One Couple's Two Beautiful Weddings in Italy

When Margherita Cardelli met Gerardo Cavaliere, it was amore at first sight. "Of course it was," laughs Margherita, a Rome-based fashion consultant. "Have you seen my husband? He's very handsome." Well-dressed, too. Whether in the office or on his motorcycle, Gerardo, a lawyer from Salerno, exclusively wears custom handmade attire. "He doesn't even own a pair of jeans," Margherita says. "He's obsessed with beautiful clothes." So obsessed, in fact, that in 2013 he opened his own tailoring business, Sartoria Giuliva—it was in his atelier in Rome where the couple first met in 2014. Fifteen months later, on a sunset walk in Naples, Gerardo proposed—after which, in the Italian tradition, he went in person (on motorcycle in the rain!) to ask both her father and his own mother for their permission.

Naturally, both families consented, and the couple knew exactly where to host the occasion. Not long after they started dating, Margherita took Gerardo to visit the hills near her family's farm. As the sun set, they drank wine and decided that's where they would marry. "I think that's where we understood that our encounter was 'the one,'" she says. The pair officially said "I do" in a religious ceremony on July 1, 2017, followed by a second outdoor celebration under the Gran Sasso mountain. Keep reading to see how this fashion-forward couple planned and coordinated their own remarkable, intimate celebrations, both captured by Alba Morassutti and Anna Szkoda.

Wearing a gown inspired by traditional Abruzzan clothes (and designed by one of her friends), Margherita got married at a monastery in L'Aquila.

The couple—who teamed up to launch a women's ready-to-wear brand, Giuliva Heritage Collection, just three months before their nuptials—were officially wed on a Thursday in a tiny ceremony at the monastery where the bride's aunt (and namesake) is a nun.

The couple exchanged vows in front of close friends and family. Gerardo wore a navy, double-breasted light wool suit for the church ceremony. The bride kept her ensemble completely minimal, accessorizing only with diamond studs from Gerardo's mother and opting for a natural makeup look.

Two days later, they hosted a much larger all-day celebration, kicking off with a priestly blessing in a fairy tale–perfect meadow near where Margherita grew up in the mountains of Abruzzo (about an hour east of Rome).

The bride wore a chic Derek Lam sheath dress, which she describes as, "the simplest, yet most elegant, dress I ever saw." Margherita worked closely with the designer, who remade the dress from the SS 2011 collection just for her.

The dapper groom dressed in a bespoke morning suit. (Because, of course.)

The bride carried a bouquet of wildflowers gathered by her Aunt Amalia that morning, with a few last-minute blooms gifted to her by a young wedding guest.

Guests sat on fabric-draped hay bales, and a traditional accordion trio played as the bride walked toward her groom. Margherita describes their wedding spot as "a gem in the middle of the mountains in the center of Italy."

During the ceremony, Margherita and Gerardo thanked their family and friends for being a part of their day, and she gave her father a special hug. "We hugged for five minutes on the clock," she recalls. The couple's beloved dog, Gastone, looked on.

"The blessing was very emotional," she says. "The landscape was full of energy, and love was all around."

"Our aesthetic was all about respecting this place," she explains of the sentimental outdoor venue. "The nature is overwhelming."

Gerardo, Margherita, and their dog, Gastone, drove a vintage Land Rover between the ceremony and the reception at the bride's family home.

Afterward, the party moved to Margherita's family's farm, which was decorated with off-white linens, wheat, rosemary, and wildflowers. Plenty of seating was provided underneath a long wood gazebo, topped with linen sheets.

Revelers feasted on an Abruzzo-style lunch of pasta prepared by the bride's father, an architect turned chef and restaurateur. "It was one of the best ingredients of the whole wedding," says Margherita of the picnic. "It was a hot day, and nobody felt like they had to do anything, just rest and relax."

Friends and family ate at their own pace throughout the afternoon and, following lunch, lounged on pillows and blankets spread in the grass. Rest time, however, was short-lived, as the festivities migrated toward the property's two swimming pools for cake and dancing.

The couple cut into their enormous wedding tart (topped with fragoline di bosco), which perfectly meshed with the countryside appeal. In place of a traditional toast, the bride's father invited her 90-year-old grandmother to help Gerardo and Margherita slice into the dessert. Margherita calls this "the sweetest moment."

After cake, the happy couple kicked off an epic dance party with the help of their friend DJ Polaris, who had flown in from London. "He's great at getting people up on their feet," she says. "We danced straight through from lunchtime until 9 p.m. It was absolutely nonstop!"

Overall, Margherita sums up their back-to-back ceremonies as "unforgettable." "We believed that our love and the love of our friends and families were the perfect ingredients for the perfect wedding," adds the bride. "And so it has been!"


