W♥M

Madonna at Xcel Energy Center, St Paul (08 October 2015)

Madonna Setlist Iconic Bitch I'm Madonna Burning Up Holy Water / Vogue Devil Pray Video interlude: Messiah Body Shop True Blue Deeper and Deeper HeartBreakCity / Love Don't Live Here Anymore Video interlude: S.E.X. Living for Love La Isla Bonita Dress You Up / Into the Groove / Lucky Star Fever / Who's That Girl Rebel Heart Video interlude: Illuminati Music Candy Shop Material Girl La vie en rose Unapologetic Bitch -- Encore -- Holiday Tour Dates 10/11 Edmonton, AB Rexall Place 10/12 Edmonton, AB Rexall Place 10/14 Vancouver, BC Rogers Arena 10/17 Portland, OR Moda Center 10/19 San Jose, CA SAP Center at San Jose 10/22 Glendale, AZ Gila River Arena 10/24 Las Vegas, NV MGM Grand Garden Arena 10/27 Los Angeles, CA Forum 10/29 San Diego, CA Valley View Casino Center Read More Madonna Our favorite Material Girl has done things the old-fashioned way to get attention, but is showing some movement in the digital direction. First, she posed provocatively in the Art Issue of the Dec/Jan .…

I absolutely fell in love with everything Madonna last night. It wasn't just because the show was spectacular (it truly was), but it was because Madonna was real. She was actually singing. There was not much lip syncing except for where it was necessary. She had some flat notes, some sharp, usually she was right on key, but good for her for being real. She was actually playing the guitar (when she had a guitar in hand). Although the riffs seemed to be super simple, at least she was being real and really playing.

I've seen Lady Gaga before. Hell, I sat through a whole Miley Cyrus concert. They were both great entertainers, but they were not real. Not only was Madonna a true entertainer last night... she was also real. I was never a huge Madonna fan. I knew some of her songs but that's it. I went last night as more of a bucket list type of thing. I mean, don't you want to be able to say you saw Madonna live? That was one of the best decisions I have ever made...

Madonna was everything last night. The show started out with the dancers wearing outfits that looked like they were straight out of Disney's Mulan. The mood was dark and ominous and then, from the ceiling, came a spiked cage with Madonna inside of it. From the second she stepped out of the cage, to the second she stepped off the stage, she had me mesmerized.

Her fourth song Holy Water just proved to the crowd that, "Bitch, I'm Madonna". (That was the second song she played and a hit with the crowd.) During Holy Water her dancers were using metal crosses as nothing short of stripper poles. Yeah, that's super controversial and I'm sure offensive to extremely religious people but, you're at a Madonna concert... you kind of signed up for stuff like that!

Holy Water seamlessly turned into Vogue  which, obviously, got the crowd hooting and hollering. Madonna didn't seem to hold back even though she admitted to waking up with a fever. Her voice, although you could tell she wasn't feeling 100%, stayed true to her style and her past which made the song sound exactly like it would have had you seen her back in 1990. Vogue ended with the dancers around a table re-enacting the last supper but, obviously, more dramatic.

There seemed to be different "acts" during this show. The first "act" seemed to have very religious (and controversial at times) undertones to it whether it was the metal crosses used as stripper poles or the re-enactment of The Last Supper.

Another one of the "acts" seemed to be just all about sex. This included a video interlude of Madonna's song S.E.X. complete with the dancers simulating sex on four beds that were on a tilted part of the stage. This one is the one that got to me the most. I am a firm believer in artistic expression but I do believe there is a line and I think Madonna dances on that line to the point where you don't know what to think about it anymore.

There was an "act" that seemed to get a more old school when she was playing a group of songs including Body Shop where the stage was completely transformed into something resembling a mechanic's body shop. There were tires and car parts everywhere and utilized by the dancers. This "act" definitely had a Billy Joel type of feel to it but it worked and just showed off Madonna's versatility.

There was never a boring moment at this show. Even when Madonna would change into one of her bazillion outfits, the dancers stayed on the stage and kept the energy alive.  At times, it was hard to believe that you were at a concert. It felt more like going to see a new Cirque Du Soleil. There was one dance with just a guy, a white scarf, and a bunch of fans. At first when I saw this on stage, I shrugged it off as being cheesy and boring, but it was truly genius and beautiful.

Madonna played music from every one of her "eras." Of course she played the classics like Like a Virgin and she ended with the poppy hit Holiday, but she also stuck to promoting her new album and playing songs off of that including the title track Rebel Heart. It didn't matter what song she was singing, the whole crowd was into it.

