Radiohead album update
Radiohead singer Thom Yorke has given an update on their new album - and joked that sessions are going so badly the band are "washed up".
Writing to fans on the band's official website, Yorke said the sessions have been "great fun", and that small shows next year will definitely happen.
He said: "It is the end of our two week session. We're splitting up its all shit. We're washed up. Finished. Only kidding. It was fun. Some of it has been really great fun. And there were moments that stick in my head when I went 'TUNE!' 'TUNE!'"
Guitarist Ed O Brien added: "Friday night... the end of a two week session. Riffs and fragments of the songs going round my head. It's been great. It's always difficult to judge right now but I think we may have got 'Bodysnatchers'.
"Had a couple of sticky days at the beginning of the week but saw it through. On a roll now. Lots of stuff to be done yet, but so far so good. The studio is fab, its so good to play in and listen. You know what works and what doesn't."
The band have also revealed gigs are planned for next year. The follow-up to 2003's 'Hail To The Thief' is scheduled for release then too.
http://www.music-news.com/ShowNews.asp?nItemID=8141
A-HA:
3 1/2 years after the release of 'Lifelines', A-Ha are back with their 8th studio album and a scheduled European tour. The new album will be released in Europe on Nov 4th and will be preceded by the single 'Celice' to be released on Oct 10th. New single Celice is an uptempo song with an intriguing development of the unique A-Ha sound. The maxi CD version includes the Radio Cut, the Paul Van Dyk Radio edit plus a live version of the song recorded at Frognerparken, as well as the video of the single plus the B-Side The Summers Of Our Youth.
Tracklisting (single Celice):
1.Celice (Radio Cut)
2.Celice (Live At Frognerparken)
3.Celice (Paul Van Dyk Radio Edit)
4.The summers of our youth
5.Celice (Video)
Tracklisting (album Analogue):
1. Celice
2. Don't Do Me Any Favours
3. Cozy Prison
4. Analogue
5. Birthright
6. Holyground
7. Over The Treetops
8. Halfway Through The Tour
9. A Fine Blue Line
10. Keeper Of The Flame
11. Make It Soon
12. White Dwarf
13. The Summers Of Our Youth
http://www.musicfolio.com/
and see the 'adult' version of a-ha's video, 'Celice', at this music site:
http://www.itsatrap.com/
Go to News 10/18/05 for the direct link to video, or in search box, type in "a-ha", and one of several links will be for video.
Mark Kozelek Talks Modest Mouse
Amy Phillips reports:
Mark Kozelek loves him some Modest Mouse. He loves 'em so much he went and recorded a whole album of their songs. It's called Tiny Cities and it's coming out on the Red House Painters/Sun Kil Moon mastermind's own label, Caldo Verde, on November 1.
...the story behind the story. Kozelek stumbled upon Modest Mouse by accident a few years ago. "I actually went to see the Shins when they were opening for Modest Mouse," he told Pitchfork last week. "It was like Godzilla stepped on Bambi or something when Modest Mouse came out. It was just amazing. You know, I'm not too
often blown away by anything."
He said that he was impressed with the band's dynamic, and it reminded him of his former group, Red House Painters, with their tight on-stage chemistry. But he was particularly taken with Issac Brock's "presence." "An average song has fifty words and this guy had like a thousand. There's a lot going on there. He was just really loose and just sort of let it out. I think as an artist, you sense when something is going on that's real. It's like the guy was possessed or something."
Slowly, the Mouse began to seep into his life. "Sun Kil Moon was doing some tours, and just for fun we added 'Dramamine' and 'Never Ending Math Equation' into the set. We just kind of improvised it."
But as he grew to master the songs, he became attached to the idea of treating Modest Mouse with the same full-disc coverage he'd given AC/DC on 2001's What's Next to the Moon.
"It's just like a kid in a candy store with his lyrics," he said. The lyrics are just so colorful. It was incredibly easy to make the record." Kozelek financed the recording himself, working casually and on the sly. "I didn't really talk about it while I was making the record, in case I didn't want to release it, I didn't want
anybody hassling me about it. So I just kind of kept it a secret and when it was done I sequenced it and I thought, 'this is good,' and I played it for a few people and they were like 'this is great.'"
Modest Mouse fans might be a bit surprised by Tiny Cities, however. Every song has been thoroughly Kozelek-ized. When asked about changing the tracks' distinctive melodies, he replied, "That's what I do. I've done it since the very first cover I ever did, 'The Star Spangled Banner' [on 1993's Red House Painters II]. When I cover
songs, I think very much outside of the box. I just saw Thumbsucker the other day, and Elliott Smith was doing a Cat Stevens song exactly like Cat Stevens, and it was incredibly boring. I get into the guts of a song and completely twist things up and turn it around and make it my own."
In other words, Kozelek has turned Isaac Brock's twisted millennial meanderings into his trademark brand of pastoral melancholy. "If you listen to a song like "Exit Does Not Exist", those words are coming out like an automatic weapon," he said. "It's really, really fast.
It's beautiful, but it's something that, if you're not into Modest Mouse, it's just going to go right by. I've slowed them down, and there's enough space in there that you can really hear what's going on. It becomes my own colors, you know?"
Hear your own colors in this here tracklist:
01 Exit Does Not Exist
02 Tiny Cities Made of Ashes
03 Neverending Math Equation
04 Space Travel Is Boring
05 Dramamine
06 Jesus Christ Was an Only Child
07 Four Fingered Fisherman
08 Grey Ice Water
09 Convenient Parking
10 Trucker's Atlas
11 Ocean Breathes Salty
As for Kozelek's plans after the record comes out... well, he doesn't have any. "I'm really true to my instincts and you just don't know from day to day what's going to happen. That's the nice thing about art. It's just so wide open. You don't really know what's going to happen."
The only thing that's definitely going to happen is Kozelek's solo gig at Conway Hall in London on November 25, at which he'll be playing Red House Painters songs in honor of the twenty-fifth anniversary of his former record label, 4AD. "Maybe when the snow
melts I'll get out in the spring as something to do. A few more acoustic shows or something. I think it's possible I might put a band together for a half a dozen shows."
Since we live in a world where everything seems possible and nothing is what it seems, let's speculate on future Kozelek covers projects while we wait for him to make some concrete decisions. How about Real Love: Mark Kozelek Takes on Mary J. Blige? Or Millions of Peaches, Peaches for Me: Mark Kozelek Sings the Best of the
Presidents of the United States of America?
http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/news/05-10/11.shtml#markkozelek
Exclusive: Cat Power Album Details Revealed
Ryan Dombal and Amy Phillips report:
We thought it wasn't possible, but Cat Power just keeps getting sexier. Chan Marshall's forthcoming album, The Greatest, (due January 26 on Matador), continues the trend of her guest turn on Handsome Boy Modeling School's "I've Been Thinking", turning the indie rock chanteuse into a simmering Southern diva. Listen to her purr and just try not to want to make babies.
As previously reported, The Greatest was recorded at Ardent Studios in Memphis, Tennessee, with a murderer's row of veteran session musicians, including members of the Hi and Stax Records house bands. The record is steeped in the R&B and country traditions, with lots of horns and thick, smoky grooves. The title track sounds like an outtake from Dusty in Memphis, "Islands" and "Empty Shell" are future honky tonk jukebox staples, while "Could We" is upbeat funk. "Living Proof" should be covered by Shelby Lynne or Van Morrison. "Willie" is a condensed version of the song "Willie
Deadwilder" from her Speaking for Trees CD/DVD.
