New Music Releases October 6th, 2009

Lots and lots of interesting releases this week including the new album from KISS, a solo effort from Aerosmith’s Joe Perry, boxed sets from Billie Holiday, John Coltrane and The Motown Collection. Also on the bill are reissues of classic music with New Order, Black Sabbath, Jesus Lizard and Kraftwerk joining in. There are many vinyl releases as well including records from A Place to Bury Strangers, Built To Spill, Willie Nelson, Me'Shell NdegeOcello and Sufjan Stevens & Osso, just to name a few. Remember – music makes the perfect gift, make someone happy today and give the gift of music!

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A Place to Bury Strangers - Exploding Head (vinyl)
Air - Love 2
Alela Diane - Alela and Alina
Aliens - Luna
Ams - The Release Of An American Soul
Ancestors - Of Sound Mind (vinyl)
Apathy - Wanna Struggle?
Aqua - Greatest Hits
Arch Enemy - The Root of All Evil
Asteroids Galaxy Tour - Fruit
Asylum Street Spankers - God's Favorite Band
Backstreet Boys - This is Us
BeBe & CeCe Winans - Still
Bellini - Precious Prize of Gravity
Betty Davis - Is This Love or Desire (Vinyl)
Betty Davis - Nasty Gal (remastered)
Big Kenny - The Quiet Times of a Rock and Roll Farmboy
Bill Engvall - Aged and Confused
Billie Holiday - Lady Day: The Complete Columbia Golden Years (10-CD box set)
BK-One & Benzilla - Radio Do Canibal
Black Heart Procession - Six
Black Hollies - Softly Towards the Light
Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath, Vol. 4 (remastered)
Black Sabbath - Never Say Die! (remastered)
Black Sabbath - Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (remastered)
Blake Lewis - Heartbreak On Vinyl
blessthefall - Witness
Blitzen Trapper - Black River Killer EP (vinyl)
Boston Spaceships - Zero to 99
brakesbrakesbrakes - Rock Is Dodelijk
Brandi Carlile- Give Up the Ghost
Brenda Holloway - Early Years-Rare Recordings 1962-1963
Built To Spill - There Is No Enemy (2-LP vinyl & CD)
Califone: -All My Friends Are Funeral Singers
Calvin Harris - Ready for the Weekend
Candace Brooks Band - The Chase
Cerys Matthews - Don't Look Down
Cheap Girls - My Roaring 20's
Christmas Island - Blackout Summer
Cinematics - Love And Terror
Clientele - Bonfires on the Heath (vinyl)
Conway Twitty - 12 Number One Hits
Daniel Johnston - Is And Always Was
Daniel Merriweather - Love & War
Dappled Cities - Zounds (vinyl)
Darrin James Band - The Lovely Ugly Truth
Dead Man's Bones - Dead Man's Bones
Dean Martin - My Kind Of Christmas
Destino3 - Forte
DJ Spooky - The Secret Song
DJ Tiesto - Kaleidoscope
Dr. Hook - Pleasure & Pain/Sometimes You Win ...
Duran Duran - Live at Hammersmith 82
Duran Duran - Rio (remastered with bonus disc)
Dutchess & the Duke - Sunset/ Sunrise (vinyl)
Eddie and the Hot Rods - The Singles Collection
Elliott Brood - Mountain Meadows
Emily Rodgers - Bright Day
Etienne Jaumet - Night Music
Eugene Mirman - God is a 12 Year Old Boy…
Evangelista - Prince of Truth
Everclear - In A Different Light
Exene Cervenka - Somewhere Gone
Fat Joe - J.O.S.E. 2
Fool's Gold - Fool's Gold'
Frank Sinatra - Christmas with Sinatra and Friends
Fuck Buttons - Tarot Sport
Glorytellers - Atone
Gogol Bordello - Live From Axis Mundi (CD & DVD)
Gossip - Music for Men
Grant Hart - Hot Wax
Greg Laswell - Covers EP
Happy Hollows - Spells
Harmonia - Tracks & Traces
Hawk Nelson - Live Life Loud
Headlights - Wildlife (vinyl)
Heart - Baby Guitars
Hockey - Mind Chaos (vinyl)
HORSE the Band - Desperate Living
Hush Arbors - Yankee Reality
Idlewild - Post Electric Blues
Inhale, Exhale - Bury Me Alive
Irish Tenors - The Irish Tenors Christmas
Jamie T - Kings & Queens
Jason Yates - Jason Yates
Jemina Pearl - Break It Up
Jesus Lizard - Down (remastered with bonus tracks) (vinyl)
Jesus Lizard - Goat (remastered with bonus tracks) (vinyl)
Jesus Lizard - Head (remastered with bonus tracks) (vinyl)
Jesus Lizard - Liar (remastered with bonus tracks)
Jesus Lizard - Pure (remastered with bonus tracks) (vinyl)
Jim Jones & Webstar - The Rooftop
Joe Budden - The Great Escape
Joe Cocker - Live at Woodstock
Joe Perry - Have Guitar, Will Travel
John Coltrane - Side Steps (5-CD box set)
John Denver - Live in the USSR
John Vanderslice - Too Much Time b/w Moon Rocks 7" (vinyl)
Karl Blau - Zebra (vinyl)