Brides's Dresses: Derek Lam, Bomba || Groom's Attire: Sartoria Giuliva || Mother of the Bride Dresses: Missy Dress || Reception Music: DJ Polaris ||

Young musicians push the piano into new territory

Black and glossy and as unfathomable as deep space, the grand piano exerts an immense gravitational pull on the past and present of classical music. Three young pianists, all with local connections, aim to ensure that influence continues well into the future, although the routes they’ve chosen are sometimes far from conventional.

For Vicky Chow, who’ll soon present two salon concerts and an ensemble reading of John Luther Adams’s Ten Thousand Birds for Music on Main, going off-piste was both surprising and simple. A decade ago, well on her way to an international reputation as an interpreter of the classics and nearing the end of her Juilliard School training, the Vancouver-born musician was simply helping out a friend when she discovered her true calling.

It probably helped that Chow’s friend was Zhou Tian, whose Concerto for Orchestra has been nominated for a 2018 Grammy Award for best contemporary classical composition.

Sonatra, as its title suggests, is a mashup of musical quotes from the Frank Sinatra songbook, played with the virtuoso skills necessary to tackle the classical sonata. A wild ride of endlessly overlapping arpeggios, it may well be the most maxed-out minimalist piece Chow has ever played. Or tried to play, as she points out.

Music Helps to Forget Worries

Music is simply the best entertaining thing in today’s world. In fact, it is also a sign of gratification. It has its own magical prominence and impact on the society. It has the capacity to stimulate your stale mood and make you even more active, enthusiastic and energetic. It directly affects the psyche and helps you make happy and active. People all across the world listen to their favorite music. It is a superior and passionate source of entertainment. People have different choices as per their region, religion, country, social environment, background, culture, subculture and even personality.　

It is also known as the best companion of mankind. It gives enough psychological support to depressed and agitated people. In fact, people love to listen to music when they feel tired, neglected, loved or ignited. Music has many forms that have the capacity to change mindsets. This is the reason people associate music and songs with their particular life moments. They listen to music whenever they seek support. They get good inner vibes that help to enjoy the moments and forget about the worries. Lyrical contents of songs support dancing, drama, movies, play, novel, public entertainment shows, and disco.

Today, many regions have their own songs, track records and people love listening to different types of songs in a same country. It helps them to understand their existing situation to feel it more closely. People of almost all age groups love to listen to their favorite songs. They have specific choices and special likings developed due to their personal traits and life styles. It does not matter where a person lives, a villager may like pop music and a kid may prefer listening to hard rock music or hip hop music or funk.

Today, due to the fast evolution of entertainment industry, music has carved its unique niche. Entertainment industry is fostering music like never before, which is allowing people to have greater access to music and their favorite songs. They prefer listening to Hindi songs, English songs, regional language songs, karaoke music, and much more. Even people love to sing songs of their choices and feel elevated due to their internal positive vibrations. They also feel highly elated and feel confident when they imitate their singers.


In order to sing their favorite songs, people directly approach to Karaoke restaurants or music companies that help in recording songs. These music companies have professional artists who record and mix your song and provide you CD instantly. Most of the time, Hindi karaoke store also offers an opportunity to music lovers, lyricists, performers, and junior artists to sing songs that they like most. Many reputable online music stores also provide 24*7, accessibility to their music stores so that more and more people can access their music directory.

Ed Sheeran scores first Christmas No 1 with Perfect

The singer-songwriter hit the top spot after releasing six versions of his single, including duets with Beyoncé and Andrea Bocelli

Ed Sheeran has capped a hugely successful year by winning 2017’s Christmas No 1, with his song Perfect.

“This is an actual dream come true and I’m very proud and happy,” Sheeran said, wishing his fans “a very merry Christmas, happy holidays and a happy new year”.

He benefited from – or perhaps shamelessly exploited – chart rules that count streams and sales of multiple versions of the same song towards its chart placing. Sheeran released six versions of Perfect to aid its chances of getting the festive top spot: the original, an acoustic version, remixes by Robin Schulz and Mike Perry, and two duet versions with A-list names: Beyoncé and Andrea Bocelli.

Sheeran also features on the No 2 song, River by Eminem. The rapper scored the Christmas No 1 album for Revival, its commercial fortunes left undented by generally negative reviews.

A campaign to get Wham!’s Last Christmas to No 1, 23 years after it was pipped to the top by Band Aid’s Do They Know It’s Christmas? – and one year on from the death of George Michael – didn’t quite succeed. The song reached No 3, with Mariah Carey’s festive perennial All I Want for Christmas Is You at No 4.

The era of streaming means that there are numerous other Christmas classics coming back into the charts this year, with the Pogues’ Fairytale of New York at No 7, Band Aid at 12, Brenda Lee’s Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree at 14, and a further 11 festive hits in the top 40.

British rapper Big Shaq made a late bid for the top spot by releasing a version of his viral comedy hit Man’s Not Hot with added sleigh bells, and rose two places to No 6.

