Ben Folds Five Re-Unite for One Off!

In some of the most awesome news I’ve ever read: Ben Folds will reunite with Robert Sledge & Darren Jessee, or Ben Folds Five as they’re known when together on a stage, to play a one-off at their old hometown school, The University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. Since their split many-a-year ago, the five (three) have kept busy in numerous ways – Ben has been busy being Ben Folds, Darren formed the successful in it’s own right Hotel Lights, while everyone’s favorite fuzz-bassist Robert Sledge has been in and out of a few bands and now resides in CH permanently giving lessons.

The band will be performing their 1999 swan song The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner in it’s entirety. Perhaps they’ll be a few surprises, perhaps not, but either way I wish so badly I had the money to go to this show, but I squandered all my road-trip concert money on Ryan Adams and Randy Newman tickets in October. Who needs a regional reporter? AP? Pitchfork? Anybody? No? Okay, guess I’ll just wait for the youtube’s the following day.

[mp3] Ben Folds Five – Army

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You’ve been Punk’d by Ben Folds

Remember that album announcement we talked about a while back? A few of you dudes commented that this was all a fake perpetrated by Mr. Folds himself. Well, it turns out you were right! Ben and the band recorded several fake versions of real songs, and songs that are fake altogether then leaked the thing onto the internets in what is, purposely or not, a pretty genius PR move. Maybe Ben was just doing it for the practical joke of it all, certainly wouldn’t seem out of character for the man who brought us Whatever & Ever Amen, or maybe Ben should plan your company’s net viral marketing campaign.

Either way, Way to Normal, the real version, comes out September 16th via Epic, and you can hear samples of the real songs at Rolling Stone. They sound great! The drums on Brainwashed are enough to renew my faith in the Folded one. Hear the samples here.

[mp3] Ben Folds – Trusted

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Ben Folds Reveals New Album Details!

We’re big fans of this generation’s Randy Newman; the sultan of song, proud Nashvillian, friend to the shat: Mr. Ben Folds, so imagine our glee when these detail showed up in our inbox this morning after waiting three years for a follow-up to his last full-length solo LP (of new material). The album is called Way To Normal, it was recorded in Nashville by Dennis Herring (Elvis Costello, Modest Mouse) and Regina Spektor sings on a track.

Folds says the record is “like a bottle of champagne shaken up for six months” and “has so much energy,” and while that may be a bit hyperbolic for our tastes, it sure sounds promising! We also learn that in his off-time Folds produced a solo LP from The Dresden Dolls Amanda Palmer (wha?) and that he will open up the Nashville Symphony’s 2008-2009 season with a full-orchestra performance at our newly completed 30,000 square foot symphony center (YES!). No new tunes to share yet other than some youtube action, but enjoy an old one nonetheless

[mp3] Ben Folds – Jesusland
[mp3] Ben Folds Five – Battle of Who Could Care Less