Sound Rug

Until The Light Takes Us tells the story of black metal.  Part music and part cultural uprising, black metal rose to worldwide notoriety in the mid-nineties when a rash of suicides, murders, and church burnings accompanied the explosive artistic growth and output of a music scene that would forever redefine what heavy metal is and what it stands for to other musicians, artists and music fans world-wide.  Until The Light Takes Us goes behind the highly sensationalized media reports of “Satanists running amok in Europe” to examine the complex and largely misunderstood principles and beliefs that led to this rebellion against both Christianity and modern culture.

To capture this on film, directors Aaron Aites and Audry Ewell moved to Norway and lived with the musicians for several years, building relationships that allowed them to create a surprisingly intimate portrait of this violent, but ultimately misunderstood, movement.  The result is a poignant, moving story that’s as much about the idea that reality is composed of whatever the most people believe, regardless of what’s actually true, as it is about a music scene that blazed a path of murder and arson across the northern sky.

The White Stripes Under Great White Northern Lights trailer. In the summer of 2007, The White Stripes embarked on a cross-country Canadian tour to accomplish their goal of performing in every province and territory across the expansive northern nation. This film documents their journey, culminating with their 10th Anniversary show in Nova Scotia. Preorder the limited edition box set at WhiteStripes.com.

Rock guitar legend Carlos Santana is celebrating the 10th anniversary of his breakthrough “Supernatural” album - which won nine Grammy Awards and has sold more than 25 million copies worldwide - with a “Supernatural: Legacy Edition” that includes a second disc of rare and unreleased material. It’s the touchstone for “Supernatural Santana: A Trip Through The Hits,” which resumes its residency at the Joint in the Las Vegas Hard Rock Hotel & Casino on April 21. And Santana and Sony Music Entertainment chief Clive Davis are working the same magic again on a new collaborative, thematic album that’s due out later this year.

“I think if there’s anything about ‘Supernatural’ it’s an affirmation that people trust me,” Santana tells Billboard.com about the album that paired him with collaborators such as Rob Thomas, Dave Matthews, Everlast, Lauryn Hill, Product C&B and Eric Clapton. “All those musicians, artists, writers, engineers, producers, lawyers, accountants…It was like a parade of roses and I’m in front, in the middle and in the end.”

Santana says the Las Vegas show has also impressed upon him the impact “Supernatural” has made on his career. “It has allowed me to see Carlos from a different, ariel view,” he explains, “because every day, in a tangible way, I get to see people spend money on an airplane, on a hotel, on a ticket, on a restaurant — I mean, it’s a whole way of validating what I’ve been doing, and I didn’t know. I used to say, ‘Well, I’m just trying to get to the next note and make it true. But by stopping in Las Vegas, it allowed me to really be more present. And by facing all the things that I said I would never do, it allowed me to see that I am less with fear and more with trusting, which is love.”

Santana hopes to keep the love going on his next album, another project overseen by Davis that continues the guest-laden path of “Supernatural,” “Shaman” (2002) and “All That I Am” (2005) - only this time adding iconic rock songs to the mix. Among those are Cream’s “Sunshine Of Your Love” with Thomas, the Beatles’ “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” with India.Arie and Yo-Yo Ma,

Jimi Hendrix’s “Little Wing” with Joe Cocker, the Rolling Stones’ “Can’t You Hear Me Knocking” with Scott Weiland, Deep Purple’s “Smoke On The Water” and Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Fortunate Son.”

“We’re not comparing or competing with those artists - we’re complementing them,” Santana says. “But when you hear this, you’re gonna do ‘Damn!’ because it sounds so powerful, with vitality and vibrancy. Like Wayne Shorter says, it’s completely new, tottally familiar.”

No title or release date have been set for the album. Santana is expected to tour in North America and Europe during the late spring and summer.

Congratulations are being sent out to The Black Eyed Peas today! They have broken US records by hanging on the top spot of the US Singles chart for 20 consecutive weeks! 20 weeks ago they climbed to the top with Boom Boom Pow, which clung to number one for 12 weeks. Their follow-up, I Gotta Feeling, then took over the number one position, giving the Peas a record-breaking 20 weeks on the chart. Previously, the record for being on the top of the charts was held by Usher, who had hits Yeah! and Burn rule the charts for 19 weeks in 2004.

