[News] Modest Mouse Announces Short Summer Tour

After reports surfaced that Portland indie-rock outfit Modest Mouse were working on a brand new LP with Outkast's Big Boi taking on production duties, we couldn't help but get excited. With no new information regarding the album since the news broke, at least we can find comfort with the fact that MM will be touring this summer, albeit for a very short period of time. From June 20th to the 26th, the Portland band will be performing a pair of shows in Washington, DC, as well as one-night stints in Pittsburgh and Columbus, Ohio. They will also be performing at this year's Governors Ball Music Festival in New York and Orion Music + More in Atlantic City, NJ. Take a look at all the details after the jump.

Modest Mouse 2012 Tour Dates:
06/20 – Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
06/21 – Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
06/22 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Stage A&E
06/23 – Atlantic City, NJ @ Orion Music + More
06/24 – New York, NY @ Governors Ball Music Festival
06/26 – Columbus, OH @ Lifestyle Communities Pavilion

[News] Metallica Announces Orion Music Festival On June 23-24 In Atlantic City

Earlier today Metallica announced that they are launching a two-day festival in Atlantic City,NJ called Orion Music Festival. The festival will take place on June 23 - 24 2012 with the band headlining both nights of the event. The band also revealed that they will perform The Black Album in its entirety during one of the two nights. Tickets for fan club members go on sale tomorrow (2/8) at 10am ET and tickets for the general public go on sale on Saturday (2/11) at 11am ET.

Other artists included in the lineup for the two-day event include: Arctic Monkeys, Avenged Sevenfold, Modest Mouse, The Gaslight Anthem, Cage The Elephant, Fucked Up, Best Coast, Hot Snakes, Titus Andronicus, Gary Clark Jr., Lucero, Roky Erickson, The Black Angels, The Sword, A Place to Bury Strangers, and Liturgy. There will also be a lifestyle element included in the festival that will showcase each member of Metallica's interests - allowing fan to interact directly with each of the band members.

More details about the event are expected to unfold in the coming months. For more information head over to http://orionmusicandmore.com.

[Listen] Previously Unreleased Track From Modest Mouse Frontman Isaac Brock

Our good friends over at Antiquiet have done it again, and gone and got us a previously unreleased track from the Modest Mouse frontman Isaac Brock. The track is taken from the Live From Nowhere Near You, Vol II, an album that will feature rare and unreleased tracks from a huge range of artists including Josh Homme, Eddie Vedder, The Strokes, Woodie Guthrie, Bright Eyes and The Shins to name just a few. And I mean a few! 

The track from the Modest Mouse man is titled "Dead End Job At The Dead Letter Office" and will be released along with the album on July 19th. The compilation release, which features over 200 minutes of unheard music is available over on Greyday Records for $15 with all profits going to Outside In. 

If you head on over to Antiquiet you can check out an in depth chat with Kevin Moyer the man behind the huge project which has taken 8 years to come to fruition. Keep an eye on the Facebook page of the release too as more details are expected soon!

[Listen] Modest Mouse Debut Two New Tracks Live

Earlier in the month we got word of the new Modest Mouse album and who was involved in making it, Big Boi and Chris Carmouche. Over the weekend the band played George, Washington’s Sasquatch! and whilst their played a hit filled set along with two new cuts which may well be on said Big Boi produced album. TwentyFourBit has pointed us in the direction of the two soundboard recordings which you can give a spin below. The tracks are tentatively titled “Poison” and “Lampshades On Fire”. The latter being more of a slow jam while "Poison" is guitar led throughout along with a nice guitar solo in the middle.

Sounds like the festival goers at Sasquatch got their moneys worth from the twitter feeds and not to mention these two previews! More news on the new Modest Mouse album as and when we get it but for now  enjoy the tracks below. 

"Poison"

"Lampshades On Fire"

[Watch] Modest Mouse - "The World at Large" (Broken Social Scene Rework)

Broken Social Scene » Modest Mouse from The Voice Project on Vimeo.

As part of The Voice Project, an online cover song series that raises money and awareness for Ugandan women, Broken Social Scene have taken the Modest Mouse track "The World at Large" and reworked it. Broken Social Scene's singer and co-founder Kevin Drew, who is friends with Modest Mouse frontman Isaac Brock, said, “I know Isaac, you know, the guys, so I have no desire to cover this song and make it the same.” The rework is a great take on the original song, all the while adding the unique style and talent of each member of BSS. In the clip above (courtesy of TwentyFourBit), you can watch the band's somewhat impromptu process of reworking the song in-studio.

Also, head over to The Voice Project to see what they're all about and to support their cause.

[Listen] Julian Casablancas - "Rave On" (Buddy Holly Cover)

We recently got a taste of the upcoming Rave on Buddy Holly tribute album with covers from The Black Keys and Modest Mouse, and today, we've got another preview courtesy of The Strokes frontman Julian Casablancas. Casablancas covers the title track "Rave On," a song originally written the year before Buddy Holly's tragic death. Below you can stream Casablancas' version of the song.

Rave on Buddy Holly is due out June 28th via Fantasy Records/Concord Music Group.

Julian Casablancas - "Rave On"

[Listen] Modest Mouse - "That'll Be The Day" (Buddy Holly Cover)

Last Wednesday we got to hear the garage rock duo of Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney aka The Black Keys put their own touch on Buddy Holly's "Dearest". The track was taken from the Rave On Buddy Holly album which is set to be released on June the 28th via  Fantasy/Concord. The name of artists featuring on the album was pretty impressive and today we have another little treat for you to whet your appetites further. 

Below you can check out Modest Mouse's take on "That'll Be The Day" which originally featured on Buddy Holly's 1958 album of the same name. The track will sit along side the Black Keys cover as well as input from She & Him, Cee Lo Green, Paul McCartney and Julian Casablancas just to name a few. Happy Monday guys. A nice way to start the week if I ever did see one.

Removed by request of the label. Womp. Womp. :( But you can still take a listen to the track on this week's Liza Richardson's show on KCRW.

[News] It's Confirmed: Big Boi Producing Modest Mouse Album

Last week we reported of Big Boi being in the studio with Modest Mouse, but apart from that we were unsure as to what else was happening, and what Big Boi was doing there. Today courtesy of an interview with MTV we have a few blanks filled in. We now know that he is producing the new album of the Portland based MM but when we'll get to hear this work is still up in the air. 

“I’ve been a fan of the band for a minute. … We’re all musicians and producers and artists, and it’s just like a big-ass brainstorm, a brain-stormin’, tsunami, typhoon, tectonic-plates-movin’ kind of thing. We do all types of music, so to get the chance to jam with a jammin’-ass band, I knew it was going to be cool. We had a vibe too. We made a couple of records that are just jamming. It’s a hodgepodge of funkiness.”

Any one else a little excited to hear this "hodgepodge of funkiness"?! Keep checking back for more info as and when we have it. Props to CoS for noticing the MTV interview.