Classical music brings money to the pits

The classic Lucerne Festival brings the business and public sector an annual benefit of almost 24 million francs. The sponsorship contributions and the subsidies are worthwhile for the Lucerne economy as well as for the city and canton.

Lucerne Festival had its economic benefits analyzed in 2015 by the University of St. Gallen. It was, after the years 2000 and 2008, the third study. The same method was always used.

Adding to this economic added value for the region of CHF 22.6 million is the advertising value generated by media reports abroad. The study puts this at 1.1 million francs.

According to the St. Galler study, Lucerne Festival today contributes 20 to 22 million francs to regional value added. In 2000, the value was 18 million francs lower. In 2008, when the festival time was a week longer, it was 24 to 25 million francs higher.

The visitors were responsible for the high regional purchasing power inflow, which made substantial expenditures in the context of the festival, according to the study. This contribution to value creation was around 11 million francs.

According to the study, the sponsors, who in addition to the sponsorship contributions contribute around 8 million francs, play an important role. In addition there are investments of the festival and expenses for the care of the artists.

The regional purchasing power inflows benefit primarily the restaurants and the hotels. Through pre-production, the overall contribution of Lucerne Festival to regional value creation in model calculations increases to around 30 million francs.
Lucerne Festival had budgeted revenue of CHF 24.2 million in 2015. The majority is covered by the ticket sales as well as sponsorship and patronage contributions. Government subsidies amounted to 1.4 million francs. The investments in the festival were worthwhile for the economy as well as for the canton and the city, is the conclusion of the Lucerne Festival.


If the Lucerne Festival were to expand its program, as planned with the Salle Modulable, the economic benefits could be further increased. There is considerable potential for growth, says the study. A reduction in subsidies, as reflected in Lucerne, would clearly be counterproductive.

The classic playlist for a depressed day

From Purcell to Shostakovich, from Mozart to Schubert, here is a musical selection that should bring tears to your eyes.

In case of slack, depressed, it is better sometimes to let go, evacuate the sadness that lives in us. What could be more effective, then, than moving and tragic musical pieces to accompany our letting go?

According to science, crying is good for your health because it relieves stress and relieves pain. And since we want you only good and that the tears are better outside than in, we have concocted an ideal playlist to cry, to let go ...


We begin with the Requiem of Mozart classical, but devilishly effective. A liturgical work completed by two close friends of the composer after the master's death, the Requiem is as dark as it is brilliant, sublime and terrifying. A perfect conditioning for our session of desperation (musical).

People who prefer listening to rap over pop and classical music are more likely to by PSYCHOPATHS

If you're a big fan of the rapper, Eminem, there's a chance you're also a psychopath, according to a new study.

Researchers have found that people with psychopathic traits prefer listening to rap music.While the findings are yet to be published, the researchers even go far as to suggest that rap songs could be used to help predict the disorder in the future.

Researchers from New York University looked at how people's musical preferences correlate with their psychopathic tendencies.And unlike Hannibal Lecter - a psychopath portrayed in the 1991 blockbuster, Silence of the Lambs - who had a fondness for classical music, it appears that psychopaths are more likely to prefer rap.

In the study, 200 people were played 260 songs, and took tests to assess their psychopathic score.The results showed that people with the highest psychopath scores were the biggest fans of rap songs, including No Diggity by Blackstreet, and Lose Yourself by Eminem.

Public Service Broadcasting take their instrumental music to lofty, political heights

Public Service Broadcasting have made waves with their new album, Every Valley. The album is definitely not your typical adolescent trope on the vicissitudes of love and loss. Deeply empowering and phenomenally rich in storytelling, the band made its sophomore release a story about miners – specifically, miners from Wales.

　　Comprised of multi-instrumentalists J Willgoose Esq, Wrigglesworth, and JF Abraham, the band brings a curious mish-mash of genres — echoing the stylistic power of post-punk, electronica, krautrock and punk rock — together to create an intriguing narrative from start to end on Every Valley.
　　As if their musicality isn't enough to impress you, the story behind the album is interesting – and we had the changes to speak to frontman Willgoose (whom we will affectionately call J) about the bands thought process behind it, as well as about the thrills and spills of touring.
　　Instrumentation was, of course, the first questions on your mind – the band professes to have the trusty flugelhorn in their gear cabinets, among other standard instruments like the keys, guitars, and drums.
　　“Our bass player is a classically trained trumpet player by trade and he plays the flugelhorn as well," J shares, "and I think for him playing the bass and playing the keys – those are the things that he picked up just for fun."
　　"I’m self-taught and from a very different way of writing and thinking about music," J says. "The drummer, as well you know, he did a degree in drum studies so he’s not really a kind of very accomplished drummer. He’s a percussionist — he can play tuned percussion like the vibraphone on this album or the glockenspiel. It just gives you more options to work with really.”

