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Photo by Matt Ziegler

Jimmy Fallon has confirmed the rumors that the Roots will serve as his house band when he takes over "Late Night" for Conan O'Brien next year. The revelation comes at the end of the first video on Fallon's new blog, where he will offer regular behind-the-scenes looks at the show. Fallon's bound to suffer in comparison to Conan, but it's nice to see he's trying by bringing the Roots on board.

Thanks to reader Ben Easton for the tip.

The Roots have three shows left this year. The first one is tonight (December 9) in Amsterdam.

Sporting a remix from the mad motorists of Neon Neon, a demo version of its title cut, and a few assorted bonus goodies besides, Oasis' I'm Outta Time EP is out on iTunes today.

"I'm Outta Time" comes courtesy of the band's recent album Dig Out Your Soul, for which they've been touring a ton, with no plans to stop any time soon. Peep the ginormous itinerary below the cut.

In other Oasis news, there's been talk of the brothers Gallagher following up Dig Out Your Soul with a pair of solo LPs, they've been slagging off Radiohead and that Simply Red dude (though not Damon Albarn, curiously enough), they're on Twitter, and they're in talks to secure a private jet, which they're cheekily thinking of naming "Credit-Crunch". I'm a little surprised these guys haven't figured out a way to get around on their inflated egos, but, yeah, a private jet works, too.

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, make way for Fever Ray. The Knife's Karin Dreijer Andersson has lifted the shroud of secrecy surrounding her previously mentioned solo project to reveal a debut album due next year and a lead-off single due much sooner.

Get acquainted with Fever Ray by way of inaugural single "If I Had a Heart". You may recall we discussed the instrumental version of this track last time, and it's still available for streaming at the Fever Ray MySpace. Well the "If I Had a Heart" single proper descends on digital retailers December 16 in the U.S. (via Mute) and in Australia/New Zealand (via etcetc), and the day before in the Scandinavia (via Rabid) and the UK/rest of Europe (via Cooperative Music). So many labels!

Meanwhile, a video for "If I Had a Heart", helmed by Knife/José González director of note Andreas Nilsson, should surface soon.

Karin's still keeping mum about the title and tracklist for her debut album as Fever Ray, but that set does have a release date. Or rather, several: March 24 in the U.S., March 23 in Australia/New Zealand, and March 18 in Scandinavia and the UK/rest of Europe, with the same label distribution as above. So many places!

As if all that weren't exciting enough, here's Karin in the Fever Ray press release: "I hope that my newly found live band will make it to the stages next year. We are rehearsing and building something beautiful and brilliant." Keen!

The Knife, as you'll recall, are in the throes of writing music and words for an artsy opera loosely inspired by the theories of Charles Darwin. Alas, it is not titled On the Origin of Creepy.

After much dilly-dallying, Blur have FINALLY confirmed that they are indeed reuniting, for real this time. Damon Albarn, Alex James, Dave Rowntree, and, yes, Graham Coxon will take the stage for a concert at London's Hyde Park on July 3, 2009. This will be their first full-lineup performance since 2000.

In a video interview on their site (email/mobile info necessary), the band says the reunion rehearsals have been like "putting the A-Team back together" and "like riding a bike."

No other future plans have been announced yet, but we wouldn't be surprised if a Coachella set was in the cards...

Photo by Jen Reel

M. Ward has revealed the first tour in support of his next album, Hold Time. The tour begins near Boston on February 18, which just so happens to be the day after Hold Time comes out on Merge.

As a prelude of sorts to the tour, Ward will appear with Zooey Deschanel as She & Him on Elvis Costello's Sundance Channel show, "Spectacle". She & Him will be Costello's guests on February 11, and Jenny Lewis and son of Bob/Wallflowers guy Jakob Dylan will join them.

Those thirsting for a taste of Hold Time, head here and click on the television knob to hear the lushly orchestrated title track.

The weekend of March 27-28, 2009, soon-to-be-sweaty throngs looking to dance will make their annual bee-line to Miami for the Ultra Music Festival. The 11th annual Ultra fest goes down at the city's Bicentennial Park, bringing with it performances from Bloc Party, Cut Copy, Santogold, Crystal Castles, Simian Mobile Disco, Hercules & Love Affair, Roni Size & Reprazent (in their first Stateside appearance in seven years), the Presets, Busy P, the Ting Tings, Deadmau5, and Tiesto. In addition to performing twice, Carl Cox will host a "Carl Cox and Friends" arena with an ultrasecret group of as-yet-unannounced special guests. 

Overlooked Swedish songwriter Kristian Matsson, aka the Tallest Man on Earth, heads off on a three-week tour of the U.S. starting tonight (December 9) in New York City. A number of the dates on the tour are with Bon Iver.

In other news, the Tallest Man recently released this year's Shallow Grave in vinyl and digital formats in North America via Mexican Summer. The LP edition is limited to 1,000 copies.

Photo by Autumn de Wilde

The dawn of a new year seems as good a time as any for a band like Annuals to kick off a brand new tour, and so it will be in January, when the North Carolinian set hits North America for a little more than a month. They will be joined at every turn by young Ohioan Jessica Lea Mayfield-- whose recent With Blasphemy So Heartfelt is worth more than a few spins as the weather turns sour-- and What Laura Says, who will represent Annuals' own Terpsikhore imprint.

Mayfield has a few Annuals-less dates of her own before she joins in on all the Fun.

Photos by Shannon McClean; Above: Melvins

So yeah, I suppose these guys would give me bad dreams too. Put 'em together and you've got the 2008 edition of All Tomorrow's Parties' The Nightmare Before Christmas, which haunted perennial party spot Butlins Holiday Centre in England over the long weekend.

Assembled by the deft curatorial hands of Mike Patton and the Melvins, the seasonal freakout scared together the likes of Os Mutantes, Mastodon, Fennesz, Squarepusher, Butthole Surfers, Kool Keith, Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, Meat Puppets, Isis, the Black Heart Procession, Dälek, Torche, the Damned, Leila, Rahzel, White Noise, Bernard Parmegiani, Monotonix, Porn featuring Thurston Moore, Fugazi's Joe Lally, and a reunited Boss Hog, as well as a full-album performance of The Director's Cut by Patton's Fantômas. Somebody pinch me, I must be screaming.

Melvins




Fantômas




Mastodon




Butthole Surfers




Meat Puppets


Fennesz


The Damned




Monotonix




Os Mutantes




Porn [ft. Thurston Moore]




Teenage Jesus and the Jerks




Squarepusher




Kool Keith

Um, yeah.

But you know what? If Kanye's right, I gotta hand it to U2. That would be one ballsy move. Handing over the keys to the biggest rock band in the world to the guy behind "My Humps" and "I Got It From My Mama" is even riskier than letting the Edge mumble over industrial music or busting out a giant lemon for a world tour. Could it work? Maybe. But if it failed spectacularly, it would be FUCKING HILARIOUS.