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Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Music News and New Music For April 9th, 2014

So of course, when running your own blog it can be tough to keep up with the s**tload of stuff that comes across our ears over a weekend!  Some good, some bad, some not even worth mentioning.  I guess that's how I use AFGM in general.  These articles that I go through everyday from various sites (Blabbermouth, CBC, National Post, AV Club, Exclaim, Music News, Rolling Stone, etc.) and sort of "filter" some of the nonsense news such as the latest fashion design, who's got beef with who and who ISN'T doing music...still.

These articles brought forth are for a few different reasons:

1. It is relevant music information that pertains to you as a reader, no matter the level of intent or the genre.

2. They are relevant to the music I would be currently listening to or a genre I have put some attention and focus on.

3. I am rather patriotic about my Canadian music, so that always comes as a first for me.  I enjoy music from all parts of the world respectively, but I still have to promote local if I can.  Canadian music rocks!

4. Because it's humorous and we can always use a good laugh.  Rarely will it be at someone's expense...but then again I am just the guy talking about it.  They're the ones causing the comments.

So in closing, I trust you all will not read EVERY single article posted here.  But I hope you find something of use here and keep the conversation going by forwarding it onto someone else.  Click on each article heading for redirection to the full article.  Cheers!



Muskoka Sound Music Festival Coming to Ontario This September:

"Bringing top music artists to Muskoka in mid-September is a perfect fit.  Muskoka is already world famous for its nature-based attractions, and it's primed to add the cultural overlay of a rockin' music festival. The idea was a no-brainer and long overdue. Muskoka Sound is a festival whose time has come, and I'm thrilled to have received so much support from so many people to help get it off the ground." -Andy McLean (the event's executive director)


Toronto Public Library launches Hoopla, Netflix-like movie and music service:

“More than 700,000 patrons throughout Toronto will now have access to the service to enjoy on-demand content from their smartphones, tablets, PCs and Apple TV." -Passion Hemphill (spokeswoman for Hoopla)

“E-content is our fastest area of growth, with customers borrowing more than 2 million ebooks, audiobooks and emagazines in 2013. We expect we’ll see even more growth this year with the introduction of online music and video." -Vickery Bowles (director of collections management)


Live Music on TV Is Experiencing Something of a Golden Age:

“These types of shows are really experiencing a renaissance of sorts.  If you went back five or six years ago, you felt some of these music awards shows were going the same way as beauty pageants, becoming less and less popular, particularly with young viewers.” -Brad Adgate (svp of research at Horizon Media)


Taylor Hawkins' The Birds of Satan Stream Eclectic New Album:



"The Birds of Satan" will be released on April 15th, 2014.


Classical music, funny? Surely you're joking:

"You could say all this is just the trappings, that the music itself is completely serious. Then again, perhaps it isn’t. The great pianist Alfred Brendel, a man with an eye for the comic in life, once wrote an essay called "Does music have to be entirely serious?" Note the caution. It’s as if he’s saying a tight little smile might be allowed, here and there, when the music does something witty. Wit in music is very like the verbal kind, and Brendel gives some wonderful examples in Haydn and Beethoven. These composers had a genius for making you expect one thing, and then giving you something else, which makes a different and more surprising sort of sense."


Alice In Chains Announce August Ontario Shows:

08/22 Hamilton, ON – Copps Coliseum
08/23 Orillia, ON – Casino Rama


THEORY OF A DEADMAN To Release 'SaVages' In July:

"We went back to where we belong on this record, back to the angst, back to the darkness. We veered off the road a bit on this one but it took us right to where we needed to be.  'Drown' is about being alone, the feeling of being washed away and left to your own devices. We've all felt that way at some point in our lives; unable to stay afloat, we sink to the bottom which always seems easier in the end than fighting your way back to the surface." -Connolly



"SaVages" will be released on July 8th, 2014 via Roadrunner Records.


