Taint Week: Day 3

antiMusic reports: This week we feature a band that straddles the line between hard rock and hardcore, gathering devoted fans out of most everyone that hears them. We're talking about the band Taint. Candlelight Records just released their new album, "Secrets And Lies," and we were fortunate to catch up with frontman Jimbob and ask him to tell us about his favorite tracks on the CD. Here is Jimbob with today's song "Triumverate":

Being fans of three-piece bands, we named 'Triumverate' so, as a nod to all the great trios out there. The lyrics go somewhat deeper, utilising our bassist Chris' nerd-tastic interest in Norse mythology and other histories and myths. I like this song, and heartily enjoy the contrast in Chris' and my own voice.

The CD is in stores now but you can grab a preview and learn more about the band - right here.

Jay-Z Sued for Slavery

antiMusic reports: In today's edition of frivolous lawsuits exposed we see Jay-Z tied up in litigation claiming he somehow profited from slavery. Can we hear a chorus cry of "tort reform now!"? Our good friends at Hecklerspray have more info on this: Think you know Jay-Z? Well, you don't, so think again. Unless you already think that he is partially to blame for the enslavement of thousands of Africans in pre-1807 Britain, in which case you don't need to think again, because you're absolutely right, according to Brooklyn Activist Clive Campbell and Da Black Defense League.

They have filed a $5 billion dollar lawsuit against Jay-Z, along with Barclay's Bank and Forest City Ratner, a real estate developer, because they have: "…profited from the African Slave Trade and continue to profit from these gains, through a conspiracy dating back hundreds of years and continue to date to oppress Black people, enslave them, unlawfully deport them to all corners of the Earth."

You see, according to recent findings from studies released on the 200th anniversary of Britain's abolition of the slave trade by The Restitution Study Group, Barclay's Bank (then Heywood's Bank) was involved in over 120 slave trading missions and allegedly enslaved more than 38,000 Africans, with Jay-Z and Ratner apparently connected through their ties with Barclay's Bank in a $4 billion Atlantic Yards project taking place in Brooklyn, which plans to build a basketball arena for the New Jersey Nets (partially owned by Jay-Z), over 6,000 new apartments, offices and a hotel. - more on this story

Ozzfest Tour RIP?

antiMusic reports: Since Ozzfest couldn't fill seats by literally giving away tickets last year, it now looks like it may be going the way of Lollapalooza- the music fest tour that snubbed Ozzy and caused $haron to dream up the once successful Ozzfest. You'll remember that the corporate "alternative" fest was widdled down to one weekend event due to a complete lack of interest from ticket buyers. Idolator has the story:

But the latest blog blab wonders if this year's Ozzfest won't actually be a tour at all, in what might turn out to be a very limited run indeed. Yes, Ozzfest is now rumored to be turning into a two-day festival to be held in Texas during one of the most festival-saturated summers in recent memory.

Admittedly the headbanging Ozzfest won't really be competing for the same limited audience as the 800 festivals currently set to feature a performance from affable surf goof Jack Johnson and/or the dozens of mid-level indie bands that will spend the hot weather months whoring themselves out to any two-day gathering that will have them - more on this story

Warrant Reuniting for Rocklahoma

Blabbermouth reports: POISON frontman Bret Michaels and the reunited WARRANT — featuring lead singer Jani Lane — are scheduled to appear at the Rocklahoma 2008 press conference on Tuesday, March 4 at the world-famous Whisky A Go-Go.

XM 41 The Boneyard, the official satellite radio channel of Rocklahoma, will broadcast the Rocklahoma press conference live beginning at 4:00 p.m. ET.

The press conference will announce this year's lineup for Rocklahoma, which will be held July 10-13, 2008 at the Catch The Fever Festival Grounds, four miles north of Pryor, Oklahoma. - more on this story

Jacko's Neverland Ranch in Foreclosure

antiMusic reports: The home mortgage crisis hit a new milestone today as one of the most well known ranches in America is reportedly in foreclosure. As a result Michael Jackson's Neverland ranch will soon he heading to the auction block. AFP/Google has the story: Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch has been foreclosed and will be auctioned off next month unless the singer pays off a 24.5 million dollar loan, Fox News reported on its website Tuesday.

