He’s been covered by artists like R.E.M. the Smashing Pumpkins, and Madonna (no, really), and recorded with everyone from Widespread Panic to Fugazi’s Guy Picciotto.
Now, Georgia-born singer-songwriter Vic Chesnutt has teamed up again with Picciotto, plus members of Canadian art-rock collective God Speed You Black Emperor and producer Howard Bilerman (formerly of Arcade Fire) for his new album, At the Cut, out tomorrow on Constellation Records.
Watch the exclusive video for the beautifully bleak ballad “Chain,” below:
You didn’t think I’d forgotten about that 12″ single that Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke dropped on schedule this morning, did you? Heaven forbid. No, I’ve been listening to the single’s two tracks — “Feeling Pulled Apart by Horses” (now with proper spacing!) and “The Hollow Earth,” both new, neither having anything to do with Yorke’s contribution to New Moon — since shortly after they leaked over the weekend. It’s just taken me a few days to decide how I feel about them.
On the heels of last week’s full-trailer preview at the VMAs, a brief clip from the upcoming Michael Jackson concert doc This Is It recently hit YouTube. Watch the late superstar perform a snippet of his Thriller classic “Human Nature,” below:
Besides being painfully thin, the King of Pop looks and sounds surprisingly on-point in the footage — which is, clearly, a run-through rehearsal, and not meant to showcase a full-on performance of the song.
What do you think, readers — does it bode well for the movie (which will premiere simultaneously at 25 spots across the globe on October 27, before going wide for a two-week limited run the next day), and the live show that might have been?
Among those surprises: Hurricane Bells who? (This seems to be a side project of Longwave frontman Steve Schiltz; as of this writing, the most-played song on their MySpace has been listened to 319 times. It’s not bad!) I’m not sure OK Go‘s name came up during the endless New Moon soundtrack anticipation cycle, either.
For this jaded music critic, however, the biggest news is that Radiohead’s Thom Yorke is indeed contributing a new song, as previously reported — and it’s neither of the two new solo songs that he released today. Instead it’s something called “Hearing Damage.” Huh! Can’t wait to hear that one, damage or no. Ditto for Grizzly Bear’s brand-new “Slow Life,” naturally, as well as the Bon Iver/St. Vincent collab. I’ve gotta say, with those last few artists in particular, this is sounding like a compilation that I might be tempted to pick up regardless of my feelings toward the Twilight franchise. (For the record: I thought the first movie was ridiculous but fun. The trailers for New Moon, however, have kinda lost me with the budget-CGI werewolves. I’ll probably see it anyway.)
See the full track listing after the jump, courtesy of Twilight series author Stephenie Meyer’s official website, and stream the official first single, Death Cab for Cutie’s “Meet Me on the Equinox,” below. Then let us know: What do you think of this lineup? Is it everything you’d hoped it would be and more? What’s missing?
Among the legion of artists who passed away this summer, who spurred you to belated remembrance? For me, it was the punk poet Jim Carroll, who died on the anniversary of 9/11: Sadly, I hardly knew him. Sure, he was the author of the growing-up-rough memoir The Basketball Diaries, a.k.a. the pre-Titanic big-screen showcase for Leo DiCaprio. And that song “People Who Died”: arguably one of the hardest-rocking requiems ever written, with a jabbing repetitive chorus that still burns in the brain some 30 years on. (One can only imagine it being attempted in front of Simon and Ellen on American Idol – or in a neighborhood karaoke bar.) But what of the rest of his musical output? How does it hold up three decades out?
The pickings are sparse: A search at New York’s fabled record mecca Other Music turned up nada. Online, the offerings consisted of the Jim Carroll Band’s 1980 debut, Catholic Boy, and a 2000 solo EP, Runaway. Judging by the former, though, Carroll was far more than a one-trick pony. Catholic Boy arguably lacks the bare-bones hookiness of the Ramones at their zenith, the melodic grandeur of Television, or the arty experimentalism of Talking Heads. Yet it boasts a clutch of pop-punk standouts in addition to “People Who Died.” From the druggy tormented howl of “Wicked Gravity” to the soul-searing confessional of the title track, the poet rocks with the ferocity of Iggy and the lyrical chops of Patti Smith. (To my mind, Carroll’s verbal dexterity is best appreciated on the printed or Web page. His tendency to speed up and spit out words in a half-intelligible snarl beneath layers of guitar squall can obscure tossed-off shout-outs to Raymond Chandler and Aimee Semple McPherson – or nail-on-the-head imagery, like “She cleans her skin with a krypton laser,” from “Nothing Is True.”) In perhaps the most indelible track, “Day and Night,” Carroll tamps down the sonic onslaught for a brooding midtempo ballad of romantic yearning. And on “City Drops Into the Night,” a saxophone intro punctuates the song’s urban noir into piquant reverie. Catholic Boy may not be the “last great punk album,” as some have hailed it (that leaves out X’s Wild Gift and the neo-punk flowering of the ‘90s), but it packs an undeniable kick.
Compared with the sweep of Catholic Boy, Runaway is almost a throwaway. Besides the title track, a jarringly spooky take on the Del Shannon chestnut, it offers just one new song: “Hairshirt Fracture,” whose pulsing synths undergird a near-dirge of nihilistic world-weariness (“I’ve said all I can, I’ve reached the end”). Those eerily prophetic words may have to serve as a musical coda to Carroll’s on-and-off career, until some enterprising record label issues a retrospective — or reissues A World Without Gravity: The Best of the Jim Carroll Band. Also worth checking out: Carroll’s collaborations with latter-day punk outfit Rancid, such as his spoken-word rap on 1995’s “Junkie Man,” from Out Come the Wolves. Not to mention his nonmusical epitaph “8 Fragments for Kurt Cobain.”
