New Zealander Chris Sheehan (real name Chris Starling) has lost his long battle with Stage 4 metastatic nodular

His musical career includes founding band The Starlings, and performing with Curve, Babylon Zoo, the Sisters of Mercy and Mutton Birds. His time playing guitar with The Sisters of Mercy was the 1996 Roadkill-Tour, and then again from 2000-2003, during the Trip The Light Fantastic, Exxile On Euphoria, the Summer Europe 2002 and Smoke And Mirrors tours, leaving the band in 2005.

Source; Post-punk.com

Literature features Kevin Attics, Nathaniel Cardaci, Chris Schackerman, and Seth Whaland. Attics, who’d written for numerous music trades as a teen, met Cardaci and Whaland at the house venue they both operated in Austin, TX. Cardaci and Whaland each ran small imprint labels and, a million adventures later, the trio decided to form a band. Upon moving to Philadelphia the group befriended Schackerman who also joined the fold.

In 2012, following a well-received single and a track on Gerard Cosloy’s “Casual Victim Pile II” compilation they released their debut album, Arab Spring, which became a cult hit within the indiepop community. That album is sharp and immediate, almost mod-ish in its attack, but always tuneful and going for melody where it counts. They toured the US in support, and have performed with the likes of The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Eternal Summers, Ted Leo, Sic Alps, White Fence, Gentlemen Jesse, Hospitality, and Brown Recluse. They also appeared on Terre T's Cherry Blossom Clinic.

In 2013 they released a follow-up 7”, “Tie Dye” and contributed a track to Esopus Magazine alongside artists like Jens Lekman and The Shins. They also played at that year’s NYC Popfest, which helped cement the buzz that was steadily growing amongst savvy pop fans. Arab Spring was treated to a re-mastered re-press, which followed the first pressing and quickly sold out.

Autumn of 2013 saw the band begin work on their second album, Chorus, with lauded engineer Gary Olson (whose body of work includes records by Crystal Stilts, Mad Scene and The Beets) at his Marlborough Farms studio in Brooklyn, NY. As a beautiful autumn turned into one of the harshest winters in recent memory, Olson and the band began stretching out, enhancing the album with studio techniques dating back to the late 60s including true-tape flanging, sending vocals through Leslie speaker cabinets, and the same analog style of automatic double-tracking created at Abbey Road Studios.

The result is an album that is as immediate as it is timeless, full of effortlessly catchy and well-crafted tunes that echo pop legends like The Smiths and Orange Juice. All of that time in the studio has resulted in a rich, considered sound that puts the band's arranging and playing front and center. Chorus is one of the most exciting pop records in years, and marks Literature at true contenders.

The Belgian atmospheric black/death metal band THURISAZ and their label Sleazy Rider Records have set January 24th of 2015 as release-date for their new upcoming CD/DVD entitled 'Thurisaz: Live & Acoustic'. The cover artwork and track listing can be seen below. 

The band has the following to say about 'Thurisaz: Live & Acoustic': "Thurisaz has always been more than just heavy songs with distorted guitars, growls and screams... There has always been a more softer and emotional side to Thurisaz... Often acoustic songs with mainly clean vocals and emotional lyrics. We never wanted to play those songs live before, because we felt that playing them amongst the heavier songs wouldn't do them justice. But throughout the years we realised that a lot of the fans also appreciate this other side of Thurisaz. That's why, in september 2013, we decided it was time for a new challenge: an acoustic show with all the songs we didn't play before. We didn't want to bring the songs too literally, we wanted to add something special that would raise the songs a few levels. The aim was to bring a total experience, in a cool venue, with live projections, an awesome lightshow and of course additional strings. It was also a chance to pay hommage to the bands that influenced us throughout the years. It took us 9 months of hard work, but in the end we gave birth to something beautiful that made it all worthwhile... "

'Thurisaz: Live & Acoustic' track listing:

1. Symbols

2. Interlude I

3. Years Of Silence

4. Finality (Woods Of Ypres cover)

5. Never To Return

6. A Natural Disaster (Anathema cover)

7. Inner Voices

8. Interlude II

9. Broken

10. Fading Dreams

11. My Kantele (Amorphis cover)

12. Past Perfect

The CD/DVD was recorded and filmed in front of a live audience and with a choir on the 1st of March 2014 at a sold-out show in 'GC Forum' in Wervik, the band's hometown.

