NEWS ARCHIVE
Those great Rock and Roll swindlers OZZY OSBOURNE, Kid Rock and Fun Lovin' Criminals are joining the queue for the BBC millennium record 'It's Only Rock And Roll', which was a 1973 hit for the Rolling Stones. Jon Bon Jovi, Stevie Wonder, Annie Lennox, Chrissie Hynde and James Brown have also leaped on the charity bandwagon. In the style of that BBC versh of Lou Reed's 'Perfect Day', each artist or band will sing a line each. Located globally from LA to London, up to 20 acts will take part. The legendary Arthur Baker is producing the single the BBC hope will be the first Number One of the new millennium. All the proceeds will be given to the Children's Promise charity.
A controversial provision in Sony Music contracts is effectively asking artists to sign away control of their official Web sites for life. Sony Music has changed its standard contracts so that it gives the company ownership over an artist's name-as well as any variation of it-for use as a domain name. Moreover, the clause is written as a lifetime provision that would apply even if the artist and Sony part ways. In addition, the contract states: "All such Web sites and all rights thereto and derived therefrom shall be Sony's property throughout the territory and in perpetuity." Like to see what The Artist would make of that one!
Bristol's own Tricky has unleashed a radio special on the House of Blues' HOB.com web site with the debut of "Tricky Radio." Produced and DJ'd by Tricky himself, the on-demand "Tricky Radio" channel offers listeners a chance to listen to six hours of his favourite tunes, unreleased tracks and exclusive remixes, as well as tracks from other artists on his Durban Poison label. Featured artists will include Method Man, Grassroots, UB40, Genaside II & Baby Namboos and Grace Jones. HOB.com also offered the exclusive video webcast of Tricky's "Durban Poison Tour" from the Bowery Ballroom in New York City.
INIMENTER's debut single is out now on ORG - you've
probably heard it on Radio One or XFM. Now those highly-acclaimed scamps are
lining up an album to come out on Org in November. "Wildhearts playing the Pixies?"
(Metal Hammer) "They're absolutely killer, imagine the melodic power rock of
the Foo Fighters and hardcore pop legends Descendents mixed with the chainsaw
riffage of Metallica and you'll be half way there"
(Kerrang) Pop songs to kill for, meaty riffs - Inimenter make pop music for
metal heads to jump around to.
Check out http://www.organart.demon.co.uk
for further details...
Naturally you will have already bought tickets
for the Black Celebration festival, with C-TEC (Jean-Luc Front 242, Marc Cubanate
et al); DAS ICH; INERTIA; COVENANT; LEECH WOMAN; CHAOS ENGINE and far too many
great bands to shake a stick at. Should it have slipped your mind in your rush
to buy NIN tickets, there should still be some available from the usual outlets.
The gig is at the London Astoria 2 on Halloween (31/10/99), 3pm-11pm - readmission
till 8.30pm. Food and drink are available on-site, as is a chill-out bar, DJs
and various goodies.
See http://www.demon.co.uk/flag for
further info.
Dates are starting to emerge for the forthcoming
Das Ich, Inertia, In Strict Confidence USA Tour 1999.
Here are the dates as they currently stand:
12.11 - Respectable St Cafe, West Palm Beach, FL.
14.11 - Das Machine, Barbarellas, Orlando, FL.
16.11 - New Orleans, LA (TBC).
17.11 - Masquerades, Atlanta, GA.
19.11 - Texas (TBC)
20.11 - Texas (TBC)
21.11 - Texas (TBC)
22.11 - NYC (TBC)
23.11 - The Hexx, Boston, MA.
24.11 - Venue TBA, New York City, NY.
25.11 - Phantasy, Cleveland, OH.
26.11 - Labyrinth, Detroit, MI.
27.11 - Grand Rapids/Detroit (TBC)
28.11 - Metro, Chicago, IL.
29.11 - The Saloon, Minneapolis, MS.
30.11 - TBA 02.12 - Dekonstrukt, San Francisco, CA.
03.12 - Das Bunker, Moguls, Los Angeles, CA.
04.12 - Therapy, San Diego, CA.
05.12 - Mexico City, Mexico (TBC)
06.12 - Mexico City, Mexico (TBC)
(Dates are subject to change.)
In support of their crushing, critically acclaimed
new album "Us And Them", Godflesh are set to undertake a long-awaited string
of European live appearances. Godflesh live is a rare and unforgettable experience
- notoriously brutal and visually commanding - so catch them while you can on
the following dates....
November
Thurs 11 - La Lune Des Pirates, Amiens, France
Fri 12 - Dunkerque Festival, Dunkerque, France
Sat 13 - Le Cylindre, Besancon, France
Sun 14 - Pes Ner, Lyon, France
Tue 16 - Usine, Geneva, Switzerland
Wed 17 - Retschule, Bern, Switzerland
Thurs 18 - Sedel, Luzern, Switzerland
Fri 19 - New Age, Treviso, Italy
Sat 20 - Flog, Florence, Italy
Sun 21 - Babylonia, Biella, Italy
Tue 23 - Nouma Trouff, Mulhouse, France
October's Club Panda will be held on Thursday
October 28th, and is likely to attract the whole of the sparkly glam indie brigade.
It's 5 without a flyer, 3.50 with a flyer and 2 if you're a flash bastard with
a guest flyer.
According to the blurb,
The Engine House appear on stage at roughly 8.30pm.
