Music News: Frankmusik, Rihanna, NKOTB, Beatles iPod

Robbie Daw presents a weekly pop music update here on Towleroad! Robbie runs his own site called Chart Rigger.

Frankmusik is the electro-music project of 22-year-old London remixer Vincent Frank, an upcoming artist in his own right who recently finished a U.K. tour with Sam Sparro and Alphabeat.

In an interview last month with Click Music, Vincent spoke about working with Stuart Price (who is currently working on the Killers' third set) on his debut Frankmusik album: "Because the album's not coming out until March 2009, I've got Stuart Price working on the record. I could namedrop the fact that, you know, he did Madonna's last album... but I don't need to... sorry. [laughs]. He's very, very, very talented, and very successful, and I think he sees a bit of me in him, when he was younger. He's very inspiring to work with, and there's no ego, and there's no bullshit, like a lot of big producers can have, when you go into their studio, and take up their time - this is very much an us project. He's gone to America to do The Killers' album, when he comes back in July, we'll be working on mine for about three weeks.

In the meantime, a track called "In Step" is available from U.K. iTunes. (Here on the U.S. store, you can download the tracks "Perfect Symmetry" and "Time Keeps Movin'" by Baby Origami and Frankmusik.)

This is the recently released video for "In Step":

Emo poster children Fall Out Boy record a duet with rapper T.I., which bassist Pete Wentz describes as sounding like "something from The Nightmare Before Christmas."

Rihanna to be the face of Gucci's new UNICEF charity campaign. In the meantime, the pop diva appears on the cover of In Style's August issue, where she talks about her own look, and being inspired by Grace Jones: "It has evolved without my even noticing it. Lately I’m obsessed with Thierry Mugler…Grace Jones inspires me…she has extraordinary style and she’s fearless. I love designer Martin Margiela: Kanye West told me about him. I also like Dsquared, Chloé, Zac Posen—he makes flattering lines."

First New Edition and now Michael Jackson: If reports are to be believed—and at this point, nothing's shocking—the onetime King Of Pop is recording a duet with New Kids On The Block. "It's very exciting, says 38-year-old Kid, Donnie Wahlberg. "It's one big party and everyone wants to join us."

Bloomingdales will offer a limited-edition Beatles iPod during the holiday season, stocked with every song from the band's back catalog. Of course, by limited, I mean there will only be 100 available. The Fab Four's songs are still unavailable on iTunes, but Bloomingdales recently acquired the rights to Beatles images from Apple Records.

Any bedroom DJ can become Mariah Carey's top MySpace friend.

After not appearing on television since 1975, legendary rock act Rush to do The Colbert Report. Says Stereogum, "The best part of all this, of course, is that thanks to Stephen's tendency to interview bands post-performance, we'll finally get to stop wondering if Geddy Lee speaks like an ordinary guy."

It's not out stateside till Friday, but Mamma Mia! has already topped the U.K. box office in its opening weekend.

THE WEEK'S NEW RELEASES:

The ninth studio album from Nas, Untitled. Somewhat controversially, the set was originally to be called Ni**er.

Madonna's "Give It 2 Me" remix EP.

John Mellencamp's folk rock album, Life, Death, Love And Freedom, available on iTunes and at a Starbucks near you (as it's on the Hear Music label).

Australian diva Delta Goodrem's U.S. debut, Delta.

Former American Idol contestant Ace Young's self-titled set.

Rockin'! It's Foreigner's No End In Sight: The Very Best Of...

New singles from the Jonas Brothers ("Pushin' Me Away"), The Cure ("Down Under"), Pat Green ("Let Me") and Lil Mama ("What It Is").

Sphere: Related Content

Music News: Apple Reveals the iPod Touch, Plus The Feeling, Klaxons, Madonna, The Perry Twins

Please welcome Robbie Daw, who will be penning occasional music posts for us here on Towleroad! Robbie runs his own pop music site called Chart Rigger.

Steve Jobs revealed the latest updates to Apple's iPod line at a press conference in San Francisco today. Despite insistent buzzing over the past week online, there was no surprise Madonna appearance at the event or unveiling of The Beatles' back catalog for the iTunes music store, although KT Tunstall performed live. Mostly the revelations stuck mainly to the MP3 player itself.

The big news is the all new 8mm thin iPod Touch, which will use the same interface as the iPhone (and has approximately the same size screen). "We think it's one of the seven wonders of the world," Jobs joked. The Touch player has Wi-Fi capabilities that allows users to now search for and download songs from the iTunes Wi-Fi music store. They've also struck up a deal with Starbucks to allow downloading and music discovery from their locations. The iPod Touch also features a Safari browser and YouTube channel.