In other words, this album smells like incense, barbecue, and sweat. Get naked to this tracklist (which is, ahem, subject to change, apparently):
01 The Greatest
02 Could We
03 Lived in Bars
04 Islands
05 After It All
06 The Moon
07 Living Proof
08 Empty Shell
09 Willie
10 Where Is My Love
11 Hate
12 Love & Communication
http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/news/05-10/10.shtml
lundi, octobre 24, 2005
jeudi, octobre 13, 2005
John Peel
John Peel Day gigs honour late DJ
Peel TV moments
More than 300 concerts are taking place around the world to mark John Peel Day in honour of the late radio presenter.
Thursday marks one year since his final BBC Radio 1 show and the station will broadcast a six-hour tribute programme. Peel died on 25 October last year.
Gigs will be held in countries such as the UK, New Zealand, Italy and Canada.
Some of Peel's favourite acts, including New Order, The Fall and Super Furry Animals, played at the first tribute gig in London on Wednesday.
New Order singer Bernard Sumner at John Peel tribute gig
New Order headlined the first tribute gig in London on Wednesday
New Order frontman Bernard Sumner told the crowd at the Queen Elizabeth Hall the band's former incarnation, Joy Division, would have got "nowhere" without Peel's support.
And Pulp singer Jarvis Cocker said Peel provided his musical education and inspired him to "make music my life".
New and established acts are due to take part in concerts on John Peel Day on Thursday, reflecting the fact that Peel championed new music.
Performers include punk band The Anti-Nowhere League at Trillians Rock Bar in Newcastle and members of indie bands Mogwai and The Pastels at Glasgow venue Mono.
JOHN PEEL REMEMBERED
Obituary: John Peel
Dance act Dreadzone are playing at Salisbury City Hall, Mercury Music Prize nominee KT Tunstall is performing at Sheffield Octagon and new act Supersmash Monkeyhouse play at Staples Pub in Limerick, Ireland.
Radio 1's six-hour show will pay tribute to Peel and the music and bands he discovered.
Peel worked at Radio 1 for almost 40 years on his own late-night show. He also became presenter of BBC Radio 4's Home Truths in 1998.
His career was marked by discovering and championing new artists, from Joy Division to the White Stripes.
KT Tunstall
KT Tunstall will perform in Sheffield as part of John Peel Day
John Peel Day will be followed by a Radio 1 documentary, Keeping It Peel, on 17 October and a week of tribute shows on BBC digital radio station 6 Music from 24 October.
Meanwhile Roger Daltrey, Sir Elton John, Robert Plant, David Gilmour and Pete Shelley of the Buzzcocks are also due to appear on a tribute single alongside newer acts.
The single is the brainchild of Peel's son Tom Ravenscroft.
Ravenscroft is also a researcher on John Peel's Record Box, a TV programme exploring Peel's musical tastes to be broadcast on Channel 4 in November.
# Radio One's special broadcast for John Peel Day starts at 1900 BST and features live broadcasts from around the UK.
Peel TV moments
More than 300 concerts are taking place around the world to mark John Peel Day in honour of the late radio presenter.
Thursday marks one year since his final BBC Radio 1 show and the station will broadcast a six-hour tribute programme. Peel died on 25 October last year.
Gigs will be held in countries such as the UK, New Zealand, Italy and Canada.
Some of Peel's favourite acts, including New Order, The Fall and Super Furry Animals, played at the first tribute gig in London on Wednesday.
New Order singer Bernard Sumner at John Peel tribute gig
New Order headlined the first tribute gig in London on Wednesday
New Order frontman Bernard Sumner told the crowd at the Queen Elizabeth Hall the band's former incarnation, Joy Division, would have got "nowhere" without Peel's support.
And Pulp singer Jarvis Cocker said Peel provided his musical education and inspired him to "make music my life".
New and established acts are due to take part in concerts on John Peel Day on Thursday, reflecting the fact that Peel championed new music.
Performers include punk band The Anti-Nowhere League at Trillians Rock Bar in Newcastle and members of indie bands Mogwai and The Pastels at Glasgow venue Mono.
JOHN PEEL REMEMBERED
Obituary: John Peel
Dance act Dreadzone are playing at Salisbury City Hall, Mercury Music Prize nominee KT Tunstall is performing at Sheffield Octagon and new act Supersmash Monkeyhouse play at Staples Pub in Limerick, Ireland.
Radio 1's six-hour show will pay tribute to Peel and the music and bands he discovered.
Peel worked at Radio 1 for almost 40 years on his own late-night show. He also became presenter of BBC Radio 4's Home Truths in 1998.
His career was marked by discovering and championing new artists, from Joy Division to the White Stripes.
KT Tunstall
KT Tunstall will perform in Sheffield as part of John Peel Day
John Peel Day will be followed by a Radio 1 documentary, Keeping It Peel, on 17 October and a week of tribute shows on BBC digital radio station 6 Music from 24 October.
Meanwhile Roger Daltrey, Sir Elton John, Robert Plant, David Gilmour and Pete Shelley of the Buzzcocks are also due to appear on a tribute single alongside newer acts.
The single is the brainchild of Peel's son Tom Ravenscroft.
Ravenscroft is also a researcher on John Peel's Record Box, a TV programme exploring Peel's musical tastes to be broadcast on Channel 4 in November.
# Radio One's special broadcast for John Peel Day starts at 1900 BST and features live broadcasts from around the UK.
mercredi, octobre 12, 2005
Babyshambles live
Sunday 09/10/05 Babyshambles @ Academy, Liverpool
by Louise Bell
JUNKIE PETE IN KATE BURNING SHOCKER!
Junkie rocker Pete Doherty stunned fans in Liverpool on Sunday night by burning a picture of his girlfriend Kate Moss on stage.
The Babyshambles frontman set alight the picture after being thrown it by a member of the audience at the city’s Academy venue.
Doherty, 26, is currently estranged from the supermodel as she undertakes drugs rehabilitation in America after pictures of her taking cocaine at the troubled singer’s recording studios were published in the British press.
A source says, “A fan threw a rolled up picture of Moss onto the stage for Pete. However, when he unrolled the piece of paper – which looked like it had been torn from a glossy magazine – and saw it was his ex-girlfriend, he immediately set fire to it with his lighter.”
The former Libertines star, who has had two top ten hits with his new band, has also put on weight following treatment for his heroin addiction.
When Babyshambles returned to the stage after an half an hour break to play an encore, Fat Pete showed of his new rotund frame by appearing topless.
Sources close to Pete explained the long break before the encore by stating, “Pete’s a lot better than he was before. He’s off the smack - but he’s still on the crack.”
A Gigwise reviewer noted, “The last time Pete played Liverpool, his band had refused to come with him, he turned up over two hours late and was too wasted to string a song together.
“This time he seemed relatively compus mentus, and played to a sold out crowd. The band seemed pretty tight, and you could even say it was a pretty professional show which gave most of the audience what they wanted.
“However, the songs were very disappointing, and Pete seemed more interested in picking up the gifts constantly thrown onto the stage from fans, rather than singing.
“Most of the songs were pretty indiscernible from each other, and even 'Fuck Forever' – which picked up a flagging crowd towards the end of the set seemed just a little too like a Nirvana rip-off.
“Despite laudably managing to get through this British tour without any major mishaps - apart from getting sued by the odd security guard – Doherty’s performance and songs seem to have had the spark and creativity dripped out of them by his lifestyle.”
by Louise Bell
JUNKIE PETE IN KATE BURNING SHOCKER!
Junkie rocker Pete Doherty stunned fans in Liverpool on Sunday night by burning a picture of his girlfriend Kate Moss on stage.
The Babyshambles frontman set alight the picture after being thrown it by a member of the audience at the city’s Academy venue.
