Sunday, December 27, 2009

Interesting Stuff

Read an interview with J. Robbins of Jawbox

http://www.brooklynvegan.com/archives/2009/12/an_interview_wi_36.html


Make Your Own Album Cover Art Contest

http://www.freshbrain.org/activity/make-your-own-album-cover-art-contest


Local hi-fi legend Merrill taps 'energy management' to drive new turntable
Puts new spin on vinyl

Memphian George Merrill -- a leader in the world of high-fidelity turntables since the 1970s -- and his business partner, Robert Williams, will debut a new turntable at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this January.

With more than 3,000 exhibitors, the Consumer Electronics Show is the nation's biggest tech trade show. It drew 113,085 attendees in 2009. The event is scheduled for Jan. 7-10.

Music-obsessed Memphians may remember Merrill's emporium, Underground Sound, which was just east of Central and Cooper. His new turntable will also be manufactured in Memphis.

Read the rest here:

http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2009/dec/26/new-spin-on-vinyl/

News & Notes

Book Of Eli Soundtrack

Reprise Records will release the original motion picture soundtrack to the Hughes Brothers-directed feature film Book Of Eli on January 12th, 2010 — three days before the film hits theaters nationwide on January 15th, 2010.

The Book of Eli Original Motion Picture Soundtrack features an original score by composer/musician/producer Atticus Ross, marking his third collaboration with the Hughes Brothers and his first feature film score. Ross' music is a unique hybrid score of electronic and organic elements; writing with his wife (Claudia Sarne) and brother (Leopold Ross), the basic tracks were recorded at his studio in Los Angeles before departing to London where it was finished in Abbey Road Studios with a full 80-piece orchestra.

The soundtrack will be released as a standard CD as well as in three digital packages: A standard version available from all digital service providers, a deluxe version featuring three bonus tracks ("The Bridge," "Carnergie's Purpose," and "Dissolve") from all DSP's excluding iTunes, and an exclusive iTunes package featuring the three bonus tracks listed above plus a remix of "Panoramic" by TV on the Radio's Dave Sitek. A vinyl version of the soundtrack will be released in February.

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Metallica Make History

Metallica received a big Christmas gift from Nielsen SoundScan with news that their Black Album has reportedly earned a historic distinction. BW&BK has the story:

Metallica's self-titled album from 1991 (known as the black album) has surpassed Shania Twain's 1997 CD "Come On Over" to become the best-selling album since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking sales for Billboard on March 1, 1991. Metallica has sold 15,490,000 copies whereas Come On Over has sold 15,487,000.

Yahoo's chart watch says that " Metallica is the only fourth album to head Nielsen/SoundScan's "release to date" chart, which lists the albums that have sold the most copies in its history." more Interestingly, the RIAA website shows that the Twain album is 20 times platinum (20 million). The SoundScan numbers are based on actual sales where as the RIAA base their numbers on the number of albums that the record company has shipped. The latest numbers we have from SoundScan were from last year's recap where they show Metallica with sales of 15,319,000 and the Twain album with 15,473,000, so this looks legit to us!

The RIAA site says that the Metallica self-titled album earned its latest multi-platinum award on November 13th when it was recognized for shipping 15 X platinum. (15 million). Guess they were a little behind. -