Monday, August 31, 2009

Pink ends record-breaking Oz tour

Pink She rocketed onto stage for her first Sydney show 12 weeks ago and last night pop star Pink pulled down the circus tent on her Funhouse tour for the last time in Australia.

Promising more than a few surprises and some previously unseen tricks, the American two-times Grammy award-winning star hadn't lost her sparkle, despite her punishing 58-show tour schedule.

She shot through a trap-door for the opening number, Bad Influence, writhed around on the stage to Just Like a Pill and swung from a trapeze during Sober.

"Sydney! Can I take you home with me?" She hollered to the crowd.

"‘If everyone brings a VB, I’ll be stocked for a year."

The singer’s aerial tricks, a hallmark of her tour, went off without a hitch, unlike in Brisbane on June 16 when a safety cable snapped, leaving the singer suspended above the stage for about a minute.

Pink’s Australian tour broke several sales and venue records, including eclipsing John Farnham’s record for the most number of shows at Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena in a single tour.

The tour, which has been seen by more than 660,000 people - or one in every 32 Australians - has grossed more than A$70 million.

Pink scheduled several breaks between shows during her three-month stay in Australia, but was forced to cancel one Brisbane show on July 20 because she had laryngitis.

On the micro-blogging website Twitter on Friday, Pink said she was sad to be leaving Australia.

"Sydney! Last two shows ... can u believe it? We’ve been together for 3.5 months. I feel like we’re breaking up," she wrote.

Pink, whose real name is Alecia Moore, will return to the US this week in time for her 30th birthday on September 8.

She is married to motocross rider Carey Hart, who joined her for parts of her tour in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Newcastle.


Robbie Williams - music's greatest superstar

Robbie Williams has been named music's greatest superstar of all time.

The Angels singer - who hasn't released a song since 2007 - topped a poll by MTV, beating his former bandmates Take That and the late King of Pop Michael Jackson, proving he still has a strong following.

A source said: "This proves that Robbie is still a superstar in many people's minds."

Other acts in the top 10 include Mr Brightside hitmakers The Killers, British girl band Girls Aloud and dance act The Prodigy.

Beyonce Knowles, sexy girl group Pussycat Dolls and rockers Oasis also made the poll.

The news comes at a great time for Robbie as he launches his comeback, with his new album 'Reality Killed the Video Star' being released later this year.

It was recently revealed Calvin Harris is desperate to work with Robbie.

The I'm Not Alone hitmaker - who has previously collaborated with Dizzee Rascal and Kylie Minogue - says the Rock DJ star is top of the list of artists he hopes to team-up with on his next record.

He said: "I want to work with Robbie, he's my number one target now.

"I think he's just finished his new album with producer Trevor Horn though. Maybe he can come and help on my next record instead."

MTV's Greatest Superstars:

1 - Robbie Williams

2 - Take That

3 - Michael Jackson

4 - The Killers

5 - Girls Aloud

6 - The Prodigy

7 - Red Hot Chilli Peppers

8 - Beyonce Knowles

9 - The Pussycat Dolls

10 - Oasis

Sunday, August 30, 2009

Pussycat Dolls - Painted Windows [Full HQ] (New Song 2009)

The Black Eyed Peas turn green for Outside Lands Music & Arts Festival in SF

Join the fun in San Francisco this weekend starting tonight Friday August 28th in Golden Gate Park at the Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival. Saturday August 29th and Sunday August 30th begin with an early pre-concert Ocean beach cleanups from 10am-12 noon at the steps across from the Beach Chalet on the Great Hwy. Three day and single day passes are still available.

Dave Matthews Band will be headlining the event on Saturday, August 29th. The Black Eyed Peas will be taking the stage with Fergie on Saturday only.

Bring your refilable water bottle or purchase one with the OL logo at the event, as there will be no plastic waters for sale. There is also an auction of rockstar signed memorabelia and guitars to benefit non-profits.

In case you can't go to the festival, you can still see the first live-streamed concert on YouTube atwww.youtube.com/outsidelands along with other artists performing at this year's festival.

For Honey Bee Awareness Day, Music Video Asks, “Where My Bees At?”

It’s no secret that something mysterious is going on with the honey bees around the globe. Still, who would’ve thought to rap about it?

From the Huffington Post:

In preparation for the first-ever National Honey Bee Awareness Day that took place on Aug. 22, big bee backer Häagen-Dazs used the creative efforts of five brothers from Los Altos, Calif. to make a short video raising awareness.

