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Clapton Recounts Pain, Triumph
Clapton Recounts Pain, Triumph

Clapton Recounts Pain, Triumph

Addictions, death of son brought guitar legend to his knees

(Newser) - "Slowhand" takes up a pen in Clapton: The Autobiography. Sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll—it’s all there in guitar legend Eric Clapton’s memoir. There’s also the death of a child and more than one journey to sobriety. Vanity Fair excerpts the poignant tale of...

Sweden Serves Up a New Pop Sensation

Jens Lekman is the real deal, raves Slate critic

(Newser) - Get ready for a new Swedish invasion—Slate writer Stephen Metcalf says pop musician Jens Lekman is about the best thing ever (and his 4-year-old daughter thinks so, too). Lekman is strongly influenced by Stephin Merritt, Morrissey, and Belle and Sebastian, but he is still "a different bird,"...

'Gripping' Album Tops Doherty Tabloid Drama

Babyshambles' latest draws thumbs up, thumbs down

(Newser) - Kate Moss' ex, Pete Doherty, may have a rep as a “tawdry drug monster,” but detractors' opinions are sullying his band's great music, says Uncut, giving 5 of 5 stars to Babyshambles’ new release, Shotter’s Nation. The band's previous effort succeeded on “flinty spectrality,” but...

Reggae Star Gunned Down
Reggae Star Gunned Down

Reggae Star Gunned Down

Lucky Dube killed in front of children during carjacking

(Newser) - Lucky Dube, South Africa’s best-selling reggae singer, was shot and killed in front of his children during an apparent carjacking last night outside Johannesburg. The murder sparked calls for a national crackdown on violent crime, Reuters reports. “The circumstances surrounding his murder again illustrate that violent crime in...

Young's Latest Wanders
Young's Latest Wanders

Young's Latest Wanders

(Newser) - The tracks on Neil Young’s new Chrome Dreams II alternate between “bursts of earnest declarations” and “epic, slow-burn rockers”—including the 18-minute “Ordinary People,” says the Boston Globe. Some show the bravado of last year’s barnstormer, Living With War, but Shakey sometimes ends...

Labels Team Up to Bruise iTunes
Labels Team Up to Bruise iTunes

Labels Team Up to Bruise iTunes

Universal leads effort against Apple's control of prices; new store part of plan

(Newser) - Universal Music is acting on industry-wide anger toward iTunes’ policies, teaming with Sony and potentially Warner on a new subscription service that could make music essentially free. Still a prototype, Total Music would charge makers of music players $5 a month, PC World reports; they would then offer unlimited downloads...

Fogerty Comes Home on Revival
Fogerty Comes Home on Revival

Fogerty Comes Home on Revival

Or maybe the CCR frontman never left

(Newser) - Heartland rock legend John Fogerty is finally reclaiming his Creedence Clearwater Revival youth with an excellent new solo record, aptly titled Revival. The release marks a major turning point in the CCR frontman’s story, as he’s back with original label Fantasy Records and is finally discussing his old...

Irish Smoking Ban Good for Lungs ... of Instruments

Musicians benefit from clean pub air

(Newser) - The air isn’t the only thing that’s cleaner in Ireland’s pubs these days. Since the country stubbed out pub smoking in 2004, musicians have been getting clearer sounds out of traditional Irish instruments. It’s a lot easier to keep clean bellows-driven devices such as accordions and...

Joni Wows With Shine
Joni Wows
With Shine

Joni Wows With Shine

Mitchell’s first new work in a decade is ‘biting, sartorial and poetic’

(Newser) - Joni Mitchell has dropped new material for the first time in 10 years, and Shine is wowing critics. It “isn’t a coffee table record,” raves AllMusic, in awarding it 4 of 5 stars; “it won’t attract record execs looking for a resurrection." That’s...

Sonic Youth Frontman Flies High, Solo

New CD from hipster elder statesman Thurston Moore

(Newser) - Bandleader to experimental music pioneer Sonic Youth, Thurston Moore dropped his first proper solo record in 12 years today; "Trees Outside the Academy "drew a strong if not excellent 7.9 rating from hipster bible Pitchfork. Depsite the "basement icon's"  recent patronage of difficult underground talent,...

