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Holy sheboigies! According to the LA Times, the second Raconteurs album, Consolers of the Lonely, will be out NEXT WEEK, on March 25th.

raconteurs

Why is this the first time you are hearing about this album? Oh, that’s because Jack White just dropped it off at the record label LAST WEEK. According to Radiohead’s Atease message board via Rolling Stone:

Jack White went into the Warner Bros. office last Tuesday, handed them the master tape for the new Raconteurs and told them that he wanted the album out this Tuesday.

The album will feature 14 tracks and will be available at “mom and pop” shops, iTunes, Amazon, and corporate superstores who are able to stock the title with such short notice. It will be released on Third Man Records via Warner Brothers and XL Records.

The first single, “Salute Your Solution,” will also be released on the 25th via the internet (all editing disasters aside).
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From the official mailing list:

Hello,

The White Stripes have been nominated for 4 Grammys in the categories of BEST ALTERNATIVE ALBUM; BEST ROCK SONG;BEST ROCK PERFORMANCE BY A DUO OR GROUP; and BEST LIMITED PACKAGING at the 50th Annual Grammy Awards. The nominations are for the band’s 6th album Icky Thump and its title track. The band’s limited edition “Jack and Meg” Icky Thump USB drives received the nomination for BEST LIMITED PACKAGING. The 50th Annual Grammy Awards will take place at The Staples Center is Los Angeles on February 10th 2008.

Thanks,
The White Stripes Newsletter team

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It’s almost Hanukkah/Christmas, so that means it’s time for major corporations to ruin everyone’s holidays by letting people “go.” I’m sad to report that Sarah “Ultragrrrl” Lewitinn’s Island Def Jam imprint, Stolen Transmission, got caught up in the mass firings over at Sony BMG, releasing the label into the wild and free to be “indie” once again.

According to Sarah’s postings on AbsolutePunk, Stolen Transmission will live on–returning to the place of its origin, Sarah’s apartment on the Lower East Side.

Ultra’s only regret? According to her comment on Idolator, “My only sadness is having to leave behind the Oohlas who were upstreamed to Island a few months ago. Our connection with each other is stronger than A&R/Artist, so i’m glad we’ll continue to be friends and cheerleaders for each other.”

Can’t wait to see what ST does next, now that they are no longer fettered by a big ol’ record label. Everyone knows that major labels are aging dinosaurs these days.

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Who didn’t see this one coming from a mile away? From EW.com:

Sources say actress Evan Rachel Wood, best known for her dramatic performances on film (Thirteen, The Upside of Anger), television (Once and Again), and as Marilyn Manson’s girlfriend (see her starring role in his steamy, slightly NSFW “Heart-Shaped Glasses” video), is close to signing a recording contract with Interscope Records, which happens to be Manson’s label. The deal is “still in negotiations,” says an insider. Look for an announcement in the coming weeks.

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A reader writes in:

Did you happen to see this comment on The Village Voice review of Icky Thump by Nate Cavalieri? It seems like reviewer Mr. Cavalieri has worked with Jim Diamond in the past (Diamond famously sued Jack White). It is difficult to say what Mr. Cavalieri’s relationship with Diamond is like now, However it seems to be bad journalism on the part of the village voice to have a potentially biased person (whether it be positive or negative bias) review an album. I can’t help but feel reading the review that there was sort of ulterior motive since it was so malicious. It is interesting to note that Cavalieri has worked with Diamond in the past and he essentially says in his review that Jack’s best work are essentially in the days when Diamond engineered his albums. It is a bit suspect, they essentially gave the album a score of 30/100 a score that seems remarkably low even if you didn’t enjoy the album.

Of course bias is an inevitability in journalism, but it seems like you might be able to do something it either with your blog or by making a phone call to the Village Voice asking for a comment. Whether or not the village voice is aware of the potential bias, perhaps they should be made aware. I would do it myself but i don’t have an influential blog or anything like that, and this seems to be important. The sad thing is that the metacritic tabulation of nationwide reviews for the album are absolutely fantastic, however the Village Voice review pulls down the weighted average score of the album to 80 (Generally favorable reviews) as opposed to Get Behind Me Satan’s status of “Universal Acclaim”. Let me know what your thoughts on this, if you’d like.

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Woooaahh! Chicago radio station Q101 played the entirety of the new White Stripes album, Icky Thump, on air yesterday at 2pm. At 4pm the station got a ring a ding ding from Mr. Jack White himself–long distance from Spain, where the White Stripes are currently touring. The phone call was all business, with the main objective being to give Electra, the radio DJ to did the deed, a piece of his mind–and then some. This phone call sounds like my worst nightmare.

