Originally mentioned in a Mojo article and confirmed by Matador, Malkmus and his band the Jicks recorded with Beck earlier this year. (Via Fluxblog.) But, thanks to Malkmus’s 2010 commitments with some other band, the fruits of the collaboration probably won’t be heard until next year, according to the label. So try to pace your excitement on this one.
Smoke without fire, storms in teacups and cries of “Wolf” abound; despite all the discussion of and online about the potential sale of Abbey Road studios to try and help ease EMI’s cash crisis (yes, we squawked [should that be tweeted?] with the rest of the giddy hens), which included such notables as Sir Paul McCartney and the National Trust, there is no truth to the rumour that they are looking to sell the iconic recording venue – in fact they rejected an offer to buy it just last year…
In a competition that opened on the 1st, Guitar Center is offering the chance to have Guns n’ Roses Slash write, record and perform on a 3 track EP with you. The prize is more than that:
· A 3-song E.P. produced by legendary producer Mike Clink (Guns N’ Roses, Megadeth, Mötley Crüe)
· Slash will write, record and perform on your single
· A management development deal with “The Collective” (the team behind Linkin Park, Slash & Avenged Sevenfold)
· Feature of your single on iTunes
· World-wide digital distribution of your music through Tunecore
· $10,000 Guitar Center shopping spree
· $10,000 in new gear and endorsement deals from Ernie Ball Music Man
· The opening slot on Slash’s Monster Energy Bash
· An editorial feature on your band in Guitar World magazine
Whether or not you think Slash will fit into your J-Pop band, or be able to enhance the sound of your folk band, the experience and connections of a man who’s been at the top of the music industry for the last 25 years is going to be invaluable, and the publicity generated from the win, let alone the efforts of the management team will push you into a new league. Submit your music through the competition website here. Just read that contract.
The Eridol USB Audio/Midi interface. Reasonably priced at £89.99, the UA4FX it come with 24 bit as standard and a 96KHZ record/playback. Built in effects a versatile amount of inputs and outputs and offers the maximum in portability. Usually priced at around the £200 mark, £88.99 is a more than reasonable price for start up solo artist interested in demo-level production and some bands at a push. The reason for the price cull is simply a clearance and we have our fingers crossed that they don’t announce an end of line sale anytime soon. Some place will offer it for around £140 if you need a delivery to the UK and parts of Europe.
As a best seller for years the Eridol UA series of interfaces has provided cheap, easy and versatile solutions in home recording for amateur musicians and aspiring enthusiasts. The Eridol UA4FX is a portable Audio interface that offers ultra fast, low latency (delay) and performance, complete with MIDI options. The Eridol comes with a limited amount of built in pedal effects which can contribute to editing your tracks and songs thanks to its USB’s and a built in tube microphone pre-amp simulator. With other accessories including the EMU xmidi USB and the larger Edirol UM-2EX adapter that includes 1 in and 2 female out MIDI posts there is some room to expand.
Other DSP features include multi-band compressor/limiter for mastering, amp-simulator and distortion/chorus/delay for guitar, center cancel, reverb, noise suppressor, and more.
Qtrax has released a press release this morning stating that they have finally signed Sony BMG to their catalogue.
Qtrax is a legal P2P downloading service. In January 2008, Qtrax was overeager to announce it’s launch during the Midem conference and misrepresented ongoing negotiations and expired deals with major recording labels as being signed deals.
Qtrax is a very interesting service that has never really lived up to expectations. I’m keen to see how the service grows and if they can actually deliver decent royalty rates for the content providers. Here at RouteNote we are always looking for the next site to take off and Qtrax is definitely in the mix.
Old school revival. Recorded on old analogue equipment in a Brooklyn bedroom by a group of young soul musicians, this album has a sound straight out of the early 70′s. The music sounds like it’s been lifted from a classic film soundtrack: if Marvin Gaye had written the score to a Bond movie it might sound something like this. There are no samples, no casio-tone saxophone parts, no vocoders, just live instruments arranged well, played well and recorded well, like music used to be when people cared about what they were producing, instead of jumping about like strippers in front of a listless, pallid audience of 17 year old girls. Even on the digital version this sounds like classic soul that’s been maturing in someone’s vinyl collection for the last three decades. Like a vintage wine, take it down from the rack, gently wipe away the imagined dust, stroke the album cover in anticipation of the sensual delights you’re about to enjoy, and lift the stylus gently into position. Immediately you’ll hear a snappy, shuffling complex beat, maybe backed with a bit of piano, then a guitar drops into the groove, picked out with a long, reverb soaked xylophone, and then you notice that your head has been bobbing like Stevie Wonder for the last 30 seconds and whoops, here comes the horn section and there’s funk all up in your ears.
I admit it, I’m biased. I love that old funk and soul (although it’s by no means the guiltiest of my pleasures) – there’s so much feeling in it, especially compared to all the angry rap and vacuous pop rock that make up ‘pop’ at the moment. Having said that, Jay-Z was awarded Rolling Stone’s best single of 2007 for his track ‘Roc Boys’, which is basically just a sample of the really cool beat and horn section hook from title track ‘Make the Road by Walking’, with him rapping about how brilliant he is all over it. What makes me sad is that Jay-Z probably made millions from the single, and the album’s producer/creator Thomas Brenneck will have got nothing like as much for actually writing the song. Still, chin up.
If you’re into Otis Redding, Aretha Franklin, Al Green, Marvin Gaye or Amy Winebox, or the idea of a bluesy, funky, soulful instrumental album appeals to you, then buy this and you’ll love it. I can pretty much guarantee you’ll be hearing it in movies, adverts and sampled in other more ‘pop’ artists songs as soon as the music supervisors of the world feel it’s safe enough, so you might as well get a copy and annoy your friends by telling them who that track on the advert is by, and how they should really go and check out the Daptone records site, because there’re really a load of great music up there, funk and soul as it should be, or at the very least check out The Menahan Street Band or Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings (the musicians’ other band) on YouTube or iTunes.
