Awesome rockers from Therapy? are releasing a new album next year and will also visit the Netherlands for a show.

How cool is that?

The title of the new album is A Brief Crack of Light and below is the album art. Can’t wait!

Image via Therapy?

One of my favorite guitarists combined with animation, is it something I’d like? Hell fucking yeah!

Iconic guitarist Slash co-wrote  a song for Disney’s Phineas & Ferb called Kick It Up A Notch and below is the animated music video clip. Enjoy!

Sin7sins is a Dutch metal band, or a goth/cyber/nu-metal formation as the sticker on their debut CD proclaims.

On Eastern Day they played in the Baroeg as part of a four band line up on Leaves’ Eyes tour and they put on a good enough show to persuade me to buy their CD and give it a try.

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I’m slowly realizing I’m becoming an old fart. The moment the realization kicks in is when you use technology or habits that are dying or even unknown to youngsters nowadays. Sure, since my adolescent there has been 20 years of technological advancement so some things have to change. But old habits die hard.

One such ‘old’ habit is the way I listen to music and especially music albums.

The idea for this article began after reading an article from CMU where they quoted Jon Bon Jovi saying that Steve Jobs killed the music business. Jovi’s argument was that iTunes offers single songs to be sold and people miss out the experience of buying an entire album and be surprised by it.

Let me first start of by saying that Bon Jovi makes sissy music, sucks and has been irrelevant for the last 20 years or so. But nevertheless he does make a few good points about the experience of listening to a music album.

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Zakk Wylde is one of the coolest guitar players walking on this planet and his band Black Label Society does what a metal band needs to do, namely play no nonsense heavy fucking metal.

A few weeks back BLS’ 8th studio album Order of the Black was released and via the webstore a special edition Order of the Black box set was offered in the shape of Thor’s Hammer and containing some goodies.

Image courtesy of BLS webstore

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I posted previously about this fanbox. Objectively it’s a cool box and if record companies released more of these kinds of special version I’m sure music would sell better.

The fanbox limited to only 1666 editions contains:

• An urn housing
• The CD in digipack format
• Four buttons
• Certificate of Authenticity  

The urn looks pretty cool with decorations on all 4 sides.

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Last night the 27th MTV Video Music Awards were held and apparently it’s so serious that it’s even a news item on the ‘serious’ news programs.

The national news here even spend almost 2 whole minutes on Lady Gaga winning 8 awards. Good for the VMAs that it’s getting more recognition or is Lady Gaga’s just being hyped beyond any reason?

I seriously don’t get the hype around Gaga. I don’t mind a slim girl wearing skimpy clothes, but Lady Gaga isn’t even hot. She definitely has some nice tunes, but nothing world shocking. 

So, what’s the deal? Has the world really become so superficial and void of taste?

It’s safe to say that music record companies blame the Internet and free downloading as the main reason for the decline in CD sales.

But (good) music does sell if it’s in the right format or offer.

Similar to most people I like music and I’m even willing to pay for it. Even though not everyone is willing to pay for a CD most people are willing to pay for music in some other way. Why else do people still buy tickets to see their favourite musicians live for example? Why else do people still pay for a t-shirt from their favourite band or do companies sponsor bands?

The business model of music has changed and CDs areis no longer the main income for musicians anymore. That doesn’t mean that buying a CD is dead yet and there are some cases where it in fact is very appealing to get the original CD – if in the right format.

Recently a few new but also classic albums were (re)released in a special packaging which I simply couldn’t resist. When I unpacked the boxes I wondered why there aren’t more releases like these.

One of the special edition box sets is an oldie namely U2′s Joshua Tree. Originally the Joshua Tree was released mid 80s but in 2007 a limited edition box set was released along with a regular remastered version of the original album. For the same price as the original regular CD sold years back, this time I got a very nice box.

The box of course contains the CD itself with a remastered sound, a second CD containing b-sides and other rarities and a DVD with live performances. Also included is a hardcover booklet with texts about the recording of the CD and new photos from the band by famous music photographer Anton Corbijn. Finally a set of postcards, again featuring photos by Corbijn, is also included in a nice envelope.

One could of course question what use it has to spend money on a band that last year alone already made $ 130 million. Let me ask a question in return, even though Unilever, P&G, Nestlé, Sony, Apple etc. are making billions per year does it stop you from buying their products?

This deluxe box of U2′s Joshua Tree is a perfect example how record labels should still try to sell CDs if they make something special of it. A regular CD offers little added value in comparison to a free download. A (limited) boxed set like this however is much more appealing.

The first time I heard Misery Business I somehow was not impressed. But afterwards I really liked it. After hearing Brand New Eyes for the first time I can’t say I’m impressed. There’s not really a song that stands out or distinguishes itself from the other songs.

All of the songs sound alike and on first listen are pretty bland.

The first time I saw the video clip and listened to the song 'Misery Business' from Paramore I somehow wasn't impressed. Perhaps I didn't listen to the song well, or was preoccupied with other stuff and I just didn't pay much attention to it. Either way, when I heard the song again a few months later -this time on Guitar Hero- I loved it. I eventually got their album 'Riot' and immediately liked the album and soon it even became one of my favorite albums.

I was pretty excited when a follow up to 'Riot' was announced, namely 'Brand New Eyes'. And when I heard that there would also be a limited edition I of course had to get the Limited Edition.

The LE comes in a box which is loaded with goodies. The content of the LE is very cool. It of course includes the new album 'Brand New Eyes' which for the LE comes in a digipack. The digipack contains two disc, the CD itself of course and also a DVD. The booklet is not included in the CD digipack itself but is included separately.

Aside from the CD the LE also contains a LP version on which acoustic versions are included of two tracks, including the first single Ignorance. The LP itself is orange colored instead of traditional black. It's not likely I'll play the LP but the orange see-through color makes it look really nice.

A mini poster is also included along with 5 postcards, one for each band member. Finally a book is included which features Hayley's hand written lyrics for the album, including different doodles which she apparently drew during the writing process

All in all a very cool LE gift box set. Only 15.000 copies were made of the LE. I've got number # 9063 and I think it's sold out at most places. Get yours if you still can!

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