Archive: June 2009 (61-70 of 148)

Jun 17 2009 04:54 PM ET

Black Eyed Peas take the No.1 album spot

by
Categories: Black Eyed Peas, Charts

BEP_dl The E.N.D. is nigh! No, don't start stocking up on canned goods and drinking water. We just mean that the Black Eyed Peas are occupying pole position on the Billboard 200 albums chart with their CD of that name, thanks to first week sales of 304,000.

Amazingly, this is Fergie and crew's first No.1 collection. Their last album, 2005's Monkey Business, was held off the top spot by Coldplay's X&Y. In other chart news, Aventura's CD Last debuted at No. 5, while Mos Def's latest collection, The Ecstatic, hit No.9.

Pleasure P rounded out the Top Ten with The Introduction of Marcus Cooper. It was also a good week for Sammy Hagar's supergroup Chickenfoot, whose eponymous album is at No. 4.

More from EW's Music Mix:
Gavin Rossdale on 'The Tonight Show'
Spotlight on Here We Go Magic
Mariah Carey's Eminem-dissing new single, 'Obsessed': Hear it here
New Weird Al: Is this the worst song you'll hear all week? (Maybe not!)
Gym Class Heroes, Rascall Flatts join Denny's Rock Star Menu; take that, Moons Over My Hammy!

Jun 17 2009 04:39 PM ET

Here We Go Magic: Grizzly Bear tour openers deserve their own spotlight

by
Categories: EW Recommends, Indie Rock

We're like Goldilocks with the way we never shut up about those Bears; If you haven't picked up the Grizzles' recent psych-folk opus Veckatimest for yourself by now, our own Simon Vozick-Levinson may possibly have scampered through your home in the dead of night and left a copy on your pillow. You're welcome!

And yet — we must now vouch for Here We Go Magic, the band's Brooklyn-based brethren, and openers on GB's nearly-wrapped national tour, who have a handful of dates in the next few weeks, both with and without the Bears, that you really should catch if you can.

Their self-titled February release, while not entirely consistent (frontman/mastermind Luke Temple has thing for lovely but patient-testing field-trip-to-the-planetarium soundscapes), contained some slow-burn stunners like "Fangela" and "Tunnelvision"; at its best, the band offers a heady mix of Band of Horses' in-the-pines beard rock, Sigur Ros' glacial beauty, and Animal Collective's captivating art-school swirly-twirls.

But don't take our word; indie swamis Sufjan Stevens ("Luke Temple has one of the most beautiful voices in pop music") and Death Cab's Ben Gibbard ("His voice alone is so damn good — one of the prettiest voices in all of indie rock, hands down") have both vouched for it.

Check the band's MySpace for more, or this new video for the lovely "Fangela":

More from EW's Music Mix:
Bjork's live cut of 'Earth Intruders': Stream it exclusively here!
Antony & the Johnsons' version of Beyonce's 'Crazy in Love': Finally on vinyl (and CD)
Animal Collective's new video: Awesome, but possibly requires Dramamine

Jun 17 2009 03:54 PM ET

RIP: The Ventures' Bob Bogle

by
Categories: In Memoriam

When I was a kid the most exciting sound I would hear all week was the Hawaii Five-0 theme tune. This was partly because it meant the start of another episode of sun-kissed crime-solving and "Book 'em Danno"-ing. But also because that punchy, horn-driven  surf-rocker is one of the great TV theme songs of all time. The track was by Seattle-based '60s act the Ventures, whose guitarist Bob Bogle passed away over the weekend at the age of 75. Bogle never really got his due as a rock influence. His distinctive twanging impacted a huge number of more famous stars, including Joe Walsh, Joe Perry, and John Fogerty. The latter inducted the Ventures into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame just last year, noting that their classic surf single "Walk Don't Run" "empowered guitarists everywhere." You can see what Fogerty was talking about below.

More from EW's Music Mix:
Gavin Rossdale on 'The Tonight Show'
Mariah Carey's Eminem-dissing new single, 'Obsessed': Hear it here
New Weird Al: Is this the worst song you'll hear all week? (Maybe not!)
Gym Class Heroes, Rascall Flatts join Denny's Rock Star Menu; take that, Moons Over My Hammy!

