Who said you could stop pointing and clicking? WHO??
• Tori Amos offers Mother’s Day gift: free download of “Maybe California” [ToriAmos.com] • Composer Stephan Zielinski turns the genetic code of a swine flu protein into music that’s nearly as annoying as swine flu itself [via RS] • New Black Lips remix featuring GZA [Stereogum] • Eminem debuts trailer for “3 A.M.” via his Twitter feed [YouTube] • Franz Ferdinand, Janelle Monae, Eugene Mirman added to Bumbershoot lineup [Bumbershoot] • Rogue Wave guitarist Gram LeBron starts blog, posts “Numero Uno Show,” involving marionettes, children, and vampires [Golden Gram]
Ask Ciara about the video she shot for "Love Sex Magic" with Justin Timberlake, and she’ll tell you she’s "very, very proud" of her work. "I loved being able to show another side of me — more of a sensual side," the singer tells the Music Mix. "I felt like a cat was in me, like, Rrrrowr!" Of course, choreography that involved and poses that flexible don’t come easy. "It definitely takes a lot of practice and a lot of stretching," she laughs.
Though she’s well aware of online whispers that the "Love Sex Magic" video looked suspiciously similar to certain clips by Beyonce, Ciara remains unfazed. "To be honest with you, they were not the same things," she says. "It’s really petty. But I don’t sweat stuff like that, because I know my inspiration. All I can do is laugh at stuff like that and keep it going. I’m looking forward to doing my next video."
Ciara hopes to choose a follow-up single and video for "Love Sex Magic" soon. In the meantime, she’s excited about the cover art for her May 5 album Fantasy Ride, created by comic-book artist Bernard Chang. "I’m really into superheroes right now, so Super C was my superhero character that I created," she explains of the image. "It’s not an alter ego or anything — just another nickname you can call me."
The Apples in Stereo’s Robert Schneider was as surprised as anyone to learn that this season’s American Idol contestants sang his song "Energy" in a Ford ad during last night’s show. "We’re on the road right now," Schneider tells the Music Mix. "My mom called me and said she’d just seen it. I was like, ‘Whoa!’ Then when we got to the hotel, we watched it online. It was pretty cool." Read on after the jump for a full Q&A with more on the Apples’ Idol moment and Schneider’s favorite Idol episode ever — plus details on Travelers in Space and Time, the new "sci-fi R&B" album they’re recording for a tentative Spring 2010 release, and why it won’t sound like anything the Apples have done before.
"We’ve been embraced in Britain in a way that I’ll never understand,and it’s such a wonderful thing," he says. "But over here [inAmerica], people are still so obsessed with Led Zeppelin and Nirvana, those sorts of bands, that nobody else is allowed [to grow]."
He added: "It’s not just us; there are a lot of great bands that havebeen held down or confined by the influence of these people that we’veput up on pedestals. I’m tired of it, you know? I just want to knockthem all off! And people don’t like that attitude. It’s almost likethey don’t believe that it’s possible that anybody else can be the realdeal."
Granted, non-rock acts like Lil Wayne, Alicia Keys and Taylor Swift do tend to dominate sales in recent years, but bands such as Coldplay, the Eagles, Nickelback and Daughtry — whatever your opinion of their artistic merit — aren’t exactly begging for alms on streetcorners (all have made the top-10 in year-end albums recently).
Do you think it’s the American public’s fault for ignoring rock artists in favor of other genres, or golden oldies like Zep and Nirvana? Are listeners just too splintered now? Or are younger bands failing to produce the kind of music that reaches the masses?
Darius Rucker — the man formerly known as Hootie, of the Blowfish — joined the ranks of pop-to-country crossovers in 2008 with his down-home album Learn to Live. But unlike some of his more novelty-driven pop refugee peers (Jovi, Simpson), Rucker seems like he’s in Nashville to stay: His first two singles, "Don’t Think I Don’t Think About It" and "It Won’t Be Like This For Long" both hit No. 1 on the country charts, making him the first African-American artist since Charley Pride in 1983 to reach that spot. In this exclusive Q&A, Rucker talks about his new career, his old band, what it’s like to sweat in front of Oprah (we spoke on the same day her country music episode aired), and why it’s cool to have your name mentioned with Charley Pride and Ray Charles… but it shouldn’t be the point. Read on after the jump!
Last night’s in-show Ford Focus advertorial on Americal Idol, featuring psych-pop outfit Apples in Stereo’s "Energy," now occupies a special place in history — that ant-sized spot where AI viewers and Elephant Six collective fans meet.
