The explosion of the human League "X-Factor", was shocked by "Bizarre" Lady Gaga Love

David Ramos, Getty Images

When the Human League abandoned their hit juggernaut 'Don' T You Want Me' in 1981, the synthpop trio were among a small group of innovative artists, pioneer in the use of electronic instruments in traditional music. Now, as the Group prepares a scanning tour in support of their recently released album, 'Credo' ninth singer, Studio Susan Ann Sulley says she accuses televised competitions of talent as "X Factor" and "American Idol" for the manufacture of the new generation of music makers less willing to push boundaries.

"Today, it is vocal acrobats and a wide vocal range, but I do not think you have it all," Sulley tells Spinner. "You have all the same, you can be a little more individual".

She added: "None of my heroes would pass the hearing round,". "David Bowie, Gary Numanand Bryan Ferry just wouldn't can't stand a chance."

Sulley insists that you can still find success as a recording artist, even if you and your-out-of-EC-world talent can bring a tear to the eye of Simon Cowell. Take the Human League which have sold over 20 million records worldwide, for example. According to Sulley, they just a pack of middling musicians.

"There are three of us, of which two have never written a song and are fairly average singers," she said. "In addition, we have a singer which considers as a singer to all the and may not play the instruments very well.".


Watch the video of the human League for "Don't You Want Me".

In 1978, the Human League were in the forefront of the scene of a synthesizer of avant-garde in the industrial city of Sheffield, England. Then, in 1980, in an attempt to music progressive synthesizer to inject pop sensitivity, founder Philip Oakley dissolved the original band line-up and Sulley and Joanne Catherall, recruited two friends teenage with no experience of performance, as choristers. Intuition and paid.

The new line begins with 1981 "dare," a massive commercial success which brought the music synthesizer to the general public. The triple platinum album has had a major influence on the boundary-pushing of artists such as Madonna, Moby, Little Bootsand Lady Gaga. And 30 years later, with a new album with the kind permission of plu production Élancez I Monster duo an extensive North American tour alongside his colleague synthpop pioneers men without hats, the Human League have a resurgence of the career.

But despite its success and longevity, Sulley, who recently met with Lady Gaga when artists share a bill with V Fest, claims that it is décontenancée when celebrities claim to be fans.

"I cannot believe that we are a load of Sheffield Bozo", she said. "We never wanted to be famous, we just wanted to make good music." When someone like Lady Gaga tells us that it is a great fan, this is in fact really very odd. »

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Jack White, the team Insane Clown Posse Up "ACSO" - centric Mozart song - Listen

Nasty Little Man PR

Jack White has essentially made what he wants. And his latest collaboration between the world more strange - or more brilliant, depending on your perspective on things. It is really known what to think about it, honestly. Then this is the deal: most notorious Rap clowns, Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope Insane Clown Posse have joined the white hands and garage in Nashville, TN stars JEFF the brotherhood to cover, you guessed it, Mozart.

And this piece of so-called Mozart? Why, "Leck Mich Im Arsch", of course, that translates literally by "lick me in the ass.". According to Wikipedia, 'Leck Mich Im Arsch' was written in 1782 and probably intended for the parties. (Who knew that Mozart obtained this way down)?

With conduct, fueled by the fuzz organ and collisions diving ear of cymbals crash, JEFF support music is a great background for ridiculous rhymes of PKI. Mozart had apparently some "underground s - people knew," as detailed by the storytellers in clown makeup.


Listen to 'Lick Mich Im Arsch'

Part of evolving 7 inch single series of Jack White, "Leck Mich Im Arsch" hits stores September 13, with 100 tri-couleur versions available to the mobile to third man Record Shop to MI Fest in Brooklyn, Mich. September 17. Another 50 folders will be given in random orders in the mail from third man Records.

So is Jack White crazy, a genius, or both?


Watch the Promo Video "Lick Mich Im Arsch"

Download songs of Jack White | Buy Insane Clown Posse Albums

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Tom Morello returns to Wisconsin for the struggle of the Union, gives "Spartacus of whores" Comic

Sean Ricigliano

The media attention on the Wisconsin union protests may have gone away, but Tom Morello isn't giving up the good fight. The Rage Against the Machine guitarist is still advocating for workers' rights with his solo project the Nightwatchman and his new album, 'World Wide Rebel Songs.' On Sept. 5, he, Rise Against's Tim McIlraith and MC5's Wayne Kramer will return to Madison, Wi., to kick off a three-date Justice Tour, which will benefit non-profit media center The Nation Institute. Morello recently caught up with Spinner to discuss the tour, the album and his new comic book, 'Orchid,' which he describes as "the Spartacus of whores."

