In this week’s issue of Entertainment Weekly actress and singer and Zooey Deschanel guides us through the choicer cuts fromthe soundtrack of her new romantic comedy (500) Days Of Summer. One song therewasn’t space to feature? A cover of the Smiths’ “Please, Please, Please LetMe Get What I Want” by She & Him, Deschanel's band withsinger-songwriter M. Ward. After the break, Deschanel talks about how the duocame to tackle the song and how things are progressing with their follow-up to lastyear’s debut album Volume One.
Who lived through the '90s without listening to Mazzy Star's shimmery, narcotic dream-rock lullaby "Fade Into You" a few thousand times? Not me, Music Mixers.
If you've been waiting for another full-length frontwoman Hope Sandoval in the long years since her 2001 album with the Warm Inventions, Bavarian Fruit Bread, today is your happy — or at least, happy in an appropriately brooding, restrained Mazzy-ish way — day! This September, Nettwerk will release Through the Devil Softly, written by Sandoval with her bandmate, My Bloody Valentine drummer Colm O Ciosoig.
Listen to the swooning, slow-burn "Blanchard" below, for a sneak preview, and tell us if you're looking forward to Sandoval's return:
It's almost hard to believe that there are any more archive clips of Michael Jackson out there that we haven't yet watched and re-watched in the past two weeks. But of course the man left behind an immense trail of TV appearances, concert footage, and interviews over his 45 years of public life, and Hulu.com has just found one rare clip that's somehow never been seen before: A 13-minute interview conducted on the set of the "Bad" music video in 1987 before languishing in a vault somewhere for the next 22 years.
The conversation is a wide-ranging one, with a characteristically soft-spoken Michael answering questions about the making of the Bad album, the concept behind the "Bad" video, and his own complicated relationship with worldwide fame. "Do you feel as though you missed out on something by not remembering not performing?" asks the interviewer after Michael talks about being a celebrity his entire life. "Of course," he replies. "But I gained a lot, too." It's an ambiguous moment that's a little uncomfortable to watch.
Watch the clip in full below, then let us know: Are you glad Hulu has released this lost interview?
Michael Jackson sold more records than anyone in the country this past week, just like last week: a stunning 800,000 albums in total, including 339,000 copies of Number Ones and 187,000 copies of Thriller, according to Nielsen SoundScan. But just like last week, those two best-sellers were only counted for Billboard‘s Top Comprehensive Albums chart due to their age, leaving NOW That’s What I Call Music! 31 to top the flagship Billboard 200 albums chart with a comparatively small 169,000 units shifted. Such are Billboard‘s rules. Note that this makes two weeks in a row where catalog albums have soundly outsold the Billboard 200′s No. 1, something that had never happened before in the chart publication’s history. Count it as just one more testament to Michael Jackson’s lasting impact on pop culture.
Not that there weren’t plenty of other strong debuts to go around on the chart. Brad Paisley’s American Saturday Night made it to No. 2 with 130,000 sold. No. 3 went to Rob Thomas’ Cradlesong, with 122,000. Wilco took No. 4 with 99,000 of Wilco (the album) — a career best for the Chicago rockers, breaking the personal first-week record they set with their last album in 2007. “Birthday Sex” singer Jeremih might be marking another day for celebration on his calendar after selling 59,000 of his self-titled debut CD for a No. 6 bow. Killswitch Engage land at No. 7 with 58,000 of their own self-titled disc.
And that’s it for Top 20 debuts this week. What do you think of this week’s numbers?
Earlier this summer at an Island Def Jam party, I saw Justin Bieber alongside other label acts like Rihanna, Fabolous, and Fall Out Boy and thought, "Who is this little nugget?"
Clearly, I am nine million years too old, because a little research quickly revealed that the baby-faced teen (seriously, he looks like a cross between Zac Efron and a Furby) from Ontario has been alloverYouTube for months with his original compositions and covers of Chris Brown, Justin, and Usher songs, and is being touted by Usher himself as the new hot poop; the star even appears with his lil' protege below in the video for "One Time," below, the single for which just went to iTunes on July 7.
Personally, I don't always go for the novelty factor of barely-pubescent pop acts (though I still have a soft spot for Jordy; j'adore!), but Bieber does seem to share many of the qualities that made his idols the pop/R&B superstars they've become, including a clear, supple voice, pinup-boy looks, and bona fide instrument skills (see him here on piano). Also, he has perfect teeth.
When we talked to Paramore frontwoman Hayley Williams back in May, she told us the Tennessee punk-pop outfit's upcoming album, brand new eyes, is "really soley based on friendship and betrayal, losing people you thought would be there forever, and then maybe either finding them again or not finding them again."