Below, Idol‘s version of the song, and the original video from the 2007 album New Magnet Wonder. Tell us, Musix Mixers, is anything that exposes an underappreciated band to the masses (see: Of Montreal’s Outback Steakhouse ads, M.I.A.’s "Paper Planes"-boosting Pineapple Express appearance) a good thing — cred doesn’t pay the ConEd bill, after all — or does it just suck the pleasure and context out of music that means something to you? Do you feel like buying a car now?
We made a list of heartbreaking songs. You read it, and let us know what we left out. Many, many things we left out. After reading all of your excellent suggestions, we realized that we’d forgotten some pretty key stuff. So consider these ten additions (one just below, plus nine more after the jump) to be part of our original list — a new, improved list of the 60 most heartbreaking songs of all time. Thanks for all of your ideas! If we’d done a list of 1,000, all of them would have been on there. (Entries written by Rob Brunner, Clark Collis, Leah Greenblatt, Whitney Pastorek, and Simon Vozick-Levinson.)
Jeff Buckley, "Hallelujah" (1994) Even without Buckley’s tragically premature death, the plaintive wail of his tenor covering Leonard Cohen’s breakup hymn would still move us to tears every goddamn time. So heartbreaking, even overkill on The O.C. couldn’t diminish its power.
Having finally torn myself away from the tickled loris long enough to explore other internet offerings, I recently came across the boppy, Britney-esque new single "Goodbye" from a young singer named Kristiana DeBarge. But it’s not the song’s Bubble-Yum riff on 1969 novelty smash turned classic sports-stadium kiss-off "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye" that spun me right round like a record.
Indeed! Kristiana is his daughter — one of three children, in fact. The DeBarge-ian heights her career may or may not reach are still unknown, but her story does offer a glorious addition to my Post-It Note encyclopedia of second- or even third-generation (see Hanks: Williams Sr., Jr. and III) musical talents.
Clearly, the pool varies widely, from the dearly departed Jeff Buckley (son of beloved cult folkie Tim, also gone much too young) to the Wallflowers’ Jakob Dylan (perhaps you’ve heard of Bob?) and the black-velvet-choker jams of Wilson Phillips (sprung from the loins of both the Mamas and the Papas’ Michele and John Phillips and Beach Boy Brian Wilson), to Nelson, the golden pop-metal showponies bequeathed to the world by the late, great teen icon turned rock legend Rick Nelson.
While you ponder the dominant — or tragically recessive — genes passed on by chart-topping talents, and leave them in the comments section below, I leave you with the father-daughter duo so rich in combined musical earnings that they could probably afford to buy Christmas from Santa Claus:
Hustle & Flow director Craig Brewer already found an Oscar in Memphis’ music scene. Now he’s going back. Brewer’s new MTV series $5 Cover, about talented Memphis locals trying to make it big, premieres this Friday. In the meantime, the Music Mix has an exclusive $5 Cover clip starring Americana musician Amy LaVere. Check it out below and let us know what you think of Brewer’s latest project.
That theoretical Rick Ross-Eminem rap battle has yet to materialize, and I wouldn’t hold your breath, either. Big boss Ross did, however, face off this past week against someone who’s incessantly compared to Eminem: Asher Roth, whose debut album happened to drop on the same day as Ross’ Deeper Than Rap. The more established artist won the day handily, topping the Billboard 200 for the third time in his career with 158,000 copies sold according to Nielsen SoundScan; Roth’s Asleep in the Bread Aisle came in at No. 5 with 62,000 units moved. Though that’s a respectable opening number for a newbie with one real hit to his name, it doesn’t exactly validate the whole "second coming of Eminem" mythology that’s surrounded Roth, fairly or not.
Depeche Mode squeaked between the two rappers, bowing at No. 3 with a healthy 80,000 copies sold of their twelfth studio album, Sounds of the Universe. Italian goth-rockers Lacuna Coil landed at No. 16 after selling 21,000 copies of their Shallow Life. And that was it for Top 20 debuts this week. One other interesting number: Jadakiss’ The Last Kissis still, just barely, in the Top 10 in its third week. That album is far from his best work, but the N.Y. rap head in me is pleased to see Jada hanging in there. Any chart results this week that you’re loving or hating?
Ask Ciara about 
The Apples in Stereo’s Robert Schneider was as surprised as anyone to learn that 
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