Gary Jules : Falling Awake [Download]

He tells stories. The other thing is, he’s a captivating performer. He’s really serious about what he’s doing, he works really hard, and you throw that whole package together and you’ve got an artist who, in my opinion, could quite easily be selling out 2000 or 3000 seat venues.' Nic Harcourt, host, Morning Becomes Eclectic, KCRW, Los Angeles

Trading Snakeoil For Wolftickets is Gary Jules’ second album. It gives space to Gary’s ghostly timbre, his delicate guitar playing and his vivid stories about HIS Los Angeles. Not the LA of Hollywood and shine and glitz and emptiness, but the downtown of Koreatown and the mausoleum-like Ambassador Hotel where Robert Kennedy was shot. 'A metropolitan city, more like New York than LA, where people are walking around, going about their business,' he says.

Mad World is a highlight, and the reason Trading Snakeoil For Wolftickets is finally being released in the UK, but the album also contains plenty of poetic, captivating songs that recall Simon & Garfunkel and Cat Stevens, country-influenced tunes (Patchwork G) and old European waltz/country ballads The Princess Of Hollywood Way and Barstool to the extremely pop sensible DTLA. It’s simple stuff, done elegantly and soulfully. It may have taken nearly two years for this album to make it to Europe, but no matter: these songs are in for the long-haul.

As well as appearing on Gary Jules’ second album, Mad World was originally on Donnie Darko - Music From The Original Motion Picture Score.

In December 1996, after paying his dues on the singer-songwriter scene, Gary was signed to A&M Records. He recorded his debut album, Greetings From The Side, in March 1997. After a year of waiting, at the record company’s behest, it was remixed. In August 1998 it was finally released. 'And two weeks later the record company disappeared,' he says with a dry laugh. A&M fell between the cracks of a corporate merger. 'There was nothing I could do. It disappeared so fast that I didn’t have copies of the album, so I couldn’t even go on road and sell it. And I was still signed so I couldn’t go and make a new record elsewhere. I was sold along with thousands of other people, and being near the bottom of the ladder it took a year to review my contract and for me to finally get dropped.' In the end Gary snagged 300 or 400 copies of Greetings From The Side and set about losing himself in whatever distractions came to hand - a very long weekend off the deep end. Then, weary from experience and in need of a new perspective, he went back to college and finished a degree in English literature.


In March 2001 Gary visited Michael Andrews in their hometown of San Diego. They did basic recordings of four of Gary’s new songs: Broke Window, DTLA, Pills and Patchwork G. Gary went back to LA, fired-up and back in the saddle. Over the course of the summer Gary and Michael worked on the record on and off, hammering out seven more songs that would make it on to Trading Snakeoil For Wolftickets. Gary worked on two more tracks for the album - Lucky and Umbilical Town - on his own in Los Angeles while Michael was busy with his own music. Gary then took the tracks to his friend Zeke’s house in Los Angeles and mixed them on his home stereo.

Two years ago Gary released Trading Snakeoil For Wolftickets himself. Donnie Darko and the response to Mad World gave his profile a shot in the arm. He is the originator of the music scene at the Hotel Café, a singer-songwriter cooperative/venue, which many consider to be the new beating heart of the Los Angeles artist community. From its humble beginnings, the Hotel has recently hosted the likes of Weezer, Ian Ball from Gomez, Damien Rice, Jewel, Lucinda, Jason Mraz, Pete Yorn, and many others. Gary has developed a strong following in various major US markets and has toured with Sheryl Crow, Todd Rundgren, Jack Johnson and Turin Breaks, managing to sell nearly 10,000 copies of Snakeoil in the U.S. - a remarkable figure for a self-released album with absolutely no advertising or marketing behind it. 'It started happening for me at the second attempt,' he says reflectively. 'Much more organically and dynamically. There was no established market for what I was doing then - David Gray hadn’t done White Ladder yet, and there was no Damien Rice model to plug me into - nobody knew how to sell a singer-songwriter in America. I figured it wasn't that big a mystery - write songs that mean something to you, sing them for whoever will listen, and hope that they mean something to them too.'


Sometimes I hear a song that seems so perfectly fitting for me in every way– in particular ways both permanent and transient– that I’m almost convinced that there is a divine spirit and it invoked the creation of something just for me. Gary Jules‘ “Falling Awake” is one of those songs (you can listen to the whole album at CD Baby). There are very clear echoes of Elliott Smith, particularly in this song. Jule’s vocal style also reminds me quite a bit of Peter Stuart…

Mixed by Bryan Cook. Other players: Michael Andrews: Bass, drums, backing vocals. Malcolm Cross: Drums, percussion, electric piano. Ben Peeler: Lapsteel guitar. Davey Chegwidden: Percussion.

Track List

1. Falling Awake
2. The Devil Keeps Grinning
3. Gone Daddy
4. Serpent - in - Claw
5. Little Greenie
6. There's A Hole in the Sky
7. Whiskey For Everybody
8. Wichita
9. Andalucia
10. Dustcloud and the Honeybees
11. Road Song Blues
12. One Little Light

[Download] Here http://gary-jules-mad-world-alternate-version--mp3-download.kohit.net/_/195149

Gary Jules - Falling Awake MV

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[Hot Artist] Sean Kingston : There's Nothin MV Lyric & Download

With a surefire hit, "Beautiful Girls," Sean Kingston has burst onto the Hip-Pop scene. With a well put together album, Sean Kingston is definitely in a position to hit the younger aged population. Although SK's album is catered very much too that younger crowd, he still has a couple tracks for the hardcore rap fans. "Kingston" the opening track is what you're use to from JR Rotem. With a soldier type drum backing, hard thumping kicks and strong claps, "Kingston" is anthem banger. "Drummer Boy" is also in this fame. SK proving he's not just a product, rapping about where he's from (although the Ya Boy featured "Where I'm From" should have been on the album). With a strong hook and another strong beat from JR SK kills this track too.

The rest of the album is pretty much Hip-Pop. From the Phil Collins sampled "I Can Feel It" to the heart wrenching song about his mother, "Dry Your Eyes." On "Dry Your Eyes Eyes" SK shows his versatility rapping and singing with a very smooth piano driven track. "Take You There" is an upbeat take on SK taking a lady around the city of Miami. The grown up lyrics though make you doubt that he's actually writing these songs though.

The Hip-Pop is really showing on "Got No Shorty," "Me Love," and "There's Nothing," mainly because these tracks are very interchangeable. Which is the major downfall from this disc. A lot of tracks songs fairly similar and may appeal to the general public, but the hardcore music fan will lose interest fairly quickly.

Although SK has a few downfall tracks, he does have a solid album. For those that skim through they'll love listening to this album. After a few dozens spins though the material gets watered down fairly quickly and you'll move on. SK will still get a few more hits out of this album though seeing "Me Love" is already moving up the charts and look for "Your Sister" to hit the clubs.

That honor now goes to 17-year-old Sean Kingston's ''Beautiful Girls'' — you know, the one with the Jamaican patois that goes ''You'll have me suicidal'' (or ''in denial,'' in the nervous-Nellie alternate radio edit). It's an irritatingly irresistible pop smash that uses a ''Stand by Me'' sample and electronic vocal processing to make Kingston's West Indies dialect sound more sci-fi. If Jar Jar Binks ever borrowed C-3PO's voice box to bemoan his adolescent sexual frustration, it would sound...well, not nearly as endearing as this.

