Whoa: New Vaselines album

Sub Pop announces:

Seattle, WA – The Vaselines will release their second record, Sex With An X (CD/LP), on Sub Pop Records September 14th, 2010. This is the band’s first album in 20 years and will coincide with a 10-stop tour through the UK ending in their hometown of Glasgow, Scotland (dates below). For your listening pleasure, the band is offering a free download of "I Hate The 80's", the debut single off the new record at http://www.thevaselines.co.uk. Now you can find out for yourself why this band has long been celebrated by musicians and music enthusiasts across genres and across the globe, including super-fan Kurt Cobain.

For band photos, bio and press links please visit: www.subpop.com/artists/the_vaselines

About Sex With An X
Recorded outside Manchester at the Analogue Catalogue studio in Mossley with Julie McLarnon engineering and produced by Jamie Watson who produced that first album Dum Dum, Sex With An X was recorded the old-fashioned way: twelve songs in thirteen days (plus two b-sides). The Vaselines ca. 2010 is Eugene and Frances with guest musicians Stevie Jackson and Bob Kildea from Belle & Sebastian on guitar and bass, and Michael McGaughrin from the 1990s on drums. It may have taken The Vaselines 20 years to get round to making this baby, but it was worth the wait—bringing their solo careers to a climax. The irony has not been lost. Who says indie music can't be fun? No hand-wringing on these tracks—just good clean smut with a twist of bitter.

Vaselines to tour again

Sub Pop reports:

Sub Pop’s May 5th release of Enter The Vaselines is ... effectively a deluxe-edition reissue of the 1992 Sub Pop release The Way of The Vaselines with a new title and new cover art, both from the band, and a whole lot of new material (the entirety of the 17-song second CD/third LP has been added)...

It includes new mixes and re-mastered versions of everything by The Vaselines, plus never-before-heard demos, and live recordings from 1986 in Bristol and 1988 in London.

TOUR DATES:

Sun, May 10th – Los Angeles, CA – El Rey Theater
Mon, May 11th – San Francisco, CA – Bimbos
Tue, May 12th – Seattle, WA – Neumos
Wed, May 13th – Portland, OR – Doug Fir
Sat, May 16th – Chicago, IL – Metro
Mon, May 18th – Brooklyn, NY – Music Hall of Williamsburg

The Vaselines at Maxwell’s was one of my favorite shows last year. So sweetly raunchy. I’ll skip this, since it’s the kind of thing you can really only do once, but if you missed their handful of dates last year, do try to see of of these.

2008: The year in live music

I saw slightly fewer concerts in 2008 than usual — about 90 shows, not counting theater and some other things. Here are some of the more notable events, with favorites in bold itals.

Best were Nick Lowe, Leonard Cohen, the Vaselines and My Bloody Valentine. (Am I getting old, or what?) Most surprsing: Information (opening for Teenage Jesus, who were great too), “From Beyond” (conflict of interest alert), Philip Glass’s “Satyagraha” at the Met, Jamey Johnson, and the Korean avant/traditional fusion of the Tori Ensemble. Most disappointing was probably everything about Oneida’s show at the Kitchen except “Sheet of Easter,” as much as I do love them.

