Live4MusiC

Mass Ritual 2 is the first proper gig for me in almost 4 months. After a one and a half hour wait outside Blackhole, the ritual finally began. It kicked off with an initiation with incense and chanting, with gig organizer Jaarvis drinking a cup of blood-looking fluid. Thereafter, Abyssal [7] kicked off with their first track. It was hard for them to get the crowd, who were restless from all the waiting, to move. But with their infectious style of melodic black metal people in the crowds were soon bobbing their heads to the music. Their frontman tried to fuse some humour effect by mentioning that “no, I (he) am not Cedric, but thanks for the beer” to some laughter from the crowd.

Lady GaGa has been revealed as winner of both the Best Dressed andWorst Dressed awards at theShockwaves NME Awards tonight (February 24).

NME.COM users voted for the singer, who recently appeared onstage for her 'Monster Ball Tour' dressed as PVC-wrapped nun and a tasselled lampshade, in both categories.

In the Best Dressed group she won ahead of nominees Yeah Yeah Yeahssinger Karen O, Florence And The Machine's Florence Welch, ex-Oasisstar Liam Gallagher and The Mighty Boosh's Noel Fielding.

In the Worst Dressed category she was voted 'winner' ahead of nominees Katy Perry, La Roux's Elly Jackson, Muse frontman Matt Bellamy and Liam Gallagher.

- NME 

Muse bassist Chris Wolstenholmehas revealed his band's disappointment in their record label's decision to stop licensing acts on the company's roster for free streaming services such as Spotify and We 7.

Earlier this month Warner Music CEO Edgar Bromfman announced that none of the label’s artists' future releases would be licensed to the services, as "free streaming services are clearly not positive for the industry" - although already-available back catalogues would remain.

The Devon band, who are one of the biggest acts on Warner Music – also home to REM and Red Hot Chili Peppers - argued that the decision will take their music, and the music of their labelmates, away from the ears of potential fans.

Wolstenholme told BBC Newsbeat, "It’s like taking your song off the radio, isn’t it? The corporations are setting the rules on these things because they’re clutching at straws. They’ve lost so much money on record sales because of the internet."

He added, "As far as bands are concerned, you just want people to hear your music whichever way they can."

- NME 

Our first experience with the annual biggest street dance party in Singapore and it was a very memorable one to say the least! 



Eagerly anticipating one of the party events of the year!



Booze was really affordable at $6 per glass courtesy of Tiger Beer and Bacardi! But oh well....we chose Tiger =D





The crowd was simply amazing that night. The amount of energy from start to finish was immense! But much of the credit of course goes to the excellent programme lined up for the party! Opened by street dancing acts, and followed up by renowned DJs, Space Cowboy, DJ Sarasa, DJ Andrew T, and DJ Inquisitive.

Highlight of the night definitely goes to Space Cowboy, who's probably better known for being the personal DJ of Lady Gaga collaborating and mixing many of her popular tracks such as "Pokerface"!

Good crowd, Great music, Affordable drinks, Awesome location. What else can we expect?

Kudos to PAYM for organizing such amazing events year after year and a big thank you to Red Dawn Communications for providing Live4MusiC with a media pass!

Looking forward to City Alive! 2011!

Cheers!
Yuda

Entertainment reporter Nicole Brown conducted a short interview with Stone Temple Pilots frontman Scott Weiland on the blue carpet of the "Viva Elvis" show in Las Vegas on February 19, 2010.Scott spoke about what he's working on and gives his best Elvis impersonation.

Regarding the current activities in the Stone Temple Pilots camp,Weiland said, "[We] just finished mastering our new album. And we'll be playing South By Southwest in March, with a few more dates. And then we go to Europe to play all the big festival in the early summer. [Then we'll] come back with our own festival we're putting together."

Stone Temple Pilots will release their yet-to-be-titled sixth studio album in May, according to a recent interview posted at Spin.com. The set will be the group's first collection of all-new material since 2001's "Shangri-La-Dee-Da", which was followed by a seven-year hiatus that ended in 2008 with a six-month reunion tour. Bassist Robert DeLeo said about the new disc, "Fans are going get a great STP record. We know what STP sounds like — we have a sonic blueprint. It's always worked for me to put myself in the ears of the listener. I ask myself, 'What kind of STP record would I want to hear?' The answer is a really cohesive record with songs that are going to be lasting."

DeLeo also revealed a couple of song titles, including "Between The Lines" and "Huckleberry Crumble".

The bassist added that the CD was recorded in three studios, one at his home, one belonging to drummer Eric Kretz, and one co-owned by Scott Weiland, who recorded most of the vocals separately from the group.

