So with that said, let’s talk about Mister Fusty.

Mister Fusty (aka Rob Gibson) is a British dude who makes “lo-fi electronic/acoustic pop musical confections.”  Well, I don’t know about that.  It’s certainly lo-fi, but to me what it really sounds like is jazzy elevator Muzak mixed with mumbly lyrics, all desperately trying to sound something like slower Gorillaz stuff.  Some of this music sounds like a crappy knockoff of the Napoleon Dynamite soundtrack /a drugged-out version of the intro to the Land of Make Believe on Mr. Rogers.  But that music was either purposefully ironic or genuinely retro .  This stuff sadly isn’t.

Apparently, Senor Fusty has a new EP called Connect coming out next week.  If what I’ve written thus far has actually intrigued you, well then go listen to the whole thing at his website.  At least he’s donating all the proceeds to charity.

Hey, there’s no such thing as bad publicity, right?

-Sam

Matt is releasing his first album, Can’t Help But Wonder, tomorrow, Friday June 11th. It’ll be available in your favorite online music stores such as iTunes, Amazon, and Rhapsody.

Before the interview, check out the brief introduction Matt did with us a few months ago. It’ll give you a bit more of his history. 

Even more information is available on his website, www.mattbeilis.com.

Read the interview after the jump.

• What’s the story behind your album, “Can’t Help But Wonder”?
  • The album title “Can’t Help But Wonder” came from the fact that I was on the path to a career in finance when I decided that life only happens once and it’s way too short to not follow your dream.  So on the one hand, while I was on that path, I couldn’t help but wonder what life would be like if I were doing what I loved for a living.  I took that leap, and now I can’t help but wonder what life would have been like if I had continued down my original path.
• If there’s one thing you’d want the listener to take away from your album, what is it?
  • If there’s one thing I’d want a listener to take away from the album it’s the idea that you should never do something, just because you were told it’s the right or “smart” thing to do.  Live life to come to your own conclusions about what is best for you.
• What is it like for you to be releasing this album?  Perhaps your first of many?
  • This experience is surreal for me.  I went from dreaming about getting my music heard to having hundreds of thousands of views worldwide.  There’s nothing I could say to come close to describing how exciting this is for me.
• I’ve listened to this thing several times already.  And the following always hits me:  This thing has the wordplay of Jason Mraz, the groove of Maroon 5, the tones and melodies of Ben Folds, and the suaveness of a voice that could be comparable to the likes of David Gray.  As such, what other artists and their genres have influenced you in this album and or career?  
  • I must say, you’ve nailed a good number of my influences.  Elton John has definitely had the most influence on my piano playing style.  I grew up listening to him and emulating the way he plays piano like he IS the full band.  I’d definitely say that Gavin DeGraw, and Maroon 5 have a good deal of influence on my writing style.  I love the kind of hip-hop influence Maroon 5 has incorporated into their pop / rock sound.  My vocals kind of evolved on their own.  I never liked my voice growing up, and even when I started out singing.  It took a good 5 years of singing before my sound became what it is today, stylistically.  Then it almost felt like overnight, I liked the way I sound.
• You’ve already had some success with the reality show StarMaker as well as touring with Teddy Geiger.  What has the success felt like for you? 
  • Well, it’s interesting, with those two specific instances of success, it always felt like I was doing something just one step removed from exactly what I want.  In the case of touring with Teddy Geiger, I was singing on stage in front of 1000 people a night, but it wasn’t my music.  With StarMaker, I felt like even if I won that competition, I would probably be thrown into an already-running machine, equipped with pre-written hits.  So it isn’t really until now that I’ve really felt like I’m succeeding in doing exactly what I want – writing, recording, and performing my songs.
• What artists are you currently listening to? 
  • I’m on a big Al Green kick right now.  And Alicia Keys.
• What can you say to the high school kid who wants to be in music but does not how to get started? 
  • I’d say that the best thing to do is to get started.  Whether it’s practicing every day, auditioning for competitions, or taking lessons you have to be proactive to get what you want.  Music is and has always been an insanely competitive industry, but now you have the chance to build your own audience online and not have to worry about impressing elite industry gatekeepers.  All you have to do work your ass off, and you’ll succeed.
• And finally, what’s next for Matt Beilis?  
  • I’m on to performing around the country, and then hopefully onto some other countries in the near future.  Check my website for tour dates and come out to the shows!

