Tuesday 2 September 2008
Coldplay to rush-release new album
A report in The Sun (August 21) suggests that the band's 'Viva La Vida..' roger Huntington Sessions with producer Brian Eno had been so successful that they were at present looking to rush-release a new record album of already recorded material.
A source at the band's label EMI said: "The 'Viva La Vida...' sessions were fantastically fruitful. They gelled brilliantly with Brian and recorded much more music than they could fit on one album.
"The majority of the followup is already in the can, though they volition have to go back into the studio at some item to add a few more songs."
Frontman Chris Martin previously revealed that the band had recorded a song with Kylie Minogue, titled 'Luna', which didn�t make it onto 'Viva La Vida...', saying that the vocal "will be on a record we will put out in 2009".
However a spokesperson for EMI denied reports the move would let the band out of their record cover with the label, relation NME.COM: "Contrary to inaccurate reports in The Sun, Coldplay ar signed to a semipermanent record contend with EMI and ar committed to produce a number of albums. The band's relationship with EMI is both long-term and positive."
Paul McCartney, The Rolling Stones and Radiohead let all recently left EMI. The label was taken over by private equity firm Terra Firma in 2007.
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Saturday 23 August 2008
'Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince' Release Pushed Back To Summer
Don't expect any boy wizards to make box office magic this year. Though a teaser trailer for it just came out a few weeks ago, the sixth film in the series, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," will non be coming out in November after all. Warner Bros. announced Thursday (August 14) that it's pushing back the release date of the film to July 17, 2009.
The studio said that it had reconsidered the timing based on the overall securities industry as intimately as the recent writers' strike.
"Our reasons for shifting 'Half-Blood Prince' to summer are double," Warner Bros. President and Chief Operating Officer Alan Horn said in a statement. "We know the summer time of year is an ideal window for a family tent-pole release, as proven by the success of our last Harry Potter moving picture [released July 11, 2007], which is the second-highest-grossing film in the franchise, behind only the low installment."
Horn added that "like every other studio," Warner Bros. was still "notion the repercussions of the writers' strike," which had affected scripts for other films, and changed "the competitive landscape for 2009." Because of this, the studio felt next summer was a "new window of opportunity" for the franchise. The film's manufacturer, David Heyman, concurred, locution that this would allow them to "reach the widest possible audience."
Entertainment Weekly had already put Harry Potter himself, Daniel Radcliffe, on the cover of this week's fall movies preview matter, on newsstands Friday. However, the studio was prompt to dispel any speculation that the film was behind docket or that the release-date change would affect anything in the film itself.
"The release-date change does not alter the production schedule for this or succeeding Harry Potter films," Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group President Jeff Robinov aforementioned in a statement. "Post-production on 'Half-Blood Prince' was completed on time, and the studio's release plans for the two-part 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows' will not be affected by this change."
"I am super proud of this latest film and of the work of [director] David Yates and our uncomparable cast," Heyman said in a statement. "I believe we have developed and pushed the series further still. We are all looking onward to sharing it with Harry Potter fans about the earthly concern, even if we make to wait just a bit longer."
The delay is actually "salutary news" for fans, Robinov said, since it too means "the gap will now be shortened" betwixt the release of "Half-Blood Prince" and the first-class honours degree installment of "Deathly Hallows."
"Even as we put finishing touches on this latest film," Yates said in a statement, "we ar already kickoff preparations on the last two films ... and I am aroused to bring this noteworthy series to the exciting and moving conclusion its loyal fans deserve."
Because of the change in release date, the studio will likely cut a new trailer as well, though a sack date for that remains undetermined. Filming for the first piece of "Deathly Hallows" starts in February.
Check out everything we've got on "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince."
For break news, celebrity columns, humor and more � updated around the clock � visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.
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Wednesday 6 August 2008
Ochre
Artist: Ochre
Genre(s):
Ambient
Discography:
Lemodie
Year: 2006
Tracks: 10
 
Akon/ Michael Jackson Collaboration, 'Hold My Hand,' Leaks
Thursday 26 June 2008
Spike Lee - Lee Considers Hurricane Katrina Follow-up
Director SPIKE LEE is considering re-visiting the area affected by 2005's Hurricane Katrina to make a follow-up documentary to his critically acclaimed film WHEN THE LEVEES BROKE:A REQUIEM IN FOUR ACTS.
The moviemaker won three Emmy Awards for the 2006 film, which focused on the after effects of the disaster which devastated the city of New Orleans, Louisiana.
