The editors of Modern Tonic present a weekly music update here on Towleroad. The rest of the week, they scan the pop culture landscape for movie, TV, book and Web recommendations in their daily email.
TODAY'S FEATURED ARTISTS AND FREE DOWNLOADS:
Available digitally since August, The xx's self-titled debut finally gets its U.S. CD release today. The South London boys and girls of this foursome burrow deep within a minimal electronic atmosphere of stark beauty. Think New Order slowed down and obsessed by love’s ambiguities. Vocalists Romy Madley Croft and Oliver Sim trade lines in a sensual dialogue. "Can I make it better with the lights turned on?" Croft coos on the sultry "Shelter." "Don’t think that I’m pushing you away / when you’re the one that I’ve kept closest," Sim counters on the sinister "Crystalised." And the slinky single "Basic Space" (FREE DOWNLOAD HERE) is a breathy sex song that will keep the indie nation horizontal until the first snowfall.
Little did French electro duo Air know what they were about to start when they released Moon Safari and the international hit "Sexy Boy" in 1998. Since then, the French electro movement has included Phoenix, Justice, Yelle and Mr. Oizo, to mention only a few. But the originators — Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benoît Dunckel — are back withLove 2, their best since they took us to the moon, and the first on which they handle all the vocals themselves. They mix soft funk forays like "Love" and "Night Hunter" with the icy New Wave hauteur of "Missing the Light of the Day" and the sinister, punkish "Be a Bee." More proof that there’s nothing better than l'amour. DOWNLOAD FREE ALBUM MEDLEY HERE.
San Diego-based singer-songwriter Greg Laswell's career has been like a slow-burning secret. From his Vanguard Records debut Through Toledo on to 2008's Three Flights from Alto Nido, music programmers have featured his tracks on Smallville, Grey's Anatomy, True Blood and others. His anonymity may still be safe on his latest EP, Covers, which has five songs from Echo and The Bunnymen, Morphine, Mazzy Star, Kristen Hersh and Kate Bush. Yet one listen to his straightforward reading of "The Killing Moon" or the haunting simplicity of "Your Ghost" (FREE DOWNLOAD HERE) and you’re going to want to tell all your friends.
A previously unheard song from The Jackson 5 has been released on iTunes today, and it's also streaming at the band's site. It will be included on the album I Want You Back! Unreleased Masters, out November 10.
The most important name in electronic music is Kraftwerk. If you don’t
know why, here’s where you get schooled: The Catalogue, remastered
versions of 8 seminal albums from 1974's Autobahn to 2003's Tour De
France. Released individually today, the full boxed set streets November 17.
Brandi Carlile releases her third album, Give Up the Ghost, a mixture of absolute torch 'n' twang to make kd lang proud.
Gossip's Music for Men finally gets released on CD in the U.S. (it's been available digitally for a couple of months), and we couldn’t let another opportunity pass to declare it's one of the best of 2009.
Trip-hop forefathers Massive Attack release the roiling, brooding EP Splitting the Atom, four tunes featuring Elbow's Guy Garvey, TV on the Radio's Tunde Adebimpe and more. A full-length is due early 2010.
Röyksopp & Fever Ray: "This Must Be It" The Norwegian electro duo and The Knife’s frosty chanteuse Karin Dreijer Andersson (dba Fever Ray) take a synth-fueled joy ride through a Mad Max-like world on Röyksopp's latest single from Junior. Alejandro Sanz and Alicia Keys: "Looking For Paradise" Hell's Kitchen’s hip-hop poet duets with the sexy, low-key Spanish balladeer on this rollicking acoustic joint from Sanz's forthcomingParaíso Express.
Various Artists: "Beds Are Burning" Kofi Annan introduces this star-studded remake of Midnight Oil's hit to benefit awareness for the Global Humanitarian Forum for climate reform in Copenhagen on December 7. International artists — who sing from a series of wall posters — include Serena Ryder, Duran Duran, Marion Cotillard, Fergie and many more. Download the mp3 for free on their site. Ultra Naté featuring DJ King Tutt: "Faster, Faster Pussycat (Let's Go!)" A freaky club diva and an anonymous figure in tight black vinyl exhort us to "get on and ride / Do it tonight" while a Matrix-type motherboard overloads with techno rhythm. So what are you waiting for? Get on and ride.
