| CMU Daily - on the inside 2 Sep 2004 |
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In today's CMU Daily:
- Microsoft launch their iTunes rival
- Von Bondies lose a member
- Wu-tang announce legendary hits
- Interview Paul McCartney
- Darkness new songs are "turgid rubbish"
- Can release re-mastered editions
- Creamfields apologises for delay
- Rough Trade shops to release Indiepop compilation
- Franz write Scots footy anthem
- What's it all about Joss?
- Lesser known acts dominate at Latin Grammys
- Rascal announces tour
- Velvets musician joins Raveonettes
- Doherty - the verdict
- Westlife top first British download chart
- Reading and Leeds Festival 2005 tickets on sale now!
- XM Radio move to stop PC piracy of its broadcasts
- Lostprophets add dates
- Stewart reunites with Faces
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MICROSOFT LAUNCH THEIR ITUNES RIVAL
Microsoft have officially launched their music-downloading service - MSN Music. Very much in the vein of iTunes et al the new service will make tracks available for 99 cents a time and whole albums for $9.99. The service will initially be US exclusive with no word on global expansion just yet. As previously reported, Microsoft hope to get a healthy chunk of the download market, despite their late arrival, by tapping into the millions of people around the world who already use the Windows Media Player or access MSN on a regular basis.
Launching MSN Music, Microsoft said their service was much better than Apple's iTunes - with a file format that delivered a better sound quality. MSN vice president Yusuf Mehdi said: "We are encoding at a higher bit rate than Apple's standard format for iTunes, meaning that these songs should have better sound quality. And we are offering what we believe is the largest and highest quality catalogue of legal music on the internet, available on the broadest selection of portable devices".
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VON BONDIES LOSE A MEMBER
Bassist Carrie Smith has decided to leave the Von Bondies - her performance at the London Astoria on Tuesday was her last appearance with the Detroit band. She has already been replaced by Yasmeen Smith.
In a statement to fans, Carrie said yesterday: "I have spent countless hours and many emotions thinking about this decision, but ultimately, it is the right decision for me. There are so many reasons why I am leaving, some are personal, some are professional, some emotional, some logical but in the end, I know this is the right thing to do. I am going to miss you all very much and thank you from the depths of my heart for all of your support and encouragement. I will forever be proud that in some small way, we were able to reach out to so many people. Without you, we would be nothing".
"I wish the other VBs much success in the future and I know that they will continue to write and perform to the utmost of their abilities. I hope this change will not bring any of you too much sadness; rest assured, the Von Bondies will carry on with a new bass player. Please embrace her with all the kindness you have shown me! In closing, I would like to thank you all once again for everything you have given us. I will look back at my time with the Von Bondies with pride and satisfaction because we have had the most amazing fans on the planet. This has been an incredible experience for me and I have you to attribute that to. Thank you."
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WU-TANG ANNOUNCE LEGENDARY HITS
Good news for all the fans of Wu - the Wu-Tang Clan are to release a Greatest Hits album - entitled 'Legend Of The Wu-Tang' - in October. It will feature sixteen of their best known tracks, including three which were previously available only on compilations/soundtracks plus three rare mixes. As previously reported, the hip-hop outfit recently reunited with most of it's members appearing at some rare live shows.
Elsewhere in Wu news - wayward founding member Ol' Dirty Bastard is to feature in a reality TV show, in which a member of the public will win $25,000 if they can track the rapper for five days. 'Stuck To ODB' is expected to air next month in the US.
And elsewhere in ODB news, apparently there are also plans for a range of children's underwear approved by the rapper, called 'Ol' Dirty Drawers'. A solo album, under his current pseudonym, Dirt McGirt is also in the pipeline. Luvly.
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INTERVIEW PAUL McCARTNEY
The NME is giving its readers the opportunity to interview Paul McCartney. Macca is inviting NME readers to put their questions to him via the magazine's website NME.com - the best 20 questions will be selected and answered by the great man.