The iPod Touch has a battery life of 22 hours and is available in 8 GB ($299) and 16 GB ($399) sizes. It ships to stores by the end of the month. iPhone users will also receive an update connecting them wirelessly to the iTunes store, and Apple has dropped the price point on the 8GB iPhone by $200, to $399.

Klaxons have won England's Mercury Prize -- "Europe's top arts prize in terms of influence and media coverage." In the 15th year of the award, Klaxons beat out a list of nominees that included Amy Winehouse, Bat For Lashes, and Arctic Monkeys.

Klaxons - Myths of the Near Future [iTunes]

They're not exactly covering James Blunt's new single, but The Feeling were recently posed with the task of choosing a song from the year 1973 to cover for a compilation celebrating the 40th anniversary of the BBC's Radio 1 station.

Forty artists were each given a year to choose a song from spanning across the station's time on the air. The Feeling's openly-gay frontman Dan Gillespie-Sells explained on the band's website why they picked Carly Simon's "You're So Vain": "When they gave us 1973, it was actually quite hard to pick a song that we wanted to do. There were obvious things like, 'Life On Mars' by David Bowie, but I thought we should do a song that was very unlike us. So eventually we went for the Carly Simon track. We recorded it down in the big country house where we were working on our new album. It started off as a late-night jam and eventually mutated into this weird version of the song. It doesn't really sound like us or the original...I really like it, but it's pretty bonkers too."

Other acts on the tribute set include Robbie Williams doing "Lola" by The Kinks, Amy Winehouse covering "Cupid" by Johnny Nash," Kylie Minogue taking on Roxy Music's "Love Is The Drug" and Natasha Bedingfield with her version of Madonna's "Ray Of Light."

Dapper Dan & Co. are certainly no strangers to doing tunes by other bands. Their cover of The Buggles' "Video Killed The Radio Star" -- which they used to perform at gigs in The Alps before getting signed -- appeared as a B-side on their European CD single for "Rosé". The group is even working with former Buggles singer-turned-mega-producer Trevor Horn in sessions for their sophomore album.

The double-disc Radio 1. Established 1967 will be available October 1 from Universal. [Full track list]

NEWS BITES: Being in a band is bad for you.

Princess of Monaco's daughter makes a cameo in Justice's VMA-nominated video for "D.A.N.C.E."

Whitney and Bobby's custody battle heating up.

Kelly Clarkson's tour is back on track.

Bernard Sumner on upcoming Joy Division biopic, Control: "We were more youthfully idiotic than that."

Ne-Yo doesn't wait around for Britney.

Courtney Love on reports she publicly bashed Amy Winehouse: "I keep my own counsel about sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll and I do not judge others unless I know they are a danger to other people beloved in my own life."

20-year-old Eurythmics record inspired Darren Hayes to make his latest album.

Lily Allen curbs her enthusiasm.

After the jump - fake Madonna cover art, the soundtrack to the Mormon Men On A Mission calendar and the week's slim new releases.

Nothing signals a new Madonna album barrelling down the tracks moreso than the slew of Photoshopped fan artwork passed off as the real thing. And blogger XOLondon has been having a field day warning M's followers of the chicanery amiss.

Here are some recent Madge-similes the D.C.-based blogger has picked up on:

This next one kinda takes the cake. You have to at least admire the enthusiasm (Incidentally, it was e-mailed out over the weekend to various websites by someone purporting to be Madonna's business partner, Guy Oseary):

There's a new YouTube video for the 2008 Men On A Mission calendar featuring former Mormon missionaries getting unbuttoned:

Doug and Derek Perry -- aka The Perry Twins -- are the ones behind "Activate My Body," the song you're hearing in the promotional clip. For singing chores, the Los Angeles-based gay brothers enlisted club belter Jania.

And, really, it's all about the vocals, no?

NEW RELEASES: (This week finds the calm before the storm, really, before the 50 Cent/Kanye West showdown on Tuesday.) U.K. hip-hop artist Just Jack's second album, Overtones, containing his collaboration with Kylie Minogue, "I Talk Too Much."

Latin alternative artist (and Coachella favorite) Manu Chao's first American studio release in six years, La Radiolina.

Patti Scialfa's Play It As It Lays, featuring her fellow E Street Band mates (including husband Bruce Springsteen).

High, the tenth studio album for British rockers New Model Army.

ToHeavenURide, a live album from Michelle Shocked.

Sphere: Related Content

Apple Introduces Revolutionary iPhone

It's a widescreen iPod, mobile phone, and "internet communicator" all in one using a touchscreen navigation. Only one button, the home button. Thinner than any smartphone. Comes with full-featured internet browser, integrated Google search and maps, free Yahoo push IMAP email (like BlackBerry), runs OSX, widgets. Shipping in June in $499 and $599 models, exclusively with Cingular. Developing...

