Thursday, 3 July 2008
Urban Trad
Artist: Urban Trad
Genre(s):
New Age
Discography:
Elem
Year: 2004
Tracks: 12
Kerua
Year: 2003
Tracks: 14
One O Four
Year: 2001
Tracks: 13
 
'Look Good Naked' Tips From Carson
Blackeyed Susan
Artist: Blackeyed Susan
Genre(s):
Other
Discography:
Electric Rattlebone
Year: 1991
Tracks: 13
 
Johnny Depp Does Good by Small Town Boy
Acacia Strain 'Mature' For Apocalyptic Continent; Plus Overcast, Carcass & More News That Rules, In Metal File
Vincent Bennett, frontman for Massachusetts metallers the Acacia Strain, knows he can't sing, and he's perfectly fine with that. If he's not belching out his lyrics, he's not opening his mouth onstage or in the studio. Cleaning up his gut-spewing vocal style simply isn't an option for him — even if he did want to embrace the trend, like so many of his contemporaries have.
"To be honest, I've never thought about doing that," Bennett confessed last week, as the band's van was making its way through Oregon, where Acacia had to stop as an unexpected blizzard passed. "I just don't see us as that kind of band — at all. It's one of those things where a lot of bands do it, and they get away with it and it sounds really f---ing good and kids are psyched on it. Then there's those bands that do it, and everybody gets really f---ing bummed. I just don't ever see us being that kind of band. I understand that if we did do it, we might sell some more records, or if I sang about Jesus and being in love all the time, how we might sell some more records. But that's not the kind of band we are. I think our fans would be bummed out if we even tried to do that. Hell, I'd be bummed out."
So, basically, don't expect any sea changes on the band's forthcoming LP, Continent, which the group recently finished tracking and which is scheduled for an August 19 release. But you can expect to hear a more mature Acacia Strain, he said.
"We sound pretty much the same, but we change things up at the same time," he said. "The old fans will definitely think in their head, 'This is the Acacia Strain,' but the new people, and even people who weren't fans before, they'll come away from it saying, 'Wow, they really did mature as a band.' We have changed a lot of influences for the new record, so it's pretty different for everybody in the band. I'm excited about it."
Produced by Zeuss (Shadows Fall, Hatebreed), Continent will include the cuts "Dr. Doom" and "Skynet." It is Acacia's "darkest" effort to date, said Bennett, and even features the Human Furnace, of Ringworm fame, on the track "Baby Buster."
"For this record, I basically exiled myself from everything just to write the lyrics," Bennett explained. "It's definitely the most work we've put into a record, and it's the only record that I'm actually excited to say I'm proud of."
Continent is a conceptual work of sorts: The lyrics revolve around a single man who has a disastrous effect on the rest of humankind.
"It's about a person purposely pulling themselves away from everything, and exiling themselves from humanity — just sitting back and watching," he said. "And then, this person comes back to the forefront, and becomes the apocalyptic reason for the end of the world. This one person just completely wipes out everything — all life on the planet — and ends up being the last person to survive all of this. So, he just walks the Earth for the rest of his life, alone."
Writing material for Continent did present numerous challenges, Bennett said. But the biggest struggle for Acacia was coming up with "original ideas — especially given the genre we're in. The market's basically flooded, and coming up with new ideas that bands haven't already done, or bands aren't currently doing, it's just really rough.
"We're just trying to pull through and make our own way," the vocalist continued. "We're not trying to reinvent the wheel, and we're not coming out saying, 'We're the most original band of our genre.' But we are trying to breathe new life into it. A lot of bands out there are just nailing the coffin shut on the whole extreme music industry, and we're trying not to do that. It's such a mess now. Everybody's band is getting signed, and there are 500 bands on each label, and they're all doing the same thing. It's hard to do sh-- that hasn't been done, so we're just trying to mix it up a little bit."
This fall, Bennett said, the Acacia Strain will be touring ad nauseam — first, as an opening act, and then, closer to the end of the year, heading out for a headlining run of their own. He wouldn't discuss the band's touring plans at length, because both tours were still being mapped out and confirmed. But whenever Acacia is done logging miles, Bennett said, he'll return to his other band, Co--punch.
"The dudes are at home right now, and they'll be recording some stuff while I'm out on the road, and then I'll just go back and record vocals," he said. "We're going to be putting out a 10 7-inch series over the next year, and we're doing an album of covers. We want to do 'Wolverine Blues' by Entombed, 'Mandibles' by E. Town Concrete, and we're going to do a NOFX cover, and a Misfits cover.