Kanye West and Lady Gaga's 'Fame Kills' tour has been canceled, MTV reports:
"Rumors about the tour's possible cancellation have been swirling for days, largely related to the negative publicity stemming from West's interruption of Taylor Swift's acceptance speech at the MTV Video Music Awards last month. The tour, which West abruptly announced during a television appearance in the spring and was scheduled to launch on November 10 in Phoenix, was oddly not confirmed by either of the artists' reps until mid-September."
TMZ reports: "...we're told his concert tour with Lady Gaga was scrapped because ticket sales sucked. And "sucked" happens to be a nicer version of the word we were told.
And not only that -- our insiders say another factor in the cancellation was West and Gaga's people were at each others throats like their last names were Gosselin.
When it came down do it, we're told Gaga decided she'd be better off playing smaller venues ... and far from the headache caused by Kanye's ever present drama."
Rapper 50 Cent came under fire yesterday for remarks he made about the tour to radio host Angie Martinez in which he labeled it 'the gay tour', mocking Kanye for taking his CD to Ellen Degeneres because she has a gay audience.
50 Cent later released a statement on his site: “During an interview with Angie Martinez yesterday, certain comments I made were taken entirely out of context. When I referred to the Lady Gaga tour as the “gay tour” I was basically repeating what I thought she had referred to the tour in the past. It was not my intention to offend anyone. I don’t have a problem with anyone’s lifestyle and have no issue with Lady Gaga, she makes great music."
In fact, Gaga did tell OUT magazine about an ultimatum she gave Kanye: "I just want to be clear before we decide to do this together:
I’m gay. My music is gay. My show is gay. And I love that it’s gay. And I love my gay fans and they’re all going to be coming to our show. And it’s going to remain
gay."
NJ marriage battle heating up: "Momentum is slowly growing among Democrats in the
Legislature to pass a bill allowing same-sex marriages
during the lame duck session following the November general election. But Republican lawmakers at a Statehouse news conference
said they preferred an amendment on the 2010 November ballot
that would propose changing the state's constitution to
permit marriage only between a man and a woman."
"Ex-gay" David Elliott confronts gay Arlington County board member Jay Fisette at County Fair: "According to a piece he wrote in the Christian News Wire,
Elliott approached Fisette to rehash the details of the 2007 incident. 'I wanted to let you know that I was hit when I was working at this
booth in a previous year,' he wrote. Fisette allegedly replied, 'What
happened to you wasn’t good, but neither is your message.'"
Scientists turn clock back on aging muscles: "Our study shows that the ability of old human muscle to be
maintained and repaired by muscle stem cells can be restored to
youthful vigor given the right mix of biochemical signals. his provides
promising new targets for forestalling the debilitating muscle atrophy
that accompanies aging, and perhaps other tissue degenerative disorders
as well."
Boy George to return to London's West End with new live concert: "Boy George in Concert Up Close and Personal runs at the Leicester Square Theatre for ten nights only from 20 to 30 December 2009."
Mad Men's Bryan Batt to marry his partner: "The gay actor,
46, has been dating Tom Cianfichi, an actor-turned-event planner, for
two decades and the couple is now ready to make its union official with
a wedding in Vermont, where same sex unions are legal."
The Foundation for Reconciliation to hold memorial during LDS conference weekend for gay Mormons who have committed suicide: "The foundation, in a news
release, said it wanted to call attention to the issue in light of the
LDS Church's 2008 support for the gay marriage ban in California, the
July detention of a gay couple who kissed on the church's Main Street
Plaza and a September speech given by LDS general authority Bruce C.
Hafen denying a biological link to homosexuality."
No word on when this interview between Devi Dev and Kany West was actually recorded, but hardknock.tv just posted it on Tuesday, and there are some gems:
"I don't like men. I'm not gay, and I'm so sure of that. I'm so sure that I'm not gay that I'll wear a pink watch. That I'll wear tight jeans. That I'll stand next to people who look gay. That I'll stand next to people who are gay. That I will go to dinner with a gay person. Just me - and that gay person."
The editors of Modern Tonic present a weekly music update here on Towleroad. The rest of the week, they scan the pop culture landscape for movie, TV, book and Web recommendations in their daily email.
