That’s just music

One of the participants of the legendary German electronic band Kraftwerk Florian Schneider has left the group, said New Musical Express. There is no explonation of why he did this, but it’s known that during the last few years he did not really participate in the band while paying more attention to his personal side projects. Also, Schneider did not take part in Kraftwerk’s 2008 world tour. His place was taken by Stefan Pfaffe. This news may be upsetting to many of their fans because Florian is one of the founders of Kraftwerk. This band had a tremendous influence on the electronic music, and today there is no trance, techno, progressive group or DJ which is not going to mention Kraftwerk as their original insipiration. It was created in 1970 by Schneider and Ralf Hütter. The most famous and cool albums are “Autobahn” (1970), “Radio-Activity” (1975), “Trans-Europe Express” (1977) and “The Man Machine” (1978).

Right now it means that Ralf Hütter is going to be the only musician who is left from the original lineup. The good news is coming for the Kraftwerk’s Latin American fans that are going to see them performing together with Radiohead in March-April 2009 during their Central and South American tour. Let’s see what Schneider will do with his side projects, and may it be as good as Kraftwerk.

Legendary American rock band Grateful Dead is planning to start a tour in April. It’s going to be their first concert voyage in four years, said EOnline. The band’s official website also reported that from April 12 to May 10 they’re considering to orginize nineteen concerts in the various US cities. In October 2008 four Grateful Dead musicians have performed together in order to collect some money for Obama’s presidential campaign, and of course to show themselves again. In November one of the guys Mickey Hart has said in an interview that “ice began to melt, and their band is getting rid off some skeleton’s in the closet.”

Greateful Dead was created back in 1965 and lasted until 1995 when the band’s influential leader Jerry Garcia had died. Since that time this great band kept on reuniting once in a while, but failed to come together on a full scale. They were participating in many other prominent music projects such as, The Other Ones, The Dead, RatDog, Phil Lesh and Friends, Donna Jean and the Tricksters.

April 12 Greensboro NC Greensboro Coliseum
April 14 Washington DC Verizon Center
April 15 Charlottesville VA John Paul Jones Arena
April 17 Albany NY Times Union Center
April 18 Worcester MA DCU Center
April 19 Worcester MA DCU Center
April 21 Buffalo NY HSBC Arena
April 22 Wilkes-Barre PA Wachovia Arena @
Casey Plaza
April 24 Uniondale NY Nassau Coliseum
April 25 New York NY Madison Square Garden
April 26 Hartford CT XL Center
April 28 E. Rutherford NJ IZOD Center
April 29 E. Rutherford NJ IZOD Center
May 1 Philadelphia PA Wachovia Spectrum
May 2 Philadelphia PA Wachovia Spectrum
May 5 Chicago IL All State Arena
May 7 Denver CO Pepsi Center
May 9 Los Angeles CA The Forum
May 10 Mountain View CA Shoreline Amphitheater

British singer Amy Winehouse was summoned to attend the court hearings in Norway due to her previous legal problem with drugs, said Associated Press. She is suppose to make it there on January 12 this year. Winehouse had appealed against the court’s decision right after she and her husband Blake Fielder Civil were arrested and forced to pay fines for possessing marijuana. She believes that policemen have made a lot of procedural mistakes due to which these fines cannot be fare. A girl is trying to fight back, and even if this case seems to be very clear, it’s still quite possible that her lawyers and the celebrity status will help. Just for a reminder, Amy was hiding seven grams of weed. Come on it’s not that bad. Previously it was reported that her lawyers were already informed about the fact that if she will not attend such a “happy” event on time then nothing shall be changed in a previous court decision.

Due to this Norwegian incident she was refused of getting an American visa in February 2008, and couldn’t participate at the Grammy Awards ceremony. Later she was able to attain it, but her performance in Los Angeles didn’t happen.

Famous American rapper DMX had confessed about the fact that he was stealing, possessed drugs and kept on being violent with animals, said the AP news agency. During the court hearings in Maricopa (Arizona) DMX (whose real name is Earl Simmons) made a deal with the investigation, according to which he is not trying to deny all the above convictions. In riverse, the court is not going to continue to pressure him and will close the case. Due to this legal deal Simmons will be put to jail for three months, and after that he will be forsed to stay under a constant police supervision. Until the verdict is finally given Simmons will stay in custody, and the worst for him is that all this waiting time shall not be counted. Back in 2007 DMX was cought under some real fire. Still it’s hard to tell if he was really so ruthless with animals, particularly dogs, but the law is really stepping on his shoes this time.

Other deal requirements will prohibit him from having any pets or animals, and of course no guns. Besides that, he must undergo the special psychological treatment program, which is prescribed to people who are potentially or literally cruel with animals.

Guns N’ Roses is planning to start the world tour (sometimes by the end of March, 2009), which is going to last for nearly two years. What a shocking news for the band that stayed without an album for almost fifteen years. This information was given to the Rolling Stone magazine by the band’s guitarist Richard Fortus. This giant tour will be dedicated to their new album “Chinese Democracy”, which took decade and a half to be released. It’s going to be the fifth tour in support of this album since 2001, but the first one after the actual release. Currently, there is no official information from Axl Rose himself due to his traditional habit of not communicating with the media. Rolling Stone believes that an upcoming tour will allow them to stand out as headliners of many summer and autumn festivals on both sides of the Atlantic. Well, fifteen years in making of the album require some pay off, and this band needs to work quite hard to popularise it.