"Co--punch is my fun band," he said. "It helps me get away from the mediocrity of serious touring life. It's my hobby band — it's always good to have something on the side, to just get away from it all."
The rest of the week's metal news:
In case you missed it, MTV News was in San Antonio, Texas, last weekend, for the Sacrifice of the Nazarene Child festival, where Profanatica performed for the first time since 2001. ...
Perhaps the week's best news came on Wednesday, when it was revealed that the reunited Carcass had finally booked a U.S. gig. Necrophagist, Aborted and Suffocation will open for Carcass on September 6 in New York. Tickets go on sale July 11. The band is expected to announce additional American dates in the coming months. ...
Finally, reunited metallers Overcast have cemented a release date for their Reborn to Kill Again set, which will feature re-recorded versions of more than a dozen of the influential band's classic tunes, along with two previously unreleased tracks. The effort will drop August 19 through Metal Blade Records, nearly two years after it was recorded. ...
Glenn Danzig's annual Blackest of the Black tour returns this October, with Danzig headlining, of course. Dimmu Borgir, Moonspell, Winds of Plague and Skeletonwitch have been tapped as direct support. The trek gets under way October 9 in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, and runs through November 10 in San Francisco. ...
Thrash outfit Warbringer are on the hunt for a new drummer after amicably parting with Ryan Bates recently. Bates will vacate following their scheduled tour dates. Think you could take over behind the kit? Head on over to the band's MySpace page, and let 'em know you're interested. ...
Himsa have called it quits after 10 years as a band. "Having sacrificed everything we had in order to ensure the band's survival, it's time to let it go," the band said in a statement. "We're getting along, we've toured, and we're fine. It's all good. We're leaving it at that." Himsa play their final show August 16 at the El Corazon in their native Seattle.
See Also
For My Pain
Artist: For My Pain
Genre(s):
Metal
Discography:
Fallen
Year: 2003
Tracks: 10
Realizing that Finnish rock fans were experiencing a sudden love thing with commercially savvy boor metal bands such as H.I.M., Entwine, and To/Die/For, a group of opportunistic veterans from the regional extreme metal shot decided to focus their energies on what was previously hardly a face project called For My Pain.... Featuring guitarist Olli-Pekka Törrö, bassist Altti Veteläinen, and drummer Petri Sankala of Eternal Tears of Sorrow, keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen from Nightwish, guitarist Lauri Tuohimaa of Charon, and Reflexion singer Juha Kylmänen, For My Pain... made their debut with 2003's Fallen record album, released through Finland's have Spinefarm Records.
Dakini
Francis Lai
Artist: Francis Lai
Genre(s):
Soundtrack
Instrumental
Easy Listening
Discography:
Story Vol 9 - Francis Lai Sings Francis Lai
Year: 2004
Tracks: 18
Story Vol 8 - International Songs
Year: 2004
Tracks: 18
Story Vol 7 - Songs From Films
Year: 2004
Tracks: 14
Story Vol 6 - Songs From Films
Year: 2004
Tracks: 19
Story Vol 5 - Original Film Soundtracks (1990-1999)
Year: 2004
Tracks: 18
Story Vol 4 - Original Film Soundtracks (1981-1989)
Year: 2004
Tracks: 18
Story Vol 2 - Original Film Soundtracks (1971-1975)
Year: 2004
Tracks: 17
Story Vol 14 - Instrumental Music
Year: 2004
Tracks: 17
Story Vol 13 - French Songs
Year: 2004
Tracks: 17
Story Vol 12 - French Songs
Year: 2004
Tracks: 19
Story Vol 11 - French Songs
Year: 2004
Tracks: 21
Story Vol 10 - French Songs
Year: 2004
Tracks: 18
Hasards Ou Coincidences
Year: 1998
Tracks: 5
Bilitis
Year: 1997
Tracks: 11
Ripoux Contre Ripoux
Year: 1990
Tracks: 22
Dark Eyes
Year: 1987
Tracks: 17
Attention Bandits
Year: 1987
Tracks: 7
Un Homme Et Une Femme - 20 Ans
Year: 1986
Tracks: 8
Les Uns Et Les Autres (With Mi
Year: 1981
Tracks: 15
Oliver's Story (With Les Holdridge)
Year: 1978
Tracks: 11
International Velvet
Year: 1977
Tracks: 10
Le Corps De Mon Ennemi
Year: 1976
Tracks: 16
Ames Perdues
Year: 1976
Tracks: 14