The album's first single, "Ignorance," is available for streaming today, and lyrics like "where's your gavel, your jury? / What's my offense this time? / You're not a judge but if you're gonna judge me / Well, sentence me to another life" have us thinking she was not fooling about the "friendship and betrayal" bits.
If you pre-order the album (due Sept. 29) on iTunes starting today, you'll get "Ignorance" for free; Spin.com also has a stream of it here. So tell us, Music Mixers, is "Ignorance" bliss? And what do you anticipate from the rest of brand new eyes, other than rampant lower-case punctuation?
Today’s memorial to the life and work of Michael Jackson had no shortage of heartrending moments. Many of them came during the speeches: Brooke Shields, Smokey Robinson, and especially young Paris Jackson all brought tears to my eyes.
But oh, that music. For me, the show’s emotional peak came when Jermaine Jackson (pictured) sang his late little brother’s favorite song, Charlie Chaplin’s “Smile.” How sad, and how beautiful, that one-gloved rendition was. And that’s not to shortchange the other heartfelt performances given by everyone from Mariah Carey to Stevie Wonder to Jennifer Hudson to John Mayer, who showed real class by playing a near-wordless version of “Human Nature.” No tribute concert could really do justice to Michael’s legacy, but today’s line-up came pretty close.
Which of today’s musical moments did you find most touching? Click through to the jump to vote on the full list of today’s performers, then let us know what you think in the comments section.
Welcome to Extended Play in which we review the albums we couldn't quite fit into the magazine, even when we used a crowbar (though, in retrospect, that was kind of dumb thing to try.) This week: a pair of releases masterminded by longtime R.E.M. associate Scott McCaughey.
Young Fresh Fellows I Think This Is Rock (Yep Roc)
The Minus 5 Killingsworth Country-rock (Yep Roc)
My mother was right! You wait ages for an album from R.E.M. "fifth member" Scott McCaughey and then two come along at once. Actually, she was only half correct. The singer-songwriter put out a CD just last year with Peter Buck and the Dream Syndicate's Steve Wynn under the name of The Baseball Project. But that hasn't stopped him releasing an album today from each of his two regular-ish bands, The Young Fresh Fellows and The Minus 5. The Fellows' I Think This Is was produced by Brit cult fave Robyn Hitchcock and muscular, psychedelically-inclined, retro-rockers like "Betty Let The Good Times Crawl" and "YOUR Mexican Restaurant" are nicely reminiscent of Hitchcock's band The Soft Boys. The Minus 5's Killingsworth is a more country-oriented set that boasts the talents of both Buck and Decemberists drummer John Moen. It is also features a number of quite beautiful and, at times, bleakly amusing laments. Opener "Dark Hand of Contagion" compares a well-planned wedding day to "a German occupation" while the collection's third track is the loveliest-sounding song called "The Disembowelers" you're ever likely to hear.
I Think This Is B- Download This: "Betty Let The Good Times Crawl"
Killingsworth B Download This: "Dark Hand of Contagion"
The influence exerted on the past sixty-plus years of pop culture by one Francis Albert Sinatra would be difficult to overestimate. So I'm sure iTunes had no trouble rounding up 13 contemporary artists to cover the late icon's work for His Way, Our Way, the compilation that went on sale exclusively through their service today. The roster of contributors runs a real gamut, from Nashville's John Rich ("One For My Baby (And One More For the Road)") to up-and-coming piano-rocker A Fine Frenzy ("The Things We Did Last Summer") to bluesy minimalists the Kills ("Willow Weep For Me").
And then there's Maroon 5. I'd be willing to wager that without Frank Sinatra we wouldn't have an Adam Levine, so it's appropriate that Levine's band opens His Way, Our Way with a typically smooth cover of "The Way You Look Tonight." For one week only starting today, the Music Mix will be the only place you can hear Maroon 5's spin on "The Way You Look Tonight" in full for free. Go ahead and give it a listen below, then let us know what you think — and if there are any other artists you'd like to see take on Ol' Blue Eyes' catalog.
UPDATE: Our free stream has ended. Maroon 5's "The Way You Look Tonight" is available (along with the rest of His Way, Our Way) at iTunes.
In this week’s issue of Entertainment Weekly actress and singer and Zooey Deschanel guides us through the choicer cuts fromthe soundtrack of her new romantic comedy (500) Days Of Summer. One song therewasn’t space to feature? A cover of the Smiths’ “Please, Please, Please LetMe Get What I Want” by She & Him, Deschanel's band withsinger-songwriter M. Ward. After the break, Deschanel talks about how the duocame to tackle the song and how things are progressing with their follow-up to lastyear’s debut album Volume One.
