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Archive: April 2010 (31-40 of 139)

Apr 26 2010 08:57 AM ET

Tokyo Police Club, 'Wait Up (Boots of Danger)': A Music Mix exclusive stream

Categories: An EW Exclusive!, Buzzworthy, Indie Rock, New Stuff

Tokyo-Police-Club Image Credit: Chrissy PiperFresh off their second Coachella appearance, the spiky, propulsive rock quartet Tokyo Police Club will release their second full-length, Champ, on June 8.

They are, of course, neither Japanese nor officers of the law (though they may have a clubhouse?). Either way, EW has been unduly fond of these four young Canadians since they were knee-high to a subwoofer’s eye, and we’re happy to debut “Wait Up (Boots of Danger),” one of the first tastes of Champ:

Apr 26 2010 08:33 AM ET

Justin Bieber appearance leads to 'hysteria,' injury in Australia

by Simon Vozick-Levinson

Categories: Justin Bieber

Image Credit: George Pimentel/WireImage.comBiebermania has officially circled the globe. According to reports noted by Access Hollywood, chaos and injuries resulted when Justin Bieber was forced to cancel a televised appearance this morning in Sydney, Australia. Local newspapers reported that the singer’s planned gig was scrapped due to an “unruly crowd.” Few things make a crowd unrulier than scotching the event they’ve come to see, so this reportedly led to a 2 A.M. “crowd surge” and several unspecified injuries, including “at least 10 girls cared for by paramedics following fainting spells.” Bieber watchers may recall a similar incident that took place at a Long Island mall last November.

Bieber seems to have placated his fans this time with a brief one-song performance after moving inside from where the gig would have taken place. You can watch him sing “Baby” and banter awkwardly with Australian TV hosts after the jump. ”Well, I guess the police say that you guys have to go home,” Bieber tells everyone outside the studio following the song. “I mean, I’d love for you to stay and hang out, but we gotta go. So, talk to you guys later.”

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Apr 25 2010 03:00 PM ET

'Glee' Exclusive: Details on the elaborate new tour!

by Tim Stack

Categories: An EW Exclusive!, EW Exclusives, Glee, New Stuff, Soundtracks, Stage, Television, Things That Are Awesome, Tours, TV Shows & Movies

We’re less than a month away from the start of the new Glee concert tour, set to begin May 15 in Phoenix, AZ, but EW.com has uncovered some exclusive details for you Gleeks who just can’t wait. “We’re gonna do between 15 and 18 numbers,” explains Glee creator Ryan Murphy, who’s also producing and directing the concert. “We made a decision to do our biggest hits because that’s what fans want to see. It’s a concert tour but it also has a story in it.” Staying true to the series, the plot will focus on the kids of New Directions and their rivalry with glee club all-stars, Vocal Adrenaline.

Production on the series’ first season wraps Monday and then the cast will go into heavy rehearsals for the tour, which Murphy promises will be visually spectacular thanks to a set designed by Lady Gaga’s set designer. Says Murphy, “It’s a huge stage. We’ve got multimedia. It’s really big. Fox believes in it so much that they’ve hired the best people. It’s not about going out and selling out a lot of dates and making a lot of money. In fact, we won’t make any money with this first tour because we’ve put so much money into the set design. It’s really just a great thank you to our fans.”

Will you be checking out the Glee tour, Music Mix-ers? What Glee songs do you want to see performed live?

(Follow the Music Mix on Twitter @EWMusicMix.)

Apr 23 2010 04:28 PM ET

'Glee' creator Ryan Murphy on an all-Britney Spears episode: 'I'm interested'

by Tim Stack

Categories: An EW Exclusive!, Billy Joel, Britney Spears, Courtney Love, Glee, Madonna, Music Biz, New Stuff, Soundtracks, Television, Things That Are Awesome, TV Shows & Movies

Good news for Britney Spears and Glee fans: series creator Ryan Murphy tells EW that an all-Britney episode of the hit Fox musical, an idea floated by Spears’ manager via twitter on April 21 after Tuesday’s all-Madonna Glee, is actually being considered. Says Murphy, “I’m interested in the Britney Spears idea. I’ve always loved her. I’m entertaining it. I think young kids would like that.” Murphy also says that he’s contemplating doing similar hour tributes to Billy Joel, Led Zeppelin, and, even, Courtney Love! “I actually ran into Courtney Love the other day and talked to her,” says Murphy. “She’s interested. I would love to have the kids do a Courtney Love episode one day.” But he stresses that with all of these artists it really all comes down to the music and how it fits in the Glee universe. “The key is the songs in the catalogue have to have a certain degree of theatricality,” says Murphy.

