04.17.03

Time to put the money where the mouth is: the long awaited full-length album from The Yeah Yeah Yeahs is set for a 4/29 release date. The Brooklyn-based trio, which has gained international notoriety on the strength of two EP releases alone, has signed on the major label line with Interscope Records for the album, provisionally titled Fever To Tell. The band will take off on a 22-date North American tour in support of the record thereafter.

MTV Europe has decided to temporarily ban videos that depict "war, soldiers, war planes, bombs, missiles, riots and social unrest, executions [and] other obviously sensitive material." They have also banned any song by Athen's GA outfit The B-52's because the band name is not only a type of haircut but also a bomber plane.

The long awaited (wink wink) 13-disc The Singles Box 81-85 from Duran Duran will be out on shelves on June 10th. It will carry a price tag of about $50 and will contains the original B-sides. The Stranglers will also release a singles box set in June. It will feature 12-discs and is investively titled "Singles Box Set Volume 2."

Ex-Dream Syndicate leader turned solo artist Steve Wynn will release his lates solo album, Static Transmission, on July 8th. Wynn's last release received numerous critical accolades, including a nod from KCOU's Jason Cafer as amoung 2001's finest.

Cracker will release a set of two new albums this year on their own Pitch-A-Tent Records. The first titled Oh Cracker, Where Art Thou? will be released on May 6th. The follow-up, "Countrysides," is expected in July.

Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth has launched the new Web site Protest-Records.com which offers free MP3s of anti-war songs. REM have also added a protest song to their website at www.remhq.com. Want more? Try these: A trip to www.greenday.com will get you a downloadable version of Green Day frontman’s Billie Joe Armstrong’s new recording, “Life During Wartime,” while the Rock The Vote Web site (www.rockthevote.org) is offering Lenny Kravitz’s “We Want Peace,” a song perhaps mostly notable in that it features Kravitz in a duet with Iraqi pop artist Kazem Al Sahir.

Neil Young has finished recording his follow-up to 2002's Are You Passionate? with a release possible in the next few months.

A Buzzcocks singles box set is scheduled for a May 12th release titled "Inventory." It comes on the heels of the latest Buzzcocks album of new material (on Merge Records), now featured on KCOU's playlist.

Success came quickly for Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. They had an album many hailed as one of 2001 finest. However, last year, the B.R.M.C. was forced to relocate to the U.K. due to a fiasco involving visa problems for drummer Nick Jago....something about how Jago had been living illegally in the States when the San Francisco-based band got its break. As a result, after Jago's return to his native Great Britain, he was not allowed to reenter the U.S. Eventually, B.R.M.C moved to England in order to work on its sophomore album, (tentatively dubbed Take Them On, On Your Own). There’s no set release date for the disc yet, but thanks to assistance of a number of folks, most notably U2 frontman and political activist Bono, who wrote a letter to U.S. government officials on Jago’s behalf, the musician has finally been granted a new work visa and the group is once again free to live and play in the U.S. Find out more on the band’s official Web site www.blackrebelmotorcycleclub.com

Morrissey's will release a 15-track collection on May 26 which will feature cover versions of his favorite tunes. Among them include Morrissey's take on The New York Dolls "Trash," T-Rex's 'Great Horse', The Ramones' "Judy Is A Punk," Nico's 'All That Is My Own' and Patti Smith's 'Hey Joe' among numerous others.

Ex-Nirvana drummer and Foo Fighters-leader Dave Grohl has recorded drum tracks for the new Killing Joke album tentatively titled Axis Of Evil which is due out in June. The album is the first new studio album by Killing Joke in 7 years. At the producer helm is Gang Of Four's Andy Gill.