The two CD, thirty track collection is titled Up To Now and will hit stores on November 9th of this year, preceded by a new single by the name of Just Say Yes, due one week earlier on November 2nd. The compilation album will be released in 3 different options to purchase; one regular 2CD collection, one digipack that’s three CD’s with an additional DVD full of odds and ends, or the big collectors box-set that features two discs, three vinyls, two DVD’s, a lithograph made by Bradley Quinn and an ‘LP-sized booklet’.

The release will also feature a few of The Reindeer Sections songs, frontman Gary Lightbody’s side-project, as well as three new Snow Patrol songs.

Gary Lightbody describes the record as “a portrait of us as a band, warts and all. We’ve climbed a hill and now we’re looking back and taking in the view for a bit. It’s nice to show people that we didn’t just arrive overnight.”

You can pre-order from the official Snow Patrol site. The track-listing can be seen below.

Up To Now Track-Listing:

CD 1:

01 – Chocolate
02 – Chasing Cars
03 – Crack The Shutters
04 – Set The Fire To The Third Bar
05 – Crazy In Love
06 – Just Say Yes
07 – Batten Down The Hatch
08 – You’re All I Have
09 – Hands Open
10 – Cartwheels
11 – The Planets Bend Between Us (2009 Version)
12 – Ask Me How I Am
13 – On-Off
14 – Making Enemies
15 – Run (Live at the Union Chapel)

CD 2:

01 – Take Back The City
02 – Shut Your Eyes
03 – An Olive Grove Facing The Sea (2009 Version)
04 – Run
05 – Give Me Strength
06 – Signal Fire
07 – Spitting Games
08 – Open Your Eyes
09 – Dark Roman Wine
10 – Fifteen Minutes Old
11 – You Are My Joy
12 – Golden Floor
13 – Starfighter Pilot
14 – PPP
15 – Chasing Cars (Live at the Union Chapel)

Release Date: Sept 08, 2009 (USA)
Label: Epitaph
Rating: 4/5

Frank Turner’s third solo full length was released here in the USA this week. If you aren’t familiar with Frank Turner, I predict you will be soon. A once punk rocker who took a new direction as a singer/songwriter, he now has 3 solid records under his belt and we don’t expect him to disappear anytime soon. This particular album is the first with a full backing band. it’s a bit of a departure in that sense, but for much f the record it works. We hear the same cutting lyrics that we’ve become accustomed to from Turner, with his songs sometimes reading like journal entries.

I was apprehensive when I heard the new album would have a full band backing. I was worried that we’d lose some of the intimacy that his voice and solo guitar brings, but the trade off is a fuller, bigger sound. The production doesn’t always emphasize Turner’s vocals and as a result they get lost in some of the tracts. I do find a few times that the layering of the instruments detracts from the melody and I’m not a huge fan of the addition of electric guitar as it tends to overpower. With all that said, Poetry Of The Deed is fantastic.

I’m a fan of Turner’s music. I’m drawn to his lyrics, his folk guitar, and his voice. I find that the acoustic versions of some of the songs (available on itunes) draw me in more than the full band album versions. I guess it’s that quality we get with a singer strumming his guitar and singing that we lose when they are amidst a full band. I felt his second album, Love, Ire & Song was utter brilliance and had very high hopes for Poetry Of The Deed. While there are flashes of brilliance, particularly in Faithful Son, The Road, and Live Fast Die Old, it hasn’t knocked Love, Ire & Song off it’s pedestal yet.

Grizzly Bear rock Union Park to massive crowd, Chicago
Photo: Leigh Ann Hines

Grizzly Bear consists of Ed Droste (singer/songwriter), Christopher Bear (drummer), Chris Tayler (woodwinds player/bassist) and Daniel Rossen (singer/songwriter/guitarist). They’ve had a steady rise and growing buzz since their 2006 release of Yellow House. Since then, they’ve toured extensively, supported Radiohead, TV On The Radio, and Feist, played with the L.A. Philharmonic and recently released a new album, Veckatimest. The new album is beautiful with sharp and complex vocals, incredible lyrcs and very tight arrangements. I hadn’t seen Grizzl bear for more than a year and was wondering how their wonderful flourishes and subtle sounds would translate to a large festival with an audience of thousands. a couple years earlier they had a fantastic set at PMF and I had hopes they could repeat. Despite some sound issues that apparently were too irritating to the band to ignore, the set was wonderfu and crisp.