After the US debt crisis, are you amazed that people can still trust the government?

Yeah, it's really not in the hands of people who deserve to run it. Still on the back of my tongue is the taste of the billions of dollars to these Wall Street fat cats since the last recession. I'm just waiting to see when someone puts up their hand saying, "The solution is we have to write more checks for Wall Street."

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Listen to Tom Morello's Full 'World Wild Rebel Songs' Free

How much of that anger was the inspiration for the Justice Tour?

Well, certainly that has been big, but the Justice Tour is something I've done over the last five years or so. The specific focus this time around is on the union struggles in the Midwest and the tour is benefiting the Nation Institute and pushing forward the idea of independent media to tell a different story than the main corporate construct. Wayne, Tim and I, who were all in Wisconsin on that bitter cold Saturday in February, are returning to the scene of the crime. The idea is to help steel the backbone of unions and working-class people there. They're in the fight of their lives. This is the last line of defense. Will the representation of working-class people be completely swept away forever or will we stand our ground and be able to have a voice in what our economy and country is like?

Speaking of the media, it seems like this Wisconsin story just kind of faded away. Do you think it's just another case of the media getting bored?

Well, it's curious how the media treated Wisconsin differently than Europe. The day that we played in Madison, there were more people in the streets of Madison than there were on the streets of Cairo, in the midst of the uprising in Egypt. It's interesting that somehow those things didn't connect in the media when the people on the streets of Madison were talking about it and some of the organizers in Cairo were talking about the solidarity of the two people.

There were as many as 150,000 people on the streets of a city of 200,000. And the day I was in the occupied capitol building there, it felt like czarist Russia in 1917. When union cops and anarchist students are standing shoulder-to-shoulder and demanding justice and the governor's head. I really thought anything was possible. It's interesting how it diffused into this struggle to oust a couple of Republican state senators. It's aiming low.

It's pretty incredible to see union workers, especially teachers, get vilified.

It's amazing. There's a class war in the United States right now and only one side is fighting it. That's what this record is about. The jumping-off point for 'World Wide Rebel Songs' was the title track, and there were these guitar-manufacturing workers from Korea and they had unionized and were fired and their plant was shut down and they moved it to China. So they came to the United States to raise money for their cause and their families and they were desperate and down and out, and I was very happy to play a benefit show on their behalf. The day before the benefit show, the earthquake happened in Haiti and the Korean workers voted to donate 100 percent of the proceeds from their benefit show to the Haiti relief effort. It was such a great act of international solidarity and a window into the world that I'd like to see, that I wrote the song 'World Wide Rebel Songs' and performed it that night at the show. That was really where this record started.

What inspired the song 'Black Spartacus Heart Attack Machine'?

That's about my new guitar. It's the first time I've played steel-string acoustic guitar on a Nightwatchman record and Mick Jones from the Clash referred to his guitar as a "heart-attack machine," and I named my new guitar Black Spartacus. If you listen to the song with that in mind, it all makes perfect sense. 'World Wide Rebel Songs' is a more didactic, sing-along; most of the songs on this record are. It's an album of rousing hopelessness and this desperate attempt to use this medium in a quest of personal redemption. Plus, there are Marshall stacks on this one.


Watch Tom Morello's 'Black Spartacus Heart Attack Machine'

Do you feel more desperate?

The desperation is more personal than political on these records. When I started writing songs, I sort of assumed they'd be more from the headlines of the newspaper, but I really found they were more from the depths of what I didn't suspect, as tortured a soul as I turned out to be. Opening that Pandora's box has been the reason I've been so passionate about this Nightwatchman stuff. It's really the most personal expression I've ever had artistically. On this record, the idea was to have it be one part Johnny Cash, one part Che Guevara and one part Marshall stack.

What's going on with your comic book project?

I've had an idea for some time about a comic book project called 'Orchid.' I wanted to combine the epic grandeur of some of my favorite fantasy stories like 'Lord of the Rings,' 'Dune,' Stephen King's 'The Stand' and 'Star Wars' and infuse it with a class consciousness that I always thought was woefully absent of those stories where they're just trying, desperately trying, to get the king back on the throne and all the peasants are laying down their lives for this noble cause.

It's the story of a 16-year-old street prostitute in a dystopian future who becomes the Spartacus of whores. It's a real passion project. I love it. I've spent thousands of hours working on this thing and it's a story I want to tell. I wasn't going to be another Hollywood jackass with a screenplay and I didn't have time in my busy rock life to write the great American 600-page novel. I was a comic book collector as a kid but I put them down when I picked up the electric guitar. Comics have matured a lot since I was away. Now you can really tell any story via the graphic novel medium of any emotional and political depth. That's the goal.

