The News Review:

- Judge clears way for trial in deaths of seven in crash
- Asia’s Digital Music Free-For-All
- >> Handsome Furs examine small towns cities and pared-down…
- Queens of the Stone Age: Era Vulgaris : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone
- Grunge Christianity?
- … Idol’ In Bigger Than The Sound – News Story | Music…
- The Gauntlet :: – Heavy Metal – News – Videos – Ringtones – mp3s -…

Judge clears way for trial in deaths of seven in crash
Ventura County Star – May 30, 2007
In addition Hager said the car radio in CHP custody has disappeared. So he said there is no way to test the radio and this claim could have been made up by officers. Also this “heavy metal” music claim would prejudice some jurors against his client Hager said. McGrath agreed saying that it would be “extremely prejudicial” against Ponce. “I don’t see how music or radio is distracting” McGrath said. “If that’s what you like to listen to that’s what you like to listen to. McGrath however said he would allow prosecution testimony that just before the accident someone where Ponce worked made “gender-related” comments that upset her.

Asia’s Digital Music Free-For-All
BusinessWeek – May 30, 2007
In a region that boasts roughly 1 billion handsets and blisteringly fast wireless networks in richer markets such as Japan South Korea Taiwan and Hong Kong Asian teens and 20-somethings are "mashing up" music and video content from every imaginable source by integrating applications from their feature-laden mobile handsets personal computers and the Net. These kids love to download everything from J-Pop acts in Tokyo to Vedic heavy-metal bands out of Mumbai and New Delhi. There’s just one problem: They hate to pay for it. And what should be a dynamic market for the global music industry and all manner of online and mobile music sites is turning out to be a bedeviling one. Companies are casting about for the right business model to exploit the undeniable demand for digital music in a region where pirated CDs and illicit music and file-sharing sites are ubiquitous. Most vulnerable by far are the major music-recording labels… These kids love to download everything from J-Pop acts in Tokyo to Vedic heavy-metal bands out of Mumbai and New Delhi. There’s just one problem: They hate to pay for it. And what should be a dynamic market for the global music industry and all manner of online and mobile music sites is turning out to be a bedeviling one. Companies are casting about for the right business model to exploit the undeniable demand for digital music in a region where pirated CDs and illicit music and file-sharing sites are ubiquitous. Most vulnerable by far are the major music-recording labels. Legitimate physical sales of music (LPs cassettes CDs DVD audio and so on) have been falling or remaining stagnant this decade and the $29. 3 billion in worldwide sales the industry raked in last year is expected to fall 61% to $18 billion by 2009 according to estimates by.

>> Handsome Furs examine small towns cities and pared-down…
Montreal Mirror – May 30, 2007
Selling business directories was never so sweet but the couple left it all behind to pursue music and marriage. Although Perry is an author with no prior musical experience Boeckner enlisted her help when he began writing songs that weren’t fit for Wolf Parade and Handsome Furs was formed. “We wanted to make these songs as full as possible with the least amount of equipment so it would just be the two of us a drum machine a keyboard and a guitar” says Boeckner “something we could throw in a backpack and go on tour with. ” The writing began in the winter of 2005 and as minimal melodic cool and casually paced as Plague Park sounds its musical influences were Scandinavian black metal bands (perhaps for their Nordic melancholy) and seeing Sufjan Stevens live. But in the latter case the lesson learned was what not to do… Although Perry is an author with no prior musical experience Boeckner enlisted her help when he began writing songs that weren’t fit for Wolf Parade and Handsome Furs was formed. “We wanted to make these songs as full as possible with the least amount of equipment so it would just be the two of us a drum machine a keyboard and a guitar” says Boeckner “something we could throw in a backpack and go on tour with. ” The writing began in the winter of 2005 and as minimal melodic cool and casually paced as Plague Park sounds its musical influences were Scandinavian black metal bands (perhaps for their Nordic melancholy) and seeing Sufjan Stevens live. But in the latter case the lesson learned was what not to do. “There were like 20 people on stage and they were playing in a church and everybody’s sitting down and it just sounded like a wall of shit” says Boeckner. “Everything’s very orchestral and very excessive right now and a lot’s getting lost” adds Perry. “It’s changed the songwriting and it’s changed stage presence too—there’s so much production going on so many visual aids.

Queens of the Stone Age: Era Vulgaris : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone – May 30, 2007
There aren’tany others like him that’s for sure and he’s never been an easy oneto figure out. Here’s a rock star who seems to shuffle his band’s lineupas often as he shaves his back yet who always sounds like himselfmaking fun of solemn art types but working harder than any of them. Hemanages to be the token metal dude for indie kids and the token punk forheadbangers without compromising for either camp. Homme makes music inall kinds of incarnations — the Queens Eagles of Death Metal hisendless Desert Sessions projects. But he always seems to inhabit his ownmusical world a zone where lost kids chase the desert acid-trip vibe ofclassic Seventies midnight movies like Vanishing Point and Two-LaneBlacktop. Really the scene in Vanishing Point where the naked hippiechick cruises across the desert sand on her Harley blasting Mountain’s”Mississippi Queen” could be the starting point for every song on thisalbum. Era Vulgaris is Homme’s fifth Queens album and like the others it’sintricately crafted meticulously polished and ruthlessly efficient inits pursuit of depraved rock thrills with robotic rhythm machines like”Turning on the Screw” and “I’m Designer.