Jun 17 2009 03:16 PM ET

Gavin Rossdale live on 'The Tonight Show': Mommy, it hurts

by
Categories: Video Gaga

Oi, Mr. Stefani. Secretly (or not!), I very much enjoyed the ersatz grungiosity of Bush, back in ye olde '90s. You seem to make Gwen happy, and your two baby boys are adorable little nuggets (albeit with oddly irie names.)

However! Your performance last night on Conan actually scared my cat. I don't know how to explain to him why your rendition of "This Is Happiness" contained so many unsettling elements: flat-note singing; atonal band shifts; strange, Axl-meets-'NSync hip movements (my colleague Clark Collis calls it the "white man's sideways moonwalk").

Now, granted, I've seen a lot of musical gold turned to poo on a television stage; SNL, for one, is famous for blunting the power of many an expert live performer (this little Simpson excluded); but this is kind of awful, right? Tell me if I'm wrong, Music Mixers, or if you've seen much worse on the small screen:

Update: The clip has been removed, but you can still find it on Hulu, or in all its shuffle-shuffle-thrust glory here.

More from EW's Music Mix:
Mariah Carey's Eminem-dissing new single, 'Obsessed': Hear it here
New Weird Al: Is this the worst song you'll hear all week? (Maybe not!)
Gym Class Heroes, Rascall Flatts join Denny's Rock Star Menu; take that, Moons Over My Hammy!

Jun 17 2009 12:00 AM ET

2009 CMT Music Awards: We live blogged it!

by
Categories: Awards Shows, Country, Y'all!, Live Blog!

Sugarland_l

Direct from a Nashville already traumatized by CMA Music Fest and thousands of Bonnaroo refugees, it’s the 2009 CMT Music Awards! Below, please find the live blog as it happened during the broadcast, complete with technical difficulties, Miller Genuine Draft, and guest appearances from Brad Paisley, Sugarland, the B-52s, Kellie Pickler, and host Bill Engvall. Enjoy!

Jun 16 2009 09:52 PM ET

Exclusive! Sugarland to perform with B-52s on CMT Awards tonight

by
Categories: Country, Y'all!, Sugarland

B52s_l

EW has learned exclusively that Atlanta-based country duo Sugarland will be performing “Love Shack” with fellow Georgians The B-52s on tonight’s CMT Music Awards. This news comes on the heels of this morning’s announcement that Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush will release their first concert DVD, Live on the Inside, on August 4th in a Wal-Mart store near you. The hi-def show will be accompanied by a separate CD featuring live cuts of the duo’s infamous covers, including Beyonce’s “Irreplaceable,” Pearl Jam’s “Better Man,” Kings of Leon’s “Sex on Fire,” and — synergy! — “Love Shack.”

I’ll be live-blogging the broadcast tonight and will have more thoughts then, but for now I’m of two minds about this choice. As much as I always prefer to hear original songs, Bush and Nettles do covers better than anyone in the biz — and they’ve been closing out shows with “Love Shack” all year, so why not? Plus, as a child of the ’80s, I can never get enough of Fred Schneider. (Rock lobster!)

What do you think, Mixers? Will you be tuning in? And do you enjoy covers, when executed properly?

Jun 16 2009 09:40 PM ET

New Weird Al: Is this the worst song you'll hear all week? (Maybe not!)

by
Categories: Snap Judgment

No, this is not another post about Mel Gibson's girlfriend's song — though the shoddy lyrics of Weird Al's latest tune, "Craigslist," certainly could also have been co-written by the Braveheart star. (Instead, it's kind of a retread of "When the Music's Over" featuring Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarek, though not really a direct parody, per se — um, maybe more of an homage?)

So we won't directly call it; instead, we leave it up to you, readers: Clearly, there's already some stiff competition out there and yes, it's only Tuesday, but we have to ask: Is this the worst song you'll hear all week? (Hey, maybe it's the best!)