At its best, Kingston's debut CD, Sean Kingston, keeps turning familiar riffs into dancehall cotton candy. ''Me Love'' transforms the faux reggae of Led Zeppelin's ''D'Yer Mak'er'' into, you know, only slightly less-faux reggae. ''Got No Shorty'' updates the circa-1915 ''I Ain't Got Nobody'' for 21st-century urban outcasts. There — and in ''Dry Your Eyes,'' a tribute to his imprisoned real-life ''mommy'' — he's a baby-faced underdog you can't help but get behind. Unfortunately, a few unconvincingly tough hip-hop tracks (including his first teaser single, ''Colors 2007,'' which went nowhere) seem like vestiges of a plot to present Kingston as a pudgy thug, before ''Girls'' made him a star softie. He's hardly the first 17-year-old with an identity crisis. Happily, the public has voted: Gangsta, nay. Lovably thwarted teen gigolo, yay. B

"There's Nothin' (featuring The DEY and Juelz Santana)"

theres nothin in this world theres not another girl that can satisfy my needs.Theres nothin in this world theres not another boy that can make me feel so sweet

Lyrics

There's Nothin

Sean Kingston, JR, Paula
Hey, hey, haha
Sean Kingston, Paula D

(Chorus)
There's nothing in this world
There's not another girl that could satisfy my needs
There's nothing in this world
There's not another boy that could make me feel so sweet
Cos me love life's so right
When she hold me so tight, how she kiss me goodnight
Cos he fills up my life
Like the sun, he shines bright
Boy, come with me now

The first night me meet her
Yes me senorita me never want to leave her no
Because the gal look sweet and ???
And me really want to take her home
Cos she look nice and is a one of a kind
When me look up in her eyes then she got me mesmerised
Picture perfect like a Kodak moment
When she kiss me goodnight and she feelin' up on me
We been there from the jump, never front, never stunt
Never done what a average girl done
And I can tell by her body language
She feels my emotions
And got me anxious
So that's me type
Me and me angel
And me really have to let her know
She's the woman of my life
Oh yes she so right
So please let the chorus go

(Chorus)
There's nothing in this world
There's not another girl that could satisfy my needs
There's nothing in this world
There's not another boy that could make me feel so sweet

Cos me love life's so right
When she hold me so tight, how she kiss me goodnight
Cos he fills up my life
Like the sun, he shines bright
Boy, come with me now

I Saw you from across the room
Looking so fly I gotta talk to you, yeah
It didn't take a sec to see
That you're the only one who wanna rescue me
I can't lie, boy you're my type of guy
And there's nothing in this world that can stop me from loving you

Girl you put me in a good mood
And me love the way you flex too
We could chill girl, after school
Cos I ain't trippin girl it's up to you
And since then we've been inseperable
Cos I did everything to get next to you
Since day 1 you know I stay true
So ever since then it's been me and my boo

(Chorus)
There's nothing in this world
There's not another girl that could satisfy my needs
There's nothing in this world
There's not another boy that could make me feel so sweet
Cos me love life's so right
When she hold me so tight, how she kiss me goodnight
Cos he fills up my life
Like the sun, he shines bright
Boy, come with me now

(Sean Kingston)
There's nothing in this world, There's nothing in this world
There's nothing, there's nothing

(Paula Deanda)
There's nothing in this world, There's nothing in this world
There's nothing, there's nothing
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[New Single] Rihanna Maroon 5 : If I Never See Your Face Again

Rihanna and Maroon 5 are teaming up for an ultra-glam remake of “If I Never See Your Face Again”, which will appear on the re-releases of both big-name artists.

“We’re both re-releasing our albums — mine’s out June 17,” Rihanna told MTV News. “This is the only collaboration on my re-release, because I always wanted to work with Maroon 5. They’re one of my favorite bands. When they called me to do this record with them, I was so honored.”

“The song was basically done, but we wanted to try something different, so we had her come in and do bits and pieces,” Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine added. “It came together so quick. The only other collaboration I had done before was with Kanye, and it was the same way. It sounds cheesy, but if the magic is there, if the chemistry is there, you don’t even have to think about it.”

Maroon 5's Adam Levine and Rihanna on the L.A. set of their "If I Never See Your Face Again" video

Photo: MTV News

Remake of M5’s ‘If I Never See Your Face Again’ will appear on re-releases of both artists’ latest albums.

Another day, another big-name artist gearing up to promote an album re-release with a big, shiny music video. Only this time it’s different: It’s two big-name artists. At the same time.

On Wednesday, Maroon 5 and Rihanna joined forces on a Los Angeles soundstage to film a video for a remake of “If I Never See Your Face Again” — originally the lead track on M5’s 2007 effort, It Won’t Be Soon Before Long — which will appear on reissues of both artists’ albums.

On Wednesday, Maroon 5 and Rihanna joined forces on a Los Angeles soundstage to film a video for a remake of “If I Never See Your Face Again” — originally the lead track on M5’s 2007 effort, It Won’t Be Soon Before Long — which will appear on reissues of both artists’ albums.

“We’re both re-releasing our albums — mine’s out June 17,” Rihanna told MTV News. “This is the only collaboration on my re-release, because I always wanted to work with Maroon 5. They’re one of my favorite bands. When they called me to do this record with them, I was so honored.”

“The song was basically done, but we wanted to try something different, so we had her come in and do bits and pieces,” Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine added. “It came together so quick. The only other collaboration I had done before was with Kanye, and it was the same way. It sounds cheesy, but if the magic is there, if the chemistry is there, you don’t even have to think about it.”

A spokesperson for Rihanna’s label, Island Def Jam, confirmed that the reissue of her Good Girl Gone Bad album will hit stores June 17. A rep for Maroon 5’s label, A&M, couldn’t be reached by press time.

So what about that video? Well, it’s directed by Anthony Mandler, who has helmed clips for everyone from Snoop Dogg to the Spice Girls, and from what we could gather — and from what Rih Rih and Levine were wearing when we caught up with them on the set — the whole thing is a fairly glam affair.

“It’s this kind of ultra-glamorous, photography-based, late-’70s/ early-’80s situation. It’s really stylish and really beautiful,” Levine said. “It’s the most choreographed thing I’ve ever done, because usually I just get up there and screw around. But with Rihanna, it’s completely different and so cool.”

“I don’t do a lot of videos where I have so much chemistry with the other artist, and this is only my second duet in a video,” Rihanna added. “It’s really intense, because you have to work with each other so much. It’s new for me, but I’m enjoying it.”

While the dynamic duo look forward to working together again in the future, Levine seems like he’d like the collaboration to be somewhat different — like, perhaps, a “Project Runway”-style partnership.

“I’ve been doing her styling lately, especially for this video,” he laughed. “That’s my other passion: styling.”
Source: MTV


Maroon 5 - If I never see your face again Music video

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[Artist] LADY ANTEBELLUM : "Love Don't Live Here" MV & Lyrics

Not only is this one of the best new-artist debuts in recent memory (think Dixie Chicks in 1998), Lady Antebellum's self-titled set will go down as one of the year's best, period. The singing/songwriting combination of Hillary Scott, Charles Kelley and multi-instrumentalist Dave Haywood is fresh and mature. The trio's unique vocal arrangement—Kelley's blue-eyed soul leads on some songs, Scott effortlessly leads on others, and the two also duet—sets them apart. "Love Don't Live Here" is driven by Kelley's powerful vocal, while Scott shines on the defiant "Long Gone" and the romantic "Can't Take My Eyes off You." "All We'd Ever Need" and "I Run to You" finds the pair seamlessly intertwining in the tradition of Crystal Gayle and Gary Morris.--Billboard said.

About Lady Antebellum

In the summer of 2006, three gifted young adults walked into a house hoping to create music together—and Lady Antebellum walked out.

The sound that Hillary Scott, Charles Kelley and Dave Haywood cooked up while hanging at the Nashville-area home of Charles’ brother throughout the summer of 2006 is a unique blend that mingles classic country, 1960s R&B soulfulness and the heart-on-the-sleeve openness of 1970s singer-songwriters, all presented with a razor-sharp contemporary edge. It’s a sound that had Lady Antebellum, as the threesome dubbed itself, generating deafening buzz as one of modern country’s brightest hopes even before the release of their new self-titled debut album.

Already the trio has been nominated for “Top New Group” at the 2008 Academy of Country Music (ACM) Awards. They’ve watched the group-penned first single from Lady Antebellum, “Love Don’t Live Here Anymore,” soar up the country radio charts, while its video has become a staple on CMT and GAC. They’ve performed on the legendary Grand Ole Opry, served as the opening act on Martina McBride’s 2008 arena tour, and opened shows for Kenny Chesney, Carrie Underwood, Tim McGraw, Alan Jackson, Taylor Swift, Josh Turner, Phil Vassar, Rodney Atkins and Little Big Town. Outlets like Billboard, Country Weekly, MSN Music and the Boston Globe included Lady Antebellum among their annual shortlists of artists to watch in 2008, and Nashville Lifestyles magazine flat-out called them “the next big thing.” GAC has devoted a special, Introducing … Lady Antebellum, to tracing their brief but eventful history.