Dillon Francis Drops Spanish-Language 'Say Less' Remix 'No Diga Mas': Listen

Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee have had so much success with their English-language remix of “Despacito” -- shout out to Justin Bieber -- that Dillon Francisfigured it might work in reverse for his tune “Say Less.”

That actually might have nothing to do with it, but it doesn't change the fact that Francis just released a Spanish-language version of the song called “No Diga Mas.” It features vocals from Mexican rapper Serko Fu and it's pretty damn spicy. It also follows a bogus threat by Francis to stop using social media for the rest of the year, which is pretty funny, given the theme at hand.
The lyrics here are not a straight translation from the English version, but the spirit of the song is essentially the same. It doesn't matter who you are. When it's 2 in the morning, you're either going home with someone or you're going home alone.

Classical music app to send programme notes to your phone as orchestra plays

Classical music-lovers are not famous for their tolerance of distractions during a concert.
Anyone who has been tutted at for turning the pages of their programme too loudly may be permitted a wry smile at news of the latest innovation: an app which texts notes straight to ticket-holders’phones.

The app, Octava, is intended to “assist the participant through a musical journey”, with Chris Evans, director of press and marketing at RPO, saying its tone is “specifically aimed towards new and potentially younger audiences”.

The app has already raised eyebrows in the classical community, after BBC Music magazine featured it in a review.
“I was surprised to see you endorse Octava, an app which sends texts to your phone during a performance with information about the music,” one concerned reader wrote in this month’s edition. “

Summer Classical Music Preview

Operatic productions, given their ambitions and expense, are always planned at least a year in advance. But, in making their selections for this summer, the region’s major players uncannily reflected our moment of deep political unease. One of the two productions that Francesca Zambello, who runs Glimmerglass Opera, in Cooperstown, is directing herself is the Donizetti rarity "The Siege of Calais" (July 16-Aug. 19), which takes place during the Hundred Years’ War. Zambello has moved the setting to the present day, the better to reflect on the refugee crisis in which all of Europe is currently embroiled. (Zambello will also direct "Porgy and Bess," an opera whose political dimensions are a permanent part of the American experience.) Those who prefer their bel canto straight up can always head to Caramoor, where Angela Meade, one of the Westchester festival’s artists-in-residence, will be featured in a semi-staged presentation of Bellini’s "Il Pirata"
Dvořák’s "Dimitrij," which will be mounted at Bard Summerscape (July 28-Aug. 6), also has a political thrust. The Bard Music Festival’s focus this year will be on Chopin (Aug. 11-20), a composer whose fierce love of his native Poland was wrapped in layers of personal and aesthetic contradiction. But without a Chopin opera to stage, Dvořák’s potent work, which plunges gamely into the ancient intra-Slavic conflict between Catholic Poland and Orthodox Russia which flared up after the death of the tsar Boris Godunov, makes a fine substitute.

Back in New York, Mostly Mozart has shown wisdom in bringing back the thrillingly radical production of "Don Giovanni" (Aug. 17 and Aug. 19) by the conductor Iván Fischer, one of several prominent Hungarian artists who have spoken out against that country’s increasing tolerance of anti-Semitism and homophobia. The festival’s other theatrical presentation is "The Dark Mirror," a staging of Schubert’s "Winterreise," featuring the captivating tenor Ian Bostridge (Aug. 12-13), which continues New York’s near-obsession with this most personal of composers. (Tanglewood also presents a series of Schubert concerts this summer.) Seeming to float above it all is Morton Subotnick, the electronic-music pioneer whom the Lincoln Center Festival is hosting at the Kaplan Penthouse (July 20-22). "Silver Apples of the Moon," created, in 1967, specifically for a recording on Nonesuch Records, will provide a fix of analog-era high-tech bliss. But its new companion work, "Crowds and Power," is based on Elias Canetti’s disturbing book from 1960, a volume that, sadly, remains just as relevant as ever.

Listen to Our Music Podcasts

The new Soundtrack podcasts on music made by Roskilde Libraries is an extra effort
to make music and artists relevant to a wide audience

"We are not the first to make podcasts in the world, but it is rarely seen in the libraries' music area. We think that people in a broad sense can get a good opening to an artist or genre, they may not know as well.
Put simply, a podcast about Jan Johansson enable you to converse at a dinner table with jazz enthusiasts. It has a length, for example, are well suited to the morning queue on the approach roads into the work on the smart phone or tablet, "says librarian Ulla Hoberg Lyhne.

The current podcasts are being released under the name of Language and are made based on the themes of the popular listening clubs like Roskilde Libraries regularly hold.
The first podcasts from Roskilde Libraries expresses span: Jan Johansson, PJ Harvey, Prince, Trip Hop and The Marriage of Figaro = one jazzman, two popular rock artists, a profiled genre and an opera.

They are made in single-brand compact 2-minute versions or full approximately 15-minute ditto.

