Music News Net

A SONG FOR MY FATHER, Tribute to Their Dads by Devon Allman, Ben Taylor, Adam Cohen, Sarah Lee Guthrie & others...

      MUSIC NEWS - With Mom's Day behind us, it's time to move on to Dads, and 429 Records has announced their June 2, 2009 release of a collection of songs (full track list after the break) newly recorded by the sons & daughters of legendary musicians titled, A SONG FOR MY FATHER. The 14 song set featuring artists such as Salvador Santana, Devon Allman (Honeytribe) , Gunnar and Matthew Nelson, A.J. Croce, Ben Taylor, Sarah Lee Guthrie and others offering up a moving interpretation of their fathers' classic songs. The offspring offer a unique and intimate spin on familiar material made famous by their legendary dads in new performances connecting great songs between two generations. A SONG FOR MY FATHER offers a rare insight into the songs and the people who created them as they've chosen tracks with a particular meaning. A SONG FOR MY FATHER will be available exclusively through iTunes in time for Father's Day.

RAY CHARLES Records Go Digital on April 7th !

   MUSIC NEWS - One of the most requested song collections among digital music buyers, Ray Charles’ post-1960 catalog will finally go digital !  Starting April 7th, iTunes will have a two-week exclusive on the catalog of 28 albums; they'll then be available at all digital music shoppes. Ray Charles’ post 1960 music catalog was one of the most treasured and highly requested catalogs that had been unavailable digitally. These masters include such iconic recordings as “Georgia On My Mind,” I Can’t Stop Loving You,” “Hit the Road Jack,” “Busted” and “Crying Time” among many others.

On April 7th, Concord Records also releases a 21-song anthology of hits titled Ray Charles — Genius: The Ultimate Ray Charles Collection. The volume presents his most influential recordings for the Atlantic and ABC-Paramount labels including 1954’s “I’ve Got a Woman” plus “Busted,” “Georgia on My Mind,” “Hit the Road Jack” and “I Can’t Stop Loving You,” concluding with his signature 1972 rendition of “America the Beautiful.” All are digitally remastered from the original tapes.  Later this year, Concord will release several other Ray Charles reissues year including Modern Sounds in Country & Western Music, Volumes 1 & 2, The Genius Hits the Road, A Message From the People and Genius + Soul = Jazz & More.

New BOB DYLAN Tune MP3 Download !

     MUSIC NEWS - Bob Dylan has offered up a free MP3 of Beyond Here Lies Nothin', from his forthcoming Jack Frost produced album, Together Through Life.(out via Columbia Records  [of course] ) on April 28th (order your copy here).   Give Beyond... a listen thru March 31 at BobDylan.com.

"BOOM BOOM POW" Release Moved Up by BLACK EYED PEAS

      MUSIC NEWS - The digital release of "Boom Boom Pow," the new single from The Black Eyed Peas, has been moved up to Monday, March 30th, announced Interscope Records.  The tune will become available through all digital shoppes. To stem the unauthorized downloads, and to satisify fan who have been clamoring to purchase the track since it hit Top 40 Radio two weeks ago. " The video for "Boom Boom Pow" -- directed by Motion Theory (who lensed Weezer's Grammy Award-winning clip for "Pork and Beans") -- will be released in early April. The song was written by The Black Eyed Peas, which is will.i.am, apl.de.ap, Taboo, and Fergie, and produced by will.i.am.

"Boom Boom Pow" is the first single from The Black Eyed Peas' upcoming fifth studio album The E.N.D., which is due from Interscope Records on June 9th, 2009. The E.N.D.is the BEPs' first album of new music since 2005's blockbuster Monkey Business (buy a copy here)  which sold more than nine million copies worldwide and gave us the Grammy Award-winning singles "Don't Phunk With My Heart" and "My Humps."

Also, The Black Eyed Peas will perform their music at the Ultra Music Festival  Conference on Friday, March 27th in Miami, FL !

The FELICE BROTHERS, From SXSW to New Music & Tour

     MUSIC NEWS - Check out the brand new single, "Run Chicken Run" from The Felice Brothers' upcoming April 7th release Yonder Is The Clock (on Team Love Records) FREE. " You can download and preview the brand new tune here.