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Kings of Convenience - Declaration of Dependence
Kirsten DeHaan - Thorns On a Crown
Kiss Sonic - Boom (Walmart/Sam's Club exclusive)
Kraftwerk - Autobahn (remastered)
Kraftwerk - Radio-Activity (remastered)
Kraftwerk - The Man-Machine (remastered)
Kraftwerk - Trans Europa Express (remastered)
Kurt Vile - Childish Prodigy (vinyl)
La Roux - La Roux (vinyl)
Ladytron - Light & Magic (reissue)
Ladytron - Live At The London Astoria
Lake - Let's Build a Roof (vinyl)
Langhorne Slim - Be Set Free (vinyl)
Leisure Society - Sleeper & A Product Of The Ego Drain
Lethal Bizzle - Go Hard
Lights, Lights - The Listening
Lita Ford - Wicked Wonderland
Lotus - Feather On Wood (EP)
Lotus - Oil On Glass (EP)
Lou Barlo - Goodnight Unknown (vinyl)
Lucero - 1372 Overton Park (vinyl)
Luke Bryan - Doin' My Thing
Luke Ford - Doin' My Thing
Madonna - Celebration (Single Remixes) (vinyl)
Maria Muldaur - Maria Muldaur & Her Garden of Joy
Mark Knopfler - Get Lucky (CD & DVD)
Massive Attack - Splitting the Atom EP
Matthew Good - Vancouver
Mayday Parade - Anywhere But Here
Meaghan Smith - The Cricket's Orchestra
Me'Shell NdegeOcello - Devil's Halo (vinyl)
Micah P. Hinson - All Dressed Up & Smelling of Strangers
Michael Jackson - In Memory of Michael Jackson- 1958-2009
Mike Doughty - Sad Man Happy Man
Mission of Burma - The Sound, the Speed, the Light
Morphine - At Your Service
Mountain Goats - The Life of the World to Come
Mr. Hudson - Straight No Chaser
Mumford And Sons - Sigh No More
Music Go Music - Expressions
N'dambi - Pink Elephant
New Order - Brotherhood (vinyl reissue)
New Order - Low-Life (vinyl reissue)
New Order - Movement (vinyl reissue)
New Order - Power, Corruption & Lies (vinyl reissue)
New Order - Technique (vinyl reissue)
Nick Oliveri - Death Acoustic
No Age - Losing Feeling EP (vinyl)
Noah and the Whale - The First Days of Spring
Nothington - Roads, Bridges & Ruins
Nova Social - Nova Social
Octoberman - Fortresses
Orenda Fink - Ask The Night (vinyl)
Osso - Run Rabbit Run
Phish - Joy (vinyl)
Port O'Brien - Threadbare (vinyl)
Powerman 5000 - Somewhere on the Otherside of Nowhere
RASCAL FLATTS - Greatest Hits Vol. 1
Raveonettes - In and Out of Control (vinyl)
Ray Charles - The Spirit of Christmas
Redemption - Snowfall on Judgment Day
Relient K - Forget and Not Slow Down
Roseanne Cash - The List
Rusty Anderson - Born on Earth
Saigon - Warning Shots 2
Santana – Marathon- 30th Anniversary Edition
Scorpions - Pure Instinct
Shudder To Think - Live From Home (vinyl)
Simple Minds - Graffiti Soul
Slade - Live at the BBC
Slits - Trapped Animal
Smoke Dza - Substance Abuse
Soulico - Exotic On The Speaker
Spandau Ballet – Gold - The Best of Spandau Ballet
Spinto Band - Slim & Slender EP (vinyl)
Starting Line - Somebody's Gonna Miss Us
Steel Panther - Feel the Steel
Sufjan Stevens & Osso - Run Rabbit Run (vinyl)
Supercluster - Waves
Switchfoot - Hello Huricane
Terri Clark - The Long Way Home
The Big Pink - A Brief History Of Love (vinyl)
The Fall Of Troy - In The Unlikely Event
The Gossip - Music For Men
The xx - xx
Three Mile Pilot - Planets / Grey Clouds (vinyl)
Tiësto - Kaleidoscope
Tinsley Ellis - Speak No Evil
Toby Keith - American Ride
Todd Agnew - Need
Tokio Hotel - Humanoid
Toro y Moi - Blessa b/w 109 7" (vinyl)
Toto - Fahrenheit (Remastered)
Tre Williams & The Revelations - The Bleeding Edge
Ultra Naté - Things Happen At Night
Uriah Heep - The Early Years
Various Artists - Dance The Definitive Collection 1978-1995
Various Artists - Ghosts of Girlfriends Past
Various Artists - Halloween's Gravest Hits
Various Artists - The Motown Collection (Box Set)
Various Artists - WOW Hits 2010
Various Artists - Christmas on the Range- Cowboy Classics from Capitol Records
Ventana - American Survival Guide Vol. 1
Very Best - Warm Heart of Africa
Vic Chesnutt - Skitter On Take Off
Vince Guaraldi - The Definitive Vince Guaraldi
Vinyl Life - Vinyl Life
Vonda Shepard- Best of Ally McBeal-Songs of Vonda Shepard
We Shot the Moon - Silver Lining
Ween - The Pod (reissue)
Willie Nelson - Shotgun Willie (Vinyl)
Willie Nelson – Souvenirs