Martina summed up the general consensus of both fans and the media when she told one audience on their tour together, “You can say you saw them when.”

But it all began on that day in 2006 when Hillary Scott’s sultry alto, Charles Kelley’s gritty tenor and multi-instrumentalist/ harmony vocalist Dave Haywood’s musical overview first intersected. Hillary, whose parents are Grammy-winning country artist Linda Davis and accomplished musician Lang Scott, had met Charles at a downtown Nashville music spot—having recognized him from his MySpace page. She introduced herself, and they struck up a conversation that ended in an agreement to try writing together.

Enter Dave Haywood, Charles’ friend since they met at Riverside Middle School in Augusta, Ga., and co-writer since they attended college together at the University of Georgia. Dave had moved to Nashville in March 2006 at his pal’s suggestion, and both were staying at the home of Charles’ brother, singer-songwriter Josh Kelley. Hillary came by the house, and over the ensuing months she, Charles and Dave fell into a fruitful songwriting partnership. “We held ourselves hostage in a writing room until the early hours of the morning every night,” Dave remembers.

At first, the three weren’t sure what exactly they were writing for—but it soon became obvious that Charles and Hillary produced a combustible chemistry as a vocal duo, and that Dave’s instrumental prowess and harmony vocals filled out the picture perfectly. It helped matters a great deal that the three also sparked as friends, finding an easy balance of personalities. “I’m the analytical perfectionist, Hillary brings the silliness and the emotion, and Dave is the calming glue,” Charles explains. “Everyone balances everybody else out.”

Each also brought diverse influences into the collaboration, ranging from The Allman Brothers Band to Vince Gill, from The Eagles to Keith Urban, and from Gladys Knight to Travis Tritt. All those elements added up to something distinctly modern, yet grounded in old-fashioned gut-level passion. “It’s like a Neapolitan blend of all these flavors,” Dave says. “It’s a really great marriage, musically and lyrically.” Their old-school influences led them to choose an old-time moniker, inspired by a just-for-fun photo shoot in front of an Antebellum-style home: Lady Antebellum. (“There’s not anything too terribly meaningful behind it,” Charles admits.)

The three began posting demos on MySpace to see what kind of reaction they’d receive, and visitor feedback was immediately, overwhelmingly positive. Audience reaction was just as instantaneous when Lady Antebellum began playing small gigs around Music City. “It took on a life of its own,” marvels Dave, who booked their first shows himself. “There was no plan, we just kept churning out as many songs as we could.” Early fans soon took it upon themselves to bestow upon the trio the shorthand nickname “Lady A.”

By April 2007, the group had signed a recording contract with Capitol Nashville and begun work on their debut with the aid of megaproducer Paul Worley and award-winning songwriter Victoria Shaw. The resulting album is a vivid document of the group’s verve, versatility and vibrancy. Lady Antebellum’s 11 songs—10 of which were co-written by the band—effortlessly capture the trio’s musical interplay, emotional directness and all-for-one spirit. The chugging hit “Love Don’t Live Here” (inspired by a breakup Charles had just endured) announces their intent from its opening moments, as the chiming guitars give way to Charles’ gutsy voice, quickly seconded by Hillary’s backing vocal. Throughout the album, the two lead singers shift easily between taking the spotlight and sharing it, whether they’re trading off lines in the great tradition of country duet singers or supporting one another with sparkling harmonies.

The range of emotion on Lady Antebellum encompasses both the joyfully romantic “Love’s Lookin’ Good On You” and the desolation of the swelling ballad “All We’d Ever Need” (the very first song the trio composed together). Between those extremes is the driving “Long Gone,” a display of attitudinal assurance from Hillary; “Lookin’ for a Good Time,” an irresistible come-on from Charles; “Slow Down Sister,” a churning rocker with touches of Southern rock and Stax groove; and the pulsing “I Run to You,” in which the voices circle one another tantalizingly before melding seamlessly in the chorus. Fans drawn in by “Love Don’t Live Here” are about to discover just how much more there is to Lady Antebellum—and given the trio’s breathtaking rise to newly minted star status, it’s a sure bet that there are plenty of listeners out there waiting to do just that. “It still overwhelms me,” Hillary admits. “I’m a true believer that what’s meant to be will fall into place. When the ride starts, you’ve just got to jump on.”

With a one-of-a-kind vocal chemistry that evokes the tradition of classic country, an up-to-the-second modern sound, and a songwriting partnership that’s both timely and timeless, Lady Antebellum offers a combination that’s both shockingly fresh and as familiar as an old friend.

Review
by William Ruhlmann

Lady Antebellum is a two-guys-and-a-girl trio comprised of co-lead singers Charlie Kelley and Hillary Scott with multi-instrumentalist Dave Haywood. The group is also a songwriting collective, a Nashville rarity, co-writing most of the songs on its self-titled debut album. The three may have come up with material as good as what a publisher could have provided, although they never stray too far from formula, as reused titles like "Love Don't Live Here," "Long Gone," "I Run to You," "Home Is Where the Heart Is," and "Can't Take My Eyes Off You," suggest. Love is true or false, depending on the song, or it's forgotten in the honky tonk haze of "Lookin' for a Good Time." Kelley has a sturdy country baritone, but he sometimes sounds a bit too pleased with his own rich tone and comes off mannered. Scott, by contrast, seems to know that her voice can't match Kelley's for distinctiveness, so she works harder at coming up with striking phrasing and emotional force. The contrast gives their duets a chemistry that is the band's strongest element. Producers Victoria Shaw and Paul Worley give the record a pop/rock sound, with plenty of guitars and rhythmic punch, the better to goose a little more feeling from the singers. At this point, Lady Antebellum is a group that seems to know the basics of contemporary country but isn't ready to move beyond them or redefine them for its own ends. Still, this is a good beginning.

Lyrics

Love Don't Live Here

(Dave Haywood / Charles Kelley / Hillary Scott)I really felt like we found our sound on this song, and I was really proud that it became our first single since it was one of the first songs that the three of us wrote together. - Charles

Well this heart of mine has been hardened like a stone

It might take some time to get back what is gone

But I’m movin’ on and you don’t haunt my dreams

Like you did before oh when I would curse your name

Well I heard the news that you were back in town

Just passin’ through to claim your lost and found

But I’m over you and there ain’t nothin’ that

You could say or do to take what you did back

Well you got nerve to waltz right inAnd think what’s mine is yours again

Chorus

Cause I’ve been doin’ fine without you

Forgettin’ all the love we once knew

And girl I ain’t the one who slammed that door

But now you say you’ve changed your thinkin’

But I ain’t got a heart for breakin’So go and pick your bags up off my floor

Oh cause love don’t live here anymore

Well baby you can try to tell me how it is

And try to justify everything you did

But honey I’m no fool and oh I’ve been down this road

Too many times with you I think it’s best you go

Well I got one thing left to say

Is you can lay in the bed you’ve made

Repeat Chorus

Oh no that love don’t live here anymore

Oh no, no

Sugar no, no

And you don’t live here anymore

Love don’t live here anymore

And since you walked out of my door

Love don’t live here

Love don’t live here girl

Oh love don’t live here anymore

MV -- "Love Don't Live Here "

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[Artist] Gossip

Gossip is a band consisting of: Beth Ditto (vocals), Brace Paine (guitar, bass, sp-555) and Hannah Blilie (drums).

platter--simply titled "The Gossip"--with prominent Olympia producer/In 1999, after living a life feeling like lonely coyotes and huggy bears in Searcy, Arkansas, the radical feminism-infused punk unit Gossip relocated to Olympia, Washington where the trio recorded its first trash-ed out soul 7"indie music titan Calvin Johnson for his influential K Records label.