They're not signed to Panda, they're not really called Engine house, and they
playing for only 20 beautiful minutes.
Stumble appear on stage at roughly 9pm.
They hail from Derby and are kinetically-inclined young tykes.
Expect rousing tunes and rowdy guitars.
Terris appear on stage at roughly 9.45pm and are four noisecats who've just
signed to Blanco Y Negro.
This is their debut London appearance.
They've been described by the NME as
"Four sticks of dynamite with a single fuse, ready to blow the fuck up and take
you with them".
Finally, the Dum Dums will appear at approximately 10pm to entertain those still
standing.
"They are feverishly youthful pop punkers who are still blowing the ink dry
on their new deal with Wildstar Records.
They specialise in juicy harmonies and sparkly-eyed bounciness." It sez here,
anyway...
Second Quarter 1999
Cubanate release new album
After a wait of nearly two years from completion, Cubanate release "Interference", a drum'n'bass/industrial crossover album (see review). The band are acclaimed by sources as diverse as The Prodigy, and influential rock rag Melody Maker. Cubanate have been touring the US with the likes of Front 242 and Young Gods, but have been propping up bars in Camden to celebrate the release of "Interference" release on June 7th. For the album, Marc and Phil are joined by a very familiar figure in the shape of Rhys Fulber. The former Frontline Assembly man previously worked with Marc on the brilliant C-Tec project (along with Ged from Crisis NTI) and produced this album, which continues the jungle-inspired sound. Marc Heal has had much to celebrate recently as the royalties for the computer game "Gran Tourismo" have poured in - Marc wrote four songs on the soundtrack, along with K-Nitrate singer (and former Cubanate member) Graham Rayner.
"Interference" is the fourth Cubanate album, but marks a lyrical departure from previous, more abstract songs. "Isolation" describes the mixed emotions of a one night stand: "I felt it was time for Cubanate to become intelligent in what they were singing about," says Heal. "I tried to make this album directly personal in terms of describing exact situations and moments, and also the environment. Each particular song has a direct situation I was actually in, and therefore felt I could actually describe. Before, a lot of the Cubanate lyrics were more abstract and less personally connected." No live dates have been scheduled yet, but as always, we'll keep you posted.
First Quarter 1999
Media, Mergers and Mails
MTV is dipping its grubby finger
into the sticky pie of internet radio. The company was recently negotiating
to acquire Spinner.com, a privately held Net radio firm formerly known
as TheDJ.com, according to sources close to the discussion.
Matt Farber, senior vice president of programming for MTV Networks,
declined to comment about Spinner or MTV's other plans for an online
radio venture. But a move into Net radio is a logical step for MTV.
"It makes perfect sense for them," said Mark Mooradian, senior analyst
at Jupiter Communications. "Every national media property that's involved
with music is going to go into online programming."
Launch Media, Inc. has agreed to acquire Musicvideos.com, and has integrated that company's nearly 900 videos into the Launch online home, indicating that its future lies on the internet, rather than in the previously anticipated CD ROM market. Meanwhile, MediaX Corporation, the company that runs Rod Stewart's official web site, has launched its online music store, Amuznet. In order to directly market its new online music store, MusicHQ.com, to young consumers, DVD Holding Corporation will send out around 4.2 million emails a month to members of online teen community Bolt.com, and another 1.65 million to HotMail users. MusicHQ and Bolt.com will also co-develop and co-brand the "Indie Label" feature on Bolt.com. The section of the site will feature label and artist profiles, a newsletter, interactive voting and a link to MusicHQ.com for product orders.
MP3 firm gets license from Harry Fox
The Harry Fox Agency has issued what is
believed to be the first Digital Phonorecord Delivery license for delivering
songs in the MP3 (MPEG-1, Audio Layer 3) format to internet record company
GoodNoise. The HFA is the licensing arm of the National Music
Publishers' Association. The US copyright law was amended a few years
ago to include online music delivery, said Kohn, who authored industry
tome Kohn on Music Licensing. GoodNoise, which up until now had to approach
the roughly 15,000 music publishers individually to pay the necessary fees,
now can pay the Harry Fox Agency the standard 7.1-cent fee or 1.35 cents
per minute of playing time, whichever is greater, for each of the songs
it provides for download via the MP3 format. The agency, which represents
all the music publishers, takes a small cut in return for distributing
the fee. GoodNoise also will also embed a licensing number, dubbed the
"Multimedia Identifier," into every track downloaded from its site, to
let customers know that the songs they bought and downloaded hold a licence
from the publisher. This agreement seems to poke more holes in SDMI,"
or the Secure Digital Music Initiative, announced late last year by the
Recording Industry Association of America. Today's agreement shows that
"no one is waiting for this supposed standard to come about."
IN DEPTH
Fans Injured in Fear Factory Fracas
Violence at Manchester show leaves fans injured and lighting tech bruised
"The Band That Destroys Buildings!"
One Minute Silence explain the facts behind the chaos at top London venue The Garage after inciting fans to "destroy the place"
Skinny Puppy Revived For Remix Album
Legendary industrial pioneers Skinny Puppy have been remixed for a new album by many of today's hottest acts, from Nine Inch Nails' Chris Vrenna to the less predictable likes of Josh Wink and the Deftones
Bright young hopefuls Cay sign a deal at last
MCPS' new website gives details of licensing online