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Music News & Notes

Landmine Marathon Reveals New Album Details

Phoenix metal band LANDMINE MARATHON has announced details of their forthcoming release on Prosthetic Records. The new album, entitled "Sovereign Descent," was recorded at guitarist Ryan Butler's Arcane Digital Recording Studios, where he's recorded past efforts from the band, as well as Misery Index, Phobia, The Funeral Pyre and others. The album will be mastered by Alan Douches at West West Side Music (Converge, Hatebreed, Dillinger Escape Plan). The cover art is being handled by Dan Seagrave (Entombed, Dismember, Morbid Angel, Suffocation). "Sovereign Descent" will be released in early 2010.

The band commented, "We are really excited to be able to announce some more details about our next album, including the title, 'Sovereign Descent.' We have put a lot of hard work into writing and recording this album. We all agree that it is some of Landmine's strongest material so far, both musically and lyrically. Ryan really went above and beyond with the recording and mixing process. Having the opportunity to work with two people who we feel are legends; Dan Seagrave and Alan Douches is a huge honor. We look forward to sharing some of the final results soon and even more so playing these songs live on the road!"

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The Gates Of Slumber To Release New Album "Hymns Of Blood And Thunder" On Vinyl

Rise Above Records will be releasing a limited edition vinyl version of the new album "Hymns of Blood and Thunder" by The Gates of Slumber on October 12th.

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DEAD TO THIS WORLD To Record New EP

DEAD TO THIS WORLD — the speed/thrash/black metal project led by former IMMORTAL bassist Iscariah — has issued the following update:

"Recordings for our forthcoming MCD/MLP will start in two weeks' time. It will contain five songs with a playing time close to 30 minutes. This will be released through Vàn Records on both CD and vinyl format sometime during start of 2010.

"Work on the second full-length is already in progress, but details for this will follow at a later time.

"We do now have a limited re-stock of our 'Dominions of Hell' shirt available. Also LP versions of the debut album which is also strictly limited."

DEAD TO THIS WORLD's debut album, "First Strike for Spiritual Renewance", was released in November 2007 via Dark Essence Records. The CD was produced by Bjørnar E Nielsen at Nielsen's Conclave Media Studios in Bergen.

