Friday, January 23, 2009

Music News & Notes

New ISIS Release Set For May

ISIS, the innovative Los Angeles-by-way-of-Boston-based band, has set a May 5 release date for its much-anticipated new album, "Wavering Radiant" (Ipecac Recordings). The CD, produced by Joe Baressi (TOOL, QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE), will receive a limited-edition vinyl release on April 21. TOOL's Adam Jones contributed guitar to two songs from the LP.

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Amoeba-Hosted McCartney Performances Earn Grammy Nods - CD To Be Released On January 27, 2009


On June 27, 2007 Amoeba Music - the legendary Los Angeles music store - hosted an intimate performance with Sir Paul McCartney which Variety called 'a once-in-a-lifetime performance: a relaxed and gregarious McCartney in a setting intimate enough for him to interact with fans.' Four of the songs from the performance were released on the 12' vinyl 'Amoeba's Secret' (Hear Music/MPL Communications Ltd.) and now two of those tracks have garnered McCartney Grammy nominations.

'That Was Me' is up for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, while 'I Saw Her Standing There' is nominated for Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance.

What began as an extraordinary night with McCartney has blossomed from a limited run vinyl release to Grammy nominations and a January 27th CD release of the 4-song 'Amoeba's Secret' album on Universal.



The LA Times said of Amoeba hosting the event '[McCartney's] delight proved that Amoeba was the right spot for this event. A club or theater might have made for better sightlines and more predictable sound (actually, the sound was fine), but it wouldn't have had the communal aura of this fan fair.

Here, the 800 or so folks in their Wings T-shirts and Sgt. Pepper jackets - plus a few hard-to-spot celebs, most notably Ringo Starr, who got a shout-out from his old pal at show's end - could bask directly in each other's joy. And with no fourth wall to protect him, McCartney could let that mood get under his skin.'

Photos and video can be seen at: http://www.amoeba.com/content/paul_rocked_amoeba.html

SOURCE: http://top40-charts.com
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'Watchmen' Original Score and Soundtrack Details Released

By Michael Doran

March 3rd is the street date set for the release of the both the Original Score and Soundtrack for Warner Bros. highly-anticipated big-screen adaptation of Watchmen, Warner Sunset/Reprise Records announced Thursday. The film is due to open nationwide March 6th.

Music From The Motion Picture Watchmen, the film's official soundtrack, includes My Chemical Romance's reinterpretation of Bob Dylan's "Desolation Row," recorded exclusively for the film. The band's frontman Gerard Way is well-known to comic book readers as the creator of the popular Dark Horse Comics title Umbrella Academy. The soundtrack also features a collection of classic songs by such artists as Nat King Cole, Simon & Garfunkel, and Janis Joplin, which according to the announcement, "once heard in the context of the film, will never be thought of the same way again."

Watchmen Original Motion Picture Score features music by recording artist, composer, and music producer Tyler Bates, who was asked to score the film by Watchmen director Zack Snyder. Tyler, who also scored the Snyder-directed films 300 and Dawn of the Dead, has also scored the soundtracks to The Day the Earth Stood Still, Showtime's Californication, Slither, Rob Zombie's Halloween, and The Devil's Rejects. According to the announcement, he is known for his "surprising juxtapositions of music styles and flair for delicate, atmospheric touches, as well as stressing emotional vibrancy over traditional formulas of music compositions."

Bates has also been chosen to score the Watchmen's DVD added story, "Tales From The Black Freighter."

Both collections will be released in multiple formats – the physical CD and a digital album will be available on March 3rd, and a vinyl edition of the soundtrack will be released on March 17th.

SOURCE: http://www.newsarama.com/

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Harvey Splitting From Cave & Bad Seeds

Mick Harvey is leaving Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds after playing with the group for the last 25 years. The pair formed the band in 1983 after collaborating on the post-punk group the Birthday Party.

