Music News: Diane Birch, Tiga, Island Records, Sade, Mariah Carey, John & Yoko

 

MODERN TONIC

Modern Tonic is a free daily email of eclectic pop-culture recommendations from a gay perspective. The editors of Modern Tonic present a weekly music update here on Towleroad.

NEW ARTISTS TO WATCH AND FREE DOWNLOADS:

DIANE BIRCH: It's a proud, straight line from Carole King to Joni Mitchell to Fiona Apple to this Michigan-born singer-songwriter. In other words, she's the real deal, with her debut album, Bible Belt (out June 2), ready to prove it. An exclusive free download of the lead single, “Nothing But A Miracle,” is here.

TIGA: After winning a Juno (the Canadian Grammy) for his debut Sexor, the Montreal DJ/producer comes back hard for his second spin around the dance floor with Ciao! (out today). Download the Green Velvet remix of current single “Shoes” here.  

MUSIC NEWS:

Never mind Madonna, the hippest 50-year-old around is...Island Records. Chris Blackwell’s indie-before-there-was-indie, founded in Jamaica, has given us decades of rock and roll classics. Among the artists on the astonishingly long list of talent the label fostered: U2, The B-52s, Grace Jones, Pulp, Keane, Amy Winehouse, Bob Marley, Tom Tom Club, PJ Harvey, The Feeling, Paul Weller, Kid Creole and the Coconuts, Sugababes, Roxy Music, Mika...and the list goes on.

Being children of Kingston, they know how to throw a party. For their anniversary, a series of remasters, box-sets, anthologies,  and a book of essays about the label - along with a London Soho art exhibition and a series of U.K. live shows - release this month and throughout 2009. Out now in the U.K.: three 3-disc box-sets culled by genre — folk, reggae, and one celebrating the "pink label" years — with historical luminaries like Nick Drake, Black Uhuru, and Jethro Tull; and an overview on June 1: Island Life: 50 Years of Island Life.

Sade (also 50 years old!) has announced that she will be releasing a brand new album on November 24 - her first in nine years.

 Mariah Carey announced her end-of-year album title last week: Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel. But there’s nothing imperfect – or Glitter-y – about her warts-and-all role in the upcoming Sundance sensation, Precious (opening in November; previously titled Push).

Today marks the 40th anniversary of John Lennon and Yoko Ono's famous "bed-in" for peace in Montreal. The city's Museum of Fine Arts is currently showing a Yoko-sanctioned exhibition to mark the event. 

MUSIC VIDEOS:

ROYKSOPP FEAT. ROBYN: “The Girl and the Robot”
Norwegian synth duo engage Swedish pop star in freaky robot love song (from the album Junior, out now) just in time for Terminator Salvation and Transformers 2!

JUST JACK: “Doctor Doctor”
Dance M.C. is an awkward, straight U.K. version of Neil Patrick Harris in supermarket romance with hot blonde shopper! From new album All Night Cinema (out June 29 in the U.K.).

FREEMASONS FTRG. SOPHIE ELLIS-BEXTOR: “Heartbreak Make Me a Dancer”
Dance/production duo and London diva channel Pet Shop Boys on this disco anthem from Freemasons' forthcoming Shakedown 2 (out June 29 in the U.K.).

GRACE JONES: "Slave to the Rhythm"
And how about some old school S&M from Island Records’ resident dominatrix? Our retro clip of the week is this classic video.

TODAY’S NEW RELEASES:

Island/Def Jam presents the first of a hot remix series, Just Dance, featuring Mariah Carey, The Killers, Duffy and more.

Mandy Moore — that’s Mrs. Ryan Adams, alt-geeks – continues her reinvention with the folksy Amanda Leigh.

Hot from their Saturday Night Live pre-release appearance, French rock-and-dance freaks Phoenix put out Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix.

From Brooklyn with love and harmonies to spare, the indefinable Grizzly Bear release Veckatimest.

Can the clammy and glammy dark-lord Marilyn Manson bring his career back from the undead? The High End of Low drops today.

New releases also from: Diana Krall — Live in Rio (DVD & Blu-ray); Michelle Shocked — Soul of My Soul; Julian Marley — Awake; Electrik Red — How to Be a Lady, Vol. 1.

Grace Jones: My Portraits Watch Me from the Walls

Grace Jones covers the current cover of V magazine in a photo shoot by Jean-Paul Goude.

Still a visual icon after all these years, Jones talks to London's Telegraph about her home and the many portraits by famous (gay) artists that hang there.

Says Jones: "It’s like a museum. My Warhols — the ones he did of me, a series of small hamburgers, and photographs and Polaroids, because we spent so much time together. Keith Haring, Mapplethorpes, a lot of Jean-Paul [Basquiat]. They all follow you around the room, like eyes."

No doubt she has one of those delicious chocolate busts at home too.

Previously
Grace Jones: a Mass-Produced Self-Portrait in Chocolate [tr]
Jonesing for a Record in Wales [tr]

Grace Jones: a Mass-Produced Self-Portrait in Chocolate

Grace Jones does quality control on her persona.

The cover of Hurricane and the album's accompanying photography, shot by Jonathan De Villiers, was art directed by Tom Hingston Studios at a chocolate factory in the UK. CR Blog shows the entire process.

Said Hingston to the CR: "The original idea was to produce a set of images of Grace being mass-produced but with her being in control of the actual process. The crux of the idea is that she has ownership of her identity. We looked at a range of manufacturing processes, from car makers to pottery factories, but there was something about her being made of chocolate that had [the right] connotations."

Adds Hingston: "It takes about 20 minutes for each mould to set, and for the head there are just two small holes for the nostrils. But Grace was up for it and her participation was key to the idea. Of course, we were working with someone who’s used to being the muse or subject of such an unusual process."

More photos of the process at CR Blog.

Towleroad Guide to the Tube #382

ARKANSAS GAY ADOPTION BAN: Bill Clinton has been speaking out against Arkansas Initiated Act 1, the ban on unmarried couple adoption and foster parenting, while on the campaign trail. This is Arkansas Families First's commercial encouraging voters to vote no on Act 1.

EDUARDO VERASTEGUI: The Mexican-American film star has been campaigning for the anti-gay bigots of Yes on 8.

GRACE JONES: The legend appeared on the UK's Friday Night with Jonathan Ross last week. Part two is here.

I WILL: Faces of the Democratic National Convention.

Check out our previous guides to the Tube here.

Towleroad Guide to the Tube #215

GRACE JONES: "The Little Drummer Boy" from Pee-Wee's Playhouse Christmas Special (1988) following a brief intro.

GUITAR HERO MASTER: Andrew Sullivan has an interesting excerpt of a recent throwdown at Best Buy.

JOHN MCCAIN: Huckabee ain't the only candidate who can use a cross.

DEER GETS REVENGE: Looks like this was uploaded to The Tube a while back, but I thought that watching this deer kick the crap out of a hunter was probably more entertaining than another presidential campaign video.

Check out our previous guides to the Tube here

Jonesing for a Record in Wales

On Friday night, 1,224 people with the last name of Jones congregated in Cardiff, Wales to set a Guinness World Record for the largest gathering of folks with the same last name.

Even Grace Jones took the opportunity to make an appearance, singing "Slave to the Rhythm" for her namesakes. If you can read Welsh, here's coverage from the local station.

Grace appeared to be the biggest diva on hand (no Tom or Catherine Zetas around), though there was no word if recently famous gay escort Mike Jones had made the trip across the pond.

The Agence France-Presse noted that "After the event, anyone calling a taxi back to home or hotel was also likely to be asked for their first name too."