Archive: July 2010 (1-10 of 116)

Jul 30 2010 02:20 PM ET

'A Very Potter Musical' star Darren Criss talks about his new EP and the future for Team StarKid

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Categories: Buzzworthy, Kids Do the Darndest Things, Music, Q&A, Stage, Things That Are Awesome

Darren-CrissIf you’ve never had the pleasure of watching the raucously funny spoof show A Very Potter Musical you may not have heard of Darren Criss, but take our word for it, the 24-year-old singer-songwriter has had a pretty wild year. Part of a theater company from the University of Michigan that call themselves Team StarKid, he became a web celeb last year when a recording of A Very Potter Musical (in which he plays Harry Potter) went viral. Since then, Criss has appeared on ABC’s Eastwick and written the music for another hugely successful StarKid show (Me And My Dick), and just last week he made his return as the boy who lived in A Very Potter Sequel, which has already garnered millions of views on YouTube. Now Criss, who composed all the music and lyrics for Sequel, has a new independently produced five-song EP out called Human, which debuted at No. 30 on Billboard‘s Heatseekers chart last week. (Also impressive is Team Starkid’s A Very StarKid Album, which debuted at No. 19 on the Top Compilations chart.) I met up with the multi-talented singer this week in New York City to talk about his new EP, his plans for StarKid, YouTube musicians, and (of course) Disney covers.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: How would you describe the sound of your music?
DARREN CRISS: Oh man, that’s tough. I have no idea–in fact, that’s been a problem for me, because I am kind of all over the place. If you know my musicals or anything, I’m a lover of genre…

And a lover of love songs.
And a lover of long songs, and a lover of many things. So because of that, I really don’t know. I’m still working on defining that, and that’s been a problem for me when I’m getting any kind of attention from labels. They’re like, “What’s your deal?” I’m like, “I don’t know. I like anything.” I like to say that we are of the iPod generation. We are the first generation that has so much accessibility and exposure to so many different things, and it isn’t so weird anymore to have on a playlist Beethoven, Tupac, Miley Cyrus, and Barbra Streisand. That’s not weird. Well, maybe a little weird.

Yeah, maybe a little weird. READ FULL STORY »

Jul 29 2010 06:15 PM ET

Sugarland's 'Incredible Machine': Jennifer Nettles talks new album, reggae breakdowns, and steampunk confusion

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Categories: Country, Y'all!, Sugarland, Things We Maybe Knew Already, Train Wrecks Averted

sugarlandImage Credit: Jennifer TzarWhen Sugarland announced their Incredible Machine tour this spring, Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush did a series of interviews in which they talked about their new “steampunk” aesthetic, leading many to believe that their similarly titled new album, The Incredible Machine (due Oct. 19) would share that artistic theme. This belief has caused much consternation among critics and fans alike, with endless speculation about how on earth all that creaky Victorian-era steam engine machinery would influence the sound of one of country’s sunniest acts. Further investigation, however — and by “investigation” I mean “listening to the five new songs Sugarland has debuted live or on radio so far” — would seem to indicate that this speculation is unfounded, or at least based on bad intel.

And now, straight from the horse’s mouth, we have proof that in fact Sugarland has not recorded the musical equivalent of that awful Will Smith/Kevin Kline movie Wild Wild West: “I find it oddly interesting that people made a jump from a visual aesthetic to think that’s musically what’s gonna happen,” Jennifer Nettles told EW this morning. “But I think that’s really our fault for the way that we explained it, to be honest. It has everything to do with the visual. We wanted another world on stage. We wanted something fun, a visual aesthetic to be inspired by. We chose that one. It has nothing to do with the music. I definitely put the brunt of that on our shoulders for anyone who didn’t understand that.” READ FULL STORY »

Jul 29 2010 05:02 PM ET

Kanye West already has the funniest Twitter feed of all time

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Categories: Kanye West, Rock Stars Say the Darndest Things, Things That Are Awesome

In the day since Kanye West joined Twitter, he’s already become arguably the site’s single funniest user. I’m not even kidding. Take the update he posted earlier this afternoon, just one of dozens so far: “I think Twitter was designed specifically with me in mind just my humble opinion hahhhahaaaahaaa humble hahahahhahaahaaaa.” Exactly. His context-free one-liners are Twitter at its best.