The famous Abbey Road studios is about to be sold by EMI. The reason for the decision is to help raise money for the record label and assist them in clearing their name.

As The Beatles recorded a majority of their album Abbey Road in the studio, singer Paul McCartney commented on the label’s decision and stated that a “joint bid” from people associated with the studio is being made and he hopes it can save it.

“I do know that there are a few people who have been associated with the studio for a long time who were talking about mounting some bid to save it,” he said. “I sympathize with them. I hope they can do something, it would be great. Obviously I’ve got so many memories there with The Beatles and it still is a great studio. So it would be lovely for someone to get a thing together to save it.”

EMI is owned by a private company and is reportedly hoping to raise £30 million from the sale of Abbey Studios to clear debts they owe. It’s still unclear if the location or the studio brand is being sold. Aside from The Beatles, other artists that have recorded there include Radiohead, Oasis, Blur, Manic Street Preachers and Pink Floyd.

Avenged Sevenfold issued a statement yesterday saying:

“We want our fans to know that with Jimmy in our hearts, our journey to record has officially began. Jimmy helped leave this world an amazing gift and now it’s our job to make sure to deliver that gift to our fans.

“We asked Jimmy’s all time favorite drummer Mike Portnoy to record on behalf of him. Mike said it would be an honor and without question that’s what Jim would have wanted. Its comforting to us that someone like Mike, who is undoubtedly revered as one of the best drummers in the world, held such respect and adoration for the Rev’s abilities.

“Even though it will never be the same without our brother by our side, his essence lives in our hearts and through the music he helped create. He was a legend before any of the success or any of that bullshit and we are fucking excited to lay this down for our fans, and especially for Jimmy.

Avenged Sevenfold”

To complete their new album, the band recruited Dream Theatre drummer, Mike Portnoy, Jimmy Sullivans’ favourite drummer, as mentioned above.

Jimmy “The Rev” Sullivan passed away on the 28th of December 2009 and toxicology reports have resulted inconclusive. Jimmy was laid to rest on the 6th of January 2010, with over 600 guests including Lostprophets and Brian Haner Sr.

Avenged Sevenfolds new release is expected to be released July this year.

The ultimate guitar hero, Jimi Hendrix, will soon have his own “Rock Band” video game.

Jimi Hendrix’s stepsister, Janie Hendrix, who controls the late guitar god’s estate, let it slip during an L.A. Times interview that a Hendrix edition of “Rock Band” will be coming before the end of the year.

The statement was made while discussing the impact of Sony Music’s licensing deal for the Hendrix master recordings last year. “At the time the deal was completed,” read the article. “Sony vowed to make his music ‘available through every type of media’ - including a new edition of ‘Rock Band’ that Janie Hendrix says should appear before the end of this year.”

Officials at “Rock Band” publisher MTV Games or developer Harmonix did not respond to requests for comment by press time. The company in December announced its next artist-based game would be focused on Green Day, with a treatment similar to that of “The Beatles: Rock Band” in which various elements of the band’s career and development are chronicled. It’s unclear whether the Harmonix team has the resources to do both a Green Day and Hendrix special edition in the same year.

However coming out with a Hendrix game this year makes the most sense. There’s certainly no shortage of Hendrix-related material coming out in the coming months as the 40th anniversary of his death approaches this fall.

British heavy metal legends Iron Maiden have completed the recording process for their new album at Compass Point Studios in Nassau, Bahamas with producer Kevin Shirley. According to a posting on Kevin’s official web site, “There’s still work to do, but the band portion is complete and in the can, so to speak.”

Shirley previously worked on the last three Maiden albums — 2000’s “Brave New World”, 2003’s “Dance Of Death” and 2006’s “A Matter Of Life And Death”.

The next Iron Maiden album will be the band’s fifteenth studio record, and they face a challenge to follow up “A Matter Of Life And Death”, which was received well critically and saw the group play the whole album on tour.

Speaking at last year’s premiere of the band’s documentary film “Iron Maiden: Flight 666″, guitarist Adrian Smith stated, “There’s always a bit of pressure to follow up the last album, in a way it’s good because it motivates you.

