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No wonder pop fans are singing the blues. Radio sounds like a broken record. CD prices are heading off the charts. Labels are out of tune with the digital age. New acts fail to strike a chord with listeners. It’s time to face the music. The $14 billion recording industry, struggling through its first sales slump in a decade, faces challenges on several fronts, not the least of which is a tarnished image in the eyes and ears of fans who feel ripped off by greedy, tone-deaf bean counters. In 2001, album sales dropped 2.8% compared with 2000, the first… Read more »

Trey Anastasio spent 17 years ripping genres apart and sticking them back together at odd angles with the everything-but-the-kitchen-sink uber-jam band Phish. So maybe it’s no surprise he’s whipped up another unusual concoction: a jam/swing hybrid dotted with sugary-sweet love songs and chamber music. The self-titled release has the elements you’d expect from Anastasio, from the drawn-out, frenetic jams to the catchy guitar riffs. But it’s also a departure: It’s got horns, it’s got soul, it’s got more horns. It’s clearly not a Phish album hiding under a different name. “I’ve been listening to a lot of big band music,”… Read more »

Arista recording artist Butch Walker hits the road in advance of the release of his debut solo album later this spring, “LEFT OF SELF-CENTERED,” as he plays a series of solo warm-up dates in Chicago and his hometown Atlanta prior to heading out for a month of shows with Lit, it was announced today by Antonio “L.A.” Reid, President and CEO, Arista Records. The dates with Lit are set to begin at home in Atlanta on May 19th at Earthlink Live and conclude at the San Joaquin County Fair in Stockton, California on June 12th. (Please see complete itinerary attached.)… Read more »

Twelve hours, four stages and more than 40 bands marked the end of the three-day Skate and Surf Festival on Sunday. Held at the Asbury Park Convention Hall, the second installment of the now annual event featured performances from Bouncing Souls, Face to Face and the Descendents, among many others. While the Warped Tour travels from town to town with many of skateboarding and BMX culture’s best-known athletes and favorite artists, the stationary Skate and Surf tends to be more down-home, offering quarter-pipes and rails to anybody bold enough to show up with a bike or a board and a… Read more »

Chart-topping modern rock act Nickelback and jazz pianist/vocalist Diana Krall snared three trophies each at Canada’s Juno Awards last night (April 14) in St. John’s, Newfoundland. Nickelback grabbed Junos for best group, best single for “How You Remind Me” and best rock album for “Silver Side Up” (Roadrunner). Krall picked up Junos for best album and best vocal jazz album for “The Look of Love” (Verve), and the best artist honor. The event was broadcast on the nationwide CTV network. In winning the best artist trophy, Krall beat out Leonard Cohen, Nelly Furtado, Amanda Marshall, and Garou, a one-time busker… Read more »

Nearly 40 years after he wrote the lyric “He not busy being born is busy dying,” Bob Dylan clearly still believes that estimation is right on the mark. Looking snazzy in a black cowboy hat and old-school Western suit, the 60-year-old folk-rock icon was tireless, fearless and masterful throughout his 140-minute show Thursday at the Arena. Within shouting range of Treptow Park, where he played in 1987 when the area was still communist East Germany, the Arena is a onetime bus depot and hangar that now serves as one of the city’s largest music venues. The 7,500-capacity, standing-room-only space served… Read more »

Even if you don’t know a lick of guitar and couldn’t tell a power chord from a power bar, you can still play with Korn. Five Korn figurines are set to hit store shelves in mid-May, according to a spokesperson for entertainment brand management company the Stronghold Group. Each collectible stands approximately six inches tall and is modeled after caricatures popular in Hong Kong, with overly long arms, huge fists and feet, and scowling facial expressions. Each figure comes equipped with accessories – sunglasses and an H.R. Giger-designed mic stand for Jonathan Davis, drumsticks for David Silveria and a baseball… Read more »

For his new album, Heathen, David Bowie has gotten a little “Modern Love” from the likes of Dave Grohl, Moby and Air. The Foo Fighters frontman contributes a guitar line to a track off Bowie’s latest LP, due June 11, according to Bowie’s publicist. Elsewhere on the studio successor to the chameleon of rock’s 1999 album, Hours…, Who guitarist Pete Townshend lends a lick to “Slow Burn,” which Bowie described in a statement as “the most eccentric and aggressive guitar I’ve heard Pete play, quite unlike anything else he’s done recently.” The last time Townshend and Bowie collaborated was on… Read more »

April fools were on the loose at the kick-off date of the Sum Like It Hot Tour Monday night at the Electric Factory. At the head of the parade was Deryck Whibley, who led his band, Sum41, in an hour’s worth of snotty punk rock, heavy metal reverence and irreverent shtick. The singer donned a Nike headband thrown onto the stage from the audience. “Does this make me cool?” Whibley asked before taking it off. “I’m just not cool – sorry.” Dave Baksh, Sum41’s lead guitarist and stage foil to Whibley, replied, “Nothing will make you look cool.” Maybe not… Read more »