01. Angelicus
02. Love
03. After All
04. Terra Firma
05. Innocente
06. Self-Saboteur
07. The Way You Want It To Be
08. Twilight
09. Flowers Become Screens
10. Silence
11. Incantation (encore)
12. Forgotten Worlds (credit roll)
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Bill Leeb has had an exhausting, yet productive year. He released Improvised Electronic Devices with his Front Line Assembly project, an acoustic album with Delerium, and apparently he’s also just about finished with Delerium’s next full-length album. As if that wasn’t enough, he also managed to get a live DVD released of Delerium’s 2008 performance at Nightclub 9:30 in Washington D.C. with additional footage from Atlanta, West Palm Beach and Montreal. For those that are unfamiliar with Delerium and their music, a live performance might not sound like that big of an undertaking, but it certainly is. Thankfully, despite a few hiccups, Epiphany is an enjoyable experience that is punctuated by stunning visuals and a great clear sound.
Kristy Thirsk
Let’s be honest, Delerium’s music is not exactly built for a live setting. The band’s combination of world music, smooth new age and electronic pop is great for chilling out to, but watching stationary musicians for ninety-five minutes would be a tedious prospect. Fortunately, someone else was thinking the same thing and they incorporated a lot of great visual elements into the DVD’s presentation. The most noticeable…
I know it’s unfashionable and frightfully rude to stick up for major labels these days – and goodness! I take no pleasure in doing it – but a recent post by industry litigator Gary Stiffelman on The Comet raised a number of insightful points.
Stiffelman argues for the continued usefulness (note: not essential goodness or moral worth) of major labels, making the case that while the music industry pie might be shrinking, the major labels continue to perform a necessary service that nobody else can replicate. Basically, he says that every major musical artist (measured in monetary terms) has benefited hugely from the major label model, and this is as true today as it was 20, 30, 40 and 50 years ago.
He dresses it needlessly in legal jargon (“disintermediation” is just a fancy way of saying “unnecessary” – he is a lawyer after all) so I’ve picked out the essential points. He states:
1. [T]he supposition that the internet levels the playing field and allows every aspiring artist to launch his or her own superstar career is naïve at best, and dangerous at worst.
2. I cannot think of any music superstar that came onto the scene during my 60+ year career that didn’t benefit from the efforts and money of a major label.
3. There are always exceptions to every rule, but the labels, for all of…
As far as rock bands go, they don’t really come any more profit-oriented than KISS.
It’s decades now since the New York glam pioneers cottoned onto the idea, first articulated by the Rolling Stones, that nostalgia is the true money pit, that unabashedly playing the hits year-on-year to the same audience is a far more profitable well than the whole “recording new music” deal. In the last decade, the KISS and the Stones have released no fewer than two full albums between them, suggesting recorded music may not be a priority for them.
Which makes it all the more unusual that Gene Simmons, The Demon himself, continually manages to get himself caught up in disputes with illegal downloaders. Granted, he has a lot of albums in the can, but very few of them are actually sold in record stores, and it’s difficult to imagine the torrent sites buzzing with excitement over the latest 320kbps rip of Hot in the Shade or Revenge. You’d feel he might be better off leaving the record sales to the people who make records and stick to the pursuit of the midlife crisis dolla.
This week, though, he’s managed to outdo himself. Not only has he continued to voice his support for suing illegal filesharers (an approach even the RIAA has abandoned), he’s threatened to sue Anonymous – yes, the online community of teenage bigots and paedophiles – and have it/them jailed for launching a brute force Denial of Service attack on…
Last month, Villager-in-chief Conor O’Brien dropped by the Sun newspaper offices (for some reason) and recorded a cover of ‘Tightrope,’ the lead single from bequiffed soul sensation Janelle Monae’s excellent debut album The Archandroid (Suites II and III).
There are no ultra-choreographed dance moves that we can see or hear, unfortunately, but Conor’s simple acoustic guitar arrangement puts a whole new sinister spin on Monae’s vivacious dance number.
Villagers – ‘Tightrope’ (Janelle Monae cover)
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To celebrate Jónsi’s (Sigur Ros) forthcoming tour of the United States, we’ve teamed up with the Icelandic musician’s label XL Recordings to bring you an exciting competition.
Jónsi and Alex, his boyfriend and collaborator in Riceboy Sleeps, have put together a mix CD containing 13 of their favourite songs, including tracks by Billie Holiday, Django Reinhardt and Audrey Hepburn, and we’ve got 5 hard copies to give away, complete with custom-designed artwork. Jónsi and Alex designed the sleeve themselves, drawing on themes of childhood and innocence.
Before heading off on tour, Jónsi dropped into the NPR studios to record a segment for the network’s All Things Considered program, which can be listened to here.
