Dear Groundlings, welcome to yet another edition of the spiffy music column we all know and adore. As always, I'd like to thank you for all the notes you've sent me, please keep them coming. This week's Reverb has got some news so good that I'm still jumping up and down giddy like a schoolgirl at a Jonas Brothers concert.

So let's get giggly!

REVERB

International

We'll start with the not so good news:

It's safe to say that both Radiohead and David Bowie deserve to be called legends and groundbreakers. And now, word on the grapevine has it that Radiohead might appear on a forthcoming Bowie tribute album. That would be the coolest, but unfortunately that news is about as real as Britney Spears voice when she performs live.

Not real. Mick Karn, former bassist for the British art-synth band Japan, recently wrote on his website that he's recorded a cover of Bowie's "Ashes to Ashes" for a forthcoming Bowie tribute album, which will serve as a benefit for the charity War Child (http://warchild.org).

According to Karn, the tribute will also include Radiohead, as well as brilliant chanteuse Charlotte Gainsbourg and the fabulous French first lady Carla Bruni. He says it will be out in February 2010.

On Thursday July 9th, NME and the Quietus picked up the story. However, it's been announced that Radiohead will not, in fact, appear on a David Bowie tribute album. In fact, the album might not even exist. This wouldn't be the first time Bowie has been covered for War Child, of course. TV on the Radio did "Heroes" for the last War Child benefit compilation, which was also called Heroes.

However, Thom Yorke has another tribute album appearance coming up. He'll cover "All for the Best" on Ciao My Shining Star: The Songs of Mark Mulcahy, due September 29 from Shout! Factory.

And now onto the woohoo and yeehaa inducing pieces of news:

The first daughter of Country music Rosanne Cash's new album The List is due out October 6 via Manhattan. And my Lord does it have some heavy talent on it! The offering is packed with covers of country classics by the likes of the Carter Family, Hank Williams, Bob Dylan, and Merle Haggard that were picked from a list of "100 Essential Country Songs" given to her by her dad (a dude named Johnny Cash, in case you've heard of him) when she was young. The album also features guest turns from some people you also may have heard of: Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Costello, Jeff Tweedy, and Rufus Wainwright. Hell yeah!!!

Former Mazzy Star frontwoman and one of the most underrated songstresses of all time, Hope Sandoval sang the eternally powerful 90s slow jam "Fade Into You", which means she'll live forever in wedding-playlist form, hell I know it'll be playing at my wedding.

And her guest appearances on the Jesus and Mary Chain's "Sometimes Always" and the Chemical Brothers' "Asleep From Day" are also the stuff dreams are made of. But Sandoval hasn't released an album of her own since Bavarian Fruit Bread, the grossly underrated 2001 debut from her band Hope Sandoval and the Warm Inventions.

On September 15, she'll make her grand long awaited return, when Nettwerk releases Through the Devil Softly, the first album in eight years from Sandoval and the Warm Inventions. Sandoval wrote the album with her partner in the band, My Bloody Valentine's Colm O C*os*ig. Judging by the track "Blanchard", which you can stream and download on www.lala.com, we're in for another album of sexy, gauzy, reverbed-out slowcore, with Sandoval's voice floating above the layers of softly strummed guitar like a desert apparition.

National

I'm very stoked to say that we've got some excellent news on the local front as well: Two of Jakarta's strongest and most unique songwriting talents have new stuff out!

First out of the gate is the gentle and contemplative folky singer/songwriter Joan Lumanauw or better known as The Wispy Hummers. Last week saw the release of The Wispy Hummer's self titled EP. The offering contains 4 gorgeously delivered home-recorded gems and can be ordered by email at thewispyhummers@gmail.com. Just email your name, address, and how many copies you want to buy, and you'll get the warm fuzzies-inducing CD sent to your doorstep.

Later on this month, on July 24th to be exact, the multi-talented and just simply the coolest chick in town, Miss Kartika Jahja or Tika as her fans know her is releasing her 2nd album, this time with her new band The Dissidents.

The upcoming Tika & The Dissidents album will be called The Headless Songstress and it will feature Tika in a way you never heard her before. A strong upwards departure from 2005's Frozen Love Songs, this LP features songs with rich texture and power-packed emotional punches as well as collaborations from local indie big guns David Tarigan, Ramondo Gascaro, Anda, AdrianAdioetomo, Riza Arshad, Indra Azis, and Afansadra Karim . From the sneak preview I heard, it's a strong candidate for local album of the year. S

o mark your calendars, children! You can find out more about Tika & The Dissidents on their Facebook group. Just search Tika & The Dissidents and you'll get there.

That about wraps it up for this week's Reverb. Stay tune next week!

Meanwhile, do drop me a line at undergroundhum@yahoo.com and if you've got a band or know of any cool bands with gigs coming up, email me the full details and I'll be sure to include it in the next Reverb.

See y'all next week!

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