With the “Power of Madonna” soundtrack set to debut at #1 next week and dominating the iTunes download charts, Murphy says Madonna has been more than pleased with their treatment of her tunes. “She said how much she loved the episode,” he admits. “She thought it was brilliant and she’s so pleased. Her daughter got to watch it with her and loved it. [Madonna's] a smart cookie. I mean that introduced her music to an entire new generation.”

(Follow the Music Mix on Twitter @EWMusicMix.)

Photo Credit: Carin Baer/Fox; Spears: Mark Liddell

Apr 23 2010 12:16 PM ET

The-Dream brings love and lust to New York City

by Brad Wete

Categories: About Last Night, Concert Reviews, R&B, The Dream

Image Credit: Walik Goshorn / Retna Ltd.Last night at New York City’s Highline Ballroom, The-Dream didn’t hit the stage until 12:20am. Late, but rightfully so. The Atlanta singer-songwriter-producer’s hits are best suited for after-dark activities. They’re aggressive love ballads: Some about making a woman squeal in bed, others about stealing another man’s girl to eventually take her home and achieve the former.

Dream, born Terius Nash, hit the stage accompanied by six dancers—all slender, hour-glass-figured women dressed in black lace bodysuits and blazers. Wearing a silver and black varsity jacket, sunglasses, and fitted Atlanta Braves cap, Dream kicked off the show with his latest single, “Love King.” As a live performer, he’s not much of a singer. He coolly masked his light, airy tone by singing along with his own vocals as they blared through the speakers, halfway lip-syncing. READ FULL STORY »

Apr 23 2010 11:04 AM ET

Green Day thrills Broadway crowd with surprise 'American Idiot' set

by Simon Vozick-Levinson

Categories: Green Day

Image Credit: Walter McBride / Retna Ltd.The cast and house band of the new American Idiot musical are doing their best to approximate the full Green Day experience for Broadway audiences every night. As last night’s show-goers learned, though, nothing beats the real thing. An EW staffer who was in attendance reports that after the final curtain call, all three actual members of Green Day climbed out of their seats in the audience and took the stage for a quick surprise set of “American Idiot” and “Basket Case.” The cast members were as psyched as anyone — one actor even stage-dived into a little crowd surfing. Sounds pretty fun.

Check out a brief, grainy YouTube clip of the excitement after the jump. Were any of you there for this? Does the (admittedly slight) possibility that Green Day might pull something like this again make you want to buy a ticket to American Idiot on Broadway?

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Apr 22 2010 02:15 PM ET

'Gossip Girl' star Taylor Momsen talks her debut single, upcoming album, and why she doesn't like pants

by Tim Stack

Categories: New Stuff, Taylor Momsen, Television, TV Shows & Movies

Actress Taylor Momsen is best known to audiences as Gossip Girl‘s rebellious Jenny Humphrey. But the 16-year-old is hoping that soon people will also see her as a rock star. Momsen and her band, the Pretty Reckless, are set to drop their debut album this summer and have recently released their first single, “Make Me Wanna Die,” which is on the Kick-Ass soundtrack. EW chatted with Momsen about this new career path.

EW: Your band, the Pretty Reckless, has a song (“Make Me Wanna Die”) on the Kick-Ass soundtrack.

Taylor Momsen: It’s a tragic love song. It’s Romeo and Juliet—can’t live without your lover so you die. It’s the Pretty Reckless’ first single. We just shot a video for it, but I don’t wanna say too much. It fits the song. It’s very dark.

EW: How’s the album progressing?

TM: It’s coming out this summer. We wrote it as a record, so every song is part of a bigger thing. I don’t know—I just want people to hear it!

EW: Who would you say is your biggest musical inspiration?

TM: The Beatles did everything first, and they did it the best.

EW: You’re often compared to Courtney Love.