Max Lanman, a 21-year-old senior at Yale majoring in film studies (and the third-oldest Lanman brother), directed, edited and photographed the result of the request, a viral video entitled “Do the Honey Bee.”

In the video, people dressed as bees shimmy and shake, mimicking the ways bees “dance” to communicate with each other. The lyrics extol bees’ agricultural importance, and the beat’s pretty catchy, too.

But don’t take our word for it—check out the video. You just may want to “shake your stinger, bend your knees / Get down real low, and do the honey bee.”

Related Content:
80beats: Honeybee Murder Mystery: “We Found the Bullet Hole,” Not the “Smoking Gun”
Discoblog: Bees on a Plane! 10,000 Bees Swarm an Airplane Wing in Massachusetts
Discoblog: You Can Dance if You Want to, You Can Learn from Different Bees

Live from the Outside Lands Music & Arts Festival!

We're pleased to present YouTube's first live-streamed concert, featuring selected performances from the Outside Lands Music & Arts festival happening this weekend in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. Beginning at 2pm today and running through 10pm on Sunday, tune in to www.youtube.com/outsidelands for the chance to experience a summer music festival without getting tussled by crowds or waiting on line for the Port-O-Potty:Expect to see live performances from a variety of acts, ranging from the jam rock of Dave Matthews Band to Bettye Lavette's classic soul, from the emerging punk funk of Cage the Elephant to the scuzzed-up blues rock of the Dead Weather, Jack White's latest project. (Sorry, this content is only viewable in the U.S.) We'll be featuring the choicest moments from the event on our homepage starting on Saturday at 2pm and Tweeting from the festival, too (so follow us on Twitter if you don't already: http://twitter.com/youtube).

In the meantime, check YouTube's Outside Lands channel for the most up-to-date schedule of performances, playlists of bands playing onFriday, Saturday and Sunday, and a neat-o Twitter gadget that displays a real-time feed of what people are saying about the festival.

This special event was created by Superfly Marketing Group in partnership with YouTube and T-Mobile® myTouch™ 3G.

Michele Flannery, Music Manager, recently watched "The Dodos Take Away Show."

Muse and Russell Brand Boost MTV Music Awards’ All Star Lineup


Russell Brand

Russell Brand

The annual celebration of anything buzz worthy and cool enough to be played in heavy rotation on the ever popular cable channel MTV moves back to Radio City Music Hall in New York this year and has kooky Brit Russell Brand hosting the extravaganza again. We’ll have to wait and see who he insults this year as his favorite victim George W Bush is not in office any longer….

A number of star performances are ready to boost this year’s viewer ratings as stadium rockers Muse from the UK are set to preview their new album ““The Resistance” with a special performance. The trio will be featuring their new single “Uprising” off their first album in 3 years in front of the US and global TV audience.

Pop’s super star Beyonce is set to join The MTV Video Music Awards which have expanded their all star line up.

West coast pop punk royals Green Day are also set to make an appearance. The band is still riding the wave of the group’s latest and slightly controversial album 21st century Breakdown.

MTV will have rapper Wale and the band UCB take care of house band duties at the historical venue. US pop punk queen Pink is another big name scheduled to appear along with Beyonce . Beyonce’s husband Jay-Z is set to drop his new album ‘The Blueprint 3‘ later this year.

The MTV Video Music Awards will be beamed live to a global audience on September 13th.

(Back in 1996 British super group OasisLiam Gallagher shocked the live audience with his stage antics.)

MOG Music Service Raises $5 Million Round

mog_logo_aug09.jpgIn an aside at yesterday's Bandwidth Music Conference, MOG CEO David Hyman mentioned closing a $5 million dollar round of funding with Menlo Ventures. The plucky editorial-based music network offers more than 6000 blog posts per week and an in-depth look at everything from indy to top 40 tracks. The service also offers Rhapsody music integration and a discovery interface with millions more of streaming tracks. ReadWriteWeb caught up with Hyman shortly after his panel to talk about his upcoming plans.


Miley Cyrus Realizes She's Far From Perfect

Miley Cyrus is no stranger to scandal and speaking on NBC's "TODAY" show on Friday morning, August 28, she said she is far from perfect. "I always want to be known not necessarily like as this perfect girl ... but as someone who is hopefully inspiring other people, that's what I want more than anything," said the Disney star. "I'm not here to say that I'm perfect because I'm far from that, as we all are."

