New Foo Fighters: "Rope"

The Foo Fighters' new single, "Rope" was released to radio on Wednesday. Hear it here. As we mentioned Friday, the new album, Wasting Light, comes out April 12. Antiquiet went to a secret show the band did in Santa Barbara and have some videos of some of the new songs.

What do you think? It's clearly in the same vein as "Best of You," "The Pretender," "In My Life," and other 21st-century Foo tracks. But there seems to be an added element of cock-rock: is that an '80s-metal solo towards the end?

Coming soon...

Several of the bigger artists of the '90s have albums in the works:

* The Foo Fighters' new album Wasting Light comes out April 12. Krist Novoselic plays on one of the tracks, and Pat Smear is back in the band! Here's the first video, "White Limo" (featuring Lemmy from Motorhead)


* John Frusciante is gone, but the Red Hot Chili Peppers are in the studio working on a new album with new guitarist Josh Klinghoffer, formerly a touring musician for the band. Flea's Twitter is apparently the resource for recording updates. No release date has been announced, but the band is playing festivals in Japan in August and Brazil in the fall, so expect something around then.

* Radiohead's King of Limbs is out now electronically. If you want a hard copy, wait until May 9.

* R.E.M.'s new album Collapse Into Now comes out March 8. Four songs from the album have been released so far; I particularly like "Uberlin." Sadly, they've chosen not to tour for this one.


* Green Day will release a(nother) live album, Awesome as Fuck, on March 22. It has one new song, "Cigarettes and Valentines." See full tracklisting here.

Rock Band and the future of music

As album sales keep falling and the growth of downloadable singles through iTunes and others peters out, is Rock Band the future of music? It seems like a lot of acts are jumping on the bandwagon.

I'm completely addicted to Rock Band and its sequel, Rock Band 2, but I long ago played through all the songs on the discs. Thankfully, there's downloadable content (and there are Pepsi giveaways to get free downloadable content). Just this week, the Rock Band folks made available tracks by Blur, Eve 6, Blind Melon, and the Foo Fighters. Third Eye Blind just re-recorded six of their hits for the Rock Band store, and Pearl Jam will make their new album Backspacer available to download and play on September 20, the same day as the album release.

What do you think? I've certainly spent more money this year on Rock Band tracks than actual recorded music. Have you?

Links roundup

* Chris Cornell, whose Timbaland collaboration only came out Tuesday despite all the pre-Xmas hype, is on tour. Get dates here.

* You can listen to a new Oasis b-side which finally goes whole-hog with the Beatles-influence over at Spin.

* A tribute to Mike Watt's 1995 solo album Ball-Hog or Tugboat?, which featured an all-star cast of alt-rock luminaries, including Eddie Vedder, Dave Grohl, and Evan Dando, among others. Check the comments section for fond remembrances of the supporting tour (the Foo Fighters opened up).

*If, like me, Jimmy Eat World didn't come anywhere near you on their Clarity 10th-anniversary tour, you can live vicariously with the Clarity Live album, which is out in April in a digital-only format.

* And Lamestain has a bunch of mp3s up right now of obscure tracks from 7-inches put out by various early-'90s Seattle bands.

Foo Fighters do reality TV

If you like Top Chef (and I gotta be honest, I'd never heard of it until I read this), then tune in in tonight on Bravo, because the Foo Fighters are going to be judging a Thanksgiving dinner cookoff.

Oh, and the episode was apparently taped this past summer. So that turkey is probably really dry and stringy by now.

Live, remix albums for Xmas

Need a gift for the '90s fan in your life this holiday season? Well, between now and December 25, these will appear on store shelves (well, at the few stores that still stock CDs):

*A Live live album. There are also two new tracks on it, including the song "Forever," which oddly reminds me of the Kiss 1989 single "Forever" (which was written by Michael Bolton!)

* A Foo Fighters live at Wembley Stadium DVD

* A Filter remix album, less than a year after Filter's fourth album flopped.

* A Stereophonics greatest-hits. Living in the UK in 1998-99, the Stereophonics were big stuff. They're still huge over there.

* And my personal favorite, a Vanilla Ice covers album in which Mr. Too Cold, Too Cold does covers of several rap classics from the early '90s. Included are "Baby Got Back," "Jump Around," and "Insane in the Brain." Oh, and four different versions of "Ice Ice Baby."

Glen Campbell does the '90s.

I'm kinda digging this new Glen Campbell album, where the "Rhinestone Cowboy" star does covers of songs by Green Day, Travis, and the Foo Fighters. It doesn't hurt that a couple of the guys from Jellyfish are in the backing band. Listen to samples here. Buy the thing here.

Foo Fighters headed for a break

Dave Grohl said on the BBC last week that the Foo Fighters are headed for a long hiatus.

Does this mean another Probot album? Perhaps more Taylor Hawkins and the Coattail Riders? A Sunny Day Real Estate reunion? Watch this space...

Foo Fighters to tour with Supergrass

The Foo Fighters have announced that Supergrass will be joining them for their summer US tour. Foo Fighters are currently riding their third Top 10 modern rock single off of last year's Echoes, Silence, Patience, and Grace. Supergrass, meanwhile, haven't had a modern-rock charting single since 1997's "Cheapskate," which skated into the lower reaches of the Top 40.

They remain quite popular in Europe, however, and just released a new album, Diamond Hoo Ha.

Foo Fighters / Supergrass tour dates:
July 9 - Key Arena, Seattle
July 10 - Rose Garden Arena, Portland OR
July 14 and 15 - Red Rocks Amphitheatre, Morrison, CO
July 17 - Ford Center, Oklahoma City
July 19 - Kemper Arena, Kansas City
July 20 - Scottrade Center, St. Louis
July 22 - Van Andel Arena, Grand Rapids, MI
July 23 - Conseco Fieldhouse, Indianapolis
July 25 - Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland
July 26 - Peterson Events Center, Pittsburgh
July 28 - Blue Cross Arena, Rochester
July 29 - Izod Center, East Rutherford, NJ

News bites: Foo Fighters, Radiohead, Beck

* Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin hopped on stage with the Foo Fighters earlier this week in London in front of more than 80,000 at Wembley Stadium. Dave Grohl has long voiced his interest in drumming for a Zep reunion, and he got his wish, only with Taylor Hawkins singing instead of Robert Plant.

* Radiohead's old record company has released a new "best of" CD, with little to no input from the band. Don't look for detailed liner notes, but you can try to win a copy here.

* That new Beck album hasn't shown up yet (see this post for more on that), but he has announced a few tour dates in August and September, with Cold War Kids, Spoon, MGMT, and Band of Horses opening select shows. See the complete list here. And as previously noted in our comments section, you can listen to "Chemtrails," a leaked track from the new album, here.