More from EW's Music Mix:
Mel Gibson's girlfriend releases single
Kanye West and Lady Gaga to tour together
Daniel Merriweather: Will he break big in America?
Empire of the Sun: A Music Mix pick

Jun 16 2009 08:24 PM ET

Grizzly Bear's Daniel Rossen covers Judee Sill

by
Categories: Grizzly Bear

We were super excited to hear about Crayon Angel: A Tribute To the Music of Judee Sill, an upcoming  album dedicated to the work of our favorite underappreciated '70s singer-songwriter with contributions from Beth Orton, Bill Callahan, and others. Now Pitchfork has posted a song from the collection: Grizzly Bear's Daniel Rossen covering "Waterfall." It's a nice take on the tune, but definitely also check out Sill's two albums, Judee Sill and Heart Food. Sill was an astonishing songwriter with a devastatingly fragile voice and a hard-luck backstory (she died of a drug overdose 30 years ago), and her work is highly recommended if you like that sort of thing. Watch the clip below, then let us know what you think.


More from EW's Music Mix:
Bjork's live cut of 'Earth Intruders': Stream it exclusively here!
Antony & the Johnsons' version of Beyonce's 'Crazy in Love': Finally on vinyl (and CD)
Animal Collective's new video: Awesome, but possibly requires Dramamine

Jun 16 2009 07:36 PM ET

Mariah Carey's Eminem-dissing new single, 'Obsessed': Hear it here

by
Categories: Mariah Carey

Mariah-C_Obsessed_l You thought Mimi was emancipated? Au contraire! She is "Obsessed." That would be the five-octave pop superstar's lead single — written and produced by herself, Tricky Stewart and the-Dream (why the hyphen? Nobody-knows) — from her upcoming 12th album, Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel, the followup to last year's E=MC2.

It goes to radio nationally today, where it will undoubtedly be only a hop, skip and a wet-t-shirt-contest jump (nice photo, Meems!) to YouTube; we'll keep you posted.

In the meantime, if you follow her Twitter, you know she's been talking about the song for days — describing it alternately as "an uptempo summer fun record," "seriously my favorite song ever," and "different for me, but clearly, it's SO me!" Judge for yourself when you hear it — and tell us if it is also, in fact, so you — and if you'll be buying Memoirs when it drops August 25.

Update: it's available now below, and apparently that's Eminem she's calling "delusional." Slim Shady, methinks you got served. Does this sound like a fair response to the Mariah-related shenanigans on Em's recent "Bagpipes from Baghdad"?:

More from EW's Music Mix:
Gym Class Heroes, Rascall Flatts join Denny's Rock Star Menu; take that, Moons Over My Hammy!
Mel Gibson's girlfriend Oksana release single 'Say My Name'; Beyonce not worried
Kanye West and Lady Gaga to tour together
Megan Fox's crush, Rain: Are you digging the 'Korean Justin Timberlake'?

Jun 16 2009 07:26 PM ET

Mariah Carey's new single, "Obsessed": Out today

by
Categories: Mariah Carey

Mariah-C_Obsessed_l You thought Mimi was emancipated? Au contraire, Music Mixers! She is "Obsessed." That would be the five-octave pop superstar's lead single — written and produced by herself, Tricky Stewart and the-Dream (why the hyphen? Nobody-knows)– from her upcoming 12th album, Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel, the followup to last year's E=MC2.

It goes to radio nationally today, where it will undoubtedly be only a hop, skip and wet-t-shirt-contest jump (nice photo, Meems!) to YouTube; we'll keep you posted.

In the meantime, if you follow her Twitter, you know she's been talking about the song for days — describing it alternately as "an uptempo summer fun record," "seriously my favorite song ever," and "different for me, but clearly, it's SO me!" Judge for yourself when you hear it — and tell us if it is also, in fact, so you — and if you'll be buying Memoirs when it drops August 25.

More from EW's Music Mix:
Mel Gibson's girlfriend releases single
Kanye West and Lady Gaga to tour together
Daniel Merriweather: Will he break big in America?
Empire of the Sun: A Music Mix pick

Advertisement

TV Recaps

Powered by WordPress.com VIP