Manchester trio Marconi Union worked with sound therapists to create the soothing tune, which allegedly ’slows breathing and reduces brain activity.‘

Weightless is an right minute track induces sleep with its sustaining rhythm that starts at 60 beats per minute and gradually slows to around 50 bpm.

Sound therapy has been used for thousands of years to help people relax and improve health and well-being. Weightless is ideal for putting on at the end of a stressful day and unwinding.

On 30th January 2012, Just Music will be re-issuing two albums by Marconi Union:
Under Wires and Searchlights & Distance.

Madonna’s well oiled publicity machine goes into action again, as a demo of her new single Give Me All Your Love was leaked onto the internet on November 8th.  Unfortunately we are unable to show it here as it’s now been blocked but we thought we’d treat you do an old classic instead.

The single is expected to be the debut track from Madonna’s upcoming album, which will be her first since 2008’s “Hard Candy,” and her first studio release since leaving Warner Bros to join Live Nation. The full version of the track is rumoured to feature MIA and Nicki Minaj.

Madonna has already confirmed that she will release the album in spring 2012, with Give Me All Your Love expected to be available from February or March. Long-term collaborator William Orbit, who produced her 1998 album ‘Ray Of Light’, will work with her on the record.
The pop icon has also written a ballad for her new movie ‘W.E.’ which is also due to air in Britain early 2012.

The film which has been co-written and directed by Madonna, follows the life of Wallis Simpson (played by Andrea Riseborough) with a parallel storyline involving a lonely New Yorker, Wally Winthrop (played by Abbie Cornish), who is obsessed with what she perceives as the greatest royal love story of all time.

The screenplay for W.E. was co-written by Alek Keshishian who had previously worked with Madonna on her 1991 documentary ‘Truth or Dare’, which you might remember by its slightly more iconic name ‘In Bed With Madonna’. The movie also stars Oscar Isaac, Richard Coyle, James D’Arcy and James Fox and Laurence Fox.

Meanwhile, back in Tinsel Town, Madge is rumoured to be offering fellow Kabbalah follower Demi Moore spiritual advice and a shoulder to cry on after the actress announced she will be divorcing toy boy husband Ashton Kutcher after his alleged infidelity.

Both ladies are renowned for their youthful appearances and bodies that would put most younger women to shame but where Madge has achieved her’s through punishing exercise regimes, Demi was very honest in crediting the part surgery and liposuction played in sculpting the perfect body she displayed in Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle back in 2003. Of course, I don’t think liposuction prices would have been a deterrent for multi-millionaire Madge and fragile looking Demi’s recent weight loss is sadly down to the very public break-down of her marriage.

Amy Winehouse was just 27-years-old when she was found dead at her home in Camden, north London, last Saturday.  The cause of death will not be known for up to four weeks as police await  toxicology tests, following a post-mortem examination carried out yesterday proved inconclusive.

Anyone who has seen videos of her last concert in Serbia last month has witnessed what a state Amy was in.  A stumbling performance that looks to be caused by a cocktail of alcohol and drugs.

Here is Amy Winehouse at her finest performing a live rendition of ‘Rehab’ on Jools Holland’s Later BBCtv show and singing ‘Valerie’ with Mark Ronson for the BBC Live Sessions concert.

Amy Winehouse R.I.P.

Now Beastie Boys‘ Adam Yauch has written and directed a 30-minute comedy short film ‘Fight For Your Right Revisited’ to celebrate one of the Beastie Boys’ most renowned songs.

This sequel to the events of the original video sees the likes of Seth Rogan, Elijah Wood, Will Ferrell and Jack Black play past and future versions of the band members and includes a bizarre dance off between the old and younger Beastie Boys.

Split second cameos from a wide array of actors from Susan Sarandon, Steve Buscemi, Kirsten Dunst, Mary Steenburgen, Chloe Sevigny and the band themselves makes this glorious blast of silliness a snapshot of generations of pop culture.

‘Fight For Your Right Revisited’ will be given a UK screening in the Film & Music Arena at this year’s Latitude Festival.

Latitude Festival Tickets

Weekend tickets £170.00 including VAT, subject to booking fee
Day tickets Fri, Sat, Sun £70.00 including VAT, subject to booking fee
Child ticket (5-12 years) £5.00 including VAT, subject to booking fee
Campervan Permit £30.00
Weekend tickets prices include car parking and camping
Day tickets include car parking only

For more information, including the full line-up visit www.latitudefestival.co.uk.

Their self-titled debut album and subsequent debut single, Virginia Plain, catapulted the band into the limelight and with it global commercial success.  But success was not without its problems.  Whereas Bryan Ferry was completely comfortable with becoming a pop star, it didn’t suit everyone in the band, and by 1973 Brian Eno had left to forge a solo career, first as an artist in his own right and later as a revered producer and music collaborator with the likes of David Bowie, U2, Talking Heads and Genesis among others.