At least it seems like the band realized the path they were headed down was not leading to the best possible product.  For their new album, not so subtly titled Korn III – Remember Who You Are, the group’s mission statement seems to be to recapture the past glory that they established early on, particularly with their debut self-titled album.

I mean, just look at how many connections they are trying to draw between the albums:

First, you’ve got the title, Korn III.  It’s obviously meant to evoke the feeling that this new album is a sequel to their earliest and heaviest work.  Then you’ve got the subtitle, Remember Who You Are; again, that’s pretty much a mission statement (and a plea to fans to remember the good times).  Then they brought in Ross Robinson to produce the effort.  Well, he’s the guy who produced Korn’s first two albums.  Lastly, just look at the cover of the new album and then compare it with their debut:

I mean, can you get any similar without having the exact same picture?  It’s pretty hard to pull off the “creepy dude stalking a little girl” motif twice and not have it feel hopelessly derivative.

Anyways, I appreciate the about-face in terms of musical direction even if the band isn’t exactly handling it with elegance.  They just released the video for their new song “Oildale (Leave Me Alone)”.  While it’s much closer to early Korn than what they’ve been putting out in recent years, it still lacks something, namely punch.  Why the hell are the guitars so damn low in the mix!?  And why does it seem like all efforts were placed into the choruses and then verses were just thrown together with no care whatsoever?

Have a look/listen yourself:

Click here to view the embedded video.

The album will be released on July 13th.

-Sam

* Kings of Leon are in the studio working on their fifth album.  Their last album shot them into the stratosphere as far as fame and popularity are concerned, so it will be interesting to see how they follow that up.  Initial word is that the guys are “exploring their progressive side” on the new disc.

* M.I.A.’s new album has received a title but had its release date pushed back.  It will be called / \ / \ / \ Y / \ (aka “Maya”) and will be released on July 13 rather than the original June 29 date.

* Brendon Small, the guy behind Adult Swim’s Metalocalypse show and the Dethklok band, has announced plans for a side project of sorts with Gene Hoglan on drums.  Small is calling it a solo project, but he also admitted it will essentially “be the same thing” as Dethklok, although possibly without all the comedy aspects.  He hopes to release it in the fall.

*Disturbed’s new album, which will be released late this summer, has been titled Asylum.

* Death Cab for Cutie will be entering the studio in June to begin work on their follow-up to the amazing Narrow Stairs.  They are shooting for a spring 2011 release.

* The Sword have recently completed work on their latest album, Warp Riders.  The sci-fi concept album will be released on August 24.

* Black Label Society will be releasing Order of the Black on August 10.

* Zoroaster have completed work on Matador and will release it on July 13.  Check out the cover art.

*Finally, The Red Hot Chili Peppers will enter the studio in July to record their next album with producer Rick Rubin.  It will be the band’s first release post-John Frusciante.

Which of these albums are you looking forward to the most?  Which ones did I leave off that you are excited for?

-Sam

Now we know what one of those projects is.

Reznor is teaming up with his new wife, Mariqueen Maandig (formerly of West Indian Girl) and frequent NIN contributor Atticus Ross in a group called How To Destroy Angels.  They’ve got a website set up with some teaser videos of what the music sounds like, and it seems as if they are planning to release a six-song EP this summer.

Truthfully, I had never heard of Maandig before she married Reznor and I still haven’t listened to any of her older music.  If any of you guys know her stuff, let us know how it is.  Judging by the teaser videos and the song “A Drowning” posted over at Pitchfork, How To Destroy Angels will sound very similar to recent NIN material, heavy electronics, distorted guitars, only with Maandig singing instead of Reznor (and she has a really pretty voice).  So far, it sounds pretty kick ass.

Click here to view the embedded video.

-Sam

I’ve had the chance to listen through it one time already and it is an incredible record. This album is a bit more varied in its tone than his previous album, The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter. Ritter’s songwriting is always full of fantastic imagery and hidden meanings. He has been compared to a few legendary music storytellers like Bob Dylan and Tom Waits.  I’ve yet to be disappointed with anything this man has released, so check out this album right here.