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Gretchen Wilson Creates New Label, Redneck Records

Gretchen Wilson has launched own record label, Redneck Records, based near Nashville in Lebanon, Tenn. Her first single for the label, "Work Hard, Play Harder," was written by Wilson, John Rich and Vicky McGehee and will be delivered to country radio later this month. As president of the independent label, Wilson will oversee virtually all of the company's operations. Redneck Records will be distributed by RED Distribution, a division of Sony Music Entertainment. In July, Sony Music Nashville announced that Wilson was no longer on its Epic Records roster but that Sony's country division would work with her on future releases from her existing music catalog.

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Chester Bennington of Linkin Park releases new album October 13

I Chester Bennington of Linkin Park fame is releasing an album October 13 with his "other" band Dead by Sunrise.

Orgy's Amir Derakh and Ryan Shuck along with Bennington will release "Out of Ashes" this month and the band hopes to tour in small venues in order to build a following.

Bennington says that the music is "grungy, punky, straightforward rock elements mixed with alternative rock, melodic sensibility, as well as some electro-alternative pop stuff." He adds that some Linkin Park fans may like the music; yet some people who do not like Linkin Park nor Orgy may appreciate Dead by Sunrise's approach to music.

The name of the band is personal to Bennington, who admits that he did not know if he would make it to the next sunrise due to partying, which included many illegal substances combined with alcohol. Bennington reflects, " the name of the band comes from that feeling of literally not knowing if you're going to make it to the next day."

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Slumping Music Sales Continue

It was revealed that album sales are down 11.1 percent in the third quarter of 2009 compared to the same period last year, Reuters reported based on figures provided by Nielsen SoundScan. That decline comes evenwith the surge in of sales after Michael Jackson’s death and the re-release of the Beatles remasters, as both artists’ respective catalogs have combined for about 6.3 million in sales this quarter. Even with the unexpected push from the catalog albums, total sales are still down 13.9 percent from 2008, a year which itself saw its sales drop 14 percent compared to 2007. If the trend continues, this will mark the eighth time in nine years that the record industry has seen a decline.

According to Reuters, 2009’s biggest seller so far has been Michael Jackson’s Number Ones compilation, which sold 1.8 million copies since the King of Pop’s death on June 25th. Sluggish sales can’t be blamed on a lack of marquee releases, though, as artists who have generally gone multiplatinum in the past — like Green Day, Eminem, Dave Matthews Band and U2 — have all put out high-profile releases this year. Eminem’s Relapse has lead the charge with 1.4 million copies since its release in May. After 30 weeks on the Billboard chart, U2’s No Line on the Horizon reached platinum two weeks ago, while Green Day’s 21st Century Breakdown and DMB’s Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King have yet to pass the million copies sold mark. Lets' hope that the Christmas sales figures help the trend turn upward.

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Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival Gets Surprise Visit

The big festival news may have revolved around the muddy Austin City Limits, but there was another little show that drew a number of high profile veteran artists in San Francisco. The Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival is put on every year in Golden Gate Park, for FREE, by billionaire investment banker Warren Hellman. An estimated 500,000 attended this year to watch music on six stages over three days from artists like John Prine, Steve Martin, Ricky Skaggs, Boz Scaggs (with a band of James Cotton, Nick Lowe, Buddy Miller, Jimmy Vaughan and more), Richie Havens, Marianne Faithfull, Mavis Staples and the traditional closer, Emmylou Harris.

The big surprise of the weekend came early Saturday when Buddy Miller opened the day on one of the satellite stages. He brought out a surprise guest, Mr. Robert Plant, to join him on Hank Snow's I'm Movin' On.

In a digital age, there is still romance in music stores

Here's an interesting look at the music culture down under:

Defying international trends, Australians are buying albums in shops - especially when retailers make an effort, writes Bernard Zuel.

"We are social creatures, we are tactile creatures. People love to see, hear, feel, taste, listen to and they like a place that gives all that to them. A computer doesn't do that.”

Steve Kulak, the owner of a small chain of independent music retailers called Title Music Film Books, is a businessman and self-styled, if mockingly so, visionary guru. Ask him if we're witnessing the end of the music retailer as the digital world expands and, after laughing at the absurdity of the question, he gets a little mystical.