And now Lee is convinced that the story of Hurricane Katrina's aftermath is still ongoing, and wants to capture the present day feelings of people living in the affected area.
He says, "I'm going to go back, not just to New Orleans but to other areas affected, because it's not over. What the press is not really talking about is the mental state - suicide, self-medication. It's horrible."
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Thursday 19 June 2008
Little Wolf
Artist: Little Wolf
Genre(s):
New Age
Discography:
Offerings
Year: 2002
Tracks: 11
 
Simple Aggression
Tuesday 10 June 2008
Live: R.E.M. at Hollywood Bowl
You don't often see a rock band being asked to turn it up, but it was a reasonable demand given the somewhat sedate nature of the show to that point. The music sounded bright and clear enough, but it didn't reach out into the broad amphitheater and embrace the fans in its spell, nor punch them in the gut, the way this band has done for nearly three decades.
That sonic reticence might have served as a handy symbol of R.E.M.'s diminished presence in recent years. It's been an up-and-down decade for the Athens, Ga., band, which almost single-handedly created the template for the indie-rock ideal.
Doubts about the band's very existence followed drummer Bill Berry's 1997 departure, and when singer Michael Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck and bassist Mike Mills did return to action, they made albums that marked R.E.M.'s commercial and critical low points.
At the same time, they showed they could soldier on, and while they might have drifted musically, they never squandered the integrity that made them the shining role model for bands such as Radiohead, which was once their opening act and absorbed much about career conduct from their example. You can bet that this tour's support bands, the National and Modest Mouse, are learning some lessons as well.
That integrity, combined with a vast repertoire of songs both familiar and obscure, means that even a routine R.E.M. concert will have a firm foundation. But this time around the band found a way to make it a cut above the routine.
Their new album, “Accelerate,” has been welcomed as a return to form, with a rawness and immediacy that provide a palpable spark of renewal. And without making a big point of it, the band included nearly all the songs in Thursday's two-hour concert.
They opened the show with one of their older songs, "Pretty Persuasion," and then got right to it with the new "Living Well Is the Best Revenge," a scathing assertion of independence from demagogues, whether religious or political.
Like many of the other "Accelerate" songs, "Revenge" fit snugly in the R.E.M. oeuvre while adding some freshness. The atmospheric "Houston" is a sort of meditation on Glen Campbell's Jimmy Webb-written hit "Galveston," with Mills playing organ, but the emphasis is on energy and release. The set-closing "I'm Gonna DJ" arrives as a worthy replacement for "It's the End of the World as We Know It," their apocalyptic party song, and the encore-opening "Supernatural Superserious" riffed with serious force.
This shot of the new was like a serum in the bloodstream, reinvigorating the panoramic career overview that rounded out the set. As the show proceeded, the sound seemed to improve (at least there were no more complaints from the crowd), and Stipe, a lanky, rubbery-bodied genie in a sharp suit, became an increasingly involving host.
His politicking (for Obama, against Bush) was familiar but concise, and he illuminated some of the songs with introductions tailored to the occasion. Before playing "Electrolite," he dedicated the song to Los Angeles, "the city of dreams," and explained that it came from the time he lived in Santa Monica and would go to Mulholland Drive with his friends to look at the lights.
He later asked if anyone had been here the last time they played the Hollywood Bowl and remembered his taking a header on the second song. "Do you want to see the scar?" he asked, pulling up his pants leg.
Whatever issues R.E.M. might have sustaining its artistry and keeping its direction, the band never just goes through the motions. They were happy to include the very early song "Sitting Still" in response to a request made of Stipe at a book signing, and they played the arty ballad "I've Been High" under the yellow flag of "We're still figuring this one out."
"Not bad for the third night of the tour," Stipe commented near the end. True enough. The band (supplemented by guitarist Scott McCaughey and drummer Bill Rieflin) kept the focus on the voice and melody, driving those qualities with the ringing, rough-hewn, guitar rock that's defined them throughout their career.
They aren't architects of sonic grandeur like U2 or Radiohead, or virtuosic instigators of rock catharsis like Springsteen and the E Street Band. But R.E.M. remains in that rarefied company because of an inner fire that insists on a connection with the listener, a shared sense of wonder and outrage at the world.
It was there Thursday. All it needed was a little more volume.
richard.cromelin@latimes.com
Wednesday 4 June 2008
Xhale
Artist: Xhale
Genre(s):
Ambient
Discography:
Slugabed
Year: 2004
Tracks: 9
Ant Shaped Head
Year: 2003
Tracks: 3