"My mistakes are kind of a little bit harder because they are in front of millions and millions of people", Miley elaborated. "I get to go through that and I get to learn. It's hard sometimes to smile about it, because half the time, yeah, it does suck to have to go through that. But also it makes you want to try harder the next time when I know that little girls look at me and say I'm their hero, so that's really important."

Above all, Miley concluded "Going into this business, I think you just expect it. I feel like anyone has to make mistakes, and I think if a lot of people look back at their being a kid, they're going to realize they've done a lot of the same things I have." She went on adding, "I guess sometimes judgments are unfair, but that's just the way the cookie crumbles!"

Miley Cyrus, who will turn 17 years old November later this year, drew criticism when she performed a pole dancing during her appearance at 2009 Teen Choice Awards held earlier this month. Her father got her back though, arguing "You know what? I just think that Miley loves entertaining people. She loves singing [and] songwriting. I always tell her to love what you're doing and stay focused for the love of the art and not worry so much about opinion."

Snippet of Drake's 'Successful' Music Video Feat. Trey Songz

Snippet of Drake's 'Successful' Music Video Feat. Trey SongzA short clip from 's music video for his single "Successful" has been put out in a bid to provide fans with a sneak peek. The snippet sees Drake and his collaborator performing the song in a balcony with city view at night being featured on the background.

"It was so eerie. Like it was haunting, almost," Drake told MTV about the scenes he filmed. "I was like, 'Yo, that's it. You need to use that.' He started playing this patch, and just every note that he played fell into place."

Trey agrees with Drake's opinion saying, "It was simplistic, but it knocks. It's eerie, it's dark. The first thing I laid down was the gothic, reverb-driven harmony: 'arrrgh, arrrgh, arrrgh.' I couldn't think of what I wanted to hear on it, so I did a whole bunch of harmonies [until I found the right one]."

The video was directed by Jake Davis and shot in Toronto, Canada earlier this month. "Successful" actually has 's vocal on the hook in addition to Trey Songz's. But, its music video has been filmed without Weezy's verses. There is no word on when the video will come out.

"Successful" comes off Drake's mixtape "" which has been confirmed to get a re-release treatment across U.S. on September 15. The song so far peaked at number 3 on Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.

Friday, August 28, 2009

Free Streaming Music Is The Next Big Sound

Free Music Monday: 10 Songs From Around the Web

Hello music lovers! In celebration of the weekly#musicmonday tradition on TwitterTwitter we bring you Free Music Monday, a compilation of some of this week’s best and brightest music available for free from around the web.

Because taste is subjective, we encourage your feedback and welcome your requests — do you want to see more of a particular genre or artist? Let us know in the comments.

Selections will be either free MP3 downloads or streaming tracks. Because we don’t want to take away from any of the fine music blogs and sites that do the hard work of aggregating all this material, we typically won’t be offering a direct download link from this feature unless encouraged directly by the artist or site. But you’ll still be one click away from getting the track and supporting the original sites. Many of the songs are Creative Commons-licensed, but be sure to check the licensing requirements before re-distributing or sharing these tunes.

Without further ado, here are this week’s Free Music Monday selections!

1. [ELECTRONIC] Daft Punk: Tron Legacy Theme (John Roman Remix) — Check out an interview and two exclusive tracks from Canadian producer John Roman, including a remix of Daft Punk’s Tron Legacy Theme from the upcoming remake of the classic film.

2. [PSYCH-ROCK] Hayvanlar Alemi: Guarana Superpower — Semi-improv guitar rock recorded live in the studio with influences from surf rock, psych folk, and Mali blues. Listen or download it here, and check out the rest of WFMU’s currently featured Guitarrrs mix as well.


wild-things

3. [POP] Karen O and the Kids: All Is Love — Featuring the frontwoman from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and a number of indie luminaries, the newly-formed Karen O and the Kids came together to create the soundtrack for the upcoming Spike Jonze / Warner Brothers adaptation of Where the Wild Things Are. The first single, All is Love, is now available as a free stream from MyspaceMySpace. [via MOG]

4. [SINGER-SONGWRITER] Jonathan Coulton: Ikea — Internet icon Jonathan Coulton, well known even before penning the “Still Alive” end credits track for the Valve hit video game Portal, has a number of tracks on the top-rated Creative Commons list at The Sixty One. The song Ikea humorously celebrates the iconic furniture store.

