That’s just music

Chris Martin had announced a new Coldplay song, said NME. It was recently aired during the Apple software presentation, which took place in San-Francisco on September, 1. Well, the band is going commercial, and this is very obvious; it’s not necessary to say that such things are terribly corrupt inside, but for some reason rock bands, and generally speaking people of creativity who join forces with the commercial side of the world seem to be less creative. According to many views commercialism cannot associate itself with the true essence of music, but surely it sounds a little bit odd too. A song that was produced by Martin is called Wedding Bells, and interestingly was not accompanied by any of his band-mates during the actual presentation, except for piano on which he had personally performed. “This is a new song called ‘Coldplay 2.6′ and it has a lot of new features, it features seven different kinds of chords and even a new one that our closest rivals have no idea about”, he noted. The last part of his comment was surely including some funny manner in which Apple representatives usually refer to other software companies. During this presentation he had also performed traditional Coldplay songs - Yellow and Viva La Vida. Currently, Wedding Bells is available on YouTube.

Sony Corporation had announced it’s first “cloudy” Music Unlimited service on September 1, said CNET news. Many expect that this thing will enable various electronic devices to get attached to the online music libraries. Another gadget for the ‘masses’, and surely it will get into progress, as long as there will be no rivalry on the side of some other company, which produces similar electronic toys. Listening process can be done as a stream, but everything would be synchronized with the library; Music Unlimited should become a part of already started Qriocity service that allows people to see movies. So far it’s unknown what particular devices will support Music Unlimited, some mention Sony TV sets, Blu-ray, PlayStation 3 game consoles and computers under the Windows flag. In the future Music Unlimited will be available on many portative devices, so the whole idea is not stopped on the mentioned above gadgets. This new service was announced almost at the same time when Apple had produced nearly identical device, thus Sony needs to overcome some rivals along the way to success. Practically, it must become available by the end of this year, and it’s price remains to be a secret, but hopefully it will not be too expensive anyway.

Radiohead had released the concert DVD album, which is based on the material filmed by the band’s fans on August 23, 2009 in Prague, said The Guardian. Originally, this disk had to come out unofficially, but along the process of creating it some new things and ideas began to appear. An initiative group of fans had collected a lot of videos from the above mentioned Prague concert, and mixed it with the audio track, also recorded during the same venue. When the first video fragments were published (filmed by more than fifty cameras) onto YouTube, it could be finally judged by musicians. Eventually, the band just loved their fans’ work, and gave them professionally worked-out version of the concert sound record. The final result of this experimental DVD is now available for free on the specifically designed website (http://radiohead-prague.nataly.fr/). “Strictly not for sale. By the fans, for the fans. Please share and enjoy”, says the sign. Also, it’s available in many formats including DVD, (PAL and NTSC), AVI, HD Quicktime and others. Radiohead is definitely extremely innovative and would never deny it’s fans’ talents when they wish to capture the band’s concert activity; live presentations by Radiohead matter a lot, and can be seen as something absolutely unique in their genre.

Robert Plant had recently said that he is going to stop dealing with the rock music since now on, notes ContactMusic. Quite peculiar remark on the side of somebody who had practically standing at the roots of this music genre. A sixty two year old Plant had suddenly realized it while visiting Them Crooked Vultures concert, the band which is led by his Led Zeppelin colleague John Paul Jones - “I fell so far away from heavy rock now. It’s quite odd how mine and John’s paths seem to have crossed over - we’ve sort of gone into each other’s world’s a bit.” Surely, he was saying the truth, Plant is probably just not staying within the same frames anymore, everybody tends to change from time to time, especially when decades go by and years pass. Notably, Plant did not like the band’s loudness, so according to him, his both ears “bled for two days”; well, for the ex-Led Zeppelin member it’s very strange, but again, life goes on. He did not say in which music style his talent will move around, and what particular thing interests him today. In October 2007 Plant had released the album “Raising Sand” together with an American country singer Alison Krauss. Stylistically, it was pretty close to folk music with some additions from the variety of ballad-like notions. In the middle of September his solo project Band of Joy should release the album of the same title, and hopefully this time everybody will see what interests Plant nowadays.

Stanley Donwood’s personal expo is going to be shown for the first time in the United States, said ArtDaily. This guy is famous for making Radiohead’s album designs and covers; particularly his talent is reflected upon the creation of many unique pictures that practically were not really repeated by the others. His current exposition will take place in Los Angeles from September 2 to October 27, and is going to be called “Over Normal”. Specifically for this expo, Donwood had prepared seven new works, which must portray another scheme of how to produce commercials, basically all kinds of them including ones on the street, and even Internet spam. In other words, Donwood wants to show people something what can be used later by some clever expo visitor whose sense of business deals is equal to his own talent.  It’s expected that the whole thing will be accompanied with some special soundtrack, possibly with Radiohed’s music; after all he is co-working with them for years. Besides that, visitors will get a booklet in which Donwood describes how he got to the idea of “Over Normal”, it’s basic meaning and other curious artistic facts. The first Radiohead album which was designed by Donwood was “The Bends” in 1995, later he worked with all of their releases including “Amnesiac” in 2002 – this album received the prize for the best design.

