Winnipeg indie mod-pop act Novillero has set a September 9 release date for their third album A Little Tradition. The Mint Records release is the follow-up to 2005’s Aim Right For The Holes In Their Lives.

The band, which formed in 1999, currently features vocalist / keyboardist Rod Slaughter, guitarist Sean Stevens, drummer Dave Berthiaume and bassist Grant Johnson. Multi-instrumentalist Jack Jonasson has been joining the band for live shows, most frequently accompanying the New Pornographers.
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Doghouse act Cruiserweight has launched a weekly video blog via their YouTube Channel. You can view the first episode, Episode #1: Dave on Dave now.

The group previously announced an iTunes only EP.
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London, UK’s The Black Ghosts have posted a new video for their song “Repetition Kills You,” featuring guest vocals from Damon Albarn (Blur, Gorrilaz, The Good, the Bad and the Queen). The song is from their self-titled album, due for a July 8th release in North America via I Am Sound Records.

Source Continue reading The Black Ghosts: “Repetition Kills You” →

Controversial Epitaph hip hop artist Boots Riley of The Coup has been charged for using “abusive language” during his performance at the Bayou Boogaloo & Cajun Food Festival. Boots claims that the charges are politically motivated, noting that the law has never been applied in this context:

City Officials claim that they are making the statement that profanity will not be tolerated. Obviously, since no one has been charged with this in 26 years, profanity IS tolerated. The statement they are making is that the culture and the people they feel I represent won’t be tolerated. I was already off stage; the man they asked to leave the stage was Trombone Shorty, another Black man who looks nothing like me. This happened at 10:00PM

I stayed and debated the validity of the charge with police and festival promoters. It is clear that this is part of a larger debate that has nothing to do with profanity, one that is being dealt with nationwide. That debate is about racism, gentrification and the ownership of public space.

Riley claims the charges were racially motivated as they are part of a backlash from the recent Afr’Am Festival in Norfolk in which Gospel and R&B performances generated “noise complaints,” despite the performers adhering to the same decibel parameters as all of Norfolk’s other festivals. The Afr’am fest has been the subject of controversy since.
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It’s Friday and the second of our weekly review updates is now online for your reading pleasure. Leading the pack this week is the long-awaited new album from Less Than Jake. After polarizing long-term fans with their past few albums, the question is whether GNV FLA is what you are waiting for is answered in the review.

Also featured is Kamikazes [7 inch] from Cloak/Dagger, Planes Mistaken for Star’s posthumous EP compilation We Ride to Fight! The First Four Years and some live performances including Pearl Jam / Ted Leo and the Pharmacists and the Smoking Popes live in Minneapolis.

All of those and many more can be found here.
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Melvins have posted the first new track from their upcoming Ipecac release, Nude With Boots. It follows A Senile Animal which was released in 2006.

You can check out the song on their myspace page.

This summer, the band will hit the road for another one of their annual tours with Big Business.
Source Continue reading The Melvins: “Kickin’ Machine” →

Another full album for you today. We’ve got the latest record from 19-piece outfit Endless Mike and the Beagle Club. The band is hitting the road for a short tour in early July.

You can check out the entire album on their Punknews.org Profile.
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Houston-based hardcore band Die Young have run into some problems with their Canadian tour. The band was arrested in Vancouver, BC after performing for two weeks without the appropriate permissions. The band explained:

We were unloading the van in Vancouver on Tuesday night when some cops approached us and told us they knew we had stayed in Canada much longer than we had clearance for. In a matter of minutes a another cop in a paddywagon arrived, and two immigration officers showed up. We got whisked off in handcuffs for a long night of several different holding cells, and then we got delivered back to the US border Wednesday morning in handcuffs and shackles.

It was fucked up to say the least, but there’s little else to do but laugh at ourselves in a situation like that. Once again, we have been banned from Canada for another year. Shit happens, but atleast we made 12 out of the 14 shows in Canada we had booked, and they were totally worth it. Thanks to everyone for their support. We apologize to our friends in Vancouver and Victoria, BC. It looks like we will miss you again this year. To our friends in the states, do not worry, we’re still making all our upcoming shows.”

The band has been touring in support of their new 7-inch, Loss.
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Gaslight Anthem have released the first single from their upcoming SideOneDummy debut. The record is titled The ’59 Sound and is due out August 19, 2008 (You can find the art here.) It is the follow-up to Señor and the Queen which was released in 2008.

You can check it out on their myspace page.
Source Continue reading The Gaslight Anthem: “The ’59 Sound” →

Harlots have posted an update on work towards their next album:

For the past few months (actually, let’s say a year or so) we’ve been demoing songs back and forth. So far we’ve done personal recording sessions via a lent digital 8-track from our good friend Kevin Schindel (Twelve Tribes, Mouth of the Architect), a recording session with former bassist and Basilica mastermind Ben S. Jacob, a recording session with As Eden Burns vocalist William Hesser while on tour in Houston TX, a recording session with Asrava guitarist Scott Lashay, and most recently a recording session with former Mouth of the Architect touring guitarist and guitarist of the band The Science Logic, Dan Wilburn.

So far we’re at about 16 songs, and we’re not quite finished. We will be posting a song that Christian recently finished vocals on soon enough, and hopefully be in the studio late this year/early 2009 for a release sometime in 2009 via Lifeforce Records.

The band released This Is the Second Death in 2006.
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