Page 327 of 583

New Tunes on Tuesday – Bauhaus Returns (and goes away)

Welcome back for our second installment of New Tunes on Tuesday. There are quite a few big releases coming out today, so let’s get straight to it, shall we?

Kicking things off we have Bauhaus’ new and final album Go Away White. Yours truly wrote up his thoughts on the disc last week on Bullz-Eye. And while there are some glimmers of the old days intact, for the most part this affair is more miss than hit.

Only if you’ve been under the proverbial rock could you not have heard about the big stink caused when “Maxim” published a review from The Black Crowes’ Warpaint without the critic who wrote it having heard the entire album beforehand. At any rate, this album is now out to discover. For the official lowdown, head to the band’s official webpage.

Black 47’s Iraq is hitting the racks today. Our own Jim Washington gives the album a solid 3 out of 5 stars, noting that “The band’s populist bent shines through on Iraq, which gains some momentum as it goes along. It helps to know that many of the songs are based on experiences of the band’s fans serving in the military overseas. ”

Carlene Carter is back this week with Stronger. Fans can get a listen to the album over at Carlene’s official MySpace page.

Flogging Molly also returns, this time with the album Float. Lead singer Dave King notes that, “Our last album was quite a meandering piece of songs.” This time around, the band cranked out 11 tracks and got the job done efficiently. Check it on Flogging Molly’s MySpace.

For you Elvis Costello fans out there, Universal is releasing a two-disc “Deluxe Edition” of E.C.’s second album This Year’s Model, following in the footsteps of the simiarly deluxed-up My Aim Is True from last year. Seriously, how many more times is Costello’s catalogue going to be resold? Read all the gory details here.

In slightly far more interesting reissue news, Michael Nesmith’s The Wichita Train Whistle Sings and Timerider are being packaged together and reissued this week. Amazon has an order page for it, but be wary: as any Beatle fan knows something like this is usually a quickie ripoff by a company looking to make a quick buck.

Wrapping things up, we also have Michael McDonald (Soul Speak), Alan Jackson (Good Time), and the BoDeans (Still).

Facebook goes after MySpace to attract bands

Bands now have another option when deciding how to promote their stuff. The iTunes link look like a good idea.

Following news that it would launch a music component where bands can showcase songs and sell music, Facebook has found an ally in iTunes.

Facebook’s new music service enables bands to sell tickets and merch via Music Today. Tracks can also be streamed, with links to iTunes where users can purchase songs directly.

Users can now become fans of artists, whose music can be rated and reviewed. 100 artists have created a profile, including Coldplay, the Dave Matthews Band, Gnarls Barkley and The Decemberists, PC World reports.

NIN offers brain-boggling options for new material

Has Trent Reznor finally lost it? No one can be sure at this point, but we do know that he’s offering up the new Nine Inch Nails album Ghosts I-IV in a variety of ways.

Amongst the choices to obtain the new material are the following:

*DRM-Free downloads of the first nine tracks of the album, plus a 40 page .pdf file of the artwork, etc.

*A ten-dollar two-CD set, with 16-page booklet to be shipped on March 8, including immediate download with purchase.

*The $75 deluxe-a-rama version, with the regular album, plus a data disc with the album in a multitude of formats, and a Blu-Ray version of the album, all featured in a hardbound fabric-covered slipcase. Whew.

*And for the over the top fan who has to have everything, a $300 package that nets you the deluxe version, plus the album on a four-LP set on 180 gram vinyl, pakcaged in a fabric slipcase. This set also comes with two limited edition Cliclee prints, and the whole thing in numbered and signed by Reznor himself. Limited to 2500 copies, shipping on May 1, with one copy per customer.

Ah, and Amazon is offering the album for downloadable purchase as well. Plenty of choices for fans of all stripes.

Rock of Pages: 45 Books for the Literate Music Fan

Yes, we know that writing about music is like dancing about architecture (even if we’re not convinced that Elvis Costello said it first), but let’s be realistic: if you’re a music fan who likes to read, you can achieve a very special level of bliss when you get the opportunity to dive into a book about music. The Bullz-Eye staff knocked their heads together and came up with a list of 45 books that span several musical genres and include autobiographies and biographies, histories of record companies and music magazines, essay collections, and straight-up reference tomes. It’s not intended to be all-encompassing, nor would we presume to call it a definitive list of the best music books of all time. It’s simply a selection of some of our personal favorites, none of which would be out of place on a music fan’s bookshelf…and you can find it right here.

We also got some of the authors in on the fun, as well as some of our favorite musicians, which resulted in enough responses from folks from Kyle Vincent to Henry Rollins to warrant Rock of Pages: Celebrity Edition.

But we know: we’ve missed one (or more) of your favorites. We always miss one (or more) of your favorites. So call us out already and leave a comment. We can always use another addition to our Barnes & Noble shopping list…

« Older posts Newer posts »