It’s pretty clear to most that things aren’t what they used to be for the major labels. There’s no more driving limousines into swimming pools and bathing in baked beans for bands these days. Label shareholders get upset if their star performers don’t deliver an album in time for Christmas, and the proliferation of illegal downloading has left them feeling like someone short circuited the security gates at the warehouse. It’s in this climate that EMI has announced that it is to sell the jewel in the crown of its recording studios, Abbey Road. The studio and the crosswalk outside made famous by The Beatles, is, according to the Financial Times, to be sold off by the label due to the spiraling costs of keeping it running; cash that EMI could really use to plug other holes in its business. The FT could only speculate over the future of the iconic brand itself, and couldn’t confirm whether the label will sell the name along with the property, but did manage to pull in a quote from a London media lawyer confirming what we all suspected, namely that “the brand is worth more than the building.” So, perhaps don’t be surprised if you stumble across an ‘Abbey Road Café’, replete with crosswalk, the next time you trudge bleary eyed through an international airport terminal…
The Archives
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Bits & Pieces
Rage Against The Machine Announce First Details of UK ‘Victory’ Gig
02.11.10Los Angeles rap-rockers Rage Against the Machine have announced the first details of the free concert they are planning in the UK to thank UK fans for sending them to the much coveted ‘Christmas Number One’ spot in the charts. As previously reported, British couple Jon and Tracy Morter started a Facebook group urging the public to buy copies of the 1992 Rage song Killing in the Name instead of the manufactured pop of Simon Cowell’s winning X Factor single. In the end, Killing in the Name beat the Cowell sponsored single by about 50,000 sales, with the band promising to repay the British public’s support with a free show. This show is now set to happen at London’s Finsbury Park on Sunday June 6th, 2010 with tickets to be issued by lottery. In a poke at Simon Cowell, the show is to be dubbed The Rage Factor, and fans can enter the lottery for tickets at theragefactor.co.uk. (more…)
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Bits & Pieces
Billy Bragg Set to Withhold Tax in Protest at Excessive Bank Bonuses
01.19.10English folk singer and seasoned political activist Billy Bragg has written a letter to British chancellor Alistair Darling, published in The Guardian, stating his intention to withhold his tax for the year should Darling not take steps to curb the bonuses set to be paid by the Royal Bank of Scotland to its staff. Bonuses are estimated to be in the realm of £1.5 Billion, after the bank last year posted what amounted to the worst losses in British financial history. The Bard of Barking, a veteran of the 1980s Red Wedge campaign, expressed that he was “no longer prepared to fund the excessive bonuses of RBS investment bankers,” informing Darling in no uncertain terms that “Unless he acts to limit them to £25,000, I shall be withholding my tax payment on January 31.” He is hoping that many of his fellow countrymen may also feel the same way, and a Facebook group, NoBonus4RBS has been established so that anyone wishing to express their support for his campaign can do so. Bragg will be aiming to emulate the exploits of British couple Jon and Tracy Mortimer, who in a feat of Facebook people-power, managed to persuade the British record buying public to snub Simon Cowell’s The X-Factor single and send L.A. rap-rockers Rage Against The Machine’s Killing in the Name to the UK’s venerated Christmas number one spot.
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Concert Reviews
Le Party des Fêtes à Lapointe @ Metropolis – 12.31.09
01.06.10There may be only one man left that can confidently sport a vest sans shirt… and that man is Éric Lapointe. Along with Marie-Mai and Marjo, the Quebecois bad boy rocker rang in the New Year as a typical Lapointe crowd filled Montreal’s buzzing Metropolis. (more…)
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Bits & Pieces
Vic Chesnutt Dies After Resting in a Coma
12.28.09A Christmas tragedy led to the suicide attempt of gritty folk icon Vic Chesnutt. After attempting to take his own life during the holiday season, Chesnutt found himself in a deep coma at a nearby hospital, finally passing on Christmas day in Athens, Georgia. Constellation Records released a statement saying, “In the few short years that we knew him personally, Vic transformed our sense of what true character, grace and determination are all about. Our grief is inexpressible and Vic’s absence unfathomable.” Vic will be missed by an elite underground society of determined musicians who shared his perseverance for heartfelt, quality music. Rest in peace Vic Chesnutt.
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Bits & Pieces
Seven Years Since Joe Strummer’s Death
12.21.09Acknowledging the death of notable The Clash member Joe Strummer, a hand-drawn Christmas card designed by Strummer himself will be available for purchase starting December 22nd, marking seven years since his passing. The holiday card was the last one Strummer had created before his death, and was meant for friends and family. The sale of the card will be paired up with the release of a tribute album featuring new UK acts, and is all available at Strummerville, a charitable organization erected following the rocker’s death.