“We never get complacent; we always try our best for our own sake as much as anything else. As far as pressure for another album, we just do what we do — we’ve been doing it long enough now, we know what we’re doing. [laughs]”

Iron Maiden will headline this year’s edition of the UK’s Sonisphere festival, which will be held Saturday, July 31, 2010 and Sunday, August 1, 2010 at Knebworth.

Christian Rock is often the subject of controversy for a couple of reasons. Of course the obvious arguable point is the message itself. So I wish to leave that for other blogs and comment only on the points that are not faith questions. I hope to keep this blog from becoming a place for religious argument, which should be the subject of another blog, and there are many already out there. That being said, there are some interesting opinions about this growing genre to discuss.

Many people will say that Christian Rock stops just short of being as good as popular (secular) music. Now here’s the interesting thing. In many cases, there is some truth to that statement.

                 I was 13 years old when Led Zeppelin II was released and I thought the whole album was a masterpiece. I still do. Of course Styx, Hendrix, Trapeze, Dream Theatre, Rush, Queensryche, Yes, Warrant and countless others became part of my regular listening collection (even played a few of their songs). I started playing guitar 41 years ago and have been performing in public for at least 25 yrs. The only reason it’s important to mention that, is to say that my point of view is not from the outside looking in.

                I used to discuss this issue with a good friend of mine, a jazz saxophone player who also loves rock music. When he and I met, I hadn’t listened to any Christian music. As my life experiences brought me closer to faith in Christ, I wanted to play music that reflected what was taking place in my head and heart. So I started hunting down all the Christian music I could find. I also began to learn some of the songs (in preparation for public performance). There were many songs that I felt just didn’t measure up to mainstream rock; although I also found many that were every bit as good.  As I discussed, each artist and their songs in detail with my jazz friend, we talked about what was good and what was bad in each song. I also started playing many of these songs in different churches. So… here’s a few things that in my humble opinion contribute to Christian Rock not making the grade (where that is the case).

Many churches and consequently artists are extremely careful that the music they write or perform is showing reverence for God. I played a guitar solo in one church only to find out that they received complaints from the audience. Oh sorry it’s “congregation” if you’re talking about church listeners. Another factor.. is the opinion that Christian artists should not draw attention to themselves, because the focus should be on the Lord.

                I think both points are relevant and should be honored, but in a better way. Asking the musicians to tone down their performance doesn’t seem right. That would be like asking the pianist to play only a few of the keys on the piano. Or asking a runner not to run as fast as he can. No… I believe that all musicians are supposed to play with passion. Actually we are instructed in the Bible to do all things the absolute best that we can “as if we are doing them for the Lord” which in reality, we are. From a Christian point of view, our talents are a gift from God and he placed in us, this lifelong desire to use them. I’ve been to Christian concerts where the performers were magnificent! When they were applauded the artist(s) looked up in absolute sincerity and showed their gratitude to the Lord. This put my attention right back on God and I was thanking him for their talent and my attendance as well.

Even in mainstream, there is music that a discerning ear would not appreciate. Honestly… it’s all subjective anyway. It’s a fact that if you create something completely avant-garde and publish it, there will be a few who love it and of course there will be haters.  One of the things I found frustrating about playing in night clubs was this… I worked hard to be able to play songs like Roundabout by Yes, only to have members of the audience consistently ask for Brown Eyed Girl and Margaritaville.

I have heard old and new Christian rock that is awesome. I would like to name a few, that from my experience as a listener and performer are at the level of professional when pitted against any artist from any genre. D.C. Talk; Guardian; Kutless; Stephen Curtis Chapman; Petra, just to name a few.

                As far as complexity goes, the hardest song I ever learned to play and sing (at the same time) was “Life in the Fast Lane” by the Eagles. That is, until I learned “Lord of the Dance” Stephen Curtis Chapman. It took me a couple of days to even figure out the tuning, which turned out to be “Drone Tuning” to match bagpipes of Scotland. Every string on the guitar is tuned to either C or G. Once I learned to play the song, it rocked! of course, then learning to sing it while playing, was ridiculously hard.

