I’m amazed. This guy has posted a leaked version of Fiona Apple’s “Extraordinary Machine” album in his blog. Try her if you don’t know her. She’s simply great! I’m guessing Jon Brion is the producer as always. Sony doesn’t think it’s radio-friendly, so this might be your only chance.
They did the right thing. “Loveparade belongs to nobody”, was the answer when Samsung wanted to sponsor this year’s demonstration under their own banner, “Samsung Loveparade”. Now without a sponsor, there’s a chance the parade will have to be cancelled a second time since it’s start in 1989 (since 1996 in Tiergarten). No need to worry yet though according to the management, who claims to have other possible sponsors. July 9th is still official until further notice…
“The Merciless Beauty” is the name of Fidget’s second album. I love their first, but I’m not sure what to think of this new one. They’ve somehow let all kinds of influences take control and left out most of what I liked from before. The new calmer and atmospheric sound is not bad, but it leaves me kind of unsatisfied. Skate fashion store Titus is hosting a free download of “Better Than This” from the album (one of the more conservative tracks). Here’s a direct link to it for those who’s curious.
Three songs from Aimee Mann’s upcoming studio album is now available as streams on her website! “King of the Jailhouse” has been out since November on her live album though. It’s her fifth solo release, with a dozen songs that tell the story of John and Caroline. A concept album like the musical equivalent of a novella. Since her lyrics are usually short stories set to music, I’m very sure she will succeed where other concept albums have failed. :) If you preorder, you will receive a 32-page lyric book with photos of Aimee and illustrations from the album. Might actually be worth to skip CD Universe this time.
Overheard 2 young girls browsing the small CD department at the supermarket…
Girl 1: Ooh.. Darin.. (from Sweden’s Idol contest)
Girl 2: Eew.. Daniel
Girl 1 picks up some Billy Idol collection.
Girl 1: Billy Idol? What place did he end up at?
It might be the electronica, or maybe his voice. Ben Christophers’ “My Beautiful Demon” album makes me think of Björk’s “Homogenic”, with a twist of Radiohead. I saw him live in Berlin a couple of years ago, but I never bought that album until today at Megastore’s great 50% sale (along with 22 other items). :)
Listen to my favourite songs in February as a snippet mixtape here! (Streaming with Flash in popup)
February 2005
Bloc Party – Like Eating Glass
Chemical Brothers – The Boxer
Rya – At The End Of All Questions
Nina Gordon – Straight Outta Compton
Apocalyptica feat. Marta Janova – Wie Weit
Tori Amos – Sweet The Sting
Mary Gauthier – Falling Out Of Love
Afrob feat. Joy Denalane – Soulmate
Charlotte Hatherley – Bastardo
Querida – 3-5-3
..when you see your boss as Sloane, and think that new guy is like Sark. :) Only thing that can save me now is season 6 of Red Dwarf that was released on DVD yesterday (get it cheap over at CD-Wow). It’s my absolute favourite season of the show, and I can’t wait to see the “Psirens” episode again! It was one of those episodes you missed to record onto VHS. :)
Info about an upcoming album from Madonna is mentioned on FemaleFirst. Apparently it’s gonna be “heavily rock influenced – after being inspired by glam British rockers The Darkness“. Could the producer be Headcleanr, who’s rock remixes been on her last few singles? If that’s the case, I’m officially excited. :)
Bold and beautiful, I instantly upgraded WordPress to the new 1.5 “Strayhorn” release. The upgrade guide was very helpful, but I still need to find out how to convert my old wp-comments.php to the new Theme system. All my old plugins seem to work just fine (including Spam Stopgap Extreme).
Update: Had some troubles with trackbacking, but this bug-report did the trick.
The date has been set. 50 Foot Wave’s full-length debut will be released on 4AD March 7. Their original plan to release an EP every nine months wasn’t taken seriously by the music industry. I’m hoping this album will correct that attitude, giving them the recognition they deserve. I wish more bands had their energy and awareness about the needed change of the musical climate.
Send a valentine’s card from Trojan Records to your loved one. On the morning of the 14th, he or she will receive a virtual 7″ record along with a free mp3 from Trojan’s Reggae Love Songs 2 album. :)
The “On Ultimate Things” reissue can now be ordered from Kirsty Hawkshaw’s official site, but the details I mentioned earlier are a bit sketchy. The downloadable artwork is a scanned copy of the original 1998 version on Coalition Records, mentioning no bonus material. Waiting for confirmation.
Update:
“I will be adding two other tracks, one is an instrumental skit, and the other is the Lemon D mix of Sci-clone”.
My iBook is coming, my iBook is coming! :) “Feb 7 or earlier”. I wanted a Mac Mini at first, but having two barebone computers felt a bit unnecessary. I’ve already practised some MacOSX in the PearPC emulator and ordered myself a small wireless router :). Only thing missing now is software. What’s the best (preferably free) FTP, IM and IRC clients out there?
The U-Myx software is back for a second time on the new single from The Killers. If you were disappointed before, you certainly will be this time as well. Nothing’s changed.. except for exporting, which has been disabled. Guess we have to thank the label for that though. The song, “Somebody told me”, was more fun stripping down and “remixing” than the Muse one at least. I put up my “Who needs guitars anyway” mix streaming here. (You will need Flash to hear it)
Best cover ever? Nina Gordon covers NWA’s “Straight Outta Compton”! She really should record their debut in it’s entirety! :D
Found a very interesting article about lithium battery care. I usually wait until the battery is completely drained before recharging, but since a lithium-ion battery provides about 300-500 charge cycles, it’s better to just recharge it partially. I’ll definately change my battery habits from now on. Save a battery’s life. :)
The very cool video for Charlotte Hatherley’s “Bastardo” is now available at her website. Fans of “The Office” will probably recognize actress Lucy Davis in it. The single will be out on February 21 in both CD and DVD format.
Update: Pre-order all three formats (incl. 7″) for only 4.99£ at Townsend Records.
The snippet mixtape of my favourite songs this first month of 2005. Click here to listen! (Streaming with Flash in popup)
January 2005
Zonk – Urban Paradise
Jon Brion – Knock Yourself Out
Brendan Benson – Good To Me
Digitonal – Maris Stella
Miranda Lee Richards – Folkin’ Hell
Klee – Gold
The Von Bondies – Cmon Cmon
The Killers – Mr. Brightside
Amy Winehouse – In My Bed
Such A Surge – Powersurge
Sigh.. A very childish seller on Ebay just left me negative feedback for simply giving him a neutral. Apparently I’m hard to please, and so is everyone who’s left him bad or neutral feedback. I’m sorry for mentioning your CD’s come with a terrible stench of smoke (that won’t even air out). If I’d known that, I wouldn’t have bought the CD in the first place. I’m not even the only one who’s complained about it. The CD is Aimee Mann’s “Ultimate Collection”. I’ll give it away to anyone who wants it. Call me pedantic, but I don’t want an album that smells in my collection. Take it, it’s yours…
