The Flaming Lips - Flaming Lips set to record a Dark Side of the Moon cover album

Last night, The Flaming Lips played LA’s Ricardo Montalbán Theater as part of a more intimate set, free of the band’s usual live show props (no explosions, fake blood or anything that could be considered outrageous, not for The Flaming Lips at least). There, the band opened up the crowd with a set packed with new songs off the new album, “Embryonic” - a really hate it or love it release.

Besides the impeccable performance, last night was made a lot more interesting right from the beginning, as the band revealed some very interesting insights on what they have in...

Better Than Ezra - Better Than Ezra Re-Release 'Closer'

Better Than Ezra have re-released their previously out of print 2001 release 'Closer,' which contains two previously unreleased tracks titled "Simple Song" and "Screwed Up And Beautiful."  The album is on sale now at Better Than Ezra's website: http://www.btestore.com

�Closer�s been out of print for a long time,� Griffin told Alternative Addiction during an interview in June.  �I hadn�t listened to that album in a long time, but it�s just a great album, one of our best.�

The new tracks were actually recorded during the recording sessions for Closer, but did not make the final cut for the album. ...

Duchess Says - Duchess Says - Montreal, QC October 2

Montreal’s no-wave, Moog-rock four-piece Duchess Says are brilliant at working with language. That is so to say, they are francophone, and yet front-woman AC sings more in rhythmic sounds than in anything linguistically discernible. Her male band-mates keep their distance, because her trance-like thrashing and unconscious hand motions sometimes get out of hand. Duchess Says almost make you want to dance, but they straddle that line between asymmetric and symmetrical musical composition. Still, it’s possible to move with them, especially when AC decides to jump into the crowd and move with you, all the while singing wildly.

R.e.m. - R.E.M.

ecorded during a series of performances at Dublin's famed Olympia club in July 2007, R.E.M.'s Live at the Olympia double album provides great insight into the band's creative process as they used a series of club dates to work out the kinks in the arrangements of the songs that would eventually form 2008's Accelerate. The alternate versions of the excellent "Supernatural Superserious" (included here under its original title, "Disguised") and "Man-Sized Wreath" suggest that the band edits their material with a strong ear for overall tone and sound quality, since the arrangements included recall the heavy distortion and grunge...

Pearl Jam - Pearl Jam - Backspacer

There's been so much talk, and for the most part its justified - this is indeed Pearl Jam's big return. While this music doesn't deviate massively from the established sound (and, let's face it, it doesn't really need to - it's Pearl Jam) the band do take some big risks and explore the genres of pop and new wave sparingly while cracking out some true Bon Jovi-style ballads.

The album's opener is 'Gonna See My Friend' and it's an exciting and upbeat affair mixing Eddie Vedder's trademark raw vocals and some skyscraping riffage, before 'Got Some' kicks the ear hard with...

The Black Crowes - The Black Crowes - Before The Frost…

If there were any doubts left that Chris and Rich Robinson's ultimate wish would be to transport themselves back to the Nixon era, they've made that abundantly clear on this unabashedly earthy effort. In many ways, Before The Frost… is a much more confident return to full-time status for the band compared to last year's Warpaint, which seemed a deliberate attempt to reconnect with the mainstream rock audience that originally accepted them. Here, recording live in front of an audience at Levon Helm's studio in Woodstock, NY, the band present a suitably homey collection of new tunes that touch on...

Birds Of Tokyo - Birds Of Tokyo - Universe

Since forming in 2004, Birds of Tokyo has created quite a name for themselves, not just in their native home land of Western Australia, but across the world. With the bands second album ‘Universes’, which has been released independently, they have created ten tunes that have been integrated with catchy guitar hooks and soaring vocals, then built upon with various other elements. The one consistent component each and every tune has in common is the volume, it should be best heard LOUD!

Through many of the songs there is a sense of eeriness, a misty and mysterious atmosphere that never quite...

The Flaming Lips - The Flaming Lips

nspired by a desire to make a double album and record with greater freedom and less discipline and restraint, the Flaming Lips let their freak flag unfurl on Embryonic. One of the Lips's trademarks has long been the way that they balance their riskiest, most ambitious impulses with a genuine mastery of pop songcraft. That balance has skewed a bit more toward the accessible over the last decade, with songs like "Do You Realize???" and "Fight Test" finding the band crafting some of their most robust, indelible pop hooks. Embryonic, then, sounds like an over-correction to that trend, pushing the...

Bowling For Soup - Bowling For Soup - Sorry For Partyin'

To celebrate 15 years as a band is a significant achievement in itself. Not only have Bowling for Soup accomplished this in 2009, but the year also marks the release of their tenth album, ‘Sorry for Partyin’.

For those familiar with Bowling for Soup’s punk-rock nature, the title of their opening track, ‘A Really Cool Dance Song’, may prove somewhat intriguing. There are moments in this song that are literally laugh-out-loud funny, proving that the Texan rockers have certainly not lost their humour over the years. The second single of the album, ‘No Hablo Ingles,’ is an amusing song with a...

Oasis - Kasabian Added To T4 Gig

Leicester indie giants Kasabian have been added to the bill for the forthcoming T4 Stars Of 2009 show.

With Oasis out of action, many British bands are stepping forward to take their throne. As former touring partners with the Manchester giants Kasabian seem to be the obvious candidates to become the kings of debauched rock 'n' roll.

Releasing their new album 'West Ryder Pauper Asylum' earlier this year, Kasabian seemed to step up a gear. Loud and brasher than anything they had recorded before, it spawned the hit single 'Fire'.

Touring throughout the year, Kasabian are filling bigger and bigger...