Justin Timberlake Adds More North American Tour Dates:

11/20 Portland, OR – MODA Center
11/22 Oakland, CA – Oracle Arena
11/24 Los Angeles, CA – The Forum
11/28 Las Vegas, NV – MGM Grand Garden Arena
12/1 Houston, TX – Toyota Center
12/3 Dallas, TX – American Airlines Center
12/5 Oklahoma City, OK – Chesapeake Energy Arena
12/8 Chicago, IL – United Center
12/10 Toronto, ON – Air Canada Center 
12/13 Uncasville, CT – Mohegan Sun
12/14 Brooklyn, NY – Barclays Center
12/17 Philadelphia, PA – Wells Fargo Center
12/19 Nashville, TN – Bridgestone Arena
12/20 Atlanta, GA – Gwinnett Center


Incubus Happy to Avoid 'Phantom Presence' of Record Labels:

"We were lucky as a band in that the record label never lorded too much.  But there was always this sort of phantom presence. We want to make good art. I don’t think we’d make the music we make if we were lazy. So we don’t need that phantom menace hovering over us at all times." -Boyd


Brandon Boyd, Michelle Williams Set 'Jesus Christ Superstar' Tour:



“In 1971, Andrew and I were thrilled by the first-ever Jesus Christ Superstar tour of the United States.  We certainly did not imagine then that 43 years later we would be witnessing another America-wide tour of our first big hit show. We are delighted and grateful that enthusiasm for Superstar has been maintained over the years and this new production presents the work in its most powerful format – as a true rock experience.” -Tim Rice


Saul Williams to Star in Tupac-Inspired Musical:

"The show will use Tupac's music and words as a way to tell a non-biographical story about two friends living in a poverty-stricken industrial city in the Midwest, struggling to realize their dreams. The show will reportedly feature a number of classic Tupac songs including the title track, 'California Love,' 'Keep Ya Head Up' and 'Me Against the World.'"


Jack White Announces 2014 North American Tour Dates:

4/19 Third Man Records - Nashville, TN
5/29 Cain's Ballroom - Tulsa, OK *
5/30 Wild West - Lubbock, TX *
5/31 - 6/1 Free Press Summer Festival - Houston, TX
6/2 Municipal Auditorium - Shreveport, LA *
6/3 Saenger Theatre - New Orleans, LA *
6/5 The Fillmore Charlotte - Charlotte, NC *
6/7 Governors Ball - New York, NY
6/12 - 6/15 Bonnaroo - Manchester, TN
6/25 - 6/29 Glastonbury - Somerset, England
6/26 Royal Hospital Kilmainham - Dublin, Ireland
6/29 L'Olympia - Paris, France
6/30 L'Olympia - Paris, France
7/3 Heineken Music Hall - Amsterdam, Netherlands
7/4 Open'er Festival - Gdynia, Poland
7/5 Eventim Apollo - London, England
7/19 Forecastle Festival - Louisville, KY
7/20 Fox Theatre - St. Louis, MO +
7/21 Eagles Ballroom - Milwaukee, WI +
7/23 Chicago Theatre - Chicago, IL +
7/24 Auditorium Theatre - Chicago, IL +
7/27 Stage AE Outdoors - Pittsburgh, PA +
7/28 Fox Theatre - Detroit, MI +
7/30 Masonic Temple Theatre - Detroit, MI +
7/31 Air Canada Centre - Toronto, ON +
8/1 - 8/3 Osheaga Music & Arts Festival - Montreal, QC

* with Kelley Stoltz
+ with Benjamin Booker


Mastodon Releasing New Album This Year:

"A lot of people ask us if it kicks off where The Hunter left off.  And to a large degree, I suppose yes. We recorded it and took it on the road with us, and then we headed back to our rehearsal space and started working out ideas. I’ve had a lot of time to ingest this record, and it’s solid. It’s a large slab of granite. I’m once again completely proud of these guys." -Troy Hunter

"Once More Round the Sun" will be released sometime later in the year.


SALIVA's 'Rise Up' Video:

"The video for 'Rise Up' takes a different approach than we typically would have taken.  Our director, Jon Vulpine, sent a few different concepts over and one of them was a 'Mad Max'-type role and we all were hooked. Basically, it's a revenge piece but based around a group of people who get attacked but get the last laugh when it's said and done. Along with the fire, blood and explosions, we had a lot of fun making the video." -Bobby Amaru



"Rise Up" album will hit the street on April 29th, 2014.


Why Music Services Are Wasting Time Recommending New Music:

"So much time and energy is being wasted by music services trying to compel people to break out of their listening habits and try something new, when people don’t want to do this, and, in fact, appear to be hard-wired to not do this. These services would be far better served by focusing on delighting their customers by providing more content related to artists they already love, rather than trying to convince them to love something new."


OPETH To Release 'Pale Communion' Album In June:


"Pale Communion" will be released on June 17th, 2014 via Roadrunner Records.

