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Throughout their last two albums, Sum 41 have been almost synonymous with either revved-up pop-punk or over-the-top heavy metal. That may all change thanks to their new single, “Pieces.” The Goons, as their fans are affectionately referred, had better brace themselves for associations with things more on the sensitive side of the spectrum, like warm, fuzzy cardigans and online journals. Although it retains the band’s customary big guitars, the melody and subject matter are a lot gentler than signature songs “Over My Head (Better Off Dead),” “Fat Lip” and “In Too Deep.” “We’ve had slow songs before, but we’ve never… Read more »

Anyone who visited their Web site and thought that Hearts That Hate were the next big thing out of the emo scene is about to get a reality check from MC Lars. The fictitious band has a starring role in “Signing Emo,” the second single off Lars’ Laptop EP. The song, a send-up of the bandwagon-jumping that goes on in the music industry, finds a 40-year-old, overweight and out-of-touch A&R exec named Marty feeling pressure from his boss to ink an emo band – any emo band – to the label because the boss’ daughter likes Dashboard Confessional. Just before… Read more »

New York – The Nov. 8 broadcast of NPR’s “Morning Edition” featured two of the recording industry’s top engineer/producers and one controversial piece of technology. New York-based Pat Dillett (David Byrne, Mary J. Blige, They Might Be Giants) and Los Angeles-based Ed Cherney (the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Bonnie Raitt) were featured on the broadcast, which is part of a “Morning Edition” series on science and art. The subject: pitch-correcting software, particularly Auto-Tune, made by Antares Audio Technologies. Introduced in 1997, Auto-Tune was created by Dr. Andy Hildebrand. The research that led to its creation was far from the music… Read more »

New York – The Thanksgiving weekend kicked off with a bang for U.S. music retailers, turned into a whimper and rebounded nicely. “Friday exceeded our expectations, and then Saturday was softer than expected,” reports Bob Higgins, chairman/CEO of Trans World Entertainment in Albany, N.Y. “Overall, the weekend was good and we are still positive that it will be a good holiday season.” Likewise, Jim Urie, president of Universal Music & Video Distribution, reports: “We are getting a pretty consistent story from retail; overall, it was not great, but not horrible. Friday was great – in fact, better than great –… Read more »

After acknowleging on Wednesday that the company had missed the November target for the Canadian version of the iTunes Music Store, Apple Computer launched the service late Wednesday night. The iTMS Canada will be serving some 32 million potential customers, and brings the number of countries having access to the iTMS to14. The company is charging CDN 99 cents for individual music tracks. It is not immediately known how large the Canadian music library is. The launch did not meet Apple’s self-imposed deadline of opening the Canadian iTMS by the end of November. The company said in late October it… Read more »

Hot Hot Heat are getting ready to pull off the bandages and rock the dance floor once again. The Canadian hipster dance-punk act have finished putting together the much-anticipated follow-up to 2002’s indie hit Make Up The Breakdown. The band had hoped to get the new LP, Elevator, into your waiting arms by now, but for one reason or another, the release has been pushed back to April 2005. Over at the Hot Hot Heat website, the lads have posted the track list to tide fans over. Tongue-twister “You Owe Me An IOU” will be the first single to step… Read more »

For those involved in the indie punk and emo scenes, My Chemical Romance shouldn’t be an unfamiliar name. While the group have only been around for two years, they’ve received much attention for their debut album I Brought You My Bullets in 2002. They’ve toured extensively across North America and Europe with bands such as The Used and Taking Back Sunday, creating a major buzz for themselves. Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge, the band’s new major-label debut on Arista/Warner is just as dark, yet positively uplifting, and is getting a lot of play in stereos of emotionally-distraught teens, especially across… Read more »

New York – Infinity Broadcasting is not commenting on a New York Times story that claims the company fired its top Rochester, N.Y., programer for accepting gifts from record companies. The news comes as another major radio player, Entercom, announces that it will no longer work with independent promoters. According to the Times, an internal Infinity investigation concluded that John McRae, who oversaw rock WCMF, modern WZNE, top 40 WPXY and adult top 40 WRMM, “had accepted an unspecified sum’s worth of gift certificates sent ostensibly for use in listener contests or in station promotions.” The Times cited as sources… Read more »

Washington – Viacom will pay a record $3.5 million to settle dozens of federal investigations into alleged indecency on TV and the radio, and introduce delays in more live programming to help catch troublesome material before it gets on the air. The settlement, announced Tuesday, closes investigations dating back to 2001. One involved shock jock Howard Stern, and two focused on Opie and Anthony, who lost their Viacom-owned New York radio show after it featured a couple purporting to have sex inside St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Greg “Opie” Hughes and Anthony Cumia went silent after the 2002 show until October, when… Read more »

New York – With the bright lights of lower Manhattan shining on the stage, the band U2 played a surprise outdoor concert Monday in a waterfront park beneath the Brooklyn Bridge. Although the MTV-organized show hadn’t been publicly announced or advertised, thousands lined up at the Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park, a riverside park between the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges and across from the New York skyline. Most people said they heard about the show through word-of-mouth or postings on U2 fans’ Web sites. The concert was for an MTV special called “mtvJAMMED: U2,” set to air Dec. 10. Led by… Read more »