Rock Legends Party Like It's 1979 (With a 2007 Approach)

Rock has become a 'legitimate trade'

(Newser) - The Police. Genesis. Led Zeppelin. Rock legends are squeezing back into their familiar duds to electrify audiences decades after their heydays. The comebacks aren’t all about cash, the Economist proposes. Many of the greying rockers are in no need of funds "if they fancy a new castle or...

Hysterical 'Leave Brit Alone!' Rocks YouTube

Teen-on-edge harangues haters

(Newser) - If it's a performance, it's better than Britney's. More than 2.8 million viewers have pored over an out-of-control rant by YouTuber "Chris Crocker" who smears his eyeliner as he sobs and screams at the "bastards" who aren't cutting Spears slack for the "hard time" she's going...

Fo' Shizzle: Rap Stars Face Off on Charts, TV

Kanye West, 50 Cent releasing albums on the same day

(Newser) - Kanye West and 50 Cent are set for a showdown Tuesday when both of their new albums hit the market. In addition to facing off on the charts, the rap stars will meet on BET-TV's "106 & Park." The two have been trading trash-talk for weeks, with 50...

Singer's YouTube Tale Hits False Note

Digby already had record deal when she was 'discovered' online

(Newser) - It's supposed to be one of those YouTube success stories: Marié Digby becomes an overnight sensation by racking up hits and scores a record deal as a result. But in reality the deal preceded the videos. Her rise to fame has highlighted both the desperation of corporations to latch onto...

Still in Love With Jumpin' Jack Flash

Even GOP candidate fawns over rock stars, Washington Post says

(Newser) - Rock stars snort powders and cremated parents, promote thuggish personas, and do it all for a corporate dollar – yet we only love them all the more, says the Washington Post’s Robin Givhan. Even Mike Huckabee revealed his un-GOP admiration for Keith Richards, pardoning his reckless driving charge and...

Stand by Your Twang
Stand by
Your Twang

Stand by Your Twang

Country music sales, industry's last stalwart, are finally taking a dive

(Newser) - Country music album sales are down nearly 30% so far this year. That might seem slightly less dramatic against the whole industry's 15% slide, but country’s been the biz’s final remaining hold-out—holding nearly even in 2005 and 2006 amid the digital revolution. So the newest dive may...

Perfect Pitch Might Come Built Right In

Ability may be in genes, but early musical training a must, too

(Newser) - Sounds like absolute pitch—the ability to identify a note without a reference tone—might be genetically determined. “Either you have it or you don’t,” said the lead researcher in a report in Scientific American, who cautioned that even those with the theoretical genetic predisposition must be...

Dude! Deadheads Get Own Channel
Dude! Deadheads Get Own Channel

Dude! Deadheads Get Own Channel

Sirius radio targets niche market devoted to legendary band

(Newser) - Twelve years after Jerry Garcia's death, the band is getting back together—on satellite radio. Sirius will launch a channel that's all Grateful Dead, all the time on September 7, kicking off with a legendary 1974 performance at the Hollywood Bowl. "This is gonna be one fun channel,"...

Punk Rock Impresario Kristal Dead
Punk Rock Impresario Kristal Dead

Punk Rock Impresario Kristal Dead

NYC club CBGB launched some of movement's top acts

(Newser) - Hilly Kristal, whose iconic club CBGB was the epicenter of American punk rock, died yesterday at 75 after a battle with lung cancer. The New York venue—fully titled CBGB & OMFUG, or "Country, Bluegrass and Blues & Other Music For Uplifting Gourmandisers"—showcased the Ramones, the Talking...

Musicians March Silently Through New Orleans

Post-Katrina hard times in the Big Easy threaten legendary jazz scene

(Newser) - The battered post-Katrina economy drove jazz musicians into the streets of New Orleans yesterday, holding instruments silent at their sides in what they termed a “solidarity march.” Ninety percent of city musicians were living at or below the poverty line even before the hurricane, the Times-Picayune reports, and...

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