Also, I had to post something on the Alice in Chains track listing announcement this week. Here's a list of the songs on "Black Gives Way to Blue," which is due in stores on Sept. 28:

All Secrets Known
Check My Brain
Last Of My Kind
Your Decision
A Looking In View
When The Sun Rose Again
Acid Bubble
Lessons Learned
Take Her Out
Private Hell
Black Gives Way To Blue

The album cover is simple and to the point, but not terribly exciting if you ask me. Here it is ...

It's due in stores on Sept. 28. Learn more on Categories: upcoming releases, metal, grunge

Mastodon will join forces with with Dethklok, from Cartoon Network's "Metalocalypse," for a tour that will drop in on Seattle's WaMu Theater on Oct. 3, the bands announced today.

Mastodon is riding high from their newest, most critically acclaim and most prog-rock influenced album to date, "Crack the Skye."

Find audio of Mastodon's Troy Sanders talking about the making of "Skye" here or check out a recap of Mastodon's set at Neumo's in April over here.

The flesh and blood version of Dethklok - the band from Cartoon Network's ultra-violent death metal satire - will feature show co-creator Brendon Small, Gene Hoglan, Bryan Beller and Mike Keneally. The band will perform live beneath a giant projection screen featuring all-new animation and music videos from Dethklok, according to today's announcement.

You can find audio from an interview with Small talking about the live show - which he equated to "a big, stupid Disney ride, but with murder" - by clicking here.

Alice in Chains will release a new album in September. So says a press release issued today by the band’s new label, EMI. The band started recording with producer Nick Raskulinecz (Rush, Foo Fighters) last October at Studio 606 in Northridge, Calif., according to EMI’s release.

In 2005, singer-guitarist Jerry Cantrell, drummer Sean Kinney and bassist Mike Inez reunited for their first show performance together since the tragic death of lead singer Layne Staley, a benefit for Indonesian tsunami victims held at the Premier in Seattle, a venue since renamed Showbox SoDo. The band started touring with with new lead singer William DuVall after that first reunion show.

=> Read more!

NME has details. Cool! They still rocked when I caught 'em a year and a half ago at the Puyallup Fair.

Here's the cover art for Mastodon's new album "Crack the Skye," which is due in stores March 24. If you just can't wait, iTunes is taking pre-orders as we speak. Hear Troy Sanders talk about what it might sound like here. And my source at Warner tells me a Seattle date will be announced in the next few days.

The Decemberists’ new album, “The Hazards of Love,” will be released on March 24, Capitol Records announced today. It will be the arty Portland rock band’s fifth album, its first since 2006 breakthrough, “The Crane Wife” – a disc which found the band making several appearances on national TV, including the faux feud between guitarist Chris Funk and Comedy Central pundit Stephen Colbert.

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Fans of the Ventures and the Fabulous Wailers can expect to hear their joint album “Two Car Garage” within the next few weeks, according to sources close to the project.

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Andrew Bird's "Armchair Apocrypha" was one of my favorite discs of 2007. And if you're like me and can't wait for follow-up album "Noble Beast," due on Jan. 20, you should click this link to listen to NPR's exclusive preview. The melodies are gorgeous. That haunting whistling is back. I like what I hear so far.

The Dave Matthews Band will return with its first studio album in four years on April 14, the band's publicist announced today. The as yet untitled follow-up to 2005's "Stand Up" will be produced by Rob Cavallo (Green Day, My Chemical Romance), according to a related press release.

The band will also take the new songs on the road next spring. The band -- Matthews, drummer Carter Beauford, bassist Stefan Lessard, and violinist Boyd Tinsley -- will have support on the road from Tim Reynolds on guitar, Rashawn Ross on trumpet and Jeff Coffin, filling on saxophone for the late LeRoi Moore, who died last summer.

Here are the tour dates, with no local ones to speak of yet. But, hmmmm, wonder where the DMB will be spend next Labor Day Weekend? Haven't the foggiest.

Dave Matthews spring 2008 tour

April 14: New York (Madison Square Garden) with Roots
April 15: East Rutherford, New Jersey (Izod Center) with the Roots
April 17: Charlottesville, Virginia (John Paul Jones Arena) with Old Crow Medicine Show
April 18: Charlottesville, Virginia (John Paul Jones Arena) with Old Crow Medicine Show
April 20: Pelham, Alabama (Verizon Wireless Music Center) with Old Crow Medicine Show
April 22: Raleigh, North Carolina (Time Warner Cable Music Pavilion) with the Avett Brothers
April 24: Raleigh, North Carolina (Time Warner Cable Music Pavilion) with the Avett Brothers
April 25: Nashville, Tennessee (Vanderbilt Stadium) support to TBA
April 26: New Orleans, Louisiana (New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival)
April 28: Alpharetta, Georgia (Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre At Encore Park) with the Avett Brothers
April 29: Alpharetta, Georgia (Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre At Encore Park) with the Avett Brothers
May 1: The Woodlands, Texas (The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion) with the Avett Brothers
May 2: Dallas, Texas (Superpages.com Center) with the Avett Brothers
May 5: Albuquerque, New Mexico (Journal Pavilion) with the Avett Brothers
May 6: Phoenix, Arizona (Cricket Wireless Pavilion) with the Avett Brothers
May 8: Las Vegas, Nevada (MGM Grand Garden Arena) with Jason Mraz
May 9: Las Vegas, Nevada (MGM Grand Garden Arena) with Jason Mraz

Keep posted here.