5. [ALTERNATIVE] Radiohead: These Are My Twisted Words — After leaking onto the internet, typically pro-filesharing superstars Radiohead released the track on their own blog for download or torrenting. We’ve also embedded it for streaming here.

6. [COUNTRY] The Meat Purveyors: Look On Your Face — Tongue-in-cheek Americana from Bloodshot Records, publishing the “good stuff nestled in the dark, nebulous cracks where punk, country, soul, pop, bluegrass, blues and rock mix and mingle and mutate.”Stream or download it from the Free Music Archive.


imogen-heap-big

7. [ELECTRO-POP] Imogen Heap: Ellipse (full album) — Check out the entire Ellipse CD on Spinner’s listening party for Imogen Heap’s third album. The English artist offers up a unique vocal and songwriting style with flavors of electronica and alternative pop-rock.

8. [ELECTRONIC] Tiësto: Feel It In My Bones — A collaboration with indie twins Tegan & Sara, the track is from the Dutch DJ’s fourth studio album featuring collaborations with a number of guest artists. Stream is from Stereogum.

9. [RAP] Busdriver: Least Favorite Rapper — Smart and self-aware lyricism with comic jabs at emcee assertiveness from Busdriver’s new album Jhelli Beam. Stream it at Anti.com.

10. [60s / ELECTRONIC] The Beach Boys: Wouldn’t It Be Nice (The Girls Can Hear Us Remix) — Infusing Brian Wilson’s homage to adolescence from the classic 1966 Pet Sounds album with a fresh modern electro-pop vibe. Stream it on DeathElectro and get more from The Girls Can Hear Us from their Myspace page

A Metal Powerhouse, Screaming Farewell for Now

“I take you where you want to go!” Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nailshowled on Sunday night at Webster Hall. “I give you all you need to know!” The first of many dark avowals, it set off the first of many waves of cathartic reaction. Mr. Reznor may have been singing in the guise of a ruinous urge — “And I control you” was his ominous refrain — but as far as this crowd went, he was also living up to a potent and familiar ideal.Nine Inch Nails released its first album, “Pretty Hate Machine,” 20 years ago, establishing a pattern of aggressive distortion and dystopian furor that would endure through more than a half-dozen subsequent releases. Along the way Mr. Reznor has spun myriad variations on his starkly propulsive sound, an alloy of hard rock, electronic dance music and industrial metal. His studio output has been prolific in recent years, as has his touring schedule.

But he has decided to put the band on indefinite hiatus: Sunday was the second date on the Wave Goodbye Tour, which runs until Labor Day. As further bounty for those who spent or lucked their way into tickets, he enlisted a strong conceptual hook, running straight through the band’s breakthrough second album, “The Downward Spiral,” from 1994. Those lines about control were from “Mr. Self Destruct,” the album’s suicide-haunted overture, and they set the tone for the show.

“The Downward Spiral,” which has sold more than four million copies, uncannily encompasses just about every grand or craven theme in Nine Inch Nails orthodoxy. Along with “Mr. Self Destruct” and the title track, which offer two views on the same mortal act, there’s “Hurt,” a desolate ballad of addiction and isolation.

Then there are anthems laced with other toxins, from itchy paranoia (“The Becoming”) to tortured sexual aggression (“Closer”) to defiant nihilism (“Heresy”). “Now, doesn’t that make you feel better?” Mr. Reznor sang soothingly during a lull in “March of the Pigs,” and the narcotic glow of his tone was facetious, even vicious.

Friday, August 21, 2009

about usher

Making people care about love again," says Usher, "that was the mission for me on this album."

That's no small goal to set for yourself, but Usher Raymond has never been shy about his ambitions. With his new album, HERE I STAND, one of the biggest stars in the pop universe has truly stepped into new territory-boldly presenting his music with a maturity, scope, and range (both vocal and emotional) beyond anything he has achieved before, and driven by a blazing purpose and passion.

"I wanted this album to really be who I am," says Usher. "I'm going to be 30 years old this year. I'm not the same as I was when I was 21, or 24 when I started my last album. I've had lots of changes in my life, I have a wife and a child, and I wanted to do something that really showed that."

Certainly, the last year has been a time of great upheaval for a man who has sold thirty million albums and won five Grammy awards in his remarkable career. After a tumultuous period around his wedding last summer, Usher and wife Tameka Foster welcomed a son, Usher Raymond V, in November. A few months later, Usher's father passed away.