When asked if Weiland's "sobriety" affected the recording process, guitarist Dean DeLeo replied, "Sobriety? What the fuck are you talking about? Scott does what he does."

Thanks for the report to Blabbermouth.net.

Coldplay are planning on releasing their fifth studio album by Christmas 2010, Chris Martin has revealed.

The singer made the revelations in an interview with Brazilian TV show Fantastico where he admitted things were moving along faster than expected.

Asked when the follow-up to "Viva La Vida" will see the light of day, Martin responded: "Hopefully this Christmas."

However, according to Coldplaying.com, Martin said there was little chance of the record leaking early.

"There are only two people in the whole building who know how to open all the recording files," he explained.

"Even we don't know how to do it. We couldn't even steal our own music. You would have to be a computer genius and a great burglar to get into the building, and download it, and mix it."

The singer also confirmed the band won't be jumping ship from the ailing EMI at any point soon.

"We signed for a lot (of albums), it won't be the last one. We're 'owned', we can't do anything without asking someone's permission," he joked.

Thanks for the report to Gigwise.com.

(week starting 22nd February) 

Rock & Pop 

• Dragonforce - Valley of the Damned 
• Various Artists - Whos That Girl 
  
  Dance & Soul 
• Groove Armada - Black Light 
  
  Classical & Jazz 
• Various Artists - Zen Classics 
• Various Artists - Zen Violin 
• Domingo: Lang Lang - Leoncavallo: Nuit de Mai 
• Blechacz - Chopin: Pno Conc 
• Dee Dee Bridgewater - To Billie With Love 
• John Pizzarelli - Rockin In Rhythm 
• Johnny Cash - American VI: Aint No Grave 
  
  Asian Pop 
• Sammi Cheng 郑秀文 - Love Mi
  

Kasabian singer Tom Meighan has blamed the internet for "killing" rock stars.

The outspoken frontman claims there are no iconic musicians left because artists reveal too much about themselves on blogging websites such as Twitter. 

He said: "It's not like what it used to be like in rock 'n' roll. In the 60s and 70s you had the likes of David Bowieand Marc Bolan, and then in the 80s you even had shit acts that were rock stars. Then in the 90s you had the Britpop revival.

"I think - especially in the last three or four years - the internet's taken a stranglehold and killed off the myth of the rock star now. You know when you used to buy the records and there was the myth behind them? There's too much on blogs now and I think it's killed it off. Nobody's surprised by an interview anymore or anything. It's quite tragic."

He also said blogging has taken away the spirit of rock 'n roll'. He told Bang Showbiz: "There are so many rock stars writing these self pitying blogs and it's not in the spirit of rock 'n' roll, it's like 'Wow, what rubbish'."

The band are up for six nominations at next week's Shockwaves NME Awards 2010 at the O2 Academy Brixton on February 24, includingBest Band, Best Album and Best Live Band.

- NME 

Sad news just twittered 6 hours ago by Romy Madly Croft, guitarist and singer of the band The XX

“I’d just like to apologize for cancelling the upcoming gigs, my dad passed away today xx Romy”

The concerts cancelled are:
Feb 20 – St Malo, Route du Rock Winter
Feb 21 – Strasbourg, Laiterie
Feb 23 – Rome Brancaleone
Feb 24 – Milan Magazzini Generali
Feb 25 – Munich Tonhalle
Feb 27 – Cologne E Werk

- MTV Asia 

 

Avenged Sevenfold issued a statement yesterday saying:

"We want our fans to know that with Jimmy in our hearts, our journey to record has officially began. Jimmy helped leave this world an amazing gift and now it's our job to make sure to deliver that gift to our fans.

"We asked Jimmy's all time favorite drummer Mike Portnoy to record on behalf of him. Mike said it would be an honor and without question that’s what Jim would have wanted. Its comforting to us that someone like Mike, who is undoubtedly revered as one of the best drummers in the world, held such respect and adoration for the Rev's abilities.

"Even though it will never be the same without our brother by our side, his essence lives in our hearts and through the music he helped create. He was a legend before any of the success or any of that bullshit and we are fucking excited to lay this down for our fans, and especially for Jimmy.

Avenged Sevenfold"

To complete their new album, the band recruited Dream Theatre drummer, Mike Portnoy, Jimmy Sullivans' favourite drummer, as mentioned above.

Jimmy "The Rev" Sullivan passed away on the 28th of December 2009 and toxicology reports have resulted inconclusive. Jimmy was laid to rest on the 6th of January 2010, with over 600 guests including Lostprophets and Brian Haner Sr.

Avenged Sevenfolds new release is expected to be released July this year.

- Ultimate-Guitar