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In This Issue: Coolest "Influence" Ever Listed If you go to the official web-site for Low Millions, you'll find your usual fare. Cool graphics, audio samples, pictures, a band bio and more. With the latter, there's a nice little essay on the band, talking about who they are and what the hell is going on over there. There's also a mug shot of each of the four band members with vitals below a-la high school year book style (name, weapon of choice, musical influences and web-site/email address. But don't get too caught up in the leader just because he happens to be the legendary Leonard Cohen's son, Adam Cohen (and yes ladies, I do realize how hard that may be considering how good looking he is). If you make your way down to guitarist Michael Chaves, you'll see...The Coolest "Influence" Ever Listed! "Every song I've ever heard" Simply put, yet utterly brilliant. I was actually hooked into Low Millions through one of our faithful readers. He suggested I sample the song "Eleanor" and after finding several clips of the song only, I didn't really need any more. I promptly purchased the album the following day and was surprised. The album was released late last year and is called "Ex-Girlfriends". If you listen closely to the lyrics, you'll know exactly why. Most of the songs are slow and mellow in a very exact way, while the lyrics ooze a host of emotions ranging from an aching desire for what sounds like one sexy ex-girlfriend to the saddest lows in search of filling a void. Whoa. See how captivating that was? The band is rounded off by bassist Jorgen Carlsson and drummer Erik Eldenius. Everyone hails from sunny Los Angeles except for Cohen, who still names his hometown of Montreal, PQ. This isn't the first time you may have heard Cohen since he has released a couple of solo discs in the past, some material in French, the rest in English. The band all met at various points in their collective histories in Los Angeles. Chaves has worked with John Mayer in the past while both Carlsson and Eldenius hail from Sweden. The band enlisted the help of several producers with broad backgrounds. Aside from being the singer and songwriter, Cohen himself did some production with the likes of Pat Leonard (who's worked with Madonna), David Kahne (past producer for Matthew Sweet, Sublime and Sugar Ray) and Keith Forsey (who's formerly worked with Billy Idol and Donna Summers). The band have already played several successful shows in L.A. and Southern California, but there doesn't appear to be any future shows lined up. Seeing as the debut CD still only two months old, I wouldn't be surprised to see a tour materialize shortly. http://www.lowmillions.com/ "Frances The Mute" Makes Itself Heard on March 1st If you were thoroughly impressed with "De-Loused in the Comatorium" as I was, it's likely that you'll be giddy with excitement at the news of The Mars Volta's new album, "Frances The Mute". This week, the band announced that the new album will hit stores on March 1st. The first single off the new album is "The Widow", which you can sample on this e-card. There's also a number of concert dates that are lined up for February and March, although none of the shows occur here in North America. The tour starts in Japan and moves over to Europe starting in Brussels and ending in Paris. With the launch of the new album, I doubt that we'll be left out in the cold as far as concerts go. http://www.marsvolta.com/ Bands Answer Linkin Park's Tsunami Call For Help Last week I told you how Linkin Park stepped up and donated money to the disaster-stricken Souther Asian region after a large earthquake triggered a tsunami. This week, more and more artists are answering the call for help that Linkin Park sent out. At the Music For Relief web-site, you'll find that a large number of bands have already dug into their pockets to help including Incubus, 311, Korn, Staind, Hoobastank, Limp Bizkit, Tricky and more. In addition to personal contributions, artists are putting together benefit shows and a pair of those shows' tickets go on sale today. Taking Back Sunday will be joined by My Chemical Romance, Coheed and Cambria, Senses Fail and more on January 12th at the Starland Ballroom in Sayerville, NJ. Proceeds from the show will go to Music For Relief (an organization that Linkin Park set up which supports the American Red Cross). Four days later (January 16th), the second show featuring The Starting Line, Midtown, The Early November and more will hold a second show with proceeds going directly to Unicef.
