Make sure you pick up the current June 08′ issue of Louisville Music News and read my review of “Evil Urges,” which debuted on The Billboard Album Charts at #9.

Wanna catch Louisville’s premiere band on the road? Here is My Morning Jacket’s entire summer tour schedule:

6/13 - Manchester, TN - Bonnaroo Festival
6/16 - Toronto, ON - Kool Haus
6/17 - Montreal, QC - Le National
6/20 - New York City, NY - Radio City Music Hall

6/25 - Sheffield, UK - Leadmill
6/26 - Bristol, UK - Academy
6/27 - Manchester, UK - Academy
6/29 - Glastonbury, UK - Glastonbury Festival
7/1 - Hamburg, Germany - Gruenspan
7/2 - Cologne, Germany - Luxor
7/4 - Werchter, Belgium - Werchter Festival
7/6 - Kent, UK - The Hop Farm Festival
7/8 - Amsterdam, The Netherlands - Melkweg (The Max)
7/9 - Paris, France -Le Trabendo
7/11 - Nottingham, UK - Rescue Rooms
7/12 - Kildare, UK - Oxegen Festival
7/13 - Glasgow, UK - T In The Park Festival
7/15 - London, UK - The Forum
7/19 - Benicassim, Spain - Benicassim Festival

7/26 - Whistler, BC - Pemberton Festival
8/16 Louisville, KY - The Great Lawn @ Waterfront Park
8/18 - Kansas City, MO - Uptown Theater
8/19 - Council Bluffs, IA - Stir Cove
8/23 - Dallas, TX - Palladium Ballroom
8/24 - Austin, TX - Stubb’s
8/27 - Atlanta, GA - Fox Theater
8/29 - Miami, FL - The Fillmore Miami Beach
8/30 - Orlando, FL - House of Blues
8/31 - Myrtle Beach, SC - House of Blues
9/2 - Charlottesville, VA - Charlottesville Pavilion
9/3 - Washington, DC - Constitution Hall
9/5 - Philadelphia, PA - Festival Pier at Penn’s Landing
9/6 - Boston, MA - Bank of America Pavilion
9/19 - Berkeley, CA - Greek Theatre
9/21 - Los Angeles, CA - Greek Theatre
9/23 - Phoenix, AZ - Marquee Theatre
9/24 - Las Vegas, NV - The Joint
9/25 - San Diego, CA - SDSU Open Air Theatre
9/27 - Portland, OR - McMenamins Edgefield Amphitheater
9/28 - Seattle, WA - McCaw Hall
10/2 - Minneapolis, MN - Orpheum Theatre
10/3 - Milwaukee, WI - Riverside Theater
10/4 - Detroit, MI - The Fillmore
10/9 - Chicago, IL - Chicago Theatre
10/10 - Chicago, IL - Chicago Theatre

My Morning Jacket recently performed as the musical guest on Saturday Night Live on NBC this past Saturday May 10th. They performed a few songs off their upcoming new album, “Evil Urges.” You can check out the performance of their title track here.

ash_ent@yahoo.com

“Evil Urges” is one of the most astounding albums I’ve heard in a while – a long while. It’s almost immediately evident that My Morning Jacket was not subjected to a rushed recording process where the record labels only interest is to just ‘get something out’ for the sake of making a quick buck. No, no, no. The reason for this is because My Morning Jacket really dove off the deep end with this album when comparing to their previous releases.

“Evil Urges” takes My Morning Jacket fans on a musical voyage through a few ‘untouched’ genres as compared to previous releases. Nonetheless it is impossible to imagine that they could have produced such a masterful fusion of new sounds ‘if’ they were being rushed by their label to just “get it out.” Evil Urges is a fresh change, and one that testifies to My Morning Jacket’s ability to tear down the walls between genres and just write songs in whatever style that flows through their minds.

My Morning Jacket retreated to the mountain tops of Denver, Colorado to record Evil Urges. This retreat translated into an album with heavy doses of soul, funk and psychedelic-disco variations of alternative rock. There is also some instances of alt-country, that is nicely polished with Jim James’ signature tenor vocals that serves as the basis for the soul influence on most of the tracks.