Sound off, punk-loving Music Mixers. Where would you rank the Jim Carroll Band between the Class of ’77 and their no-wave and alt-rock successors? How does its rough-hewn sound stack up against today’s more polished punk bands, like Green Day and Paramore? And does Catholic Boy have the blunt-force impact of the Diaries?
You may know Nashville-born singer-songwriter Landon Pigg best for his songs’ multiple appearances on TV shows (Grey’s Anatomy, One Tree Hill) and in commercials (the ubiquitous acoustic ballad “Falling in Love at a Coffee Shop,” featured in ads for both deBeers diamonds and AT&T).
Now, the 26-year-old has a double-whammy week coming up: A new album, The Boy Who Never, due September 29, and his first film role, as the object of Juno star Ellen Page’s affection in the Drew Barrymore-directed roller-derby epic Whip It!, coming to theaters three days later, on October 2.
Stream “Blue Skies,” a track from Never, below (skates optional):
I already weighed in last week on the 23-second snippet of Kris Allen’s “Live Like We’re Dying.” (Okay, actually, that byline should’ve gone to the 12-year-old schoolgirl who lives inside my iPod.) But in all seriousness, the full version of debut single from the American Idol season 8 champ premiered this morning on Z100, and I’ll just say the additional 181 seconds now available for consumption only make the track sound more like a future smash hit to me. (Side note: I scored a pretty nifty interview with Pocket Idol from the Z100 hallway that will be included in the world premiere of the most important new show on the internet, Réalité, coming Friday to EW.com! Cheers, benches!)
As current radio fodder goes, “Live Like We’re Dying” is downright verbose — packing in some sweet, new-age-y sentiments about existing in the moment, living without regret, and saying “I love you” early and often to the people in our lives — but what could’ve come off this side of hokey winds up as winningly inspirational thanks to the conviction in Kris’ vocals. And in an world of top 10 hits like “Birthday Sex” and “Party in the U.S.A.,” it’s kind of refreshing to get a little lyrical nourishment. I’m particularly in love with the way Kris delivers the sing-speak breakdown at 2:30: “You never know a good thing till it’s gone/ You never see a crash till it’s head on/ Or why we think we’re right when we’re dead wrong/ You never know a good thing till it’s gone.” And as I noted last week, the “we’ve only got 86 400 seconds in a day…” chorus is 1-800-Too-Catchy. It’s enough to make you want to go forth, create your own personal bucket list, and schedule an appointment to swim with the dolphins! (Seriously, I need to make that happen.) Or at least it’s enough to make you want to head to iTunes and download this puppy the second it’s available, no?
What do you think of the full-length version of “Live Like We’re Dying”? Do you have any issue with the fact that it’s an obscure cover of a track originally recorded by The Script? Can Kris be the next Daughtry/Underwood/Clarkson-size success from the Idol franchise? Or will he be more David Cook/Jordin Sparks/Fantasia level? Or (gasp, no!) will he get the same tepid commercial response as Diana DeGarmo and Katharine McPhee? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below, and follow me on Twitter @EWMichaelSlezak for all my Idol-related snacks!
Three years ago, Leona Lewis won Simon Cowell’s The X Factor, Britain’s version of American Idol. She wasted no time delivering on that promise—less than a year later, “Bleeding Love” became a transatlantic number-one smash and one of the most ubiquitous songs of the year. She sat down with EW to talk about singing with Cyndi Lauper at Thursday’s VH1 Divasconcert, her new single“Happy,” and the cuddly side of Simon Cowell.
Entertainment Weekly: The VH1 Divas thing was last night, how did that go?
Leona Lewis: It was good, it went really well. I did a duet with Cyndi Lauper, which was really cool, we sang “True Colors” and then I performed my single “Happy,” so I had a good time.
EW: Which Lauper do you prefer—the wild new-wave songs or the more ballad-y stuff?
LL: I like her ballads, of course, “Time After Time” just like everyone likes, and “True Colors,” it’s so outstanding. She was telling me about what she wrote it about: It was when her friend died and they didn’t know what he had died of, and it was just a really emotional time for her and you can really hear that in the song. For me that’s what it’s about—it’s about conveying that real, raw emotion and you really hear that in her songs and through her voice.
EW: How does it feel to be performing with people you look up to? Do they feel like peers to you or does part of you still think, “God, these people are so famous”?
Pearl Jam’s ninth studio album, Backspacer, doesn’t officially bow until next Tuesday, but MySpace is streaming the record in full beginning today; head to www.myspace.com/tenclub to hear it all.
In the meantime, what do you think of the band’s new Target commercial? Strange to see the ultimate Davids aligned with a corporate Goliath, or is the more alt-friendly Bullseye distinct from other big-box retailers?
EW’s Music Mix is searching for the Greatest Guilty Pleasure Musical Act of All Time. With four seeded contestants remaining (see all the matchups), this tournament is continuing to change hearts, minds, and lives, as well as make some people remarkably agitated! Read/listen to the following, and then cast your vote in the poll after the jump; reader comments will be used from here on out, so we encourage you to also post a comment explaining why you chose the way you did. Note: In case of a tie, please select the artist you feel more ashamed to adore.
This is the final matchup of the Final Four. Polls will stay open through the weekend.
You may know Nashville-born singer-songwriter Landon Pigg best for his songs’ multiple appearances on TV shows (Grey’s Anatomy, One Tree Hill) and in commercials (the ubiquitous acoustic ballad 
Three years ago, 