Sphere: Related Content

Apple "About to Touch off Nuclear War" in Cellphone Industry?

That's what some are saying. Although this piece from the International Herald Tribune is full of hints and speculation (with few specifics) about what Apple might present tomorrow at its annual Macworld conference, the prospects for an iPod/computer/phone hybrid get more real:

"Industry executives and competitors say that Apple has developed the first of the next generation of devices that are closer to personal computers in pocket form, meaning that they will easily handle music, entertainment, productivity tasks and communications on cellular and other wireless networks...In the past, Jobs has cited the carriers' control of mobile phones in the United States as a reason he had not introduced an Apple phone. Now that has apparently changed, and Apple's business strategy in offering an Apple phone will potentially be as intriguing as its industrial design. Jobs has been rumored to have entered into an alliance with Cingular. That would suggest he has patched up a reported split that resulted in 2005 when Apple introduced its iPod nano on the same day that Cingular and Motorola introduced the Rokr. Whatever his business strategy, Jobs is certain to have an impact. Recently, he told two associates, who asked not to be identified to avoid damaging their relationship with him, that he was more excited about his current project than he was about the Macintosh."

Others are noting that Steve Jobs has invited his close buddies to the keynote presentation tomorrow, which may mean big news...

Photo here for illustration only. No legitimate concept designs for the rumored device have been released.

Sphere: Related Content

News: Britney Spears, The Queen, Cyber-Stalking, Zune

Microsoft Zune a "non-event" this holiday season: "Visits to the iTunes website on Christmas Day outnumbered those to Zune.net by 30-to-1, market researcher Hitwise says."

Christians beg Queen of England to put a stop to gay rights laws: "The plea to the Queen is being made by the Christian Concern for Our Nation, an offshoot of the Lawyers’ Christian Fellowship, a group which lists more than 2,000 barristers and solicitors among its members. The petition warns the Queen the rules are a ‘serious affront’ to the Gospel. It reads: ‘The regulations purport to eliminate discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation, but have the consequence of discriminating heavily against Christians of all backgrounds and denominations who hold firm to the very Faith which you pledged to uphold in your coronation oath.’"

I've heard both good and bad reviews of Jennifer Hudson's December 30 performance at New York's Hammerstein Ballroom. In any case, here's how she looked...

Social networking site Out Everywhere axes members due to fears of cyber-stalking: "Over the past two years the popularity of sites such as MySpace has rocketed. The stratospheric valuations of many of them has been largely predicated on the numbers of members they boast, but the dash to build up membership may mean some are becoming easy targets for scam artists, experts believe."

Britney Spears reportedly collapsed in Vegas over New Year's. Her handlers said otherwise: "By about one o'clock, she was just done, so we took her out. She was not drunk. She was just tired and falling asleep." What else after a year like this!

Sphere: Related Content

Dubai Real Estate Developer Plans Ipod Building

If you thought that the oil lamp building in Guzhen, China was weird, a real estate developer in Dubai (where they plan some of the most strangely scaled development projects in the world) is planning an $800 million tower inspired by the iPod, called the iPad.

"The 23-storey building, which is scheduled to bring more than 200 units onto the market in 2009, was designed by Hong Kong-based architects James Law Cybertecture International. The tower will sit atop a docking station angled at six degrees to give the exact look."

More shots here.

Sphere: Related Content

The Future of Music?

I love my iPod. It's sick how much I love it. It's one of the best things I've ever paid money for. I love it so much that I have two of them. I bought the first one the week it came out. I don't use it anymore but I'm holding on to it as a collector's item (it has a place in the museum next to my unopened mylar-wrapped copy of Madonna's "SEX"). It has a wheel that actually spins around. I guess Apple got smart and decided to do away with the whole "moving parts" thing.

So I've been transferring my enormous CD collection to this new iPod because I've decided it's time to simplify my life and get all these plastic discs out of my space. I recently finished converting all the club mixes from my CD singles and I'd like to sell them but I'm not sure the best way to go about it. I talked to Amoeba Music in Hollywood but it didn't seem like I would get much for them.

Has anybody had success at selling large amounts of CDs to a store? CD singles? Four to five hundred of them? Anybody have a good EBAY technique? Should I NOT get rid of them? Mine are mainly vocal house remixes from the last ten years, everything from Sunscreem to Chicane to Grace to Faithless to Madonna. If anyone has any advice please let me know.

In the meantime, I'll just keep on dreaming up future uses for my iPod.

Sphere: Related Content