Posts tagged dhani harrison

Happy Hump Day, everyone! Music news is abuzz today with political pandering (“Gene Simmons Publicly Endorses Mitt Romney”), collaboration rumors (“U2 Teams Up With ‘One Direction’ Songwriters”), and religious uproar (“Behemoth First Tour Show Moved Due To ‘Conflicting Religious Beliefs’”). Read on for more detailed press releases.

NEIL YOUNG WORKING ON NEW MP3 FORMAT

Following his disdainful comments about the state of mp3 “music today,” folk rocker Neil Young appears to be revving up to create a new audio format to challenge mp3s. Rolling Stone reports that Young applied for six trademarks in June 2011: “Ivanhoe,” “21st Century Record Player,” “Earth Storage,” “Storage Shed,” “Thanks for Listening” and “SQS (Studio Quality Sound).” Included in the filing is a description of the trademarks: “Online and retail store services featuring music and artistic performances; high resolution music downloadable from the Internet; high resolutions discs featuring music and video; audio and video recording storage and playback.”

The trademark process could take up to a year if no challenges are raised against Young’s application. 

So what will it all mean? Tech experts have suggested this could pave the way for high quality audio to be provided to users via a “cloud”-based system. Some even presuppose that the quality of the audio will be closer to the original studio recordings, rather than the compressed files that are sold on music sites like iTunes and Amazon. 

The tech aspects are yet to be revealed, but nonetheless, Young’s idea seems intriguing. 

ISAHN TO RELEASE FOURTH ALBUM IN JUNE

Former Emperor vocalist/guitarist Ihsahn will release his fourth album “Eremita” (Latin for “hermit”) June 19 in North America (one day earlier in Europe) via Candlelight records. “Eremita” was mixed by Jens Bogren (Opeth) in Sweden. Alongside Ihsahn, the album features performances from drummer Tobias Ornes Andersen (Leprous), saxophonist Jørgen Munkeby (Norway’s Shining), guitarist Jeff Loomis (ex-Nevermore), and vocalists Devin Townsend, Einar Solberg (LEPROUS), and Heidi S. Tveitan (Starofash). 

“Eremita” is the highly-anticipated follow-up to 2010’s “After.” Offering nine new songs to his audience, Isahn’s “Eremita” is described by Blabbermouth.net as “the longest and most spirited of Ihsahn’s solo recordings.”

Ihsahn reflecting on the recording process,

This is right where I want to be musically, with lots of room for dynamics and expressive variety. Tobias and Jørgen have really added to the organic vibe I was going for and have contributed to the overall feel with their fantastic musicianship. And to have Devin, Jeff, Einar and Heidi adding their special moments, I am very privileged to be able to work with such a talented group of people. I really feel this is some of my most inspired work yet.

Guitar World senior editor Brad Angle was quoted as saying, “With ’Eremita’, Ihsahn proves yet again that he is one of the most influential, progressive and enduring musicians to emerge out of the classic Norwegian black metal scene.” 

A special two-minute video preview of “Eremita,” featuring audio segments from the record and exclusive footage filmed during the album’s creation, is available here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hOhbJ_lbMg

BEATLES SONS TO FORM BAND?

God, I kind of hope not. According to a BBC interview with Paul’s son James McCartney, the sons of legendary Beatles performers were (are?) considering forming a “next generation” group. He also suggested that Sean (Lennon) and Dhani (Harrison) were into the idea. The only son that seems to (rightly) have objections is Ringo’s son, Zak Starkey (arguably the most talented of the bunch). 

When pushed to make a confirmation, James reportedly said:

Yeah, hopefully, naturally… you’ll have to wait and see. 

While each of the potential members are certainly mired in their own projects, James appears to have somewhat retracted his comments with a message on his Facebook page, where he reminds fans that he is busy touring the UK and US with his own music. 

He wrote:

“Looks like quite some attention being given to my BBC interview! Honestly, I was just thinking out loud about playing with Beatles family friends, nothing more. My band’s going to be on tour in the UK and US for most of this year, and the shows are going great!”

Any thoughts about this “next gen” musical collaboration? Give a shout!