In a celebrity-obsessed age of product placement and plastic pop stars, Gossip are arguably the realest band in rock ‘n roll. Led by the Arkansas-born Beth Ditto, an often naked, unapologetically overweight outspoken feminist named NME’s coolest person in rock, Gossip have been breaking boundaries with their fiery soul-punk since 1999. Not because they’re bleeding heart activists (although they do wear their politics on their sleeves) or out to shock people, but because they just are who they are — not out to please anybody or make a million fans — totally real. As guitarist Brace Paine, original drummer Kathy Mendonca (now replaced by Hannah Blilie) and Beth put it, way back in the beginning, “We started a band ’cause we were bored. Our mission is to make you dance, and if you’re not gonna dance, just stay at home and listen to the oldies station.”

Although obviously not your average spotlight stealers, Gossip have more than earned their infamy. Formed in Arkansas back in ‘99, they relocated to Olympia, Washington where they signed with Calvin Johnson’s legendary indie label, K Records. Their big break came six years later by way of third full-length, Standing In The Way Of Control. The title track, an all-out anthem, quickly hit #1 on the UK charts and became the unofficial theme song of British teen melodrama, Skins. This was a particularly major breakthrough because the song was written as an angry response to the US government’s refusal to allow gays the right to marry. Again, not your average spotlight stealers.

Let’s get back to Beth a minute because she deserves way more than one run-on sentence. One of the music world’s fiercest individuals, the powerhouse has appeared nude on several magazine covers under unflaggingly punk circumstances. In interviews she has admitted everything from a distaste for deodorant to having eaten squirrels (although she later claimed it was her cousin who ate the critters). But she’s not all outrage all the time. What her philosophy really comes down to may have been revealed in her regular Guardian column, “What Would Beth Ditto Do,” where she said, “Women aren’t cats, we aren’t pets, we are just people trying to cross the freaking street to get an ice-cream.”

Fronted by the brash and unapologetic Beth Ditto, Gossip is simultaneously iconic and iconoclastic, a musical and aesthetic equation of sensibilities drawn from Yoko Ono + Kim Gordon + Tobi Vail + Roseanne Barr. Forged from new visual and musical templates, Gossip is one of pop music's most uncompromised bands since the Shaggs. The members of Gossip have come to accept the fact that they can never be Grace Jones. "We can only close our eyes and stand on stage," they exclaim, "and pretend to be Grace Jones!"

Gossip released its first full-length collection of never would-be hits, "That's Not What I Heard," in January 2001 and its successor, the feedback layered salute to The Stooges "L.a. Blues" EP "Arkansas Heat," in 2002 after touring with the White Stripes, The Kills, Chromatics, Les Georges Leningrad and Sleater-Kinney. The group's second full-length collection, "Movement," was released in May 2003.

Gossip achieved a threshold of slashdance with its last studio LP/CD, 2006's "Standing In The Way Of Control," which crawled up the UK album chart (eventually peaking at 22) while the album's title track became a UK chart slayer in its own right. After becoming the unofficial theme music for the popular British television teen drama, "Skins," the track danced over to the UK indie chart, heating up Billboard's European Top 100 Albums and the European Hot 100 Singles charts while selling copies in the UK. Gossip turned in a fractured rendition of "Standing In The Way Of Control" during the group's national television debut on CBS's "Late Show with David Letterman" in April 2008. Paul Schaffer was staring their eyes the whole time making them wholly uncomfortable. Following the performance, Letterman told the group how much it made him want to climb into the back of a van with Gossip and head out on tour, going so far as to offer to pick up the tab. The band have plans to call him every single about this alleged offer until he accepts or files a restraining order against the band.

Gossip appeared on the cover of the UK's prestigious music bible NME no less than three times in 2007, with the June 2nd issue notoriously featuring Beth Ditto dressed proudly in her "birthday suit." The NME pronounced Beth its 1 choice for "Coolest Of 2007" while, back in the States, Spin featured Beth in a six-page spread.

Now living down in Portland, Oregon, Gossip has opened for and toured with: Le Tigre, Chromatics, Tracy and The Plastics, Sonic Youth, Pre, YYY, Sleetmute Nightmute, Glass Candy, the White Stripes, CSS, Pretty Girls Make Graves, Erase Errata, Stereo Total, and The Kills among others.

During the summer of 2007, Gossip was a part of the True Colors Tour 2007, which traveled through 15 cities in the United States and Canada. Gossip members generally loved the cafeteria food served backstage and found great friends in some of the cafeteria workers while vowing to stay away from the gambling machines at the casinos. Headlined by Cyndi Lauper, the True Colors Tour also featured Debbie Harry, Erasure, Rufus Wainwright, The Dresden Dolls, The Misshapes, The Cliks and other special guests. Profits from the tour went to benefit the Human Rights Campaign. The Gossip kept proclaiming during the tour, "Why aren't Yaz and a Klaus Nomi tribute playing this damn festival".

On June 24, 2007, Gossip closed the Glastonbury Festival, with Beth Ditto paying tribute to legendary DJ John Peel during the group's set exclaiming "JOHN PEEL IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE UNDERGROUND!!!"

April 15, 2008 saw the release of "Gossip - Live In Liverpool," a deluxe Live CD/DVD combination package from Portland's premier soul/experimental unit. Captured live at a real concert on July 9, 2007, "Gossip - Live In Liverpool" focused on the deep raw power, energy and intensity in the heat of Gossip's chains + eyeliner meld of noise + politics + rhythm. This incendiary show broke out killer performances of Gossip soul/rippers including the band's chart-slaying "Standing In The Way Of Control"; the UK Top 40 hit "Listen Up"; and the 3 UK Indie track, "Jealous Girls," as well as minimalist renditions of Wham!'s "Careless Whisper" and Aaliyah's "Are You That Somebody?"

"Gossip - Live In Liverpool" included a DVD of the concert, lensed by documentary filmmaker and music video director Lance Bangs (Sonic Youth, Green Day, R.E.M., Death Cab For Cutie, Kanye West, Pavement, Mike Watt and more).

In April 2008, Gossip put all of their personal relationships and other commitments on hold to jump on a plane, land, bundle up in a van and then drive to a city near you in celebration of "Gossip - Live In Liverpool." Gossip's mini-tour of select US cities included gigs in New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles in addition to the group's watershed performance on Letterman.

Gossip - Listen Up!

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[New Album] Myriam Fares : Amazing Voice & Nice Move

Talented singer and dancer, Myriam Fares is a breath of fresh air in the music scene and the creator of her own style. With her music achievements, starting from her début album to her live performances at the most prestigious concerts, Myriam has set new standards, ones of a complete artist.

A young artist from south Lebanon, Myriam grew up in a family that respects education and believes in learning and growing. She was attracted to the arts, so she took this passion to the end.

Somewhat of a child prodigy, she took her first ballet steps at the age of five, and at the age of nine earned first place on Tele-Liban (Al Mawahib Al Saghira), in oriental dance.

Her early lessons in Classical Ballet improved her sense of music. Her multifaceted talents and abilities in the world of art astonished her teachers in school who encouraged her to improve and grow. Myriam felt the need to express her feelings through her voice that springs from deep inside her, so she registered at the National Conservatory of Music and studied musicology for four years.

At the age of sixteen Myriam participated at the Lebanese Song Festival where she won the first prize for the public Lebanese song nomination. At seventeen she participated in Studio El Fan 2000 for the District of South Lebanon and earned the first prize, not to mention the Special Certificate from Dr. Walid Gholmieh for the three Districts of South Lebanon, Beirut, and Mount Lebanon.

Still in the blush of youth, Myriam’s voice has a personal stamp that doesn't sound like anyone else's and at whatever age, with such an innocent sensuality, one that seems to be of her own invention, she is bound for success.

At the age of 20 and with the guidance of her management company – Music Is My Life, Myriam signed her first record deal with Music Master International and launched her first album on October 21, 2003 at the Virgin Mega store – Beirut. The Album witnessed immediate success and became a best seller for a debut Artist.

Wherever Myriam went through her promotional tours, she was overwhelmed by people’s response and appreciation for her art.

Myriam then launched her second album, entitled “Nadini Myriam”. It involved collaboration with Lebanese and Egyptian composers. This second album resembles Myriam and concretizes her spirit in music. Produced by Music Master, the album contains 10 tracks of various genres.