Hands down, one of the most appealing songs on this album is “Highly Suspicious,” a sultry, funky tune with an infectious chorus which should net them lots of airplay on stations other then public radio.

The title track, “Evil Urges” is another song that should push this album toward success. It really sets the rest of the album up well, with the suggestive message that “Evil Urges” are just “part of the human race.” The underlying hints of soul is instantaneously recognizable in James’ vocals, and is mixed with a lot of Pink Floyd-style’ psychedelia.

Another excellent track, although it may not get much airplay is “Touch Me I’m Going To Scream, Part 2.” Just lock yourself in a bedroom with your significant other to learn why this song is so good.

One other song that really stood out was “I’m Amazed,” which MMJ recently performed on Saturday Night Live.

The question of who is the next big act to come out of Louisville has been answered: My Morning Jacket.

I could go on and on about the rest of the album, but then who really wants to read the rest of that? Just go buy the damn album and thank me later. Ear X-tacy will have it as soon as it released on June 10, so make sure you buy it there. (Never mind everywhere else.)

Also don’t forget that My Morning Jacket will be playing live on Louisville’s Waterfront Park on Saturday August 16th, 2008.

Meanwhile, enjoy the album as much as I have !

scuttlebuttpress@yahoo.com

Photo by Jason Ashcraft

The Goo Goo Dolls are going down as one of the greatest sappy arena rock balladeers of all time. The “sappy” comment is no insult: that’s what these guys have made their way on. It’s just another one of those “it is what it is” concepts. Goo Goo Dolls invested their musical creativity (or possibly genius) into the ‘having the blues’ industry and came out rock stars by literally winning over the hearts and tears of millions of people worldwide, most of whom have had a case of the blues at some point in their lives.

It often happens at concerts that there are a few groups who aren’t really paying attention to the musicians. Not at the Goo Goo Dolls show at 4^th Street Live, though! Everyone was totally engaged with vocalist John Rzeznik’s every move. I asked someone standing next to me how many songs they had played upon arriving and they told me to “shut-up” until the song was over. Now that’s engagement. I didn’t even get offended. They were right. You don’t get to see this level of talent every day around Louisville.

The most vivid songs I remember were “Better Days,” “Name” and “Before It’s Too Late.” Apparently, they played these after I was told to “shut-up and just listen,” which I should have been doing anyway. It was amazing to hear the Goo Goo Dolls perform these songs ‘live’ since I’ve listened to on albums for years.

The Goo Goo Dolls have a CD on the shelf of almost everyone’s collection, especially if that collection dates back to the mid 90s, when the band launched itself into the musical mainstream. One such album, “A Boy Named Goo,” was released in 1995 and initially only sold 4,500 copies out of the gate. But, it would eventually surpass 1.6 million in sales, once the hit single “Name” aired on MTV. The album didn’t even occupy space in Wal-Mart or Target, due to its slightly controversial album artwork, but it launched the band into the national spotlight, after they had already released four albums on Metal Blade and Celluloid Records.

In 1998 the Goo Goo Dolls signed a deal with Warner Brothers Records and released “Dizzy Up The Girl” featuring the hit song “Iris.” It almost instantly went platinum and everything after that is history.

Photo by Jason Ashcraft

Johnny Rzeznik, Robby Takac, and Mike Malinin became America’s rock ballad hit-makers in a very short period of time. They have something about them that I can’t quite figure out, but over the years, the Goo Goo Dolls have kept their music and image from being cheesy, even while mining the ‘sappiness’ vein. Other ‘ballad rockers’ have eventually fallen victim to whininess, but not the Goo Goo Dolls

They played most, if not all, of their hit singles under the roof on a rainy night at 4^th Street and those who were there were totally conquered by the Goo Goo Dolls’ stage presence. Few musicians achieve this kind of longevity in their musical careers.

ash_ent@yahoo.com