Former Soul Coughing front man and acclaimed solo artist, Mike Doughty is set to revisit his former bands music. Doughty says the motivation to re-explore his old songs grew from writing his memoir, The Book of Drugs, in an effort to explore his original vision when he wrote them, and before they entered the dysfunctional fray of the band. Doughty has started a Pledge Music campaign, for more info, click HERE. In 2012, we interviewed Doughty about his book and solo career, click HERE to read that interview.
Marky Ramone of The Ramones will hit the road this fall with Andrew W.K. on vocals singing Ramones classics. This sounds like a tour no one on Earth should miss.
Spoon have confirmed they have begun working on the follow-up to 2010's Transference. No word as to when the band plan to release their new album.
Brian Fallon of The Gaslight Anthem is writing his debut solo record. Fallon took to his blog and wrote, "I’d also like to say this… What I’m working on I’d classify as Americana. It’s not from New Jersey, it’s not The Gaslight Anthem, in fact, it’s not even mine, but it’s ours… I’m looking to the people who used folk and country music as a tradition and took what was past and moved forward. Wilco, Ryan Adams, Steve Earle, Guy Clark, the Highwaymen, Bob Dylan, etc… I’m not writing about straw hats and gin joints. I’m not writing about nostalgia or a time I wasn’t born it. I’m writing about the last two years of my life since we wrote handwritten. This project is going to be based on things I learned early on musically, which were my mother’s folk songs. We also listened to a lot of early country. I’d like to write my years down."
Nas has confirmed that he will be releasing a new album soon. On April 2, he tweeted that the albums title will be released this month.
Steve Buscemi will direct a live webcast staring Vampire Weekend for American Express Unstaged series. The concert, which is set to take place on April 28 at New York's Roseland Ballroom, is the latest in the webseries teaming up influential directors and bands, in the past Terry Gilliam directed Arcade Fire at Madison Square Garden, Gary Oldman directed Jack White, Anton Corbijn directed Coldplay, and Spike Lee directed The Roots and John Legend.
Wu-Tang Clan's GZA is set to teach science through hip-hop in New York City public schools. GZA will be teaming up with Columbia University’s Dr. Christopher Emdin help to find new ways to engage minority students in learning science.