Roxy Music’s debut album was originally released in July 1972 without any lead singles. The band then went back into the studio and recorded two new songs,  Virginia Plain and The Numberer which were subsequently released as a debut single.  The single reached number 4 in the UK singles chart which helped the album enter the Top 10 UK albums chart.  The US version and subsequent pressings of the UK album included the single, Virginia Plain.

Here are two vintage clips of Roxy Music playing Re-Make / Re-Model and the often overlooked Pyjamarama live on German television music show, Musikladen from 1973 and 1974, respectively.

Whereas Top Of The Pops was full of mimed performances, bright lights and young girls strutting their flares in front of some old men parading as cool DJ’s, Musikladen was more akin to the Old Grey Whistle Test.  The show is all about the music and the studio is made to look like a dirty, gritty basement bar.  Check out the four-letter poster behind the drummer in the Pyjamarama clip. Nice!

This is a great version of Pyjamarama which unfortunately doesn’t include the genius of Brian Eno who had already left the band before they played the show for a second time.  But Eno does appear in the 1973 performance.

Roxy Music – Musikladen contains fifteen tracks including two bonus tracks recorded in 1980.  The DVD was originally released in 2001 and has a running time of 70 minutes.  The live performances are from three separate appearances on the famous Musikladen Beat Club show from Bremen in West Germany from 1973, 1974 & 1980.

Roxy Music – Musikladen Tracklisting:

1.   Virginia plain
2.   Do the strand
3.   Edition of you
4.   In every dream home
5.   Remake re-model
6.   Streetlife
7.   Pyjamarama
8.   Mother of pearl
9.   Amazona
10. Psalm
11. All I want is you
12. Out of the blue
13. If it takes all night

Bonus tracks:
14. Over you
15. Oh yeah

Roxy Music  -Musikladen is one of many music DVD’s you can rent, buy or stream with the new film on demand online services now available on the Internet.

I’m Here Now was Gil Scott-Heron’s fifteenth studio album, and his first for sixteen years.

Gil Scott-Heron is born in Chicago in 1949.  He was rightly hailed as the Godfather of Rap but he was so much more..  Since his debut album, Small Talk at 125^th and Lenox in 1970 he has blended jazz, soul and funk with his own unique style of spoken-word poetry with words fuelled by hard-edged socio-political commentary.

Gil Scott-Heron was never afraid to speak out and confront controversy.  In 2001 he was spent time in jail for possession of cocaine.  This followed his addiction to the drug that started in the 1980’s. He was further sentenced in 2006 for violating the terms of his parole.

The cause of his death has still to be confirmed but he became ill after returning to New York from a European trip.  In 2008 Gil Scott-Heron confirmed he had been HIV-positive for several years, and that he had been previously hospitalized for pneumonia.

Gil Scott-Heron was a true genius. R.I.P.

In the early 1980’s Bill Nelson made a complete break with his past and by and large replaced is guitar with synthesizers and machines by releasing solo material on his own Cocteau label.  But without major label backing Nelson’s intelligent electronic synth pop songs only grazed the top 40 even though he was producing his most commerical sounding music in this period.

Perfect pop singles like Banal, Living In My Limousine and Do You Dream In Colour I believe should have gained Bill Nelson the same level of commerical success as his contemporaries Gary Numan and David Sylvian but for whatever reason it wasn’t to be.

On March 26th 2011 ITV filmed a special concert in London with Bill Nelson.  The ITV Legends DVD is now available to buy.

“Hurrah! were like a perfect punk rock fantasy Byrds… what we all wished we were. Great songs, great shows, supreme überpunk attitude… we just loved them.” – Alan McGee, 2011

With an appearance somewhere between early pre-mop top Beatles and part Byrds circa 1965, Hurrah!’s early singles helped pave the way for many 1980’s jangly guitar indie popsters.

Originally released in 1993 on Creation Records, The Sound Of Philadelphia features those first few influential singles and demos leading up to Hurrah!’s mid-1980’s breakthrough and will be re-issued in July 2011.

Comtemporary bands such as Crystal Stilts, The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart, The See See and The Tambourines are all gaining acclaim for a sound that owes so much to Hurrah!

[Sorry for the quality of this promo video for Hurrah!’s debut single, The Sun Shines Here.  Can anyone post a better version on YouTube?]

The Marine Girls was formed in 1980 with further members Jane Fox on bass and her sister Alice on joint vocals and percussion. In 1981, Tracey went to Hull University where she met Ben Watt and formed Everything But The Girl.

Their debut single, On My Mind, was covered by Everything But The Girl on the b-side of their first single, Night And Day.  While their debut album, Beach Party was listed as one of Kurt Cobain’s 50 favourite albums in his diaries. A second album, Lazy Ways was released in 1983.  Both albums were re-issued as a double CD on Cooking Vinyl in 1997.

The Marine Girls also recorded two John Peel Sessions. The first included five songs: Don’t Come Back, Love To Know, He Got The Girl, Fever and A Place In The Sun.

A Place In The Sun was never released as a single.

Xray specs – Gerrmfree Adolescence on Top Of The Pops from 1978.

Poly Styrene R.I.P