1. Eternal Rains Will Come
2. Cusp Of Eternity
3. Moon Above, Sun Below
4. Elysian Woes
5. Goblin
6. River
7. Voice Of Treason
8. Faith In Others


EMMURE's 'Like LaMotta' Video:



"Eternal Enemies" will be released on April 15th, 2014 via Victory Records.


Daily App - Rormix brings indie music videos to your iPhone and iPad:

"Rormix has all the common features you would expect in a music discovery tool. You can follow artists on Rormix, like a music video, and browse through a feed of fresh or trending content. About the only thing missing is a "related artists" option that pulls together artists that are similar. Rormix instead uses categories and tags to aggregate similar content, which you can use to find related artists that you may enjoy."


Struc/tures Speak On Departure Of Vocalist Nick Xourafas:

“Going into the writing process, we knew what worked and what didn’t after touring off of Divided By for so long. We definitely aimed to focus on our strengths on this release. We saw the success that came with Divided By, and we just knew in our hearts that we could do so much better and agreed that we would force ourselves to do so on this new record.

We had the mindset that we would put everything we have into it otherwise it would be a waste of our time and we might as well break up. Unfortunately, that mindset came with the decision to make changes within our lineup. We parted ways with Nick, our original vocalist a few weeks before going to record. There were many reasons behind this and we are all still good friends, but we just needed to make a change if we wanted to see the band progress the way we’ve dreamed of.

That being said, we felt like replacing Nick‘s duties on vocals would but unfair and a shot in the dark if we looked outwards, so we collectively made the decision to move Brendon, our guitarist, to vocals. This was a huge challenge for everyone seeing as though only 30% of the lyrics and patterns had been written and we had to enter the studio in 2 weeks.



We literally worked day and night at Brendon‘s house honing in on the new vocal style. In retrospect, without working as hard as we did, the record wouldn’t be what it turned out to be. We’re all very proud of Brendon for stepping up on such short notice and killing it in the studio where he had to track vocals, track guitar, write guitar parts and write lyrics. Not to mention stay mentally stable! All of this time spent on these songs really paid off, so I speak for all of us when I say that we’ve never been happier with something. This album is very special to the 3 of us and really brought us together as friends.

This record is brutally honest in every aspect. It’s definitely a look inside our personal lives and I think people will appreciate how sincere both the music and the lyrics are. This whole line-up change made us grow in many ways and we feel like this is absolutely our most mature release to date. Usually I’ll listen back to a record months after finishing it, wishing we had done things differently, but this time I have no regrets and wouldn’t change a thing. We’re very proud of this album and we’re confident that our fans will enjoy it, as well as people who have never heard us before.”

“Life Through A Window“ will be released on May 13th, 2014 via Sumerian Records.


Devil You Know Debut “A New Beginning”:
 

“The Beauty Of Destruction” will be released on April 29th, 2014 via Nuclear Blast Records.


AS I LAY DYING Members Are Working On New Music Without Tim Lambesis:

"The band have been hinting at their future as early as January, and as recently as last week and today we get the first official tease. Here are the teasers each band member posted.

You'll notice each member's respective video features the musician playing their instrument in the background, except for Josh Gilbert. For Josh's video, you see the back of somebody's head, as they cup their headphones while presumably singing. This, coupled with fan comments in the video lead me to believe that Gilbert is taking over for vocals. He was already relegated to back-up vocal duties before the Tim fiasco."


Sigur Ros Cover 'Game of Thrones' Epic Song 'The Rains of Castamere':

"Like the National (who also recorded a version of 'Castamere'), Sigur Ros' Thrones love runs deep: The trio even posed with Martin for an adorable gang photo posted on their Instagram. (One can only hope the author joins the band, replacing recently departed multi-instrumentalist Kjartan Sveinsson.)"


Threat Signal Release Preview Of New Song “Nostalgia”:



Their new album is likely to be released in the fall/winter of 2014.