Some footage of Rage's first-ever show recently popped up on the Internet. What do you remember about that show?

That footage has been on the internet for a while, so it's funny that it just made the rounds. A friend of ours who was a 17-year-old roadie at the time set up his VHS camera and recorded that show. I have total gig recall, so I remember that gig in very intimate detail without seeing that video. We were playing out in front of nobody. Literally, the show started and there was nobody watching the band perform. By the end of it we drew a small crowd, a couple of headbangers really got into it.


Watch Rage Against the Machine's First Gig

Rage Against the Machine recently sold out the L.A. Coliseum for the L.A. Rising festival. Did the success of it inspire any more concrete plans for future Rage shows?

There are no more concrete plans at the moment. We enjoy playing together and I'm hopeful that there will be more Rage in the future. I'm asked this question in every interview I do, and when there's real Rage stuff happening it will not be kept secret. We will let you know.

Download the Nightwatchman Songs

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Star Slinger makes Mavis Staples smile with Remix of "Let's Do It Again".

With the permission of Star Slinger

Unauthorized samples sometimes can lead to legal proceedings, but in the case of Darren Williams in Manchester, aka, Star Slinger, is a formula for success.

The twenty - something hybrid hip-hop producer borrowed the voice of legendary gospel singer Mavis Staples for a song on his blog - many on the album 'Volume 1' and, to his surprise, received the praise of the artist itself.

"His manager played the remix I did of 'Allows for Do It Again' [the staple food of the sisters] and she really liked it! Williams tells Spinner. "It should try to sue me or something, but it is not."

Williams - who is often compared to J Dilla but sees himself more consistent with Planet-Mu-affiliated DJ Rashad producers and DJ Nate since "J Dilla is data" - is not exactly an amateur when it comes to cooking based on the sample of tracks or the other.

"I had just finish my university degree in music technology, and I was doing the music for the hell of it," he said. "I started the continuous record shopping and sampling actively records because, prior to my studies, I never had the courage to do before.". My education taught me about many good music and sampling, so I've given all kind of. It was something, that I had to do. »

Although he found the trance music from the releasing of success, Williams was soon reinforced outside this scene. "I've ceased to dance music and went with influence hip-hop and soul, rather than play that I heard the weekend;" Star Slinger is intentionally something totally different from what was there at the time.

He added: "I never thought that I might be forever sampling", "I like to create my own songs too."

Although it is not entirely sold on a life of sampling, Williams could have poorly to reinvent itself seen how, in the application, it has become on the circuit of remix. Last year, he gave his touch to Broken Social Sceneof the 'Texico Bitches', Go ! The teamthe "Apollo Throwdown" and Toro Y Moi' New Beat, "just to name a few." While touring with artists of small groups such as bathroom and execution of repeat concerts at the legendary club of fabric of London opened for him doors in terms of collaborations.

"Not all those that I love my music but there are a fair few people that do, and I am very pleased that", says Williams. "I am really in the South of the rap as Three6Mafia, juicy J and Project Pat, so it's pretty cool that the 2800 Pack Stunnaman contacted saying me: he wants to do me him a mixtape.".


Watch the video of the Star Slinger for ' Mornin '

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Justin Young vaccines throat, demolished third surgery on tour

David Wolff-Patrick, Getty

Vaccines frontman Justin Young was a difficult year. After two operations of throat to repair his vocal cords continuously damaged, Young go under the knife yet again for his third operation this year, NME reports. The group released since they cancel/reporter all fall shows in the North, the Japan America and Europe.

In a statement on Web site, young spoke of his disappointment to roll back tours of vaccines from the band:

"Unfortunately, the doctor has now confirmed that this week, it is open on my throat for the third time this year." It was waiting for this decision and no other reason, that meant we were able to meet the commitments in this last week and why we will not have complete in the coming weeks. »

Group will hit the road again on 26 October, which will allow eight weeks for optimal recovery for Justin time.

The singer continued, "we are completely devastated by this problem continued to we missed the best year of our lives, personally and professionally.". Repeated cancellation of shows in exchange for the Hospital of plain visits f - ing sucks. We simply follow doctor's orders. You have our word on it. We need to be able to perform to the best of our abilities without permanent damage to my throat. »

The Group British buzz said that they will visit once Young has completely recovered and have already agreed to several dates at the United Kingdom in December. Discover the full statement of the Justin on their Web site.


Shows vaccines practise the "Post breakup sex."