The US network said in a report citing official documents that the sprawling 1,000 hectare (2,800 acres) ranch in Santa Barbara County would be sold at auction on March 19 unless the fallen 'King of Pop' pays 24,525,906.61 dollars.

The auction sale would include the house as well as all personal property inside, including fixtures and appliances, furniture and "all merry go round type devices", rides and games, the report said. - more on this story

Maxim Eats Crowe Over Bogus Review

antiMusic reports: We have a new chapter in the comical story of Maxim being caught with their editorial pants down after running a review of a CD they had not heard. Now the rag has issued an explanation of their bogus review policy where they only star rate CDs they have heard. Which still leaves the door open for them to "review" cds they have not heard. That makes reviewing CDs so much easier! Sleazeroxx has the story: Maxim magazine has apologized for publishing a negative review of the Black Crowes' new album by a writer who hadn't listened to the whole CD.

The review in Maxim's March issue gives the Crowes' "Warpaint" a rating of two-and-a-half stars out of five. The band posted an exasperated statement on its Web site last week saying the Maxim writer hadn't heard the entire album because advance copies weren't available. The Crowes' manager, Pete Angelus, said the magazine explained that its review was an "educated guess."

Maxim editorial director James Kaminsky responded Tuesday with this statement: "It is Maxim's editorial policy to assign star ratings only to those albums that have been heard in their entirety. Unfortunately, that policy was not followed in the March 2008 issue of our magazine and we apologize to our readers." [side note: you can now hear song streams from the CD at theblackcrowes.com and judge for yourself] - more on this story

Clapton Invited To Play North Korea

Gigwise reports: Eric Clapton has been invited to play a landmark concert in communist North Korea, according to an official at the country's embassy in London.

The confirmation follows a report in today's Financial Times which claimed that North Korea had invited Clapton to perform in the capital Pyongyang in 2009.

"It will be a good opportunity for Western music to be understood better by Koreans," an embassy official told AP. [Wonder if he'll do a cover of "I'm So Ronery"?] - more on this story

iTunes Sells 4 Billionth Song

idolator reports: The record industry has 4 billion reasons to kiss Steve Jobs in the public square. That is the amount of songs that iTunes has sold, which has made it the second largest music retailer in the US. They are second only to the brick and mortar powerhouse of Wal-Mart. Of course the major labels continue to look at alternatives to iTunes that will allow them to make more on music downloads. (4 billion dollars isn't enough? 2.8 billion going to record companies under the standard iTunes 30% / label 70% split) And they continue to blame their problems on downloads.

Idolator has more on iTunes rise: According to research by the NPD Group, the iTunes Store was the second-largest music retailer in the United States last year, behind only Wal-Mart. iTunes leapfrogged over Best Buy and Target--which came in second and third, respectively, to iTunes' fourth place the last time the NPD Group conducted their music-buying survey--as paid downloading experienced an overall spike of 50% between 2006 and 2007.

Those downloads now make up 10% of all music sales, although unsurprisingly the rise in downloads didn't make up for the plunge experienced by CD tallies throughout the course of the year. - more on this story

Waters Announces Final Dark Side Gigs

Gigwise reports: Roger Waters will perform his last two performances of Pink Floyd's 'Dark Side Of The moon' in the UK later this Spring.

As with similar performances which have taken place across the world, Waters will play the album in its entirety, as well as playing a mixture of Pink Floyd tracks and his own solo material.

The final two performances will take place at the Echo Arena in Liverpool on May 15th and the O2 Arena in London on May 18th. - more on this story

Paramore Not Breaking Up

antiMusic reports: Following the cancellation of their UK tour and a cryptic message blogged on their Myspace page by frontwoman Hayley Williams, there was rampant speculation that Paramore was heading to the dust heap of music history. Not so says Hayley in a new blog post. Here is what she had to say:

"since we posted the last entry, we've gotten tons of phone calls and people posting things on websites saying that we are breaking up. i just want to make it clear, though, that by posting two nights ago we weren't saying the band was over. we posted because we are going through hard times and we felt that because we have a really good support system in you guys, our fans, it would be better for us to just be honest about what's going on - even though, it was a pretty vague explanation. man, some of the rumors that i've heard going around are insane! it's weird how out of hand things can get even when you just try to tell a simple truth. (for the record, my eggo is not preggo). anyway, we just need to take time to make this band the best it can be… and we are doing that now.