To be in with a chance of winning, just send your full name, address (within the United States and Canada) and the name of your favourite Jónsi song to sputnikreviews@gmail.com with the title “Jónsi & Alex contest”.
Closing date: Thursday, October 21, 11:59 EST
Tracklist:
1. ‘The Celebrated Polish Carillon using only the upper three keys of the piano’ – Natalia Janotha
2. ‘Ave Maria’ – Alessandro Moreschi
3. ‘Voggubarnsins Mal’- Smarakvarttinn A Akureyr
4. ‘Mother’s Last Word To Her Son’ – Washington Phillips
5. ‘Donx Sourire’ – Django Reinhardt
6. ‘The Gypsie Laddie’ – John Jacob Niles
7. ‘I Can’t Believe You’re In Love With Me’ – Billie Holiday
8. ‘Parlez-Moi D’Amour’ – Lucienne Boye
9. ‘Marche Funebre’ – Raoul…
The Justin Bieber story took its inevitable step into hip hop last month with Kanye West’s remix of ‘Runaway Love,’ but it took a leap into the ultra-surreal earlier today when he premiered ‘Speaking in Tongues,’ the first glimpse of his rapping alter-ego Shawty Mane.
It’s entirely unclear whether this is a genuine musical statement or a pop culture spoof the likes of which the world hasn’t seen since Orson Welles dropped the radio broadcast of his namesake H.G.’s War of the Worlds in1938, but it certainly is… something.
Shakira’s decision to cover the xx’s ‘Islands’ (originally retitled ‘Explore,’ now re-retitled ‘Islands’ again) isn’t exactly a huge shock, having been signposted in the summer with strategically leaked samples and a televised live cover at Glastonbury.
It is rather good, however.
Shakira’s cover is faster and less intimate than the original, laying a thumping club beat below the tropical guitar riff, but it does somehow manage to work.
Before detailing the show itself, there is a intricately webbed story behind the recent movement of Glassjaw (most of the following details are with great help of the www.glassjaw.net message board). Back on August 8th, 2010, Glassjaw released the “All Good Junkies Go To Heaven” single and played a coordinating show in the United Kingdom. Soon after, Glassjaw secretly played a small Long Island venue (Vibe Lounge) on September 9th, 2010 that aligned with the “Jesus Glue” vinyl release date. Like the 9/9/10 date, Sons Modern put together a show at Maxwell’s in New Jersey on October 10th, the same date that the “Natural Born Farmer” single dropped. Keeping a consistent pattern, this show was named “Sons Modern Family Gathering feat. Tidal Arms/Happy Body Slow Brain and very special guest.” Once again, this led to mass speculation, specifically that Glassjaw would be playing the bill. Now, the previous three singles were labeled with the numbers 88, 89, and 90 respectively, and a short history lesson allows you to know that Glassjaw have attached themselves to the year 1993, the year the band formed (and a number they are likely counting up to). Putting the pieces together, the writing is on the wall of what is to come. On 11/11/10 and 12/12/10 there will be two more singles and at least two more shows, filling up 91 and 92 in their catalog. However, when Glassjaw play January 1st,…
Weezer laughed off an offer of $10 million to break up, but would it really cost that much?
It helped that it was a slow week, but there was an unusual amount of press attention last Wednesday when Seattle man James Burns boldly offered rock band Weezer $10 million to stop making music.
The concept of paying musicians to retire isn’t exactly a new one, but in this case it reflected a real long-held view among part of the band’s fanbase that, well, maybe retirement wouldn’t be the worst idea in the world. Having spent much of the ’90s and early ’00s as a solid ‘album every two or three years’ band, Weezer have released four in the past five years and the dramatic slide in quality has been noticed by all but the most easily-amused fan.
Whether the petition was intended as a joke or a genuine expression of frustration – more than likely both – the band were quick to laugh it off, with drummer Patrick Wilson joking that “if they can make it 20, we’ll do the ‘deluxe breakup’!” Frontman Rivers Cuomo rather missed the point entirely, reassuring fans that “no petition and no amount of money will stop us from being together!” In any case, spoilsport Burns has since shut the petition down.
It’s a pity – it would have been nice if Weezer had at least have pretended to entertain the offer…
In anticipation of their second album Helioscope, tentatively scheduled for February 2011, we’re proud to present the video and full-length stream for Vessels’ new single ‘Meatman, Piano Tuner, Prostitute.’
Vessels fans will notice one new feature on the band’s new single, ‘Meatman, Piano Tuner, Prostitute’: vocalist Stuart Warwick (himself a solo musician) is omnipresent on the track, making it about as close to a standard “pop” track as the Leeds post-rockers have ever made.
