Dub reggae legend Mikey Dread passed away this Saturday. He was 54. The influential musician and produer was diagnosted with a brain tumor half a year ago.

Dread, born Michael Campbell in Port Antonio, Jamaica, first made waves as the host of the overnight JBC radio show Dread At The Controls. The pioneering show was the first Jamaican radio program to focus on then-underground reggae music. Dread championed the cause by playing artists like King Tubby, Augustus Pablo and Linval Thompson, none of which could otherwise be heard on the conservatively run station. Moving into producion Dread was a vital contributor to the Clash, producing their “Bank Robber” single and co-producing the Sandinista! full length. While in the UK he narrated a six-part series on Jamaican culture for the BBC entitled Deep Roots Music. The early 80s also gave rise to important solo full lengths such as `81’s Beyond World War 3 and `84’s Pave The Way.

Mikey Dread is survived by his wife Monika and six children. Our deepest condolences go out to his family and friends.
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Panic! At the Disco have launched a full album stream of their upcoming record. The record is titled Pretty. Odd and is due out March 25, 2008. It is the follow-up to A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out which was released in 2005.

You can find the stream here.
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Panic! At the Disco have launched a full album stream of their upcoming record. The record is titled Pretty. Odd and is due out March 25, 2008. It is the follow-up to A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out which was released in 2005.

You can find the stream here.
Source Continue reading Panic At the Disco: “Pretty. Odd” →

A Day to Remember will head out on a two-week headlining tour in support of last year’s Victory-released effort, For Those Who Have Heart.

Joining them will be Crime in Stereo, who released Is Dead (Bridge Nine) last year, and Just Surrender, who are also supporting a 2007 full-length, We’re in Like Sin (EastWest / Broken English).
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Ignite have announced a new block of dates for their European club tour. After completing three weeks with Terror, Strung Out the band will kick off this new leg on April 22nd and Death Before Dishonor and Burnthe8track will share the stage for those new shows.

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Bridge Nine Records has posted a slew of information regarding its forthcoming releases.

H2O has posted the track listing for their Bridge Nine debut, Nothing to Prove. The album will hit stores May 27.

The label also announced the release dates for Have Heart and Ceremony’s new albums.

Have Heart‘s Songs to Scream at the Sun will see a June 8 release, while Ceremony‘s self-titled release will hit stores August 5.
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Drummer Jay Skowronek has announced his departure from Maxeen:

I just wanted to let everyone know that I have officially left Maxeen. I’m very sad, but feel it’s the best for everyone involved. Thank you for all of your support over the past 6 years. It’s been a blast playing for all of you all over the place . . . the U.S., Canada, Japan, Europe . . . truly an amazing, amazing experience.

The band ran into a number of problems with their former major label home, Their originally scheduled new album, Hello Echo was indefinitely shelved, and the band split with the label. As a result, the band quickly released a six-song EP of new material called Life in the Gears last year.
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Spin Magazine interviewed Hot Water Music during their stop at SXSW. The video interview features the entire band and they discuss the reunion, the response to the reunion and some of their future plans.

You can check out the interview here.
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Death Cab For Cutie has posted the first single from their forthcoming release Narrow Stairs.

You can check out the song “I Will Possess Your Heart” on MySpace.
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Today we’ve got a new stream of the new volume in Engineer Records‘ three-way split series. This third edition l features three new tracks apiece from Elemae and Memorial, as well as two new tracks and one from a previous European full-length by Belgium’s Soon. It’ll be a joint release between Engineer and the non-Ian Mackaye affiliated Embrace Records.

You can check out the stream on Elemae’s Punknews.org Profile.
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The Nirvana Club has obtained some photos of the upcoming Kurt Cobain signature shoes, to be released by Converse in celebration of their 100th anniversary. The shoes will be adored with artwork and scribbles borrowed from Cobain’s personal notebooks.

To further pay tribute to the late singer, three of the Converse shoes that Cobain was often seen wearing will be reflected in the new collection which includes versions of Chuck Taylor All Star, Jack Purcell and One Star shoes. To make the collection even more unique, they’ll have wear and fray detailing and Kurt Cobain’s signature subtly embroidered on the shoe’s outer. The shoes are the first branded product that the Cobain estate has approved since his death in 1994.

You can check out some photos here.
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Matt Skiba of Alkaline Trio and Heather Gabel (formerly Hannoura) will be putting on a art show titled Dear Friends on Saturday, March 29th at onsix gallery/the darkroom. The show starts at 9PM and Fat Wreck Chords act Dead To Me will be performing.

The event will be their second art show together; the first was a benefit at 111 Minna for the West Memphis 3. The title of the art show reflects their long years as friends and co-workers as Heather designs all of the Alkaline Trio art work. Both Matt and Heather have art samples available and you can check out Matt’s page here. Heather’s artwork can be found on her myspace page.
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