Last night was more than just a concert, it was a show, it was a performance. Last night wasn't just entertaining, it was mesmerizing, it was jaw dropping, you didn't want to blink for fear of missing something awesome.

Madonna at Xcel Energy Center, St Paul (08 October 2015)

langen (langen@weheartmusic.com) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic ♥ itunes.apple.com

Rocktober: October 8, 2015

Here are some shows taking place in the Minneapolis/St Paul area on October 8, 2015.

Read more Minneapolis Music Guide.

Read More Madonna Our favorite Material Girl has done things the old-fashioned way to get attention, but is showing some movement in the digital direction. First, she posed provocatively in the Art Issue of the Dec/Jan .…

MADONNA
at Xcel Energy
Thursday, 10/08/2015, 8pm ($42.50)
xcelenergycenter.com

We love the Material Girl. Madonna will be stopping in St Paul next week (October 8th at Xcel Energy Center) in support of her latest Rebel Heart album.

We've seen the live photos from this current tour and, of course, she looks amazing.

If you ever wondered why these big shows are so expensive, look at the numbers below. Hours of designing costumes and setup, plus all the dancers, costume staff (60!), and all the roadies (180 people traveling on this tour!)

Here is the official Rebel Heart Tour By the Numbers:

• 2,500,000 Swarovski crystals adorn Madonna's costumes.
• 2,150,400 LED Pixels are light up the rear screens on the Rebel Heart stage
• 140,000 pounds of lights, sound and video equipment necessary for each night's performance.
• 55,000 pounds the weight of the moveable stage ramp used multiple times throughout the concert.
• 25,391 miles of road will be traveled by tour bus for the North American Leg of tour.
• 10,000 number of hours of workmanship have gone into creating costumes from Alessandro Michele for Gucci, Alexander Wang, Fausto Puglisi, Jeremy Scott for Moschino, Nicolas Jebran, Miu Miu, Prada and Swarovski for the Rebel Heart Tour.
• 1000 plus wardrobe pieces are required for all the performers onstage.
• 500 pair of shoes have been custom made.
• 200 plus pair of fishnets will be worn by Madonna by the time the Rebel Tour wraps.
• 180 the number of people working and traveling on the Rebel Heart Tour.
• 121 Days of Rehearsal before the opening night of the tour in Montreal.
• 60 people make up the costume staff dressing, sewing and adjusting the costumes night after night.
• 25 string instruments are used during the show.
• 23 Songs are on the Rebel Heart Tour set list each night.
• 22 videos play on the rear screens during the concert.
• 20 Stupendous dancers dance nightly with the Material Girl.
• 17 Make Up brushes and 5 powder puffs used on Madonna each night.
• 13 drums make up the drum-kit.
• 7 bouncing sway poles extend over the audience during the performance.
• 6 custom designed sets of lashes are used each night.
• 4 static poles arise from the stage during the show.

Tour dates:

Oct. 3 Atlantic City, NJ Boardwalk Hall
Oct. 5 Toronto, ON Air Canada Centre
Oct. 6 Toronto, ON Air Canada Centre
Oct. 8 St. Paul, MN Xcel Energy Center
Oct. 11 Edmonton, AB Rexall Place
Oct. 12 Edmonton, AB Rexall Place
Oct. 14 Vancouver, BC Rogers Arena
Oct. 17 Portland, OR Moda Center
Oct. 19 San Jose, CA SAP Center at San Jose
Oct. 22 Glendale, AZ Gila River Arena
Oct. 24 Las Vegas, NV MGM Grand Garden Arena
Oct. 27 Los Angeles, CA Forum
Oct. 29 San Diego, CA Valley View Casino Center

Read More LVL UP Brooklyn's LVL UP will be stopping by, transitioning their tour with Big Ups (07/24) and Upset (07/29). The group have a new Three Songs 7", set for release on August 1st via Run For Cover/Double Double Whammy. ...

OUGHT
at 7th Street Entry
Thursday, 10/08/2015, 8pm ($8)
first-avenue.com

Montreal quartet Ought is currently touring North America for their latest album Sun Coming Down (available now on Constellation Records).

Brooklyn's LVL UP is self-described as "slacker rock". You may recall that we caught up with the band at the Triple Rock in June 2015 and described them as, "plays punky, but sometimes restrained shoegazer jams."

