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Buzz Chart

Venerari

When a band makes a name for itself dwelling in one area of music, and then dramatically brings introduces something very different into the equation then there’s bound to be curiosity. Imagine being presented with a fillet of salmon on your traditional steak night. Precisely, it could go either way.

Many may be delighted with the new dish, whilst the others get all grumpy and refuse to eat again. In Liam Hodge-Bane’s one-man musical army, Venerari‘s case, I’m hungry for seconds. Hell, chuck in a side order as well boss.

Liam, who labelled his stage persona ‘Venerari’, the Latin for ‘adore’, already had a fine reputation for his acoustic performances. He was gathering more respect from his peers for his dedication towards his music, and learning numerous instruments to spice up his melodies.

However, in this case he’s recorded two demos of pure Nintendo, 8-bit electronica. Quite the change. However, despite only being at early stages in this excavation, and with the possibility of more layers and vocals on the top, these songs are already something special.

Bullets Become Wizards” immediately grabbed my attention with it’s Valve Soundsystem worthy bassline, combined with a wonderous hook that takes me back to the days of Ninja Gaiden on the Sega Mastersystem. It’s a belting track, and getting plenty of love on my iPod. Now, if only I could be arsed to go into my attic and fetch my Sega out.

Joe Moynihan

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Buzz Chart

Murder By Death

If you like your bands to sound like they have grit under their fingernails, a few shots of whisky in their bellies, and plenty of Johnny Cash CDs in their record collection, then you’d be well advised to get acquainted with Murder By Death.

The Indiana quartet, who are named after a 1976 Robert Moore film and count a cellist amongst their ranks, supported kindred spirits Against Me! on their UK tour last year and have been making plenty of new friends on these shores ever since.

‘In Bocca Al Lupo’ is the band’s fourth full-length offering, and as you might expect from song titles like ‘Sometimes The Line Walks You’, it’s a wonderfully dark-hearted affair. The band mix elements of folk, country and honest ol’ rock n’ roll into tunes that – despite vocalist Adam Turla’s world-weary tones – are brimming with vitality and infused with the band’s trademark gallows humour.

Check out ‘Sometimes…‘ on the link above, and try to catch MBD live when they return to the UK for a handful of shows in April:

10th – Cardiff Barfly
11th – London Bush Hall
12th – Manchester Roadhouse
13th – Liverpool Barfly
14th – Glasgow Barfly
15th – York Fibbers

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Music News

Snoop calls out Bill O’Reilly

No-one messes with Snoop Dogg. That’s a fact.

And don’t even think about dissing him on your talk show either, because he’ll find out, go on Dutch television and won’t mince his words. The invite is out there O’Reilly, Snoop is going to get you!

Check it out here.

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Music News

Casual teams up with Maroon 5

Hieroglyphics’ MC Casual is set to team up with Maroon 5 on a new album.

After the recent spate of rock/rap collaborations, the most recent being the appearance of Fall Out Boy and The Hives on Timbaland’s new album, Maroon 5 are heading to Oakland to record with Casual. The band met the rapper at the Bonnaroo Festival last year and Casual said:

“We hit it off right away, and the next day, on a lark, I sat in with them during their sound check. I knew all of their hits because I had been listening to them on my tour bus, so I freestyled over a few of their tracks and it sounded amazing.”

The tracks penned already are below and the album is due out early this summer.

This Love
Sunday Morning
Shiver
Not Coming Home

www.hieroglyphics.com

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Music News

Dizzee Rascal gives album details

Dizzee Rascal has revealed some details of his upcoming album, Maths & English.

The album, which is his first since 2007’s Showtime, is set for a June 4th release and will be preceded by a single, Sirens, on May 21st.

The album will feature Arctic Monkeys on Temptation Greets You Like Your Naughty Friend and Newham Generals on Lemon. There is also a production credit from Shy FX.

www.dizzeerascal.com

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Music News

Dead Kennedys bassist joins new band

Klaus Flouride of the Dead Kennedys has joined Blind Orange Genocide, a band formed last year by Greg Ingraham of the Avengers and Johnny Genocide of No Alternative.

The band has finished writing an album’s worth of material and is currently getting themselves ready for some live shows this summer. They are also looking for a label to put the album out on, with a sound that they describe as “early Stones/Yardbirds with shades of garage sounding influence thrown in for good measure.”

You can check them out here.

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Music News

Bad Religion album recorded

Jay Bentley, bass player for Bad Religion has spoken about the band’s upcoming album recently.

The record will be called New Maps Of Hell and follows up The Empire Strikes First from 2004. The album is scheduled for a July 10th release and contains 17 albums, produced by Joe Barresi, who has worked with Tool, QOTSA and Weezer.

Bentley said:

“We are done recording. Now it’s mix time. We’re getting ready to play the Santa Monica show and head down to Chile, Argentina, Brazil and Mexico for our tour… looking forward to getting back on the road…”

www.badreligion.com

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Music News

Offspring go bluegrass?

Offspring are the latest band to be given a Bluegrass makeover by Cornbread Red.

Cornbread Red have previously reworked tracks by Linkin Park, Green Day, Franz Ferdinand and Van Halen and have recently recorded 11 Offspring tracks for the record which is due out at the end of this month. There are no samples online at the moment but the tracklisting can be found below:

All I Want
Self Esteem
Want You Bad
The Kids Aren’t Alright
Gone Away
Gotta Get Away
Jennifer Lost the War
Can’t Repeat
Staring at the Sun
Hit That
Something to Believe In

www.cornbreadred.net

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Music News

Arctic Monkeys single out now

The Arctic Monkeys are back with their new single Brianstorm which is out today on digital download. You can check it out by clicking here.

Also, make sure you keep your eyes peeled for an exclusive competition here on Crossfire where you can get your hands on the brand new album. It’s coming soon…

www.arcticmonkeys.com

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Music News

Mute Records farewell party

Mute Records threw the party of the year so far on Saturday night which saw hundreds of invite only special guests take a hammer to the old brick and mortar before it is demolished.

The famous Mute building had been vacated as the company moved to a new home and a massive party was arranged to celebrate their time there.

It all kicked off with a bar-b-q early afternoon and when dusk kicked in, the main rooms started to buzz with anticipation of a rocking evening. Cocktails (namely the Wrecking Ball!) drowned guests in each room where DJ sets from Arthur Baker, MJ (Slick Sixty), Mark Moore, Miss Kitten, Rough Trade DJ’s also great live sets from Rex The Dog & Christine.

People sprawled out in every part of the office on bean bags as the night turned to daylight. The remaining vampires, (us included!) left the building in pieces with a piece of the building in a polythene bag when breakfast was served.

Best party this year without a doubt, check www.mute.biz/photos/ this week for the evidence.