzy somehow always finds its way back to the melody and groove, making for great songs." New York Post adds that "the band parties it up just as hard as metal bands do."

While initial wave of the album release may have leveled everything in its path, the band's most powerful impact - their live show - is yet to come. A tour has just been announced and the waves should be crashing into cities nationwide any minute. - more on this story

George Jones Goes Exclusive With Cracker Barrel

PR reports: To help celebrate Cracker Barrel's 40th year anniversary, George Jones' newest album goes on sale August 31st exclusively at all Cracker Barrel locations.

A Collection Of My Best Recollection has 12 tracks and features some of George's most memorable songs, including "White Lightning," "Finally Friday," and, of course, "He Stopped Lovin' Her Today," which many people consider to be the best country music song of all time. This special CD also includes two songs that have never been released before, "I Don't Want To Know," and "I'm A Long Gone Daddy."

"When the idea of working with Cracker Barrel on a CD first came up, I was all for it," says two-time Grammy® Award winner George Jones. - more on this story

Rasputina Announce One-Off For Knitting Factory Opening

PR reports: Seminal, cello-driven steampunk trio Rasputina will be playing a one-off NY Show as part of the opening week of the new Knitting Factory in Wiliamsburgh.

This will be the only Rasputina show for the remainder of the year and until the new Rasputina album "Sister Kinderhook" is released early in 1010. This will also be a special "requests" show - we will be asking fans to submit their favorite song to be included in the set list.

In addition Rasputina will play some new songs from the new album. Melora Creager has operated the Rasputina outfit for 17 consecutive years. From its original inception (which included 7 cellists sans drummer) to today's power-trio, Rasputina has remained true to its mission of performing emotive, historically themed rock-music on the cello. I hope you'll consider advancing Rasputina's show with a feature, CD review or advance blurb. - more on this story

Sean Faris Stars In New Smile Empty Soul Video

PR reports: Smile Empty Soul has filmed a video for their new single "Don't Ever Leave" with director by Sonny Marler this past weekend.

The video features actor Sean Faris who recently won an MTV Movie Award with his lead role in "Never Back Down" and up and coming actress Merisa Torneo. Smile Empty Soul's new album "Consciousness" hits stores on August 25th released through F.O.F Label Group/EMI.

"Shooting videos is always a fun time and I think we really did a great job of capturing the feel of the song on camera," says Smile Empty Soul's Sean Danielsen. "The concept for the video is loosely based on this story 'On the run from everything but each other' that was in the LA Times. The story made for a cool visual to the song and director Sonny Marler knocked it out of the park. Working with real actors brought a whole new dimension to our video and Sean was a blast to hang with as well. The fact that he won an MTV Movie Award for Best Fight scene is pretty cool too. We can't wait for our fans to see it, because they're going to love it." - more on this story

Turbo Revisited

MMP reports: Turbo, the legend of Polish hard & heavy scene. Metal Mind Productions presents rereleases of two of the band's albums: "One Way" and "Awatar". Both albums will be re-issued in a new digipak edition, each limited to 2000 copies. Digitally remastered using 24-Bit process, released on a golden disc. The release date is set for 7th September in Europe and 6th October in USA (via MVD).

"One Way", the band's 8th studio album from 1992. Heavier, more brutal and modern than the their previous offerings. It was definetely not a sign of being artistically lost, as some of their fans thought. At that time Grzegorz Hoffmann was the only original member of Turbo so people did tend to exclude this album from Turbo's discography.

"Awatar", the band's 9th studio album from 2001 was their first effort after 10 years of silence. On the one hand it showed the constant search for inspiration in newer sounds, while on the other it was a bridge joining the contemporary Turbo with its „classic" incarnation from the 80's. The album proved to be much more mature and modern – especially with reference to its sound. „Awatar" featured a new drummer, Mariusz Bobkowski. The new edition includes 7 bonus tracks. - more on this story

. Rock Reads: Aerosmith's Joey Kramer - Hit Hard: A Story of Hitting Rock Bottom at the Top

When you conclude reading the book, you will be shattered emotionally. What you will find is a tailored history of Aerosmiths career, but more extensively, you will read the story of a survivor. He finds a way to take his alarming experiences and relationships and put them into perspective for the reader. (5 stars) - Read the full Rock Reads: Aerosmith's Joey Kramer - Hit Hard: A Story of Hitting Rock Bottom at the Top review

. Clandestine - The Invalid (Features Ex-The Apex Theory)

The Invalid is a strong first step into the full-length arena by Clandestine, showing a knack for strong songwriting and a great mix of metal with more adventurous electronic sounds. Labels take note! Unless Im mistaken, Clandestine are going places, with or without you. (4 stars) - Read the full Clandestine - The Invalid (Features Ex-The Apex Theory) review

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