Tour dates:

10/02 – Brooklyn, NY – The Silent Barn
10/03 – Washington DC – Comet Ping Pong
10/05 – Philadelphia, PA – Boot & Saddle
10/08 – Minneapolis, MN – 7th St. Entry
10/09 – Winnipeg, MB – The Good Will
10/10 - Saskatoon, SK – Amigos Cantina
10/11 – Edmonton, AB – Up + Downtown
10/12 – Calgary, AB – Palomino Smokehouse
10/14 – Vancouver, CA – Red Gate
10/15 – Seattle, WA – Sunset Tavern
10/16 – Portland, OR – Bunk Bar
10/18 – San Francisco, CA – Treasure Island
10/19 – Los Angeles, CA – The Echo
10/20 – San Diego, CA – The Hideout
10/22 – Salt Lake City – Kilby Court
10/23 – Denver, CO – Larimer Lounge
10/25 – St. Louis, MO – The Demo
10/26 – Detroit, MI – Majestic Café
10/27 – Chicago, IL – Beat Kitchen
10/29 – Toronto, CA – Horseshoe Tavern

Read More Portland Cello Project Portland Cello Project (PCP) returned to Minneapolis at the Cedar Cultural Center last night, June 29th. This is one of those rare bands that is sponsored by MPR's Classical station, as noted by the Cedar's introduction. ....

PORTLAND CELLO PROJECT
at Cedar Cultural Center
Thursday, 10/08/2015, 7pm ($18)
thecedar.org

Anything described as "an evening with...", I get the impression that it's a nice, quiet, intimate, sit-down event... which is pretty much all the shows that I've attended for Portland Cello Project.

PCP is back, baby. Once again, they are playing the Cedar Cultural Center. Once, again, expect them to do various pop song covers, like Kanye West or Metallica .... on cellos, of course.

NOTE: Seated show.

Tour dates:

10/02/15 Walla Walla, WA | Main Street Studios
10/03/15 Spokane, WA | The Bartlett
10/04/15 Missoula, MT | Top Hat Lounge
10/05/15 Bozeman, MT | Faultline
10/08/15 Minneapolis, MN | Cedar Cultural
10/09/15 Stoughton, WI | Stoughton Opera
10/10/15 Chicago, IL | Lincoln Hall
10/25/15 St. Louis, MO | Duck Room
10/28/15 Washington DC | The Hamilton
10/29/15 Purcellville, VA | Franklin Park Arts
10/30/15 Brooklyn, NY | Littlefield
11/05/15 Flagstaff, AZ | Coconino Center
11/06/15 Mesa, AZ | Mesa Arts Center
11/07/15 Santa Fe, NM | SkyLight
11/08/15 Albuquerque, NM | Simms Center
11/14/15 Corvallis, OR | Majestic Theatre
11/29/15 Bend, OR | Tower Theatre
12/04/15 Portland, OR | Revolution Hall
12/06/15 Seattle, WA | Benaroya Hall

vu (vu@weheartmusic.com) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic ♥ itunes.apple.com

Ghosts VIII

Read more Ghosts, Ghosts II, Ghosts III, Ghosts IV, Ghosts V, Ghosts VI, and Ghosts VII.

Read More Madonna Our favorite Material Girl has done things the old-fashioned way to get attention, but is showing some movement in the digital direction. First, she posed provocatively in the Art Issue of the Dec/Jan .…

MADONNA
madonna.com

We previously talked about the Material Girl Madonna's 13th studio album Rebel Heart in January 2015.

Now that the album is out now, we're seeing incredible numbers from her, including debuting at #1 album on the Soundscan album sales chart. The first single from Rebel Heart, "Living for Love" went to No. 1 on the Billboard Dance Charts, etc... all that will lead up to Madonna's "Rebel Heart World Tour", kicking off August 29th in Miami, FL.

Madonna's latest single "Ghosttown" was recently shown on Meerkat (which I've read did not work out due to the popularity of the music video). The new music video was directed by Jonas Ã…kerlund and co-stared Empire's Terrence Howard. You can watch it on YouTube.