Special Guests: Els Blieck: vocals, Inge Van De Wiele: violin, Lore Van Loock: violin, Gudrun Bovyn: cello 

Filmed by Jo Geysen and Christophe Blomme 

Directed and edited by Jo Geysen 

Sound recording and mixing by Nik Mettez and Peter Theuwen 

Lights by Daan Vermote 

Video projections by Jeroen Bille 

The first single 'A Natural Disaster' (Anathema cover) can be streamed through 

Sacred Bones is pleased to announce the digital deluxe version of John Carpenter's 'Lost Themes' which includes exclusive remixes from the album composed by a handful of select producers at the forefront of modern electronic music. 

The remixers include Zola Jesus with Dean Hurley, JG Thirlwell, Blanck Mass (Ben Power of Fuck Buttons), ohGr (Skinny Puppy), Silent Servant (Jealous God / Downwards) and Bill Kouligas (PAN label head) who all have put their creative spin on the original works. 

Additionally, renegade auteur John Carpenter will make a rare New York appearance at BAM on Thursday, February 5 to discuss his legendary career and celebrate the release of his debut solo album, Lost Themes.

Boasting “one of the most consistent and coherent bodies of work in modern cinema” (Kent Jones, Film Comment), Carpenter injects B-movie genres—horror, sci-fi, action—with the bravura stylistic technique of classical Hollywood giants like Howard Hawks, John Ford, and Alfred Hitchcock, and composes the scores for nearly all of his films.

Carpenter will be joined by Brooke Gladstone, host of NPR’s On the Media, for a wide-ranging discussion of his film and music. Hist first non-soundtrack work, Lost Themes will be released the week of the event on Sacred Bones Records. Additionally BAMcinématek will host a month long film retrospective of all of Carpenter’s feature films from Feb. 6-22. Tickets go on sale December 18 for the talk and film retrospective

Lost Themes Digital Deluxe Tracklist:

1. Vortex

2. Obsidian

3. Fallen

4. Domain

5. Mystery

6. Abyss

7. Wraith

8. Purgatory

9. Night

10. Night (Zola Jesus & Dean Hurley remix)

11. Wraith (ohGr remix)

12. Vortex (Silent Servant Remix)

13. Fallen (Blanck Mass Remix)

14. Abyss (JG Thirlwell Remix)

15. Fallen (Bill Kouligas Remix)

ADULT. will invite six musicians from around the country into their home over the next seven months to collaborate and ultimately create an album together that resonates with a spirit of Detroit, thanks to support from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

Later this month ADULT. will begin work with their first collaborator and hope that this project will build on Detroit's rich musical legacy by bringing outside musicians to experience and interact with Detroit and its community. Community interaction will consist of a comprehensive tour of the city, a welcoming party with local artists and musicians, and public performance when available. Living in downtown Detroit for over 20 years, ADULT. hopes this project will bring more positive attention to the city through the arts.

ADULT. plans to share via their social media outlets the collaborative procedure through a behind-the-scenes view of the creative process. Once complete with the collaborations, ADULT. plans to release the musical results as their sixth album Detroit House Guests on Ghostly International in late 2015 or early 2016. ADULT. believes this project will provide a rich experience for each musician and will bring favorable attention to Detroit and its cultural heritage.

The musicians working with ADULT. on this project include:

• Dorit Chrysler (NY Theremin Society)

• Shannon Funchess (LIGHT ASYLUM)

• Michael Gira (SWANS, Angels of Light, Young God Records)

• Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe (Lichens)

• Douglas J. McCarthy (Nitzer Ebb, DJMREX, Fixmer/McCarthy)

• Lun*na Menoh (Les Sewing Sisters, Jean Paul Yamamoto, Seksu Roba)

Knight Foundation’s funding for the project is through the Knight Arts Challenge, a community-wide contest supporting ideas that engage and enrich Detroit.