Pierre de Reeder (Rilo Kiley) Week: Day 4

Learn more about Pierre, listen to songs from this album and more right - here!

Metallica in Muddy Mess Over Sound of New Music

antiMusic reports: Deja vu: Metallica releases new music and rampant complaints about the sound quality follow. Metallica are embroiled in a new controversy reminiscent of the infamous "St Anger" backlash over the sound of Lars' drums which many said sounded like he was banging on pots and pans not drums. Now the new Metallica single "The Day That Never Comes" is under fire for sounding like mud.

Blabbermouth has an extensive report on the issue, here are some highlights: Norwegian music industry magazine Faro Journalen downloaded one of the versions Universal Music released to the press via its digital promotional database. The magazine then sent the file to Lasse Svendsen, editor of Norway's hi-fi magazine Lyd & Bilde (Sound & Vision). Svendsen was shocked by what he heard.

"Oh my God, this is unfortunately a classic example of how bad things get when studio technicians and musicians gets to play with expensive compressors and limiters," he said. "The file is a 313 kbps AAC sound file, which isn't necessarily that bad, but someone has chosen to maximize the volume with a compressor, so much so that the whole sound file just sounds like mud. The cymbals sound like broken glass, the drums like trees cracking, and the guitars — which are mixed equally loudly — sound like someone shoved a screwdriver into my ears."

Ouch! read more and some Metallica fans reaction (including one fan banned from Metallica's message board over posts about this controversy) at - Blabbermouth

Guns N' Roses Leaker Arrested

antiMusic reports: Terrorists, band robbers, kidnappers and mass murderers can breath a sigh of relief as the FBI have far more important business to tend to: protecting Axl Rose's copyrights. A California music blogger was arrested on Wednesday for allegedly violating federal copyright law by posting nine unreleased Guns N' Roses songs on his website.

Back in June the blogger posted the songs on his blog Antiquiet.com. The tracks are believed to have come from the alleged "Chinese Democracy" album that Axl Rose has been working on for well over a decade.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the 27-year-old blogger Kevin Cogill (a.k.a. Kevin Skwerl) was arrested at his Culver City home Wednesday Morning after admitting to the FBI in June that he has posted the material on his website. Shortly after word leaked out about the leaked songs, the web traffic overwhelmed the website's server and Cogill joked at the time that they had broken the Internet. Cogill removed the files from his server after receiving a cease and desist notice from Axl Rose's attorneys. - more on this story

Iggy Pop Injured, Replacements Member Dies of Overdose, Tommy Bolin Bio, Head Shop, T.I. Makes Chart History, VMA Jacko? and more

antiMusic reports: Iggy Pop was reportedly injured at London's Get Loaded in the Park Festival this past Sunday. The godfather of punk wounded his leg after falling from a speaker stack on the festival's main stage. more

Steve Foley, who played drums with the Replacements at the tail end of their career, died last weekend in Minneapolis. He was 49. According to local media reports, Foley died after accidentally overdosing on prescription medication. more

The Bolin Estate have approved an American writer's request to put together the definitive biography about Tommy Bolin. It was always going to be a labour of love, but a number of key interviews have already been done and the author has access to people close to the late guitarist, including musicians and road crew. more

Former Korn guitarist Brian "Head" Welch will be in Los Angeles on Thursday, September 11 for an in-store appearance at Borders (1501 Vine Street, Hollywood 90028) at 4:00pm to sign copies of SAVE ME FROM MYSELF (his debut solo album and autobiography of the same name). The album will be out September 9. Want a Preview? - Also be sure to tune in release week when Brian tells us a bit about his favorite tracks from the disc.

The Casting Out, which includes Nathan Gray of Boy Sets Fire, have detailed their debut full length Go Crazy! Throw Fireworks!. The album will be self-released in October and will feature 12 songs. Click below for the track listing. more

SOiL tell fans in a new online update: We are hard at work on the new album and will be entering the studio by fall. The songs we have so far are coming together great and we are just enjoying the writing process more than ever. more

Imadethismistake recently crashed their van, in the process destroying the vehicle and a portion of their equipment and 12"s. The band is hoping to raise money to get themselves back on their feet with a commemorative van-crash shirt more

New York death metal legends Suffocation has signed a new deal with Nuclear Blast records to release their new album, which is tentatively titled, "Blood Oath." more
Apocalyptica has issued the following update: "Unfortunately our mighty friends from Slipknot had to cancel their performance at the Two Days A Week Festival. Of course we are happy to help them out and can announce that we will replace them on Friday this week in Wiesen, Austria."
The Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza has officially announced the addition of guitarist Josh Travis to their line-up. more

Middian (i.e. Age Eternal) has officially called it quits. As you may recall, the group was embroiled in a lawsuit with a Wisconsin band called Midian regarding the use of their name. Said legal action has apparently taken its toll. With Middian now done, Mike Scheidt has reformed his old band, YOB, which broke up several years ago. A lot more info