Just as a quick note,  also keep an eye open next summer for the release of his first novel. There isn’t much of anything known about the novel except for is Summer 2011 release date.

What I do like about Eminem though?  When he’s in other artist’s tracks.  Some of his best work is his music not on his own albums.  Just my two cents. 

With that being said, Eminem has announced there will not be a Relapse 2. Instead, he’ll release Recovery on June 22nd. After taking much time off fighting drug addiction, Eminem released Relapse last year.  It was rumored that Eminem would follow with Relapse 2 — that rumor was put to rest this week.

The rapper explained: “I had originally planned for Relapse 2 to come out last year. But as I kept recording and working with new producers, the idea of a sequel to Relapse started to make less and less sense to me, and I wanted to make a completely new album. The music on Recovery came out very different from Relapse, and I think it deserves its own title.”

This is what happened to me recently in regards to John 5.

If you’ve heard of John 5, it was probably from his stint as the guitarist for Marilyn Manson spanning from 1998-2004.  Currently, he plays guitar for Rob Zombie.  Most of that music is industrial metal fare that doesn’t exactly require a high degree of guitar technicality to pull off.  And that’s not a knock on the music itself; not all good music needs to be difficult to play.  All I’m saying is that his role in Manson didn’t call for any crazy solos or complex phrasing.

In a moment of naivete (or plain ignorance) I just figured John 5 was a musician who could play industrial metal riffs pretty well, and that if he was a better guitarist his band would give him the opportunity to show off those talents.

Wrong.

Apparently, John 5 started a solo career soon after leaving Marilyn Manson, and he’s already released four albums (plus a remix album) worth of material on his own.  His fifth studio album, The Art of Malice, is set to be released on May 11.

This is the first I had heard of his solo career, so imagine my surprise when I clicked over to his MySpace page to listen to a song off his new album, and blasting forth from my speakers was not the usual industrial chugging that I knew him for, but rather good instrumental metal with a lot of technicality.

Any situations you can recall like this, when a musician completely surprised you once they started working solo?

-Sam

I was going to write up a fake report about how System of a Down were finally ending their hiatus and getting back in the studio together to record a new album.

The only problem was that as I was perusing some metal blogs yesterday (March 31) I saw some legitimate rumor mill postings which seemed to be saying that very thing!

The rumors arise from some hazy logic, but I’ll lay it out anyway.  Serj Tankian recently announced that his new solo album titled Imperfect Harmonies (changed from Music Without Borders) has been completely recorded and is now in the mixing stage.  The plan is to release it in late summer.  So the thinking goes that with Tankian now done with recording responsibilities and finishing up a touring cycle behind Elect The Dead Symphony, he is now free to rejoin the rest of his System bandmates who have been waiting for him.  The rumor is that the band will enter the studio this fall to begin recording a new album.

There are several holes in this theory, however.  First of all, it sounds a lot like wishful thinking more than it does a solid rumor.  Second, I would imagine Serj would do some kind of touring behind his new solo record, and that would be hard to accomplish if he was in the studio with SOAD during the period that touring would likely take place.

That being said, I really really really hope that this rumor is true.  If it is, it will be well worth the spoiled April Fools’ gag.

-Sam

They’ve now released the cover art (pictured here, duh) and track list for the album.

Somewhat surprisingly, the track “Whiskey Hangover” will not be among the ten songs on the album.  “Whiskey Hangover” was released as a promotional radio single for the Crue Fest 2 Tour in June of last year.  The band hyped it as the type of sound they were going for on the new record, but I guess when they were done with the record they didn’t think it fit.  Oh well.  I’m not expecting The Oracle to blow me away, but I am holding out hope that it will surprise me in a good way.

Track list after the jump:

1. Cryin’ Like a Bitch!!
2. Saints and Sinners
3. War and Peace
4. Love Hate Sex Pain
5. What If?
6. Devil’s Swing
7. Good Day to Die
8. Forever Shamed
9. Shadow of a Soul
10. The Oracle

-Sam