News from the darkest corners...

British indie-punkers Redtrack consist of Billy Wright (guitar/vox), Phil Blake (bass/vox), Mitch Silvey (guitar/vox/keys) and Andrew Perry (drums). They come from Southend-On-Sea, their bass player has survived an attack with a meat cleaver and they reckon they sound like a cross between Girls Aloud and The Clash.

‘Whole Town’s Heart’ is their debut album and will be released on Monday 30th August. It is chewy and tuneful and, with its small-town panic attacks and punchy new wave melodic jabs, sees them nodding towards the classic Britpopesque heritage of Weller, Difford and Costello. Small wonder then that punkoid peer Pete Shelley from The Buzzcocks was so enamored with their tunes that he co-produced (alongside Dave M Allen) their last single, ‘Poledancer’, which appears on this here album. That isn’t the only celebrity light shining on ‘Whole Town’s Heart, as it features a feisty guest appearance from ‘Hollyoaks’ starlet Hollie Jay Bowes on ‘Pretty Boy’, a spin-off from the band’s recent performance on the show and they have a celebrity fan in actor Ray Winstone who suggested he could join them on a track in the future.

‘Whole Town’s Heart’ is also the first ever album release on Label Fandango, the Pointy Recordings / Fierce Panda offshoot which has previously concentrated on ace singles by the likes of Broken Records, Fanfarlo, Air Traffic and more.

As for that somewhat daring reference to Girls Aloud and The Clash? Listen to future single ‘The Trier’ and try to keep your blue suede shoe planted firmly to the ground as they perform a number headline dates in the UK this summer before a series of shows supporting legendary punkers THE BUZZCOCKS in September!

Download “Imogen” by Redtrack for free.

The Frank Zappa Family Trust have made four Frank Zappa releases available as downloads.

The albums “Buffalo”, “Everthing Is Healing Nicely”, “Imaginary Diseases” and “FZ:OZ” can now be purchased in mp3 format (256kbps) or FLAC directly from Zappa.com. As far as we know these releases will not be made available on any other download stores.

Some 17 years after the original Beat The Boots boxes the Zappa Family Trust have released Beat The Boots III, a series of six album downloads of Frank Zappa material that was originally available on bootleg albums only.

The original volumes of Beat The Boots were released through Rhino Entertainment in 1991 and 1992 as part of Zappa’s campaign to dissuade his fans from buying illegal recordings of his concerts. This third volume in the series has so far been only made available as downloads on Amazon in the US, the UK and Germany and on Napster in the US. There has been no official announcement of these releases yet, so it’s not clear if these albums will also be released through iTunes or in any other format.

Available now on Zappa Records: a download of “Mothermania”, the 1969 Mother of Invention compilation, just in time for the 40th anniversary.

“Mothermania” was compiled by Frank Zappa himself and has never been officialy reissued since it’s initial release. The album contains various alternate versions of tracks from the first three Mother of Invention albums.

This Frank Zappa download is available in DRM-free, MP3 256KBPS and FLAC format. According to Zappa.com “FZ’s MP3’s will play on iPod® and all MP3 players.”

More downloads are said to be expected soon.

The Zappa Family Trust have released a new Frank Zappa “Birthday Bundle” on iTunes today. It includes five rare and unreleased tracks by Zappa himself, plus a selection of cover versions and related tracks.

More info here.

Spinal Frog Music, a.k.a. Daniel Corral from Alaska, has released his first digital-download album on his website. It is a 17 minute collage comprised of entirely endings taken from all styles of music. From Modest Mussorgsky to Modest Mouse or from Iannis Xenakis to Xavier Cugalis, these endings have come from all corners of the musical world to be re-contextualized as a part of a larger linear continuum.

Daniel’s Cadential Variations is only available as a download at www.spinalfrog.com.

A whole bunch of albums by ex-Zappa drummer Jimmy Carl Black, The Grandmothers and related projects is now available as downloads from CDBaby:

1. Junior Franklin and The Golden Echoes featuring Jimmy Carl Black: Live At KUT Radio
2. Jimmy Carl Black with Big Sonny & The Lo Boys: In Heat
3. Geronimo Black: Welcome Back Geronimo Black
4. The Grandmothers: Dreams On Long Play (Original Version)
5. The Grandmothers – Dreams On Long Play (Revised Version)
6. Jimmy Carl Black: Clearly Classic (Expanded Edition)
7. Jimmy Carl Black & The Mannish Boys: A Lil' Dab'l Do Ya
8. The Jimmy Carl Black Band: How Blue Can You Get?
9. Jimmy Carl Black & The X-Tra Combo: Mercedes Benz
10. Chris Holzhaus, Jimmy Carl Black & Louis Terrazas: I Just Got in From Texas
11. B.E.P. – Hamburger Midnight
12. Arthur Brown with Jimmy Carl Black – Brown, Black & Blue