So, I started recording this one on Friday night. Pretty typical. Then I finished up this evening (It's Saturday night as I type this) and for some reason I got myself worked up about a particular issue. I mean, don't get me wrong. There's not a blue streak of cursing or anything, but I definitely work some stuff out over the course of a couple intros. It'll either be interesting to you or not, but I hope you'll enjoy the music that happens in between! Countdown #89 ***Featuring*** Ben Folds Five The [...]
Norah Jones will release a new album this spring via Blue Note/EMI. Little Broken Hearts was made with the help of producer and musician Danger Mouse, who co-wrote and provided drums, bass, guitar, keyboards and string arrangements for the record ... Last June, Dinosaur Jr reunited to play 1988 album Bug in its entirety in Washington, [...]

photo by Eliot Glazer If you are confused by the above picture, don't fret. Ben Gibbard stopped by the annual San Francisco Sketchfest this week to do a piece with Bobcat Goldthwait . Gibbard played guitar behind Goldthwait as he did his best impression of Bono singing "YMCA". It is quite random, but the picture is priceless. New music released today by Denver pop band Tennis . Their new album, Young & Old , will be released on Valentine's [...]

O trio formado por Ben Folds , Robert Sledge e Darren Jessee estão de volta com o Ben Folds Five . A banda, que lançou seu último álbum The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner em 1999, se reúne para a gravação de um novo trabalho. Em seu twitter pessoal , Folds postou a foto que ilutra este post com a seguinte mensagem: "Está mesmo acontecendo - Dia 1: no estúdio com Robert e Darren até março". Em um outro tweet , o vocalista diz que o lançamento está [...]
Take it away, @BenFolds: It's happening fo sho - Day 1 in studio with Robert and Darren through March #NewBenFoldsFiveRecord twitter.com/BenFolds/statu… — benjamin folds (@BenFolds) January 25, 2012 When, Ben, when?! Spring release @ Andy_Hampshire #NewBenFoldsFiveRecord — benjamin folds (@BenFolds) January 25, 2012 There you have it. More details soon, we're sure.

Después de 13 años de inactividad, el proyecto capitaneado por el cantante Ben Folds y justamente llamado Ben Folds Five volverá al ruedo. La banda de Carolina del Norte está de vuelta en el estudio grabando un nuevo larga duración. En el día de ayer, el frontman Folds, que durante estos últimos años se ha dedicado a su carrera solista, publicó en su cuenta de Twitter una fotografía con Robert Sledge y [...]
Debe ser que 2012 apela al espíritu de las reuniones porque en este mes han sido unas cuantas las que hemos conocido. De la última de la que tenemos constancia es la del grupo de rock alternativo Ben Folds Five . Tras trece años sin publicar material nuevo, el trío compuesto por Ben Folds, Robert Sledge y Darren Jessee ha decidido volver a la carga. Fue el líder de la formación, Ben, quien tuiteó una fotografía junto a sus dos compañeros en la que, además, anunciaba que la grabación para el nuevo álbum había [...]

En 2008 los tres miembros de Ben Folds Five se reunieron en el escenario para interpretar su tercer y último disco The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner , que fue lanzado en 1999. A partir de ahí, el cantante y pianista Ben Folds ha seguido en la brecha sin la compañía de su banda original, lanzando su cuarto álbum solista Way to Normal en 2008 y otro álbum llamado Lonely Avenue , en colaboración con el autor de la novela High Fidelity , Nick Hornby. Aunque, hasta donde sabemos, Ben Fold Five se [...]

If you haven't drunkenly sung along to The Cranberries' "Linger," there's room for improvement in your life. With that being said, a Cranberries' comeback—although smirk-worthy—is probably a few years too late. As excited as some people claim to be, are you really looking forward to this? You saw the video right? It's not that we wouldn't love to see the Cranberries make an epic comeback. It's just highly unlikely. It's much more likely that you'll continue to love singing along to "Linger" when it randomly comes on the radio and that will be the extent of your relationship [...]

Mountain Jam returns to Hunter Mountain, New York from May 31st - June 3rd. Today, the festival revealed its initial lineup, with the newly reunited Ben Folds Five ( who may have a new album out by then ), The Roots, Steve Winwood, Gov't Mule, and Michael Franti and Spearhead leading the way. Other notable acts include The Word (featuring Robert Randolph, John Medeski, and North Mississippi Allstars), Dawes, Charles Bradley, Gives, Mariachi El Bronx, Gary Clark Jr., Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue, and Karl Denson's Tiny Universe. Check out the current lineup at our Festival [...]
The lineup for this year's Mountain Jam was just released. Steve Winwood and Gov't Mule will be headlining, with Michael Franti & Spearhead, The Roots, Ben Folds Five, The Word, Trombone Shorty and tons others joining them for the weekend of May 31-June 3 (right after Memorial Day) back on Hunter Mountain in NY. Read [...]

The initial lineup announcement for the 2012 Mountain Jam Festival has been revealed and it's impressive. Joining host Warren Haynes and Gov't Mule a top the bill will be Steve Winwood, Michael Franti & Spearhead, The Roots, Ben Folds Five and The Travelin' McCoury's featuring Keller Williams. Also of note, supergroup The Word will reunite for a Mountain Jam performance. This year's event will be held over the course of four days from May 31 to June 3 at Hunter Mountain in Hunter, New York. Tickets are currently [...]

After getting back together last year to record a trio of tracks for Ben Folds' new retrospective album , the members of Ben Fold Five are now working on their first full-length LP since 19992s The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner . As SPIN.com points out, Folds revealed the news on Twitter last night, tweeting a photo of himself with bassist Robert Sledge and drummer Darren Jessee. He wrote as a caption, "It's happening fo sho - Day 1 in studio with Robert and Darren through March #NewBenFoldsFiveRecord." When asked by a [...]
Think we're at a musical low tide now? In December 1997, I'd become a jaded, beaten-down critic, having given up on rock for the moment and permanently given up on music writing for a career. It paid shit, plain and simple. Worse yet, it was impossible to escape the Spin Doctors, Offspring, No Doubt and Hanson on the radio dial. Indie, modern, alternative - whatever we called the good stuff - was dead, gone, embalmed and buried. Joey Ramone had become an online stock trader by then, which to this day some fans still [...]

Two decades from now, how do you think 2011 will be remembered? As the year we lost Amy Winehouse? How about the year three of music's most iconic outfits - The White Stripes, R.E.M., and LCD Soundsystem - all decided to call it quits? Maybe Lana Del Rey will prove a sustainable force and then we can all tell our children about the great collagen debate of 2011. Or try to explain to them how two rock and roll hall of famers came together to create the worst piece of music imaginable. Yeah, 2011 was a fucking weird year. [...]
The same guy wrote all these songs? Pretty incredible.
Given that Ben Folds has been in the business for over 20 years - via Ben Folds Five, his solo albums, and touring and collaborating with The Bens (Ben Kweller, Ben Lee, and Folds), Rufus Wainwright, and William Shatner - it was only a matter of time before he issued his own retrospective. Now, that day has come with the arrival of one broad three-disc affair titled, The Best Imitation of Myself: A Retrospective . This collection isn't a best of, necessarily, but more of a front-to-back anthology of Folds' resume. The [...]

Attention Fire Note Readers: Here is your chance to win the new single disc version of Ben Folds compilation - The Best Imitation Of Myself courtesy of Epic/Legacy Recordings! Entry is simple: Make sure you "Like" The Fire Note on Facebook then send us an email to thefirenote@gmail.com with the subject: [...]
Ben Folds releases a retrospective of his career, from Ben Folds Five to his solo stuff.