While preparing her third album, Myriam chose to shoot simultaneously yet another song from the album “Nadini Myriam”. Collaborating one more time with director Wissam Smaira, the artist pushed her professionalism and dynamism even more in this clip for the song “Wahichni eah”. Shot in Lebanon, the clip required sophisticated equipments to execute its main idea that revolves around car chasing. The team was brought from France and the result was no less than that of an international standards. The racing, the singing and the dancing had every head turned to witness what no other Arab artist had yet achieved in this part of the world!

Myriam, as young as she might be, has already proven herself and her singing talents in the music scene making her now one of the most solicited artists. As for the new clip, a definitely must see!

All throughout her career, Myriam has had a continuous and unrelenting support from her family, and her management company “Music Is My Life”.

Myriam fares' new music video.

Directed by Leila Kanaan and produced by Melody tv.
For the first time Myriam's not dancing in the video!
A montage of mysterious and delicate images shows Myriam suffering and complaining about the love triangle she's dealing with.

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[New MV] Nelly feat. Fergie : Party People

New song frum Nelly off his new album Brass Knuckles...

The album will feature fourteen tracks as reported by USA Today.Nelly explained the reasoning for the title as "the best way" he can explain "how hard it's going to hit you."

Nelly has a range of featured guests lined up for Brass Knuckles, with appearances from Akon, Ashanti, Avery Storm, Babyface, Chuck D, Ciara, Fergie, LL Cool J, Lil Wayne, Pimp C, Rick Ross, Snoop Dogg, St. Lunatics, T.I. and Usher all confirmed.Jermaine Dupri also stated possibilities of hopeful collaborations with Bruce Springsteen, Mariah Carey and Janet Jackson. Dupri gave a look into the two collaborations, one being Nelly, Carey and Jackson all appearing on the same track, in which he stated Nelly has laid the following blueprint:

Nelly's got a crazy collaboration he's trying to put together, which is him, Janet and Mariah Carey all on one song...That's what he wants. If he could convince them to do it, it would be crazy. He wants Janet to rap a 16-bar verse, he wants Mariah to sing the hook and he's gonna do two verses. He has it all planned out. You ask him about it! This is what he wants; he's 100-percent deadlocked into it. He went on to speak about the possibility of the Springsteen collaboration and that two of his own tracks will appear on the album,

Unfortunately for Nelly he was unable to get to collaborate with Springsteen as he was too busy around the world, though he if still hopefull to collaborate with him on a future album, or even a repackage of Brass Knuckles On March 30, Nelly told hiphopdx.com that "the album would feature a handful of new producers".

The first single was believed to be "Cut It Out" which features the late Pimp C and Sean P, of YoungBloodZ, but was later confirmed to be "Wadsyaname," which was released digitally on August 21, 2007. Because of pushed release dates from October 16 and on, the official first single has been changed to Party People. Nelly has recently recorded the Jermaine Dupri produced track "Stepped On My Js" featuring Ciara. Nelly describes the song as "'Air Force Ones' and 'Grillz' on steroids."

Lyrics

Let's go.
St. Louis
Yeaaahh.
Let's go
I told ya I gon' change the game
LA all day
They cant ya boy
I get money
Ya m*f*'s aint ready

[CHORUS]
(Fergie)
Just walked thru the door
what's it gonna be,
I can't get to the floor
boys all over me.
What it's gonna be
Where my party, pa' party party pa' party people at?
Where my party, pa' party party pa' party people at?

(Nelly)
Just walked thru the door
what's it gonna be,
I can't get to the floor
girls all over me.
Where my party, pa' party party pa' party people at?
Where my party, pa' party party pa' party people at?


(Nelly)
It's Nelly(Wait a minute)
Comin straight up out the Lou
and all you New Edition rappers better cool it now
for I make a fool of yall,
paper stacked as tall as Yao Ming
look at the bling
settings in rings
lookin like basketballs.
[2nd time (Chopped & Screwed voice)]

[CHORUS]

Where my party people at x8

(Fergie)
Well it's Fergie I'm the Dutchess
Comin straight from CalifornIA
stuntin in my loc locs.
Dreamin bout me M.I.A.,
boyfriend wonderin where I'm at,
cause I'm in the spot spot.
Why he always tryin to be puttin me down on lock lock?
[2nd time (Chopped & Screwed voice)]

[CHORUS]

(Nelly)
Patiently waitin & takin my time
watchin these haters
don't come with they rhymes
watchin these suckers are mimickin, gimmickin
then they start fallin off one at a time.
You can go search but you never could find,
I promise you derrty I'm one of a kind.
Mold is broken, the formulas mine.
I killed the idea and destroyed the design.

(Fergie)
I was patiently waitin & takin my time
Now that I'm here I'm gettin my shine.
All of you haters can kiss a behind,
specifically speakin I'm talkin bout mine.
Don't need you to tell me, I know that I'm fine.
I'm killin it baby so call it a crime.
Yea you watch it I'm stealin my time
I told you before that big girls don't cry.

[CHORUS]

ohh
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[New Artist] Sanna Nielsen : Download New Album

At the age of eleven she reached the number one spot on the Svensktoppen Charts with the song Till en fågel. She participated in Melodifestivalen 2001 singing Igår, idag, which finished 3rd. Nielsen returned to Melodifestivalen again in 2003 with Hela världen för mig which finished 5th, and again in 2005 with Du och jag mot världen, a duet with Fredrik Kempe, which finished 8th.

On the 3rd of March in 2007, she participated in Melodifestivalen again with Vågar du, vågar jag. During the Second Chance round, the song qualified for the final in Stockholm Globen Arena on the 10th of March 2007, where the song ended up in 7th place after the final of Melodifestivalen 2007.

Nielsen participated in Melodifestivalen 2008, singing "Empty Room", written and composed by Bobby Ljunggren and Aleena Gibson. She reached the final from the Västerås semifinal on 16 February 2008, and although she got the most votes from the televoting, she did not get enough points from the jury to overtake Charlotte Perrelli, finishing second in the final at the Stockholm Globe Arena on 15 March.

Sanna Nielsen (born 27 November 1984) is a Swedish singer. She comes from Bromölla in Skåne, southern Sweden. At the age of eleven she reached the number one spot on the Svensktoppen charts with the song Till En Fågel. She participated in Melodifestivalen 2001 singing Igår, Idag, which finished 3rd. Nielsen returned to Melodifestivalen in 2003 with Hela Världen För Mig, which finished 5th, and in 2005 with Du och jag mot världen , a duet with Fredrik Kempe, which finished 8th.

Sanna Nielsen - Empty Room




Download for new Album

Artist: Sanna Nielsen
Album: Stronger
Country: Sweden
Genre: Pop
Release Date: 16-04-2008
Label: Lionheart

1. Strong
2. Empty Room
3. Nobody Without You
4. I Believe Its You
5. Heart Of Me
6. Tomorrow Ends Today
7. Impatiently Waiting For You
8. Those Were The Days And The Nights Of Loving You
9. Out Of Reach
10. But I Know What I Want
11. Broken In Two
12. Magic
13. I Can Catch The Moon
14. This Is My Thanks

Download

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Colbie Caillat All Music Video from New Album 'Coco'

Colbie Caillat has been the quintessential California girl, ever since her mom gave birth to her in their Malibu home overlooking the ocean. Her idea of a good time is hanging out with her friends at a beach bonfire or hopping in the car, tunes at the ready, and driving up the Pacific Coast Highway.

Armed with her acoustic guitar and her dusky vocals, she evokes the same gentle, yet spirited style of her musical influences John Mayer, Bob Marley, Lauryn Hill and The Weepies.

A great song, says Colbie Caillat, should lift your heart, warm the soul and make you feel good. Taking her own sound advice, "Coco", the debut album by the 22 year-old Californian singer-songwriter is simply crammed full of them.

In an age when marketing has been elevated above content and so many songs are written and produced to a pre-ordained formula, Caillat comes as a welcome breath of fresh air. Records these days seem to fall into two categories. The vast majority tend to contain one or two good tracks which you download to your computer so that you never have to listen to the rest of the album again. Far more rare are those that demand to be listened to from start to finish, with every song in perfect symmetry. Think of the kind of vintage, organically-crafted albums that Carole King or Joni Mitchell used to make. Thankfully, it’s a tradition that is being kept alive today by the likes of Norah Jones, Jack Johnson - and now Colbie Caillat.

