Zildjian K Constantinople Cymbals
Posted on May 27, 2012 | 1 views | 0 comments
Armand Zildjian, then president of the Avedis Zildjian Company, introduced the K Zildjian Constantinople series in back 1998. The aim was to recreate the look, feel and ultimately the sound of the original Turkish-made Kerope Zildjian Ks. After the death of Armand in 2002, the baton was handed over to R&D director Paul Francis and his team, who continue to develop the range, creating new models and series enhancements. Build The series' apparent suitability for jazz is echoed by the collaborative design input from several top jazz drummers including Adam Nussbaum with the 22" Renaissance ride, Kenny Washington 20" Bounce (and its larger 22"...
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Mariner Eunoia DEC
Posted on May 27, 2012 | 1 views | 0 comments
Since its launch in 2008, family firm Mariner Guitars' stated aim has been to develop the use of eco-friendly tonewood alternatives. For a number of years now, with MI industry elder statesman and acoustic aficionado Ken Achard at the helm, Mariner has pioneered the use of a wood called paulownia (pal-lone-e-ah). Indigenous to China, paulownia is particularly well suited to guitar making. From a sustainable, geographical and manufacturing point of view, it ticks just about every green box there is. Mariner's Green Series of guitars is split into three sections. The Vertys guitars range from £385 for a 'dry' dreadnought through to £479 for...
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Hayden HGT-A20
Posted on May 27, 2012 | 3 views | 0 comments
When Ashdown rebranded its guitar amp line as Hayden back in 2006, a few pundits were left scratching their heads. Having built a first-class reputation with the Ashdown brand - predominantly in bass, later expanded to guitar - the company was essentially starting over with its guitar amp line. "The open-backed HGT-A20 combo acquits itself well on the clean channel, especially with a little reverb dialled in." The reasoning was that no single marque has remained fully successful in both the guitar and bass amp markets (Peavey being the exception to the rule), so after much deliberation, Hayden was born. Bass amps stayed Ashdown, guitar...
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Rupert Grint, Malin Akerman Added to CBGB Movie
Posted on May 26, 2012 | 8 views | 0 comments
The forthcoming movie about CBGB, which stars Alan Rickman as the nightclub's founder Hilly Kristal, just got another Harry Potter cast member. Variety reports that Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley!) will play Cheetah Chrome, the guitarist for the Dead Boys. Also, Malin Akerman (Rock of Ages, Watchmen) is tapped to play Blondie's Debbie Harry. Here's Blondie performing at CBGB in 1975:
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Yamaha DTX540K
Posted on May 26, 2012 | 10 views | 0 comments
The last time a Yamaha DTX set-up graced these pages it was the mid-range DTX700 that was making a strong impression. At just north of two grand it represents a hefty investment though, so those with less of a budget will perhaps be taken with something from the DTX500 series, like the DTX540K… "The DTX500 module impresses, with a very decent selection of chunky, bright and, importantly, dynamic sounds from the off." Hands on The 500 range kits are built around Yamaha's DTX500 module, and the DTX540K rig sits firmly in the middle of the company's offering. It's the least expensive of the range to feature all DTX-PADs as opposed to the TP...
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Roland Jupiter-50
Posted on May 26, 2012 | 9 views | 0 comments
It's not been long since we reviewed the Jupiter-80, concluding that in the main it sounded fantastic, though its bare bones, screen-centric interface let it down. Well, since then Roland has been back in the lab and created the Jupiter-50, essentially a stripped down JP-80. "Film composers should love the JP-80 for its breathtakingly realistic expressive acoustic sounds, while electronic producers will adore its extremely powerful synth section." So are we in line for an improved screen and more hardware controls? Not so fast. The first thing you'll notice is that the JP-80's large colour touchscreen has been replaced with a smaller mono...
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Lil Wayne Releases Pusha-T Diss Track "Goulish"
Posted on May 26, 2012 | 9 views | 0 comments
Photo by Graeme Flegenheimer A couple days ago, Pusha-T released "Exodus 23:1". Though there aren't any names, people speculated that the beef-heavy track was aimed at Lil Wayne. One of the people who suspected that: Lil Wayne. On his response track "Goulish", Wayne's not exactly subtle. Here's the opening line: "Fuck Pusha-T and anybody that love 'em." (That was his Twitter response to Pusha, too.) Listen to a radio rip of the track at MTV's RapFix.
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Watch Lambchop on "Jimmy Fallon"
Posted on May 26, 2012 | 14 views | 0 comments
Last night, Lambchop made a stop on "Late Night With Jimmy Fallon" in support of their album Mr. M, which, according to Fallon's introduction, was their first TV performance in eight years. They performed "Gone Tomorrow".
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New Antony Hegarty: "Rise"
Posted on May 26, 2012 | 10 views | 0 comments
Photo by Inez & Vinoodh; album cover of Cut the World Disco Naïveté points to a new Antony Hegarty song, "Rise", which is out just a week after he announced a new Antony and the Johnsons album. The song is featured in Coral Rekindling Venus, a film by Lynette Wallwort about coral reefs. It's available for download at the film's website either for free or for a small donation to the Australian Research Council (ARC) Centre for Excellence for Coral Reef Studies. Below, check out the song in the film's trailer.