                Another point of controversy is that some traditionalists believe Rock music is evil and should not be used to express matters of faith. To that… I say… The God we learn about in the Bible is not an old grey bearded man with no imagination. Seriously… this is the God who created lions; and planets; and all the magnificent works of nature including the human mind and body. Not to mention that we are created in His image, laughter; anger and all. Creation itself speaks of a mind so open that we could never even comprehend it. So… artful expression from a faithful heart is assuredly pleasing to God no matter what our preferences and predispositions are.

                 I believe that no matter what genre of music we are writing for, the most difficult task is learning to listen objectively. This is very important because objective listening is how we improve on our music. A musical recording is much like a picture. It represents a moment (or collection of moments) in time. Practically as soon as the recording (or picture) is complete, we are already changing; moving on from it. After spending a year creating my own CD, and publishing it, I still feel there are changes that should be made to it. But the truth is, it’s already out there. I’ll just have to take what I learned and apply it to the next one.

                So in conclusion, the controversy remains, because the recordings are already out there. And public opinion is an unstoppable machine anyway. So I think the answer is to search for the constructive element in comments (ignore the destructive ones) and learn and grow from it. Also never stop trying. A fellow musician asked me recently… If you knew that no one would ever hear your music, would you still create it? I replied with an emphatic “Yes!”… I do it because I am driven to do it.

                That’s the end (beginning) of this blog. We didn’t even talk about lyrical content, or good methods for writing… maybe in a later blog.

regards,

                 Scottie

Scottie Eades’s music is available for review and purchase at xiie.net by clicking here.

Arctic Monkeys have announced that the next single to be released from their third album “Humbug” will be “My Propeller“.

Alex Turner and co will release the single (along with three new B-sides) on March 22 – just prior to their March 27 gig at the London Royal Albert Hall show for the Teenage Cancer Trust.

The three new tracks featuring on the single are “Joining The Dots“, “The Afternoon’s Hat” and “Don’t Forget Whose Legs You’re On“.

As with previous singles “Crying Lightning” and “Cornerstone“, the band are releasing the single through Oxfam charity shops. It will be available exclusively on 10-inch vinyl at UK branches of the store, while the seven-inch single is available elsewhere.

Good news for fans of Wilco and humanitarian aid: The Chicago alt-rockers are offering fans a chance to snag a pair of full concert downloads in exchange for donations to help the suffering citizens of Haiti following the recent devastating earthquakes in the country.

Wilco are asking their followers to make a gift of at least $15 (around £9.30) to either Medecins Sans Frontieres/Doctors Without Borders or Oxfam, and, in return, are giving away free downloads of two gigs from last year. The earlier of the shows is a July outdoor performance at the Brooklyn Cyclones’ minor-league baseball stadium, Keyspan Park, in New York’s Coney Island.

As well as the usual Jeff Tweedy-led rocking, the set included contributions from Ed Droste of Grizzly Bear, Feist and Yo La Tengo. The later gig was recorded at London’s HMV Forum in Kentish Town in November ‘09.

Wilco have requested that the donations are directed toward Medecins Sans Frontiers/Doctors Without Borders and Oxfam’s Emergency Relief Funds, which support not just the groups’ efforts in Haiti, but in other, similarly catastrophic situations as and when they arise.

Quincy Jones, John Mayer and retired soul singer Bill Withers will headline performing rights group ASCAP’s annual songwriters convention in Hollywood on April 22-24, organizers said.

The trio will share the secrets of their success and craft during Q&A sessions at the fifth annual “I Create Music” Expo, once again taking place at the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel.

Last year’s event, boasting headliners Jeff Lynne, Ann and Nancy Wilson of Heart and Chaka Khan, drew more than 2,400 attendees. About half came from out of state and overseas, a spokeswoman said.

A preliminary lineup of panelists this year includes jazz guitarist Kenny Burrell, Aerosmith and Bon Jovi songwriter Desmond Child, Prince protegees Wendy & Lisa, country star Phil Vassar, and ASCAP’s Oscar-winning president Paul Williams.

Jones, the most honored living Grammy winner with 27 statuettes, is shepherding an all-star remake of “We are the World” to raise funds for Haiti earthquake victims.

Mayer topped the Billboard 200 last November with his fourth album “Battle Studies.”

Withers, best known for such soul classics as “Lean on Me” and “Ain’t No Sunshine,” has largely withdrawn from active participation in the music industry.