Doherty, 26, is currently estranged from the supermodel as she undertakes drugs rehabilitation in America after pictures of her taking cocaine at the troubled singer’s recording studios were published in the British press.
A source says, “A fan threw a rolled up picture of Moss onto the stage for Pete. However, when he unrolled the piece of paper – which looked like it had been torn from a glossy magazine – and saw it was his ex-girlfriend, he immediately set fire to it with his lighter.”
The former Libertines star, who has had two top ten hits with his new band, has also put on weight following treatment for his heroin addiction.
When Babyshambles returned to the stage after an half an hour break to play an encore, Fat Pete showed of his new rotund frame by appearing topless.
Sources close to Pete explained the long break before the encore by stating, “Pete’s a lot better than he was before. He’s off the smack - but he’s still on the crack.”
A Gigwise reviewer noted, “The last time Pete played Liverpool, his band had refused to come with him, he turned up over two hours late and was too wasted to string a song together.
“This time he seemed relatively compus mentus, and played to a sold out crowd. The band seemed pretty tight, and you could even say it was a pretty professional show which gave most of the audience what they wanted.
“However, the songs were very disappointing, and Pete seemed more interested in picking up the gifts constantly thrown onto the stage from fans, rather than singing.
“Most of the songs were pretty indiscernible from each other, and even 'Fuck Forever' – which picked up a flagging crowd towards the end of the set seemed just a little too like a Nirvana rip-off.
“Despite laudably managing to get through this British tour without any major mishaps - apart from getting sued by the odd security guard – Doherty’s performance and songs seem to have had the spark and creativity dripped out of them by his lifestyle.”
jeudi, octobre 06, 2005
The Darkness
One Way Ticket To The Darkness
by Eve Jenkin, Undercover
October 6 2005
Darkness fans have, well, been left in the dark for so long regarding the band's highly anticipated sophomore album, but now that the wait is almost over the details are coming in thick and fast.
"One Way Ticket To Hell…And Back" was produced by the most rock n' roll of rock n' roll producers, Roy Thomas Baker. He's the man responsible for finetuning the most definitive artists of our time, including Queen, David Bowie, The Rolling Stones and The Who. "Roy Thomas Baker is a genius, that's all there is to say about it." Darkness frontman Justin Hawkins states, "It's been a privilege to watch that man work, his ear is perfect, his instinct fabulous." Could he be the man that got The Darkness back on track?
On November 29, "One Way Ticket To Hell…And Back" will be unleashed upon the world, but until then, we'll just have to make do with a tracklisting. Maybe if we try to construct a tune out of the song titles…
Tracklisting:
1. One Way Ticket
2. Knockers
3. Is It Just Me?
4. Dinner Lady Arms
5. Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time
6. Hazel Eyes
7. Bald
8. Girlfriend
9. English Country Garden
10. Blind Man
by Eve Jenkin, Undercover
October 6 2005
Darkness fans have, well, been left in the dark for so long regarding the band's highly anticipated sophomore album, but now that the wait is almost over the details are coming in thick and fast.
"One Way Ticket To Hell…And Back" was produced by the most rock n' roll of rock n' roll producers, Roy Thomas Baker. He's the man responsible for finetuning the most definitive artists of our time, including Queen, David Bowie, The Rolling Stones and The Who. "Roy Thomas Baker is a genius, that's all there is to say about it." Darkness frontman Justin Hawkins states, "It's been a privilege to watch that man work, his ear is perfect, his instinct fabulous." Could he be the man that got The Darkness back on track?
On November 29, "One Way Ticket To Hell…And Back" will be unleashed upon the world, but until then, we'll just have to make do with a tracklisting. Maybe if we try to construct a tune out of the song titles…
Tracklisting:
1. One Way Ticket
2. Knockers
3. Is It Just Me?
4. Dinner Lady Arms
5. Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time
6. Hazel Eyes
7. Bald
8. Girlfriend
9. English Country Garden
10. Blind Man
dimanche, octobre 02, 2005
Adrian Belew
Belew electrifying at Guitar Fest
By JEFF MIERS, NEWS POP MUSIC CRITIC
6/20/2005
http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20050620/1051536.asp
CONCERT REVIEW : Adrian Belew. Friday night in the Tralf.
Oh, yeah, the guy is one of hell of a singer-songwriter, too.
By JEFF MIERS, NEWS POP MUSIC CRITIC
6/20/2005
http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20050620/1051536.asp
CONCERT REVIEW : Adrian Belew. Friday night in the Tralf.
It's fitting that Adrian Belew brought his killer new trio to the Tralf for the prime-time Friday night slot in this year's WNED Buffalo-Niagara Guitar Festival. He is, after all, the most exciting and consistently inventive electric guitarist of his generation.
He has one of the most impressive resumes in rock, with time logged serving artists like Frank Zappa, Talking Heads, David Bowie and as a full-fledged creative leader in King Crimson for some two decades now.
Oh, yeah, the guy is one of hell of a singer-songwriter, too.
Belew's ample gifts were in full evidence before a packed Tralf. This was the opening night of his tour behind the recently released gem "Side One," but it was also the debut performance of the new Belew trio, composed of Belew on guitar and vocals, Mike Hodges on drums and Mike Gallaher on bass. To say the trip blew the roof off the place is understatement. In fact, this is likely the finest band, bar Crimson, that Belew has ever surrounded himself with.
Hodges is familiar to longtime Belew fans as the drummer on the "Mr. Music Head" and "Inner Revolution" tours. He also joined Belew as part of the massive David Bowie Sound & Vision tour of 1989. Bassist Gallaher is a jazz guitarist from Nashville, whom Belew persuaded to give the electric bass a try. We should all be glad he did. Gallaher blew jazz lines like a maniac, but also created an ample pocket with Hodges, and to serve the song, rather than the ego, throughout. These guys know Belew, and they know his idiosyncratic, eclectic and consistently brilliant music.
There was plenty of nervous energy in the air, as the band launched into "Writing on the Wall," a slice of prog-funk from "Side One." Belew has chosen the lightweight, multipurpose Parker Fly as his current guitar of choice, and with four Line 6 amps wired in stereo behind him, his tone was both out of this world and rooted deeply within it.
No other guitarist - save perhaps Belew's mentor, Zappa, and his current partner, Crimson's Robert Fripp - ever conceived melodic lines in the manner Belew does. What seems zany and flashy on the surface is more than a dazzling display of technique; Belew's extensive solos never abandoned their musicality.
"Dinosaur," from Crimson's "Thrak" album, brought a roar from the crowd, and in its stripped-down trio arrangement, lost none of its majesty. "Ampersand," another "Side One" track, is handled by Primus bassist Les Claypool and Tool drummer Danny Carey on the record, but Hodges and Gallaher took it even further outside, and there was some incredible ensemble interplay bringing smiles to the faces of the musicians and audience members alike.
"Madness" was just that - an instrumental improvisation kicked into interstellar overdrive by Belew's blend of musical wit and soulfulness. The title song from the late '80s effort "Young Lions" was another highlight in a show full of emotional peaks.
Throughout, Belew sang with clarity, emotional investment and what seems to be a nigh-on-perfect sense of pitch. His songs, as ever, are based in the melodic and harmonic inventiveness of later-period John Lennon, and he is able to bring to them a sense of the daring musical invention that marks the best progressive rock. That makes him one of a kind.
lundi, septembre 19, 2005
Indie..? well...
NEW YORK - As the CMJ Music Marathon - the Sundance of rock 'n' roll - descends on New York this weekend, hundreds of unknown indie bands are getting their shot at fame.
