Niki N. Phaser

Irish alternative trio Ash announced a while ago that they are done with making albums. They’ve also made public plans to release 26 singles, starting from september this year and going all the way to 2010, with a new song released every two weeks. They even gave us a preview taste with Return of White Rabitt. Billy Corgan of Smashing Pumpkins actually talked about this method some time ago, but nothing was settled. Beyond this being important news for Ash fans, we have to wonder: is this the beginning of the singles revolution ? As we all know, the iTunes culture really made its mark on the industry, as increasingly more people prefer to download just certain tracks from an artist’s album. This is certainly one of the reasons why bands are no longer releasing simple cd’s, but also limited edition boxsets and DVD’s and bonus tracks and whatnot. The method adopted by Ash will surely offer equal spotlight to all new material and it might be very effective for a band that doesn’t make a lot from album sales. This could be the spark that ignites the singles takeover. On the other hand, it will take a long time for people to part ways with the traditional way of buying music – that unique moment when you open a cd for the first time and fear to even touch, as it is so pristine + the original artwork…

RETURN OF THE WHITE RABITT

The Pixies www.indiemuse.com

It seems that The Pixies have done a little bit of promotion (i.e. some gigs) in order to create a buzz around the release of their mega-ultra-super boxset Minotaur, which will include supposedly… everything. Avid fans, who collected Pixies stuff since the 80′s are probably not too happy that some rich kid, who’s been listening to them for a couple of years will have an equal treasure. Still, I guess there is also the vintage element when it comes to collectables.

I guess that this is another step in their whole revival-reunion thing, since when The Pixies are no longer The Pixies, but “the band that Kurt Cobain was trying to rip-off when he wrote Smells Like Teen Spirit“. We know that they are cashing in on their newfound legends status, but how can we not forgive them, when their stuff is so unique and original. Of course, we understand and love them and maybe we’ll even buy Minotaur, considering that all 3,000 copies of the limited edition (costs almost 500 bucks) will be signed by the band.If you are just finding out about the band, you can take Frank Black’s advice: “The Minotaur is not for someone who hasn’t heard the Pixies first. If that’s what you’re after, it might be more appropriate to burn it off the internet for free”, says the frontman for Wired’s Underwire.