"As a library we are dedicated to disclose information, knowledge and cultural activity. With the new podcasts we work with curated content and user future media technology opportunities to get acquainted with the citizens", says Ulla Hoberg Lyhne.

These listening clubs is a very direct form of exchange of pleasure and knowledge of the music and the artists in a curated jointly at the library. Soundtrack-podcasts bring the substance from there on out in the digital community.

The library in Roskilde is in progress with several other music inspired initiatives under the title Music X, which makes much of the community and involve users in workshops and other activities.

The podcast project in Roskilde is supported by the Palaces and Culture Authority's development pool for public libraries and educational learning centers. And there are more to come where they come from.

Musical Couple

So ..... now there is finally new here on the blog. I am terribly sorry that it has not happened before and I'll do what I can for that not to happen again!

There has recently been much at home on the private front and it took all my time. But .... now it seems as if the musical ideas again have come to me and then it's just about to get started :-)

Today I made a small task for the smaller children: Artistic couple.

Pictured is a massive photos of things that have to do with music. These must be paired with each other in pairs, so they fit together. So sit down with the kids, turn off your phone and TV, and let them put highlights from the right pair. A good idea is to let the lines be different colors, so you can navigate them. If I have the energy, try to talk with the children and the various elements - on how to play the piano / violin, directs etc.

Echoes are currently arranging an interactive classical music place for children in Gentofte, here it will be possible for the children to play with Mozart dolls, guess instruments, listen to underwater music and more.

Have a very nice sunny day and enjoy with even a musical game of echoes.

How we made: Stop the Cavalry

Jona Lewie, singer and songwriter

I never intended for this to become a Christmas single. It started life as an antiwar song. I had this line in my head – “Can you stop the gallantry?” – and found a melody for it. Then I changed “gallantry” to “cavalry” and everything just fell into place.

I started thinking about the Crimean war and the Light Brigade, about how officers would yell “Charge!” and few of the men who did so would come back. Then I started thinking about other scenarios, like the trenches in both world wars. Back then, in the late 1970s and early 80s, the possibility of nuclear war felt very real, so I also penned the line: “Mary Bradley waits at home, in the nuclear fallout zone.”

The opening line – “Hey, Mr Churchill comes over here / To say we’re doing splendidly” – wasn’t a dig at Churchill, who was a great leader during the war. I just imagined a tired private who was fed up with Churchill forever trying to gee up the troops, who would be shot if they deserted. I imagined my soldier standing for prime minister and saying: “If I get elected, I will stop the cavalry.”

I signed to Stiff Records with 50 demos to my name. When I played Stop the Cavalry to Dave Robinson, who founded Stiff, he said it was “just another antiwar song”. I’d just bought an electronic keyboard – the Poly Moog, as used by Gary Numan – so I went back and beefed up the arrangement, playing the melody on a kazoo. Dave loved it.

The festive angle came from the line: “I wish I was at home for Christmas.” My soldier is in the trenches, daydreaming about Christmas dinner with his family. When we recorded it properly, I got a Salvation Army brass band to play the kazoo parts and the co-producer, Bob Andrews, suggested adding a tubular bell. That made it even more Christmassy. To make the video, we went trudging around London’s Hampstead Heath in military gear in late November 1980. It was snowing and I was freezing cold and bloody uncomfortable. So you could say I was method acting.

The song sold 4m copies. It was kept off the top slot that Christmas because John Lennon had just been murdered. He was at No 1 and No 2. I was just thinking: “Wow! I’m at No 3!” The song has been on Christmas compilations ever since. I earn more from Stop the Cavalry than from the rest of my songs put together. It was the biggest hit I’d had since Seaside Shuffle with Terry Dactyl and the Dinosaurs.

Jona had songs coming out of his ears. He’d talk for hours about how every one of them was a work of genius. My wife still shudders to remember how I wouldn’t come home for ages because I’d be in a meeting with Jona.

I thought “Hey Mr Churchill” was a bit corny, but Jona’s lyrics were always very out there. I got Bob in to produce the single and he got a great synthesiser sound, but Jona didn’t like anyone interfering with his material, so they fought all the time. Jona would have met someone at the bus stop who’d told him a grand piano was the perfect instrument for it.

I’ve always loved a Christmas single. I think it was me who suggested the brass band, actually, to make it more Christmassy. We argued over that too. Jona’s a passionate, lovely, talented geezer. He has tapes full of ideas, and never gives up on any of them. He recently played me some ideas for a new album. I said: “Jona, these are the same songs I rejected 35 years ago.”

EXID Hit #1 On Domestic Music Charts With 'Hot Pink' Comeback

On Nov. 18 at midnight, EXID dropped the music video for their highly anticipated comeback single 'Hot Pink', their first release since 'Ah Yeah' topped charts in back in May 2015.