Lately, their odds are a little better. With the success of groups like Death Cab for Cutie, Modest Mouse and Bright Eyes, indie rock is seeping into the mainstream - a mixed blessing for a genre that prides itself on being underground.
"There's been a real zeitgeist in the last couple years with kids and shy, quiet indie rock bands who are connecting with people en masse," says Death Cab guitarist Chris Walla.
Stephen Malkmus, who fronted the quintessential '90s indie band Pavement, is now a solo artist. "I started when it was still college rock," he says. "It seems to have become more institutionalized in big cities ... I'm glad to be a part of it."
"It" is blended into TV shows like "The O.C.," movie soundtracks like the upcoming "Elizabethtown" and a healthy amount of commercials. Unlike sellout-conscious Kurt Cobain wannabes, today's indie fans are mostly rooting for the success of the music - and often exasperated at the relative anonymity of their favorite band.
Like Natalie Portman says of the Shins in "Garden State": "They'll change your life."
"The entire independent scene has come to the fore," says Bobby Haber, founder and CEO of CMJ, or College Media Journal. "I think it's a watershed moment."
Death Cab's fifth album, "Plans," has sold 128,000 copies in two weeks after debuting at No. 4. Modest Mouse's "Good News for People Who Love Bad News" has gone platinum. Last November, singer-songwriter Connor Oberst's band, Bright Eyes, had two songs top the Billboard singles chart - knocking out a duet by Usher and Alicia Keys and sending the indie rock world into a tailspin.
"Universe reveals plan to self-destruct," wrote Ryan Schreiber of PitchforkMedia.com, arguably the critical epicenter of indie music.
Indie rock, like alternative music in the early '90s, is a vague term meant to characterize progressive, underground rock 'n' roll.
"It used to mean, especially in the late '80s, early '90s, that you were on an indie label like Matador or Sub Pop," says Sia Michel, editor-in-chief of Spin magazine. Now, she says, the term defines a specific sound, "this kind of smart, but tuneful and passionate kind of rock music."
Unlike alt-rock, which was focused on grunge and anti-corporate anger, indie rock is a much broader sound that can incorporate forms of folk, country and electronica - but is mostly in the tradition of groups like Velvet Underground and Talking Heads.
Current indie bands also rarely have the desire for cultural change like alternative acts did. "There is NOTHING about what we're doing that screams cultural revolution," Walla says.
There's also more acceptance of the corporate world. Though they still carry the indie flag, Death Cab, Modest Mouse and semi-indies like Franz Ferdinand and the Killers are all signed to major labels.
"Ten years ago, an indie rock band wouldn't have been caught dead being signed to a major," says Nic Harcourt, host of the influential radio show "Morning Becomes Eclectic" on Los Angeles' KCRW. Today, "the sensibility is more of an aesthetic than it is a manifesto."
Michel agrees: "It's almost seen as kind of cool to score an iPod commercial."
Speaking of which, iTunes and Internet downloads have made it easier for music fans to connect with underground artists. For Postal Service (a collaboration of Death Cab's Ben Gibbard and Dntel's Jimmy Tamborello) Sub Pop received more than 4 million downloads of "Such Great Heights" through MySpace.com. The album, "Give Up," has now
sold over 650,000 copies, the label's biggest seller since Nirvana's "Bleach."
Then there are TV and movies, which are often being created by young people who like indie bands. The long-haired, reverb-heavy My Morning Jacket are featured in Cameron Crowe's upcoming film "Elizabethtown," and Aqueduct's quirky lo-fi can currently be heard behind pictures of plush Jaguars.
If there's one band iconic of the scene, it's Arcade Fire. Hailing from Montreal, a bastion of indiedom, their debut, "Funeral," blew away critics and has sold over 200,000 discs.
"I think they're like the best band, period," says Carl Newman, frontman of the New Pornographers, echoing the feelings of many indie rockers.
Some point to Arcade Fire as the obvious candidate to sell like Modest Mouse.
"It's not that (indie rock) is strange, it's not that bizarre - it's simply a little ahead of its time," says Haber. "In late 1978, the Police sounded pretty strange ... but six months later, it was on Top 40 radio with `Roxanne.'"
Walla credits Death Cab's switch to Atlantic (from indie Barsuk) in part to the creative contract they were offered. He says some majors are starting to rethink their role, turning away from "producing" bands in favor of simply distributing them.
So are majors now trying to sign "the next Death Cab"?
"If all of a sudden, that becomes the flavor of the month and all the labels want to sign a band like Death Cab for Cutie, then we're onto the next cycle of alternative rock and it's dead as soon as they start it," says radio host Harcourt. "So I hope not."
Lately, their odds are a little better. With the success of groups like Death Cab for Cutie, Modest Mouse and Bright Eyes, indie rock is seeping into the mainstream - a mixed blessing for a genre that prides itself on being underground.
"There's been a real zeitgeist in the last couple years with kids and shy, quiet indie rock bands who are connecting with people en masse," says Death Cab guitarist Chris Walla.
Stephen Malkmus, who fronted the quintessential '90s indie band Pavement, is now a solo artist. "I started when it was still college rock," he says. "It seems to have become more institutionalized in big cities ... I'm glad to be a part of it."
"It" is blended into TV shows like "The O.C.," movie soundtracks like the upcoming "Elizabethtown" and a healthy amount of commercials. Unlike sellout-conscious Kurt Cobain wannabes, today's indie fans are mostly rooting for the success of the music - and often exasperated at the relative anonymity of their favorite band.
Like Natalie Portman says of the Shins in "Garden State": "They'll change your life."
"The entire independent scene has come to the fore," says Bobby Haber, founder and CEO of CMJ, or College Media Journal. "I think it's a watershed moment."
Death Cab's fifth album, "Plans," has sold 128,000 copies in two weeks after debuting at No. 4. Modest Mouse's "Good News for People Who Love Bad News" has gone platinum. Last November, singer-songwriter Connor Oberst's band, Bright Eyes, had two songs top the Billboard singles chart - knocking out a duet by Usher and Alicia Keys and sending the indie rock world into a tailspin.
"Universe reveals plan to self-destruct," wrote Ryan Schreiber of PitchforkMedia.com, arguably the critical epicenter of indie music.
Indie rock, like alternative music in the early '90s, is a vague term meant to characterize progressive, underground rock 'n' roll.
"It used to mean, especially in the late '80s, early '90s, that you were on an indie label like Matador or Sub Pop," says Sia Michel, editor-in-chief of Spin magazine. Now, she says, the term defines a specific sound, "this kind of smart, but tuneful and passionate kind of rock music."
Unlike alt-rock, which was focused on grunge and anti-corporate anger, indie rock is a much broader sound that can incorporate forms of folk, country and electronica - but is mostly in the tradition of groups like Velvet Underground and Talking Heads.
Current indie bands also rarely have the desire for cultural change like alternative acts did. "There is NOTHING about what we're doing that screams cultural revolution," Walla says.
There's also more acceptance of the corporate world. Though they still carry the indie flag, Death Cab, Modest Mouse and semi-indies like Franz Ferdinand and the Killers are all signed to major labels.
"Ten years ago, an indie rock band wouldn't have been caught dead being signed to a major," says Nic Harcourt, host of the influential radio show "Morning Becomes Eclectic" on Los Angeles' KCRW. Today, "the sensibility is more of an aesthetic than it is a manifesto."
Michel agrees: "It's almost seen as kind of cool to score an iPod commercial."
Speaking of which, iTunes and Internet downloads have made it easier for music fans to connect with underground artists. For Postal Service (a collaboration of Death Cab's Ben Gibbard and Dntel's Jimmy Tamborello) Sub Pop received more than 4 million downloads of "Such Great Heights" through MySpace.com. The album, "Give Up," has now
sold over 650,000 copies, the label's biggest seller since Nirvana's "Bleach."
