Now that we got your attention. This is not about music piracy. This is about the new album of Coldplay, which they are actually allowing people to download for free. I was happily checking the Trending Topics on Twitter when I saw Coldplay popping out. Curious, I clicked on the topic and was led to talks about free music from the band. So I went in and checked it out and found that it wasn’t a hoax. But expect to wait because a lot of people are now downloading this free live album LeftRightLeftRightLeft from band, which incidentally, was slapped with copyright infringement by Joe Satriani (I wonder whatevery happened to that case).

This free album was announced earlier as a gift to fans.

According to Coldplay’s website, this free live album is its answer to the economic crisis.

…the give-away is meant as a recession-busting mark of gratitude to everyone who’s supported them: “Playing live is what we love. This album is a thank you to our fans – the people who give us a reason to do it and make it happen.”

The album was recorded over the past year in various cities around the world on the Viva La Vida tour. Its tracklisting is as follows:

1. Glass of Water
2. 42
3. Clocks
4. Strawberry Swing
5. The Hardest Part/Postcards From Far Away
6. Viva La Vida
7. Death Will Never Conquer
8. Fix You
9. Death And All His Friends

By Clarence Yu

MR. Big, the hard rock supergroup that formed in the 1980’s and yielded the hits “To Be With You” and “Green Tinted Sixties Mind” has reunited.

The band is comprised of bassist Billy Sheehan (of Talas and David Lee Roth Band fame), guitarist Paul Gilbert (formerly Racer X), drummer Pat Torpey (formerly of The Knack) and singer Eric Martin.

The group debuted with their eponymous album in 1989. This album laid the groundwork for their distinct sound: crunching, shredding guitars, precision-pounded drums, booming bass and raspy melodic vocals. Soaring choruses combined with crunch delighted fans of the band the world over.

[Read the rest of this entry »]

By Clarence Yu

In continuing with the “tradition” of band-centered video games in their Guitar Hero franchise, Activision has finally confirmed that Guitar Hero: Van Halen is currently in development and, according to a report from Joystiq, will be due for release hopefully by the second half of this year.

Previous band-centered games in the Guitar Hero franchise include Guitar Hero: Aerosmith and Guitar Hero: Metallica. In both cases, the band made a ton of money from game sales, while at the same time experiencing a boost in their album catalog sales.

Arguably however, Van Halen might be a little more difficult to put down on a video game.

First of all, Activision has confirmed that the game will only feature David Lee Roth era songs, which effectively narrows down the possible albums in the game to six: Van Halen (1978), Van Halen II (1979), Women and Children First (1980), Fair Warning (1981), Diver Down (1982), and 1984 (1984). The band had also recorded two new songs with Roth on 1996’s Best of Volume I–the superb songs “Can’t Get This Stuff No More” and “Me Wise Magic.”

[Read the rest of this entry »]