1/10: Lou Reed and John Zorn (with Laurie Anderson) @ The Stone
1/19: Blonde Redhead, Raveonettes, School of Seven Bells @ Terminal 5
1/29: Vampire Weekend, Beat the Devil @ Bowery Ballroom
2/1: Joanna Newsom w/ Brooklyn Philharmonic @ BAM
2/6: Cat Power @ Terminal 5
2/13: Jason and Lucas Ajemian’s “From Beyond” @ 436 West 15th Street (behind Passerby bar)
2/13: MGMT, Yeasayer, Violens @ Bowery Ballroom
2/14: Yeasayer, MGMT, Chairlift @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
2/23: The National, My Brightest Diamond @ BAM
3/7: “Peter Grimes” @ Metropolitan Opera
3/10: Vinicio Capossela @ Joe’s Pub
3/13-15: SXSW (highlights: Motörhead, Holy Fuck, My Morning Jacket, Liam Finn, Bon Iver, Atlas Sound, Wye Oak, Pissed Jeans, Handsome Furs, Health, 2 Live Crew, White Shoes and the Couples Company, the Pillows)
3/30: Boredoms @ Terminal 5
4/2: Beach House, Papercuts, Luke Temple @ Bowery Ballroom
4/4: Shelby Lynne @ Ethical Culture Society
4/6: Simone Dinnerstein @ Town Hall
4/9: Nick Lowe w/ Robyn Hitchcock (and Elvis Costello!) @ Grand Ballroom, Manhattan Center
4/16: Joe Jackson @ Town Hall
4/17: Opening party @ John Varvatos store, 315 Bowery (former CBGB): Wayne Kramer, Handsome Dick Manitoba, Tom Morello, Jerry Cantrell, Slash, Joan Jett, Ian Hunter, Ronnie Spector, others.
4/19: “Satyagraha” @ Metropolitan Opera
4/30: Madonna @ Roseland
5/4: Tashi (Wuorinen, Takemitsu, Messiaen) @ Town Hall
5/19: The Swell Season, Interference @ Radio City Music Hall
5/24: Rosa Passos @ Allen Room
6/6: MIA, Rye Rye, Holy Fuck @ McCarren Pool
6/11: Robert Plant and Alison Krauss @ WaMu Theater at Madison Square Garden
6/13: Teenage Jesus and the Jerks (Lydia Lunch, Jim Sclavunos, Thurston Moore), Information @ Knitting Factory
6/14: Oneida (“The Wedding”) @ The Kitchen
6/20: My Morning Jacket @ Radio City Music Hall
6/23: Coldplay @ Madison Square Garden
6/25: Leonard Cohen @ Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier, Place des Arts, Montreal (pre-festival)
6/26-28: Montreal International Jazz Festival (highlights: Dee Dee Bridgewater, Vieux Farka Touré, Return to Forever, John Jorgenson, Al Green, Hank Jones duos with Joe Lovano and Brad Mehldau; Mehldau solo; Saxophone Summit w/ Lovano, Dave Liebman and Ravi Coltrane)
7/5: Rush @ Saratoga Performing Arts Center
7/9: Vaselines, Indelicates @ Maxwell’s
7/12: Beth Orton, Matt Munisteri @ Celebrate Brooklyn
7/13: Breeders, Matt & Kim, the Whip @ McCarren Pool
7/18: Billy Joel @ Shea Stadium
7/19: Matmos, Leprechaun Catering @ Le Poisson Rouge
7/20: Liars @ McCarren Pool
7/25: Black Kids, Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson, Zambri @ Santos Party House
8/7: Neil Diamond @ XL Center, Hartford
8/9: All Points West: Radiohead, the Roots, Kings of Leon, Black Angels @ Liberty State Park, NJ
8/17: Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, Menahan Street Band @ Central Park Summerstage
8/20: The Ex with Gétatchèw Mèkurya; Mahmoud Ahmed and Alèmayèhu Eshèté with Either/Orchestra; Extra Golden @ Damrosch Park Bandshell, Lincoln Center Plaza
9/10: Bill Frisell, Paul Motian, Joe Lovano @ Village Vanguard
9/17: Lee Ann Womack, Jamey Johnson @ Allen Room
9/23: My Bloody Valentine @ Roseland
10/11: Haroon Bacha @ Forest Hills Jewish Center
10/16: TV on the Radio, Dragons of Zynth @ Brooklyn Masonic Temple
10/17: “Baltimore Round Robin” w/ Beach House, Jana Hunter, Santa Dads, Lexie Mountain, Lesser, Teeth Mountain, Nautical Almaniac, Lizz King, Creepers, WZT Hearts, Ed Schrader, Sand Cats, Thank You @ Le Poisson Rouge
10/21-25: CMJ (highlights: Shugo Tokumaru, Jay Reatard, the King Khan & BBQ Show, Growing, Psychic Ills, Sian Alice Group, Mission of Burma, the Muslims, School of Seven Bells)
11/7: Rosanne Cash, Joe Henry @ Rubin Museum
12/5: “Red Hot + Rio 2”: CéU, Curumin, Bebel Gilberto, José González, Otto and João Parahyba, w/ Kassin, Moreno Veloso, Domenico Lancellotti, Money Mark, Janja Gomes, Jorge Continentino, Carlos Darci and Zé Luis @ BAM
12/6: Tori Ensemble (Yoon Jeong Heo, Erik Friedlander, Kwon Soon Kang, Young Chi Min, Ned Rothenberg, Satoshi Takeishi) @ Asia Society
12/10: Bon Iver, the Tallest Man on Earth @ Town Hall
12/18: “La Bohème” @ Metropolitan Opera (with Ramón Vargas)
12/31: Joan Osborne @ City Winery
12/31: Akron/Family, Deerhoof, Megafaun, etc. @ Knitting Factory

(Top photo credit.)

Vaselines playing NYC!

Brooklyn Vegan reports that the Vaselines reunion is coming to New York. They’re at Maxwell’s on July 9 — I saw Eugene Kelly opening up for Bettie Serveert there on Oct. 26, 2000 — and Southpaw the next day. Tix for both go on sale Wednesday!

NME review of their first reunion gig, a few nights ago in Scotland.

Vaselines reunion

Confirmed? Pitchfork says so, but no mention yet on the official lineup of the supposed occasion, Sub Pop’s 20th-anniversary concerts. Next Friday they are also booked to play Carnegie Hall — not the one in New York, but the one in Dunfermline, Scotland.

Follows rumors.