"If you listen to an album like Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours, every song has its place," she says. "If you took one away you’d spoil the balance of the entire record. That’s the kind of album I wanted to make. It wouldn’t feel right to have my name on a record that was just a few good tracks and then lots of filler."

The reference to Fleetwood Mac is revealing. Caillat grew up in the idyllic clime of Malibu, California with music all around her. Her father, Ken Caillat, co-produced Fleetwood Mac’s "Rumours" and "Tusk" albums and later ran his own record label. As a child she recalls the likes of Mick Fleetwood and John McVie being around. "Of course I’ve learned a lot from them. You’d be a fool not to," she says. Yet she is totally her own woman.

She began singing with serious intent at the age of 11 after hearing Lauryn Hill’s version of Killing Me Softly. "I think her voice is absolutely beautiful and it made me want to start singing so I entered a talent show and of course I sang a Lauryn Hill song." As she grew older, however, her father offered one crucial piece of advice. It was all very well having a great voice, he pointed out, the people who command real respect in the music business are the songwriters. "I thought about that for a long time", she says.

In truth, it took some time coming - but when it did, the floodgates opened. "I needed to play an instrument to write songs and although I had piano lessons as a kid, it never went anywhere because I was never in the right state of mind to practice," she recalls. Surprisingly, it wasn’t until she was 19 - little more than two years ago -that she eventually took up the acoustic guitar. "I wrote my fist song after my very first guitar lesson and then it just all flowed out," she recalls. "If something’s biting me I hold it in because that’s the kind of person I am. Then it comes out in songs. Things builds up inside of me and I’ll write three songs in a weekend. It’s a release. I don’t choose what to write about. It’s just there."

Along the way, she found two key collaborators in Mikal Blue, who hired her when she was 15 to sing some songs he’d written for a fashion show, and singer/songwriter Jason Reeves. Together, they helped to craft the songs on "Coco," which Blue also produced.

"The songs always start put with me," she explains of the collaborative process. "I’ll be sitting around at home getting bored and something will come out. Then if I get stuck, I can take it to Mikal or Jason. Having people you trust to bounce ideas around keeps the creativity flowing."

Once she had a bunch of songs, she put a few of them on MySpace, more in hope than expectation. "Nothing much happened for a few months," she remembers. "Then I wrote this song called Bubbly and put it up there and it got this huge reaction. I mean thousands and thousands of hits every day."

In the end, she became the number one unsigned artist on MySpace for four successive months, garnering an almost unbelievable 10 million plays. Record labels started courting her and she signed with Universal Republic because, she says, they offered her total creative freedom. "The great thing about MySpace is that you can build up an army of fans and then when you go to a record company, there’s no point in them trying to change what you do because it’s already been tried and tested," she points out.


Quite what it is about Bubbly that struck such a chord, she’s still not entirely sure. "I guess it’s the simplicity of the lyrics and the melody," she says. "It’s meant to make you feel good and everybody can relate to it." And "Coco" - the album is named after a childhood nickname which stuck - is full of similarly memorable songs imbued with an irresistible warmth which draw on a rich array of influences. "I love all kinds of music and I’ve been influenced by all of it," she says. "Classic rock like Fleetwood Mac and the Steve Miller Band. Original soul like Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder. Lauryn Hill. Bob Marley and reggae, John Mayer. Anything that makes you feel good."

And from the sunny, upbeat promise of songs such as Bubbly and Oxygen to the gentle, semi-r&b groove of The Little Things and the lilting reggae of Tied Down, "Coco" is one of those classic albums that simply makes you feel glad to be alive. "You make me smile, please stay for a while," she sings on Bubbly. It really ought to be her mantra.





Bubbly Music Video

"Bubbly" is the debut single released from her debut album, Coco, in 2007. After going mainstream, the song was altered slightly. Drums were added in the background, as well as a few minor changes in words.

Realize Music Video

Smoky sweet Colbie Caillat recently released the music video for her latest single, "Realize". It`s a pretty low-budget music video but such a pretty song!

The Little Things Music Video

"The Little Things" is the third single from American singer-songwriter Colbie Caillat's debut album, Coco (2007).

The music video premiered in the United Kingdom on February 1, 2008. It features Caillat in several different settings, including a laundrette playing her guitar or watching her love interest outside a gas station and around the local town.

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Teyana Taylor New MV

Teyana Taylor - Google Me Music Video

Teyana Taylor Google Me baby smartenupnas.com

Hate it or love it, the Internet has quickly become the number one artist-launcher in the entire music industry. Proof of that phenomenon is 17-year old, Star Trak signee Teyana Taylor, who is busy telling all her listeners to " Google Me " on her debut single. You may already know Pharrell`s latest protégé from her extravagant, 80`s-themed coming out party on MTV`s Sweet 16 or as the petite pop locker in Jay Z`s "Blue Magic" video, but her V.I.P. status was established even before the cameos and big name industry endorsements. Lady Beyonce herself was so impressed with the Harlem bred triple threat`s moves that she asked her to teach her the Chicken Noodle Soup - the popular dance Teyana helped innovate - for her performance at the 2007 VMA`s. "That kind of love coming from Jay and Beyonce, was crazy, recalls Teyana. "When he said, Yo, you`re a superstar. I`ll see you at the top,` I was humbled, like wow!"

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[Artist] Kid Sister

Kid Sister is an up-and-coming rapper out of Chicago, IL. Kid Sister is from Markham, IL but currently resides on Chicago's north side. She makes club rap and works at a childrens clothing store slanging bibs and teething rings. Yes, her DJ (J2K of Flosstradamus) is her real brother, and yes that does rule. Together they're taking the Chicago music scene by storm, rocking parties and causing all-around dancefloor mayhem.

Kid Sister's style has garnered comparisons to Kanye West, and in fact the young rapper collaborated with him recently on the track "Pro Nails." The Kid is also currently working with cutting edge hip-hop acts like Spank Rock, TTC and A-Trak.

Kid Sister is Chicago. She makes rap music and works at a children’s clothing store slanging bibs and teething rings. Yes, her hype man J2K of Flosstradamus is her real brother, and yes that does rule. Together they took the Chi-town music scene by storm, rocking parties and causing all around dancefloor mayhem. This was followed by tours with Kanye West’s DJ A-Trak (one of her main producers and co-owner of Fool’s Gold Records). 2006 found Kid Sister selling-out shows from Chicago to Paris, including an appearance at the Pitchfork Music Festival. The media responded favorably, with features on MTV (“My Block”), Pitchfork, i-D Magazine, XLR8R, the New York Times, Billboard and the cover of URB’s “Next 1000” issue, among others.

Building on the strength of this early buzz, Kid Sister hit the studio and released two singles on Fool’s Gold (“Control” and “Pro Nails”). Frequent international touring followed throughout 2007, including an appearance at Coachella, a sold out show at SXSW, and a full US tour with her fellow labelmates. Kanye West also took notice, adding a verse to her “Pro Nails” single (which he released on his “Can’t Tell Me Nothing” mixtape) and appearing in the music video, which quickly became an MTV favorite. With her full-length debut on the way this year featuring A-Trak, Xxxchange of Spank Rock, and others on production duties, Kid Sister is taking this.

Count and Sinden feat Kid Sister - Beeper Music Video

Count; Sinden feat. Kid Sister - Beeper [New]

by Yannicklord

Download Songs from Kid sister : Coming soon

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[Hot Single] Chris Brown : Take you down

this is Chris Brown song off of his new album with some pictures the song is (Take U Down) i hope y'all like it i don't know about y'all but i been waiting for the full version of this song but plz comment and favorite thanx



Music Video : Take U Down

For Dowmload this song : HERE
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[Wow Album] M83 : Saturdays=Youth

Reviewed by Andy Battaglia

It's hard to imagine finding much to fault in an album that professes a serious devotion to the likes of the Thompson Twins and Kate Bush, but it's also hard to imagine taking such an album seriously. Credit M83, then, for gazing back at the '80s and escaping the revivalist void that traps so many different acts with so many different intentions.

