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In This Issue: Institute: Gavin Rossdale's New Bush? You all remember Bush, right? The last time we heard from Gavin Rossdale's former band was when they released Golden State in 2001. Shortly after that disc, the band quietly dissolved when guitarist Nigel Pulsford decided he no longer wanted to tour. At that point, it would've been easy for Rossdale to take the high road and move on to a solo career that would have potentially resulted in a lot of pop songs and ballads. Instead, he went on to form Institute with a sound heavier than before. When you look at the players in Institutue, it's no surprise that the music is heavier. Rossdale employed the guitar talents of Chris Traynor for the last Bush tour and he stuck around for this new venture. Traynor used to play for both Helmet and Orange 9mm, two bands whose music is anything but slumbering. Cache Tolman (formerly of CIV and Rival Schools, a hardcore band fronted by Walter Schreifels who recently worked with Newfoundland's Bucket Truck) takes up bass duties with local Brooklyn drummer Charlie Walker pulling it all together. Oh, and let's not forget that Institute's debut release, Distort Yourself was produced by another Helmet member, Page Hamilton. I was concerned that this was going to sound like Bush revamped. Interestingly enough, the first couple of times I listened to the album I didn’t get that impression. It was refreshing to hear some heavy and edgy guitars on songs When Animals Attack, Information Age, and Seventh Wave. Even though Come On Over starts off with that familiar sound, it morphs into a grinding assault of guitars. The trouble is that this isn’t the only Bush sounding song; Wasteland, Ambulances and Secrets and Lies are all reminiscent of Rossdale’s former band. The positive is that this doesn’t take away from the quality of this album. Rossdale and his new band mates put together an excellent collection of new songs no matter how much it sounds like it isn’t a new band at all. Overall, the album is quite impressive considering the alternate route that Rossdale could have taken. The only complaint I could put forth is that there isn't much in the way of experimentation in Distort Yourself. Mind you, I was a fan of the material Bush released and most of that failed to go outside the box (the obvious exception being their remix album Deconstructed.) With that aside, I'm delighted to hear Rossdale backed by even heavier rock songs and the potential for some more great music to come from Institute is welcome. New Danko Jones Track Listing Revealed Danko Jones is still eyeing a February 20th release date for the band's new album Sleep Is The Enemy. Now, if you know anything about the band and the usual topics touched on in their songs, you'll find the track titles quite intriguing:
The often unrecognized Canadian rockers continue to tour the US with many shows in support of The (International) Noise Conspiracy. Bad Religion To Release Live DVD Those of us in Calgary may still have Infected ringing in our ears from Bad Religion's performance here a couple of weeks ago, but everyone will soon be able to experience the long-time punk band live in their living room. The band is finishing up their upcoming DVD Live At The Palladium, which contains footage filmed over two nights at the famous Hollywood venue. The DVD will also contain plenty of rare and archived footage for punk rockers to enjoy. A release date has yet to be set, but as soon as I know, you'll know. The Strokes To Embark On World Tour Or Secret Club Gigs If you're a fan of New York's The Strokes you'll be happy to hear that their third album, First Impressions Of Earth, is still scheduled to be released early next year. In the meantime, some fans around the world won't have to wait much longer to see the quartet back in action. The Strokes started a not-so-secret series of club gigs in Tokyo earlier this week. Other worldly cities to be graced by their presence include London, Paris, Madrid, Berlin, Milan, Stockholm, Amsterdam, Sydney and Melbourne. Once the new album drops in North American on January 3rd, more "secret" show will surely occur on this side of the pond, followed by a proper North American tour beginning in February. Global Spanking For Stealing Music Online To Start; Sony BMG Recalls Copy Protected CDs I find it hilarious that these two stories break in the same week. The first talks about how the International Federation for the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) is launching over two thousand cases of legal action against internet users who steal music in countries like Sweden, Switzerland, Argentina, Hong Kong and Singapore. Apparently Sweden is a "haven for piracy" when it comes to downloading music illegally. Those blonde haired, blue eyed bastards! The second story reports that Sony BMG is having to recall CDs that contain the XCP copy protection software to prevent people from burning the 49 titles it exists from artists such as Celine Dion. Wait, what the fuck? Forget people wanting to COPY a Celine Dion CD; who the hell is still buying that crap?! Apparently, the software that's installed on your computer ends up leaving a back door open which hackers can exploit to mess with your porn collec, er...your data. The Crüe To Continue Touring Into 2006 Am I the only one who can't understand how this is going to happen? Mötley Crüe have decided to continue touring after a month-long break in January from their current tour. Apparently, having Tommy Lee catch fire or Vince Neil nearly break his leg wasn't enough to persuade them NOT to play. Some people just don't know when to quit. NIN/QOTSA/DFA1979 Review Preview WOW! Stay tuned next week for the full review... Before I get to the two big releases next week, I should point out that there are three Canadian-related releases hitting store shelves on November 22nd. The first and most significant is R30 - 30th Anniversary World Tour DVD from Canadian rock icons Rush. The release will come in two formats, the first being a 2 DVD set. The first DVD contains a concert filmed in Frankfurt on September 24th, 2004 while the second DVD contains plenty of archived bonus footage going as far back as 1975 and a number of interviews with the band. The Deluxe Edition release will contain the two DVDs and 2 CDs which both contain the audio of the full concert. A must have for any Rush fan. The second Canadian-relevant release next week is MuchMusic's latest addition to their Big Shiny Tunes series, Big Shiny Tunes X (or Ten, for you Roman Numeral deficient folks). This series drew plenty of attention in it's early days for containing an excellent collection of new rock music, but lately it lost it's sheen. BSTX brings back an impressive line-up of songs including Arcade Fire's Rebellion (Lies), Alexisonfire's No Transitory, Billy Talent's Nothing To Lose, Foo Fighters' Best Of You, Green Day's Holiday, The Killers' All These Things That I've Done, QOTSA's Little Sister, SOAD's B.Y.O.B., among many others. Unfortunately it contains a Simple Plan song but hey, I guess some people like them. The last Canadian related release is Scott Stapp's solo debut The Great Divide. The former Creed front man apparently employed the recently disbanded Tea Party to be his backing band while recording this album. Whether or not that actually made the final cut, who knows. Considering that probably only twelve people will buy this CD, we may never know. All right, now that we've got that out of the way let's get to what I think are the two biggest rock releases of not only next week, but the whole month of November. From Queens of the Stone Age comes their very first live CD/DVD titled Over The Years and Through The Woods. The set contains concert footage from London's Brixton Academy and Koko from earlier this year which includes recent hits Little Sister, Go With The Flow, No One Knows and classics Feel Good Hit Of The Summer, Avon, Regular John, Monsters In The Parasol and more. In addition to the concert, the DVD will contain bonus footage of past live and acoustic performances, some of which will include former bassist Nick Oliveri and drummer Dave Grohl. There is also reported to be up to four new songs on the release and hidden gems from QOTSA related projects and hilarious commentary on the DVD side. Finally, fans of System of a Down have only had to wait six months for Hypnotize, the accompanying release to Mezmerize but it's been long enough. Not only were the two albums recorded at the same time, they are meant to be considered one piece of work and both albums will meld together both physically (the SOAD web site has a small illustration of how the two albums physically join each other) and art-wise. Hypnotize will also be released in two formats; a conventional CD and a DualDisc in which the DVD side will contain the making of both releases and videos for B.Y.O.B. and Question!. If you'd like to hear what the new disc will sound like, you can hear it in it's entirety on The Leak on www.MTV.com and www.MTV2.com. Chart's Weekly CD Release Reviews
~~ kMNR v2005.093 ~~ 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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