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New Tunage – Love that Chickenfoot CD!!

New CD Releases, June 2: Dave Matthews Band, Neil Young, Rancid, Elvis Costello, Ryan Bingham, Chickenfoot and more!!
Dave Matthews Band “Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King” (RCA)
The multi-platinum rock act is on an impressive run: Its last four studio outings have all debuted in the No. 1 slot on the US album charts. Now, the Dave Matthews Band is looking to make it five in a row with the release of “Big Whiskey and the GooGrux King.”
The set, which follows 2005’s “Stand Up,” is DMB’s first release since the death of founding member LeRoi Moore. The saxophonist died in August from complications resulting from an ATV accident that occurred on his Virginia ranch. The second part of the album’s title, “GrooGrux King,” is said to be a reference to Moore.
The album was produced by Rob Cavallo (Green Day, My Chemical Romance) and its first single is the track “Funny the Way It Is.”
The Dave Matthews Band is currently on tour in support of the album. Currently, the group has shows booked through the start of October.
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Neil Young “Archives, Vol. 1: 1963-1972” (Reprise)
Nearly two decades in the making, the first volume of Young’s ambitious “Archives” project is finally ready to hit shelves. The multi-disc collection will be available in three different formats: Blu-ray, DVD and CD.
This volume–which spans 10 discs in the Blu-ray and DVD configurations, and eight discs in the CD version–covers the first 10 years of Young’s legendary body of work. An interactive-timeline feature allows the viewer to follow the singer-songwriter during this period of his career, beginning with his high school band The Squires and continuing up through his landmark albums of the early ’70s.
The release of the first volume of “Archives” quickly follows a new studio offering from Young. The Northern California resident can be heard singing the praises of eco-friendly transportation on “Fork in the Road,” which hit stores in early April.
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Rancid “Let the Dominoes Fall” (Epitaph)
The San Francisco Bay Area punk rockers are back with the long-awaited studio follow-up to 2003’s “Indestructible,” a work that peaked at No. 15 on The Billboard 200 and spawned the modern-rock hit “Fall Back Down.” The band’s most recent offering was 2007’s “Rancid B Sides & C Sides,” which included previously unreleased material alongside songs that have been featured on compilations, soundtracks and B-sides.
“Let the Dominoes Fall” is the group’s seventh studio album, and it was produced by longtime collaborator Brett Gurewitz. “Let the Dominoes Fall” is available in several different formats, including a single-disc CD, a double-vinyl LP set and an expanded multi-CD/DVD combo, which offers such bonuses as an acoustic version of the album.
Rancid will let the “Dominoes” fall while serving as the main support act on Rise Against’s North American headlining tour. The trek gets underway June 4 in Vancouver, BC, and is currently scheduled to run through a July 31 date in Toronto.
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Elvis Costello “Secret, Profane and Sugarcane” (Hear Music)
The Grammy-winning singer/songwriter is set to drop his 25th studio album, which trails last year’s “Momofuku.” The 13-track record was produced by the legendary T Bone Burnett, who also co-wrote two of its numbers, “Sulphur to Sugarcane” and “The Crooked Line.”
“Secret, Profane and Sugarcane” also features guest-star vocalists Jim Lauderdale, Emmylou Harris and Loretta Lynn. The album was recorded over three days at Nashville’s Sound Emporium Studio, and will be sold at participating Starbucks locations in the US and Canada, as well as through traditional music retailers.
Costello will tour with the musicians who backed him in the studio for the new album. Dubbed The Sugarcanes, the lineup includes Jerry Douglas on dobro, Stuart Duncan on fiddle, Mike Compton on mandolin, Jeff Taylor on accordion and Dennis Crouch on double bass. The run begins on June 9 in Red Bank, NJ.
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Ryan Bingham “Roadhouse Sun” (Lost Highway)
The alt-country troubadour returns with a follow-up to his 2007 major-label debut, “Mescalito.” “Roadhouse Sun” was produced by former Black Crowes guitarist Marc Ford, who was also at the dials on the singer’s previous record.
Bingham spent the spring helping to create a buzz about the new album’s release. Notably, he appeared on both the “Tonight Show with Jay Leno” and “Late Night with Conan O’Brien.” Also, his song “Southside of Heaven” was featured in an “ER” episode.
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Chickenfoot “Chickenfoot” (Fontana)
Exiled from Van Halen in favor of David Lee Roth and Eddie Van Halen’s teenage son, singer Sammy Hagar and bassist Michael Anthony have gotten themselves another guitar legend and powerhouse drummer–this time in the form of Joe Satriani and Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers). Originally a just-for-fun trio featuring Hagar, Anthony and Smith–who joined forces a couple of years ago during an impromptu jam at Hagar’s Cabo Wabo nightclub in Mexico–the group went legit by recruiting six-string wizard Satriani and recording an album with legendary producer Andy Johns (Led Zeppelin, Van Halen).
Hagar raised eyebrows when he commented in an interview last year that Chickenfoot’s music could rival that of Led Zeppelin; Smith recently defused that bomb while making an on-camera Zeppelin reference during a track-by-track, “Chickenfoot” video documentary that is available at the group’s website.
“I know we’re not supposed to talk about Led Zeppelin since Sammy got drunk and said that we were better than Led Zeppelin,” Smith joked. “We’re not better than Led Zeppelin, and Sammy was drunk when he said that, OK? So let’s put that s— to rest.”
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More new releases:
Stephanie J. Block, “This Place I Know” (PS Classics)
Jeff Buckley, “Grace–Around the World” (Sony)
Crosby Stills & Nash, “Demos” (Rhino)
Eels, “Hombre Lobo: 12 Songs of Desire” (Vagrant)
IQ, “Frequency” (Inside Out)
Paolo Nutini, “Sunny Side Up” (Atlantic)
Iggy Pop, “Preliminaires” (Astralwerks)
Eros Ramazzotti, “Ali E Radici” (Sony)
Taking Back Sunday, “New Again” (Reprise)
311, “Uplifter” (Volcano)
UFO, “The Visitor” (Steamhammer)
Soundtracks and scores:
“The Story of My Life” (PS Classics)
“West Side Story: The New Broadway Cast Recording” (Sony)