“Chinese Democracy” was released on November 23 and right from the beginning had experienced a lot of warm judgements from the critics, but failed to lead the music charts. The only exception took place during the first week of sales. Some people criticise Axl for this failure because he refused to show off and promote it.

Visitors of the Stereogum.com will be able to win the 8 Gb iPod Nano player with the full Smashing Pumpkins discography in it. Slowly, but definitely the music industry is realising that new things are going to continue no matter what. Besides the studio albums it will include b-sides, rare songs, and previously unreleased song ‘Translucent’. This “full of music” iPod will be a ‘lottery gift’ called ‘Gum Drop Giveaway #69’. In order to be a part of this procedure one should register on Stereogum.com. A winner shall be identified on February 1, 2009. The owner of iPod Nano will also receive “If All Goes Wrong” DVD, which is dedicated to the band’s 20th anniversary. It contains various interviews with Billy Corgan and other musicians. Jack Gulick is the director and producer of the DVD, who is also famous for his notable co-working with Metallica, Godsmack and Bruce Spingsteen.

Previously, Billy Corgan kept on saying that the music industry in it’s traditional shape and form cannot exist anymore. According to him their fans are not willing to worth the band’s music anymore, especially if it’s long and alternative. Well, possibly his view is currently being reflected upon this free gift.

Deep Purple legendary vocalist Ian Gillan is planning to perform together with the Paris symphonic orchestra in two German cities – Grafenhainichen and Magdeburg, said Blabbermouth. By organizing these two concerts they shall write another important page in the history of rock and classical music. The whole program is called “Classics Play Rock” and may include a lot of attention. The coolest thing about it is that both rock and classical sides have agreed to make everything going without any problems. This joint concert program shall include the most famous Deep Purple songs, but the whole plan was not revealed so far, and it sounds like the whole track list will become known only during the concerts. In addition, Gillan will repeat this co-operation with the classical stuff again in September, 2009 together with the Prague orchestra. Definitely, everyone would like to perform with such a person.

Ian Gillan used to leave Deep Purple twice, but each time he just kept on coming back. He was in the middle of every Deep Purple song which became legendary, and practically without him this band would probably not exist. Recenty, Gillan had performed together with the band in dedication to their 40th anniversary. In January, 2009 he is about to release his solo album “One Eye on Morocco”.

Virtual band Gorillaz which is organized by Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett (designer) turned to be the most popular group of 2008 among the users of MySpace social network, said New Musical Express. The total number of votes reaches up to 682875. All these guys have decided to proclaim them to be the best out of eight other bands. It seems that virtual stuff in the music industry keeps on moving. The second spot (596885 votes) was taken by Bullet For My Valentine, and a third place went to Amy Winehouse (542268). Here is a complete list: 1. Gorillaz, 2. Bullet for My Valentine, 3. Amy Winehouse, 4. Coldplay, 5. Lilly Allen, 6. M.I.A., 7. Oasis, 8. Imogen Heap.

Besides that, MySpace had published a list of the most popular videos of 2008. Practically, it was quite expected that popular music on TV will be reflected upon this social network. Madonna’s “4 Minutes” goes first. The Verve’s “Love is Noise” follows her, and “Toe Jam” which is performed by BPA (David Byrne and Dizzy Rascal) takes the ‘bronze medal’.  

1. Madonna – “4 Minutes”, 2. The Verve – “Love is Noise”, 3. BPA – “Toe Jam’, 4. Justice – “DVNO”, 5. Oasis – “I’m Outta Time”, 6. Dragonforce – “Heroes of Our Time”, 7. Sigur Ros – “Inni Mer Syngur Vitleysingur”, 8. The Raconteurs – “Old Enough”.  

The new U2 album “No Line on the Horizon” shall be released on March 2, 2009 and will include five variations, said Billboard. Despite the traditional format it will also be available in three ‘gift’ versions for 35,98$, 49,98$ and 96$. Each one will incorporate Anton Corbijn’s documentary about U2. Anton Corbijn is the famous music video director and producer. He is co-working with this legendary Irish rock band for a while, and has made a few videos for them. Other differences between each version may vary on the quality of booklets, and possibly some other exclusively minor things. Every time when a consumer is looking at those 98 cents and the commercial variety of albums nothing cool comes to mind. During the age of the online music distribution, iPods and MP3s such things look too traditional because in reality only the hardcore fans will actually go for it. What actually matters is not the price, but the quality of music. Anyway, good luck to U2 with this new release, hence so far this band kept it quite real.

“No Line on the Horizon” will be their 12th studio album since the release of “How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb” in 2004.  

The American Recording Industry Association (RIAA) had declared it’s wish not to press any charges against those who are downloading music illegally using the MP3 format, said Cnet News. Instead of following that repressive path the RIAA will concentrate upon those who are downloading more than five/six thousand songs per month. In other words, those who are just playing with it shall not be followed. Of course, this is the great news for almost every Internet user who is getting things with the help of ‘digital progress’.  RIAA’s new strategy will be supported by the unknown (so far) Internet providers, which are planning to limit the traffic speed (kpbs) to those who are vigourosly downloading an incredible amount of music all the time. Every user who is getting too much stuff on the Internet will get a warning message on his/her email.

Previously RIAA was trying to follow everyone who had violated the copyright laws. However, these methods were getting negative feedbacks from musicians, users and even some record labels. Critics believe that such ‘dragon-like’ actions only make things worse and cannot be effective. One of the loudest court procedures made by RIAA is the case of Jayme Thomas. She was found guilty for stealing and spreading of twenty four music tracks (had to pay 220 thousand dollars fine). A year later the judge had accepted the fact that this was a bad mistake.