Canadian Artists Also Help Out Canadians have shown they want to help with over $60 million dollars in donations from private citizens. Following the lead are Canada's musicians. It's really no surprise that the Barenaked Ladies, Sarah McLachlan, Raine Maida (of Our Lady Peace) and wife Chantal Kreviazuk and Bruce Cockburn are holding a benefit concert to help Asia's tsunami victims in Calgary at the end of the month. The concert will be hosted by stand up comic Brent Butt (from CTV's Corner Gas) and will be held at the Pengrowth Saddledome on January 31st. Tickets go on sale tomorrow (January 8th) for as little as $42.50. Front and center seats will cost you just under $100, with the money going to OXFAM, Care Canada, Doctors Without Borders and War Child. There's even rumours that a near-identical show will occur near the end of the month in Vancouver at GM Place, hosted by Rick Mercer and including Avril Lavigne and Delerium. http://www.chartattack.com/damn/2005/01/0607.cfm The giving doesn't stop there. Earlier this week, CHUM Limited which owns 23 radio stations and 33 TV Stations across the country held a media blitz with PSA's airing all day January 5th informing the good people of Canada how to donate and help. They even had interviews and performances on their radio stations to drum up support with the likes of finger eleven, Billy Talent among many others. Meanwhile, Broken Social Scene have announced a January 25th benefit show at Toronto's Lee's Palace. Tickets have already gone on sale and cost $30 with all proceeds going to tsunami relief efforts. http://www.chartattack.com/damn/2005/01/0503.cfm The man largely responsible for Live Aid and the twice-hit-song "Do They Know It's Christmas" made that very statement this week. "The tsunami must be dealt with, it is an act of God, an act of nature," Bob Geldof told BBC radio. "Africa's an act of man. Millions die each year completely unnecessarily and that can be adjusted...The issue is one of poverty and debt and it need not be." He has an extremely valid point and I can see where his concern comes from (although I won't delve into it too much because this is a music newsletter and not a commentary), but it's also very easy to see how some people would look at the comments as ill-timed. The death toll in Asia has topped 150,000 and donations from both private citizens and governments continues to increase. The British people alone, who also voted Geldof as a "people's peer" in the House of Lords, have pledged more than their government with donations exceeding $145 million. http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=638&e=3&u=/nm/20050104/en_nm/quake_britain_geldof_dc 2004 Seemingly Franz Ferdinand's Year It pays to keep an ear to the ground, even if there's an ocean separating the word on the street in the UK from us here in Canada. That is clearly evident when you look at NME's top 50 albums of 2004. Right at the top of the list is Franz Ferdinand. The boys from Scotland experienced huge success across the pond this past year, and even broke out here in North America. However, the list also provides you with many artists that you may not be familiar with. The Futureheads appear to be of growing popularity and they made the cut at number five. Meanwhile, Montreal's The Dears did very well coming in at number ten. With that said, the list is not without some big names. Interpol (#11), The Killers (#13), Beastie Boys (#16), U2 (#18), Ryan Adams (#23), Eminem (#39), Mos Def (#41), The Music (#43), and Green Day (#45) all made the list among some lesser known bands (at least here). The point is though, that if those artists share spots on the top 50, they are definitely worth checking out. Especially when one of those artists is The Streets or Kings of Leon. I could go on for a while naming off names from the list, but why don't you see for yourself here: http://www.rocklist.net/2004.htm Noel Lets Slip The Word On New Oasis Disc Usually when you hear that one of the Gallagher brothers has prematurely opened his mouth, it spells trouble. However, this time around it is good news that Noel Gallagher has spoken. Speaking with BBC Radio 1's Jo Whiley, Noel indicated that the new 12 song Oasis LP has yet to be named. He also stated that the songwriting process was different this time around, with contributions from not only Noel and Liam Gallagher, but also from guitarist Gem Archer and bassist Andy Bell. The most peculiar thought is that according to Noel, the only songs that sound like Oasis are the ones written by Andy Bell. "I've been listening to a lot of Bob Dylan..." says Noel. "Liam was obviously some guy who used to be in a band in Liverpool (editor: I'm not really sure what that means?), Gem's a very rock and roll but not in a Jet way if you know what I mean. Andy's just sound like Oasis, which is great." The artwork is still being decided upon as is the first single. The album is set to drop in the UK on May 16th. Although no North American release date was set, it could be as early as May 17th. http://www.nme.com/news/110997.htm The holidays are over and we all get right back into our usual habits, which includes Chart Magazine's weekly album reviews. Check out what they have to say about new material from Anthrax, Esthero, Xzibit, Kevin Spacey (yes...THAT Kevin Spacey), The Octopus Project, Dirty Vegas and more: http://www.chartattack.com/DAMN/2005/01/0401.cfm Calgary
Toronto
~~ kMNR v2005.048 ~~ If you would like to hear about or if you have any information on a particular band or artist, please email and I will do my best to cover them.
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