LETTERS TO CLEO REUNITING

Letters to Cleo are reuniting for a series of shows to celebrate their 20th anniversary. The group disbanded in 2000, but fans can see them on November 8th in Los Angeles and December 8th and 9th in Boston. A New York show will be added in December as well. The reunited “Awake” and “Here & Now” band will consist of original band members Kay Hanley, Greg McKenna, Michael Eisenstein and Stacy Jones, as well as Joe Klompus, who is replacing original bassist Scott Riebling. Hit up www.MySpace.com/LettersToCleo for more details.

BEST BUY GETS THE CHINESE DEMOCRACY EXCLUSIVE

It’s official, Guns N’ Roses long awaited album, Chinese Democracy, will be released exclusively through Best Buy.  However, according to Billboard, no release date has been set.  However, sources close to the situation insist the record, which Axl Rose has been working on for over a decade, will come out before the end of the year.  Also unknown is if Dr Pepper will keep their end of the bargain and give everyone, except former GN’R members Slash and Buckethead, a free soda if Rose indeed gets the album out before 2009, as they promised they would.

SCARFACE READIES FINAL ALBUM

Rapper Scarface is gearing up for his next album, Emeritus. According to MTV News, the forthcoming LP will be his last as a solo artist. We have seen so-called retirements before, but Face explains that there’s just one way for him to do more music again, “Only thing that’s gonna bring me back [is] if I do an album with somebody. Me, Cube and Nas do something, or me and Jigga and Beans do something. It’s gotta be a trio or duo. Me and Bun B do a duo. That’s why I took that name Emeritus, dude. Because I’m gone. I’m retiring with honors and still holding the position.”  The rapper’s new material includes features from Bun B, Lil Wayne and J. Prince. Make sure you get the new LP, which is slated for release December 2nd.

MELLENCAMP EULOGIZES NEWMAN

Paul Newman passed away on Saturday and now John Mellencamp is eulogizing the actor.  It turns out that aside from some musical heroes, no one had a bigger impact on the singer than Newman.  John explained on his Web site that in 1967, he and his buddies saw Cool Hand Luke every night for seven nights straight.  Mellencamp reveals he not only was fond of the character Newman played in that film, but of the actor himself, noting, “I had very few people in my life I admired, but I admired Newman because of his political stances and activism, his self-deprecation, his ability with women and his caring for people who were less fortunate.”  John added, “He also showed great integrity in his personal life and kept it private – and he was a loving father.  He stood for a lot of things that I think are good in a male role model.”  The singer even named one of his kids after “Hud,” a character Newman portrayed.  Read more at www.Mellencamp.com.

ROBERT PLANT AGAIN SAYS ZEP REUNION RUMORS ARE FALSE

Recently, there were new rumors that Robert Plant had agreed to a Led Zeppelin reunion tour, but the singer released a statement saying, not surprisingly, that it’s not true.  On his Web site, Plant explained, “It’s both frustrating and ridiculous for this story to continue to rear its head when all the musicians that surround the story are keen to get on with their individual projects and move forward.”  The frontman added, “I wish Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and Jason Bonham nothing but success with any future projects.”  Robert also warned that anyone buying tickets online for a Zeppelin event will be purchasing bogus tickets.  Plant has been touring with bluegrass singer Alison Krauss, promoting their album Raising Sand.  He goes on to say on his Web site that once that tour ends on Sunday, he has “no intention whatsoever of touring with anyone for at least the next two years.”  Read more at www.RobertPlant.com.

MAINO SAYS HI HATER!

Maino has one of the biggest anthems, “Hi Hater,” in daily rotation and it is showing no signs of slowing down. The Brooklyn native told MTV News that he is the answer to what the game is missing, “People should look at me and feel we all need to get on the same page. We need blood, new faces. I’m the new face of NY, the new face of Brooklyn. I’m waiting for more. I’m waiting for the rest of my n—as to come up. We need that.” Maino has pushed back the release of his debut, If Tomorrow Comes, which was originally slated for early October, to several weeks later. Until it drops, be sure to check out the official remix to his hit song “Hi Hater” featuring T.I., Fabolous and Plies on MTV today.

COMMON MARKET, TOBACCO ROAD

RA Scion and Sabzi [Blue Scholars] make up the hip-hop team of Common Market and seem to be bringing Knowledge Rap to the forefront.  First track is an actual church sermon where you hear a preacher speaking the words of God, but stressing the phrase “No Free Ride” toward the end.  This set the tone for the rest of the record because the expression was making a point to listeners that there is nothing free in this world. 

The gospel and churchy sound flowed right into the next song, “Trouble Is”, which also features a similar style to the rapper, Twista.  During parts of the song, the speed-up tempo and revved up rap flow personifies Twista’s Speedy Gonzales style to the T.  The mixing of two flavors:  God and church with the signature style of Twista’s verbal artillery blended perfectly.

My favorite cut on Tobacco Road is “Gol’ Dust” because the flow is something that I call flow-nasty because the beats were slammin’ and the rhyme flow was on target.  It’s one of those songs that you will catch yourself bobbin’ your head to, can’t help it!  You even get a patriotic feel from one of the sound bits on the track, which made it even more of a powerful 1, 2 punch. 

