ART-SCHOOL gets the retrospective treatment on Oct. 15, reports Bounce.com. No particulars have been announced about the compilation, including its title. I’m guessing it’ll only cover the Pony Canyon albums, but it would be cool if the EMI years were to be included. The closest EMI got to releasing a best album was the live disc Boys Don’t Cry. Also arriving the same day is a new mini-album.
Band leader Kinoshita Riki has been focusing his efforts lately on KAREN, a project with former members of downy. The band’s first album, maggot in tears, is turning out to be one of the most listenable of the year.
So after 14 years, Guns N’ Roses’ long-gestating album Chinese Democracy may finally appear exclusively at … Wal-Mart? That’s what Billboard is reporting.
I haven’t listened to any of the other exclusives given to Wal-Mart, but really, I’m not the target market for them. Garth Brooks? The Eagles? Please. Those aren’t incentives for me to step into a Wal-Mart. I’ve got a Target around the corner anyway.
Besides, the rockist in me wants to assume that anything which needs to be targeted directly to a Wal-Mart shopper probably sucks enough to earn my scorn. The odds Chinese Democracy would sound remotely relevant — considering how long its taken for the musical landscape to shift in 10-plus years — were low to start, but a Wal-Mart exclusive, in my aforementioned rockist mind, is a clear indication of the level of suck.
In the meantime, Velvet Revolver is still looking for a new singer.
Honest. I’m not seeking out recycled album cover art! I don’t know how I’ve managed to find reused photos twice in the last 24 hours. Here’s a band from the ’80s of which I’ve never heard called This Ascension with an album titled Tears in Rain:
Now here’s the cover of Oceana by Argentine composer Osvaldo Golijov:
The image is titled Lady in Water by photographer Toni Frissell. It seems to be a popular image to use on album covers because this site links to the Bill Evans and Jim Hall album, Under Current.
VOLA & THE ORIENTAL MACHINE, led by ex-NUMBER GIRL/ZAZEN BOYS drummer Ahito Inzawa, releases its major label debut on Oct. 8, reports Bounce.com. Titled Halan’na-ca Darkside, the album will include a DVD of promo clips for its first edition limited pressing. VOLA performed at the Great Escape Festival in the UK, which raised the profile of the band, the article says. A tour to support the album starts in November. The band is signed to Universal Music Japan.
Billboard.biz reports Bertelsmann has left the building. Sony has reached an agreement to buy out the remaining 50 percent of Bertelsmann’s stake in Sony BMG. Ah, whiter Nipper now?
When I was a teenager, there were six major label conglomerates: Columbia, RCA, Warner Bros., PolyGram, EMI and MCA/Universal. PolyGram and MCA became Universal Music. Sony bought out Columbia, and General Electric, which acquired RCA, sold its recorded division to Bertelsmann. Now that leaves, Sony, Warner Music Group, Universal Music and EMI.
EMI and Warner have been trying to merge for years, but neither can seem to get its act together. It’s entirely scary but not unforeseeable that the major labels, plural, will become the major label, singular. In the past, such a merger would have signified the majors’ strong-armed dominance over all things media, effectively squeezing out independent voices.
That’s not the case now. Mergers now seem more about contraction than growth. These businesses operate on a scale too large to accommodate changes in the market. In other words, fewer people are buying CDs, so do we really need four major labels to supply diminishing demands? Bertlesmann, it seemed, didn’t need a crystal ball to figure out its answer.
Wouldn’t it be great science fiction if, after all those mergers, the eventual mega label turns out as a big as every other independent label?
Some release news items I’ve been neglectful in mentioning this past few days. I’ve been exploring the world of digital video these past few weeks, nothing of which has to deal with this site. So, yes, distracted. All items mentioned in Bounce.
CHARA releases a mini-album titled Kiss on Sept. 24. Hot on the heels of her new studio album honey, the five-song EP contains a cover of Cyndi Lauper’s "Time After Time", a collaboration with Hanaregumi for a Lauper tribute album. Other tracks include "Kieru", the theme song for the movie Hebi no Pierce, and "Tomorrow", a song used in a commercial for Astellas Pharma.
Also coming out Sept. 24 is the new studio album by Spangle call Lilli Line, titled Isolation. Bounce has a very interesting description of the band’s current sound: "Gothic classical meets Spangle call Lilli line". The band has been producing more "salon music" (I guess that’s the Japanese term for chamber music?) since their last album or, and the new album has been likened to black & white European films. That should be interesting.
Former SEAGULL SCREAMING KISS HER KISS HER mastermind Higurashi Aiha recently changed the name of her new band to Higurashi Aiha and LOVES! (Yes, the exclamation point is part of the name.) She also launched her own label, change! change! records!, to release the second LOVES album, NOW is the Time! Higurashi is really loving those exclamation points. SLOTH LOVE CHUNKS/ex-NUMBER GIRL bassist Nakao Kentaro lends a hand, as does saxophone player Nakamura Hiroshi. NOW is the Time! hits stores Sept. 10.
THE PREDATORS, which includes members of the pillows, Glay and STRAIGHTENER, releases a 7-track mini-album and DVD on Oct. 15 titled Kiba wo Miseru. The DVD includes three promo clips.
A few weeks back, it seemed I hit a dry spell with finding new listening. So indulged in a little catch-up with catalog releases and a lot of Mozart, Beethoven and Haydn.
Now I’ve got a playlist crossing the full work-week threshold, which pretty much means I really ought to start clearing some stuff up.
I’m hoping a relatively bare August will allow that to happen.
The only thing I really get from Best Buy are Bleach DVDs. (The anime, not the band.) I’ll buy a hard drive or a stick of RAM if the need arises and I don’t want to haul all the way across town for the better selection — and prices — at Fry’s. But for music gear? Doesn’t even register.
Nor do I suspect it will, even as Best Buy expands into selling music equipment. According to the Billboard article, Best Buy isn’t just putting stuff on shelves — stores will set aside actual space so customers can try the gear out.
Huh.
I imagine Best Buy would be a nice place to get some starter gear, as it is to get starter software or basic hardware. But Guitar Center and Sweetwater do a more comprehensive job, and beginners would probably do well just to start there. Best Buy doesn’t strike me as the kind of place that would help customers graduate to more specialized gear.
In producing their most punchy album in about, oh, 20 years, R.E.M. has also provided Exhibit A in the Loudness War.
As glad as I am the band finally kicked a decade’s worth of dreary writing — I didn’t even make it through the first two tracks of 2004’s Around the Sun — Accelerate is really, really FUCKING LOUD.
I guess someone on producer Jacknife Lee’s engineering team thought, "Oh, look, a compressor/limiter plug-in. Let’s just crank this motherfucker up to 11, shall we?" (Yes, I know that’s not how compressors work, but surely you get the reference.)
Nuance? Maybe on the softer tracks, but Accelerate is mostly devoid of any dynamic range. And it’s a welcome change, really.
![[This Ascension: Tears in Rain]](http://www.gregbueno.com/images/extras/thisascension_tearsinrain.jpg)
![[This Ascension: Tears in Rain]](http://www.gregbueno.com/images/extras/golijovosvaldo_oceana.jpg)
![[Elliott Carter: Figments and Fragments]](http://www.gregbueno.com/images/extras/carterelliott_figmentsandfragments.jpg)
![[Steve Reich: New York Counterpoint/Eight Lines/Four Organs]](http://www.gregbueno.com/images/extras/reichsteve_newyorkcounterpoint_full.jpg)