North American Tour Dates:

08/29/15 Miami, FL AmericanAirlines Arena
08/30/15 Miami, FL AmericanAirlines Arena
09/02/15 Atlanta, GA Philips Arena
09/05/15 San Juan, PR Coliseo de Puerto Rico
09/09/15 Montreal, QC Bell Centre
09/10/15 Montreal, QC Bell Centre
09/12/15 Washington, DC Verizon Center
09/16/15 New York, NY Madison Square Garden
09/17/15 New York, NY Madison Square Garden
09/19/15 Brooklyn, NY Barclays Center
09/24/15 Philadelphia, PA Wells Fargo Center
09/26/15 Boston, MA TD Garden
09/28/15 Chicago, IL United Center
10/01/15 Detroit, MI Joe Louis Arena
10/03/15 Atlantic City, NJ Atlantic City Boardwalk
10/05/15 Toronto, ON Air Canada Centre
10/06/15 Toronto, ON Air Canada Centre
10/08/15 Saint Paul, MN Xcel Energy Center
10/11/15 Edmonton, AB Rexall Place
10/12/15 Edmonton, AB Rexall Place
10/14/15 Vancouver, BC Rogers Arena
10/17/15 Portland, OR Moda Center
10/19/15 San Jose, CA SAP Center At San Jose
10/22/15 Glendale, AZ Gila River Arena
10/24/15 Las Vegas, NV MGM Grand Garden
10/27/15 Inglewood, CA Forum

Read More Geographer Tokyo Police Club will be stopping by the Varsity Theater with Geographer and Said The Whale this Friday, as part of their tour …

GEOGRAPHER
geographermusic.com

San Francisco's Geographer is back with their fourth "proper" album Ghost Modern. Jess, who discovered their album Myth a year after its release, wrote " I only recently discovered them, first hearing a live version of “The Boulder”. This band may be the most precious I've discovered in the last year, and reviewing their albums in reverse order is as delightfully satisfying as it gets."

We previously saw Geographer with GRMLN in 2013.

To support Ghost Modern, Geographer will be heading out on tour:

5/06: Portland, OR - Doug Fir
5/07: Spokane, WA - The Big Dipper
5/08: Billings, MT - The Pub Station
5/10: Fargo, ND - Aquarium
5/11: Minneapolis, MN - 7th Street Entry
5/12: Chicago, IL - Lincoln Hall
5/13: Columbus, OH - Rumba
5/15: Detroit, MI - Blind Pig
5/16: Toronto, ON - Sneaky Dees
5/17: Montreal, QC - Fairmount Theatre
5/19: Boston, MA - Brighton Music Hall
5/21: Brooklyn, NY - Music Hall of Williamsburg
5/22: Philadelphia, PA - Union Transfer
5/23: Washington, DC - U St Music Hall
5/24: Chapel Hill, NC - Local 506
5/26: Atlanta, GA - The Earl
5/27: New Orleans, LA - Gasa Gasa
5/28: Houston, TX - Fitzgeralds
5/29: Dallas, TX - Trees
5/30: Austin, TX - Mohawk

Read More Ghost Towns of the West Earlier this year, I did manage to catch this band, Ghost Towns of the West, at their debut EP release party. Well, they are back with a gorgeous 7", "Robust" …

GHOST TOWNS OF THE WEST
facebook.com/ghosttownsofthewest

Shadows in Light

Our friends Ghost Towns of the West (not to be confused with Melbourne's Ghost Towns of the Midwest or Los Angeles' Ghost Town) recently released their debut LP Shadows in Light on Tuesday, April 7th. The album was produced by Timothe Catlin and engineered by Ed Ackerson (Polara and BLNX) at Flowers Studio.... and it is the band's first material in four years (we last talked about Ghost Towns of the West's "Robust" b/w "Mr. Loewe" 7" in 2011).

To celebrate the 2015 album release, the band will be playing at the Cabooze in Minneapolis on April 10th, and Livewire Lounge in Chicago on April 11th, 2015.

Details:

Cabooze, Minneapolis (10 April 2015)
● Ghost Towns of the West
● Red Daughters
● Little Man
● Chiefs of the North

Livewire Lounge, Chicago (11 April 2015)
● Ghost Towns of the West
● Stoop Goodnoise
● Bellum Boca
● Kodakrome

BRIEFLY:

PASTEL GHOST pastelghost.com California-based artist Pastel Ghost (Oakland-native Vivian Moon) recently released her album ABYSS, out now on Chicago-based outfit, 80’s Ladies Records. According to Moon, the album's theme is centered around emotions of darkness and loneliness. Looking over her website, she seems to really like Anime... perhaps she's a big fan of Masamune Shirow's "Ghost in the Shell"?

GHOST LOFT ghostloft.com Los Angeles' Ghost Loft (Danny Choi) will be releasing his EP Chocolate Haze in May 2015, but in the meantime, he's releasing some singles... including "Overflow", which came out a few weeks ago (March 25, 2015) via Kintsugi. They say that Ghost Loft's music are pulled directly from British bands like The Beatles and Blur.

vu (vu@weheartmusic.com) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic

Rock Icons vs. 21st Century Technology

With the music business changing rather drastically over the last decade or so, in terms of delivering music to the masses, it’s interesting to see how some of the longstanding rock icons are adapting (or not) to the new technology and methods to deliver their product to wanting ears.