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BK - One explores Brazilian "cultural cannibalism" with MF Doom on the new EP

Jules Ameel

If you've been a fan of Brother Ali and/or MF Doom in the past 10 years, chances are you've heard the work of Brendan Kelly, the Minneapolis producer who toured with both rap giants and DJed for them under the moniker BK-One. After making a splash with his Brazil-inspired Radio do Canibal with fellow producer Benzilla, he's back for more with 'Tema do Canibal,' a remix EP with a remarkably new feel. MF Doom and venerable producer Arthur Verocai add bold sparks of energy to the album, which features funky Brazilian hip hop that's perfect for dancing, or just rocking out to at your job. Spinner recently caught up with BK-One to discuss the record and his myriad musical influences, from Minneapolis to Brazil.

Minneapolis has a very diverse music scene. How does your hometown influence you?

More than anything, I learned a work ethic from my city. There are lots of opportunities for growing as an artist in Minneapolis, but we're not an industry town with a built-in template for success or people you're supposed to rub shoulders with. The musicians who really find success in Minneapolis are hungry as hell and they tour constantly. Also, because we're not a huge city, there's always a lot of cross-pollination between genres, a lot of blurring of those lines. And that affects all of our sounds.

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Listen to BK-One's Full 'Tema Do Canibal' Album Free

How did you hook up with MF Doom, and what was that collaboration like?

I toured with Doom back in 2004, then DJed for him the next year at the Rhymesayers 10th-anniversary show. He was originally supposed to be on my 'Rádio Do Canibal' album alongside [Atmosphere's] Slug on a song called 'Blood Drive.' The timing didn't work out, so he got on this instead. He's an unbelievably creative artist, and I feel really honored that he was a part of this project.

The album is only available on iTunes and vinyl -- was that a personal choice of yours or a label decision?

That wasn't an idea that I had while I was putting the music together. But once the EP was all mixed and sequenced, it just seemed obvious to me that this should be a limited run of vinyl only, like a little secret. When I was a kid, only the really tuned-in folks had a KMD record [with MF Doom]. In the '60s and '70s, Arthur Verocai produced and arranged hundreds of brilliant records in Brazil, but his name was virtually unknown. Helcio Milito produced for a major label, but chose to back bizarre releases by obscure artists, so his masterpieces slipped through the cracks. I wanted this to be a record that only the few people paying close attention would be quick enough to pick up while it was available. There's an iTunes version for those without a turntable, but the record is proof that you were in on our secret.

Why did you decide to do a remix album? Which remixes spoke the most to you or seemed to "get" what you're aiming for the most?

When Benzilla and I made the 'Rádio Do Canibal' album, we were taking records from Brazil and making something completely new out of them. Once that project was finished, it seemed obvious to me that I should let other people do the same to our music (especially some artists from Brazil). One of my favorite songs on the original album was 'Tema Do Canibal.' I had constructed it by assembling a sound collage out of 24 different snippets of drums and percussion, then teaming up with a nine-piece brass band called the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble who wrote and performed over it. After all that work assembling it, I took it all back apart and gave the pieces to my guest artists to make something completely new with. I purposely picked artists from very different backgrounds, and I made a point of not telling them what to do. I love all the remixes that I got back, but my favorite has to be the Arthur Verocai track. It's just a tremendous honor to have such a brilliant man -- whose name is on the back of half of my favorite records from Brazil! -- write, arrange and perform a reinterpretation of one of my songs.

What do you make of other artists trying to bring different flavors into their music, such as Diplo and Major Lazer's dancehall/electro/reggae sound, for example? What responsibility does an artist blending the music of multiple regions have to the sound of each individual region?

It's tricky business adopting other cultures into what you do (especially as a white man in a culture of privilege). You need to be sensitive and respectful, but also careful that you're not fetishizing the culture you're borrowing from. You owe it to the people you're influenced by to try and learn as much as you can about what they did and why they did it. And more than anything, you need to acknowledge what you took and who you got it from. On my 'Rádio Do Canibal' album, I included a number of interviews with older Brazilian musicians as interludes, trying to draw parallels and pay homage. On my new EP, I reached out to a couple of my heroes from Brazil (Arthur Verocai, Helcio Milito and DJ Nuts), and asked them to help me represent what it is that I love so much about their music and culture.

Talk a bit about how Brazil influences you -- why do you feel such a strong connection with artists from that country?

