France’s favourite pop star of the moment, the UK-based Charlie Winston, will have Montrealers talking tonight after exposing them to his offbeat lyrics and folksy tunes at L’Astral.
With special guest: Robertson
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Bits & Pieces
Watch New She & Him Video for In The Sun
03.09.10Fans of Zooey Deschanel will swoon over the video from She & Him for the new single In The Sun, from her collaborative group with singer M. Ward. The piece, directed by filmmaker Peyton Reed is a veritable showreel of Deschanel’s talents, which include acting, singing, dancing and hula-hooping too apparently. The second joint effort between Deschanel and M. Ward, Volume Two is out March 23rd, via Merge in the US and on April 5th on Domino in the UK.
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Bits & Pieces
Blondie Record New Album, Team Up With Converse
03.08.10Remember when musicians just made music, and didn’t team up with Vitamin Water, or just drank booze instead of being paid to advertise it? Nah, nor do I really. But Blondie probably do, not that this has stopped them from getting together with Converse to develop a new line of shoes that will feature ‘Blondie design’ album graphics, animal prints, and neon — and retail from $55 to $85 for both men and women. Check the designs out here. Then go to the mall this spring and buy them (just kidding). You may also be interested to know that the veteran New Yorkers have also been recording some songs for a new album, slated for a spring release. Talking about the new material, singer Debbie Harry states, “It sounds like a mature Blondie album,” “We really wanted to have a combination of different elements — that’s sort of been a tradition with us…” The band’s guitarist Chris Stein added on the band’s blog, “I think that this record will help people understand that one can write rock lyrics that go further into the realm of poetry and literature, that just don’t make simple statements”. This summer, Blondie will tour in support of their new record, as well as playing the UK’s Isle of Wight Festival with The Strokes on June 11th-13th.
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CD Reviews
Athlete – Black Swan
03.07.10 -
CD Reviews
Little Boots – Hands
03.06.10With a retro-electro vibe that wraps 80s synth sounds in an intergalactic space package, Little Boots takes on the challenge of doing something remarkable with the 3.5 minute dance-pop formula. While this blond Brit’s debut album, Hands, is new this week in North America, it has been topping the charts in the UK since its June release. (more…)
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Bits & Pieces
Subject of Carly Simon’s You’re So Vain Revealed?
02.26.10Here’s some classic rock cryptology for you. Ever since Carly Simon penned 70s rock classic You’re So Vain, the singer claimed the song’s subject to be a “composite” of men she had met early in the decade, rather than a single person. Later, she dropped a further clue, saying that the true subject of the song had the letters A, E and R in their name. Looking at a selection of names from the 1970s era, WARrEn Beatty and Mick JAggER would both fit. But, to coincide with the re-release of the song, Simon has revealed that if you play the new of the song version backwards, the name of the character in question would be revealed. This is where UK tabloid The Sun steps in. The paper got a hold of the new song, played it backwards, and concluded that the name that could be heard was ‘David’. David Bowie and David Crosby were other possible from the era, but were eliminated due to the first lacking the necessary “E” and Bowie having never been linked to Simon in any way. The British paper is suggesting that the David in question is David Geffen, the head of Elektra Records – the label that released You’re So Vain – due to a disagreement the two had at the time of its release. There remains one problem. Where’s the “R” in “David Geffen”? Well, Geffen’s full name is “DAvid LawRence GEffen.” Mystery solved? Maybe…
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Bits & Pieces
Aerosmith Kiss and Make Up, Announcing Summer Euro Tour
