June/July issue of Perfect Sound Forever now online

In the latest issue of Perfect Sound Forever, you'll find (among other things):

360 DEALS
Good or bad for artists?
"If labels want to continue to enjoy whatever remnants of record-sale success that are left, and avoid a seemingly inevitable demise, they must look beyond simply artist development to bring in success, sales, and most importantly, longevity, to their artists. And there exists a relatively new and very promising practice to (hopefully) do just that: The 360 Deal."

EEK A MOUSE
Reggae toasting star
"Eek-A-Mouse is an important figure in the history of dancehall music because, more than anyone else, he proved that, with dancehall, what you have to say is as important as the way you say it. In other words, flow, delivery and "style" are as important as, and sometimes more important than, what you have to say. "

DANNY FIELDS
Stooges/MC5/Ramones owe him- extensive interview
"The basics: early on, during the sixties, he spent time with Andy Warhol & the Factory crowd. From there he became the "house hippie" at Elektra Records, working with the Doors & Love amongst others, and was also responsible for the label signing the MC5 and the Stooges in one day."

BOBBY FLORES
Texas fiddles rule
"Texas has countless singers, songwriters and musicians. And in the midst of this great state, there is one voice that stands above all others. A voice so pure that it is like silk flowing across the air, gently reaching inside your head, and leaving a mark forever on you."

GUITAR SLIM
Great forgotten bluesman/showman
"On February 7, 1959, Eddie “Guitar Slim” Jones died of complications from pneumonia in New York City. While he was on an East Coast tour of one-nighters, his breathing had become increasingly difficult... Five years earlier, Slim had a number-one hit on the Billboard R&B charts for six weeks straight..."

JERO
Enka ballads-Japanese star
"On one (audition) for NHK television, he caught his break, and was signed by a label. Two years of voice training later, and in early '08 he had a stage name: Jero. He also had a single and video: umiyuki or, Marine Snow. Then he blew up."

MY BLOODY VALENTINE
"Loveless" era interview
"Kevin Shields used to be Garbo or at least Brian Wilson between say 1968-1976. But like Wilson he has emerged and now he just can't seem to shut up. I mean he even was videoed for close to an hour by Ian Svenonious. But when Loveless was being made he didn't talk that much."

DEXTER ROMWEBER
Rockabilly roots-rock
"Dex is a musician's musician. But any old soul can hear how he channels spirits through his guitar. For every performance, his face twists into a demon grimace, a gnarled sneer. His eyes glaze over. He rocks on his heels, stamps his feet in a ragged dance. He doesn't know any other way."

CHRIS SCHLARB
Guitarist/composer/improver
"From his home in the unlikely improv hotspot of Long Beach, California, guitarist and composer Chris Schlarb has battled many odds in turning off-the-cuff creativity into his bread and butter. For more than a decade, Schlarb has crossed all boundaries with his guitar and structured compositions both traditional and modernistic, while leaving plenty of room for free expression."

TELEPHONE HOLD MUSIC
A fevered quest for muzak
"What solace it would be to wait accompanied by some sort of overly vacuumed sound, odiferous of no particular genre or anti-genre, or spuriously genre-bending torsion, some sonorous squeaking air pumped with a few plashes of mildly distasteful keyboard sounds, rounding themselves into a torpor."

GIANLUIGI TROVESI
Italian jazz & beyond
"Led by a classically trained Italian clarinetist Gianluigi Trovesi, the album "Vaghissimo Ritratto" references twentieth century composition, minimalism, Italian pop, the traditional music of his own lands and even Renaissance period music."

VINYL RESURGENCE
Why does the media love this story only now?
"Back in October, I commented on the mainstream press' acceptance of the so-called comeback of vinyl and the flood of articles that resulted from these somewhat delayed observations. More than six months later, this journalistic trend has yet to ebb. I'm still not seeing a lot of original conclusions drawn by these reporters."

VELVET UNDERGROUND
In conjunction with Richie Unterberger's new VU book, their debut engineer (and unofficial co-producer) speaks
"When the Velvets and their management were ready to record their first album in April 1966, it was Norman Dolph to whom they turned when they needed to acquire professional studio time. For good measure, Norman also split the costs for the sessions with the VU's management. He even, along with engineer John Licata, ended up pretty much running those sessions..."

TOM WAITS
Exclusive excerpt from Barney Hoskyn's new bio details TW's 80's renaissance
"Like the most uncompromising singer-songwriters of the decade just past ­ Dylan, Young, Bowie, and others ­ Waits decided it was time to reinvent himself, to shake off everything he'd stood for. It was make or break, a bloodless coup that would dispense with all and any safety nets..."


PLUS... You can hear some of the artists featured in latest issue at our Last FM channel


We're always looking for good writers and/or ideas so let us know if you have anything to share.

See you online,
Jason