Today, Pearl Jam announced a forthcoming reissue of its smash 1991 debut, "Ten," to be released on March 24, 2009. The reissue will include the original recording, a remastered version of the album, remixes by producer Brendan O'Brien and demo versions of "Alive," "Once" and "Footsteps" from a long-lost cassette called "Momma-Son."

“The band loved the original mix of Ten, bu were also interested in what it would sound like if I were to deconstruct and remix it,” said O’Brien, quoted in a related press release. “The original Ten sound is what millions of people bought, dug and loved, so I was initially hesitant to mess around with that. After years of persistent nudging from the band, I was able to wrap my head around the idea of offering it as a companion piece to the original – giving a fresh take on it, a more direct sound.”

The deluxe versions of the band's debut will be available in four packages, and are part of a planned 20th anniversary reissue series. Descriptions of the four packages available for pre-order through the band's web site, taken from the press release:

THE FOUR EDITIONS OF TEN: ALBUM EXTRAS PER PACKAGE

1. Legacy Edition (2-disc set in mini-LP style slipcase):
• Disc 1: original Ten tracklisting digitally remastered (original mix)
• Disc 2: original Ten tracklisting digitally remastered and remixed by Brendan O’Brien, plus six bonus tracks: “Brother,” “Just a Girl,” “State of Love and Trust,” “Breath and a Scream,” “2,000 Mile Blues” and “Evil Little Goat”
• Re-designed packaging

2. Deluxe Edition (2-disc set plus DVD specially designed hardbound package):
• Disc 1: original Ten tracklisting digitally remastered (original mix)
• Disc 2: original Ten tracklisting digitally remastered and remixed by Brendan O’Brien, plus six bonus tracks: “Brother,” “Just a Girl,” “State of Love and Trust,” “Breath and a Scream,” “2,000 Mile Blues” and “Evil Little Goat”
• DVD of Pearl Jam’s previously unreleased 1992 MTV Unplugged performance including never before seen bonus performance of “Oceans” with 5.1 surround sound audio remix

3. Vinyl Collection (2-LP set)
• LP 1: original Ten tracklisting remastered for vinyl
• LP 2: original Ten tracklisting remastered for vinyl and remixed by Brendan O’Brien
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4. Super Deluxe Edition (2-disc set plus DVD, 4 LPs and replica cassette in linen-covered, slip-cased clamshell box):
• Disc 1: original Ten tracklisting digitally remastered (original mix)
• Disc 2: original Ten tracklisting digitally remastered and remixed by Brendan O’Brien, plus six bonus tracks: “Brother,” “Just a Girl,” “State of Love and Trust,” “Breath and a Scream,” “2,000 Mile Blues” and “Evil Little Goat”
• DVD of Pearl Jam’s previously unreleased 1992 MTV Unplugged performance including never before seen bonus performance of “Oceans” with 5.1 surround sound audio remix
• LP 1: original Ten tracklisting remastered for vinyl
• LP 2: original Ten tracklisting remastered for vinyl and remixed by Brendan O’Brien
• LP 3 & 4: Drop in the Park – Live at Magnuson Park in Seattle on September 20, 1992 (audio mixed by Brendan O’Brien)
• Cassette: replica of original “Momma-Son” Pearl Jam demo cassette featuring “Alive,” “Once” and “Footsteps”

• Package also includes an Eddie Vedder-style composition notebook filled with replica personal notes, images and mementos from the collections of Eddie Vedder and Jeff Ament, a vellum envelope with replicated era-specific ephemera from Pearl Jam’s early work and a two-sided print commemorating the Drop in the Par concert.

There's exciting news for Death Cab for Cutie fans. This morning, I called up bassist Nick Harmer just before he headed to sound check in Baton Rouge, La. And Harmer, who hails from Puyallup, gave me the skinny on a forthcoming E.P. of “Narrow Stairs” session outtakes that he said will likely be released in Spring 2009.

The just finished and as yet unnamed EP consists of songs that just didn’t quite fit the musical arc the band wanted to create on its last full-length album, Harmer said. “We still wanted them to have a home, and we still wanted them to come out during this album cycle because they are part of this batch of songs,” he said.

Harmer said the EP will feature five to six new cuts, including two called “Diamond in a Tether” and “Loyal Lover” that he named off the top of his head, and a demo of "Narrow Stairs" cut “Talking Bird,” featuring front man Ben Gibbard playing ukulele.

Sadly, none of those songs will be on the set list next Tuesday when Death Cab plays The End’s Deck the Hall Ball at WaMu Theatre. But fans should expect a couple of old school cuts from the band’s Bellingham days to celebrate Barsuk Records’ 10th anniversary reissue of debut album “Something About Airplanes.”

Check back in the next couple of days, and I’ll have some more audio and details posted.

Football fans will get to preview a new Bruce Springsteen track Sunday, NBC announced this afternoon. Halftime coverage for Sunday's late game between the Dallas Cowboys and the Washington Redskins, which will air at 5:15 p.m. on Channel 5, will feature NFL highlights set to a studio version of a Springsteen cut called "Working on a Dream."

And the Boss's NFL cross-promotion doesn't end there: In September, the NFL announced he's the guy tapped to entertain at halftime during Super Bowl XLIII in Tampa on Feb. 1, which reduces the chance of wardrobe malfunctions and naughty Prince silhouettes to next to nil. But, hey, ya never know, y'all.

P.S. In case you missed it, Springsteen's homie showed up here recently.