Then there are TV and movies, which are often being created by young people who like indie bands. The long-haired, reverb-heavy My Morning Jacket are featured in Cameron Crowe's upcoming film "Elizabethtown," and Aqueduct's quirky lo-fi can currently be heard behind pictures of plush Jaguars.
If there's one band iconic of the scene, it's Arcade Fire. Hailing from Montreal, a bastion of indiedom, their debut, "Funeral," blew away critics and has sold over 200,000 discs.
"I think they're like the best band, period," says Carl Newman, frontman of the New Pornographers, echoing the feelings of many indie rockers.
Some point to Arcade Fire as the obvious candidate to sell like Modest Mouse.
"It's not that (indie rock) is strange, it's not that bizarre - it's simply a little ahead of its time," says Haber. "In late 1978, the Police sounded pretty strange ... but six months later, it was on Top 40 radio with `Roxanne.'"
Walla credits Death Cab's switch to Atlantic (from indie Barsuk) in part to the creative contract they were offered. He says some majors are starting to rethink their role, turning away from "producing" bands in favor of simply distributing them.
So are majors now trying to sign "the next Death Cab"?
"If all of a sudden, that becomes the flavor of the month and all the labels want to sign a band like Death Cab for Cutie, then we're onto the next cycle of alternative rock and it's dead as soon as they start it," says radio host Harcourt. "So I hope not."
dimanche, septembre 18, 2005
Dead Can Dance
THE SPIRIT OF DEAD CAN DANCE
- J. Poet, Sunday, September 18, 2005
You may not know the music, but you'll never forget the name of the band or the ghoulish images that skitter through your brain the first time you hear Dead Can Dance.
The band is the partnership of Lisa Gerrard and Brendan Perry, composer-songwriters whose sound spans continents and centuries to bring forth moody music that echoes cultural influences from Ireland to the Middle East, from the 12th century to the present day. DCD makes music that could belong to any or all cultures.
In 1996, after a decade of cult-artist status, DCD had a No. 1 hit on Billboard's world music chart with the album "Spiritchaser." Gerrard and Perry completed a world tour to ecstatic notices from fans and critics, then went on an extended hiatus that many feared was the end of the road. Perry retreated to his castle in the Irish countryside and Gerrard went back to Australia to tend to her family and write music for motion pictures, including "Gladiator," "Whale Rider," "Ali" and "Layer Cake."
"(Performing live) invigorates you, but life on the road wears you down," Gerrard says by phone from Seattle, where she was rehearsing with the rest of the DCD ensemble for their current American tour. "The frequencies hitting your ears and the volume can tire you, but you're so elated onstage you don't notice it. The next morning you implode. You do five gigs in a row, have a day off, then seven in a row, day off -- it's a strange kind of torture. You love it, but it destroys you."
That said, Gerrard goes on to explain the reasoning behind the band's reunion.
"It may sound pretentious or self-important, but the things happening on the planet today are making people suffer," she says. "I understand culture and spirituality, but I don't like nationalism or religion. Nationalism is a political device and religious people quickly forget the basic tenets (of Christianity), which include thou shalt not kill, for one. We offer our music as a gift to provoke a deeper sensibility in the consciousness of people; we hope to bring people to a state that's not just entertaining. We ask the audience and ourselves: What is spirituality? What is it to be an artist? What is it to be human?
"Those are questions that must be answered from the inside out, not from the outside in. Brendan and I have a difficult relationship, there's no doubt about it, but (the songs) we've created are like our children. If we can overcome the things that separate us and offer the music as an olive branch, perhaps we can create some positive energy and open the pathway of the heart to a deeper understanding of the spirit. We can remind ourselves that we're all multidimensional creatures."
Gerrard and Perry will be playing many new compositions Wednesday and Thursday at the Paramount Theatre in Oakland, songs that have been road tested during the European leg of their tour.
"About half the set is new stuff. We save the older pieces for the encores, if we get them," Gerrard says archly. "We haven't written together in a while, but we've both brought in things we've written on our own. We don't know if there will be a new album yet; we'll have to wait and see how Brendan is feeling at the end of all this."
Gerrard will be singing in her newly discovered lower register, a gruff almost other-worldly tone she discovered while recording "Immortal Memory," her 2004 collaboration with Patrick Cassidy.
"Years ago I sang on a track using that voice and someone asked, 'Who is that terribly depressed man?' " Gerrard says. "But Patrick loved it. He said, 'You sound like a young boy, like a child, like an old woman, like an old man,' and really, we all have all of those things inside of us. I don't do any vocal gymnastics to make the voice better as I age. If it comes out rougher, then it's true to what's happening. Singing is who I am. I didn't train for it, any more than I trained for anything else I did. I probably should take better care of myself physically, but it goes against the grain."
At the end of the current tour, Gerrard will be putting the finishing touches on her next solo album.
"I'm working with Michael Edwards, a keyboard player and programmer, and Patrick Cassidy, but it's not like anything I've ever done before," she says. "All the compositions are mine, so it's a real solo album. Still, I'll be showcasing their input because they're both brilliant." (Both Edwards and Cassidy are part of the current DCD touring ensemble, along with John Bonnar, keys; Lance Hogan, guitar; and percussionists Simeon Smith and Niall Gregory.)
If a new Dead Can Dance album isn't in the cards, Gerrard has plenty to keep her busy. In addition to her solo project, there are soundtracks to compose and, back home in Australia, a family to raise.
"At the end of the day, success has nothing to do with money," Gerrard says. "In a perfect world, I wouldn't have to play my music to anyone outside my radius because everyone would be playing their own music. But we don't live in a perfect world, so I share as widely as I can and try to maintain some sense of sanity. The money lets me stay at home to be a good parent, but it has nothing to do with making music.
"I have a friend who is an opera singer and she never sang publicly in her life. She sang in hospitals to people who were sick. I was interviewing her for a documentary film I was making, and she could have become the most important opera singer in Australia, but at 88 she was merely a wonderful old eccentric.
"She told me: 'I have achieved what I've wanted to achieve, one to one. I hold a person's hand as I sing to them, and I can see the intimacy between us written in their eyes. I'd never change that for a stage.' " •
- J. Poet, Sunday, September 18, 2005
You may not know the music, but you'll never forget the name of the band or the ghoulish images that skitter through your brain the first time you hear Dead Can Dance.
The band is the partnership of Lisa Gerrard and Brendan Perry, composer-songwriters whose sound spans continents and centuries to bring forth moody music that echoes cultural influences from Ireland to the Middle East, from the 12th century to the present day. DCD makes music that could belong to any or all cultures.
In 1996, after a decade of cult-artist status, DCD had a No. 1 hit on Billboard's world music chart with the album "Spiritchaser." Gerrard and Perry completed a world tour to ecstatic notices from fans and critics, then went on an extended hiatus that many feared was the end of the road. Perry retreated to his castle in the Irish countryside and Gerrard went back to Australia to tend to her family and write music for motion pictures, including "Gladiator," "Whale Rider," "Ali" and "Layer Cake."
"(Performing live) invigorates you, but life on the road wears you down," Gerrard says by phone from Seattle, where she was rehearsing with the rest of the DCD ensemble for their current American tour. "The frequencies hitting your ears and the volume can tire you, but you're so elated onstage you don't notice it. The next morning you implode. You do five gigs in a row, have a day off, then seven in a row, day off -- it's a strange kind of torture. You love it, but it destroys you."
That said, Gerrard goes on to explain the reasoning behind the band's reunion.
