Critically acclaimed rock band Autolux is gearing up to release their 2nd record, “Transit Transit” the follow up to 2004’s “Future Perfect.”

The band has made the first single from their new album “Audience No. 2″  available on their MySpace page and iTunes. So far there is not a set date for the release of “Transit Transit” but one would expect it to be released in the next few months since the first single has just been released.

I’m interested in what kind of turn, if any, the bands sound will take. Autolux have always had a pretty good blend of effects laden shoegaze parts as well as more streamlined grooves and riffs. This new record, I assume, will blend these kind of elements once again.

Autolux @ MySpace.com

So, over a week ago it was announced that Prince was added as a headliner to the Coachella Festival (look above, they even made special graphics for his appearance!). I had sort of already planned on not going, so I was just a little annoyed finding out that this bumped Portishead to sub-headliner status. Sub-headliner status means a shorter set-time.

While Prince is kind of cool, he’s not someone who I would ever really care about seeing. Its a little bit of a shame because Coachella will be Portishead’s first show in 10 years. I know people who are just going for them, or mainly going for them. Anyway, as long as Prince doesn’t let his super-male-diva side take over for too long everything should be alright. Remember what happened with Madonna?

At this point its pretty easy to see that Coachella’s kind of…well…blah, but there still are a ton of good bands playing that I’m kind of bummed to being missing out on…Battles, Aphex Twin, The Breeders, Portishead, Kraftwerk and Autolux. Although I have seen a few of those bands before, and will be seeing The Breeders on their own tour and presumably Portishead, since they have a new record coming out.

- Also: Have a happy Earth Day 2008! Do something positive. -

*(Graphics courtesy of coachella.com).