Some, expectedly, have proven more successful than others.

Read More Bruce Springsteen U2 (minus Bono) celebrated World AIDS Day 2014 with a full concert with Chris Martin and Bruce Springsteen. .…

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN
brucespringsteen.net

The Boss has tread lightly in terms of the digital age as he and manager Jon Landau, have always kept a tight rein on Springsteen’s music catalog.  Impressed by the Pearl Jam model of offering up soundboard recordings of live concerts both digitally and on traditional CD, Springsteen dove into that pool with 30 different shows from 2014’s High Hopes tour, making them available in HD 24 bit, lossless FLAC, and MP3 versions.

Cleveland (1978)

More recently, the massive vault of vintage Springsteen recordings was opened, beginning with a 2012 performance at the Apollo in NYC, originally broadcast on Sirius XM, and now a radio simulcast show from Cleveland in 1978, taken from seven recently unearthed ¼” master reels.

While both shows have been available unofficially, it’s a promising sign to collectors and fans to see definitive versions of older shows become available and Springsteen’s catalog  should broaden further in 2015.

Read More The Rolling Stones Although most people associate The Rolling Stones as mainly Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, in the early days, it was really Brian Jones who was the band leader. … .…

ROLLING STONES
rollingstones.com

As the Stones’ 50^th Anniversary Tour continues into 2015, the band has entered the digital download era not with recent shows from their current tour, but a handful of more classic shows on both audio and video.

Advertisement for The Rolling Stones at Los Angeles (1975) and Hampton Coliseum (1981)

Beginning with a classic Los Angeles 1975 show and the Hampton Coliseum 1981 performance that was originally a pay-per-view broadcast, the Stones have expanded the catalog offerings to include other recordings from the 70s-90s, with the LA Forum and Hampton shows available at retail in both audio and video.

Like the older Springsteen releases, the vintage Stones offerings have been long available unofficially, but collectors and completists will no doubt snap up these definitive authorized versions and the catalog continues to grow.

Start downloading at: stonesarchivestore.com.

Read More Madonna Anyway, even Madonna is a fan, who recently had Psy appeared on her live concert with Madonna getting in on the horse dance. .…

MADONNA
madonna.com

Madonna on Interview Jan 2015

Our favorite Material Girl has done things the old-fashioned way to get attention, but is showing some movement in the digital direction.  First, she posed provocatively in the Art Issue of the Dec/Jan edition of Interview magazine, including an exposed bra top in corset and stockings.

Then, earlier this month, a handful of demos were released unofficially to the internet, purporting to be working versions of many of the upcoming tracks from her March 2015 album, Rebel Heart (then speculated to be called Iconic).  While her people were dismissing the credibility of the leaked tracks, she took to Instagram to decry it an “artistic rape” and “form of terrorism”, though the post was quickly deleted.

Madge and co. soon went into combative overdrive, offering up six official tracks for immediate download (including Diplo-produced first single “Living for Love” which wasn’t due until Feb 14), with pre-order of the full album.   The strategy worked, as iTunes pre-orders for the album topped the charts in 40+ countries.

Pre-order Rebel Heart: itunes.apple.com

Don’t expect any vault releases digitally anytime soon, though it would be great to hear unreleased remixes, unused collaborations, and early session works with Stephen Bray and Nile Rodgers from her early albums.

Read More Prince The Purple faithful were poised and ready. Prince had recently announced a live webstream via Yahoo Music, of an album release party for the two new albums that came out yesterday- Plectrum Electrum with band 3rd Eye Girl …

PRINCE
3rdeyegirl.com

After the 2014 release of not one, but two studio albums and a long-awaited deal with Warner Brothers to return his master recordings, anticipation was high in the Purple zone for a benchmark year.  Though he and band 3^rd Eye Girl managed some hit-and-run random concert dates, mostly in Europe and there were sporadic gigs back home at Paisley Park, a major tour never did materialize in 2014, as was fully expected.

Prince was an early pioneer as a major music artist to utilize the internet in then-unseen ways to connect and also created innovative marketing like giving away copies of his Musicology album in 2004 with every concert ticket bought (which at that time, counted as sales on SoundScan charts) and the looming 30^th anniversary of Purple Rain, had expectations high.