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DARKNESS NEW SONGS ARE 'TURGID RUBBISH'
The Darkness spent an estimated £100,000 on pyrotechnics and fireworks at the Reading Festival this weekend, but according to Radio One the band's new songs didn't go down well and even Justin Hawkins admitted they weren't very good:
"They were appalling really, I mean we haven't had a chance to rehearse them. I'm the first to admit they were turgid rubbish, but the rest of the show went well. I sang really well last night and we all came off thinking 'Oh that was a bit... was a bit so-so', but we watched the video back and our show, the actual production of it, the light show and the pyros and the fireworks were second to none I think. We gave a good account of ourselves apart from the new material which was shit."
But Justin is promising that their forthcoming arena tour will rock: "The Reading set was a scaled down version of the arena tour. The arena tour will have a longer set, more spectacular scenery, shall we say, and a bag full of surprises just for you. This includes inflatables, very large ones we can't use here because of the weather."
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CAN RELEASE RE-MASTERED EDITIONS
Electronic maestros Can are to release re-mastered versions of their classic albums, 'Monster Movie', 'Tago Mago', 'Ege Bamyasi' and 'Soundtracks' on 25 Oct.
The albums were all re-mastered from the original master tapes - the reworking was overseen by band members Holger, Irmin and Jono Podmore who say the new versions sound how they were always intended to be.
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CREAMFIELDS APOLOGISES
The organisers of Creamfields 2004 have apologised for keeping festival goers waiting at the gates to enter the event this weekend - the gates at the Liverpool festival opened ninety minutes late on Saturday afternoon.
A spokesperson told CMU: "One issue that we would like to take this opportunity to apologise for is the lateness of the gates opening on the day. As I'm sure most of you are aware the weather had been considerably bad leading up to the event, with the sun finally coming out 2 days before the big day. However, this factor contributed to a number of problems on the day which was the reason behind the gates opening 90 minutes late. We would like to apologise to all those people who arrived early and were left waiting and thank you all for being so patient."
From what we hear it was worth the wait - 40,000 punters enjoyed a storming all-nighter with Scissor Sisters and the Chemical Brothers putting in particularly strong sets.
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ROUGH TRADE SHOPS TO RELEASE INDIEPOP COMPILATION
Rough Trade Shops will release a new compilation called 'Indiepop 1' on Mute on 4 Oct. This is the eighth in a series of compilations compiled by the Rough Trade Shops staff - the first to be filled with indiepop.
It includes nine tracks never before available on CD, such as My Bloody Valentine's 'Paint A Rainbow' and AR Kane's 'When You're Sad', and sixteen tracks which are not presently available on CD, including The Pooh Sticks' 'I Know Someone Who Knows Someone Who Knows Alan McGee Quite Well' and the Shop Assistants' 'Safety Net'.
Some of the bands will be familiar in other guises, Stereolab were formed from the ashes of McCarthy whilst others, such as The Vaselines, went on to influence the likes of Nirvana (who famously covered 'Molly's Lips', the track included on this compilation).
A 7" single will precede the album featuring four tracks from the compilation from Juniper Moon, Aberfeldy, Primal Scream and Josef K.
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FRANZ WRITE SCOTS FOOTY ANTHEM
Time for today's compulsory Franz Ferdinand story.
Franz Ferdinand's frontman Alex Kapranos has revealed he wants to write the official 2006 World Cup song for Scotland. He told Xfm that the band were unveiling the song at an upcoming matinee show for kids: "We're doing a matinee show in Glasgow for kids. The rules is that adults are only allowed in if accompanied by a child. And that's gonna be great. We've written what we'd like to be the Scotland 2006 World Cup song and we're gonna debut it at the kids show. It's got three notes and one word. I think everyone can work out what the one word is." Of course there is an assumption that Scotland will need a song for the next World Cup, but given that half the UnLimited team are still in Edinburgh we say 'Go Scotland'.