"It may sound pretentious or self-important, but the things happening on the planet today are making people suffer," she says. "I understand culture and spirituality, but I don't like nationalism or religion. Nationalism is a political device and religious people quickly forget the basic tenets (of Christianity), which include thou shalt not kill, for one. We offer our music as a gift to provoke a deeper sensibility in the consciousness of people; we hope to bring people to a state that's not just entertaining. We ask the audience and ourselves: What is spirituality? What is it to be an artist? What is it to be human?
"Those are questions that must be answered from the inside out, not from the outside in. Brendan and I have a difficult relationship, there's no doubt about it, but (the songs) we've created are like our children. If we can overcome the things that separate us and offer the music as an olive branch, perhaps we can create some positive energy and open the pathway of the heart to a deeper understanding of the spirit. We can remind ourselves that we're all multidimensional creatures."
Gerrard and Perry will be playing many new compositions Wednesday and Thursday at the Paramount Theatre in Oakland, songs that have been road tested during the European leg of their tour.
"About half the set is new stuff. We save the older pieces for the encores, if we get them," Gerrard says archly. "We haven't written together in a while, but we've both brought in things we've written on our own. We don't know if there will be a new album yet; we'll have to wait and see how Brendan is feeling at the end of all this."
Gerrard will be singing in her newly discovered lower register, a gruff almost other-worldly tone she discovered while recording "Immortal Memory," her 2004 collaboration with Patrick Cassidy.
"Years ago I sang on a track using that voice and someone asked, 'Who is that terribly depressed man?' " Gerrard says. "But Patrick loved it. He said, 'You sound like a young boy, like a child, like an old woman, like an old man,' and really, we all have all of those things inside of us. I don't do any vocal gymnastics to make the voice better as I age. If it comes out rougher, then it's true to what's happening. Singing is who I am. I didn't train for it, any more than I trained for anything else I did. I probably should take better care of myself physically, but it goes against the grain."
At the end of the current tour, Gerrard will be putting the finishing touches on her next solo album.
"I'm working with Michael Edwards, a keyboard player and programmer, and Patrick Cassidy, but it's not like anything I've ever done before," she says. "All the compositions are mine, so it's a real solo album. Still, I'll be showcasing their input because they're both brilliant." (Both Edwards and Cassidy are part of the current DCD touring ensemble, along with John Bonnar, keys; Lance Hogan, guitar; and percussionists Simeon Smith and Niall Gregory.)
If a new Dead Can Dance album isn't in the cards, Gerrard has plenty to keep her busy. In addition to her solo project, there are soundtracks to compose and, back home in Australia, a family to raise.
"At the end of the day, success has nothing to do with money," Gerrard says. "In a perfect world, I wouldn't have to play my music to anyone outside my radius because everyone would be playing their own music. But we don't live in a perfect world, so I share as widely as I can and try to maintain some sense of sanity. The money lets me stay at home to be a good parent, but it has nothing to do with making music.
"I have a friend who is an opera singer and she never sang publicly in her life. She sang in hospitals to people who were sick. I was interviewing her for a documentary film I was making, and she could have become the most important opera singer in Australia, but at 88 she was merely a wonderful old eccentric.
"She told me: 'I have achieved what I've wanted to achieve, one to one. I hold a person's hand as I sing to them, and I can see the intimacy between us written in their eyes. I'd never change that for a stage.' " •
mardi, septembre 13, 2005
Weirdo Tori
Weird Tori interview from The Village Voice
Updated Tue, Aug 16, 2005 - 10:38pm ET
Y'ALL BEEN WARNED
I'm not a bees-nessman, I'm a bees-ness, mannnn
Riff Raff Interviews TORI AMOS--Believe it!
This past February singer-songwriter Tori Amos released The Beekeeper, her eighth studio album and most apicultural effort to date. Bees this, bees that--except it's not really about bees. In conjunction with the record, Amos's autobiography Piece by Piece hit shelves around the same time. The book was co-written by ex-Village Voice music editor Ann Powers, who helped Amos explore the intricacies of her songwriting process. Only some of the book is about bees, but enough that it warrants mention. Amos performs Wednesday August 17 at Jones Beach and Friday August 19 at the PNC Center, but you know Riff Raff--we gets the pre-concert scoop. Exclusive.
You worked with Ann Powers on your book--she used to edit the music section here.
I approached Ann, and we began to decide, wow, a conversation between two women that have very different perspectives in the music business--[that] could give people a backstage pass into this world which would cover creativity, being a mom, the issues that women have to face when they're working and then want to be moms, and then when you become a mom, the responsibility and still trying to be 100% committed to your creativity, and then how do you survive the music business. She came out and hung out on the road with me for about three weeks, on Scarlet's Walk, and this is where we'd sit in the bus and talk.
Did Ann ever get sorta annoying?
Well the thing about Ann is that she's vicious but fair. And when I say that, when I say vicious, I mean with her pen. There is an elegance and a grace also with Ann that you also must have in the same statement, if you're gonna say 'vicious but fair.'
Right.
I wanted somebody who I felt could be tough and yet coming from the compassionate heart. Ann says to me, "Listen, you're writing this work, this album"--I hadn't entitled it yet--"How poignant if we could document the creative process to see an inception of a project and see the different stages and levels that it goes through to finally become what it will become."
Did Ann write any of the songs on your record?
Oh no, of course not. Oh no no no no no. As a songwriter, I'm sort of a seahorse. Don't they mate with themselves?
No I think they kill their mates.
Seahorses don't kill their mates! Do they? The men have babies.
The men have the babies, but the women always kill the men.
The men don't kill--the women don't kill the men!
I'm sorry, you're right. I get all these animals mixed up anymore.
Wait a minute. Seahorses I don't think--
It's a praying mantis.
It's a praying mantis. I'm a minister's daughter. I'm staying away from praying. As a songwriter, I join with the creative force. But I'm the sole songwriter.
Have you thought of doing a record called The Praying Mantis-keeper?
It's scary, because as a woman, number one, I don't see myself killing my mate, or chopping his head off after sex. You follow me?
I think so. You're basically saying you would never really kill anyone unless you sorta had to, as a songwriter.
As a lioness force. As a lioness who's protecting her cubs.
I'm glad we cleared that up.
But bees, we have to be clear. The drones do get pushed out of the hive. But it is a matriarchal society. But The Beekeeper wasn't about us being like bees in every aspect. It is about that the bee represented in the ancient feminine mysteries sacred sexuality. Because the worker bee, which is female, goes and joins with the organ of the flower, then of course takes the nectar, pollinates, goes back to the hive, they create honey by regurgitating.
I believe you.
To me, the creativity that comes out of the worker bee and the sexuality aspect in Christianity, as you know, sexuality became associated with Magdalene, who was thought of as the prostitute, not as a prophet, because it was not profitable. And I've been trying to corollate those three words--prostitute, prophet, profitable--from the early Fathers of the Church.
Have you heard about that mystery book The DaVinci Code?
Oh yeah yeah, I've read that.
When you were reading it, did you know what was going to happen at the end?
Yes.
Personally I thought the ending was quite surprising.
I'd be curious to see what Ann would have to say about this. We had a chuckle about The DaVinci Code just because this information has been out there for a while. And yet it seems to not be able to penetrate to the masses. You have kinds of genealogists and historians who have been writing about this stuff for a long time. Dan Brown was able to collect these nuggets of information and put it into a story form that the masses could ingest.
Which is brilliant.
You have to commend that. You have to give Dan Brown his due.
Do you think your record is better than The DaVinci Code?
Well I would never get into that. That's like saying one piece of artwork from one artist is better than another. You're saying that a Matisse is better than a Chagall.
