In an article in The Guardian newspaper this weekend, Roger Waters has demanded "Tear down this Israeli wall...I want the music industry to support Palestinians' rights and oppose this inhumane barrier".

Roger has long been an outspoken opponent of the West Bank separation wall in Israel, a place he visited almost five years ago (our report here), and it is a subject that raises strong, and reasoned, opinion on both sides of the argument. However, Roger sets out his views of the situation in his article, and what he feels should be done to address it. He calls on his fellow musicians, and artists in other disciplines, to join in a cultural boycott.

You can read his article in full here.

As you'll be aware, the ever popular Aussie Floyd are currently performing some of the Pink Floyd's greatest songs on their new European tour (complete with 3D visuals, inflatables, and a crew peppered with staff who've worked with the real thing), and just about to start the UK leg. They've also launched a new online store, which includes a wide range of their gear.

To coincide with this, and following on from the competition we had for the champagne reception at their final rehearsals in London, we have another great giveaway for Brain Damage visitors. With spring just around the corner in the northern hemisphere, it seems fitting to have no less than 10 of their new design t-shirts available for those lucky enough to be drawn out the BD hat!

Good news for all of you out there who still have a deep love of vinyl; Doug Sax, mastering engineer for Roger Waters, David Gilmour, Richard Wright and Pink Floyd since 1983, is interviewed at length in the 2011 edition of "The Absolute Sound" Guide to Vinyl Playback.

During the interview, Sax is asked if the technology has changed in terms of his work. "As far as the LP is concerned, no. As far as what might feed the LP, yes, because now you might be feeding it from digital files, from high-resolution 192 or 96/24-bit, which supplies a very reliable and consistent source. But surprisingly the only real improvement has ostensibly been going to DMM [Direct Metal Mastering] cutting and that's had flaws in the past — it never won audiophile support. Now, they've apparently fixed the flaws, and they have better copper. But for rock'n'roll, for high-energy music? For example, I'm going to be doing the Roger Waters albums on vinyl and they have extraordinary low end, requiring an astonishing amount of vertical modulation. We use up the full depth available on a lacquer master. You can't do anything like that on DMM. It's very thin; you can't go deep. For that kind of thing it could be an absolute joke."

As work is yet to start on them, it will be some time before there's any release information, but sounds good that Sax is taking his customary care to ensure these sound as good as they can. Our thanks to Bob Dear for letting us know.

Today (March 7th) sees the mesmerising new studio album by Ron Geesin, his first in almost two decades. To Pink Floyd fans, he is best known for his work with Roger Waters on the soundtrack to the movie, The Body (and subsequent soundtrack album), and with the Pink Floyd on their 1970 epic, Atom Heart Mother, which he co-wrote and orchestrated (and which we interviewed him at length about), although he has been creating and crafting for almost half a century.

The album, "RonCycle1 - the journey of a melody", is one of his most ambitious projects to date. Beginning work on it in 1986, the album is an integral suite composed of sixteen pieces - some of them a mere minute long. Tonefloat, who are releasing the album, note that "elements and influences from his entire career are passing by the audience's ears, ranging from puristic folk and proto-funk to orchestral meditations and the complex metrics of progressive rock. Thanks to a clearly defined narrative, which Geesin readily expounds upon in the liner notes, the result has nonetheless turned out entirely coherent". It's certainly one of the most intriguing, entertaining and different albums we've heard in some time.

The album is available now as a limited edition of 300 copies on 180 grams black vinyl in mounted sleeve, with a free CD copy of the album, and a regular edition on CD in Japanese style mini album gatefold cardboard. You can buy either edition through this link where you can also get a taster of a couple of tracks.