The music video features the five girls working as gas station employees, refilling customer's cars with "Pink Oil" instead of gasoline while singing, dancing, and striking sexy poses. The members continue until the police arrive, when they scatter. The final scene shows the slowly members walking towards the investigating police officers while holding wrtenches behind their backs.

At 8 AM on the morning after the song was released, it had already reached #1 on 5 music charts: Genie, Olleh Music, Bugs, Soribada,and Monkey3. It is also highly ranked on other charts, reaching #2 on Naver Music and #4 on Melon and Mnet.

EXID performed 'Hot Pink' live for the first time on Show Champion on Nov. 18th.

Before the release of the single, EXID held a live V app broadcast titled "ALL DAY EXID Lightning Party" where they greeted and answered fan questions. Watch the music video below!

CMJ weekend: Weaves, Diet Cig and Donovan Wolfington audition as indie's 'great hope'

CMJ’s final days were both more refined and ecstatic than its start; it seemed just as the festival was gathering a kind of fluency and velocity, it was over. On Saturday in the Pianos upstairs alcove Weaves singer Jasmyn Burke walked toward her microphone in a hat and veil, looking as if she were about to tend bees. The Toronto band’s music accordingly swarms in and out of elastic shapes. Songs that could function as straightforward indie rock have been warped and distended until they seem to obey a kind of flawed gravity.

Burke’s delivery contrasts with the ecstatic backing, but it also contains a kind of neutral chaos that’s reminiscent of Jonathan Richman. I had also seen Weaves on Wednesday (they’d played Pianos every day this week), where the frustrations of a deflating microphone stand caused Burke to eventually inch across the floor of Cake Shop on her back. They’re easily the most exciting band I saw at CMJ.

Afterwards I walked to Webster Hall in order to see New Orleans punk band Donovan Wolfington in its adjacent Studio. Neil Berthier and Matthew Seferian played a granular and occasionally obscure form of pop-punk that was also melodically and personally accessible; they looked as if they were playing for a group of their friends. (Berthier later clarified, they were; several friends from the band’s past were in attendance).

When I took the train into Brooklyn to see Liverpool trio Stealing Sheep at Knitting Factory, I made a pleasant discovery which seems unique to the atmosphere of CMJ: every band I wanted to see was playing in the same place. Stealing Sheep themselves were delightfully oblique; their songs refused to resolve, built out of gleaming, phosphorescent synth tones and delayed blurs of guitar, and they walked onstage in leotards and sunglasses, appearing as alien as their music.

The Album Leaf, a collective formed in the late 90s around musician Jimmy Lavalle, played afterward, and the Knitting Factory seemed filled to near-capacity for the first time I can remember. They traded mostly in gentle, electronic textures, occasionally grazed by the curve of a violin or a weightless voice. The bands I had seen that day were either willfully loud or shattered and digressive enough in structure to require constant focus, so this kind of modest glacial drift was both welcome and extremely pleasant in experience.

Half of the Knitting Factory emptied out before Eternal Summers, which was a shame; their starry, restlessly shimmering guitar pop reawakened the space atomically. Singer and guitarist Nicole Yun sang in phrases both gentle and forceful, a quality shared by the music, a warming sun. The final band to play the Knitting Factory on Saturday, Diet Cig, went on at 1.30am. Guitarist Alex Luciano encouraged everyone in the audience to stretch and awake, and the simple yet emotionally exposed guitar pop she makes with drummer Noah Bowman pulled the crowd into an entirely new velocity; it suddenly felt like one in the afternoon. “This stage is so big,” Luciano remarked before leaping across it in stunning arcs.

Her energy transferred to everyone else, and the entire space became animated. I saw them do this again the next night; even though CMJ was technically over, an unofficial showcase was held at Palisades by Father/Daughter Records and Miscreant, the theme of which was “homecoming”. Just before their set the soundman played Shake It Off, which everyone, including Luciano, danced to almost symphonically. When they played, Luciano performed the same elastic moves in an inelastic, flowing gown; behind her homecoming decorations fell in glittering tendrils. It was an appropriate, atomically charged ending to a CMJ that almost organically acquired dynamic force.

Bob Dylan's latest Bootleg Series release to cover his classic 1965/66 recording

Bob Dylan … Whole lotta listening. Photograph: Bettmann/CORBIS

The latest instalment of Bob Dylan’s Bootleg Series looks set to be most exciting set yet. Ultimate Classic Rock reports that The Cutting Edge 1965-66: The Bootleg Series Vol 12 will include demos, unheard versions and outtakes from Dylan’s “thin, wild mercury sound” period, which saw him release the albums Bringing It All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde on Blonde.

Though there has been no official statement from Dylan’s camp or from Sony Legacy, the label that releases The Bootleg Series albums, the report seems credible, based on information the Guardian has seen. Ultimate Classic Rock reports that the set will come in three different versions – a two-CD set, a six-disc edition, and an 18-disc package, which will include comprehensive coverage of the sessions for Like a Rolling Stone.