Really though your record is better than The DaVinci Code, right?
But they're such different works, you know what I mean?
Well you'll at least admit that your record is better than Angels & Demons, right?
I didn't read Angels & Demons, because I can't get into this. We should get into shoes. That's like saying that Louboutin is better than Sergio Rossi.
That's true though.
No I like Sergio Rossi shoes! Also I have both of them.
Either way, I think it's really fascinating how all this information was out there, and then it finally made its way into public consciousness via The DaVinci Code, and then ultimately better via The Beekeeper.
You're being very kind about it, but he doesn't write music, and I don't write these kinds of book narratives. I'm not a book writer, I'm a musician. This is my form. But I will say, if people were inspired by The DaVinci Code, they need to go read the Gnostic Gospels, they need to go read some of this information that inspired that book.
Would you consider doing some sort of collaboration with Dan Brown?
I know you seem very focused on the Dan Brown thing, but the point is he helped pave the way for the masses to be open to more artists that have been singing this tune for a long time.
I'm just saying his books would be better if you helped him write his books.
I can't do--that's not my job. You know what, maybe you should collaborate with Dan Brown.
Only under the condition that we always work while The Beekeeper, which is superior to The DaVinci Code, play in the background.
You know, Dan Brown has sent me a very warm message. He has sent messages through the publisher that he acknowledges and honors the music, and I received that with a smile.
It makes sense that he would respect your work--the work of a superior.
I can't go through with this anymore.
Posted by: Mikewhy
Updated Tue, Aug 16, 2005 - 10:38pm ET
Y'ALL BEEN WARNED
I'm not a bees-nessman, I'm a bees-ness, mannnn
Riff Raff Interviews TORI AMOS--Believe it!
This past February singer-songwriter Tori Amos released The Beekeeper, her eighth studio album and most apicultural effort to date. Bees this, bees that--except it's not really about bees. In conjunction with the record, Amos's autobiography Piece by Piece hit shelves around the same time. The book was co-written by ex-Village Voice music editor Ann Powers, who helped Amos explore the intricacies of her songwriting process. Only some of the book is about bees, but enough that it warrants mention. Amos performs Wednesday August 17 at Jones Beach and Friday August 19 at the PNC Center, but you know Riff Raff--we gets the pre-concert scoop. Exclusive.
You worked with Ann Powers on your book--she used to edit the music section here.
I approached Ann, and we began to decide, wow, a conversation between two women that have very different perspectives in the music business--[that] could give people a backstage pass into this world which would cover creativity, being a mom, the issues that women have to face when they're working and then want to be moms, and then when you become a mom, the responsibility and still trying to be 100% committed to your creativity, and then how do you survive the music business. She came out and hung out on the road with me for about three weeks, on Scarlet's Walk, and this is where we'd sit in the bus and talk.
Did Ann ever get sorta annoying?
Well the thing about Ann is that she's vicious but fair. And when I say that, when I say vicious, I mean with her pen. There is an elegance and a grace also with Ann that you also must have in the same statement, if you're gonna say 'vicious but fair.'
Right.
I wanted somebody who I felt could be tough and yet coming from the compassionate heart. Ann says to me, "Listen, you're writing this work, this album"--I hadn't entitled it yet--"How poignant if we could document the creative process to see an inception of a project and see the different stages and levels that it goes through to finally become what it will become."
Did Ann write any of the songs on your record?
Oh no, of course not. Oh no no no no no. As a songwriter, I'm sort of a seahorse. Don't they mate with themselves?
No I think they kill their mates.
Seahorses don't kill their mates! Do they? The men have babies.
The men have the babies, but the women always kill the men.
The men don't kill--the women don't kill the men!
I'm sorry, you're right. I get all these animals mixed up anymore.
Wait a minute. Seahorses I don't think--
It's a praying mantis.
It's a praying mantis. I'm a minister's daughter. I'm staying away from praying. As a songwriter, I join with the creative force. But I'm the sole songwriter.
Have you thought of doing a record called The Praying Mantis-keeper?
It's scary, because as a woman, number one, I don't see myself killing my mate, or chopping his head off after sex. You follow me?
I think so. You're basically saying you would never really kill anyone unless you sorta had to, as a songwriter.
As a lioness force. As a lioness who's protecting her cubs.
I'm glad we cleared that up.
But bees, we have to be clear. The drones do get pushed out of the hive. But it is a matriarchal society. But The Beekeeper wasn't about us being like bees in every aspect. It is about that the bee represented in the ancient feminine mysteries sacred sexuality. Because the worker bee, which is female, goes and joins with the organ of the flower, then of course takes the nectar, pollinates, goes back to the hive, they create honey by regurgitating.
I believe you.
To me, the creativity that comes out of the worker bee and the sexuality aspect in Christianity, as you know, sexuality became associated with Magdalene, who was thought of as the prostitute, not as a prophet, because it was not profitable. And I've been trying to corollate those three words--prostitute, prophet, profitable--from the early Fathers of the Church.
Have you heard about that mystery book The DaVinci Code?
Oh yeah yeah, I've read that.
When you were reading it, did you know what was going to happen at the end?
Yes.
Personally I thought the ending was quite surprising.
I'd be curious to see what Ann would have to say about this. We had a chuckle about The DaVinci Code just because this information has been out there for a while. And yet it seems to not be able to penetrate to the masses. You have kinds of genealogists and historians who have been writing about this stuff for a long time. Dan Brown was able to collect these nuggets of information and put it into a story form that the masses could ingest.
Which is brilliant.
You have to commend that. You have to give Dan Brown his due.
Do you think your record is better than The DaVinci Code?
Well I would never get into that. That's like saying one piece of artwork from one artist is better than another. You're saying that a Matisse is better than a Chagall.
Really though your record is better than The DaVinci Code, right?
But they're such different works, you know what I mean?
Well you'll at least admit that your record is better than Angels & Demons, right?
I didn't read Angels & Demons, because I can't get into this. We should get into shoes. That's like saying that Louboutin is better than Sergio Rossi.
That's true though.
No I like Sergio Rossi shoes! Also I have both of them.
Either way, I think it's really fascinating how all this information was out there, and then it finally made its way into public consciousness via The DaVinci Code, and then ultimately better via The Beekeeper.
You're being very kind about it, but he doesn't write music, and I don't write these kinds of book narratives. I'm not a book writer, I'm a musician. This is my form. But I will say, if people were inspired by The DaVinci Code, they need to go read the Gnostic Gospels, they need to go read some of this information that inspired that book.
Would you consider doing some sort of collaboration with Dan Brown?
I know you seem very focused on the Dan Brown thing, but the point is he helped pave the way for the masses to be open to more artists that have been singing this tune for a long time.
I'm just saying his books would be better if you helped him write his books.
I can't do--that's not my job. You know what, maybe you should collaborate with Dan Brown.
Only under the condition that we always work while The Beekeeper, which is superior to The DaVinci Code, play in the background.
You know, Dan Brown has sent me a very warm message. He has sent messages through the publisher that he acknowledges and honors the music, and I received that with a smile.
It makes sense that he would respect your work--the work of a superior.
I can't go through with this anymore.
Posted by: Mikewhy
samedi, août 20, 2005
Garbage, Apple, Goldfrapp
Shirley Manson Dragged Off Stage by Police
by Paul Cashmere
16 August 2005
When Shirley Manson was dragged off stage in Washington earlier this year for flashing her breasts on stage, it was all for a good cause. Garbage was making a video.
Unbeknownst to the audience, Manson was wearing a flesh coloured bra when she showed off her 'greatest tits' set and the police were really actors.