Grunge Christianity?
crosswalk.com – May 30, 2007
” We now have a new breed of trendy churches whose preachers can rattle off references to every popular icon every trifling meme every tasteless fashion and every vapid trend that captures the fickle fancy of the postmodern secular mind. Worldly preachers seem to go out of their way to put their carnal expertise on display?even in their sermons. In the name of connecting with “the culture” they want their people to know they have seen all the latest programs on MTV; familiarized themselves with all the key themes of “South Park”; learned the lyrics to countless tracks of gangsta rap and heavy metal music; and watched who-knows-how-many R-rated movies. They seem to know every fad top to bottom back to front and inside out. They’ve adopted both the style and the language of the world?including lavish use of language that used to be deemed inappropriate in polite society much less in the pulpit. They want to fit right in with the world and they seem to be making themselves quite comfortable there.

… Idol’ In Bigger Than The Sound – News Story | Music…
MTV.com – May 30, 2007
we need something to rule with an iron fist (which clearly is not happening in Iraq) and that’s where the Eurovision Song Contest comes in. For those not familiar with the contest — which is probably about 95 percent of you — imagine the most patently ridiculous competition imaginable multiply that by 50 throw in a whole lot of cross-dressing a penchant for terrible heavy metal and a healthy dose of bizarre geopolitical loyalties and mea culpas — and you’ve only begun to understand how amazing this thing is. Imagine “American Idol” if people like Diana DeGarmo Jon Peter Lewis and Scott Savol (wrapped in a metallic bodysuit) won every year — and no one was outraged or even bothered by it. It’s sort of like that. Started way back in 1956 as “a pan-European competition for light music” presumably an effort to unite a continent devastated by World War II the contest has slowly morphed into a way for Euro nations to trump one another with a series of vapid (and increasingly bizarre) pop songs. Every competing country submits a tune which seem to fall into one of three categories — formulaic vaguely nationalistic pop; batsh– crazy Euro trance; or vaguely homoerotic leather-clad metal — then performs said song during a marathon live event… Imagine “American Idol” if people like Diana DeGarmo Jon Peter Lewis and Scott Savol (wrapped in a metallic bodysuit) won every year — and no one was outraged or even bothered by it. It’s sort of like that. Started way back in 1956 as “a pan-European competition for light music” presumably an effort to unite a continent devastated by World War II the contest has slowly morphed into a way for Euro nations to trump one another with a series of vapid (and increasingly bizarre) pop songs. Every competing country submits a tune which seem to fall into one of three categories — formulaic vaguely nationalistic pop; batsh– crazy Euro trance; or vaguely homoerotic leather-clad metal — then performs said song during a marathon live event. Viewers in member countries of the Eurovision Broadcasting Union (which includes most European countries as well as countries in North Africa and the Middle East) then vote to determine a winner except rather than award points based on things like creativity or talent they will sometimes — in a much-debated process called bloc voting — just vote for neighboring countries (or in the case of Russia for the Eastern European countries they brutally oppressed for decades). The end result of the 2007 Contest? A top 10 littered with nations like Ukraine Bulgaria Belarus Armenia and Moldova and a winning song — “Moltiva”.

The Gauntlet :: – Heavy Metal – News – Videos – Ringtones – mp3s -…
thegauntlet.com – May 30, 2007
With music so seductive and divine that the ensemble overwhelmed audiences all over the country and people from all social classes took them to their hearts. Their performances rapidly earned a reputation for being feral and vigorous and gained the orchestra a devoted crowd that followed them around. During the latter half of the 16th century the criticism against the royal crown’s dictatorial ruling had intensified. Gifts and tenancies had made the church extremely wealthy and since the money was merely used to strengthen their power the discontent among the people was growing. To many people the orchestra presented to them a new view of things and a way to cope with everyday life… The church witnessed how their influence over the people decreased and began to depict the orchestra as treacherous saying their intentions were anything but righteous. The orchestra’s extensive use of the prohibited tritonus interval in their music as well as their excessive lifestyle were facts that were not looked mildly upon. During church services priests slandered the music saying it was an insult to Christ himself. However when this attempt to reduce the orchestra’s popularity failed the church began to use more desperate measures in order to regain its former power. The Devil’s orchestra became the slogan they used and the members were accused of being everything from devil worshippers to the spawn of Satan. This catchphrase eventually caught on and became the popular name of the orchestra. When even these efforts proved futile the church ultimately framed the orchestra members for a murder and a ruthless manhunt began.