Talking of new FF songs, Kapranos also revealed the band have written some new songs including 'Can't Stop Feeling', 'Your Diary' and 'This Boy' (the latter two of which were debuted at Reading): "It's pretty easy to write anywhere, on a tour bus, in a car park, you can write wherever you want but arranging stuff is the really difficult bit, sitting down with the rest of your band making it sound like 'your' songs. But we've done a bit more of that recently. We did a gig in Prague the other day and we stayed there a few days and arranged a few of the songs, and we're writing more all the time."
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WHAT'S IT ALL ABOUT JOSS?
Joss Stone is to cover 'Alfie' for the upcoming movie of the same name - and Mick Jagger is to provide backing vocals.
Stone told Rolling Stone magazine: "When I go to England, I'm going to put a day aside and go and do it. Mick Jagger is singing backup and Dave Stewart is producing. It's going to be cool".
Cilla Black sang the original version of the Burt Bacharach-Hal David classic which got to number nine in the charts in 1966 when the original movie starring Michael Caine was released.
Jude Law is to star in the remake which is to be released in October. Jagger has recorded three new songs as well as the theme for the soundtrack to the movie, 'Old Habits Die Hard', 'Blind Leading The Blind' and 'Let's Make It Up'.
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LESSER KNOWN ACTS DOMINATE AT LATIN GRAMMYS
Brazil's Maria Rita, daughter of one of her home country's biggest ever music stars, the late Elis Regina, got considerable recognition last night at the fifth Latin Grammys in LA, taking the awards for Best New Artist and Most Popular Brazilian Album. She was among an eclectic mix of winners at the event which covered an impressive array of performers from the Latin music world, though not so many that will be familiar to the mainstream audience in America.
One of the best known among the winners was probably Spain's Alejandro Sanz, a top selling artist in his home country and Latin America, who took the awards for Best Song, Best Album, Best Male Pop Album and Record of the Year.
The distribution of awards to lesser known and more alternative Latin artists is a change of direction for the Latin Grammys, which in the past have been dominated by more mainstream artists like Ricky Martin. The move is sure to delight the Latin music community, although it may make the event less attractive to broadcaster CBS who look to secure as big a mainstream audience for the awards programme as possible.
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RASCAL ANNOUNCES TOUR
Dizzee Rascal has announced details of a new UK tour. The star of UK garage / grime will be promoting his 'Showtime' album. Dates as follows:
22 Oct: Glasgow Academy
23 Oct: Leeds University
27 Oct: Manchester Academy
28 Oct: Birmingham Academy
29 Oct: Brighton Dome
31 Oct: Norwich UEA
2 Nov: Bristol Academy
4 Nov: London Forum
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VELVETS MUSICIAN JOINS RAVEONETTES
Quick bit of studio news. Moe Tucker from seminal band The Velvet Underground plays on the new Raveonettes album. The drummer has already recorded five tracks with the Scandinavian duo, who are working on their third album in a New York. Tucker has worked on 'Ode To L.A.', 'You Say You Lie', 'The Heavens', 'Everyday' and 'Red Tan'.
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DOHERTY - THE VERDICT
Time for today's compulsory Pete Doherty story.
The renegade Libertine has narrowly missed receiving a jail sentence but was given a four month suspended sentence. Doherty appeared at Thames Magistrates Court yesterday (1 Sep) where he pleaded guilty to possession of a knife. As previously reported, Doherty said the knife was a present for a friend bought legally while on holiday - he didn't realise he was carrying it around with him until police searched him.
According to the NME, Judge Malcolm Ried, told Doherty: "You're a highly intelligent young man who appears to be very successful. You have experience of prison from a matter last year, yet in June from a holiday you brought back an offensive weapon." Doherty was then told he was not "suitable" for a community sentence, and was told to serve four months in prison, at which point Pete covered his face with his hands. But the judge added that given the way the knife was found, and that it was found shortly after the singer had come back into the country, the sentence would be suspended for 12 months - which means he could well escape a custodial sentence completely. Meanwhile, Doherty was ordered to pay £150 in court costs and said that the weapon would be destroyed - the judge added "consider yourself fortunate".