FEATURED NEW RELEASES:
Kid Cudi (born Scott Ramon Seguro Mescudi) lent his space-age hip-hop skills to Kanye’s out-there 808s & Heartbreak. But where Kanye sounded lost in orbit, Cudi (pronounced “Cuddy”) is right at home. This brother from another planet shape-shifts hip-hop on his startlingly fresh debut Man on the Moon: The End of Day. Opener “In My Dreams (Cudder Anthem)” — a slowed down mix of soul strings and spoken word — makes it clear this ain’t an old-school rap. From there the Brooklynite via Cleveland does some truly creative s**t — he samples OMD’s obscure “ABC Auto-Industry” for the hook of “As Simple,” he collaborates with Ratatat for the creepy-crawly “Alive (Nightmare)” and he whips a military beat over the apocalyptic jam “Sky Might Fall.” He may be an unlikely candidate for mega-stardom, but he’s not too weird for anyone who wants a glimpse into hip-hop’s future.
The Portuguese-Canadian singer Nelly Furtado has never seemed more at home than she does on the warm, spicy Spanish-language Mi Plan. She borrows the best from rock en Español — upbeat choruses, high drama — and sings her heart out in the process. Flamenco guitars are slathered all over the title track. “Vacación” is mariachi reggae perfect for a beachside stroll in Cozumel. And “Silencio” is Madonna’s “La Isla Bonita” with extra cheese, thanks to Josh Groban. Furtado has talked about the possibility of recording a Portuguese-language album in the future as well.
U.K. dance comes in all kinds of flavors — big beat, rave, techno, Eurodisco — and we love pretty much all of them. Yet what’s best about Simian Mobile Disco (aka James Ford and Jas Shaw) is that they’re not specialists. These greedy buggers love all things dance; their sophomore release Temporary Pleasure is a Whitman’s Sampler of sweet grooves and guest vocalists. Need a genuine disco rush? Check out Gossip’s Beth Ditto on the sultry “Cruel Intentions.” If you’re longing for a Hayzee Fantayzee-style island-hopping ditty, there’s “Pinball,” featuring Brooklyn’s Telepathe. And Jamie Lidell takes the Chemical Brothers to a sex club on the promiscuous “Off the Map.” That’s a lot of pleasure indeed, but SMD are selling themselves short if they think it’s only temporary.
U2 will release a remastered 25th anniversary version of The Unforgettable Fire on October 27. It will come in four configurations (vinyl, single CD, deluxe double CD and super deluxe box set) and will include B-sides, rarities, alternate versions, and previously unreleased songs, in addition to various physical extras in the deluxe versions.
Just when you think they can’t get more pretentious, power trio Muse drop an honest-to-goodness three-movement symphony to close out their supermassive rock record The Resistance. It’s prog-rock that’s also fantastically glam (first single “Uprising”), bluesy (“Undisclosed Desires”) and heavy (“MK Ultra”).
Gary Go follows Snow Patrol up the mountain to commercial bliss on his self-titled debut. Big emotions, bigger choruses, and an extra dollop of sincerity lift this Brit-popper’s open-hearted future hit “Open Arms” and the grandly romantic anthem “Engines.”
Yo, haters, give Scarlett Johansson a break. Break Up, her duets album with Pete Yorn, shows off her jazzy voice on standouts like “I Am the Cosmos” and the barroom blues of “Wear and Tear.” Gorgeous, (debatably) talented actress and she can sing. Okay, hate her, just don’t ignore her.
Marié Digby’s much more than that YouTube cover girl who remade Rihanna’s “Umbrella” (and Linkin Park’s “What I’ve Done” and Britney’s “Gimme More” and…). Her sophomore release Breathing Underwater is girl pop writ grand, catchy as hell and sure to grace a thousand TV and film soundtracks in the near future.
There have been a lot of cruel summers for the women of Bananarama. Big stars as an ‘80s trio, the duo-since-1991 are back with their Euro-disco import Viva. If their successors Sugababes and Girls Aloud can storm the charts, so can these elder-stateswomen.
Fever Ray: “Seven” The side project of The Knife’s Karin Dreijer Andersson, Fever Ray offers a creepy clip for this lingering lo-NRG electro track, featuring an old woman, a hairy-faced shaman and barnyard animals. Get a FREE DOWNLOAD of the CSS remix of "Seven" here.
Editors: “Papillon” From their forthcomingIn the Light and On This Evening, the Birmingham quartet add triumphant synths to their dark alt-rock on a song about escape where men run the night streets of a silent metropolis.
Young Soul Rebels/War Child: "I Got Soul" This charity single for the War Child organization re-imagines The Killers’ “All These Things That I’ve Done” with Pixie Lott, VV Brown, Tinchy Stryder and other U.K. up-and-comers.
Micachu & The Shapes “Turn Me Well” This songstress from Surrey dons mime makeup for an abstract clip of a minimally experimental tune that makes The Knife sound like Muse. From their debut Jewellery.
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