Wednesday, Feb. 11, 1998

Warner Brothers Records has an article on their website about the forthcoming Van Halen record, featuring new singer Gary Cherone from Extreme. The new album is called Van Halen III and will be available in stores on March 17.

Wide Open Ears - From time to time we come across artists, signed and unsigned who are simply doing things that are unheard of in mainstream USA. Unique works that are strangely affecting, works that can influence us in our music creation, works that can teach us something or bring us closer to another culture. Often these artists will never achieve American commercial success, but they will be of interest to musicians here. So when you see the "Wide Open Ears" moniker, know that you're in for something a little different, a little off the beating path.

Our first Wide Open Ears artist, Paulo Bragança hails from Portugal and is currently signed to Luaka Bop Records, a subsidiary of Warner Music. He mixes "Fado" (a traditional style of Portuguese music) with modern sounds of hip-hop and other pop forms. You can read more about him and hear his music on the Luaka Bop website.

Tuesday, Feb. 10, 1998

Musician's Musician Appearance Alert! Singer-songwriter Sonic Youth, and Bill Frisell with special guest Jimmie Dale Gilmore will be appearing on this week's Sessions At West 54th, PBS' weekly studio concert/interview program. Check your local public television station's listings for specific program times.

Industry Insider News: Island Records Names New Chairman and President
Polygram Records Press Release - Island Records, whose offerings include Bob Marley and U2 among others, has named Davitt Sigerson Chairman, and John Barbis President of the label, reporting to Mr. Sigerson. Sigerson will report directly to Roger Ames, President of the PolyGram Music Group. Both Sigerson and Barbis will be headquartered in NY. More...

Friday, Feb. 6, 1998

Grant Lee Buffalo To Release New Album In June
Grant Lee Buffalo, known for haunting vocals, sublime lyrical imagery, layered textures and jamming 12-string guitar, is scheduled to release their new album "Jubilee" this June. This will be their fourth album and their first without bassist/producer Paul Kimble. To make up for Paul's absence GLB recruited a few guests to help out on the album: 'E' from the Eels, Michael Stipe from REM, Robin Hitchcock, former Tonic bassist Dan Rothschild and others. The album is produced by Paul Fox whose production credits include 10,000 Maniacs, XTC and Robyn Hitchcock. GLB's albums to date are: "Fuzzy" (1993), "Mighty Joe Moon" (1994) and "Copperopolis" (1996). For a wonderful first experience with GLB check out "Mighty Joe Moon".

Dark Forest Music Samples Added To Site
We've added samples from 2 songs to the Dark Forest site. Sorry about the file size; we are working on getting adequate mpeg conversion which will mean better, faster, smaller files.

Thursday, Feb. 5, 1998

Apple Makes Presence Known at NAMM
A letter to Ric Ford on his MacIntouch website says that while Apple has been ignoring many trade shows, they had a strong presence at the recent NAMM show (National Association of Music Merchants). They demonstrated several Apple based audio solutions as well as the upcoming Quicktime 3.0, Apple's new mulitmedia creation/player software that features technologies from Roland.

Cakewalk Announces New Macintosh and Windows Software
Cakewalk has announced Metro 4, music software for the Macintosh which delivers integrated MIDI and digital audio, real-time audio effects, and support for third-party plug-ins for less than $200 (U.S.). Due for release in March, features integrated MIDI and digital audio recording/editing, enabling users to record and play back up to 64 tracks of audio without the need for additional audio hardware. The package features real-time audio processing effects for reverb, flange, chorus, parametric EQ, and delay, pitch shifting, VST compatible plug-in support, plus the ability audio effects fast with pre-programmed and custom effects presets. Metro 4 also offers extensive Quicktime support, including the ability to extract and replace movie soundtracks.

Cakewalk has also announced Cakewalk In Concert for Macintosh and Windows. The software provides an easy way for keyboardists to practice and perform music by combining "intelligence" with music technology to provide solo keyboardists with the experience of performing together with a band or symphony orchestra. With In Concert, users simply open any standard MIDI song file and start playing. In Concert performs all the other instruments automatically, following the lead of a keyboardist. If a user begins playing faster or louder, In Concert adjusts the tempo and volume of the other instruments to match. If a user skips or repeats a section of a song, In Concert adjusts the other instruments to skip or repeat as well. In Concert is due to be released sometime this month for an estimated street price of $149.

Wednesday, Feb. 4, 1998

Georgia House of Representatives Considers Banning Sale of Parental Advisory Labeled Music to Minors
The Georgia State House of Representatives is in the process of considering HB 1170, which has already been passed by the Special Judiciary Committee of the Georgia State House of Representatives: "It shall be unlawful for any person engaged in the business of selling sound recordings to the public for a profit to sell to any person under the age of 18 years any sound recording bearing the parental advisory logo imposed by the Recording Industry Association of America identifying the sound recording as containing strong language or expressions of violence, sex, or substance abuse. . . . Any person found guilty of violating the provisions of this Code section shall be punished as for a misdemeanor. . . ." Read it for yourself on the Georgia State Government website. (This would have made a good topic for our message board!)

Blur Guitarist Launches Record Label
Graham Coxon, guitarist for the Brit-pop band Blur is launching a London-based label called Transcopic, to specialize in new acts and "lo-fi music". Billboard Online has the story.

Editor's Note: Just to let you all know what the plan for the development of this site is, I'll let you in on the insider's information at Musicians Online: Daily news updates will continue. In the immediate future we are working on getting some Dark Forest music samples up and running and we are also looking into implementing a discussion message board. Also, although it may not be visible yet, there is plenty of behind-the-scenes work going on to fill out all the promised departments for our online community. Thanks for stopping by, and don't forget to bookmark this site for your daily visit!

Tuesday, Feb. 3, 1998

Ibanez Announces 4 New 7-string Guitars

This summer at NAMM, Ibanez will officially unveil three new electric 7-string guitars (one is a redesigned Steve Vai Universe) and one new 7-string acoustic guitar. The new Universe UV777BK This model was co-designed with Steve Vai and features the original disappearing pyramid neck, original Low Pro Edge tremolo in Chrome with Dimarzio® Blaze® pickups, pearloid bound basswood body, mirror pickguard and a inlaid abalone pyramid in the body. AF207 Hollow Jazz Guitar Artwood Jumbo acoustic 7-string with Fishman Transducer A Jumbo body fitted with Fishman Matrix pickup system. RG7 7-String Solid-body Ibanez' 2nd solid body 7-string was the result of dealer and player request for a professional quality seven-string that was more affordable and perhaps a little less radical in appearance than the Ibanez Universe. The RG7620 features two DiMarzio seven-string humbucking pickups with a special five-way switching system with coil tapping.

Monday, Feb. 2, 1998

Fostex Announces New Enhanced DMT-8VL Hard Disk Recording System

The Fostex DMT-8VL offers 8 true tracks of non-compressed CD-quality recording, editing and mixing using a 1.3 GB hard drive (upgradeable to 2.55 GB). The 1.3 GB version holds about 30 minutes of 8-track recording. The on-board mixer includes 8 full-function channel inputs (two of which handle both mic and line signals). All channels have 2-band EQ. The unit also features in-line monitoring, built-in MTC MIDI synchronization (without losing audio tracks), familiar tape-like controls (PLAY, STOP, REWIND, FFWD, etc.), S/PDIF output to DAT and copy/paste editing. The DMT-8VL has a suggested retail price of $1395 and seems to be selling on the street for between $950 and $1100. There is also a version with a SCSI port available (the DMT-8VLS).