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Portishead is recording their first album in eight years. The band has nearly completed their third LP, according to founding member Geoff Barrow.
Barrow said that he was surprised people thought the band had split up, saying: “We’ve just had our heads down really, we’ve never actually broken up, or parted, or whatever.”
Portishead – who won a Mercury Music Prize in 1995 for their debut album “Dummy” – will join Massive Attack for a gig at the Bristol Academy on Saturday, Feb. 19, to raise money for Oxfam’s tsunami appeal.
However, the band is not expected to play any new material at the show, which will feature singer Beth Gibbons playing with an acoustic backing.
Other acts on the bill include The Coral and Led Zeppelin -singer Robert Plant.
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Sales of legally downloaded songs have increased more than tenfold in 2004, with the US and Europe buying 200 million tracks online. The digital music industry has “taken off” in the last 12 months, according to the global music industry.
A report by International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) has revealed that a million songs are now available to buy through legal sites, though the organization has said that music piracy on the Internet is still “a very significant problem.” This month, there were still 870 million illegal music files available on the Internet, down from 900 million 12 months ago.
Legal downloads from sites such as Napster and iTunes were worth $330 million to the music industry in 2004, according to the IFPI’s Digital Music Report 2005.
The report also predicted that the figure is expected to double in 2005, with some analysts saying that record companies could make 25 percent of their income from digital sales in five years time, compared with 1 to 2 percent now.
The last 12 months also saw 20 to 25 million portable players sold, including ten million iPods.
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Tracks from the much-delayed new Beck album have leaked onto the Internet.
The follow-up to 2002’s “Sea Change” was originally due for release in October, but has been pushed back, with either March 21 or 28 now being mooted as the release date. However, 13 tracks have turned up online.
Track titles include “Guero,” “Go It Alone,” “E-Pro,” “Brazilica” and “Summer Girl.”
The new tracks, produced by the Dust Brothers, revert back the classic Beck sound of “Mellow Gold” and “Odelay” after the largely acoustic “Sea Change.”
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Coldplay frontman Chris Martin has revealed how a brush with death has made him more determined than ever to make “the best album of all time.”
The singer claims that he nearly died when his plane hit a dust storm during a trip to a remote part of Africa.
Martin, who was on his way to Ghana with Oxfam to publicize fair-trade issues, was coming into Tamale Airport when disaster struck.
The singer said the first things that popped into his head during the traumatic affair in the 30-seater twin-propeller jet was his eight-month-old daughter Apple and finishing Coldplay’s forthcoming as-of-yet-untitled album.
Martin said the incident has made him more determined than ever to come out with the best album he can.
Coldplay’s forthcoming album is due out this spring.
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