Modern Rock

Oct. 26, 2014

VOODOO FEST AND FOOS AMP UP HALLOWEEN

If you’re looking to get out of town for Halloween, take a road trip to N’awlins for the 2014 Voodoo Music and Arts Experience festival, perfectly timed from Oct. 31 through Nov. 2. This year’s edition of the fest will include headliners Foo Fighters and OutKast, plus additional sets from the likes of Arctic Monkeys, Thirty Seconds to Mars, Manchester Orchestra, Twenty One Pilots, Skrillex, Zedd and plenty of others. Bring your own costume and spend your Halloween modern rockin’"¦

This year’s Mercury Music Prize has named its 12 finalists with the two best bets being Blur/Gorillaz frontman and solo artist Damon Albarn (whose 2014 solo album Everyday Robots has snagged him plenty of kudos) and new performer FKA Twigs, who most recently did a buzz cover of Sam Smith’s "Stay With Me." Also on the list for this year are Bombay Bicycle Club, Jungle, Anna Calvi and Royal Blood. Find out who wins Oct. 29"¦

Details are still being worked out as of press time, but it looks as though Michael Jackson’s legendary 14-minute music video for his Halloween-worthy song "Thriller" is set to get special treatment by the vid’s original director John Landis. Landis is making plans to re-release the "Thriller" video in a 3-D version for both theaters and Blu-ray; sounds like honorable treatment for the music video voted the Greatest Video of All Time by readers of Rolling Stone magazine"¦

After a whopping 94 No. 1 records in just four years together as a band, what else could One Direction possibly do? Release another album, that’s what. Predictably called Four, the band will offer up their latest set, including trending single "Fireproof," on Nov. 17, just in time for you to listen to it endlessly on repeat over your Thanksgiving school break"¦

LINK OF THE WEEK:

SBTRKT’s new tune "Look Away," featuring vocals from Chairlift’s Caroline Polachek, arrives just in time for Halloween with a spooky interactive video you can watch at http://lookaway.sbtrkt.com. The track is also on SBTRKT’s new album Wonder Where We Land"¦

MINI BUZZ:

Hip-hop legend Grandmaster Flash has been getting endless Facebook notifications due to grandpas and grandmas who keep accidentally tagging him on the social site by typing in "grand" and then picking the first tag that pops up, which is Grandmaster Flash himself"¦

Australia’s first iHeartRadio Music Fest has been cancelled, reportedly due to the cancelled booking of the event’s "mystery headliner""¦

The Ready Set with special guest Metro Station will take over the stage at St. Andrew’s Hall in Detroit on 10/29"¦

Buzz band Kodaline will be making a stop at St. Andrew’s this month, too, on 10/30"¦

Ultraviolet Hippopotamus, otherwise known as UV Hippo, will be at the Kalamazoo State Theater on 10/31"¦

This month is also your chance to see buzz bands Bastille (10/23 at The Masonic Temple Theater in Detroit) and Tune-Yards (10/21 at the Crofoot Ballroom in Pontiac) right here in Michigan"¦

And at a media outlet near you are this week’s new album releases"¦ Taylor Swift’s 1989"¦ Rancid’s Honor is All We Know"¦ At the Gates’ At War with Reality"¦ and Black Veil Brides’ Black Veil Brides IV"¦ and that’s the buzz for this week’s Modern Rock.

Questions, comments, rants, raves, suggestions on this column? Send "˜em to Kristi at modernrocker@gmail.com.