Added 30/07/2010 by ronni

Gorillaz stream Damaskus show online

Gorillaz are streaming the audio from their one-off gig in Syria online.

The group played the Citadel in Damascus on July 25 - making Damon Albarn's outfit the first British band to play in the capital.

Usual band members and ex-Clash pair Mick Jones and Paul Simonon, plus De La Soul, Kano, Bashy, the National Orchestra For Arabic Music, Bootie Brown and Bobby Womack performed during the show. All of them feature on the band's current album 'Plastic Beach'.

The collective performed a set that included past singles 'Stylo', 'On Melancholy Hill', 'Dare' and 'Feel Good Inc', and you can listen to the entire show at NPR.org.

"I just want to explain really briefly why we're here having this fantastic experience," Albarn said after they played 2005 single 'Dirty Harry'. "I came [here] 15 months ago and met a beautiful guy Issam [Rafea] who works with the Syrian National Orchestra For Arabic Music, we made a lot of music together and it was a real turning point and spending time here in Syria really opened my mind."

Syria is one of Israel's strongest opponents, and supports a number of armed groups that carry out attacks against the state.

Gorillaz are set for a 19-date gig-run of North America later this year and will head out on a rescheduled tour of the UK and Ireland, beginning in Dublin on November 11.

According to NME

Added 29/07/2010 by ronni

Plastic Bertrand did not sing hit record, court hears

Musician and songwriter Plastic Bertrand did not sing on his hit single Ca Plane Pour Moi, an expert linguist has told a court in Belgium.

He spent three months comparing the 1977 punk hit to a 2006 cover version by producer Lou Deprijck - and decided it was the same voice on both.

Deprijck has been taken to court by record label AMC for claiming that it was his voice on the original.

An earlier case, in 2006, ruled that Bertrand was the "legal performer".

Deprijck told Le Parisien newspaper that he was "relieved". "I hope I will finally get my rights," he added.

During his evidence, the expert said he could determine that it was Deprijck singing on the record because of his accent.

"The way the phrases end on each record show that the song could only have been sung by a Ch'ti - otherwise known as someone from the Picard region of France," he said.

"It could therefore not have been Plastic Bertrand - who was born in Brussels - and was surely Monsieur Deprijck."

Deprijck, he went on to explain, hails from West Hainaut, a region sometimes referred to as Picard Walloonia, because people in that French-speaking part of Belgium speak with a Picard accent.

In 2006, Deprijck released his own recording of Ca Plane Pour Moi - marketed as being the "original voice" on the track - which prompted record label AMC to take legal action.

The producer said the case was about honour not money.

Plastic Bertrand - whose real name is Roger Jouret - still denies Deprijck's claims.

"He's making me out to be a crook, but I am an artist, not a crook," he said, threatening to countersue his former producer for defamation.

The original song went to number eight in the UK Top 40 chart in 1978.

according to BBC

Added 28/07/2010 by ronni

Kings Of Leon walked offstage

Kings Of Leon walked offstage in St Louis, Missouri on July 23 after they were showered in excrement from birds living in the venue's rafters.

Kings Of Leon drummer Nathan Followill defended the decision, telling fans: "Don't take it out on Jared, it's the fucking venue's fault. You may enjoy being shit on, but we don't."

According to NME