After traveling to Brazil and learning a bit about the history and culture, I started seeing such strong parallels with what I was trying to do as a DJ. Listening to the records I brought home, I heard influences from Africa, Portugal, England, the West Indies, the U.S. and more. But it never sounded like they were doing covers of other styles -- these artists combined their influences in creative new ways and made them into something that was all their own. In the '20s, a Brazilian poet/philosopher named Oswald de Andrade referred to this as cultural cannibalism (which is where the title of my album comes from). He said Brazil gains its strength by absorbing the best parts of everything found outside its own culture, then synthesizing it all and making something brand new. That's what the best DJ's and producers have been doing for over 30 years (just look at Afrika Bambaata). And if that sounds like a bulls--- college answer, then here's another one: The music, people and food are absolutely amazing. Enough said!


BK-One Performs 'Tema Do Canibal'

Download BK-One Songs | Buy BK-One Albums

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"Money for Nothing" Radio ban say thrown in the Canada Straits

Juan Gimenez of Naharro

Remember the outrage felt fans of Dire Straits , when the English group smash hit "Money for nothing" was banned after complaints about the use of the word "faggot" from the 1985 track on Canadian radio? Well, the Canadian Council of standards Broadcast seems to think that indignation was justified, as they put an end to the boycott "money for nothing".

According to a report published Wednesday, August 31 and reported by the CBC, individual radio stations are once more able to decide for themselves if play classic rock now-infamous tune. While the CBSC still maintains that the lyric is offensive - a claim Dire Straits keyboardist Guy Fletcher called "hilarious" and "incredible" when the ban was placed earlier this year, the Council considers that the term should be taken in the context. They will help Canadian broadcasters to play the original version of ' Money for Nothing' if they are unhappy with the version that publishes the "faggot".

We wonder what Fletcher and songwriter Mark Knopfler have to say now after going through this whole ordeal. Our best guess? Scanning set of words prohibited by the CBSC.

Watch the Strait said to run "money for nothing".
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The Coen brothers to go ahead with a Film about the 1960s New York Folk scene

Douglas r. Gilbert

Dave Van Ronk was a central figure in the explosion of folk early 1960s in the Village of Greenwich in New York, and his rise to fame is precisely the kind of things, the Coen brothers want to write on the subject.

Rolling Stone reported that Joel and Ethan Coen latest project, ' the Interior of Llewyn Davis', will be based on the life of Van Ronk. Hey, perhaps a young Bobby Dylan does an appearance? The drama will follow Llewyn throughout the 1960s as a musician who have difficulties in New York City at the height of the protest movement.

Scott Rudin ('True Grit' and 'non-Country for Old Men') was signed to produce the project. No release date has been set.

As stated in Martin Scorsese'sexcellent documentary Dylan 'No Direction Home', Van Ronk never reached the notoriety and the stature of his folk friends Joan Baez and Dylan, but he made a significant mark on the career of the latter. We are convinced that the film will have a fabulous idea on the strange coffee beatniks world - and, hopefully, a little humor as well.


Listen to 'Cocaine' of Dave Van Ronk

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Julian Casablancas, perfume advertising

YouTube.com

Guess us that there is really nothing of the sort that the sale of music more. It is quite difficult to make a living as a musician, but he is still jarring to see the rockers products, such as strokes frontman Julian Casablancas has made a business foreign perfume of hawking.

Reports of the Consequence of Sound , Casablancas appeared in an advertisement for Azzaro French perfumery products for their new product, the decibel: The Essence of Rock. As you can see in the video below, decibel has the form of a microphone and looks pretty cool. We hope that he feels good and not as a rock show (i.e. sweat, smoke, alcohol and more sweat).

The promo features Casablancas plunging into a crowd of supporters while his song 'I love the night' plays in the background. For the sake of the extras, we hope he sprayed some decibel on himself before he jumped into the sea of spectators. You never know where these guys rock have been.


Look at the "Decibel" Ad Azzaro

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These musicians are smarter than you

Merge

As the students among us head back to become more learned in the coming weeks, some might wonder what the point of formal education is -- especially after a summer of new tunes and live shows brought to you by people who make a living making music. You can be happy, successful and downright rich just by perfecting that YouTube cover of 'Smoke on the Water,' right? Not so fast, Brainiac. Plenty of professional musicians also followed the formal education route as far as it would go. Living the dream? Sure. But that's Dr. Living the Dream to you.

Sterling Morrison -- The Velvet Underground

Said to be the forefathers (and one foremother) of punk rock, the Velvet Underground shook things up in the rock and roll world in the mid-'60s. Late guitarist Sterling Morrison actually dropped out of university during his first stint in 1964. The next year, the band was born and five years later when they were parked in New York City for the summer, Morrison completed his studies and then went on to get a PhD in medieval studies from the University of Texas, playing his last show with the band in Houston. And what exactly do you do with a doctorate in medieval studies? Why, you become a tugboat captain, at least if you're Sterling Morrison.

