01.24.05 (MusicPortal.com) UK Modern Rockers KASABIAN will release their new self-titled album on March 8th via RCA Records. The release will be supported by an upcoming month-long North American tour, which kicks off February 17th at Irving Plaza in New York City. "Passion" is not a word you hear very often any more when it comes to music, but collectively, the members of KASABIAN possess it by the tractor-load. As they describe it, they're not making music to be famous, or because it's a good career, they're making music because they need to. Because it's etched somewhere deep in their souls. "Why be in a band?" asks vocalist Tom Meighan. "Because it's the only thing I could do. There's nothing else I ever wanted. Nothing, nothing. This is what I've wanted to do ever since I was four. This is why I'm here." The members of KASABIAN all grew up in Leicester, a city hidden in a sprawl of suburbs, the kind of place where you listen to music, watch football, get drunk and wander the streets at night singing, because there's nothing else to do. Except the raves. In the early 90s, midlands cities within the UK like Birmingham, Leicester, Coventry and Wolverhampton were the focus for what was dubbed "hardcore," a style that fused House music with Hip-Hop beats and a dark sensibility. Unlovely and unloved by most of the media, it was the party no one in mainstream club culture wanted an invite to. Instead, it appealed to alienated young teens who gradually developed it in all kinds of new and interested directions. Like "Jungle," "Drum 'N' Bass," or like Kasabian's pounding Electronic Rock. "When we were younger, the hardcore years, that was always there," they say. "The Midlands was the place to be when that was all going on. And it was interesting. It's like..." [full story]
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01.07.05 (MusicPortal.com) DAFT PUNK will be releasing their first new studio album in 4 years worldwide on March 22nd via EMI/Virgin Records. Entitled "Human After All," the upcoming release is the third studio effort from the band, and is the follow-up to their last musical revelation, "Discovery. DAFT PUNK, known for their innovative and artistic visual work, have won several video awards and worked with video directors such as Spike Jonze and Michel Gondry. The French electronic music duo came to worldwide attention in 1997 with the release of their debut album, "Homework," which garnered the duo both critical and commercial worldwide success. "Homework" had a revitalizing musical impact, and assisted in encouraging Dance music to reassert its merit once again. In 2001, DAFT PUNK released their second album, "Discovery," which again broke ground musically and visually through the use of Japanese animation, which portrayed the band as robots. 'One More Time,' the initial single from "Discovery," debuted at #1 in France, #2 in the UK, and #1 on the Eurochart, and eventually hit #1 on the Dance/Club chart in the U.S., and #1 on both the Canadian and Japanese international radio chart. DAFT PUNK members Thomas Bangalter and Guy Manuel De Homem Christo recorded the 10 tracks for "Human After All" in just six weeks between September and November 2004 in their home studio in Paris. On the new album, DAFT PUNK's music remains as diverse and fresh as ever while still retaining their trademark sound, this time with a more spontaneous and direct quality to the recording. A mix of guitars and machines, "Human After All" takes the listener from the hardcore tracks 'Brainwasher' and 'Technologic' to the addition of more Rock-oriented tracks like 'Robot Rock.'

[Electronic News: October 2004]
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