The Wrap-Up: This Week in Music + 12 Cuts
The Wrap-Up brings you the 10 largest music news stories of the week as well as information about new album and music video releases. HEADLINES OF THE WEEK 1. Foo Fighters concert live stream plus a single from their new album Foo Fighters’ new documentary series...
The Wrap-Up brings you the 10 largest music news stories of the week as well as information about new album and music video releases.
Keeping with Record Store Day’s mission of promoting and supporting independent record stores and artists they are organizing a Black Friday Event (November 28th, the day after Thanksgiving). This is similar to but not the same as the annual Record Store Day, which happens the third Saturday of each April. Independently owned record stores across North America will sell exclusive releases from participating artists, including OutKast, Wu-Tang Clan, Jenny Lewis, Conor Oberst and Flaming Lips. Turning the concept of Black Friday on its head, RSD said this about the event:
“In the past Black Friday was an American event created by large corporate retailers as a shopping day that promoted mass produced items at super low prices in hopes of driving customers into their stores. RSD’s Black Friday subverts the model and creates pieces of art in the form of limited special editions, often numbered, from a diverse list of beloved artists. RSD’s version of Black Friday is an excuse to celebrate both the pieces themselves and the special indie record stores who carry them. Cheap, mass-produced frenzy is not the goal.” (via)
Visit Record Store Day’s FAQ page for more info on the concept behind the event.
4. Chvrches perform brand new song at Austin City Limits
At the Austin City Limits Music Festival last weekend, Chvrches introduced their audience to a new song, which they say has three working titles: “Richard Pryor,” “Gene Wilder” and “Eddie Murphy.” Listen to their performance here.
5. Gregg Alexander (of New Radicals) interview after 15 years of silence
For the past 15 years Gregg Alexander, frontman for the 90’s band New Radicals, known for “You Get What You Give,” has been notably absent from the public eye. This week he returned though in an interview with the Hollywood Reporter. Read the wonderfully composed interview/article by Scott Feinberg here.
6. Bono apologizes for “megalomania”
U2 spurred anger and frustration in September when they released their new album Songs of Innocence as an automatic free download on itunes. The move resulted in thousands of un-consenting listeners publicly expressing their anger towards the band, with one woman calling the forced download just plain rude. In response, Bono articulated some of the reasoning behind the decision:
“Oops. I’m sorry about that. I had this beautiful idea and we got carried away with ourselves. Artists are prone to that kind of thing. Drop of megalomania, touch of generosity, dash of self-promotion, and deep fear that these songs that we poured our life into over the last few years mightn’t be heard. There’s a lot of noise out there. I guess we got a little noisy ourselves to get through it.“ (via)
7. Arcade fire sells church-studio
Arcade Fire has finally sold their beloved 128 year-old Montreal church to Montreal label Emery Street Records. The band had converted the church to a recording studio in 2005 for their albums Neon Bible and The Suburbs but had to put it on the market last year after the roof collapsed. Emery Street Records has plans to renovate the space and reopen it in November under the new name Grand Lodge No. 24. Other bands that have recorded in the space include Timber Tamber, Wolf Parade and Beirut.
8. Belle and Sebastian new album artwork and track list
Leading up to the band’s January 20 release of their album Girls in Peacetime Want to Dance, Belle & Sebastian released the album artwork (simultaneously quirky and haunting) and track list plus extended their international tour dates. Watch the album trailer here(link), which features the song “The Cat With the Cream.”
9. Jack White cancels Mexico tour dates after death of keyboard player
Jack White has decided to cancel his remaining tour dates in Mexico in light of Isaiah “Ikey” Owens recent death. Owens passed away early Tuesday morning from a heart attack while on tour in Puebla Mexico with White. He had been a keyboardist in White’s backing band since 2012 and also played with Mars Volta, Free Moral Agents and others. Owens was in the process of recording a self-titled album when he died. He was 38.
10. SoundCloud reports £18 million in losses
The ever-popular music streaming site just released their figures for 2013, which show an £18 million loss over last year. The company attempted to justify the daunting figure by saying:
“We are in a phase of growing SoundCloud into the market-leading platform for listening to, creating and sharing sound. This has necessitated investment in technology, headcount and marketing. Our overhead base has increased faster than our revenues.” (via)
The news has raised questions about SoundCloud’s continued ability to offer its services free of charge and also rekindles the discussion surrounding the proliferation of free music steaming sites in general.
