Cocco releases a new single titled "Dugong no Mieru Oka" on Sept. 15, but the release is restricted to Okinawa, so says Bounce.com. Cocco performed the song during her Live Earth appearance on July 7. The dugong is a sea mammal closely related to the manatee, and it’s an animal for which Cocco reportedly has an affinity.
A number of fall music preview articles in the press cite James Blunt, Foo Fighters and Alicia Keys as releases to which to look forward. If that’s the best we can expect, then I may as well consider this year done.
It’s been often said the music industry is doing gangbusters, but the recording industry is spiraling down the crapper. Well, I’m paraphrasing, but the industry-wide changes ushered in by the Demon Internet has gotten everyone shell-shocked and puzzled. It seems no artist is in their A-game, and a lot of fear of what’s going on business-wise has trickled down to the creative process.
Either that, consumers just have better tools to make wiser purchases. However much I love Tracey Thorn, I couldn’t in good conscience shell out money for Out of the Woods, and as much as Billy Corgan annoys me, I couldn’t miss out on the Smashing Pumpkins’ Zeitgeist.
Let’s review, then, a few select titles to expect from now till November.
While I was wrapping up work on the first season of Musicwhore.org Podcast, Kevin e-mailed me about another new Hatakeyama Miyuki album in the works:
This new release from Hatakeyama may make up for what Summer Clouds, Summer Rain didn’t do. Because of their combined performance at the Fuji Rock Festival this year, Hatakeyama and ASA-CHANG will be collaborating on a new album, featuring members from Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra. The big-band-styled album will include covers of Misora Hibari classics as well as jazz standards. If Hatakeyama’s the only featured vocalist, then the prospects of this album already sound fantastic.
Indeed. CD Japan announced the album has an Oct. 3 release date. The title has yet to be determined.
Kronos Quartet’s arrangement of Sigur Rós’ "Flugufrelsarinn" will be digitally released by Nonesuch on Sept. 4, so says Billboard. Kronos has played "Flugufrelsarinn" as an encore at its concerts for a number of years, and it was available on the ensemble’s Myspace page for while.
The quartet is also releasing an arrangement of "The Star-Spangled Banner", also based on the Jimi Hendrix rendition. "Purple Haze" has been a long staple in Kronos’ repertoire.
I’m looking forward to these releases, despite the likelihood they’ll be crippled by DRM. Nonesuch is part of the Warner Music Group, which has been historically gung-ho about DRM.
I haven’t visited Pause & Play in a while, mainly because it’s no substitute for ICE magazine. I did, however, find a particularly interesting entry. This past Tuesday (Aug. 14) marked the release of Floratone, a collaboration involving guitarist Bill Frisell, electronics whiz Tucker Martine, producer Lee Townsend and drummer Matt Chamberlain.
It’s useless playing six degrees of separation with 3/4 of this group, because they all work within one degree of each other. Townsend has produced many of Frisell’s solo albums. Martine has worked with keyboardist Wayne Horvitz, who has also produced Frisell. Oh, and both Horvitz and Frisell were in John Zorn’s Naked City. The only wild card is Chamberlain, the former drummer of Soundgarden Pearl Jam. How would a grunge rocker end up with these cats? Easy — Frisell and Chamberlain live in the same city, Seattle. (As noted in comments, the former drummer of Soundgarden is Matt Cameron. Matt Chamberlain worked with Pearl Jam and Edie Brickell & the New Bohemians. It would be interesting to see whether a drummer like Cameron could play with Frisell, et al.)
Visit the Floratone web site over at Blue Note Records, and an embedded audio selection of the title track starts up. I usually hate autoplaying Flash, but in this case, it’s very much welcome. Martine created some haunting textures in Horvitz’s 4+1 Ensemble, and it’s those flourishes which drive the track. Frisell’s own music isn’t usually anchored to a strict beat, and it sounds like Chamberlain is forcing him into a steady pace (at least on the 30-second iTunes clips.) I’m interested to see how this album turns out.
Bassist Viktor Krauss, cornetist Ron Miles and violinist Evynd Kang make guest appearances.
Onitsuka Chihiro releases her first new album in five years, titled Las Vegas, on Oct. 31, so says Oops Music. The album includes the pre-release singles "everyhome" and "Bokura Barairo no Hibi", the latter of which hits stores on Sept. 19. The first edition pressing adds a DVD of video clips, which includes "Bokura Barairo no Hana" and two versions of "everyhome".
Onitsuka Chihiro releases a new single titled "Bokura Barairo no Hibi" on Sept. 19. I saw this news posted on Oops Music a few weeks ago, and CD Japan listed it in a recent e-mail. The coupling track for the single is titled "NOW", according to Onitsuka’s label site. That’s pretty much all the information available through official channels. I haven’t seen any mention of it on Bounce or any additional details, save for production work by Kobayashi Takeshi.
Both Kevin and V! have commented about the impending release of a new Shiratori Maika album, and I keep forgetting to post about it myself. So if you want to express your excitement over a new Shiratori album — the first in three years — please post here!
The album is titled Hikousen, and it’s scheduled for release on Sept. 12 on her new label, Universal Music. CD Japan lists the album at 2,381 yen, which is slightly less expensive than her releases on Pony Canyon.
My own funds have gotten tight that I’m actually going to have to depend on the Evil Sharing Networks to listen to this one. I liked Gemini, but I was somewhat lukewarm to Tougenkyou. So I’m going to approach this release with a bit of cautious optimism.
I do have to say the Japanese release schedule this year is far more appealing than what’s happening domestically.
Billboard magazine is reporting an Oct. 30 release date for Duran Duran’s next studio album, Red Carpet Massacre. It’s the first album since Andy Taylor’s departure the second time around. Or the second such album to follow an Andy Taylor departure. Given this group’s tenacity, I bet there’s going to be a third time in around 2028.
God, I hope they break up by then.
I tease my fellow Duranie friend, Dreama, about my desire to witness the dissolution of what is arguably my favorite group — yes, even more than Number Girl, but only by that much. I would like to miss Duran Duran, to feel wistful about Medazzaland and nostalgic about The Wedding Album, but that can’t happen if they’re still recording albums.
I mean, goddamn — Pop Trash. What a prophetic title. As Red Carpet Massacre must be.
Timbaland and Justin Timberlake make appearances on Red Carpet Massacre. If Utada Hikaru’s Exodus showed us anything, having Timbaland behind the console is no guarantee for a homerun. If they’re really that desperate to look relevant, they should have gotten — I don’t know — Sufjan Stevens or the Shins to work with them. Hell, the Postal Service sound more Duran Duran than Duran Duran.
Oh, don’t take my hate too seriously. I know on Oct. 30, I’ll be in line at the music store with CD in hand, dutifully putting my hard-earned cash into the coffers of Le Bon-Rhodes-Taylor-Taylor-Taylor. To paraphrase Ennis Del Mar, I wish I knew how to quit them.
I should double check to see if Oct. 30 means 2007 or 2008. Duran Duran doesn’t have a good track record of keeping by the release dates they announce. Back in November 2006, Nick Rhodes said this album would be out by May 2007.
[UPDATE, Aug. 31, 2007]: The official site lists Nov. 13, 2007 as the new US release date, Nov. 12, 2007 in the UK. Isn’t that nice?
The next Tokyo Jihen album, titled Goraku (Variety), hits stores Sept. 26, so says Bounce.com. The new album contains 13 tracks, and the band heads out on tour in October. The special edition of the band’s next single, "OSCA", contains a special lottery ticket to win advanced tickets to the upcoming tour.