"thank you for all the love and the encouragement you guys have shown. and WE WILL! be seeing you guys on the 27th of March in Orlando, FL" - more on this story

More Download Bands

BW*BK reports: The 2008 edition of the UK's Download Festival (downloadfestival.co.uk) is scheduled for Friday, June 13th - Sunday, June 15th.

The latest acts confirmed for the show are CHRIS CORNELL, JOB FOR A COWBOY, JONATHAN DAVIS, 36 CRAZYFISTS and JIMMY EAT WORLD.

Acts on the bill now include: KISS, LOSTPROPHETS, THE OFFSPRING, JUDAS PRIEST, MOTÖRHEAD, RISE AGAINST, HIM, ALTER BRIDGE, DISTURBED - more on this story

Ronson to Produce Kaiser Chiefs?

Xfm reports: Nick Kaiser told Xfm how the band's third album is shaping up. Meanwhile, an exclusive source has revealed that Mark Ronson is set to produce it!

Elsewhere a reliable Xfm source close to Mark Ronson claimed that the award winning producer is set to produce the follow up to 2007's 'Yours Truly, Angry Mob'.

Backing this up comes the fact that Ronson - who picked up a Brit Award for Best British Male Solo Artist last week -revealed to the BBC this morning that he plans to produce other artists' albums this year, including "a big band"...which may or may not be the Kaisers....watch this space! - Read Nick's comments to Xfm about the CD

Korny Xbox Comp Today

PR reports: Jonathan Davis, vocalist of the band Korn, will be logging onto Xbox LIVE from Lisbon, Portugal on February 27 to play Halo 3 and game with Xbox LIVE members.

If you're an Xbox LIVE Gold member, and you want to take on the award-winning singer, look for this Gamertag while playing online from Noon to 2 P.M. ET on Wednesday, February 27
KORN Jonathan1 (Jonathan Davis)

Davis will take a break from Korn's worldwide tour and fire up the Xbox for some rounds of Halo 3 with community members, so take advantage of this rare opportunity to game with one of music's most talented acts. - For more details, log on here

Anthrax Invades School

PR reports: Charlie Benante, drummer for thrash legends Anthrax, spent Monday February 11 back in the classroom. Benante turned the Woodlawn Middle School in Lawn Grove, IL into his own School of Rock! The accomplished Grammy-nominated musician was invited to the school to speak with 7th graders about his experience with music, both as a student and a performer.

Benante commented on the experience: "My stepson comes home one day and says that he learned how to play "Smoke On The Water." I'm like, 'What?! That was one of the first songs I learned how to play too. They're still using that?' I thought it was great. He asked me, "Would you come to the school and show the class some things?" He convinced me and I ended up doing it."

Benante spent a class period speaking to 75 music and art students about his experience learning how to play music, as well as all things Anthrax. - more on this story

The Black Keys Set Release

PR reports: On April 1, Nonesuch Records will release The Black Keys' fifth full-length LP, Attack & Release. The album follows their 2006 critically acclaimed Nonesuch debut Magic Potion, which the Chicago Tribune proclaimed, "a gritty, wild, minimalist masterpiece."

Produced by Danger Mouse (Gnarls Barkley, The Gorillaz, The Grey Album), Attack & Release was recorded at engineer Paul Hamann's illustrious Suma Studio outside Cleveland, Ohio. Initial collaboration began when Danger Mouse (a.k.a. Brian Burton) approached the band to write songs for an album he was developing with the late R&B legend Ike Turner. As the band began composing tracks for Turner early last year, though, they quickly realized they were actually laying the groundwork for a new album of their own. - more on this story

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