Always the showman, Doherty arrived outside court an hour early, sat on the top of a car and played acoustic guitar to the waiting news reporters.
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WESTLIFE TOP FIRST BRITISH DOWNLOAD CHART
Westlife are no strangers to topping the charts in the UK, but yesterday they made British chart history by going in at number one of the first official download chart.
The first edition of the new chart, based on sales via all of the legit download platforms, was announced at a party at the new Marquee venue in London last night, and was broadcast on Radio 1. Westlife topped the chart with a new live version of 'Flying Without Wings'.
The chart provided particularly good news for Westlife's label BMG who have seven artists in the first download top twenty. One of those artists, Maroon 5, appear no less than three times with 'She Will Be Loved', 'This Love' and 'Harder To Breathe'. Maroon 5 are obviously very popular among the downloading population - they also topped the first ever Napster chart, which was broadcast by Virgin Radio last weekend, with 'She Will Be Loved.
The music industry will now be watching the download chart carefully to see what kinds of music are performing well in the digital space, how performance in the download chart compares to success in the albums chart, and whether the download countdown is likely to ever replace the singles chart as the flagship weekly poll of consumer's music tastes in the UK.
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READING AND LEEDS FESTIVAL 2005 TICKETS ON SALE NOW!
If you missed out on the mud this year, then quick quick. Tickets for next year's Carling Reading and Leeds Festivals have already gone on sale. After tickets for this year's festival sold out in record time, organisers have put tickets for next year's events on sale early. T In The Park, and the V Festival have also put tickets on sale for next year's events. Punters can buy tickets for the Carling Weekend at this year's prices. (£105 for a weekend ticket).
The line-up for next year's event will not be announced until the coming spring though one would assume neither 50 Cent nor the Rasmus will make a reappearance.
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XM RADIO MOVE TO STOP PC PIRACY OF ITS BROADCASTS
America's XM Satellite Radio has stopped selling its popular PCR receiver which lets you listen to their services via a PC. It seems XM's decision is in response to fears that music fans were starting to record their broadcasts on their computers, and then ripping individual tracks to share on P2P networks.
Insiders say the radio station is most concerned by a piece of software called Time Trax which is sold for $30 a time by a Toronto company called Nerosoft. This makes converting XM broadcasts into individual WAV or MP3 song files an easy process. Word is XM's lawyers have asked Nerosoft to stop selling the software.
The Recording Industry Association of America yesterday said it had not been involved in XM's decision to restrict its PC broadcasts but they said they welcomed the broadcaster's move and recognised the risks. The Association's Steven Marks told reporters: "What we're concerned about are [computer] programs that essentially transform what are intended to be performances of music into a music library for somebody". The RIAA has already begun lobbying US media regulator the FCC to make it compulsory for digital radio stations to encrypt their output.
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LOSTPROPHETS ADD DATES
Lost Prophets have extended their UK tour. The Welsh band have added more dates to the already announced shows in Glasgow and Cardiff. Tickets went on sale this morning. Dates as follows:
13 Nov: Glasgow SECC
14 Nov: Northumbria University
15 Nov: Wolverhampton Civic
17 Nov: London Hammersmith Apollo
20 Nov: Manchester Apollo
21 Nov: Cardiff Arena
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STEWART REUNITES WITH FACES
Rod Stewart reunited with former The Faces bandmates Ron Wood and Ian McLagan at a concert at the Hollywood Bowl in LA on Monday night (30 Aug). Wood accompanied Stewart mid-concert on five songs, including the Faces' biggest hit, 'Stay With Me', and 'I'd Rather Go Blind' returning at the finale to sing the band's 'Ooh La La' as McLagan played organ. According to Reuters Stewart described Wood as "my best mate and younger brother".