Cuba has ordered jailed punk rocker Gorki Aguila, an outspoken critic of Fidel Castro and the communist government, to stand trial on Friday for "social dangerousness," a charge that could carry up to four years in prison. more

A jury acquitted a former handyman of attempted murder charges Wednesday in last year's near-fatal shooting of Latin songwriter Estefano, who had positively identified the man in court as his assailant. more

TMZ sent us this VMA gossip for anyone that really cares: Although Britney shot promos for the VMAs, we're told the real gold is Michael Jackson. Sources close to the awards tell us MTV honchos have been working OT to get Jacko to reappear at the awards. We're told a deal is as good as sealed to have MJ present an award with sister Janet. read more

Speaking of Awards show that we won't be watching: Hollywood star Juliette Lewis and T4 main man Steve Jones are to present the Vodafone Live Music Awards at the Carling Academy Brixton on 18th September. The ceremony will be aired on Channel 4 on the following evening, 19th September.

Rapper T.I. establishes the mark for biggest jump to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 as his single "Whatever You Like" soars from No. 71 to No. 1 in its third week on the list. - more

Suge Lays The Wrong Kind of Beat On His Girlfriend

TMZ reports: Suge Knight has been busted again, this time for allegedly terrorizing and attacking his girlfriend. The former rap impresario was busted by Las Vegas cops for assault with a deadly weapon, possession of controlled substances and domestic violence.

Law enforcement tells us Suge allegedly attacked his girlfriend of three years early this morning. She claims he punched her in the back of the head while they were driving. She claims she tried getting out of the car, grabbed the steering wheel to cause and accident so someone would notice her peril.

The car struck the curb and stopped. She fled from the car and allegedly Suge chased her, caught her and that's when the cops came. - more on this story

When Foo Fans Attack

punknews.org reports: NME is reporting that rumors of a secret Foo Fighters gig on August 24th at the Reading Festival caused a near riot among fans.

A British punk band unfortunately named The FF'ers were to perform on the BBC Introducing Stage at 5 pm, but the estimated 3,000 fans who had gathered were expecting a secret Foos set.

When the Grohl-less band took the stage they were pelted with mud, bottles and shoes and had to abandon their set. - more on this story

Queen Will Rock Freedom Square

PR reports: Queen + Paul Rodgers will head a massive outdoor concert in one of Europe's biggest public squares ahead of the start of their forthcoming European tour to support Ukraine's Anti-Aids campaign.

Promoting the message "Don't let AIDS to ruin your life!", Queen will perform a free concert in Kharkov's historic Freedom Square on September 12 . The concert is expected to attract more than 100,000 to Europe's second-largest city-centre square.

Supported by Queen's own HIV AIDS charity, The Mercury Phoenix Trust, the free concert is being organized by the Elena Franchuk ANTIAIDS Foundation and is being devoted to the fight against AIDS in the Ukraine. - more on this story

Snow Patrol Set Release

PR reports: Snow Patrol will release A Hundred Million Suns (Polydor/Fiction/Geffen Records) on October 28th 2008.

The album is preceded by the single "Take Back The City", which comes with a video shot in East London courtesy of acclaimed video director Alex Courtes (White Stripes "Seven Nation Army").

Gary Lightbody (vocals/guitars) says, ""I'm so proud of this record. Everybody played out of their skin. Garret (Jacknife Lee) continued his progression from maverick genius to one of the best producers in the world. Musically, lyrically and sonically the best record we've made" - more on this story

Is Bad Music The Blame for Illegal Downloading?

Blabbermouth reports: "Build it and they will come." Does that famous line from the film Field of Dreams also apply to music? "Make good music and they will buy," that's the argument that Disturbed's Mike Wengren makes in a new interview. It seems pretty obvious, but Wengren makes the case that too many artists have forgotten that rule of thumb and that's a big reason why music sales keep falling.

"Y'know, I think everyone is trying to point the finger — record labels are to blame and everyone else is to blame, but I personally feel that it's the artists that are to blame," Wengren told The Metal Forge. "If the artists put out great music and they put out great records instead of records that had maybe one or two good singles on it and the rest of the record is totally filler, then I think that would be a huge part of it. I think people would be willing to buy a good-quality record and I think that our fans prove that.

"We pride ourselves on taking the time on every single note, every single beat, and making sure that there are no fillers on our records, and our fans know it. They appreciate it, and they come out and they actually buy the records. The sales have definitely reflected that. Y'know, I don't want to sound conceited in any way. But we know that our fans work hard for their money and we don't want to cheat them. We wanna give them every penny worth." - Read more excepts from this interview here

Staind Spin Massive Sales Drop As Explosive Success

antiMusic reports: Staind was probably hoping for a fourpeat debut at the top of the album chart but it's been awhile and three years is a long time in today's here today, gone later today music business and with the release of their new album, "The Illusion of Progress," they only managed retain half of the audience from the 2005 album and less than 8% from their blockbuster 2001 album "Break The Cycle." This time around their first week sales didn't add up to No. 1... or No. 2.