Garbage was making the video for 'Sex Is Not The Enemy' with director Sophie Mueller, who filmed the incident from the crowd with a mini DV.
"We didn't tell the audience that this was a setup, that we were shooting a video," Butch Vig explained in a statement issued by his record label FMR. "It was weird; there was this huge, like, 'Ahhh.' I heard this groan and moan, and then everybody started going 'Booooo' and yelling 'Bull-shit!' and throwing stuff up on the stage. Most people thought that she had been arrested. The song is about trying to find your own freedom as an individual and to avoid the repression that's coming down on individual rights from the right-wing, so-called Moral Majority."
'Sex Is Not The Enemy' is the third single from the Garbage 'Bleed Like Me' album.
Fiona Apple Record Will Finally Be Released
by Paul Cashmere
16 August 2005
Fiona Apple fans can head to her new website to hear two new tracks in their entirety.
Apple has included the songs 'O Sailor' and 'Parting Gift' at fiona-apple.com. The songs are from her long-awaited forthcoming third album Extraordinary Machine.
Apple's last album 'When the Pawn' was released 6 years ago in 1999. 'Extraordinary Machine' has been coming for more than a year after it was shelved by Sony a year ago. The 11 tracks from the original Jon Brion produced album quickly surfaced online.
The new version of the album was produced by Mike Elizondo (Eminem, 50 Cent). It features 9 re-recorded songs from the original album plus two new tracks.
"Now that my album is finally finished, I am very, very excited to have people hear what we did - I am so proud of it, and all of us who worked on it." says Fiona Apple.
The album will be release by Epic on October 4.
Goldfrapp : Surenature
Supernature
By Eve Jenkin
Goldfrapp have become certified masters of the sexy psychedelic electronica they created with debut “Felt Mountain” and built upon with follow-up “Black Cherry”. Their latest album “Supernature” uses this foolproof formula but alters it in the just the right way to keep it sounding fresh.
As glammed-up as always, “Supernature” opens with first single “Ooh La La”, making the slight disco slant on the album apparent immediately. But Goldfrapp still have that otherworldly, ethereal freshness about them - partially because of the sleek production, but primarily due to Alison Goldfrapp’s breathy vocals.
One of the most obvious things about “Supernature” though is it’s destined to keep Goldfrapp at the head of their game, and highlights their effervescent originality, enthusiasm and tongue-in-cheek flair.
Track Listing
1. Ooh La La
2. Lovely 2 C U
3. Ride A White Horse
4. U Never Know
5. Let It Take U
6. Fly Me Away
7. Slide In
8. Koko
9. Satin Chic
10. Time Out From The World
11. Number 1
by Paul Cashmere
16 August 2005
When Shirley Manson was dragged off stage in Washington earlier this year for flashing her breasts on stage, it was all for a good cause. Garbage was making a video.
Unbeknownst to the audience, Manson was wearing a flesh coloured bra when she showed off her 'greatest tits' set and the police were really actors.
Garbage was making the video for 'Sex Is Not The Enemy' with director Sophie Mueller, who filmed the incident from the crowd with a mini DV.
"We didn't tell the audience that this was a setup, that we were shooting a video," Butch Vig explained in a statement issued by his record label FMR. "It was weird; there was this huge, like, 'Ahhh.' I heard this groan and moan, and then everybody started going 'Booooo' and yelling 'Bull-shit!' and throwing stuff up on the stage. Most people thought that she had been arrested. The song is about trying to find your own freedom as an individual and to avoid the repression that's coming down on individual rights from the right-wing, so-called Moral Majority."
'Sex Is Not The Enemy' is the third single from the Garbage 'Bleed Like Me' album.
Fiona Apple Record Will Finally Be Released
by Paul Cashmere
16 August 2005
Fiona Apple fans can head to her new website to hear two new tracks in their entirety.
Apple has included the songs 'O Sailor' and 'Parting Gift' at fiona-apple.com. The songs are from her long-awaited forthcoming third album Extraordinary Machine.
Apple's last album 'When the Pawn' was released 6 years ago in 1999. 'Extraordinary Machine' has been coming for more than a year after it was shelved by Sony a year ago. The 11 tracks from the original Jon Brion produced album quickly surfaced online.
The new version of the album was produced by Mike Elizondo (Eminem, 50 Cent). It features 9 re-recorded songs from the original album plus two new tracks.
"Now that my album is finally finished, I am very, very excited to have people hear what we did - I am so proud of it, and all of us who worked on it." says Fiona Apple.
The album will be release by Epic on October 4.
Goldfrapp : Surenature
Supernature
By Eve Jenkin
Goldfrapp have become certified masters of the sexy psychedelic electronica they created with debut “Felt Mountain” and built upon with follow-up “Black Cherry”. Their latest album “Supernature” uses this foolproof formula but alters it in the just the right way to keep it sounding fresh.
As glammed-up as always, “Supernature” opens with first single “Ooh La La”, making the slight disco slant on the album apparent immediately. But Goldfrapp still have that otherworldly, ethereal freshness about them - partially because of the sleek production, but primarily due to Alison Goldfrapp’s breathy vocals.
One of the most obvious things about “Supernature” though is it’s destined to keep Goldfrapp at the head of their game, and highlights their effervescent originality, enthusiasm and tongue-in-cheek flair.
Track Listing
1. Ooh La La
2. Lovely 2 C U
3. Ride A White Horse
4. U Never Know
5. Let It Take U
6. Fly Me Away
7. Slide In
8. Koko
9. Satin Chic
10. Time Out From The World
11. Number 1
mardi, août 02, 2005
The Futureheads
The Futureheads are here and they have arrived at the perfect time. In this day and age of stylish rock bands that sport a poppy rather than punky sound, The Furtureheads’ self titled debut serves not as a welcome change, but a welcome addition.
An impressive entrance onto the scene “The Futureheads” is rock and roll fun with pop sensibilities – which depending on whether or not you like emotion fuelled music could mean their rise or their downfall.
Songs such as the opener “Le Garage” will have you singing along quicker than you can realize the lyrics are “Le Garage” not “The Garage” – and this is precisely what sets The Futureheads apart from bands who deviate too much from music’s basic purpose – they entertain
The Futureheads are certainly a band one should look out for in…well…the future because there is no doubt about it – they are destined for big things if their debut is anything to go by.
Track Listing
1. Le Garage
2. Robot
3. A To B
4. Decent Days & Nights
5. Meantime
6. Alms
7. Danger Of The Water
8. Carnival Kids
9. The City Is Here For You To Use
10. First Day
11. He Knows
12. Stupid & Shallow
13. Trying Not To Think About Time
14. Hounds Of Love (New Mix)
15. Man Ray
By Eve Jenkin @ Undercover
An impressive entrance onto the scene “The Futureheads” is rock and roll fun with pop sensibilities – which depending on whether or not you like emotion fuelled music could mean their rise or their downfall.
Songs such as the opener “Le Garage” will have you singing along quicker than you can realize the lyrics are “Le Garage” not “The Garage” – and this is precisely what sets The Futureheads apart from bands who deviate too much from music’s basic purpose – they entertain
The Futureheads are certainly a band one should look out for in…well…the future because there is no doubt about it – they are destined for big things if their debut is anything to go by.
Track Listing
1. Le Garage
2. Robot
3. A To B
4. Decent Days & Nights
5. Meantime
6. Alms
7. Danger Of The Water
8. Carnival Kids
9. The City Is Here For You To Use
10. First Day
11. He Knows
12. Stupid & Shallow
13. Trying Not To Think About Time
14. Hounds Of Love (New Mix)
15. Man Ray
By Eve Jenkin @ Undercover
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