Search Results for: soft play

There is no part of a Femi Kuti show that doesn’t thrill or educate. It’s a whirlwind of African percussion, and American funk and soul married in a most danceable state by a colorfully dressed ensemble, with Kuti overseeing the maelstrom with either a saxophone or a set of dictum-weighted lyrics. His act, drawing heavily on material from his second album for MCA,”Fight to Win,” continues to set the bar for the term “first-rate” with new music that is loaded with colors softer than the ones found on his debut, “Shoki Shoki,” or in the Afrobeat music of his late… Read more »

Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. announced today that four additional major recording artists have agreed to provide music and video content for the upcoming interactive musical game, Frequency(TM), exclusively on the PlayStation ®2 computer entertainment system. Setting the stage for the next generation in gaming, Frequency lets gamers take part in the music revolution by mixing and re-mixing songs from top bands in a unique new addictive gaming experience. Adding some exclusive tracks and unreleased footage to the previously released lineup of top artists, the newly signed bands include No Doubt, Jungle Brothers, Curve and Akrobatik, bringing the total to… Read more »

The back-to-back debut of new video game consoles from Microsoft and Nintendo is expected to fuel strong sales of home entertainment goods as jittery Americans opt to spend more time at home after the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington, analysts said. They said the launch of Microsoft Corp’s Xbox on Thursday and that of Nintendo Co. Ltd’s GameCube – three days later – could even help lift third and fourth-quarter profits for some of the nation’s top consumer electronics stores. The big boost, the analysts said, will also come on a jump in customer traffic to stores… Read more »

Marilyn Manson aren’t the only modern rockers revisiting ’80s hits for the soundtrack to “Not Another Teen Movie,” which comes out December 4. In addition to monsieur Manson’s creepy version of “Tainted Love,” which was a top 10 hit for Soft Cell in 1982, the disc will feature Goldfinger covering Nena’s “99 Red Balloons,” Saliva tackling the Pretenders’ “Message of Love,” Mest covering Modern English’s “I Melt With You,” Muse reworking the Smiths’ “Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want,” Good Charlotte playing Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark’s “If You Leave” and Phantom Planet covering Jackson Browne’s “Somebody’s… Read more »

“Everything about this record is turned up a few extra notches,” Creed frontman Scott Stapp tells Billboard about “Weathered,” the modern rock trio’s third Wind-Up set, due Nov. 20. “The uptempo songs rock harder than anything we’ve imagined doing, and the softer, chilled songs have more depth, more complexity. We went for broke on this album – no boundaries, no limits.” The set is getting a huge pre-release boost from the single “My Sacrifice,” which is No. 2 on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Tracks chart and No. 5 on Billboard’s Modern Rock Tracks tally. The song is also garnering airplay on… Read more »

United States District Judge A. Howard Matz issued a preliminary injunction against American Online, Inc. finding that PlayMedia Systems’ had established the probable validity of allegations that its AMP(R) MP3 playback technology was used in the AOL 6.0 Media Player without permission. At issue is whether AOL violates the terms of a 1999 licensing agreement. PlayMedia, a firm that designs and develops digital content distribution and management software, markets a popular MP3 audio decoding engine known as AMP. PlayMedia originally licensed AMP to Nullsoft in 1999 for use in conjunction with Nullsoft’s Winamp product. AOL subsequently bought Nullsoft and used… Read more »

Michael Jackson is probably walking around his Neverland Valley Ranch right now singing the praises of his sports world equivalent: Michael Jordan. Imagine it, Jackson, smiling, has his 1993 retro Jordan sneakers and #23 Washington Wizards jersey. Jordan’s keen game play has been loosening the world up for comebacks, especially by individuals with the initials M.J. And as his sports world equivalent shines on the court, Jacko is certainly betting that his album is going to be a slam dunk as well. Although Jackson does complain about the press covering his every movement on Invincible – finally unveiled to the… Read more »

Sony Corp is expected to report weak results for the July-September quarter after a profit warninglate last month, with analysts looking for more aggressive restructuring moves to confront the slowing global economy. The world’s largest maker of audio and video equipment cut its consolidated operating profit forecast for the full year to next March by more than half to 120 billion yen ($980 million) and announced a handful of restructuring steps, including procurement cost cuts. “That’s not enough,” said Merrill Lynch analyst Hiroshi Kuriyama. “Of course it has made efforts in the past, but current business conditions are far worse… Read more »

Stevie Wonder was the surprise musical guest at the all-star Wave Of Peace smooth jazz fundraising show on Sunday (October 14) at the Great Western Forum in Los Angeles. His appearance prompted an already highly charged audience to leap to its feet. Accompanying himself on piano during one of the last sets of the three-hour show, Wonder launched into some straight-ahead jazz variations on “Giant Steps” before playing compositions like “Overjoyed” and “Ribbon In The Sky.” Wonder was the only previously unannounced guest on a bill packed with smooth jazz greats. The event was organized by saxophonist Dave Koz and… Read more »

Archos has taken the CDRW market to a new level of efficiency and portability with the MiniCDRW II – the fastest, smallest and most compact CD-writer on the market. This unique, multi-connection CD-RW drive could fulfill many holiday wish lists by offering a quick, portable and easy-to-use tool for burning CDs. Depending upon your system requirements, the MiniCDRW II offers a choice of USB 2.0 or FireWire or PC Card Interface. The USB 2.0 connection for the MiniCDRW II is a big jump forward, since it is 40 times faster than the USB 1.1 and at the same time is… Read more »