It's enough to make anyone evaluate the work they do and the legacy they want to leave. "I knew it was time to step up and take control of my life," writes Usher in the album's liner notes, describing himself as emerging from his trials and tribulations "unwavering, steadfast, pure-hearted, and wholly dedicated to love."

This aspiration runs through HERE I STAND, whether expressing a yearning for intimacy in the vulnerable ballad "His Mistake" or struggling with fidelity on "Appetite." What Usher ultimately reveals is a depth and integrity that have largely been absent from contemporary R&B.

"In the last few years, hip-hop had gotten so popular because it was so honest, and R&B was dying because it was losing its substance," he says. "I was thinking, how do you balance the score? And what I realized is that to make change, you can't just conform, you have to dictate, and be willing to take risks.

"I want to influence people to evaluate what's important in life, and I feel like I'm doing that."

It's hard to believe that it has been more than fifteen years since Usher was discovered after an appearance on "Star Search" and signed to LaFace Records-more than half of his lifetime has been spent in fame's white-hot spotlight. His self-titled 1994 debut was a moderate hit, but his breakthrough was 1997's MY WAY, which sold six million copies and featured the massive hits "You Make Me Wanna," "Nice & Slow," and the album's title track.

The four-times-platinum 8701 followed in 2001, which included "U Remind Me" and "U Don't Have to Call" (songs which won back-to-back Grammys in the "Best Male R&B Vocal Performance" category) and the Number One hit "U Got It Bad."

But none of that success could compare to the phenomenon that erupted around 2004's CONFESSIONS album. The disc sold over one million copies its first week of release, still the highest debut-week numbers ever for a male R&B artist. "Yeah!," "Burn," and "Confessions Part II" all topped Billboard's Hot 100 singles charts, and Usher became the first solo artist in history to have three singles inside the Hot 100's top 10 simultaneously (only the Beatles and the Bee Gees had previously accomplished this feat). After "My Boo," a duet with Alicia Keys, also hit Number One, he closed out the year having spent twenty-eight weeks at the top of the U.S. charts.

CONFESSIONS was the most successful album of 2004, selling over 10 million copies in the US and almost 20 million worldwide. Usher won three Grammys, two MTV Video Music Awards, three World Music Awards, four American Music Awards, and eleven Billboard Music Awards.

How do you follow that kind of triumph? For Usher, who has acted in a number of successful feature films, it was time to conquer another medium. In 2006, he took over the role of Billy Flynn in the long-running Broadway musical CHICAGO. He also took part in a number of hit collaborations in the aftermath of CONFESSIONS, recording alongside Lil' Jon, R. Kelly, Omarion, and Mary J. Blige.

But when it was time to tackle a new, full-length project, Usher would not rest easy. "My goal with every album is to be as honest as I possibly can," he says, "and to be better each time." He also knew that he needed to take a long, hard look at his own life to identify the sounds and themes of his new work.

"This album is about the process of finding love," he says, "of wanting to be married to someone and spend your life with them. You hope to find that person, and when you do, you go on a journey, and it consists of ups and downs, joys and temptations."

Usher was clear in his mission from the very beginning of HERE I STAND, which includes contributions from an all-star team of producers(Jermaine Dupri, Stargate, Danja) and guest spots from Jay-Z, Beyonce, and Young Jeezy.

"I worked with a lot of people on this album, and everyone had to understand that sonically, I needed this album to be something over and above," he says. "Not just a club banger, something that's hot in this moment, but something that would stand over time. Everyone was challenged in that way, that this was more than the normal Usher formula."

That focus is evident in the epic, atmospheric sweep of "Moving Mountains" and in the classic structure of the title track, which has the makings of a pop standard, a first-dance wedding song ("I didn't write it for that purpose," says Usher, "but I was the first person who used it for that-I danced to it at my wedding.")

Not that all of HERE I STAND is, as someone put it, nice and slow. "Mark Pitts, my A&R, said, 'We gotta lighten it up, people might think it's too serious, too mature,'" says Usher. "We needed something more fun, loose, electric, so we brought in people like Will.I.Am and Tricky for that more lighthearted side. Polow came up with more of a trance/techno record, and that was 'Love in This Club.'"

Usher explains that while the hit first single may seem to be at odds with the album's grown-up approach, it really serves as a "prelude" to the songs that follow. "The album is about that boy, looking for a good time in a club, becoming a man," he says. "The topics changes, and the ways he deals with things.