Setlist:
1- Southern Point
2- Cheerleader
3- Lullaby
4- Little Brother
5- Knife
6- Fine for Now
7- Two Weeks
8- Ready, Able
9- Live With You
10- Fix it
11- While You Wait for the Others
12- On a Neck, On a Spit

Grizzly Bear Official website
Grizzly Bear myspace

Frightened Rabbit Rock Union Park, Chicago
Photo: Leigh Ann Hines

Frightened Rabbit is a quartet from Scotland fronted by Scott Hutchinson, who will blow you away. Those who know me, know I’m a huge Frightened Rabbit fan. When I heard they were confirmed for PMF2009, I was excited that I’d get to hear and photograph them again. Their 2 studio albums are among my favorites and are always in the top spots on my iphone/ipod. Anyway, I’m completely biased when it comes to Frightened Rabbit, as I’d listen to them sing the dollar menu from Micky D’s. It was nice to get a chance to chat with them and have a good time. Their set was great, but I heard that the sound wasn’t the best (hard to tell on stage). Scott’s voice was a little rough, but that’s what can happen when you do two festivals, in different parts of the country, in two days. It’s always tough being the first band of the day, but they pulled it off. One of my favorite sets of the festival.

Go right now and listen to some songs on their myspace page or just take my word for it and head to itunes right now and buy their latest CD, Midnight Organ Fight. Go, do it now!

Built To Spill headline first night of Pitchfork Music Festival 2009
Photo: Leigh Ann Hines

Built T Spill took stage in Chicago to an excited crowd. They headlined the first night at Pitchfork 2009. As the the sun set over the park Built To Spill took to the Aluminum Stage and finished out the first night of PMF. It was a great show. Granted, I’m not a huge B2S fan, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. I will say that it got cold. Who would have thought that mid July in Chicago would require a jacket for warmth? Again, the crowd was ready and pumped. It was a great set, great music, great everything. This was the start of something big here. This Pitchfork2009 was going to be huge.

The Flaming Lips Close out Pitchfork Music Festival 2009
Photo: Leigh Ann Hines

The Flaming Lips headlined the closing night of the Pitchfork Music Festival 2009. And oh what a closing it was. Each year Pitchfork gets better and better, and this year was no exception. The Flaming Lips was the icing…and cherry… on the cake. All day the festival was filled with die-hard Flaming Lips fans, dressed in costume. Telly Tubbbies, Aliens, animals of all species. It was fun, and you knew something big was going to happen. The huge orange set that stood on the back of the Aluminum stage all day gave a hint of what was to come but you couldn’t imagine the spectacle until it actually begun.

Frank Turner played to a hostile crowd at Starland Ballroom

Frank Turner opened up for The Offspring at Starland Ballroom in Sayreville New jersey. Actually, he’s supporting them for the east coast portion of their tour and from the sounds of his tour diary, it’s been a great time. First, Starland Ballroom is situated in the middle of nowhere. Really, it’s sort of all by it’s lonesome with no neighboring businesses. I had high hopes that this would be a fantastic show, but, well, it wasn’t. Let me rephrase that, the actual performance by Frank Turner was fantastic, but the NJ Offspring crowd wanted nothing to do with him and made it pretty rough. Beyond rough, painful. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a crowd that was rude and disrespectful. They started chanting “U-S-A, U-S-A” in the middle of a song, as if we were at some sort of Olympic sporting event. it was embarrassing and the constant heckled from the crowd made me wince for the performer. It was a shame. Frank Turner handled it well, played on, and if I’m not mistaken, even added a song to his set, just to rub it in. Awww, the perfect punk move. It’s too bad the audience couldn’t handle listening to something new, they certainly missed out.

Frank Turner Official Website
Frank Turner Myspace

To view photos of the performance, visit the Frank Turner _ Starland image gallery gallery

Bonnaroo Confirmed Performers:
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band
Phish (2 Shows)
Beastie Boys
Nine Inch Nails
David Byrne
Wilco
Al Green
Snoop Dogg
Elvis Costello Solo
Erykah Badu
Paul Oakenfold
Ben Harper and Relentless7
The Mars Volta
TV on the Radio
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Gov’t Mule
Andrew Bird
Merle Haggard
MGMT
moe.
The Decemberists
Girl Talk
Bon Iver
Béla Fleck & Toumani Diabate
Rodrigo y Gabriela
Galactic
The Del McCoury Band
of Montreal
Allen Toussaint
Coheed and Cambria
Booker T & the DBTs
David Grisman Quintet
Lucinda Williams
Animal Collective
Gomez
Neko Case
Down
Jenny Lewis
Santogold
Robert Earl Keen
Citizen Cope
Femi Kuti and the Positive Force
The Ting Tings
Robyn Hitchcock & The Venus 3
Grace Potter and the Nocturnals
Kaki King
Grizzly Bear
King Sunny Adé
Okkervil River
St. Vincent
Zac Brown Band
Raphael Saadiq
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists
Crystal Castles
Tift Merritt
Brett Dennen
Mike Farris and the Roseland Rhythm Revue
Toubab Krewe
People Under the Stairs
Alejandro Escovedo
Vieux Farka Touré
Elvis Perkins In Dearland
Cherryholmes
Yeasayer
Todd Snider
Chairlift
Portugal. The Man.
The SteelDrivers
Midnite
The Knux
The Low Anthem
Delta Spirit
A.A. Bondy
The Lovell Sisters
Alberta Cross