It's a great time for the band.  The Catskill boys are hot off a couple of raucous (one was so packed the fire department showed up to  make sure the place wasn't over the legal limit) and well-received gigs at SXSW 2009. The Austin American Statesman wrote that their Friday afternoon appearance at the Dirty Dog "showcased the Felice Brothers' recent artistic strides. Material from the forthcoming masterwork 'Yonder is the Clock' both torpedoed hearts and shook homes.  Easy highlights like the scattershot country blues 'Run, Chicken, Run' and 'Ambulance Man' offered brilliant Southern Gothic narratives."

Following a Record Release Show for the new album on April 7th at the Bardavan Opera House in Poughkeepsie, NY, the New York Staters, The Felice Brothers take to the road for a National headlining tour (see itinerary below).

Free, New Tunes from Jane's Addiction, NIN and Street Sweeper on Tour EP

     MUSIC NEWS - Jane's Addiction / Nine Inch Nails & Street Sweeper (Tom Morello's new band) have released a new  six song EP online on Ninja2009.com.  The site is the offical website for the threre-band upcoming  tour . The cuts available for free download from JA are "Chip Away" and "Whores," both songs that fans will recognize from 1987's self-titled live release. he new NIN music included is - "Not So Pretty Now" and "Non-Entity".  Enter you email address to receive.

"Just to get some creative juice flowing- we went into the studio for about two weeks," Perry Farrell of Jane's Addictiona recently told Billboard.com. "We had the idea to re-record two tunes, just because they'd never been done officially in the studio. And we had some fun writing some new things. A handful that are close to finished, but not quite done. But there's no rush to put anything out at this point."

See recent LA Times interview with Tom Morello.
 

THE BEATLES May Go Digital Thru Their Own Shoppe

     MUSIC NEWS - The Beatles may chose to offer their long-anticipated digital catalog on their own digital music store instead of on iTunes or other established digital retailers, citing a desire to establish their own pricing for downloads, UK's the Guardian reported.

"[Apple CEO Steve] Jobs says that a download is worth 99 cents, and we disagree," Dhani Harrison, 33,  son of the late George Harrison who works at the band's label, Apple Corps, recently told Blender Magazine.  "We're losing money every day," Harrison told the Guardian.  "So what do you do? You have to have your own delivery system, or you have to do a good deal with Steve Jobs."

Harrison states that he is the driving force behind Apple Corps' recent decision to license the Beatles' tunes for use in the upcoming music video game "The Beatles: Rock Band", releasing on 9/9/09.  

OASIS New EPs Out

     MUSIC NEWS - Brit pop-rockers, Oasis, are soon releasing a UK 4-tune EP to support their current single, “Falling Down”, their third one off of 2008’s Dig Out Your Soul .  This new release EP offers remixes of the FD tune, and the B-side, “Those Swollen Hand Blues”.  Besides this, the band will put out an extra live EP, as a free gift with purchase of the Times/UK on March 15. The EP has eleven songs, including favorites like “Wonderwall” and “Don’t Go Away”.  There will also be a free, five song EP of Noel Gallagher performance (with Paul Weller) from the Teenager Cancer Trust charity show that he  performed at in March 2007. Titled The Dreams We Have As Children, the four tracks will be available for a free download via The Times UK / iTunes over a scheduled release: “(It’s Good) To Be Free” (3/10), “Talk Tonight” (3/11), “Cast No Shadow” (3/12), “The Importance Of Being Idle” (3/13), and “Don’t Look Back In Anger” (3/14).

METRIC Returns with Fantasies...

     MUSIC NEWS -  Canadian/NYC new wavers, METRIC come back on April 14 with new music, an album called FANTASIES, the follow up to their 2005 highly acclaimed Live It Out (buy cd here).   Written by the band in a farmhouse outside Seattle and by frontwoman Emily Haines while on a soul-cleansing sojourn to Argentina, Fantasies is a densely textured modern mix of psychedelia, electro, and rock with a "really big and really dreamy" sound, says guitarist/co-founder Jimmy Shaw. Haines adds, "For me, the major influences on the record were the places we wrote it: Bear Creek, this utopian farmhouse studio, and then our own studio in Toronto, which definitely brought in the electro, dance and rock elements because the city feels so good right now and so many of our musician friends were around. And then for me, being in Buenos Aires, most of the songs I brought to this record came out of being in exile with just a piano and a guitar. And then in the final stages, mixing at Electric Lady in NYC brought everything around to where we first met Josh and Joules."

