Tag: "The Black Keys"

It’s officially awards season. Sure, it can be an obnoxiously gratuitous, self-congratulatory time, but there’s always a little entertaining drama to keep things interesting. Then, of course, there are the performances to look forward to. And now, music enthusiasts, the first batch of performers for the Grammy Awards have made the rounds.

Among this year’s Grammy performers will be first timers The Black Keys and fun., along with Taylor Swift, Mumford & Sons, and Rihanna. All these performers are nominated in various categories, including fun., Mumford & Sons and the Black Keys competing for Album of the Year.

View the full list of nominees right here and don’t forget to tune in as LL Cool J returns to host the 55th Annual Grammy Awards live at 8p.m. EST Sunday, February 10th on CBS.

If you like Mumford & Sons check out OurStage artist Kory Murphy.

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The Black Keys and The Flaming Lips will be hitting the road together for a short tour across the U.S. and Brazil this spring Individually, The Black Keys will include Argentina on their trek, while The Flaming Lips will head to Europe in late May.

You can find a full list of tour dates for each band after the jump, and don’t forget to enter our weekly #FreeTicketFriday contest for your shot at a free pair of tickets!

Continue reading ‘The Black Keys, The Flaming Lips Announce Tour’

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• The baddest men alive.
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• A PSA from Sean Penn and…Kid Rock?
• The Beatles like you’ve never seen them before.

Though it might seem like The Black Keys would want to take it easy for a little while after the last two years, which saw the release of the group’s two most popular albums, a deluge of festival performances, and many major licensing deals, they just can’t seem to stop putting out new records. And that’s a good thing.  The Akron, Ohio duo of drummer Patrick Carney and guitarist/vocalist Dan Auerbach have been churning out a new album almost every year since their sophomore record Thickfreakness came out in 2003, and they have recently announced that their upcoming album will definitely be completed in 2013.

In an interview with CBS Local, drummer Carney noted that he and Auerbach want to “take a few months off to do normal things like go to bed early and wake up early, walk the dog, that kind of stuff,” but that those things will only happen after their next album is recorded. Now that is some work ethic. Somebody should tell that to Dr. Dre, who seems too busy making obscene amounts of money off of his Beats headphones instead of finishing Detox, which has been in the works for over a decade. Keep ‘em coming, guys.

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If there were ever a time to announce your band’s hiatus, it would surely be in front of 60,000 screaming fans. And if you’re one of the biggest bands in the world, you might as well do it twice. For the second time in about a month, Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl spoke out about the band’s impending break in activity. During the band’s set at the Reading Festiva in late August, he announced “It’s the last show for a long time,” only to backpedal soon after, claiming that he was only referring to a break from touring in England.

Continue reading ‘Dave Grohl Points Towards Foo Fighters Hiatus (Again)’

The primal bellow of the The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion is unmistakable.  For over 20 years, the band has blazed a path uniquely and entirely their own, pioneering an inimitable, cacophonous, and burly blend of punk and blues. Though the band decided to take a break after 2004′s Damage, it wasn’t long before lead singer/guitarist Jon Spencer, drummer Russell Simins, and guitarist Judah Bauer were back together writing and recording again. The result of the last few years is Meat and Bone, a classic return to form for the New York three–piece. We recently caught up with Spencer to talk about the changing face of rock ‘n’ roll promotion, social media, and why the passage of time plays a big thematic role on the new record.

OS: After your recent hiatus, what spurred you, Judah, and Russell to start writing together again?

JS: Playing concerts again. That’s what did it. In 2007, the label In The Red put out a compilation of a bunch of singles that we had done for them over the years. So, after that there was something of a renewed interest in The Blues Explosion, and in summer 2008 me and Judah and Russell figured, “Well why not take a few shows?” We went over to Europe and played a few festivals and enjoyed doing it, so we kept playing and took more concerts. About a year and a half ago we began writing songs and thinking about making an album. That followed along naturally, quite organically, out of the return to playing live and touring.

Continue reading ‘Exclusive Q and A: The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion Mine The Past, But Look Forward’

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This week’s SoundTrax is hereby dedicated to all the awesome music festivals this summer. Whether you’ve been to every festival this year, or if you’ve missed them all completely, we’re offering a recap of this season’s standouts and giving you a taste of what’s still to come. Enjoy some of your favorite music from Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza, Firefly, Kahbang, and many more.

Bad Rabbits get things going with their indie pop number, “Neverland,” followed by tracks from Late Cambrian, Passion Pit, and The Dirty Guv’nahs. Later we hear “Be Mine” from The Alabama Shakes, “Lights Please” from J Cole, and “The Zephyr Song” by The Red Hot Chili Peppers. Also in the mix are The Gaslight Anthem, Young The Giant, and many, many more. Enjoy the festivities!

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The venerable Austin City Limits Music Festival announced their lineup yesterday. The festival, scheduled for the weekend of October 12th to the 15th, is happening a bit later than usual this year – no doubt to take advantage of the positive effects of global warming. Every year, the people who put on ACL make an effort to offer something for everyone and it looks like 2012 will be no different in that regard. Headliners at the festival, including Red Hot Chili Peppers, Neil Young and Crazy Horse, and The Black Keys all promise a hard rockin’ grand old time. The lineup is rounded out with hipster favorites including Florence + The Machine and Oberhofer, hip-hoppers such as Childish Gambino and Big K.R.I.T., ACL regulars like Andrew Bird and Old 97s as well as a plethora of other bands that would just take too long to list here.

There are a few differences between this year’s lineup compared to years past. 2012 marks ACL’s most prominent acknowledgement yet of the electronic music scene, with AVICII, BASSNECTAR, and M83 all taking high-profile spots in their respective lineups. The 2012 installment of the festival also marks the 11th consecutive appearance from country group Asleep at the Wheel.

The full Austin City Limits Music Festival lineup can be seen here. Check out footage from last year’s outing below.