Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Negativland pays tribute to Casey Kasem, Makes multitrack master of classic “U2” single available for re-mixing.

Culture-jamming band returns to store shelves with new album “It’s All In Your Head,” about belief in God, this fall.

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 Download the master tracks here to start re-inventing Negativland’s “U2” single

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San Francisco bay area-based culture-jamming band, Negativland, has broken its silence regarding the passing of Casey Kasem.  The late radio legend who passed on Father’s Day was featured prominently on Negativland’s 1991 maxi-single “U2,” which for better or worse, has been a touchstone of the band’s career ever since.

In tribute, Negativland is offering the original multi-track master of the song for free download with the intent of allowing anyone and everyone to re-work the seminal track. The band encourages this link to the files to be re-posted and shared.  Read more about the “U2” single and listen today courtesy of Slicing Up Eyeballs. A full statement from the band’s legal team can be found below.

Negativland has been back in the public eye recently as it preps a new album It’s All In Your Head for fall release this October. For more recent Negativland activities and topics of conversation, see the recent feature pieces on the band in Noisey and East Bay Express, an interview with Jake Fogelnest on his Fogelnest Files podcast, and the two-week spanning cover story from the Santa Cruz Weekly (1 | 2).

Negativland will be deep in the heart of Texas for a series of shows this week.  See below for dates and info.  Album details are forthcoming, but in typical Negativland fashion, It’s All In Your Head and its faith-examining content about belief in God, will be sure to spark conversation.

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Members of Negativland pose with their attorney, Hal Stakke

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 From: Hal Stakke, Legal Counsel/Seeland Records

Subject: In Memoriam, Kemal Amin “Casey” Kasem (27 April 1932 – 15 June 2014): Negativland releases “U2” tracks for remixing and reuse

One of the most beloved voices in music radio, Kemal Amin “Casey” Kasem, died on Fatherʼs Day 2014 after a long illness, and also a very public family squabble over his continuing care. Negativland pays tribute to this broadcasting legend by reaching into its vaults and presenting what is perhaps Kasemʼs best-known work, on Negativlandʼs long-unavailable “U2” maxi-single, offering up for public consumption (and now, for creative reuse) what has been hidden from view for 23 years.

In 1991, Negativlandʼs “U2” single had one of the shortest releases in music history, squashed like a bug after less than ten days on store shelves, under legal fire from the Irish rock band U2ʼs music publisher (Warner/Chappell) and then-record label (Island). The history of this fracas was detailed in Negativland’s book and CD release, “Fair Use: The Story of the Letter U and the Numeral 2” (Seeland 013).

Now, instead of merely reissuing the “U2” record itself, Negativland presents, for free digital download, the original un-mixed studio multi-track tape for re-mixing, re-purposing and re-inventing in whichever way the listener may choose. Negativland encourages the re-contextualization of this seminal work for whatever reason, whatsoever. In keeping with the working methods and philosophy of Negativland, and the Fair Use provision in U.S. Copyright Law (Section 107, http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html), the group offers up this raw material in the hopes that entirely new versions of the work are created and disseminated.

Listeners / remixers are encouraged to post their creations in these locations: www.negativland.com and https://www.facebook.com/Negativlandland. The original record as briefly released in 1991 may be heard via the band’s website here or via YouTube here.

Negativland is a San Francisco Bay Area-based group which has been making music and collage since 1980, releasing more than 25 albums on CD and LP on their own Seeland record label. Their newest work, Itʼs All In Your Head, a long-form “collage documentary” about belief in God, will be released on Seeland in October.

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Negativland Live

06/18 Houston, TX Aurora Picture Show (INFO)
06/19 Austin, TX Alamo Drafthouse (INFO)
06/20 Austin, TX Red 7 (INFO)
06/21 Dallas, TX The Texas Theatre (INFO)

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Negativland Links


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Contact Josh Bloom at Fanatic Promotion


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