TM: I don’t wanna be Courtney Love—I wanna be Kurt Cobain. READ FULL STORY »

Apr 22 2010 01:56 PM ET

Britney Spears (or at least her manager) wants an all-Brit episode of 'Glee.' Do you?

by Whitney Pastorek

Categories: Britney Spears, Divas!, Glee, Television

Image Credit: Patrick Ecclesine/Fox; Kevin Mazur/WireImageBritney Spears’s manager, Adam Leber, was tweetering away last night, trying to rustle up enthusiasm for an all-Britney episode of Glee. “Do you guys want to see a Britney Spears episode of GLEE? Thoughts?” he wrote. Then he went straight for Twitter’s big money, the trending topic: “#BritneySpearsGLEE” Then he moved on to discussing her kids eating mashed potatoes, which is neither here nor there.

After this week’s Madonna-centric episode of everyone’s favorite weekly songfest, are you ready to see more stars get their own hour-long jukebox musical? What Spears songs should the cast tackle? (Sue Sylvester singing “Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman,” anyone?) And what other artists deserve a spotlight episode?

(Follow the Music Mix on Twitter @EWMusicMix.)

Apr 22 2010 01:27 PM ET

B.o.B is No.1 on Billboard's Hot 100, Usher and Ke$ha chase behind

by Brad Wete

Categories: B.O.B., Charts, Country, Y'all!, Hip-Hop/Rap, Ke$ha, Lady Antebellum, Ludacris, R&B, Rihanna, Taio Cruz, Train, Usher

As reported yesterday, B.o.B‘s “Nothin’ On You” is Billboard‘s Hot 100 No. 1. The track, which features Bruno Mars, takes Rihanna’s “Rude Boy” spot. (That song now moves to No. 2.) Train’s “Hey, Soul Sister” and Taio Cruz’s “Break Your Heart” both remain at No. 3 and No. 4, respectively. Usher’s “OMG,” featuring will.i.am is still climbing after leaping into the top 10 last week. This week it’s at No. 8. And Ke$ha’s “Your Love Is My Drug” climbs up from No. 19 to No. 9. It’s the third top 10 song from her debut album, Animal. Ke$ha’s first single, “TiK ToK,” was No. 1 for nine weeks, and her second single, “Blah Blah Blah,” made it to No. 7.

Elsewhere, B.o.B’s new single “Airplanes,” featuring Hayley Williams of Paramore, debuts at No. 12. Ludacris’ “My Chick Bad” moves up from No. 16 to No. 13. And making its return to the top 20, Drake’s “Over” slides back into No. 20 from No. 22.

Happy B.o.B made it to No. 1? Do you think Usher will replace him soon? Let us know below.

(Follow the Music Mix on Twitter @EWMusicMix.)

Apr 22 2010 12:43 PM ET

The Roots enlist Joanna Newsom, John Legend, Jim James for new album

by Simon Vozick-Levinson

Categories: Hip-Hop/Rap, Joanna Newsom, John Legend, Monsters of Folk, My Morning Jacket, Strange Bedfellows, The Roots, Things That Are Awesome

Image Credit: Bryan Bedder/Getty Images;Annabel MehranHere’s your random yet awesome music news of the day: A rep for the Roots confirms exclusively to the Music Mix that Joanna Newsom, John Legend, and My Morning Jacket/Monsters of Folk’s Jim James will all appear on the Roots’ upcoming album How I Got Over.

It’s been ten months since the Roots debuted that album’s excellent title track on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, and the rest of the record has yet to appear. That’s okay — we fans are willing to wait, and we all know the Roots are busy with their day late night job. Still, the delay has made me, for one, desperate for any new information about How I Got Over. Last night, Roots drummer ?uestlove dropped just such a tantalizing crumb on Twitter: “yes indeed we are working hard on #HOWIGOTOVER (first look) mixing the Joanna Newsome Jawn.” Could that possibly mean what I thought it meant? Yep! Now we know it’s true: The brilliant indie harpist and the baddest hip-hop band in the land will be together on wax at last.

This combination is as cool as it is unexpected. Just imagine the possibilities: Newsom could sing a hook like no other, sure. Or she could pluck out a counter-melody to Captain Kirk’s guitar and Tuba Gooding Jr.’s Sousaphone on her harp. Or maybe, just maybe, she could get a verse to herself, or trade lines with Black Thought “Double Trouble”-style. After all, Newsom’s complex rhyme schemes often feel closer to hip-hop than anything in typical indie rock. (UPDATE: The Roots’ camp clarifies that the song in question samples one of Newsom’s old songs — from this in-studio teaser clip ?uesto just posted, it sounds like 2004′s “The Book of Right-On” — but that Newsom has also recorded new vocal over-dubs for this track.)

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