Emmanuelle 2
Year: 1975
Tracks: 9
L'aventure C'est L'aventure
Year: 1972
Tracks: 8
Love Story
Year: 1970
Tracks: 11
Le Soleil Des Voyous
Year: 1970
Tracks: 8
Le Passager De La Pluie
Year: 1970
Tracks: 20
Un Homme Qui Me Plait
Year: 1969
Tracks: 10
Hannibal Brooks
Year: 1969
Tracks: 15
Mayerling
Year: 1968
Tracks: 10
La Lecon Particuliere
Year: 1968
Tracks: 6
13 Jours En France (With Pierre Barouh)
Year: 1968
Tracks: 10
Vivre Pour Vivre
Year: 1967
Tracks: 11
The Bobo
Year: 1967
Tracks: 11
Dirty Dozen
Year: 1967
Tracks: 13
Un Homme Et Une Femme
Year: 1966
Tracks: 9
Best remembered for his Oscar-winning piles to A Man and a Woman and Sexual love Story, composer Francis Lai was born April 26, 1932, in Nice, France. After poring over piano as a child, he later ascertained jazz and during the 1950s followed friend and isaac M. Singer Claude Goaty to Paris, finally settling in Montmartre. At the local Taverne d'Attilio, Lai met Bernard Dimey, with whom he collaborated on well over century songs; a brief stint in Michel Magne's orchestra preceded his tenure as accompanyist for Edith Piaf, for whom Lai as well composed a number of songs as good. He made his film debut in 1964 with the score to Roger Vadim's remake of Max Ophuls' classic La Ronde, and deuce days later composed the music for Jean-Luc Godard's Masculin/Feminin; however, it was his solve on Claude Lelouch's 1966 strike A Man and a Woman which elevated Lai to international fame, and in addition to earning an Academy Award, he toothed a perennial gentle hearing front-runner with the picture's Brazilian-inflected title air. He south Korean won a second Oscar for the 1970 Arthur Hiller blockbuster Love Story, and the film's theme, "Where Do I Begin?," too became a Top 40 arrive at for Andy Williams, Henry Mancini, and even Lai himself. Although the composer ne'er over again reached the same commercial heights, he continued functional regularly in the picture palace, oftentimes in concurrence with director Lelouch, and composed a figure of instrumental favorites, including "Today It's You," "Glad New Year," and "Love in the Rain."
Lohan's mother set for own TV show
Review: Anoushka Shankar Project at Auckland Town Hall
This was a work of great melodic complexity and depth but it was followed by an even more inventive piece, her own Three Raga Suite which opened with a sprightly folk feel but by the second movement had become more ominous through plucked cello. Rippling piano figures ushered in the final section in which Shankar proved herself capable of great emotional depth.But this was also an intelligently varied programme and the spoken percussion dialogue between Bose and Kulur, a melancholy ballad, and a flamenco-influenced piece drew sustained appreciation from the capacity crowd. Her expansive Red Sun and Voice of the Moon - which explored an area between austere ECM-styled jazz and world music - confirmed that this Shankar, while mindful and respectful of the tradition she is continuing, is also not afraid to extend the parameters of her work.Some in the visibly multi-cultural audience may perhaps have wished for a more conservative programme, but Anoushka Shankar is quite clearly her own woman - and in that regard also very much her father's daughter.
TV briefs | New assistant DA for "Law & Order: SVU"
TV briefs |
New assistant DA for "Law & Order: SVU"
Michaela McManus, who played book editor Lindsey on "One Tree Hill," is joining NBC's "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" as an assistant district attorney.
McManus follows Diane Neal in the prosecutor's role.
"Worst Enemy"
adds Alfre Woodard
NBC's new series "My Own Worst Enemy" has added a little prestige to its cast in the form of Alfre Woodard.
Woodard, a multiple Emmy winner, will star opposite Christian Slater in the show, which is scheduled to air at 10 p.m. Mondays in the fall. The show centers on Slater's character, a middle-class suburbanite whose alter ego is a spy.
Woodard will play the supervisor of the spy part of Slater's character, according to The Hollywood Reporter. She will also have another side that has contact with the everyday Slater.
Zap2it.com
See Also