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Bits & Pieces
Former R.E.M. Drummer Bill Berry Makes An Appearance
12.15.09In true R.E.M. tradition the boys will send out a holiday single for the fast approaching season. Why is this particular single all the more special you may ask…Well former drummer Bill Berry who left the band in 1997 will be gracing us with his skin swatting technique on this years jingle jaunt. The single in question features a cover of Crazy Like a Fox and Santa Baby, but if you’re looking for Michael Stipe or Peter Buck on this one though you’ll be sorely disappointed, as the pair do not make an appearance this time ‘round. Reunions and free music?! Now that’s Christmas!
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Bits & Pieces
The Flaming Lips Strike Again… For X-Mas!
12.09.09You may all know of the obsession The Flaming Lips hold for Christmas, and this year they’ve chosen to share that holiday spirit by offering a Christmas tree ornament called the Silver Trembling Fetus. The three inch silver ornament “is rumored to give off vibrations that help all humans progress toward an intelligence explosion”. Shit… an intelligence explosion? I’ll take a dozen. Check out the fetus here.
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Bits & Pieces
Steve Albini’s X-Mas Spirit Squashed By Postal Service?
12.07.09Shellac frontman and famed producer Steve Albini has proved himself as a giver come the holiday season. Along with his wife Heather Whinna, Albini has been distributing more than $100,000 of Christmas goodies to less fortunate families in Chicago for quite some time now. The Second City raised funds comes from an annual benefit that over the years has boasted the likes of Jeff Tweedy, The Breeders and of course Shellac. The gift giving couple read letters sent to the US post office care of Santa Claus and subsequently surprise families on Christmas day with a plethora of gifts; however this year the holiday cheer may be stalled. According to the US Postal Service their privacy issues dictate that Albini and Whinna will no longer have access to the personal contact information of the families in question. Gifts will now have to be mailed rather than personally delivered, leading Whinna to comment, “Just the idea of mailing a gift, it almost makes me think the postmaster general has never been to a housing complex. If there’s no human contact, it will kill the program.” Ladies and gentlemen, yet another great program killed by the government.
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Bits & Pieces
Liam Gallagher to Record/Perform Under Oasis Banner Without Noel
12.02.09The latest news from Liam Gallagher relating to his post-Oasis period is… that there may not be a post Oasis period. Liam claims that he and band mates Andy Bell and Gem Archer are planning to continue using the Oasis name, even though Noel has split. Liam and co. have been working on a new album, and he says, “We’ve got all the songs done. Without Noel at all… If we don’t come up with [a new band name] by the time we’re ready to release the album it’ll be Oasis. I’m not going to call myself something ridiculous just for the sake of it. We’re trying lots of new names right now, but nothing’s sticking so we’re just plugging on with the music. Obviously we won’t be playing any of Noel’s songs.” No Wonderwall. No Don’t Look Back in Anger. No chief songwriter? When asked if the new incarnation of Oasis would have a new sound, Liam said “It’s a little bit different, but not too much… It’s the kind of music our fans have always liked, you know? I’m not forcing this down anyone’s throats. That’s not good for the soul.” Look out for an album forthcoming, as Liam has booked time after Christmas, and plans to put out a release sometime early in 2010. “Obviously it’s going to be different without Noel and Noel’s fans will sneer at it but then, you know, if they don’t like the music, don’t fucking buy it… Don’t come to the gig, ’cause you’re not going to be hearing ‘Don’t Look Back in Anger.’” Oasis with only one Gallagher… who knows how this is going to shake out.
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Bits & Pieces
Vinyl Edition Of Tom Waits’ Orphans Boasts 6 Bonus Tracks
11.17.09If you’ve been waiting to get that one really big Tom Waits fan on your Christmas shopping list a stocking stuffer that would solicit unending tears of gratitude, then December 8th needs to be circled on your calendar. Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards, Waits’ 2006 odds and ends collection is getting a limited edition vinyl set, with 7 LPs packed with 62 songs. Those of us who have the CD will notice a discrepancy of six songs between the two releases. Those vinyls are carrying 6 bonus tracks; including a cover of Fats Waller’s Crazy ‘Bout My Baby. The other covers are Canon Song, a Brecht/Weill number, and Diamond in Your Mindwhich was written by Waits and wife Kathleen Brennan for Solomon Burke. No One Can Forgive Me and Mathie Grove are original Waits material, rounding out the extra tracks… And a quick reminder, as we mentioned last month, the Tom Waits live album, Glitter and Doom, with it’s full disc of on stage growls, patter, and banter, is dropping November 24.
