There’s so much going on in so many of these songs that it’s tough to get a foothold
Baltimore Gas & Electric) must have experienced a huge power spike, due largely to the massive array of pedals and effect boards the band had strewn across the stage.
Now that frontman Rivers Cuomo has completed a semester of school at Harvard University, the track list for Weezer’s new album is “97% settled,” according to the band’s official Web site. The as-yet-untitled set is due in May via Geffen; first single “Beverly Hills” will hit U.S. radio outlets in late March.
The selection process is nearing completion thanks to “some heavy listening sessions between the band and producer/mentor Rick Rubin,” the site reports. “A few songs got swapped out and switched around, and there is high confidence in the final selection, which now includes a few songs from the late ’03 recording sessions that were originally left behind in favor of the new sessions in July-October ’04.”
Cuomo still has to complete his vocals for three songs, at which point the album will be ready for mixing.
As previously reported, Weezer earlier this week announced its first show since late 2002, which will come on the first day of the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival in Indio, Calif., on April 30. A full North American and European tour is expected to follow.
Source billboard.com.
Is music something you own or something you rent?
How music fans answer that question in coming months will help determine the viability of a new slate of online music services that offer to fill portable music players with an unlimited number of songs for a monthly fee.
While the music subscription approach has grown in recent years, far more music fans have opted to buy songs by the track, a business model popularized by Apple Computer Inc.’s iTunes Music Store and its hugely successful iPod portable player.
But the release late last year of new copy-protection software from Microsoft Corp. may begin to change that. The software frees subscribers to move their rented tracks from their computers to certain portable music players.
The system works by essentially putting a timer on the tracks loaded on the player. Every time the user connects the player to the PC and the music service, the player automatically checks whether the user’s subscription is still in effect. Songs stop playing if the subscription has lapsed. If the user doesn’t regularly synch up the player with the service, the songs go dead as well.
“This is potentially the first serious challenge that the iPod is going to face,” said Phil Leigh, president of Tampa, Fla.-based Inside Digital Media. “What these devices are going to be able to do is attack iPod where it’s weak.”
Several online music purveyors see portability as selling point that can lure consumers to their subscription services. Forrester Research projects music subscription revenues will more than double this year to $240 million, largely because of portability.
RealNetworks, MusicNow and MusicNet, which distributes its service through brands like America Online and Cdigix, all have plans to launch portable subscription services this year or early 2006 at the latest.
Napster LLC and F.Y.E., another MusicNet distributor, began offering portable subscriptions late last year through the Windows Media Player software, code named Janus.
Napster plans to turn up the heat on Apple with a $30 million advertising campaign debuting during Sunday’s Super Bowl to promote a relaunch of its portable subscription service, dubbed Napster To Go.
“This is really the first subscription service supporting Janus that’s going out in a big way,” said Josh Bernoff, an analyst with Forrester Research. “Napster is charging a lot harder than the rest of them.”
Napster’s service is $14.95 a month
In the wake of an unfinished copy of his new album leaking onto the Internet last month, Beck will offer fans a bounty of reasons to purchase the real deal. Due March 29 via Interscope, “Guero” will be released as a standard CD, a double-disc package with two videos and a 5.1 audio mix and a third edition featuring four remixes.
Videos for “E-Pro” and “Black Tambourine” will be included on the double-disc set, while Boards Of Canada, Octet, Dizzee Rascal and, as first reported here, Royksopp, contribute the remixes on the third package.
On Tuesday (Feb. 1), Beck quietly unveiled the “Hell Yes” EP on Apple’s iTunes Music Store, featuring remixes of the title track and “Que Onda Guero” by 8-bit and remixes of “E-Pro” and “Girl” by Paza. A video for “Hell Yes” directed by Mumbleboy is also available on iTunes.
Beck has yet to confirm tour dates in support of “Guero,” but he played his second surprise show in recent weeks last Friday at Echo in Los Angeles, which featured a number of tracks from the new album.
Source billboard.com.
Galactic has announced dates for their 2005 Midwest Tour which will span the Southeast and Midwest beginning at the end of March. Some very special supporting acts are scheduled to join the band throughout. For the opening dates, Galactic will be joined by New Orleans underground hip hop collective, the Media Darling showcase. On April 8 and 9th the band will return for their now customary two-night stand at Denver, Colorado’s Fillmore theatre. As in the past, these shows will feature incredible supporting acts as Galactic will welcome Toots and the Maytals for the first night and then Maceo Parker on the second. Please stay tuned to the Galactic web site for additional tour support announcements.
Galactic Spring 2005 Tour:
3.29.05 | Headliner’s | Louisville, KY
3.30.05 | Blue Cat’s | Knoxville, TN
3.31.05 | The Orange Peel | Asheville, NC
4.01.05 | The Odeon | Cleveland, OH
4.02.05 | Vic Theatre | Chicago, IL
4.03.05 | The Vogue Theatre | Indianapolis, IN
4.05.05 | Barrymore Theatre | Madison, WI
4.06.05 | Cabooze | Minneapolis, MN
4.07.05 | Rococo Theatre | Lincoln, NE
4.08.05 | The Fillmore | Denver, CO
4.09.05 | The Fillmore | Denver, CO
4.10.05 | Granada Theater | Lawrence, KS
4.12.05 | Mississippi Nights | St. Louis, MO
4.13.05 | Cain’s Ballroom | Tulsa, OK
4.14.05 | Juanita’s | Little Rock, AK
4.15.05 | Workplay Theatre | Birmingham, AL
The Slip have announced that they will be playing three shows in Japan in February. This is their fifth trip to Japan.
Japan Tour
-Feb 18th at Shibuya O’east in Shibuya Tokyo.
-Feb 19th – catching the break at the Greenroom Festival
(“surf rock event”)in Yokohama Osanbashi Hall
-Feb. 20th the first show in the ancient Japanese capital of Kyoto at MOJO WEST
Timo Shanko will be joining the band on saxaphones.