Vessels’ debut album White Fields & Open Devices was lauded on Sputnik for its unexpected twists and imaginative way of combining sounds, including a refreshing willingness to use vocals as an extra instrument rather than as focal point or (such is the case with most post-rock acts) just ignoring them completely.
‘Meatman’ is a bit of a departure, then, as Warwick’s singing is very much the central structure. However it’s very much a change that pays off as it allows the group to incorporate more non-rock effects, with shimmering, distorted sounds and corrosive piano effects jarring elegantly with Warwick’s fluid, almost violin-like vocals, and the inevitably explosive release of guitars and drums is all the more electric as a result.
The single is accompanied by a Kira Zhigalina-directed video that is as colourful and distinctive as the song itself.
Vessels — ‘Meatman, Piano Tuner, Prostitute’
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Here’s the deal: Sputnikresident Keelan’s review of Sufjan Stevens’ The Age of Adz is really fucking good. I mean like, really, really fucking good. So much so that I had to write something back at him. But before that I really need to point out that Keelan is the most profound writer on this site, someone who actually takes the time to think through what he’s writing before spilling his digital ink, and anyone else looking to figure out how to do this whole writing reviews thing should read his stuff. Secondly, this is also a roundabout response (not quite review!) to The Age of Adz itself, which is probably one of this years most bewildering records, which, for better or worse, I’d like to share some thoughts on. So with the stream of consciousness button firmly pressed down into my head, let’s keep going!
Let me get this out of the way: The Age of Adz is the mirror image reversal of M.I.A’s /\/\/\Y/\. Calm down. Now, I like/\/\/\Y/\. I wrote an over the top review saying as much. I don’t like The Age Of Adz. Let me flesh this out – Perhaps the most striking resemblance between /\/\/\Y/\ and The Age of Adz is their sheer reliance on affect, with the barest minimum tying it all together: Melodies and sounds will sweep in out of nowhere; for Sufjan, this means fleeting strings and choral lines; for M.I.A. this means glitchy spasms of synth squelches…
Hello Sputnik community,
As a staff writer I frequently get asked about “the right way to write a review” (as if there is a right way), and for tips and pointers by users that want to step up and provide new content to the site. While the creative process is different from person to person, there is one thing that, regardless of if it’s your first review or your 100th, should be a part of the writing process: proofreading. No matter how clearly you think you have laid out your ideas, little kinks have a nasty habit of popping up and sometimes it takes a fresh set of eyes to catch them before you hit submit. To help out with catching grammatical errors, improving flow, and curbing wordiness you can visit the oft underused proofreading forum (here), where you can get a peer review from some of the more helpful community members and the staff. Even if you don’t want to write a review, you can still help out by offering advice and helping those who do. Please don’t let this beneficial feature go to waste.
Thank you for your time,
Adam Thomas (redskyformiles)
On last night’s (Wednesday’s) edition of his Late Night show, Jimmy Fallon finally managed to combine his dual-interest in classic hip hop and wooden acting in a surprisingly good medley of classic rap songs with help from Justin Timberlake and house band the Roots.
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of September 28 , 2010. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff or contributors.
Abigail Williams – In the Absence of Light (Candlelight/Lumberjack)
August Burns Red – Home [Live CD/DVD] (Solid State Records)
Bad Religion – The Dissent Of Man (Epitaph Records)
Kenny Chesney – Hemingway’s Whiskey (Sony Nashville)
Eric Clapton – Clapton (Reprise)
Phil Collins – Going Back (Atlantic)
Combichrist – Making Monsters (Metropolis Records) Deerhunter – Halcyon Digest(4AD Records)
Dimmu Borgir – Abrahadabra {EU} (Nuclear Blast)
Doobie Brothers – World Gone Crazy (HOR Records)
Electric Six – Zodiac (Metropolis Records) Enslaved – Axioma Ethica Odini(Nuclear Blast) – Adam Thomas
Gin Blossoms – No Chocolate Cake (429 Records) Glasser – Ring(True Panther Sounds)– Kiran Soderqvist
Halford – Made of Metal (Metal God Ent)
Ingram Hill – Look Your Best (Rock Ridge Music)
InMe – Phoenix: The Very Best of InMe (Indie Europe)
Ice Cube – I Am The West (Lench Mob) Jimmy Eat World – Invented(David Geffen Company)
KMFDM – Greatest Sh*t (Metropolis Records)
James LaBrie – Static Impulse (Inside Out U.S.)
Lazerbeak – Legend Recognize Legend (Doomtree)
Mark Ronson And The Business International – Record Collection (RCA)
Nellie McKay – Home Sweet Mobile Home (Verve Forecast)
MSWhite – Squares (Rise Records)
Mushroomhead – Beautiful Stories for…