Prince, in his inimitable and unpredictable way, instead pulled the plug on all social media just before Thanksgiving; silencing the 3^rd Eye Twitter account, his barely used Facebook page, and lauded Prince-stagram account as well.

“Anotherlove” Screen Capture

Still remaining mostly silent, third party sites and the Purple Essence and Baron 3121 accounts, are the closest link to finding out what The Purple Yoda may or may not do next, though an authorized lyric video for song “Anotherlove” did appear recently, via WB.

Watch “Anotherlove” on youtube.com.

Known for a tight control of his artistic output as well as a massive vault of unreleased sessions and recordings, fans know better than to hold their breath for any series of vintage tracks or more current concerts to be released, though it would be most welcome and be direct income for him.

Read More The Replacements The Replacements' first Minnesota show in 23 years, at The Midway Stadium in Saint Paul, and, of course, it sold out in minutes. .…

THE REPLACEMENTS
thereplacementsofficial.com

In typical and seemingly unplanned fashion, after spending the last year and a half doing reunion shows at indie festivals, The Replacements recently released a 24 min. jazz jam via Soundcloud, called “Poke Me in My Cage”, recorded in October in Waltham, MA.

The Paul and Tommy reunion was initially spurred by ex-bandmate Slim Dunlap’s need for financial support following a debilitating stroke, which resulted in a series of singles and resulting benefit album, and after the tour announcement, plans for new Replacements music were floated about.

While the extended instrumental probably has little bearing on what any new ‘Mats songs will actually sound like, the unexpected release did get fans excited for the prospect of new songs to come.  Westerberg himself previously released digital tracks timed and named 49:00 and 5:05, so fans can likely expect more of the unexpected.

Hear “Poke Me in My Cage” at soundcloud.com.

john (johnc@weheartmusic.com) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic

Record Breakers

Read More Adele Clearly the big winner of the night was Adele, winning six Grammys: Album of the Year (21), Best Pop Record (21), Best Short Form Music Video ("Rolling in the Deep"), Record Of The Year...

Did you survive Black Friday and Thanksgiving? If you did, you may have missed some of this record-breaking news over the last few weeks.

ADELE
adele.tv

First up is Adele's 21 album has sold over 25 million records worldwide (10 million in the U.S. alone!).

According to the press announcement, Adele is the only European female artist in history to earn this "Diamond Certification", as certified by the RIAA.

"What an incredible honour," Adele exclaimed, "a huge, huge thank you to my American fans for embracing this record on such a massive level."

Fans hoping to hear new material will have satiate themselves with Adele's latest single, "Skyfall", which is featured in the 007 James Bond movie of the same name, and has sold over 2 million copies worldwide.

It's been a pretty amazing ride for Adele; it seems only yesterday that I saw her at an intimate show.

Looking forward to 23 or 24, Adele!

Read More Psy Hey so why am I buying into this? This K-pop YouTube sensation that is essentially the new "Chocolate Rain"? Well, however long PSY's rise to stardom is, this meme doesn't seem to be going away anytime soon...

PSY
psypark.com

You know we like Psy, check out the review on Psy's album 6甲 (Six Rules).

It is still pretty amazing that for a non-"pretty boy" Korean singer rode his phantom horse to the top of the charts with virtually NO RADIO AIRPLAY. What drove the madness? His video for "Gangnam Style"! It's crazy how popular it became in late August, and by early September that the video was an internet hit.

In fact, it was announced that Psy's "Gangnam Style" recently toppled Justin Beiber's "Baby" video for the most viewed on YouTube with over 840 million views. WOW.

Anyway, even Madonna is a fan, who recently had Psy appeared on her live concert with Madonna getting in on the horse dance.

All those video watchers also bought Psy's single, and I'm happy to report that the RIAA certified "Gangnam Style" as double platinum (which means in excess of 2 million copies sold.) He doesn't even have a physical CD in stores, that's all thanks to digital downloads! If you want to get your hands on the physical single, you have to import it!

Like I previously said, I think this may be a one-hit wonder… but I'm hoping it's not. I'd like to see Psy do more than "Gangnam Style", because eventually people will get bored of it. Also, I hope he goes on tour now, while he's still hot. I've seen footage online, his shows looks amazing.

ONE DIRECTION
onedirectionmusic.com

One Direction became Cosmopolitan's first all male cover in its 40 year history. Some may jokingly suggest there aren't any "men" on the cover.

"We loved the shoot with Cosmopolitan. What an honour to be the first ever male cover of such a prestigious magazine!," said One Direction's Liam Payne.

