February, 2010

Lady Gaga‘s album ‘The Fame‘ has ended TV show Glee’s short stop at the top of the Album Chart this week, while Marina Lambrini Diamandis, a.k.a Marina & The Diamonds (photo), has debuted at #5 with her new record ‘The Family Jewels’. The latest in Johnny Cash‘s series of ‘American’ albums – ‘Aint No Grave‘ – has landed at #9. The record, which is made up from tracks recorded during the same sessions as those which made up his previous ‘American’ album, was released three days before what would have been the legendary songwriter’s 78th birthday. American singer Jason Derulo is this week’s no.1 in the Singles chart with his track ‘In My Head‘.

The brilliantly named Cosmo Jarvis, a talented young man from Devon, England, is someone who may well get his fair share of column inches in the music press this year. A little unknown band called Muse gave him a leg up when they invited him to support them at a huge homecoming gig in Teignmouth last September, an accolade that put his name on the map and no doubt won over some new fans.

They might have raked in the most dough in 2009 but are they necessarily the best acts out there right now?  Judge for your self and leave us your thoughts!

After seeing The Midnight Lycan Party’s gig in Stoke last month I felt like putting my iPod in a guillotine, eradicating every byte of voguish trash and instead basking in the unpretentious revival of raw performance.

The three piece from Stoke-on-Trent categorize themselves as a gothic garage band with shadings of post-punk and they’re right in that no newfangled umbrella term should hogtie them to one sound, because it’s so much more than that.

The news that the BBC could axe 6Music has dealt another blow to new and unsigned bands looking to get their music heard by a wider audience. The message being sent to new bands, and music fans who wish to find them, is increasingly becoming ‘you’re on your own’.

Liverpool band Echo & The Bunnymen have confirmed details of a US tour to take place this Spring, after their planned visit in November was cancelled due to a tax dispute.

A leaked report in today’s Times newspaper has claimed the BBC is set to axe it’s radio station 6Music as part of a ‘strategic rethink’ of the public-funded service. The paper claims ‘Mark Thompson, the Director-General, will admit that the corporation, which is funded by the £3.6 billion annual licence fee, has become too large and must shrink to give its commercial rivals room to operate.’

Ex Guns N Roses guitar slinger Slash is claiming that the UK lacks any bona fide rock legends in the making and goes as far as to say that UK music was ”tame, predicable and faceless,”. He adds that the whole world needed to create more “Rock Stars”

Thom Yorke announced today at http://www.radiohead.com/deadairspace/ that his band Atoms For Peace (previously billed as ????) will play a series of eight U.S. shows leading up to its April 18 appearance at the Coachella festival in Indio CA.

The Rolling Stones are to re-issue their 1972 classic ‘Exile On Main St.‘ with 10 previously unreleased tracks, it was announced today.