Breaking local music news

“The robot and I are heading into the studio next month to start recording a series of themed EPs,” says SDSU English department alumnus Michael Buchmiller, aka Professor B. Miller, the mastermind behind the Satanic Puppeteer Orchestra, which is fronted by a singing robot he calls SPO-20. “The first wave will likely come out at the end of the year. I’ve got names for all of them, lyrics for most of them, and album art done for the first two EPs.”

The Lower Left jazz trio will appear June 29 at the Handlery Hotel’s 950 Lounge to debut their sophomore release, a live album called Just Playin’. Recorded in 2013 at the Handlery with pianist Mikan Zlatkovich, the new CD has Justin Grinnell on bass, although the album release show will feature Will Lyle in his place.

Former Cattle Decapitation bassist Derek Engemann is playing with Cast the Stone, featuring Mark Kloeppel (Misery Index, Scour), Jesse Schobel (Legend, ex-Scour), and singer Andy Huskey. A new EP just dropped, Empyrean Atrophy.

Longtime North County resident Chris Hillman will join fellow Byrds co-founder Roger McGuin for a short tour performing 50th anniversary sets of their Sweetheart of the Rodeo album with guest Marty Stuart. You can catch Hillman playing with Herb Pedersen at Bernardo Winery on August 12.

Singer-songwriter Alyssa Jacey, who relocated to Nashville in 2012, won first place for this year's Singer-Songwriter contest at the San Diego County Fair in Del Mar on June 16. The second place prize went to Patricia Fernandez, and third place was won by Noah Rickertsen. Jacey, whose newest single is called "I Want it to Rain," appears June 22 at Parc Bistro Brasserie in Bankers Hill.

Anakin has a new single, “Spaced-Out,” featuring former Motion City Soundtrack frontman Justin Pierre, b/w a cover of “California” by the Rentals, the band formed by former Weezer bassist Matt Sharp.

Vokab Kompany dropped a three-song EP on Fathers Day, One Of Infinity, featuring "All original concepts by the late great Casey Maloney & Burgundy Morgan, re-visioned and tracked by Geoff Nigl, Burkey Vokab and Robbie Gallo aka B3K," according to the band.

In advance of E.N. Young’s fourth full-length Forest Wilderness (recorded, produced, mixed, and mastered in IB at his Imperial Sound Recording Studio), a single is available, “Wake Up,” featuring Peetah Morgan of Morgan Heritage.

San Diego Opera’s artistic administrator Priti Gandhi has been hired by the Minnesota Opera as their chief artistic officer, a job she starts in July.

Justin Pearson (Retox, Some Girls) has a new book called The Race to Zero, a collection of all the lyrics he’s written throughout his career up until this year, as well as containing various examples of short creative vignettes and prose.

Super Troopers 2 features a song by Blackout Party, “All My Friends,” as well as tracks by fellow locals Low Volts (“My Fixin’”) and occasional Ratt singer Stephen Pearcy (with a new version of Ratt’s “Round and Round” recorded with George Lynch).

Blink-182's June residency in Las Vegas at the Palms Casino Resort was cancelled due to drummer Travis Barker being diagnosed with blood clots in each arm. Says the band, "The situation is currently being closely monitored."

A Casey Hensley Live album is being mixed and mastered by Black Market III guitarist-singer Scottie Blinn.

The Stereotypes released a new single, "Creator/Destroyer," recorded with Mike Kamoo at local Earthling Studios.

The Slashes have two new singles, “Nunu’s” (named after a famous local hangout) and “Heavy Bowie.”

Sister Speak will spend late July and early August touring Germany, including stints in Cologne, Falkenberg, Leipzig, and Berlin.

Rapper XXXTentacion has gone from being a North Park assault victim to Florida murder victim. 20-year-old Jahseh Dwayne Onfroy was reportedly outside a Deerfield Beach motorcycle dealership in the Fort Lauderdale area on Monday, June 18, when he was shot in what police have described as an apparent robbery attempt. Witnesses say the rapper was sitting in a black BMW around 4pm, when two armed men approached, with at least one of them firing into the car multiple times. The rapper landed in the headlines last year after being knocked unconscious by an onstage attacker at Observatory North Park on June 7. Police say a stabbing occurred at the same concert.