You can check out more behind the scenes over at cosmopolitan.co.uk.

In other One Direction news:

One Direction is #1 in the U.S. with over half a million units sold. Their album is #1 in 32 countries (UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Belgium, Denmark, Greece, Holland, Ireland, Israel, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, Venezuela, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand, United Arab Emirates and Singapore), selling over one million in one week. Fifteen million teenage girls can't be wrong.

Anyway, look for the boy band to be on a world tour this Spring 2013. Their tour will be documented in an upcoming 3D concert film, pending release August 23rd, 2013, by Morgan Spurlock from "Super Size Me." Who knew he was a fan?

Also, the band joined the Z!NG Revolution with a brand new collection of specially designed skins from the premiere pop culture vinyl skin company. I have something similar for my iPod, it's basically vinyl stickers (that is easily removable) to cover your iPhone or iPad, etc. Anyway, these skins will be exclusive to the Z!NG store in New York until the end of the year. More details and images of Harry, Zayn, Liam, Niall, and Louise, on zingrevolution.com.

vu () ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ podcast.weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic ♥ +W♥M

CD Releases (4/29/2008)

Today is Tuesday, and you know what that means: new CD releases. Here's some music that's expected to hit stores today, April 29th.

Portishead - Magic Doors

Sarah Mclachlan - Into The Fire

Madonna - Hard Candy
The New Frontiers - Mending
Portishead - Third
Jamie Lidell - Jim
Robyn - Robyn
The Roots - Rising Down
Sarah McLachlan - Rarities, B-Sides 2 And Other Stuff, Volume 2
Nerf Herder - Nerf Herder IV

Okay, the big album is obviously the Madonna's Hard Candy. I believe this is her final studio album for Warner Brothers Music. I don't make a habit of listening to music on myspace because I hate 'space and their flash player really mess up my audio on Firefox, but I did randomly listen to some of her new songs. It sounds like it's a mashup of some techno, some R&B, some dance stuff... basically if you like Madonna, you'll probably like this album.

I've already touched on Portishead on my previous article, but wanted to bring your attention that the third Third album comes out today.

Tour Dates April 29 Amarillo, TX@Amarillo Church May 1 Englewood, Denver, CO@Falcon Bowl May 2 Casper, WY @ American Legion May 3 SLC, UT@ olid Ground Cafe May 6 Anaheim, CA @ Chain Reaction May 7 West Hollywood, CA @ On The Rox May 8 San Diego, CA @ The Epicentre May 9 Temecula, CA @ The Underground May 10 Phoenix, AZ @ One Place May 11 Tucson, AZ @ Solar Culture

 

 

The New Frontiers - Strangers

Mending from The New Frontiers (thenewfrontiersmusic.com) is out today. What's most interesting is that they're selling their new album as a lost leader for $5.99 for 11 tracks on iTunes.

I think they're hoping to recoup their loss with live tour dates, which I believe is where most artists are making some revenue. They're currently on tour with Alive In Wild Paint.

Apparently, the band used to be called Stellamaris, but as they got more older and quieter, their music changed, and so did the name.

The two songs that stood out for me was "Black Lungs" (which you can hear on their myspace) and "Strangers". I liked Nathan Pettijohn's vocals against the indie guitars. Since both of these songs are more uptempo, it's not represented of the whole album.

The entire album is pretty mellow, and I hate to admit that I really need to be in that mood to listen to this album. Still, if you enjoy other slowcore bands, you need to check these guys out. They offered a few downloadable tracks on the ever popular daytrotter.com.

Tour Dates 05.25 Vancouver - Richards on Richards 05.26 Seattle - Sasquatch! Festival 05.27 Portland - Berbatis Pan 05.28 San Francisco - Bimbos 365 Club 05.29 Los Angeles - El Rey Theater 05.30 Los Angeles - El Rey Theater 05.31 Tucson - Rialto Theater 06.02 Denver - Bluebird Theater 06.04 Chicago - Abbey Pub 06.05 Toronto - Opera House 06.06 Ottawa - Babylon Club 06.07 Boston - Paradise 06.08 New York City - Bowery Ballroom 06.09 New York City - Bowery Ballroom 06.11 Philadelphia - World Café 06.12 Washington DC - 9:30 Club

 

Jamie Lidell - Green Light

British soul singer, Jamie Lidell (jamielidell.com), formerly of Super_Collider, has a new CD called Jim out today (actually, I think it was released yesterday in the UK).