OK Go – Hungry Ghosts
HEADLINES OF THE WEEK
1. Foo Fighters concert live stream plus a single from their new album Foo Fighters’ new documentary series titled Foo Fighters: Sonic Highways and directed by frontman Dave Grohl will premier Friday October 17th at 11 p.m. ET. Each episode will feature an American musical landmark, beginning with The Cubby Bear in Chicago where the Foo Fighters will perform at midnight on Friday following the first episode. The concert will be live streamed via Facebook, which you can get to here through the HBO website. Hear them talk more about “Sonic Highways” in their extended trailer! Also check out for their first single from the album “Something from Nothing.” 2. The bizarre “body of work” from the Lorde South Park references Following South Park’s two-episode love affair with Lorde, where she was revealed to be Randy Marsh’s (the lead character Stan’s dad) alter ego, the artist responded in an interview: “I was thinking, ‘Yeah he has a mustache… I mean I have a moustache, but is it that prominent?’” (via) Two songs have resulted from the episodes the past two weeks: “ya ya ya I am Lorde ya ya ya” and “Push (Feel Good on a Wednesday)” which was actually sung by Sia. Click here to see Lorde’s own attempt at the first one. 3. Record Store Day to organize Black Friday event
Keeping with Record Store Day’s mission of promoting and supporting independent record stores and artists they are organizing a Black Friday Event (November 28th, the day after Thanksgiving). This is similar to but not the same as the annual Record Store Day, which happens the third Saturday of each April. Independently owned record stores across North America will sell exclusive releases from participating artists, including OutKast, Wu-Tang Clan, Jenny Lewis, Conor Oberst and Flaming Lips. Turning the concept of Black Friday on its head, RSD said this about the event:
“In the past Black Friday was an American event created by large corporate retailers as a shopping day that promoted mass produced items at super low prices in hopes of driving customers into their stores. RSD’s Black Friday subverts the model and creates pieces of art in the form of limited special editions, often numbered, from a diverse list of beloved artists. RSD’s version of Black Friday is an excuse to celebrate both the pieces themselves and the special indie record stores who carry them. Cheap, mass-produced frenzy is not the goal.” (via)
Visit Record Store Day’s FAQ page for more info on the concept behind the event.
4. Chvrches perform brand new song at Austin City Limits
At the Austin City Limits Music Festival last weekend, Chvrches introduced their audience to a new song, which they say has three working titles: “Richard Pryor,” “Gene Wilder” and “Eddie Murphy.” Listen to their performance here.
5. Gregg Alexander (of New Radicals) interview after 15 years of silence
For the past 15 years Gregg Alexander, frontman for the 90’s band New Radicals, known for “You Get What You Give,” has been notably absent from the public eye. This week he returned though in an interview with the Hollywood Reporter. Read the wonderfully composed interview/article by Scott Feinberg here.
6. Bono apologizes for “megalomania”
U2 spurred anger and frustration in September when they released their new album Songs of Innocence as an automatic free download on itunes. The move resulted in thousands of un-consenting listeners publicly expressing their anger towards the band, with one woman calling the forced download just plain rude. In response, Bono articulated some of the reasoning behind the decision:
“Oops. I’m sorry about that. I had this beautiful idea and we got carried away with ourselves. Artists are prone to that kind of thing. Drop of megalomania, touch of generosity, dash of self-promotion, and deep fear that these songs that we poured our life into over the last few years mightn’t be heard. There’s a lot of noise out there. I guess we got a little noisy ourselves to get through it.“ (via)
7. Arcade fire sells church-studio
Arcade Fire has finally sold their beloved 128 year-old Montreal church to Montreal label Emery Street Records. The band had converted the church to a recording studio in 2005 for their albums Neon Bible and The Suburbs but had to put it on the market last year after the roof collapsed. Emery Street Records has plans to renovate the space and reopen it in November under the new name Grand Lodge No. 24. Other bands that have recorded in the space include Timber Tamber, Wolf Parade and Beirut.
8. Belle and Sebastian new album artwork and track list
Leading up to the band’s January 20 release of their album Girls in Peacetime Want to Dance, Belle & Sebastian released the album artwork (simultaneously quirky and haunting) and track list plus extended their international tour dates. Watch the album trailer here(link), which features the song “The Cat With the Cream.”
9. Jack White cancels Mexico tour dates after death of keyboard player
Jack White has decided to cancel his remaining tour dates in Mexico in light of Isaiah “Ikey” Owens recent death. Owens passed away early Tuesday morning from a heart attack while on tour in Puebla Mexico with White. He had been a keyboardist in White’s backing band since 2012 and also played with Mars Volta, Free Moral Agents and others. Owens was in the process of recording a self-titled album when he died. He was 38.
10. SoundCloud reports £18 million in losses
The ever-popular music streaming site just released their figures for 2013, which show an £18 million loss over last year. The company attempted to justify the daunting figure by saying:
“We are in a phase of growing SoundCloud into the market-leading platform for listening to, creating and sharing sound. This has necessitated investment in technology, headcount and marketing. Our overhead base has increased faster than our revenues.” (via)
The news has raised questions about SoundCloud’s continued ability to offer its services free of charge and also rekindles the discussion surrounding the proliferation of free music steaming sites in general.
NEW ALBUMS
Milky Chance – Sadnecessary
OK Go – Hungry Ghosts