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Bits & Pieces
Fucked Up Too Helm New Round of Do They Know It’s Christmas?
11.06.091984 marked the roundup of a slew of British pop musicians led by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to lay down the track, Do They Know It’s Christmas?; an all-star Christmas song in regards to the Ethiopian famine. Then 2004 saw a re-recorded version of the song sporting a new all-star cast including Thom Yorke of Radiohead and Dizzee Rascal. And now… To put all conventions to rest the new performance will be headed by Canadian rockers Fucked Up, specifically the band’s captain Damian Abraham, better known as Pink Eyes. In a recent interview Pink Eyes had this to say, “David Cross, members of Vampire Weekend, TV on the Radio, Broken Social Scene, the GZA, Bob Mould, No Age, and Yo La Tengo are all confirmed. I’m still waiting on confirmation from Feist, Jarvis Cocker, and M.I.A. We wanted the biggest people we could get. If we could get a Jonas Brother on this, I would get a Jonas Brother.” The recording is slated to benefit “a few different organizations, like Justice for the Missing, that are affiliated with the 500 missing and murdered aboriginal women in Canada. That number is an old official statistic that the government uses, but the number is probably closer to 3,000.” The band has also decided to use their recent Polaris Music Prize winnings to fund the project and although an official release date has yet to be announced keep an ear open for this Fucked Up Christmas ditty!
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Bits & Pieces
The Beatles Offering USB Drive Chock-O-Block Full Of Tunes
11.05.09Pony up $279.99 at The Beatles’ online store on December 7th (in the UK) or 8th (over here in North America); just in time for Christmas, you’ll receive an apple shaped USB drive with September’s Beatles reissues. Apple Corps and EMI have put their heads together on this one to bring us all 14 reissued albums, as well 13 mini-docs about the releases. There will only be 30,000 of these guys out there, so if you’re interested, move quickly… If this is not your idea of the perfect gift, there is always the vinyl option. On November 7th, a limited edition box set commemorating the 40th anniversary of Abbey Road is being released by the good people of Record Store Day fame. The vinyl comes with a T-shirt and poster, emblazoned with the cover of the Come Together/Something single. There are only 5000 of these out there, and word is they are only going to be made available to the indie record stores of discerning taste…
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Bits & Pieces
New Album Coming from Kraftwerk
10.07.09Kraftwerk’s The Catalogue, an eight-disk box set, due out November 17th via EMI, is not enough for the German electronic group. They are currently working on the follow up LP to 2003’s release of the Tour de France Soundtracks. This will mark the first album without co-founder Florian Schneider, who parted ways with the group in early 2009. Ralf Hutter, speaking for the rest of the band said, “It’s still very early. It’s still in its embryonic stage.” So, the album is growing, and maybe in a couple of Christmases there will be a nine disk box set to hide under the tree.
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Bits & Pieces
I Slept with Joey Ramone Book to Become Film?
10.02.09If the usual ‘reliable’ sources are to be believed, then Fox Searchlight is in negotiations to produce a film based on the book I Slept with Joey Ramone (A Family Memoir). The book, out in time for the Christmas shopping season, was written by Ramone’s brother Mickey Leigh, and Ramones biographer Legs McNeil, of Please Kill Me fame. If McNeil’s abilities as a chronicler of a musical movement are still keen (and all signs indicate that he has lost none of the savvy that made Kill Me so fun to read), then the book will be thoroughly entertaining. In short: a blast for punks everywhere. But we all know that books are almost always better than the movies they are made into. Long before the first casting rumors raise the ire of Ramones fans, the filmmakers are facing a massive problem in that CBGB is gone, wiped from the face of Bowery. There is always the possibility of massive green-screening… but I doubt it. We can begin anticipating the film, and on December 1st, if you’re in NYC, you can get the book directly from Leigh and McNeil at the Barnes & Noble Tribeca on Warren Street. They will be signing books and doing a Q&A session.
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CD Reviews
Mason Jennings – Blood of Man
09.19.09I believe him. I believe that the album was pioneered by a Kodak Christmas moment, that he writes about being a husband and a father, that he pens about love, humanity, war, doubts, death and fears. I believe him when he says that “What you have is exactly the music I listen to in my van and the way I have given it to my friends on CD-Rs.” The album Blood of Man, created in just a few weeks, is skeletal and raw, fingerprinted by an honest and maybe even wiser Mason Jennings as narrator. (more…)
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CD Reviews
The Flaming Lips – Christmas on Mars
11.22.08
The Flaming Lips provide us with another interesting album in time for the Christmas season… Be warned that this instrumental soundtrack to their “Christmas movie” is not your average frolic in the holiday spirit. (more…)