Dexter Holland -- The Offspring

Epitaph Records alumni Dexter Holland fronted the Offspring but despite solid performances in both his music life and his academic life, he opted to, ahem, "keep 'em separated." He was a PhD candidate in molecular biology at the University of Southern California but ditched his studies to focus on the Offspring. But that didn't stop him from non-musical pursuits and he became a licensed pilot in 2009 and once took 10 days to fly himself around the world.

Mira Aroyo -- Ladytron

This co-frontlady of English electro-pop outfit Ladytron is the one who sings the band's Bulgarian songs but she's also fluent in molecular genetics. In 2003, she published an article in the journal 'Molecular Microbioloy' called "Species Specificity in the Activation of Xer Recombination at Dif by FtsK," which proved scientists don't need no vowels, among other things. She got her PhD at Oxford University while she worked as a research geneticist.

David Macklovitch -- Chromeo

The Montreal electrofunk duo known as Chromeo are a decidedly retro affair with their analogue synths and souped-up talkbox. But the singing half of the band, David Macklovitch, takes that penchant for yesteryear to extremes offstage. He recently completed his PhD in French literature at Columbia University where he focused on "theoretical writings of the first half of the Eighteenth Century, in which reading for pleasure is conceived as an autonomous notion."

Greg Graffin -- Bad Religion

Most people know him as the lead singer of Bad Religion, a position he's held since 1979 when he was just a whippersnapper of a 15-year-old at El Camino Real High School in Southern California. But while the band went on to become skate punk icons, Graffin also maneuvered his way through academia, eventually earning a PhD in zoology at Cornell University. These days he also teaches students younger than his band about life, earth and space sciences at UCLA and Cornell, and according to his Rate My Professors page, he's as awesome a prof as you'd imagine.

Brian May -- Queen

Underneath Brian May's lengthy locks is a well-oiled brain. When he wasn't writing hits like 'We Will Rock You' and 'Fat Bottomed Girls' alongside Freddie Mercury in Queen, May was getting his astrophysics on. He was part way through his PhD in physics and math at Imperial College when Queen hit it big, but still went on to publish papers with titles that could double as awesome '70s song names like 'MgI Emission in the Night-Sky Spectrum' and 'A Survey of Radial Velocities in the Zodiacal Dust Cloud.'

Dan Werb -- Woodhands

This half of electro-pop duo Woodhands, which got their start in Vancouver and now call Toronto home, covers synths and vocals for the band but also dabbles in public health when he's not rocking the keytar. He's working on a PhD at the School of Population and Public Health at the University of British Columbia and focusing his efforts on illicit and injection drug use as well as the effects of drug law enforcement on public health. Woodhands drummer Paul Banwatt is hot on Werb's highly-educated heels as he recently finished his law degree and now works at an intellectual property law firm.

Buffy Sainte Marie

She's Canada's original aboriginal folk singer and in the '60s she took her special brand of acoustic activism around the world and even got herself blacklisted by the White House. Meanwhile, she worked up the ranks of academia, earning a PhD in fine arts at the University of Massachusetts in 1983 to complement her other degrees in teaching and oriental philosophy. And if you weren't quite sure if you should call Buffy Sainte Marie doctor, she's also collected honorary doctorates from the University of Regina, Carleton University, the University of Western Ontario, Emily Carr University of Art & Design and the Ontario College of Art & Design.

Milo Aukerman -- the Descendents

His nerdy glasses are a bit of a giveaway but the Descendents frontman does a good job of hiding his biochemistry background when he sings about girls, coffee and food. But not only did Aukerman really go to college, he also got a PhD in biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin and these days works as a plant researcher in Delaware and tours with the band on his vacation time.

Dan Snaith -- Caribou

Dan Snaith, aka Caribou, is best known as a Polaris Prize-winning electronic composer and sound tinkerer but if you think there's some careful calculation behind his compositions, you're right. He's also got a PhD in mathematics from Imperial College in the UK so when he wasn't writing award-winning music, he was writing about "overconvergent Siegel modular forms from a cohomological viewpoint." Obviously.

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ECHO Songwriting Prize short list includes Handsome Furs, Arcade Fire and more

Sub Pop

Canadians, start your right to vote. Yup, the short list of tracks for sixth annual the SOCAN's ECHO Songwriting prize was announced. Now it is to lovers of music across the country to choose between five melodies by Handsome Furs, PS, I Love You, Austra, Katie Moore and Arcade Fire for the coveted award, which honors the most creative and artistic songs written and published by composers indie Canadian over the past year.

