Morrissey Readies New Album, Curates Festival, Collaborates with Sinatra
You're the one for me, Nancy

It's been a long radio silence for the Mozzer, as his last studio release was way back in 1997-- now remembered by history as the Golden Age of Teen Pop. Yes, the Spice Girls and the Backstreet Boys were riding high on the charts, Britney and *NSYNC were but a year or two from joining the fray and claiming total musical dominance, and it seemed that the end of the world was indeed near. Into this frosty climate, Morrissey released Maladjusted... and then retreated. Reportedly unable to find a record deal following the poor sales of Maladjusted and its predecessor (the frequently lambasted and underappreciated) Southpaw Grammar, Morrissey has remained largely under the radar for the last seven years, save a(nother) greatest hits compilation in 2002 that boasted a single rarity, 1998's "Lost."

Well, it's a brand new day, and papa's got a brand new bag, as Billboard reports that Morrissey will release his new album on May 18th. As reported here this winter, You Are the Quarry will be released on Sanctuary, via the revived Attack Records label. Morrissey elaborated on the new album in a statement: "This is the best album I've ever done... There are no links to the past. This is a much brighter sounding album than much of my previous work. We've turned the page with Quarry. It's a dynamic album and I couldn't be any happier."

Somewhat curiously, You Are the Quarry was produced by Jerry Finn, who is best known for his work with pseudo-punk acts like Green Day and Blink-182. "I wanted a louder sound for this record," said Morrissey. "I was introduced to Jerry by a mutual friend. He made me feel very confident... He was able to help me create the sound for this album that I had already been hearing in my head." As for Finn: "This is one of the best records I've produced. It's just purely organic and it sounds incredible."

Morrissey is backed up on the album by his longtime collaborators Boz Boorer and Alain Whyte on guitar, and newer recruits Gary Day and Dean Butterworth on bass and drums, respectively. A major change in the approach for this album is that the band actually tracked the album together in the studio-- a change from past sessions where Morrissey would track his vocals, leaving Boorer and Whyte to create the music around them. The finalized tracklist is yet to be released, but songs on the album include "America Is Not The World," "I Have Forgiven Jesus," "The World Is Full of Crashing Bores," "I'm Not Sorry," and "You Know I Couldn't Last." An extensive tour of the U.S. and Europe will follow the release of Quarry.

It appears that Morrissey has found an appreciative home in Sanctuary and Attack, as a recent press release indicates plans for the future for both Morrissey and the label. "I've been a fan of the Attack label for quite some time," Morrissey said. "I have a Gregory Isaacs seven-inch on my refrigerator. Well, I told Sanctuary that I wanted to relaunch the label and have Quarry released on Attack and they agreed." Morrissey will also recruit and sign new talent to Attack-- starting with a comeback album from Nancy Sinatra, for whom Morrissey has already written a song (we're not kidding).

Finally, Morrissey has been tapped by the South Bank Centre to be the artistic director of the next Meltdown Festival-- an innovative event that allows the chosen director to fully create the image and lineup of his personal edition of Meltdown. Morrissey will join past directors like David Bowie, Nick Cave, and John Peel in building a festival with events that can include anything from music and film to comedy and poetry readings. "This is a privilege and I will rise to it," said Morrissey in a statement. "Curating Meltdown is a great opportunity for me to acknowledge some of the music and words that have excited me over the years." The festival will take place at London's South Bank from June 11 to 27-- it's still in the planning stages, but the full line-up should be announced soon.

Morrissey: http://www.morrissey-solo.com
Sanctuary: http://www.sanctuaryrecordsgroup.co.uk

Frog Eyes Remake Songs For Limited Release, Plan New Studio Album
It's not easy being seen

Absolutely Kosher has announced something special from Frog Eyes' Carey Mercer: Ego Scriptor (Latin for "I am the writer"), to be unveiled on April 13th. This extremely limited release (1,000 copies, a portion of these to be exported to the band's native Canada, no promos or radio promotion), appositely inscrutable, includes seven songs culled from Frog Eyes's previous albums, The Golden River and The Bloody Hand. In addition, the sampler will contain four brand new tracks from the upcoming full-length The Folded Palm, tentatively slated for a September 14th release.

But this is much more than a best-of: the seven old songs will be presented in new recordings-- solo acoustic performances by Carey Mercer, which one suspects will shed none of their opacity even with less claustrophobic backing music. Absolutely Kosher owner Cory Brown says the results are "intimate and utterly compelling, perhaps a more approachable gateway to the group's work for those small children and thin-blooded men who found themselves frightened by the full band's recordings." Like other Frog Eyes releases, Ego Scriptor's artwork will be taken from paintings by Mercer himself. The tracklist will be as follows:

01 The Latex Age #
02 Ship Destroyer $
03 Silence But For The Gentle Tinkling Of The Flowing Creek *
04 Masticated Outboard Motors #
05 Bells in the Crooked Port $
06 I Like Dot Dot Dot $
07 The Akhian Press $
08 Our Lordship Has Devised A New Billing System *
09 One Iin Six Children Will Flee In Boats #
10 Sound Travels From The Snow To The Dark *
11 The Fox Speaks To His Wife Who Is Not Quite Sure *

* from The Bloody Hand
# from The Golden River
$ from The Folded Palm

Bear in mind that The Folded Palm is a working title and subject to change-- but for my money, it's a keeper. Even more than the urinary allusion of The Golden River or the overt violence of The Bloody Hand, The Folded Palm has an enigmatic, concealed and ominous sense that suits Frog Eyes's gibbering scat and oblique psychosexual tirades perfectly. Watch this space for more concrete details as they develop.