In a statement, Harvey said "After 25 years I feel I am leaving the band as it experiences one of its many peaks; in very healthy condition, and with fantastic prospects for the future. I'm confident Nick will continue to be a creative force and that this is the right time to pass on my artistic and managerial role to what has become a tremendous group of people who can support him in his endeavors both musically and organizationally."

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Springsteen Snubbed

In a big surprise, Bruce Springsteen's theme from The Wrestler was not nominated for an Academy Award today. The song had already won a Golden Globe and a Critic's Choice Award for best song from a motion picture.

Peter Gabriel did receive a nomination for Down to Earth from the movie Wall-E.

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Faithfull Surrounded By Stars On New Album

Veteran 60's singer Marianne Faithfull will be surrounded by top-shelf collaborators on her new album "Easy Come, Easy Go," which is due March 17 from Decca Records.

The Hal Willner-produced project, his first full album with Faithfull since 1987, features covers of Morrissey's "Dear God Please Help Me," Neko Case's "Hold On, Hold On" and the Decemberists' "The Crane Wife 3."

Cat Power and Sean Lennon will guest on the Case cover, while Nick Cave joins in on the Decemberists song. "Easy Come, Easy Go" also includes takes on Merle Haggard's "Sing Me Back Home" featuring Keith Richards, Espers' "Children of Stone" featuring Rufus Wainwright and Briano Eno's "How Many Worlds" featuring Teddy Thompson.

"The fact we were all in the room together, the musicians and myself," says Faithfull. "That's what gives this recording its urgency,"

Here is the track list for "Easy Come, Easy Go":

"Down From Dover" (written by Dolly Parton)
"Hold On, Hold On" (written by Neko Case, ft. Chan Marshall and Sean Lennon)
"Solitude" (written by Billie Holiday)
"The Crane Wife 3" (written by The Decemberists, ft. Nick Cave)
"Easy Come, Easy Go" (written by Bessie Smith)
"Children of Stone" (written by Espers, ft. Rufus Wainwright)
"How Many Worlds" (written by Brian Eno, ft. Teddy Thompson)
"In Germany Before the War" (written by Randy Newman)
"Ooh Baby Baby" (written by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, ft. Antony Hegarty)
"The Phoenix" (written by Judee Sill, ft. Sean Lennon)
"Dear God Please Help Me" (written by Morrissey)
"Sing Me Back Home" (written by Merle Haggard, ft. Keith Richards)

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No Stewart, Faces Reunion



Despite reports that the Faces are reuniting for an album as well as a tour with Flea on bass, Rod Stewart's spokesperson told Billboard "there are no plans for a Faces reunion tour this year." Additionally, a spokesperson for Flea tells Billboard the artist "knows nothing" of a Faces tour.

Guitarist Ron Wood reportedly told the U.K.'s Daily Mirror that he and Rod Stewart wrote an album's worth of new material during a Christmas vacation, and that Flea would be participating in an upcoming tour. However, the online version of the piece has since disappeared from the Daily Mirror Web site.

Rumors have swirled since last fall that Stewart, Wood, Ian McLagan and Kenney Jones were planning to tour for the first time since splitting in 1975. The musicians reportedly rehearsed last year with Stewart touring bassist Conrad Korsch filling the role of the late Ronnie Laine. But a recent report in the New York Post suggested the members didn't get along during the process and that a tour seemed unlikely.

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Keith Urban Names New Album

Keith Urban has christened his new album "Defying Gravity" and, as previously reported, will release it March 31 on Capitol Nashville.

First single "Sweet Thing" rises 12-8 this week on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart, Urban's 18th top 10 hit there.

Urban says the title phrase "comes from the lyrics of a song on the album and it just struck me at the time as a phrase that really defined the joyous, optimistic and uplifting spirit that seemed to show itself while making the album."

The artist will begin an extensive North American tour in May, with a rotating crew of support acts that will include Sugarland, Taylor Swift, Jason Aldean, Lady Antebellum, the Zac Brown Band and Dierks Bentley.

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