"The ECHO prize is one of the many ways in which SOCAN supports Canadian authors-composers emerging," said Eric Baptiste, CEO of SOCAN, in a statement issued Thursday, September 1. "The nominees for 2011 truly illustrate the dynamic talent incredibly gifted SOCAN members have to offer to the world."

In addition to all the glory that comes with the ECHO Award, the winner walks away with $ 5,000, while a voter receives an iPad 2 (as if you needed more incentive to show your love for Handsome Furs, Arcade Fire, or other talented candidates).

"When strip you everything, it's all about the song," said Alan Cross, who sits on the Committee of experts of the industry of Canadian music that compiled the list of 2011. "If it cannot function as a separate entity, then you are left with nothing." These songs can stand on their own. »

Of the applications below, you can vote for your fave heretrack. The competition runs until 30 September, with the winner songswriter (s) announced on October 11. Air Brasstronaut, D-Sisive and Wolf Parade won the ECHO Award in recent years.

"When I return" written by Dan Boeckner, Alexei Perry, performed by Handsome Furs

"2012" written by Benjamin Nelson, Paul Saulnier, interpreted by PS I Love You

"The Beat and pulse" written by Katie Stelmanis, interpreted by Australia

"Wake Up Like This' written and performed by Katie Moore"

"We used waiting" written by Edwin Butler, William Butler, Re´gine Chassagne, Jeremy Gara, Tim
Kingsbury and Richard Parry, interpreted by Arcade Fire


Watch Handsome Furs performing "When I Get Back."

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Photographer Bob Gruen shares stories behind his Photos of John Lennon, the Clash, Blondie and more - photosynthesis

Bob Gruen

For more than 40 years, the photographer Bob Gruen has documented rock ' is roll, in the process of creating some of the most iconic images of the history of modern music. In particular, the New York music scene of the 1970s who has produced the New York Dolls, the Ramones, Blondie, Patti Smith and many others was a specialty of the Gruen. Just as John Lennon. And the Rolling Stones. And Led Zeppelin. And shock. And much more.

Unique eye of Gruen and cozy relationship with many of the artists that he has photographed result in a collection to breath more of 500 images that runs throughout the range of clubs, arena, tour bus, behind the scenes and all that between the two. Recently, the Gruen gave Spinner the stories behind some of its most precious images that appear in his new book, 'Rock seen'. Check out the gallery below for these amazing photos and words of Gruen.

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More about → Photographer Bob Gruen shares stories behind his Photos of John Lennon, the Clash, Blondie and more - photosynthesis

Jones Street Station, "The understanding" - video of the day.

Artist:Jones Street Station
Video: "understanding."
Highlight: " "Danny Pudi (Abed on 'community' NBC) has been a friend of the group for a long time, and when we decided to make a video for 'Understanding', we knew that it would be perfect for it, "Says Danny Erker Spinner." "We sing on many wild things in song - fallen angels, prison, fighting the sword breaks - but what is in his heart is the simple beauty of spontaneous friendships and when it comes to friendship with complete strangers, Danny is pure magic." Even if our Director Adam Reid had a final story, he wanted to say, many of the video is Adam (beautifully!) cataloguing Danny interacting with people, that he had never met. »

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More about → Jones Street Station, "The understanding" - video of the day.

Beast Make bomb, "Party Monster" - video of the day

Artist:Beast make the bomb
Video: "Party Monster".
Highlight: "Party Monster" describes a person we know all, someone we are friends with but talk behind their back after we see them in this State. Now ask yourself - is this someone you?

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Decemberists contest: win a Prop "Calamity Song" Video, vinyl and artwork

Autumn of Wilde

Decemberists fans welcome! To celebrate the oh-so-literary incredible video tape inspired by David Foster Wallace for 'Calamity Song', we give a treasure of price Decemberists remotely. A dedicated fan will mark a tennis t-shirt in the video, a rare framed album package "The King Is Dead" print and three vinyl albums: "the King is dead," "Danger of Love" and "The Crane Wife."

Gino DePinto, AOL

The clip, directed by Michael Schur for "The Office" and "parks and recreation" is a deliciously dark homage to the epic of David Foster Wallace "Infinite Jest." "I got this funny idea that a good video for the song would be a recreation of the Tower of the Enfield Tennis Academy of Eschaton - basically, a thermonuclear world crisis recreated on a short tennis - who played about a third of the way in the book," Decemberists frontman Colin Meloy told NPR. "I found a soul to Michael Schur, a man with an enthusiasm even greater for the work of Wallace as my own." With many of the worship and respect in this seminal book, engineering, this is what we come with. "I can only hope DFW would be proud".