In other Frog Eyes news, The Golden River will be released on vinyl in late March on Philadelphia label Happy Home Records. The LP will feature all the same tracks as the CD release, with hand-screened covers.

Finally, the band is planning a tour with Destroyer on which they'll open as Frog Eyes and back Dan Bejar in Destroyer. The tour is planned for April and May, but as of press time the dates are still unconfirmed. Two live dates that are already hewn in stone here:

03-14 Vancouver, British Columbia - The Drink (w/ Destroyer, Peanuts and Corn)
03-18 Austin, TX - Friends (SXSW Absolutely Kosher showcase w/ The Wrens, The Court and Spark, +/-)

Absolutely Kosher: http://www.absolutelykosher.com

Juliana Hatfield To Return From Exile In May
Sister sold separately

If you're thinking it's been a while since Juliana Hatfield released an album, you'd be right. Following 2000's double album release Use Your Illusion I and... Oh, wait. That's not right. How about Beautiful Creature and Total System Failure? There we go. Anyway, since then, she's released only a very peculiar retrospective, 2002's Gold Stars. Besides containing a full seven new songs and a nearly random selection of the rest of her catalog, the collection served mostly to remind the world that much like Brian Wilson, her unreleased album (God's Foot, recorded after Only Everything, and deemed not commercial enough by Atlantic, to whom she was under contract at the time-- is where her best work lies. Damn you, callous record companies!!! When will you learn?

However, 2004 is all set for the return of the prodigal daughter, with the upcoming release of her fourth album on Zoe/Rounder Records, In Exile Deo. Set for release on May 18th, you'd have to think it's likely that there aren't going to be any major stylistic changes this far into Hatfield's career-- I doubt she has an Achtung Baby in her-- but according to Zoe's press release for In Exile Deo, there is some hopeful/worrying/odd news about the album. In true Liz Phair style, she'd paired up with some heavy-hitting commercial producers and engineers this time around. David Leonard (Prince, Shawn Colvin... wait a second! Avril Lavigne? Crap.) co-produced and mixed two tracks on the album, David Way (Madonna, Foo Fighters, Pink) mixed five songs, and Dave Cook (Nick Cave, Graham Parker) mixed everything else. As is her usual custom, the rest of In Exile Deo was produced mainly by Hatfield herself.

A full tour will be announced soon, and in the meantime, Hatfield will be joining the rest of the free world at South By Southwest, on Thursday, March 18th. She will be debuting material from In Exile Deo, and maybe, just maybe, playing "Freebird." Just make sure your request is loud, people never get tired of that. We don't have a finalized tracklist yet, but some songs on the album include:

Jamie's in Town
Sunshine
Get in Line
Tourist
Some Rainy Sunday
Forever
Tomorrow Never Comes
Dirty Dog

Juliana Hatfield: http://www.julianahatfield.com
Zoe/Rounder: http://www.rounder.com

American Analog Set Release Rare Tracks Online, Tour with Pinback
Along with grass and cash, AAS now acceptable hitchhiking currency

Warm. Dreamy. Comforting. And, quite possibly, coming with Pinback to a city near you. The gentle, fuzzy, unassuming drones of American Analog Set aren't likely to undergo radical changes any time soon-- as whimsically acknowledged in William Bowers' review of the band's Promise of Love, the Set's aesthetic hasn't changed much since their inception. However, that which has remained makes for a worthwhile listen. In addition to a sprint across their home continent, a quick dash of European dates, and a couple of stops at the SXSW festival (the band's website makes note that the first two are likely to be changed in the weeks to come), the band has at least one more trick up their collective sleeve: on what is set to begin as a weekly offering, American Analog Set have begun releasing rare tracks and demos in free digital format through their Interweb HQ. It's usually pretty nice when a band does something like that, so give it a peep. Tour dates currently look a little something like this:

03-17 Austin, TX - Buffalo Billiards (SXSW Tiger Style showcase)
03-18 Austin, TX - Emo's Outside (SXSW Tag Team showcase w/ Broken Social Scene, Hidden Cameras, Constantines)
03-19 Austin, TX - Club DeVille (SXSW Insound Party w/ Constantines, The Unicorns, Panthers, Trans Am)
04-02 Dallas, TX - Trees *
04-03 Austin, TX - Emo's *
04-04 New Orleans, LA - House Of Blues *
04-05 Tallahassee, FL - Club Downunder *
04-07 Gainesville, FL - Market Street Pub *
04-08 Orlando, FL - The Social *
04-09 Atlanta, GA - Echo Lounge *
04-10 Athens, GA - 40 Watt *
04-11 Chapel Hill, NC - Cat's Cradle *
04-12 Washington, D.C. - Black Cat *
04-13 Boston, MA - Paradise *
04-14 Northampton, VA - Iron Horse Music Hall
04-15 Philadelphia, PA - Theater Of Living Arts *
04-17 Asheville, NC - Vincent's Ear
04-18 Nashville, TN - The End
06-03 Groningen, Holland - Vera
06-04 Opwijk, Belgium - Nijdrop
06-05 Paris, France - Guinguette Pirate
06-06 Leige, Belgium - L'Escalier
06-22 Amsterdam, Netherlands - Paridiso

* with Pinback

American Analog Set: http://www.amanset.com
Tiger Style: http://www.tigerstylerecords.com

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