Wayne Static, Otep, Dope, Smile Empty Soul, Etc. Announce ‘The Civil Unrest Tour’:

“It’s going to be a blast, I love all the bands. I’ve toured with all of them before and I’m looking forward to seeing them all again. Also looking forward to hitting the west coast again because it has been way too long. This little run is right in the middle of our Wisconsin Death Trip Tour so we will still be performing all of Wisconsin Death Trip at all of these shows.” -Wayne Static

05/08 Fresno, CA – Strummer’s
05/09 Las Vegas, NV – Hard Rock Casino
05/10 Sacramento, CA – Ace Of Spades
05/11 Chico, CA – El Rey Theater (no Otep)
05/12 Seattle, WA – Studio Seven
05/13 Portland, OR – Hawthorne Theatre
05/14 Butte, MY – MAC Center
05/15 Spokane, WA – Club 412
05/16 Missoula, MT – The Wilma Theatre
05/20 Pomona, CA – The Glass House (no Otep)

“Really excited to take a short break from working on the new Dope album, “Blood Money“, to play some shows with my old buddy Wayne Static. I just moved out to LA for a while to write some additional songs and continue putting the finishing touches on “Blood Money“, so when we started discussing these dates, the timing & logistics couldn’t have been better.

The last time Dope played a lot of these markets was while on tour with Black Label Society, just after the release of our previous album, “No Regrets“, which was close to 5 years ago. So it will be great to reconnect with the fans on the West side of the US after being away for so long… I’m very much looking forward to getting dirty!!!!!” -Edsel Dope

While there have been no Canadian dates announced yet, we are crossing fingers and hoping for a few venues here and there during the tour!


INSOMNIUM's 'While We Sleep' Video:

"A couple of weeks ago, we travelled to Wroclaw, Poland, to shoot the first music video from 'Shadows Of The Dying Sun'. This time we decided to work with a Polish production company, Grupa 13, whose work includes new BEHEMOTH video, amongst others. The song we chose for the video is called 'While We Sleep'. It's a wistful song with all typical INSOMNIUM elements included — riffs, melodies, aggression, sorrow, grandeur and hope. We shot everything within one day and it was really a pleasure to work with such a professional film group. Everything went smoothly and we are amazed and very happy with the ending result. You really can't complain when the film group provides you vodka schnaps between the takes. We sincerely hope that you'll like the ending result as much as we do." -Ville Friman



"Shadows Of The Dying Sun" will be released on April 29th, 2014 via Century Media Records.


DO RECORDINGS KILL MUSIC?:

"Free improvisers—as with musicians in pretty much every genre—are increasingly ready to make it (hold for the drumroll) free. But what is happening now is that it’s possible to post recordings of gig after gig after gig, and listeners can have a more accurate sense of improvised music as an ongoing daily practice—and not one defined by a handful of landmark recordings. Who would have known that a greater volume of recordings would arguably better represent improvised music?"


THE WORLD'S TOP 10 MOST INNOVATIVE COMPANIES IN MUSIC:

"THE MOST EXCITING ACTS IN THE MUSIC INDUSTRY ARE EMBRACING THE BEST OF WHAT TECHNOLOGY HAS TO OFFER AND SOME FRESH NEW TAKES ON TRADITIONAL MARKETING.

1. SHAZAM
For naming that tune. All the time. The “Pop-up Video” for everyday life, Shazam has become the de facto method to identify that song on the tip of your tongue. In 2013, it introduced Auto Shazam, an opt-in feature that keeps a diary of your day’s playlists without you even noticing. The company has also started working directly with artists, allowing them to provide exclusive behind-the-scenes footage, interviews, and unplugged versions of their tracks. With no interruptions, the guarantee that no audio will be stored, and the opportunity for companies to reach consumers based on their TV show or commercial engagements, Shazam has moved from cool party trick to major music-industry player.

2. YY
For reclaiming karaoke and taking it online. While YY started in 2005 as a hub for hardcore gamers, it’s evolved into a karaoke haven and cash cow with $198 million in revenue. Vocalists perform for thousands of viewers live, and popularity leads to rewards. Viewers can give virtual goods to the vocalists, which can be redeemed for cash after YY takes its 60% cut.

3. COLUMBIA RECORDS
For staying up all night. A label more closely identified with the old-school music business made two strategic bets in 2013. Without any previous promotion, Beyonce's surprise self-titled release dropped at midnight on December 13th and sparked a downloading frenzy that rocketed it to No. 1 on the sales charts. On the other end of the spectrum, Columbia showed deftness in the campaign behind Daft Punk’s new album, creating a stir with short teasers on Saturday Night Live and at Coachella, hitting overdrive with a clip of Pharrell and Nile Rodgers performing “Get Lucky” and releasing a series of “Collaborator” videos."

Read the rest of the list here.

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