I just find the following story fascinating on so many levels. Sony Music is alleging that Beyoncé committed piracy due to her own music videos being on YouTube. Specifically, Sony is taking issue with “Single Ladies” existing on her official YouTube account. If you go to it, “Ladies” has been replaced with a disclaimer reading: “This video contains content from Sony Music Entertainment, who has blocked it in your country on copyright grounds” (with “your…
So the Jersey punks – who put out the best album of 2008, the title track of which I gushed about last November – have put the title track from their forthcoming album, American Slang, up on their MySpace site. It’s the next logical step in the band’s sonic evolution. That is, they retain the punk style of Sink of Swim and the ’70s soul-tempered nature of The ’59 Sound while adding a dash of…
Official cover art for “Heaven is Whenever” Another highly anticipated LP this year is the allegedly ‘less anthemic’ “Heaven Is Whenever”, Hold Steady’s follow-up to the band’s previous incredible effort, the 2008 “Stay Positive”. ‘Less anthemic’ as Craig Finn puts it, though, since if I were to judge the new album by its first single, “Hurricane J”, which calls back to a recurring character named Jessie, I’d say it’s a pretty big understatement. Just hit…
In a move that’s a decade too late, Universal Music Group has chosen to lower the prices of most new releases in an attempt to combat the continued decline of music sales. The major’s “Velocity” pricing program responds to the continuing plunge in CD sales, taking aim at brick-and-mortar retail stores that have scaled back on floor space dedicated to music. The pricing adjustments will also bring CD prices more in line with what consumers…
After two incredible albums, “Strawberry Jam” and “Merriweather Post Pavilion”, a lot of touring in between and beyond, and even the full length motion picture ODDSAC released at the beginning of this year, it seems Animal Collective has begun to show signs of growing weary. “There was just so much touring for us,” Panda Bear (aka Noah Lennox) told BBC 6 Music. “We’re not really road dogs. We were really happy with the record, so…
We’re just three months into the new year and already there are talks about the first major plagiarism scandal of the year, following last year’s now infamous feud between Coldplay and Joe Satriani. This time around the protagonists are Gorillaz and 80’s raggae sensation Eddy Grant, the later claiming Damon Albarn blatantly used significant portions of his song “Time Warp” to write the latest Gorillaz single “Stylo,” all without giving any credit. “My song sits…
Seems like the whole iamamiwhowherehowthefuckami mystery has been unraveled once and for all, and the artist behind it all is quite the unlikely candidate, considering the whole blogosphere didn’t even mention her during the whole thorough teaser dissection process. The latest video proves it all, if you happen to have a pair of sharp eyes, revealing without a doubt once and for all that Swedish artist Jonna Lee and her band are responsible for the…
The SXSW week almost always coincides with modest releases, but this year it can’t get any better. The highlight of the week is without a doubt Drive-by Truckers’ highly anticipated eight studio effort “The Big To-Do”, which according to Patterson Hood is “very much a rock album. Very melodic and more rocking than anything since disc 2 of Southern Rock Opera.” Should be very interesting, to say the least. The Emmett Malloy directed rockumentary “Under…
Forget the Greatest Hits album being an obituary. Apparently there is no hiatus. According to Dave Grohl, he and drummer Taylow Hawkins “have already started demoing songs” for a new album. Oh, and the band is working with producer Butch Vig – ya know, the guy that did Nevermind. Better still, Grohl seems to think the new material “could be our heaviest yet.” Better still, the band will be recording in analog in Dave’s garage….
So the ‘Stripes made a live document of their 2007 tour of Canada (where they played every single Province), entitled Under Great White Northern Lights. It’s gonna be a film and an album. The important part here is the album portion. It’s out next week, but you can hear it now over at NPR’s website. Notable inclusions are the blistering duo of “Seven Nation Army” (duh) and the title track from Icky Thump, as well…
Steve Lampiris
Tibi Puiu