On “Slow Cure” and “Back Home (The Return)”, I pick up on similar styles of the well-known rapper Common.  The lyrics are smart and the smooth grooves with a jazz-like appeal offer a sense of sophistication to them.  Common definitely likes to get a message across through his rhymes and I feel Common Market is following suite as well, especially on tracks four and five. 

Dominating drum beats are evident throughout the album and Common Market offers a similar style to that of The Roots.  Smooth as butter guitar riffs, jivin’ piano sounds, cool DJ effects on the turntable and some very soulful melodies at times are major players in Tobacco Road.

The entire album offers a cooler than ice vibe along with some sound effects that were off the charts hot.  That is one aspect I picked up on when listening to this record was all the different sounds that RA Scion and Sabzi were using to bring together a great piece of work.  The sound was on, the lyrics were on base, the beats were bumpin’, which all together was ever-flowing.  I would recommend this album to not just hip-hop fans, but fans of music, in general.  Tobacco Road sets the standard for originality and on the basis of Knowledge Rap.  You can groove and get down with your bad-self while at the same time learning something from the lyrics. 

Common Market is far from common in a market that needs more artists like them.  Keep the joints comin’ Scion and Sabzi, the game needs you!  For more info, SKOPE out www.myspace.com/commonmarket. 

Words By: Jimmy Rae

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Marc Martino, A Story

If you pick up Marc Martino’s A Story and you don’t enjoy it, you can’t blame Martino. He’s done everything he can with the packaging to alert you to the new-agey content inside – the sunset over the ocean on the back cover, the short description of the album that includes all the title tracks (“I heard WHISPER’S SONG and it evoked a PASSION in me”).

On the inside sleeve, he labels every song with its corresponding genre, so you know when you’re listening to “new age,” “classical,” or “Spanish classical.” He even includes special categories – “Calling the Storm” is “epic soundtrack,” “The Vale” is “epic new age,” “Dim” is “disonant [sic] classical,” and “Eldritch Fire” is “dark classical.” Disappointing, then, that “Holly” only rates as “contemporary piano.” Maybe Martino should have given the perkily melancholy tune another couple of revisions so it would rate as “dark, epic, dissonant new age.”

The music is fairly predictable for the genre with plenty of sampled pan flutes and French horns, rainsticks, and broad, dramatic chord changes. Arpeggiating pianos mean brooding and thoughtful (the piano line in “The Vale” is reminiscent of Dana Carvey’s “Chopping Broccoli” McCartney parody). Cheesy drum and horn samples seem to be the only thing that really earn “Turkoise” its “world” designation. “Dim” isn’t terribly dissonant, “Eldritch Fire” isn’t terribly dark, and “Mystery-Oso” is only Spanish in that the plunking synth is aping a Spanish guitar sound over a fairly traditional new age piano tune. 

Martino is a competent piano player and manages a few nice flourishes here and there, but there is nothing on this album that will, as the end of The Story promises on the back cover, reveal “the path to true peace.” Then again, if you read the back of the album and you still bought it, you’re probably going to get what you’re expecting.  

Words By: Nick A. Zaino III

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Wunderbugg, Written in Flesh

In theory, Wunderbugg is keyboard whiz Whidden Flores, Nick Evans, and Lorin Atzen. In practice, it’s hard to tell what exactly the division of labor is on Written in Flesh, a pleasing but not terribly memorable mix of trance, rock, and electronica. The liner notes credit Flores with producing, writing, recording, and mixing chores, and mentions Evans and Scott Porter co-wrote “Naked,” also giving Porter credit for “designing” the drums on “3 Molecules Away.”

It would seem then, that Wunderbugg is Flores’ baby, and it sounds more like a one-person project than a traditional band. Which isn’t necessarily a drawback for Wunderbugg, any more than it’s a drawback for Nine Inch Nails. It just sounds like one person’s singular vision, and what you think of that one vision will determine whether you like the album. 

The production is definitely lush and layered – there are always two or three interlocking lines swelling in the background, with the pulsing programmed drums right up front and swirling synths soloing over the top. On “Unsaid,” sampled church bells ring out over a background that changes like a mood ring, while a synth guitar (or maybe just a synth?) wails away in the mix. “Overdose No. 5” add a little dialogue to the mix, lifted from John Waters’ “A Dirty Shame,” to kick off an impossibly fast trance beat that will probably cause a few broken limbs and hips thrust out of joint if it’s ever played on the dance floor.

Though Written In Flesh is well-played and produced, it feels like there’s an element missing. This music needs to be heard in a club or along with some sort of visual element – it’s good as part of an experience, but maybe not as the entire experience itself.

Words By: Nick A. Zaino III

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RED CAR WIRE DEBUT COMES IN OCTOBER / MP3

Here is a new band called Red Car Wire. They are a pop/punk band from Dallas, Texas and they could recently been seen playing on the 2008 Vans Warped Tour. They are releasing an EP Lets Never Get Older on October 7th.

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