To win the award, the head of the box below and tell us why you love the Decemberists enough to deserve this. Then, share your entry via Facebook and Twitter and ask your friends and followers to vote for you. Entries with the most votes will be reviewed by the staff of Spinner and a winner will be chosen after the contest ends September 15. Don't forget to check the official rules for details.




Watch video of the Decemberists 'Song Calamity. "

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More about → Decemberists contest: win a Prop "Calamity Song" Video, vinyl and artwork

The Kooks, "Side of the heart (happy)" - video of the day.

Artist:The Kooks
Video: "Side of the heart (happy)"
Highlight:Songs of love never get old and the Kooks prove with their sound melodies and soothing classical on "Junk of the heart (Happy)."

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More about → The Kooks, "Side of the heart (happy)" - video of the day.

Yuck refuse to let the Hype "Get Ahead" of them, does not Sound survival Plan

Gino DePinto, AOL

Before British quartet Yuck claimed their title indie-darling at SXSW this year, teenage friends Max Bloom and Daniel Blumberg were in another group called Cajun Dance Party who succeeded to the album 2008 'Life colorful'.

"It happened very quickly and I was very young and she was so bizarre that it was not a band that I wanted to be and I was not particularly interested in being a part of it that much,"Yuck guitarist and composer Bloom told Spinner on his experience with CDP.""

Fortunately, Yuck could give him a chance to start a new and around the world with their self-titled record, which some critics found the second coming of the rock of the 1990s. "You cannot describe your own music," says Bloom. "It's the thing I hate to do more in the world." If you could describe it, it's kind of arrogant. "Play us rapid, powerful speed metal'".

Despite their use of catchy riffs and heavy reverb, it was never intent of the band sounds like Dinosaur Jr. "Me and Daniel, when we started, were really excited to be working together and then we wrote the songs of the loads in a very short and recorded time fair," Bloom said. "We did not really think how it might appear.". We did this that felt as natural to do something. It was really a slow learning process how save ourselves. »

The group is surprised by the manner in which the registration has taken off, which allowed them to leave England to travel the world. "It is always very difficult to say how although you do because you are in a certain place, while you are in another place," says drummer bushy hair of Yuck Jonny Rogoff. "We went to the Brazil, and we just assumed that nobody knew that our music or listen to our music much and then get you there, and then you have people who go,"I love your album". "It is really difficult to know how well you do until you go somewhere."

For the moment their tour took adventures across the United States. "I love driving around, complete especially in America," said Rogoff. "You can be on the road for a long time and then you are coming up to the city and you see just the line of horizon city coming up and entering the area."

Everything could be going well for Yuck, but they know that they must keep their wits to their topic. "He must realize that your work is making music," said Bloom. "If you think that things get better, it depends on what kind of person you are." I suppose that we are all very low land. You cannot let get it before you. »

Yuck plan out a few B-sides and a new material this year and then reach the high seas in January on the cruise of Weezer . "I'm kind of worried, however," jokes Rogoff. "I feel that the boat will sink." I believe that it will be too rock for the boat to handle. »


Watch "Live From Austin" Interview of the Yuck

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More about → Yuck refuse to let the Hype "Get Ahead" of them, does not Sound survival Plan

Aerosmith working on the new Album, Brig 2012 release

Kevin Mazur, WireImage

Aerosmith is involved in something "raw" and "evil", according to longtime producer Jack Douglas (clutch), and for once, it is not a disagreement between Steven Tyler and Joe Perry.

In a recent post of web, Douglas revealed that Boston hard rock veterans will release their album studio 14 to may 2012. Sessions started in early July, reports Blabbermouth.net, but with towers South Americans and Japanese planned for the fall and early winter, the group will not able to resume the registration until January.

Next recording will be Aerosmith first collection of material added since 2001 the "Just Push Play." Although the Group remained active during the last decade, the tour regularly and by releasing the disc "Honkine on Bobo" covers in 2004 - his music has often been eclipsed by interpersonal disputes.

The band split almost into 2009, Perry, guitarist, noted that Tyler had stopped smoking. While the leader of the group never left, his decision in August 2010 to serve as a judge on "American Idol" exacerbated tensions between the so-called toxic twins.

Despite all the drama, bassist Tom Hamilton said he is excited about the new project. In a video on the site of the group, he discussed what Douglas brings to the table.

"For those of you who know not Jack, he is the guy who we have worked with, production of our best albums of the years 70 -"Get Your Wings","Toys In The Attic"and"Rocks"," Hamilton said. "And it really is gonna be cool, because there is nobody who knows more about the soul of this band and the creative part of this band [that] Jack."


Watch the video for "Livin ' On the Edge"

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