Bruce Springsteen is a musical legend. There’s no denying it – he’s got the stats to prove it. But what is he doing at a technology conference? Well, in a time of change, when music is changing – what advice can the digital generation take from rock and roll?
The Shins are putting out their fourth LP, Port of Morrow, next week on the 20th of March, via Columbia Records. Which is neat. Even neater, though, is the fact that you can stream all 10 tracks on iTunes right now. In case free good music is something that you like. Click through for the link!
English heavy metal band Motörhead has launched a line of bottled alcoholic beverages, because that’s just what you do when you’re a band of a certain age. There’s Motörhead Vodka which, sure, heavy metal, makes sense, and they’ve also released Motörhead Shiraz. Because I guess that’s heavy metal too.
The music video for “DoYaThing” — the new collaboration between the Gorillaz, Andre 3000 and LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy – dropped yesterday, as part of Converse’s ongoing “3 Artists, 1 Song” campaign. The promo track was released along with the limited edition Chuck Taylor All Star Gorillaz Collection, which is on sale now.
A couple of months ago, the guys from Jax Panik and iScream & the Chocolate Stix asked you to help write them some new lyrics. They took their favourite entries into studio, added some music, and would now like to know what you think of the results. Both songs are available for free download – after the jump.
Chris Brown’s success at the Grammys – he won an award for the Best R&B album, and performed to a standing ovation – has been mildly overshadowed by people getting upset over his beating up Rihanna. So, like all mature and repentant individuals, he turned to his Twitter account to set things right.
Hoo-ha. That teaser trailer for the new Die Antwoord album, Ten$ion, got pulled from the internet (which means they’ve officially taken it down – obviously it’s still around) because artist Jane Alexander, whose anti-apartheid sculpture the trailer strongly references, told them to. They’re in legal discussions presently.
Well hey there, internet – look what you brought in. “Money and Da Power,” a track that Die Antwoord has performed a couple of times on live tour but didn’t include on TEN$ION has been leaked onto Soundcloud by some or other file-sharing hippie. It’s a neat song, though. They sample sound from The Godfather.
Obama seems to be going with the “sing when you’re winning” line of thought – first his rendition of Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together”, and now his 28-track long Campaign playlist has shown up on Spotify, to remind voters that he’s totally hip to the groove. Take a look to compare your tastes with the POTUS.
So! Die Antwoord’s new album, TEN$ION, is coming out tomorrow – the first release on their new, Interscope-free, indie label, ZEF Records. Which is cool. Even cooler is the fact that it’s available for free streaming on Dutch broadcasting channel 3VOOR12, in case you’re somebody who likes free stuff. Listen here.
OK Go did a song about the primary colours on Sesame Street. No other band would make me care about this, but OK Go are sort of the kings of viral videos. So click through for some stop-motion, a new track, and primary-coloured theme outfits. No spandex this time, though.
Only the coolest of hipsters will be aware of THE THUNDERBIRDS. People like Passion from The Dirty Skirts – he will know most of these names. And if you aren’t aware of these guys, then please ask anyone over 45 who spent time in Cape Town in the 70s and 80s. Your parents probably made […]
So! The shutdown MegaUpload and charging of founders with piracy ostensibly started with a copyright scuffle between the filesharing site and the Universal Music Group. Except the shut-down was also timed to scupper MegaBox, a venture to sell artist’s work directly to consumers while letting artists keep 90 percent of earnings. Raised eyebrows all around.
Which set of global music artistes are locked in a post-awards death match following a trophy shocker that saw one win best original song for her “Masterpiece”, and saw her rival scowl so deeply, his face appeared to eat itself?
To all the guys out there, if you’ve ever sat through p.s. I Love You starring Hilary Swank and Gerard Butler, you’ll know that the movie makes listening to Slipknot played backwards at maximum volume for 12 hours straight seem more fulfilling. It’s the story of a charming Irish lad who falls in love with […]
Your CD collection has officially become outdated, because 2011 was the year that digital music sales finally surpassed their plastic disc-based counterparts, and the trend doesn’t look to be over.
The 2000s haven’t been kind to the US music business, with year on year shrinkage in sales since Y2K leading to the longest slump this side of the Second World War. In 2011, three artists managed to turn the slide around, while many others floundered in mediocre sales. Care to guess who?
Score one for creepy technology. Vocaloid, a voice-synthesis brand owned by Yamaha, has come up with a process by which to “resurrect” any singer’s voice for use in synthesized songs, without requiring the vocalist to build up a painstaking voice library first – so they could be doing that Kurt Cobain/Michael Jackson duet album pretty soon.
Jackie, a Dutch fashion magazine recently ran a feature on Rihanna – showing readers how to imitate the singer’s style. In an attempt at humour, they wrote the piece in what they thought was street lingo. But, as it turns out, Rihanna didn’t appreciate being called “the ultimate niggabitch” with “a ghetto ass”.
It’s always nice when researchers employing a loosely scientific method produce results you were more or less expecting. Folks at the University of Portsmouth have determined that loud music makes people want to drink alcohol in greater quantities and at a much faster rate because the music makes it taste sweeter. Science!
Last week, Justin Bieber almost ruined the collective festive cheer of the entire world by announcing he was working on a dubstep album, but thankfully it’s still the season for giving, and a handful of awesome classic rock outfits have announced their plans to tour SA in 2012, effectively cancelling out the horror aftershocks of the Lesbieber’s awful, awful news.
The Brothers Streep were recently seen on Idols, where they poked a bit of fun at some of the show’s more controversial moments and characters. And before that they performed live for Anna Paquin on the Graham Norton show. This time they tackle the ANC’s steamrolling of the Protection of Information Bill in parliament this week. Check out “The Secrecy Bill” after the jump.
Afrikaans zef rap sensation, Die Antwoord, have released a statement on their website indicating that they have parted ways with their record company, Interscope – and that’s putting it diplomatically.
That famous band that still gets pronounced awkwardly, Die Antwoord, is preparing to release a follow-up to their 2010 debut, $0$. They announced as much in an interview with Spin, saying that the new album – named Tension – is scheduled for a January 2012 release; they’ve also released the names of a couple of new tracks.
You know the way a lot of professional “critics” seem to be incredibly satisfied with every word that emanates from their non-smiling mouths? Well, I reckon the reason for this is that deep down inside they know their role in society is, in fact, quite menial. Nothing they say really matters when all is said […]
In another case of “Why didn’t I think of that?”, a Belgian record label that goes by the name of SonicAngel, identifies future stars by tracking trends on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Not only that, they also allow fans to invest in the artists’ success, with a six monthly return on their initial investment. Brilliant.
Soulful UK songstress, Adele is heading in to the studio to record the theme for the upcoming 23rd Bond film, according to reports from music industry insiders (read: pizza, flowers, and cocaine delivery people).
Foo Fighters don’t actually have to promote anything to get people to shell out cash for their upcoming North America tour, but because they had a fat wad of cash to spend on advertising and some guy in marketing wouldn’t stop saying the word ‘viral,’ they’ve put this video together for you. Take a look.
The Chinese government, in a not-unusual display of authoritarian petulance, has banned the download of over a hundred music titles from popular online music sites in China.
OK Go did a rendition of the theme song from The Muppet Show in their Green Album. Now they’ve made a video; it’s sort of like all of their other music videos, except it features Muppets. I don’t like suggesting that something going viral is a foregone conclusion, but this thing going viral is a foregone conclusion.