02.25.10We brought you news last month of a developing legal spat between members of Aerosmith over whether the band would tour with frontman Steven Tyler or not, due to him being waylaid in rehab for the foreseeable future treating an addiction to painkillers. It would seem that the veteran rockers have buried the hatchet, as they’ve booked a month long summer tour of Europe. The band announced the Cocked, Locked, Ready to Rock Tour – that begins June 10th at the Sweden Rock Festival and will end July 3rd in Venice, Italy – via a humorous online video with Tyler quipping “I just auditioned and I got the gig. We’re coming your way and rocking your world. Look out baby, ’cause here we go again!” Check it here. (more…)
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Bits & Pieces
John Lydon to Tour With New PiL Lineup Again
02.24.10“Ain’t a band, it’s a company.” Such was always the premise of John Lydon’s Public Image Ltd. which was what made the punk pioneer’s post-Pistols group all the more awesome, as they had the clever lyrics and uncompromising post-punk grittiness to back it up. Whether that’s still the case is unclear, but they’re being resurrected as a company at least. Following a tour of the UK last year (on which Lydon himself was the only original member of the PiL lineup), the same touring band will reconvene to play a string of US and European dates later on in 2010. It may seem like a lame move on Lydon’s part to take an old band out on the road without any original members, but then again, he’s always been a pretty contrary sort of bloke. You never quite know what’s going on in that scheming head of his. Hey, if you go to the show and close your eyes it might even be good! Just Careering? You decide. (more…)
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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
The Playing of Copyright Music to be Banned From Communal Areas in UK Jails
01.20.10One (more) reason to not get sent to prison in the UK. According to a document leaked to British newspaper The Guardian, the playing of music in communal areas of British jails is to be banned, due to the high cost of the licenses required to play music subject to the terms of the 1988 Copyright Act. Ian Poree of the UK’s National Offender Management Service was quoted as writing in the leaked internal document, “In view of the high cost, the financial constraints on the service and the likely perception of spending large amounts of money on music for prisoners, the decision has been taken not to purchase a licence.” All communal areas of UK prisons are deemed as public areas for the purposes of the 1988 Act, and therefore a licence fee must be paid. What seems like a slightly draconian measure is perhaps tempered by the fact that prison staff will still have permission to show DVD’s in those communal areas, as the licences for those have been obtained, although presumably inmates will be able to play music in private.
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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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Bits & Pieces
Arcade Fire’s Régine Chassagne Pens Heartfelt Article for UK Newspaper The Observer
01.18.10As the aftermath of last week’s earthquake in Haiti continues to be felt, with television channels relaying the horror of the situation for those affected, many within the musical community are coming together to lend their support. Particularly affected by the plight of Haiti are those with personal ties to the Caribbean island. Régine Chassagne, co-leader of Arcade Fire, whose family emigrated from Haiti to Canada in the 1970s to escape the brutal Duvalier regime, has shared her feelings in an article penned for British newspaper, The Observer. In the piece, Chassagne writes of the grief and compassion she feels for those affected, including an emotional plea to the governments of the West, whose ‘centuries of disregard’ she argues, have contributed to the ‘crushing poverty’ that is finally being revealed by the world’s media. She has, along with husband and Arcade Fire co-member Win Butler, reiterated the band’s longstanding appeal for the public to donate funds to the Partners In Health organization, whilst appealing to the governments of the West to help rebuild Haiti.
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Bits & Pieces, FROM THE CORNER comes...
cornershopstudios’ 2009 Top Ten Stars FROM THE CORNER
12.30.09Who caught our attention this past year with their breakthrough, boundary pushing and mold breaking ways? Feast your eyes and ears on the talent below.