Staind's latest moved 92,000 copies last week according to Billboard, which is down from 185,000 copies of 2005's "Chapter V" and 716,000 of 2001's "Break the Cycle." The latest incarnation of a manufactured boyband, The Jonas Brothers, held on to the No 1 spot for another week and Kid Rock jumped to No. 2 this past week, even though Rock's album came out last October.

Of course the Staind camp have put a happy face on their still impressive Top 3 debut, but the spin is a little overblown. Here is what they had to say: Talk about detonating on impact. The Illusion Of Progress, the new album from Flip/Atlantic recording artists Staind, rocketed onto the Billboard 200 this week at #3, making it the fourth consecutive album of the band's career to debut in the top 3. - more on this story

GNR, Korn, Ozzy, Bauhaus, and Slipknot Members in New Rock Opera

PR reports: Repo! The Genetic Opera Opens November 7th, From Lionsgate. The film is directed by Darren Lynn Bousman and stars Paul Sorvino, Alexa Vega, Paris Hilton, Anthony Head, Bill Mosely, Ogre, Terrance Zdunich and Sarah Brightman, with a cameo by Joan "What's The Internet?" Jett. And features members of Guns N' Roses, Korn, Ozzy, Bauhaus, Rob Zombie and more.

Here is what this potential blockbuster is all about: In the no-so-distant future, a worldwide epidemic of organ failures devastates the planet. Out of the tragedy, a savior emerges: GENECO, a biotech company that offers organ transplants...for a price. Those who miss their payments are scheduled for repossession and hunted by THE REPO MAN. By fusing ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW and BLADE RUNNER, this futuristic tale of horror modernizes the "rock opera" genre with original music and rich, dark production design.

This rock opera boasts an entirely original soundtrack that blends equal parts goth and punk rock to form an eerie and powerful musical narrative. All of the actors performed their own songs, and the music was provided by an all-star lineup that features performances from Richard Patrick (Filter), Steven Perkins (Jane's Addiction), Clown (Slipknot), Ray Luzier (Korn, Army of Anyone), Brian Young (David Lee Roth's band), Richard Fortus (Guns & Roses), Sonny Moore (First to Last), David J (Bauhaus/Love & Rockets), Daniel Ash (Love & Rockets), Blasko (Ozzy Osborne), Tommy Clefetus (Rob Zombie's band), Melora Creager (Rasputina). - more on this story

Bayside Spin A Common Announcement As Fan Respect

antiMusic reports: Most bands announce the track listing prior to an album release but Victory Records put a creative spin on this common announcement for Bayside's forthcoming effort. Too band their A&R department aren't this creative. Here is the PR: If there's one thing that can be said about Long Island's Bayside, it's that their relationship with fans has always been paramount. In keeping with this level of respect for their audience, they've decided to release the track listing of their upcoming album Shudder on Victory Records (release date: September 30, 2008).

Produced by David Schiffman (Weezer, Jimmy Eat World, Johnny Cash), Shudder is the follow-up to 2007's critically-acclaimed release The Walking Wounded. "I honestly feel that Shudder is the best Bayside album that we have ever made," explains vocalist/guitarist Anthony Raneri. "It's probably the most youthful and energetic of all of our records."

The track listing is as follows: 1. Boy 2. The Ghost of St Valentine 3. No One Understands 4. What and What Not 5. A Call To Arms 6. I Can't Go On 7. Demons 8. Have Fun Storming The Castle 9. Howard 10. Roshambo 11. I Think I'll Be Ok 12. Moceanu - more on this story

Singled Out: F5's The Reckoning

antiMusic reports: Megadeth fans will automatically know that a new F5 album is worth checking out since the band features former Megadeth stars David Ellefson and Jimmy DeGrasso, but for other fans of heavy rock music who need convincing we have two special editions of Singled Out for you where Ellefson and frontman Dale Steele tell us about two songs from their new album "The Reckoning" which just hit stores. Today they tell us about the title track. Here Dale Steele:

The Reckoning" was a getting kicked around by the band for a few months and I went crazy when I first heard that riff!!! I think the line, "with everyday of pain, we're closer to The Reckoning," came really quick.

Up until 3 years ago my life had been disaster, a real train wreck!! But you know, everyone loves to stare at a train wreck. So, what better topic to write lyrics about?! All the things I've done in my life, you know something's gonna give, and it ain't gonna be pretty. I'm glad those days are behind me, but it sure made for a great track. - Now read David Ellefson's comments, he has a lot more to say about this track.

Wait there is more!

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