Monday, May 24, 2010

Bad day for fans of bad music

from Onion AV Club: 
Limp Bizkit cancels summer tour, cites insufficient "bananas" factor

If you were hoping to see the Limp Bizkit reunion tour this summer, then the person who's reading this article aloud to you is about to say something very upsetting: The rap-metal troubadours have canceled all their upcoming dates out of dissatisfaction with the venues they picked, which are apparently ill-suited for losing your shit in. “Basically, Limp is not an amphitheatre band,” Fred Durst, always the most visionary of Bizkits, mused in between aphorisms on his Twitter feed. “We like to see less seats in front of the stage and more floor filled with fans going bananas. It's just more fun for all of us that way. Some bands are meant to be seen mainly sitting down, but definitely not Limp Bizkit.”
He elaborated further on the band’s official website, saying they hoped to find venues that would allow for more “jumping, dancing, and moshing directly in front of the stage, instead of on a grassy knoll a hundred yards away,” while adding that they also hoped to find a setup where “those of you who want to sit down during our show,” abstain from such terpsichorean delights, and simply drink in the euphonious collusion of melody and yelling about breaking stuff could be sated as well. The band hopes to release its rerouted concert schedule soon.


From The Guardian:
Slipknot bassist Paul Gray found dead
Paul Gray of Slipknot
Paul Gray (right), performing with Cris Fehn as Slipknot in Ohio last year. Photograph: Steve C Mitchell/EPA
The bassist of the cult US metal group Slipknot was found dead in a hotel room today, police said.
Paul Gray, 38, was found by a hotel employee at the Town Plaza hotel in Urbandale, a suburb of Des Moines, Iowa. An autopsy is planned for tomorrow. The death is not being treated as suspicious.
Slipknot, recognisable for the grotesque home-made Halloween masks sported by band members, formed in 1995. Gray, who was raised in Des Moines, was one of the band's founding members.
Last year they celebrated the 10-year anniversary of their eponymous first album, which sold more than one million copies. The band won a Grammy in 2006 for best metal performance for Before I Forget, and their 2008 album All Hope is Gone topped the US album chart.
Prior to his death, Gray had been working on an album with Hail!, a metal supergroup featuring past or present members of Judas Priest and Sepultura.
Tributes to Gray were paid by Slipknot fans, known as maggots, on social networking sites.
On Gray's Facebook page, Matt Wagner quoted the band's single Left Behind: "As I close my eyes. I feel it all slipping away. We all got left behind. We let it all slip away. Rest in Peace Paul Gray."
Aanshikseth tweeted: "The only bass player Slipknot ever had. R.I.P Paul Gray. Tragic."
In 2003, Gray was arrested on drugs and drink-driving charges after the car he was driving crashed into another vehicle when he went through a red light.
He was arrested for possession of marijuana, cocaine and drug paraphernalia, as well as drink-driving. The incident led to Gray's mugshot being leaked to a website, causing a stir among fans as, at the time, most of the group had avoided being photographed without their masks.

Friday, May 21, 2010

Backstreet Recommends: The Blue Depths

Likened to everyone from Neil Young to OMD to the Beach Boys, Isaac Edwards and Michael Tapscott are Odawas.  When critics cast their nets this wide to draw back comparisons you know they must be onto something more than a little special.  Their third album, and first as a duo with their producer/engineer Brad Cash filling in on drums when called for, The Blue Depths is a subtle wash of synthesizers, strings and free floating psychedelia well described by the cover art.  It's very much a "production" record, taking advantage of careful placement of instruments and vocal enhancements to craft a mood that oscillates between chilled happiness and narcotized melancholy.  Not a party album, it still works well both in full outdoors sunlight or on rainy days in the kitchen.


Odawas - The Blue Depths is available at Backstreet in Fredericton on vinyl for $19.98

Thursday, May 13, 2010

This is what happens every Thursday, Friday, Saturday...

Phone:  Do you have tickets for the show tonight at the Charlotte St. Art Centre?
Me:  As of this moment we do.  But the organizers sometimes pick up the tickets early on the day of the show, and the show's tonight.

Phone:  Oh I know, but I don't have a ticket.  Can I purchase a ticket?
Me:  Well... if you can get here before the organizers pick up the tickets, then of course.

Phone:  Oh... yes, I see... and you still have tickets?
Me:  ...yes.

Phone:  Oh, good.  So if I pay for the ticket by Mastercard my partner could...
Me:  I'm afraid we can only take cash for tickets.  We have to give the organizers the cash FOR the tickets when they pick them up... the day of the show.

Phone:  Oh... yes... I see... well, then you're saying I would have to come in there and pick up the tickets?
Me: ...yes.


Phone:  And could I pay for them by debit, or does it have to be cash?
Me:... cash, yes.

Phone:  And I would have to get there before the organizers pick up the tickets?
Me: ...yes.

Phone:  But you do have tickets left?
Me: ...as of this minute... yes....

Wednesday, May 05, 2010

Backstreet Recommends: Sunset / Sunrise


While She & Him are perennial front runners in the roots cute couple sweepstakes I will take this moment to sing the praises of not-so-dark horses The Dutchess and the Duke.  Jesse Loritz and Kimberly Morrison come from a little Pacific, NW town called Seattle and Sunset / Sunrise is their second release for the Hardly Art label, little sister to big brother Sub Pop.  Gritty but not grizzled, sweet but not saccharine the duo manage to find breathable oxygen in a indie/folk/country genre that's too often all smoke and stale air.  It's that pocket right between Black Mountain and The Sadies... you can stand in the prairies and see the peaks off in the distance.  Take a second.  Look around.  Listen.

The Dutchess & The Duke - Sunset/Sunrise is available at Backstreet in Fredericton on vinyl for $18.98 and CD for $17.98... +hst, of course.