I don't have his previous album, but this new album "takes a less electronica oriented direction compared to previous album Multiply"^[1]

Apparently since everyone seems to look to the television show Grey's Anatomy for the next big thing (it seems a few artists have broken out on this series), he did have his song "Multiply" on the show and on its second soundtrack.

I haven't listened to enough of Jim, due to lack of time and commitment, but I can tell you that Lidell has a very soulful voice and singing style. His songs sounds like it's early, slower Motown, especially on "Green Light".

He is going on tour in May, so I'll include his tour information here.

 

Kites - Easy Now

I also wanted to mention that there is an EP called You and I In The Kaleidoscope by Kites (myspace.com/kitessite) that's also being released today, at least that's the information I was given. It seems it was released as early as February 2008.

The main person behind Kites is really Jean-Philip Grobler and, according to his biography, it took three years to produce this four-track EP.

I wanted the four tracks on the EP to represent everything that to me is beautiful about pop music, and that took a lot longer than I thought.

- Jean-Philip Grobler

An interesting to note about this guy was that he grew up in South Africa and wasn't exposed to the same pop music that most people were fed. By high school, he had moved to Liverpool, England, to study music at the Sir Paul McCartney's Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts, where he met some friends to start the band Kites.

The result after band members breakup and moving around, You and I In The Kaleidoscope was born. Grobler and Kites are currently based out of New York.

I thought easily the best song on the EP is "Easy Now", with its epic-sounding intro.

I couldn't find a place where you can get the physical CD, but the EP is available on iTunes ($3.98) and Amazon ($3.56). Alternatively, you can just buy Pepsi and get points to get the tracks for free on Amazon!

 04/29/2008 09:52:18  vu my♥posts www.weheartmusic.com

sampling the sampled song - DJMonsterMo - UR Hung Up

Somehow, in the shower today, of all places, I got to thinking about how much I loathed Madonna. I blame this conversation I had with a friend late this morning. Anyway, I don't care about that Kabbalah, or the issue with her adopted kid. In fact, I'd say those controversies are a symptom of her overall problem. She's old, crotchety, and hasn't got a clue.

She used to create reasonably intelligent and interesting controversy. Her tensions with the roman catholic church back in the 80's veered from straight up derision to tacit agreement - Papa Don't Preach, anyone? It was kind of exciting, from what I read of it. (in full disclosure, I was too young to experience that) Now when she dances on a cross it seems tired, because she adds nothing new and even after twenty years could that theme be freshened up? What really bothered me though, was when she got all paranoid about her failed disc American Life leaking, and personally helped poison peer to peer networks with fake files.

Madonna - What The Fuck

Now, I give any artist the right to be mad over losing control over your music, however, when you respond in such a vitriolic way it shows that you haven't been keeping up with the trends, and are ignorant over what goes on nowadays. And stubborn ignorance is the first step on the path to irrelevance. I didn't care about her CD, but I personally downloaded one of her fake files, just cause I could. She says the f word, so be warned, but also the short clip is copyrighted, so don't steal it kids! And god forbid, don't sample it!

So I thought it was quaint when she sampled ABBA for her single, Hung Up. It was okay for her, since she's Madonna and has no trouble getting permission, but the song and album basically revealed that her and her producers were out of ideas. Let's make a modern 70/80's dance record! Lady, you've lived through the eighties. You've done that. It's bad enough when people half your age succumb to that sort of fetishism, but I think you're getting to the point where you're creatively done. Now, in her defense, the record was well produced and did sound contemporary, but this is from the lady that did great songs in the past that needed no retro point of reference. I may loathe you, but I acknowledge your past achievements. And if you're going to sample a relatively well known clip, you might as well do it well.

UR Hung Up

Now this is where mashup artists come in. By taking sampling to another level, they can take the most dated tunes and flip them inside out and stop them together to make something new. And if that sounds like another form of retro fetishism, some truly great mashups have been made with the latest chart hits, often surpassing the quality of the originals. Everything is fair game these days. This mashup, by DjMonsterMo, is kind of old but still a favorite of mine. He took the backing track of Hung Up and threw it together with the vocal from M.I.A.'s URAQT. It gets a bit of bite with M.I.A.'s almost obnoxious attitude, a little spice that Mrs. Richie's been missing from her music lately. And I think that after listening to this mash up and comparing it to the original, the original seems weak, since it also goes on for an interminable five minutes, the song's weakness, an overreliance on the sampled hook, becomes apparent. The mashup, while a little silly, is quite refreshing, and yes, it has no problem with brevity.