1. Band of Skulls
Deserving no less than the number one spot, Band of Skulls have proven their worth in all aspects of their art, thus making an appearance on all three of cornershopstudios’ Top Ten lists. These Brits’ exhilarating, raw and reckless sound is what rock and roll is all about and they’ve captured that pure essence on their debut record Baby Darling Doll Face Honey as well as in their incendiary live performances.2. Japandroids
This Vancouver noise-rock duo’s skills lie in creating a sound far more complete and consuming than expected of a two-piece. Like any wild animal, Japandroids are best observed in their natural habitat: catch them live for the full effect.3. William Fitzsimmons
Illinois-based singer-songwriter William Fitzsimmons’ intimate and personal lyrics are set to stripped down folk melodies and delivered with heartfelt emotion. Get to know this amazing artist through his latest album The Sparrow and the Crow. (more…) -
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
Rage Against The Machine Win X-Mas Single Race
12.21.09Beating X Factor’s Joe McElderry’s cover of the Miley Cyrus track, The Climb; Rage Against The Machine are flying high with their number one selling Christmas single, Killing In The Name. For some weeks now turmoil has torn through the chart watcher trail as even pop reality master Simon Cowell has commented on the race to the top, expressing his disdain for Rage’s grass roots campaign to boost them to the win. Rage’s frontman Zack De La Rocha stated “We’re very very ecstatic and excited about the song reaching the Number One spot and I just want to say we want to thank everyone for participating in this incredible, organic grass roots campaign.” He goes on to say, “It’s more about the spontaneous action taken by young people in the UK to topple this very sterile pop monopoly. When young people decide to take action they can make what’s seemingly impossible, possible.”
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FROM THE CORNER comes...
The xx
12.09.09by Canyon
If I had to use a single word to describe UK buzz band The xx’s music, I would have to pick intimate. Lead singer Romy Madley Croft’s soft halcyon voice married up to bassist Oliver Sims’ flat emotion deprived vocals create an intriguing sensual effect. Listening to this newbie indie act’s first record feels like eavesdropping on lovers having a hushed pillow talk. Check out Crystalised or Basic Space where the duo vox effect is at its best. Seductive and atmospheric, the South Londoners are located dead center on the happy-sad meter, their songs being neither sorrowful or particularly uplifting; rather they are of the soothing, relaxing type. Some of the key moments are derived from the breathing room they leave throughout, where silence speaks the loudest. The xx have just wrapped up a US & Canadian tour opening for Friendly Fires, and are currently scheduled to tour Europe until March 2010.
Genre: Pop
Latest Album: xx
For Fans Of: Stars, Peter Bjorn and John, Belle & Sebastian
Listen To: The xx -
Bits & Pieces
Friendly Fires – Tonight @ Le National
12.03.09It’s a UK night in Montreal as Le National gets warmed up by Friendly Fires‘ dance punk extravaganza… That’s right we said it… Extravaganza!
With special guest: The xx
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Bits & Pieces
Strokes Announce First Live Gig Since 2007
11.30.09Only a week ago we were happy to report that The Strokes were heading back into the studio to kick off a new album. Now comes news that The Strokes are booked over in Newport, England to headline the Isle of Wight Festival on June 12th. The show will mark the first time the band has played together on stage since 2007. Joining The Strokes in the UK will be Blondie, Pink, Orbital, and Squeeze, all on the 12th. The other headliner of the June 11-13th affair will be Jay-Z. If The Strokes are really building momentum, I suspect we will be hearing about a few more dates in the near future.
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Bits & Pieces
Rock Photographer Kevin Cummins Picks up Honours at Record of the Day Awards
11.27.09The Record of the Day Awards celebrates journalists, photographers, and press officers working in the music industry. Last night, the hardware was handed out, and Kevin Cummins walked away with the Outstanding Contribution to Music Photography award. Cummins was shooting for NME for 25 years, ten of which he spent as chief photographer. The night ended with ‘a moment of noise’ for the late Steven Wells, famed rock journalist, who passed away in June. The full list of winners follows below: (more…)
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Bits & Pieces
Björk Contributes New Song To Finnish Flick
11.16.09If you don’t know what a Moomins is, you are way out of the loop in regards to Finnish children’s films. These hippo-esque creatures are the brain spawn of Finnish author Tove Jansson. Icelandic national treasure Björk likes these stop-motion characters so much that she is writing a song for the Moomins’ upcoming movie Moomins and the Comet Chase. The Comet Song, as it is so fittingly called, was penned by Björk and her collaborator buddy Sjón. Although we might not get the chance to be dragged by our offspring to see the Moomins in theaters in the UK or North America, the film premieres in Finland in August or September 2010.