"Every album is about immortalizing that moment of where I was and what I was feeling," he continues. "So with a song like 'Love in This Club,' I tried to put myself back three years, to how I felt at that time, and then bring it up to how I feel now."

With HERE I STAND, Usher invokes such immortal inspirations as Al Green and Marvin Gaye, for the masculinity and adult sensibility of their work. And he thinks that he's standing at the leading edge of a change in R&B. "You're starting to see male artists embracing that next step in life," he says. "It's just naturally what happens-you can't continue to do the same thing at 30 or 40 that you did when you were 20. Is it still as important to be that hustler, that player, as it is to be a father, a stand-up man in a monogamous relationship?

"Music had gotten to a place where nobody wanted to settle down, they just wanted to keep the party going," says Usher. "But for me, it was time to put away childish things and become a man."

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Living With Music: Carlene Bauer

Carlene BauerDawn BauerCarlene Bauer

Carlene Bauer is the author of a memoir, “Not That Kind of Girl.”

I grew up in evangelical churches that fixated on Jesus’ commandment to be in the world but not of it. On Sundays as a teenager, my sister and I would go to church and watch 120 Minutes every night, and even though our alt-rock excesses weren’t exactly of Factory proportions, we felt as if we were living some secret, black-lighted life as Christians who rocked. Music was the way I figured out how worldly I could be. I could stand at a concert among braver friends and pretend that we weren’t so different; that one day I might pass for unafraid and imposing, too. I no longer believe — I suppose I did figure out just how worldly I wanted to be — but I still can’t live without music. Here’s a list of songs that comforted me while faithful and not — consider it a recovering evangelical’s hymnbook.

1) A Sort of Homecoming, U2. Recently someone who’d grown up Baptist in the South told me he found his way out to liberation through Prince. Prince! I applauded this person for making such a mad dash for the exit — as a bookish kid I had been unable to see Prince as anything other than a person-sized tongue wiggling lasciviously. I told him that U2 started me on my road to rock “rebellion.” “But there’s no sex in U2!” he said. “Exactly!” I said. So much of sex in pop music seemed sleazy, or silly, or bewildering, because it was a cartoon of feelings that I’d yet to experience. But U2’s rock was free of money and sex. Many kids found this purity of heart and intensity of feeling in punk; I found it in U2.

2) It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine),R.E.M. There was no sex in R.E.M., either. Or maybe my love of the band wasn’t about their lack of sex, but an admirable lack of romantic narrative, period. This song’s crashing together of jubilance and jangled nerves, with Peter Buck’s guitar grinding away like a plane circling as it downs, took the idea of apocalypse, which I had been told was coming any minute, and shrugged it off. Everything was rigged and doomed, I heard Michael Stipe saying, it couldn’t be fixed, nothing would save us, oh well, too bad, who cares, let’s make a song that sounds like buckets of confetti being let loose during the closing credits.

3) Can’t Hardly Wait, the Replacements. Apocalypse, I prayed, please pass over me, because I want to know what it’s like to be as torn up as Paul Westerberg sitting on a tour bus missing the one he loves. The Replacements were melody and havoc, the havoc legitimizing the melody, and Westerberg scoffing and yearning, his hair and voice a terrific mess. This song had a throwaway line that I clung to: “Jesus rides beside me / He doesn’t buy any smokes.” It was Jesus, in a walk-on role, looking pretty much how I imagined him — hanging out with broken-hearted sinners, just as the Gospels said he did, his own heart larger than his followers gave him credit for.

4) What Do I Do, Sam Phillips. In 1988, Leslie Phillips, whom I’d heard of but never listened to, left the Christian music scene, citing irreconcilable artistic differences, renamed herself Sam Phillips, and released “The Indescribable Wow,” a record full of 1960s-influenced songs that were exuberant though wise. Even kittenish (“If I set you on fire / Would you keep me warm?”). And critics loved it. Wait a minute, my 16-year-old self thought — you could leave the fold and Van Dyke Parks would arrange your strings? She’d defied those who’d told her there was only one way to make music, and that was to be upbeat and unquestioning about God. Her record was a lesson in how to leave home.

5) Evangeline, Matthew Sweet. Hey, 19! “Too bad the only man you trust / Is God above.” Indeed.