In an ethereal bit of illogic, Saturdays=Youth sounds entirely and nothing like the '80s. There's no mistaking songs such as "Skin Of The Night" and "Graveyard Girl" as being rooted in any other time, from their hooks to their moods to the ways their guitars jangle in service of synthesizers at work in the foreground. But then, there's no mistaking anything on the album as having been recorded any time other than now. M83 has fancied big sounds since rising up in France as a strange sort of sensuous post-rock act in 2003, but Saturdays=Youth boasts a more expansive sense of space, by a lot. And it serves in terms of songs as much as sound design: For all the awe kindled by the effectively perfect sound in a transcendent highlight like "Kim & Jessie," the real triumph is that M83 uses such a setting for more simple melody and emotion than ever before.

Saturdays=Youth-- the new album from French musician M83 (aka Anthony Gonzalez)-- opens with a stately piano phrase. Synths gradually overtake the piano and Gonzalez sings concise lyrics in falsetto-- "It's your face/ Where are we?/ Save me"-- amid billowing harmonies. It's the sort of big, beatless slow-burn he often uses to dramatize an impending pivot, a moment when the percussion gallops in and the song takes off for the stratosphere. But on this track, "You, Appearing", that pivot never arrives. Instead, the music tapers off into the booming overture of "Kim & Jessie".

Saturdays=Youth is still huge music, with three players in addition to Gonzalez-- but it has a different kind of heft from previous M83 records. On Before the Dawn Heals Us, M83 was all about the vertical push-- layer after layer of synths and drums piled up in a vertiginous tower. But these new songs disperse in all directions: Producers Ewan Pearson and Ken Thomas spread the melodies and beats into a sound world of uncommon vibrancy and pristine clarity, mounted on a massive yet now more proportionate scale.

Not only does the music move differently, it offers a different take on M83's favorite decade, the 1980s. Where previous albums saluted the doomed grandeur of the Cure and the retro-futurism of Blade Runner, Saturdays=Youth pays homage to Cocteau Twins (whom Thomas has also produced) and the teen dramas of filmmaker John Hughes. It's dense with new wave tropes: the chrome-plated guitars and aqueous keyboards on "Kim & Jessie", the decadent synthetic toms on the otherwise cloudy "Skin of the Night", the funk guitars and shivering cymbals of the masterful "Couleurs". Many modern bands have appropriated these iconic touchstones with a wink, a revision, or both. M83's reverent take is less common, bringing to mind Lansing-Dreiden's underappreciated 80s throwback The Dividing Island.

The album has the same nostalgic sparkle as Hughes' films, a soft-focused mythology of eternal summers and young love. In the liner notes, Gonzalez dedicates it to "all the friends, music, movies, joints, and crazy teachers that made my teenage years so great!" At 26, Gonzalez is just the right age to look back on this era with rose-tinted glasses, forgetting the alienation and anxiety, remembering only the sweetness. Whenever the darker side of teenhood rears its head, it's heroically battled back: On the shoegaze-thick "Dark Moves of Love", "everything is wrecked and grey," but the song ends on a poignant note: "I will fight the time and bring you back!" On the album's cover, heartbreakingly radiant youths (one of them a dead ringer for Molly Ringwald) strike poses in a gold and russet pasture-- the same kind of beautiful misfits that Hughes arranged in after-school detention. In lyrics filled with lusty eruptions ("They are Gods! They are lightning!"), archetypal teens invent themselves with innocent fervor: A love-struck young couple in "Kim & Jessie"; a goth with a crown of black roses and a heart of bubblegum in "Graveyard Girl".

In the context of teen drama, how perfect is it that Gonzalez met Morgan Kibby, whose dovelike vocals enrich "Skin of the Night" and "Up!", on MySpace? In the context of a band whose music is both literally and metaphorically cinematic, how perfect is it that Kibby has done voiceover work on the trailers for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and M. Night Shyamalan's Lady in the Water? These symmetries make Saturdays=Youth feel like an unaccountably alive, complete album. While some fans might be disappointed by the lack of a "Don't Save Us From the Flames"-style anthem, the change in M83's sound arrives just as Gonzalez has pushed the maximal thing to its limits and risks diminishing returns. On its first two studio albums, M83 did one thing very, very well: create compact doses of tension and adrenaline. Saturdays=Youth meaningfully diversifies M83's catalog while retaining Gonzalez's indelible fingerprint. Like his recent ambient foray, Digital Shades Vol. 1, it finds a guy who's known for painting gigantic horizons figuring out how to broaden them even more.

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[Review]Vanessa Carlton: Hero & Thieves

A few months after the release of her debut album, in 2002, this magazine reported that Vanessa Carlton went off birth control, telling a source, “The last thing I need is more estrogen. I am already too sensitive, as are my songs.” Rap-label man Irv Gotti co-produced it (along with song gurus Linda Perry and Stephan Jenkins), but her third disc isn’t a reinvention—it’s pure, effervescent Nessa. Packaged in big, bright doses of piano-pop, her expressions of puppy love are as irresistible as puppies themselves.

Every reviewer approaches a given artist’s work with some degree of bias. So, I’ll admit upfront I am biased in favor of singer-songwriter Vanessa Carlton and was predisposed to liking her newest CD, Heroes & Thieves.

How predisposed was I? Well, when her previous CD, Harmonium, came out in 2002, I became so obsessed with the single “White Houses” I played it non-stop for days. No, wait, make that weeks. OK, OK, I obsessed over this song for months. I converted the MP3 into a wave file and did some of my own edits. I spent so much time thinking about the song’s story (teenage girl loses her virginity and looks back in regret) that I used to dream the song. Why was the song’s male character wearing a red shirt? Was that a foreshadowing of the blood Carlton references on the bridge? And why did this song remind me of the obscure 1980 tune “Straight Lines” by the UK band New Music? Was it something in the melody? Or did it tap into a similar lyrical theme about displacement in society? And why was a guy in his 30s (me) this moved by a song about a circumstance (and gender) from which I’m very removed?

Eventually, I was hospitalized and they gave me little yellow pills to obliterate the “White Houses” in my head. OK, I’m kidding about that part. But I really did get committed—committed to the concept of Vanessa Carlton as a brilliant singer-songwriter who, I believe, was unfairly marginalized as a teen-pop singer because her first hit, “A Thousand Miles”, connected with the post-Britney crowd. They may have, like, so outgrown Carlton in no time, but Carlton, then 22, was just starting to grow as a musician.

Heroes & Thieves is filled with more melodies from the classically-trained pianist who is now 27. There was concern amongst fans (who call themselves “‘Nessaholics") that this release would be an embarrassingly commercial bid for big-time success, since Carlton had signed to Irv Gotti’s hip hop-oriented The Inc label after parting with her previous label, A&M, when “Harmonium” didn’t sell as well as expected. Carlton, though, stayed true to her muse. She didn’t dump the lyrical approach and start singing about being “Promiscuous” or some such thing. In fact, she’s more like herself now than she ever was before (to loosely paraphrase an old saying).

The 11-song effort is pure ‘Nessa, down to the tinkling piano hooks, the confessional lyrics and the high-pitched vocals. As that might suggest, Carlton is one of the many disciples of the style Tori Amos pioneered (via Kate Bush and Laura Nyro). While Carlton doesn’t have Amos’ flair for innovation and rule-breaking, her more conventional style has its rewards because her songs are just so damned melodic, you can’t stop humming them.

The CD opener (and debut single) “Nolita Fairytale” layers an off-kilter melody over an insistent beat. Its title may be all but inscrutable to everyone but New Yorkers since it refers to a little-known section of Manhattan (where Carlton now lives). And the lyrics are so personal they read like lines from a diary: “I lose my way searching for stage lights; but Stevie knows and I thank her so”. The “Stevie” in question is Fleetwood Mac’s Stevie Nicks who helped sequence the CD and sings on the ballad “The One”, which is a wistful look back at a long lost college flame (lots of Carlton songs are wistful looks back; it’s part of her charm).