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This Week on Pitchfork
Posted on May 25, 2012 | 16 views | 0 comments
Today, we bring you the latest episode of Pitchfork.tv's "Pitchfork Weekly". In this week's installment, Kreayshawn talks about her music video for "Breakfast (Syrup)", and Baroness offer some wisdom on how to progress as a group . Subscribe to Pitchfork's YouTube channel and stay tuned every Friday for new episodes of "Pitchfork Weekly." Other new Pitchfork.tv episodes on our YouTube channel this week included "Frames" with Carrie Brownstein, "+1" with R. Stevie Moore, and music videos for Sleigh Bells ("Demons") and Eternal Summers ("Millions"). Pitchfork.tv also posted a Yours Truly performance by Sonnymoon. Below the video is a...
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Watch The Throne 2 on the way
Posted on May 25, 2012 | 9 views | 0 comments
Given how much Jay-Z and Kanye West seemed to enjoy watching their metaphorical thrones, it seemed reasonable that they would release a follow-up to Watch The Throne instead of abdicating with an absence.
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Watch Beck's Son Dance on Stage With His Dad
Posted on May 25, 2012 | 10 views | 0 comments
Beck's live performances have been few and far between the past few years, but this week, he kicked off a summer tour that will take him to various festivals. Last night, he played the Santa Barbara Bowl. Justin Wagner shot video of the performance of "E Pro", from 2005's Guero. Around 50 seconds in, Beck's extremely energetic, eight-year old son Cosimo comes out on stage and breaks into some killer dance moves. Probably the most adorable thing you will see on the internet today.
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Giorgio Moroder Recorded With Daft Punk for New LP
Posted on May 25, 2012 | 12 views | 0 comments
The iconic Italian disco producer Giorgio Moroder has recorded with Daft Punk, URB reports. Moroder, whose work includes Donna Summer's "I Feel Love", said during an interview at the International Music Summit this week in Ibiza, Spain that he recorded a "rap" for the duo's upcoming record. URB reports that Daft Punk asked Moroder "to go into a vocal booth and speak about his life. In the studio were multiple microphones of various vintages from the 60s to today. When Moroder asked the engineer why they had so many mics, he replied that the mic they would use would depend on what decade of his life he was speaking about. When Moroder...
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Girl Talk Announces Summer Tour
Posted on May 25, 2012 | 10 views | 0 comments
Photo by Natalie Kardos The energy drink-infused malt liquor industry will get a big boost this summer as Girl Talk's Gregg Gillis routes through North America on a big tour, Consequence of Sound points out. Check out the dates here and watch part of "Girl Walk", the dance film set to the entirety of Girl Talk's All Day. Girl Talk:
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PRIMER: The Beastie Boys
Posted on May 25, 2012 | 11 views | 0 comments
If you have a list of alternative icons you’d love to get into but don’t know where to start, get ready to cross some of them off with our new feature PRIMER, in which we guide you through the highs, lows, and occasional confusing bits of the careers of renowned indie icons. This week: The Beastie Boys.
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Five Questions with Alabama Shakes
Posted on May 25, 2012 | 12 views | 0 comments
We caught up with Alabama Shakes' drummer Steve Johnson who talked to us about meeting his idols, keeping humble and staying away from stadium shows. At least for now.
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The Books to Release Career-Spanning Box Set
Posted on May 25, 2012 | 11 views | 0 comments
Now that the Books are finished making music together, they'll release a career-spanning box set. The set, which is slated for release "by the end of the summer," according to Nick Zammuto's email list, will include all of the duo's albums, plus audio and visual bonus material. Zammuto is keeping a blog in the weeks leading up to the box set's (yet-unannounced) release date, writing about the "recording process for each track, and the odd stories surrounding the project." Also, Zammuto's new band is on the road with Explosions in the Sky this summer. Watch the video for the Books' "Take Time":
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Listen to Neil Young & Crazy Horse's Rendition of "God Save the Queen"
Posted on May 25, 2012 | 10 views | 0 comments
On June 5, Neil Young & Crazy Horse will release Americana, an album of American folk standards that marks the first album with the full Crazy Horse lineup since 1996's Broken Arrow. Q points to a rendition of the British national anthem "God Save the Queen" that'll appear on the album. Wondering why the British national anthem is on an album called Americana? "Written in the 18th century with possible melodic roots in the 17th century, this anthem has been sung throughout the British Commonwealth and may have been sung in North America before the American Revolution and Declaration of Independence in 1776, which rejected British...
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El-P Cancels European Shows
Posted on May 25, 2012 | 10 views | 0 comments
Photo by Timothy Saccenti El-P has cancelled his European shows this week. He was due to play ATP's I'll Be Your Mirror in London this weekend, Paris on May 28, and ATP's stage at San Miguel Primavera Sound Festival in Barcelona on May 31. He tweeted: "london and barcelona: unfortunately i will not be attending ATP or primavera due to the passing of a loved one. i will make it up to you." And: "to clarify: someone dear to me and my bandmates has unexpectedly passed. i can not leave to do the shows. will try and make it up to you." El-P released his new album Cancer for Cure this week. Watch El chatting with Killer Mike in a recent...
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