6) Brave, Innocence Mission. This song came from 1995’s “Glow,” which was in heavy rotation after college, when I was contemplating converting to Catholicism. Before I read Kierkegaard, I had this song, written by the band’s singer, Karen Peris (a Catholic herself). Her narrator confesses that faith does not always cast out depression and fear: “Oh I know it, I know it, here is God beside” but “the sky is tall and heavy / When I could be / brave.” And then: “Somehow knowing what you know / still you tremble out and in.” At the time, even though the music had the quality of bright, stippled watercolors, it was a radical admission.

7) If You’re Feeling Sinister, Belle and Sebastian. Stuart Murdoch was a semi-secret Christian, as I was when this record came out. I was living in New York and trying to pass for sophisticated, with mixed results. So I appreciated this lyric, and all his lyrics, because they were reverse backward masking: “If you’re feeling sinister / Go off and see a minister / He’ll try in vain to take away / The pain of being a hopeless unbeliever.” Which I would become a few years later. Cue…

8) Search and Destroy, Iggy Pop. I was 30 when I first heard this song, which a friend had put on a CD for me. I could tell you Iggy Pop’s real name — James Osterberg Jr. — but could not name this tune if I heard it on the radio. How had I missed this? Having drifted away from belief, I was ashamed that there were so many other things it had taken me too long to hear, see and feel. There were many times that my mental thrashing about — who am I if I don’t believe, and what is permissible if I don’t? — felt as frantic as this song.

9) Move On Up, Curtis Mayfield. I can’t sit in a church anymore, but listening to the soul and funk Felix Hernandez plays on WBGO’s “Rhythm Revue” can fool me, for a weekend hour or so, into believing that everything’s gonna be alright. The gospel in the music makes me hear the songs as Psalms — all of the anguish and leaping for joy — but with sex thrown in! (Prince, I seek your forgiveness.) The show is how I fell in love with this song, the percussion and horns making this almost as propulsive and frenetic as the Iggy Pop. But with uplift, hard-won and not saccharine, thrown in: “So move on up / To your destination / Though you may find / From time to time / Complications.”

10) The Pharaohs, Neko Case. “You left me wanting, wanting, wanting, wanting, wanting / Like the movies / And the hymns / I want the Pharaohs / But there’s only men.” In this song, from her new album, “Middle Cyclone,” Case is singing about a lover whom she idealized to a fault. When I listen I also think of a formerly religious consciousness waking up to a world without God. Impassioned solace for the disillusionment, romantic or otherwise, that comes with age.

11) It’s Hard to Be a Saint in the City, Bruce Springsteen. And I’ll let the Boss give us this summertime benediction.

Circus by Britney Spears


Brit's 2008 album : CircusSixth studio album from phenomenal pop singer Britney Spears

REVIEWS FROM MUSIC MAGAZINE

the singer does double duty as a dance diva and brokenhearted balladeer. it's no easy feat, but when spears shoves aside the tabloid trauma and hooks up with the right producers--on this album it's guy sigsworth, danja, dr. luke and max martin--she is in a class of her own
- billboard -

and songs here such as circus, if u seek amy (try saying it very quickly) and mannequin are far better than music by such a troubled and supposedly doomed veteran has any right to be
- times online -

britney spears maximizes her pop appeal in circus
- usa today -

her voice--treated and autotuned to within an inch of its life throughout--still sounds like that of the mouseketeer who brought us '...baby one more time’, with every breathy “mmmm… yeah!” and all the oh-so-naughty lyrics, such as the ones above, sounding forced and unconvincing. of course, on a large number of the tracks here she has the solidly cool-sounding (no doubt expensive) backdrop of futur’n’b pop
- new musical express -

ALBUM TITLE: Circus
ARTIST / BAND : Britney Spears
MUSIC LABEL: Jive, Zomba
ALBUM RELEASE DATE: November 28, 2008 (Europe), December 2, 2008 (US)
DISCS: 1 discs
MUSIC GENRE(S): Pop, Dance-pop

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Music Cage holds no songbird

Music Cage holds no songbirdJapanese company Nendo has designed this wireless home speaker that matches the crazy old lady decor of white lace and bird cages everywhere. It also works via Bluetooth and is available in black or white. Guess which one your grandmother would choose. The Music Cage comes in just one size with some retro chrome switches like in the old days.

It can be displayed on a table or suspended from the ceiling. If you gift one of these to your grandma, expect a call asking where her bird went and why she can’t get in to put newspaper on the bottom.

This one is for the birds.

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