“Most people don't come in here for anything specific; it's the beauty of the journey," he says. "It's like travelling; you don't necessarily know what you're going to get but you leave yourself open to the idea. That's what music is all about."

Chances are Kulak is right. Defying the international trends and confident predictions that they would be gone within a matter of years, many Australian music stores are alive and even thriving.

Title is about to open a North Coast store to add to its Crows Nest, Surry Hills, Fitzroy and Adelaide set. Meanwhile, Gavin Ward, executive director of the Leading Edge Group, which owns or represents 170 independent stores in Australia, estimates that while his group has lost about 10 stores in the past two years, that figure is "not significantly higher" than the average closure of stores historically.

Some stores are in trouble, but most are doing well and others are making up to $3 million a year as independent traders.

One reason is that, going against international trends, Australians are still buying music. According to statistics released by the peak industry body ARIA, while the Australian music industry has continued to leak away sales of recorded music in the first six months of this year, the 8 per cent drop in physical sales (of CDs, DVDs and vinyl) was more than made up for by the surge in sales of downloads.

Even the drop in physical sales is small compared with overseas markets, which continue to show double-digit declines. Or, as in the case of Spain, a fall of 30 per cent last year.

ARIA is even predicting a greater increase in the second half of the year with albums from big names such as Robbie Williams, Powderfinger, Pearl Jam and Madonna.

When Australians buy music, they overwhelmingly prefer to buy their albums in bricks-and-mortar stores rather than by downloading. Digital downloads of single tracks – what used to be called singles – have all but obliterated the physical market (90 per cent of individual track sales now are digital).

But when it comes to albums, the situation is reversed. Australians buy more than 90 per cent of their albums by paying money over the counter to a human being and walking away with a plastic/cardboard package holding a silver compact disc. Old school!

Why? Kulak is right, according to Stephen Peach, ARIA's chief executive. "It does seem that when you make a decision to buy an album, when you like something enough to buy the whole album's worth of music, people still like the concept of the physical thing in the ownership," he says.

But this is hardly a blank cheque for retailers. Earlier this decade the big department stores were moving to widespread music retailing, taking up to 15 per cent of the market – but now they have been steadily cutting back the space for CDs and watching their share of CD sales drop to nearer 5 per cent.

Many suburban shopping centre stores have been squeezed by the bulk, variety and discount prices of the market leader JB Hi-Fi. It has 40 per cent of the $360 million Australian market and uses its size to extract better deals from the record companies than smaller traders can manage.

Those stores in trouble or dead haven't adapted to the modern reality, says Geoff Bonouvrie, owner of Mall Music in Brookvale and the chairman of the Australian Music Retailers Association. He has seen a 50 per cent turnaround in his CD sales in the past 2 years from the low point of early this decade.

It's not enough to just "rack it and hope that people walk in and buy it", as Stephen Peach put it. The stores doing well, whether large generalist ones like Mall Music, tiny specialists such as Mojo Music in the CBD or those in between including So Music in Newtown, are offering extra value – whether it is larger and more varied stock, the willingness to order in albums not in the store (something Herald readers have consistently reported is not a given), knowledgeable staff or other music products. What the marketers call multiple entry points.

"It takes work; you just can't offer CDs. I call it event retailing,” Bonouvrie explains, pointing to his large classical section, a department selling musical instruments, frequent in-store performances and a close eye on newspaper reviews and features to predict the albums people will come in asking for.

And it's not just the fortysomethings and older who can't let go of their old buying ways. "I see it across the board, from the hard-core kids to Beethoven's piano sonatas,” says Bonouvrie. "The type of person coming into our store is the avid music fans who love music and identify with it and go to see it, whether it's Andre Rieu or Beyonce or a band playing in an inner-city pub somewhere. Music is very much part of their life."

Which is where Kulak came in, standing in his store selling books, DVDs, T-shirts and anything related to the experience of culture, particularly music.

"The traditional monoculture business model in the arts is dead, finished. But that's good, it's gone back to what it should be – an experience,” he says. "People still love to buy music. People haven't forgotten what gave them a thrill, what gave them a real sense of being alive . . . and it was a bookshop, a record store, going to a midnight movie. All that kind of romance.

"The iPod spinners tell you the world is engaged with it and everyone's doing it – but it's like marriage, it's all coming back again: commitment, passion, love.”

SOURCE: http://www.smh.com.au