Saturday, August 15, 2009

Music News & Notes

Bouncing Souls announce third 20th Anniversary 7 inch

The Bouncing Souls have detailed the third 7" collecting their ongoing 20th Anniversary Series singles. The new 7" was produced by Ted Hutt (Gaslight Anthem, Flogging Molly) with cover art by Souls bassist Bryan Kienlen and Ramones artistsic director Arturo Vega. It will feature the songs "Ghosts on the Boardwalk," "Boogie Woogie Dowtown," "Badass" and "Uke Chek Girl" with a "locked groove" between the third and fourth track. The record is set to ship on September 15th with 800 on green and black vinyl for mailorder, 1000 on green vinyl with black and red splatter for tour, and 1000 on green vinyl for retail.

The band has been releaseing a new 7" every three months on their Chunksaah label, compiling the tracks they've been releasing digitally on the first of every month. The band is remarkably busy these days, with upcoming anniversary shows and a TV special along with extensive touring and video releases.

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New Weezer Album Gets Release Date

According to a post on Weezer's MySpace, the band's much-rumored seventh album is now due October 27. We can only hope recently debuted teen-pop tributes "I'm Your Daddy" (er) and "The Girl Got Hot" (um) are included.

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Dr. Dre 's Next Mission: Upgrading the Sound Quality of Digital Music

Dr. Dre is going to save digital music. Or at least he's going to save your ears from shitty-sounding mp3 fatigue. That's the idea, anyway.

CNET reports that Dre and Interscope chairman Jimmy Iovine are teaming up with Hewlett-Packard to improve the sound quality of digital music. The particulars of their plan seem pretty vague at the moment, but CNET says that HP will release laptops, headsets, and software featuring the Beats by Dr. Dre "brand". Beats by Dr. Dre is Dre's supposedly very good (but also incredibly expensive) line of top-shelf headphones. You go Dr, make it so....

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AGNOSTIC FRONT's Classic Early Records To Be Reissued


One of the greatest genre-defining hardcore bands of all time, AGNOSTIC FRONT has changed the face of music throughout their 25 year long career. The two records that started it all, "United Blood" and "Victim in Pain", are legendary New York hardcore releases and some of the most sought-after pieces of vinyl for record collectors. Finally, these two releases are coming back to life via Bridge Nine Records.

On November 17, 2009, Bridge Nine will release a CD version with both albums combined, and additionally will re-release "United Blood" on 7" and "Victim in Pain" on 12" LP.

Commented Bridge Nine owner Chris Wrenn, "AGNOSTIC FRONT's debut EP and LP are seminal New York hardcore recordings. To have the opportunity to bring them back to life and make them available again to a new generation of hardcore fans is an incredible honor for Bridge Nine Records. We're excited to do these reissues justice and look forward to helping AGNOSTIC FRONT celebrate the 25 years since the original release of 'Victim In Pain'."

Originally released in 1983, "United Blood" was AGNOSTIC FRONT's first release and was followed shortly thereafter by "Victim In Pain" in 1984. These albums were a blast of pure New York hardcore that confirmed AF's status as leaders of the New York hardcore movement alongside precursors the CRO-MAGS and MURPHY'S LAW. 25 years later, both releases will be made available once again on all formats. Special packaging, vinyl pressings, and more information to come soon.

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SKELETONWITCH launches “CRUSHED BEYOND DUST,”, Pre-order Available

“CRUSHED BEYOND DUST,” the lead track from SKELETONWITCH’s highly anticipated new album, “BREATHING THE FIRE,” due out October 13, will be available for streaming via the band’s Myspace at 9AM PST, Monday… . And LIVE on Sirius XM Liquid Metal August 14th 8:00 PM EST

Vocalist, Chance Garnette, commented about the track: “This song is simply about killing someone with nothing but your bare hands! Plus I was stoked I could find a home for the word “quashed.”

Preorder packages for “BREATHING THE FIRE,” are now available on Prosthetic Records’ webstore. There are four different package options for both the vinyl and CD version of the album. The LP will be on 180 gram vinyl and is in a gatefold jacket and the CD version comes in a digipack. There’s a limited amount of red vinyl, available on a first come, first served basis. There are also three different T shirts available in the bundles.

“BREATHING THE FIRE,” is the follow up to the band’s critically acclaimed album, “BEYOND THE PERMAFROST.” (Prosthetic Records, 2007) The Athens OH based band traveled to Seattle, WA to record with producer Jack Endino (Nirvana, Soundgarden, High On Fire).

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Nirvana’s “Bleach” Returns as 20th Anniversary Deluxe Reissue


To celebrate the 20th anniversary of Nirvana’s Bleach, Sub Pop Records will reissue the band’s 1989 debut album with as an expanded CD/double vinyl collection on November 3rd. Additionally, the reissued Bleach will feature an unreleased bonus live album called Live at Pine Street Theatre, recorded at the Portland, Oregon venue on February 9th, 1990. Both Bleach and the Pine Street show have been digitally remastered from the original tapes by Jack Endino, who produced Nirvana’s debut LP.

Pre-orders will soon be available at the Sub Pop, the home of Nirvana before the band made the major label jump to DGC for the legendary Nevermind. Bleach remains one of Sub Pop’s few platinum albums. Like the original run of Bleach on vinyl, the first-run of the reissued double-LPs will be printed on white vinyl. Also, the songs “Big Cheese” and “Downer” will feature on vinyl for the first time after being excised from the original LP release. Both the CD and the LP will be accompanied with a booklet looking back at the classic debut along with never-before-seen photographs of Kurdt Kobain and Chris Novoselic, as they called themselves in the album’s liner notes, along with pre-Grohl drummer Chad Channing.

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Blame It On Yoko

Britain's NME reports that Yoko Ono had the developers at Harmonix on the ropes over the release version of The Beatles: Rock Band. Instead of giving input during the early development process, she waited until three months before the debut of the game at E3.

Alex Rigopulos, CEO of the company, said "We were like, 'Oh, gee. Thanks.' It would have been nice to know that six months ago, but yes, 'Thank you very much'."

Ono was concerned with the game's look, including wanting the Let It Be rooftop concert to look "windier."

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Withers Writes Song For Benson

Bill Withers has come out of retirement to write the song A Telephone Call Away for George Benson's new album Songs and Stories, due August 25th from Concord. The album also includes new songs from Rod Temperton and Lamont Dozier along with covers of such tunes as Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight, Rainy Night in Georgia and Donny Hathaway's Someday We'll All Be Free.

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Ray Charles' Reissue

Ray Charles' first album for ABC-Paramount after leaving Atlantic, The Genius Hits the Road, will be getting a deluxe reissue on September 22 via Concord.

The original 12-track album included his first number one record, Georgia On My Mind. For the deluxe edition, Concord is adding seven more road songs from other parts of Charles' career, Hit the Road Jack, Sentimental Journey, Blue Moon of Kentucky, Rainy Night in Georgia, The Long and Winding Road, Take Me Home Country Roads and I Was On Georgia Time.

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