Get a special, acoustic version of the tune, HELP I'M ALIVE below, it won't be available on the album. You'll be asked for email address by ilovemetric.com to receive. 

PHISH Offers Reunion Concerts Downloads Free !

     MUSIC NEWS - If you can't get in to the Virginia reunion gigs, don't worry...  Phish has announced that they will offer free downloads of the upcoming live gigs soon after the shows. They'll be playing their first concerts in four years on March 6 , 7 & 8 at the Hampton Coliseum, and plan high quality MP3s for a limited time 24 hours after each gig takes place.  "We really wanted to show our gratitude to all the Phish fans for their support and the overwhelming response they've had to these shows," lead guitarist/vocalist Trey Anastasio said in a statement issued Wednesday. "We only wish everybody could be there."

The downloads will be available at LivePhish.com . You can also upgrade to FLAC CD-quality downloads, the band also plan CD releases of the concerts.  Complete your PHISH cd library here.  

IT'S BLITZ ! from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs Rushed Out Early

     MUSIC NEWS - The new Yeah Yeah Yeahs album has been rush-release after it was leaked online this week. Their third LP, "It's Blitz!" now has a digital release of March 10 ( hey, 3/9 in the UK) a few weeks earlier than originally planned.

"The cat's out of the bag after IT'S BLITZ! escaped from our clutches into the big bad world last week," the band said on their site. "Why should some have and some have-not?"  "YYYs have been brimming with nervous excitement in anticipation of releasing this record to the world! Leaks are NO FUN but it's out of our hands."  The new album was produced by YYY's long-term producer Dave Sitek and Nick Launay (who's currently working on The Cribs new record)>

But, if you insist on an actual copy of It's Blitz, the music cd is still releasing on March 31 (or April 6 in the UK ).

RASCAL FLATTS - Their New Unstoppable Album & Here Comes Goodbye Video

     MUSIC NEWS - Rascal Flatts will be releasing one song per week off of their upcoming album, Unstoppable, beginning March 10^th !  They plan to put out four songs before the album actually releases on April 7, 2009 (order cd here) .  The first song, Here Comes Goodbye,  (view the song's music video below)  for it will be available on iTunes on March 10^th with other songs on iTunes March 17^th, March 24^th , March 31^st  and then on April 7^th - the album releases. 

Upcoming tracks and release dates include:

March 17 – "Forever"

March 24 – "Love Who You Love"

March 31 – "Things That Matter"

April 7 – Unstoppable releases !

In other news, today the JC Penney Company announced its official sponsorship of the upcoming  “Rascal Flatts American Living Unstoppable Tour” .

COLDPLAY Plans FREE Live Album for Concert Fans !

     MUSIC NEWS-  Details are still being finalized, but COLDPLAY plans on giving fans who attend their live concerts this summer, a free live EP !  After having the most popular album of the year worldwide in 2008 with Viva La Vida (buy CD here), and picking up three Grammys recently for Pop Performance, Best Rock Album and Song of the Year, the band is riding high and looking for a way to give back to their fans.  The plan currently is for a COLDPLAY cd to be given out as attendees turn in their ticket at a concert.  How the work out the logistics and with their record company may be a challenge though.  Stay tuned for news on their plan.  See story in the British paper, The Sun .

UPDATE 4/29/09- The nine song EP, “LeftRightLeftRightLeft” will be distributed at all shows starting with the gig of Coldplay’s North American tour in West Palm Beach, Fla., on May 15.  It will also be available at no cost from their website !

FREE Marvin Gaye Song Download Today !!!

       MUSIC NEWS - Amazon is celebrating the Motown 50^th anniversary and Valentines Day by giving away the most amazing “mood” song in the history of music.  Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On” is available for free download today only on Amazon.com!  Click on free MP3.

EMINEM's New Tune Breaks 1st Week Download Record

     MUSIC NEWS -  EMINEM's comeback single 'Crack A Bottle' has broken the record for opening week download sales in the US.  The tune, currently at #1 in Billboard Hot 100, sold 418,000 copies online in its first week. The previous record for best opening week digital sales was for 'Live Your Life' by T.I.  featuring Rihanna.  It was downloaded 335,000 times in its week of release, reports Billboard. 

Last month, 50-cent confirmed that Eminem's new album, called 'Relapse' (see related news)  was "two weeks" away from being completed