If the18-CD set manages to come anywhere near 80 minutes of music per disc, it will include around 21 hours of recordings, which would allow scope to include an enormous amount of the material Dylan recorded in during an incredibly fertile period.

The report says the set will include one of the great unreleased sessions of Dylan’s career – the original recordings for Blonde on Blonde, made with the Band, before Dylan scrapped that version of the album and decamped to Nashville to record it with session musicians from the city.

UPDATE: Since the Ultimate Classic Rock report was published, Sony Legacy has confirmed the release.

    The Cutting Edge 1965-1966: The Bootleg Series Vol. 12 - Deluxe Edition brings together for the first time many of the most sought-after recordings of the entire Dylan canon. Here, across 6 CDs, are previously unheard Dylan songs, studio outtakes, rehearsal tracks, alternate working versions of familiar hits – including the complete Like a Rolling Stone session – and more.

    The Best of The Cutting Edge 1965-1966: The Bootleg Series Vol.12 is available in a 2CD or 3 12” vinyl LP set and brings together some of the musical high points of the deluxe and super-deluxe collections.

    An 18CD Collector’s Edition of The Cutting Edge 1965-1966: The Bootleg Series Vol. 12 will be available exclusively on BobDylan.com. Limited to a worldwide pressing of only 5,000 copies, this 18CD edition will include every note recorded during the 1965-1966 sessions, every alternate take and alternate lyric. All previously unreleased recordings have been mixed, utilizing the original studio tracking tapes as the source, eliminating unwanted 1960s-era studio processing and artifice. The 18CD edition includes Dylan’s original nine mono 45 RPM singles released during the time period, packaged in newly created picture sleeves featuring global images from the era. The limited edition includes rare hotel room recordings from the Savoy Hotel in London (May 4, 1965), the North British Station Hotel in Glasgow (May 13, 1966) and a Denver, Colorado hotel (March 12, 1966) as well as a strip of original film cels from “Don’t Look Back.”

Girls' Generation's Taeyeon's Solo Album Confirmed With No Release Dat

SNSD Tae Yeon's First Single

Girls' Generation's leader, Taeyeon will be releasing her first solo album after debuting.

On September 10th, a media group said, "Taeyeon is preparing to release a solo album within the year. Until now, she has recorded a lot of OSTs and digital albums but this is the first time she has recorded an album of her own."

According to this report, Taeyeon's release date will depend on how quickly she could film the music video and when the editing portion can be done.  She is working her hardest to get the help from her staff members in hopes it will add some momentum to the album.

When SM Entertainment was asked to comment on a possible release date, they have also confirmed there isn't a definite release date set in stone.

The Velvet Underground's Loaded gets the six-disc reissue treatment

The Velvet Underground … This would be the last time Lou Reed smiled for 23 years. Photograph: Everett Collection / Rex Feature/Everett Collection / Rex Feature

The last few years have seen the Velvet Underground’s career comprehensively overhauled, with a series of album rereleases featuring scores of bonus discs containing unreleased live recordings and demos. Now the process has reached the group’s final album with Lou Reed, Loaded, which is to emerge in a six-disc edition on 30 October.

Loaded was already given an overhaul in 2004 with the 2CD set Fully Loaded, which featured alternate, unreleased versions of every song on the album, but the new one goes much, much further. As well as studio outtakes, single versions, demos and alternate mixes, the new edition contains two live albums, the first a version of Live at Max’s Kansas City, the album compiled from tapes the Andy Warhol associate Brigid Polk had made of Lou Reed’s last shows with the band. Curiously, this version is contracted from the 2CD edition of the album released in 2004.

The second album captures the group live at Second Fret in Philadelphia in May 1970, a show that has been much bootlegged. The group played at Second Fret three times that year, and many bootlegs pick from the three shows. This release captures the whole 11-song set.

The full tracklisting for the set is:

Disc One: Loaded Remastered

1. Who Loves The Sun
2. Sweet Jane – Full Length Version
3. Rock & Roll – Full Length Version
4. Cool It Down
5. New Age
6. Head Held High
7. Lonesome Cowboy Bill
8. I Found A Reason
9. Train Round The Bend
10. Oh! Sweet Nuthin’

Session Outtakes:

11. I’m Sticking With You – New Remix
12. Ocean
13. Love You
14. Ride Into The Sun

Disc Two: Loaded Remastered: Promotional Mono Version

1. Who Loves The Sun
2. Sweet Jane – Full Length Version
3. Rock & Roll – Full Length Version
4. Cool It Down
5. New Age
6. Head Held High
7. Lonesome Cowboy Bill
8. I Found A Reason
9. Train Round The Bend
10. Oh! Sweet Nuthin’
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Singles and B-Sides