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Waxworks that should reflect the whole physical and partially emotional aspects of an infamous singer Lady Gaga should appear in every Madame Tussauds museum, all over the world, said The Daily Telegraph. Thus, she is going to be the first celebrity who’s wax stature will be exposed in such a way; it must include museums in London, Hollywood, Las Vegas, Washington, New York, Amsterdam, Berlin, Bangkok, Hong Kong and Shanghai. Seriously, this woman is winning over the minds of people simply everywhere, and her fame seems to be as a huge wave of pop culture right now. This wax project will absorb one million pounds (1,2 million euros); notably, every waxwork of Lady Gaga will portray her in different poses and clothes. Practically, this project looks as if it reflects so far the biggest thing that was ever launched by the Madame Tussauds specialists. By twenty four years of age Lady Gaga was able to reach the highest step in the music world, and turned to be the best paid performer. She is regularly winning over the hit charts and search scores on the Internet. At the same time fans are currently waiting for another album, which is supposedly should be another source of heat behind her.

From August 25 until November 7 this year Handel House Museum in London is going to organize an expo dedicated to Jimi Hendrix, said Reuters. Legendary musician used to live in London on 23 Brook Street from 1968 till 1969; another great musician from the past, Handel was quartering on the same street (house number 25) for thirty six years, from 1723 to 1759. Hendrix’s close friend Kathy Etchingham wrote in her book “Through Gypsy Eyes” that guitarist was well informed about the fact that he is living right next to the place where such a famous classical composer used to live too. Etchingham notes that both musicians came to England in order to become famous. At the same time, both had died in there, and it’s another thing which parallels these two far distanced characters; often life is ironic and sort of puts talented people in the same areas. Currently, Hendrix’s flat is occupied by the Handel Museum, but in the midst of September it will be totally free for viewers, and possibly they may feel that late 1960’s vibe. “The flat was the ideal place for us – at the heart of London at a time when the city was the centre of the music world”, said Etchingham. On the other hand, the Handel Museum itself will show Hendrix’s electric guitar, clothes and some handwritten texts.

Iron Maiden vocalist Bruce Dickinson had recently said that his band will never participate in the Glastonbury festival, said ContactMusic. “Glstonbury is a bit too cream cakes and afternoon tea for us. It’s all yurts and people being far too polite”, noted Dickinson. At the same time he did not note if Iron Maiden was invited to participate in the event. In other words, this band is not setting up things for the Glastonbury, possibly for their general view on it or for the fact that they did not get invited. At least these two points of view had collided because of the recent commentaries made by Dickinson. Iron Maiden is quite famous for it’s principles in the show business, so most likely they truly anticipate the event. On August, 13 Iron Maiden had released it’s fifteenth studio album “The Final Frontier”. It was able to get to the first place on the British national chart and also lead the way in Sweden and Finland. Previously, the festival’s organizer Michael Eavis said that he had already talked with two possible headliners, which were welcomed to participate in the Glastonbury-2011, but he still refuses to give their names. Surely, it will not be Iron Maiden, especially after Bruce Dickinson’s remarks regarding the issue.

Bob Dylan had tried the new system of selling concert tickets, particularly it took place during the San Francisco venue on August 25, said NME. Basically, the whole thing was based on his statement and wishes not to sell tickets before a day of the concert. It was possible to buy tickets only on August 25, and anyone who wanted to purchase it could get only one ticket per person. Thus, Dylan hoped to get rid of the price speculations and all sorts of manipulations that exist in the world of the show business. Also, musician plans to use such system in the future because according to the results it worked. “Given the state of touring and how fees have escalated, it was a real breath of fresh air to do something very consumer-oriented by eliminating all ticketing charges,” said Dylan’s representative David Lefkowitz. Practically, it’s good to do it because too many people today are trying to buy a bunch of tickets and later re-sell them for a larger price; this is nearly damaging for those who don’t have enough resources to pay for an expensive ticket. In April, 2009 Bob Dylan had released his thirty third studio album – “Together Through Life”. On October the same year he released a compilation of the Christmas songs – “Christmas in the Heart”.

The Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood is planning to release the new album called “I Feel like Playing” on September 27, 2010, said NME. This record is going to be his seventh studio work, and it surely must reflect the variety of his innovative views on how the music should sound. “I Feel like Playing” was not made up by Wood himself; he had invited Pearl Jam leader Eddie Vedder, Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea and ex-Guns N’Roses guitarist Slash. Also, such musicians as Billy Gibbons and Bobby Vomak took their parts in the production process. Ronnie Wood thinks that “I Feel like Playing” is his most ‘solo’ work ever and without doubt must be the best one. The cover was drawn by Wood, and if it be exact some fragment from one of his artistic works was used. His previous album “Not for Beginners” was released in November, 2001 and the last The Rolling Stones record “A Bigger Bang” came out in September, 2005. In other words, Ronnie Wood looks and sounds quite happy when talking or discussing “I Feel like Playing”, he definitely gave up a lot of time to make it, so hopefully it will be his major hit in time. Such people as Wood never give up their music career, even if the age is pushing their physical abilities.