The best number here is arguably “Spring Street”, a tale of a daughter breaking away from her mother and starting a new life. The semi-autobiographical lyrics offer lots of philosophical food for thought, but it’s the chorus that really says something. It goes: “Nah-nah-nah-nah-nah-nah-nah.” I mean that seriously; the wordless chorus really does galvanize the emotion of the tune with its sing-along catchiness. “The One” was co-written with hitmaking producer Linda Perry (Pink, Christina Aguliera), as was “This Time”, a power ballad that has insomniac Carlton lying in bed regretting a failed love affair.

That affair is most likely the one Carlton had with Third Eye Blind front man Stephan Jenkins who co-wrote several songs and also serves as producer. The two musicians ended their relationship midway through the project, and that colored the tone of much of Heroes & Thieves, Carlton has said. Thus, in a love song like “Hands on Me”, it’s hard to listen and not wonder “Hm. Was Jenkins the guy she met at the video exchange? Or is that some new guy? And wouldn’t someone with her level of fame want to get Netflix”? But the beauty of this music is that it’s not just a bunch of tunes ground out to serve as the basis for lyrical conceits. Carlton’s songs ring with the authority of classic pop, and in that sense she’s probably more of a throwback to Carole King than Amos (although Carlton was born almost a decade after King’s “Tapestry” was released).

Heroes & Thieves isn’t a perfect album and sometimes gets too idiosyncratic and precious for its own good. It’s already spawned its share of detractors, specifically reviewers who question whether Carlton has the vocal goods to pull off some of the more complicated numbers. I think her imperfect singing keeps her sounding human and give her props for not messing with a pitch correction program. And if you feel the same, well, maybe you too should start thinking you might have a problem with ‘Nessa addiction. See you at the next ‘Nessaholics meeting.

Music Video :Vanessa Carlton - Nolita Fairytale




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[New Album] Kate Nash : Made of Bricks

Kate Nash is the girl who used Lily Allen to prop up her own MySpace success only to criticize comparisons of the two London singers as "lazy journalism." But why compare when you can contrast: If Lily Allen is the plainspoken wiseass chick all the guys love to hang around, Kate Nash is the plainspoken piano geek who simultaneously loves Lily Allen and is also a little bit jealous of her social prowess. Nash is coy and neurotic-- instead of tossing a deadbeat boyfriend and laughing at his tears, she can't help but wallow in a crumbling relationship. And, leading up to this LP, her rotating quartet of mostly humble, quiet MySpace tracks offered canny scenes of young love-- tiny romantic comedies that could affect even the snobbiest art-house connoisseur. Too bad, then, that Made of Bricks is a rushed, glossed-over misfire that almost trips over itself to hide the reasons why Nash became such a web phenom in the first place.

Instead of allowing Nash to simply clean-up the homey demos early fans knew and loved, many songs are completely made over in seemingly random styles that emphasize hot shit producer Paul Epworth's studio expertise more than Nash's natural warmth. "Birds", originally an acoustic guitar stunner about an inarticulate, bird-obsessed dude and his perplexed girlfriend, is remade as a faux-country farce that seeps away the song's naïve appeal with a novelty cowboy hat and a wink. "We Get On" is transformed from a crushingly self-conscious diary entry backed only by Nash's careful piano plinks into a goofy, roller-rink trifle that undermines the songwriter's nuanced heartbreak. Then there's the album's shameless filler; instead of allowing Nash the time to craft enough real-life pop songs to fill out an LP, the internet opportunists behind Made of Bricks try to cover-up obvious non-starters like "Play", "Dickhead", and "Shit Song" with knob-twirling nonsense and gratuitous instrumentation. Considering reckless moves like these, this debut full-length can be viewed as cautionary case of too many friends too soon.

After one listen to her UK hit "Foundations", it becomes obvious Kate Nash has a gift for communicating confusing romance with a keen eye for detail and scene-stealing turns of phrase. The single-- along with just-a-girl power-pop blast "Mouthwash" and sex-not-love big-beat bouncer "Pumpkin Soup"-- is one of the few Made of Bricks tracks that finds Nash's acutely enunciated words complimented with just the right amount of swirling sonic accoutrements. "My fingertips are holding onto the cracks in our foundation/ I know that I should let go but I can't," she sings. Made of Bricks too often tries to smooth over the emotional cracks, breaks and fissures that happen to be Kate Nash's distinguishing hallmark. Without them, she may as well be any other London newcomer in a bright dress and matching trainers.

Every cloud, so they say, has a silver lining. About 18 months ago, Kate Nash was a teenager from Harrow, moping round her house after being rejected by Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. She fell down a flight of stairs, broke her foot and was confined to bed for a number of weeks.

To cheer herself up, she started to write some songs while bedridden. Fast forward to summer 2007, and Nash has had a number 2 hit with her first 'official' single and her album has been brought forward by five weeks due to overwhelming public demand. Now that's serendipity.

So why has Kate Nash struck such a chord with the record-buying public? The more lazy journalists have compared her to Lily Allen - presumably on the basis that she's young, female, sings in a London accent and gained a lot of fans on MySpace - but there's a hell of a lot more to her sound than that.

Yes, she writes clever little pop songs about crap boyfriends now and again, but names such as Regina Spektor and even poets such as John Cooper Clarke are as likely to crop up when listening to Made Of Bricks. There may be subjects on the album ranging from crumbling relationships to unrequited love, but you'll also find songs about a child genius who sews her own mouth shut and a girl with a skeleton for a best friend.

It's all shot through with such warmth, wit and vulnerability that you can't help but be charmed on the very first listen. Forthcoming single Mouthwash documents the minutae of everyday life ("I use mouthwash, sometimes I floss") before a lovely catchy chorus of "I'm singing uh-oh on a Friday night, and I hope everything's going to be alright" kicks in. And once it kicks in, you'll have trouble removing it from your brain for a number of weeks.

If there's one thing that Made Of Bricks proves, it's that the advance word about Nash's songwriting talents was right on the money. Birds perfectly describes a conversation between two inarticulate young lovers, while the beautifully yearning The Nicest Thing will strike a chord with everyone who's ever been in love with someone unobtainable. Merry Happy is the other side of the coin, a bouncy, joyous number celebrating the end of a relationship while extolling the joys of "dancing in discos, eating cheese on toast".

The lovely tale of 'girl meets boy, boy ignores girl' of We Get On is also a wonderful highlight, if only for Nash's hilarious delivery of the line "so my friends said what-ever, you'll find someone better", while also reprising Franz Ferdinand's notorious 'party/arty' couplet, and managing to make the line "Saturday night, I watch Channel 5, I particularly like CSI" sound heartbreakingly poignant.

Yet it's the more seemingly obscure songs on here that bear up best to repeated listening. Skeleton Song is just incredible, with clattering percussion and Nash's trademark piano skating all over the place, while Nash sings about a beloved friend who just happens to be a skeleton. It really shouldn't work, but you'll find yourself combing the lyrics over and over again. It's also probably Nash's most musically ambitious number here.

Those long-term fans who downloaded demo versions will find plenty to debate on here too - Dickhead has changed from a stark piano tune to a smokey jazz ballad with Björk - style sonic oddities scattered all around, while the show-stopping Mariella benefits from a beefed-up sound and some gorgeous harmonised backing vocals. The cryptic lyrics ("sometimes, I wish I was like Mariella, she got some pritt stick and glued her lips together.So she never had to speak") just add to the genius of it all.

Only Pumpkin Soup will possibly give some ammunition to the 'poor man's Lily' brigade, but it's fresh, funky and danceable and gives a great deal of variety to the album.

Some fans may raise a quizzical eyebrow over some of Nash's finest songs that are missing, such as Stitching Leggings, but that's all the more reason to keep an eye out for B-side releases over the next few months - there are at least four or five songs here on here that could easily be Top 5 hits between now and Christmas.

So, from bed-bound broken foot casualty to creator of the finest debut album of the year in just over a year. That's one pretty huge silver lining.

- Review By John Murphy at musicomh.com

track listing

1. Play

2. Foundations

3. Mouthwash

4. Dickhead

5. Birds

6. We Get On

7. Mariella

8. Shit Song

9. Pumpkin Soup

10. Skeleton Soup

11. Nicest Thing

12. Merry Happy/Little Red

MV Kate Nash : Pumpkin Soup

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