On the one hand I understand why Electra would want to play the album for the world to hear–as a fan of the band, I too am excited about the new material. On the other hand I would NEVER go ahead and play the entire album on air without the specific consent of the White Stripes. Longtime followers of the group will know that Jack White certainly has strong opinions on 1. America 2. artist’s rights 3. the internet – and lord help the person who crosses him.

I can’t believe that the station allowed something like this to happen… can’t they get in a whole load of legal trouble for doing this? AND they have basically screwed themselves for any coverage of the White Stripes and perhaps of ALL Warner Brothers artists. I can’t think of any major label that would want to work with a DJ/station after a stunt like this! I can’t believe this DJ has not been fired yet.

I don’t want to seem like a corporate fascist or anything, but I think we can all see how much this could have been an act of passion–as any rational thinking person would think long and hard before playing an entire album before its release.

Sometimes I think Jack and the labels can be a little overzealous about hating some things (such as having Product Shop NYC shut down for linking to downloads of “Conquest” and “You Don’t Know What Love Is (You Just Do As You’re Told)” AFTER they had removed the links by request of the label !!!!), but I gotta side with the man on this one–Q101 totally effed up on this.

You can read a first-hand account of the phone call right here on Electra’s blog. Comments on her post are now disabled, so please feel free to leave your two cents about the situation right here. Thanks to J for the link.

Look, we all make mistakes–although it’s hard to believe, I would be willing to buy into the whole idea that the DJ didn’t “know any better” because sometimes people really are that clueless–but when someone is shown the wrong of their mistakes and they continue to insist that they were in the right and then NOT say “sorry” for any damage they might have done (I didn’t hear the on-air discussion but “I’m sorry” didn’t seem like that was said in the aforementioned blog post)–well, I just find that flabbergasting.

PS- I read some of the supportive comments people left for Electra on her Myspace page, and one in particular really got my goat: “Jack needs to take a lesson from Trent on how to use leaked music to his advantage and STFU.” Umm…Trent Reznor is not FOR people releasing his music in an unauthorized fashionhe’s against record labels screwing over consumers by charging retarded expensive prices for CDs and in addition to that, it seems as though he is in FAVOR of artists self-releasing their material and taking control back from the record labels about how their music is distributed and at what cost.

I have to stop thinking about this. The stupid is hurting my head. Read more commentary at my homies Web Vomit and Stereogum.

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From the official White Stripes newsletter:

Hello Children

The White Stripes’ first single, ‘Icky Thump’, will be available exclusively online through the iTunes music stores (US and Canada only) starting at 12:01 am this Thursday, April 26th.

Third Man Records/XL Recordings will also be releasing CD and vinyl versions of the ‘Icky Thump’ single on June 11th in the UK. The formats and track listings are as follows:

White vinyl 7″ (companion to the NME distributed record that will be given away with copies of the magazine on stands June 6th)
A. Icky Thump
B. Etching (no audio)

Standard 7″
A. Icky Thump
B. Baby Brother

CD single
1. Icky Thump
2. Catch Hell Blues

icky thump single

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The Stripey love of the UK continues, with a very special release of “Rag and Bone,” the first release of material off of Icky Thump, being distributed free with an issue of NME on June 6.

According to NME:

The track will be pressed onto red vinyl, while the flipside will feature a etching designed exclusively by Jack White and will come in special gatefold packaging featuring more artwork by the band.

Following the exclusive release with NME, the band will then release their album’s title track, ‘Icky Thump’, as a single on June 11…

To get hold of the unique release all readers have to do is buy the NME which hits UK newsstands on June 6. Details of how those outside Britain will be able to pre-order this unique issue will be available nearer the time on NME.COM.

Want to know what the cover of the first single, “Icky Thump” will look like? Check it out on Spinner.com.

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Jasper pointed me out to an excellent post that he did today about the release of a remastered edition of The Henchmen‘s album Hentch-Forth along with the four tracks off their “Some Other Guy” 7″ and an alternate take of “Psycho Daisies”…all on (get this!) some newfangled technology they call “compact disc” on Italy Records!

Below are some snapshots Jasper took of his promo copy of the re-release. Notice the once-upon-a-time ironic billing of “featuring Jack White” on the cover of “Some Other Guy”, and also check out the vintage shot of Jackie boy with his mop o’ blond curls.

henchmen some other guy

henchmen some other guy

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Meg and Jack White of the White Stripes have confirmed their new home — Warner Brother Records. According to NME:

“The new contract is for a one-album deal and, unlike their V2 contract, does not involve Jack White’s label Third Man”

Poor little Whirlwind Heat.

No word on whether the deal netted the rumored 3-4 million dollar price tag.

What do you think kids? Is this a new beginning, or the beginning of the end?

Thanks to Chris for the head’s up.

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