11. Who Loves The Sun
12. Oh! Sweet Nuthin’
13. Rock & Roll *
14. Lonesome Cowboy Bill *

Disc Three: Demos, Early Versions and Alternate Mixes

Demos
1. Rock & Roll – Demo
2. Sad Song – Demo
3. Satellite Of Love – Demo
4. Walk And Talk – Demo
5. Oh Gin – Demo
6. Ocean – Demo
7. I Love You – Demo
8. Love Makes You Feel Ten Feet Tall – Demo Remix
9. I Found A Reason – Demo

Early Versions
10. Cool It Down – Early Version, Remix
11. Sweet Jane – Early Version, Remix
12. Lonesome Cowboy Bill – Early Version, Remix
13. Head Held High – Early Version, Remix
14. Oh! Sweet Nuthin’ – Early Version, Remix

Alternate Mixes
15. Who Loves The Sun – Alternate Mix
16. Sweet Jane – Alternate Mix
17. Cool It Down – Alternate Mix
18. onesome Cowboy Bill – Alternate Mix
19. Train Round The Bend – Alternate Mix
20. Head Held High – Alternate Mix
21. Rock & Roll – Alternate Mix

Disc Four: Live At Max’s Kansas City Remastered

1. I’m Waiting For The Man
2. White Light/White Heat
3. I’m Set Free
4. Sweet Jane
5. Lonesome Cowboy Bill
6. New Age
7. Beginning To See The Light
8. I’ll Be Your Mirror
9. Pale Blue Eyes
10. Candy Says
11. Sunday Morning
12. After Hours
13. Femme Fatale
14. Some Kinda Love
15. Lonesome Cowboy Bil” – Version 2

Disc Five: Live At Second Fret, Philadelphia, 1970*

1. I’m Waiting For The Man
2. What Goes On
3. Cool It Down
4. Sweet Jane
5. Rock & Roll
6. Some Kinda Love
7. New Age
8. Candy Says
9. Head Held High
10. Train Round The Bend
11. Oh! Sweet Nuthin’

*previously unreleased

Disc Six: Audio DVD

96/24 Hi-Resolution Surround Sound Remix
96/24 Hi-Resolution Stereo Downmix
96/24 Hi-Resolution Original Stereo Mix

Noel Gallagher: relationship with my brother was Oasis's achilles heel

Noel Gallagher: ‘What people are refusing to accept is that the 90s were brilliant.’ Photograph: BBC Radio 4/PA

Cast away on BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs, Noel Gallagher is to reveal the secret of his relationship with his brother, Liam, and to mount a sturdy defence of the 1990s, the era of BritPop and New Labour.

He will also comment on his use of drugs and on his status as a songwriter, explaining ruefully: “Put it this way, I am not as revered by the press as Thom Yorke or Damon Albarn. That is just a fact.”

Assessing the impact of Oasis, the band he set up with his brother, he says: “On our day we were great. People are there now at my concerts that weren’t even born then and they are crying at Oasis songs. All all over the world people are still in massively in love with that band – and none more so than me.”

On the subject of the rows with Liam that eventually caused the breakup of the band, Gallagher, 48, explains: “The way it worked was, when were not slagging each other off, that’s when were telling each other that we loved each other. That’s it. Clearly there was a point where he was the greatest singer in the world and it was great. It just so happens that the two of us we like to call a spade a spade. But it was very sarcastic mud-slinging.”

Gallagher tells presenter Kirsty Young that the pair had got on well as children in Burnage, Manchester. “He was an irritant though, because we shared a bedroom. When you are 10 and your brother is five it is a lifetime away and so I never hung out with any of his friends, but, yeah, we got on.” In the band, their sibling status was a mixed blessing, he adds. “You can gain some strength from being in a band with your brother when everyone else is a stranger, but as time goes on it becomes your achilles heel because you know how to push each other’s buttons.”

Gallagher, who has played solo and with his band High Flying Birds since 2009, confesses that in 1998 he realised the last three Oasis albums had all been created “on drugs”. “Not all of Oasis were on drugs though. Just effectively me and Liam,” he says. A move out to the country was followed by “a moment of clarity” when he found a stranger in his kitchen the morning after a party and decided to give up drugs.

“I have good willpower. It was one of the greatest things I have ever done,” he says, explaining he met his second wife, Sarah MacDonald, shortly after this.

Choosing the music of many of his heroes, such as David Bowie and the Smiths, to take to the desert island, Gallagher says he still regards the Beatles as “the greatest thing in music that ever was”.

Contrasting his heyday in the 1990s with the “gloomy, dark, fractured times” of the 70s and 80s, before the arrival of the “modern man”, Gallagher tells Young that people “have to admit” the Britpop era was great.

“What people are refusing to accept is that the 90s were brilliant. Think about that time, with Thatcher being ushered out and New Labour coming in. And Oasis, Blur and Pulp all those bands in the top five all the time. They were great days.”

He selects Jack Kerouac’s On the Road as his Desert Island Book, explaining it is the only book he has ever read..