Kanye’s most fascinating tweets document the expensive objects around him. He spent a decent stretch of yesterday afternoon cracking wise about an allegedly tiny jet. Today he’s been posting photos of various regal housewares with deadpan captions. “I hate half empty water bottles so I copped these #goblets to drink out of.” “I copped this to eat cereal out of turning the crib real Kingish.” “I’m just saying… what’s your credenza game…#DON’TTALKTOME!!!” My favorite of this subgenre of Kanye tweets is the one pictured at the top of this post. “I specifically ordered persian rugs with cherub imagery!!! What do I have to do to get a simple persian rug with cherub imagery uuuuugh.”

Did he even buy any of that stuff, or is it part of the joke? Does it matter? He’s playing with the audience’s perception of him as a wealthy egomaniac while simultaneously being just that. Bragging about himself and satirizing himself, at the same time, all the time, like some sort of Schröedinger’s Rapper. When his pal Aziz Ansari started a gently mocking “#PredictingKanyeTweets” hashtag, Kanye just…retweeted him. You can’t laugh at him for being narcissistic, because he’s already right there laughing at himself. I think. READ FULL STORY »

Jul 28 2010 09:35 PM ET

Paul McCartney 'In Performance at the White House': An all-star presidential rock show

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Categories: Paul McCartney, Rock n' Roll Politics

Obama-Paul-MccarteneyImage Credit: Samantha Appleton/White House/PBS“I’ve done a lot of things in my life, but never this,” Paul McCartney said on PBS tonight. “This” was traveling to the White House, which he did last month to accept the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song. A properly all-star concert was convened to befit the occasion, and while bits and pieces of the event have leaked out on YouTube since then, tonight the whole thing (or most of it) aired as part of PBS’ “In Performance at the White House” series.

The show opened with some stirring words from President Obama. “It’s hard to believe that it’s been nearly half a century since four lads from Liverpool landed on our shores and changed everything overnight,” he reflected. Then it was time for a cavalcade of stars old and young to pay homage to the voluminous back catalog that earned McCartney this honor. READ FULL STORY »

Jul 28 2010 07:15 PM ET

Jaron of country breakouts Jaron and the Long Road to Love talks Toby Keith, Oprah, and his own pop past: A Music Mix Q&A

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Categories: Country, Y'all!, Q&A

Jaron-LowensteinImage Credit: Jason Merritt/Getty ImagesOnce upon a time (let’s say, oh, the year 2000), Beyonce was but one of Destiny’s Children, Bill Clinton still parked his cigars in the Oval Office, and identical twin duo Evan and Jaron had a top-twenty hit with the Dawson’s Creek standby “Crazy for This Girl.”

A decade later, Jaron is on his own and—surprise!—the Georgia-born former pop star has found his inner cowboy, successfully: His single “Pray for You,” as Jaron and the Long Road to Love, has become a top-twenty Billboard Country hit, and helped land him a spot on Toby Keith’s American Ride tour this summer. He’s no longer performing with brother Evan, and he doesn’t consider himself a fit for mainstream radio today. He still, however, has excellent, shiny teeth.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: So Jaron, I was looking through our archives and I found this interview from 2001, with you and your brother…
JARON: It was really smart-assy, right? I’m 36 now, but it’s sort of funny–if you read the answers when I was 26, there’s no exuse, I was still acting 14. There’s no defense.

We’ve seen a lot of pop stars successfully–and not so successfully–cross over to country music: Hootie, who of course now is just known as Darius Rucker, Jewel, Jessica Simpson…
Bon Jovi and Kid Rock have done really well too, and even Uncle Kracker’s got a top ten country song. It’s not what you think. I think people are still confused by what’s happening, but the reality is that if you ask Kid Rock or Darius Rucker, you ask any of these guys, they’ll tell you the same thing: country went pop, we didn’t go country. I don’t think Jewel wakes up in the morning and just goes “I want to make a country record.” We set out to make music and find an audience, we just need an audience that appreciates us and connects with us. All those Vertical Horizons, Lisa Loebs and Semisonics, when pop radio became rhythmic and hip-hop they had nowhere to go, and country was the closest thing. If you listen to a Keith Urban or Lady Antebellum song, those are straight-up pop songs. There’s that whole wink-wink “I’ll throw a banjo or a mandolin in” thing, but it’s pop. READ FULL STORY »

Jul 28 2010 03:16 PM ET

Ozzfest wedding packages: Would you enter into matrimony at a metal festival?

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Categories: Metal, Music, Ozzy Osbourne, Things That Are Strange, Tours

ozzfest-weddingImage Credit: Tommaso Boddi/PR Photos; Stockbyte/Getty ImagesOzzfest organizers announced today that fans can now buy “Unholy Matrimony” wedding packages which will allow couples to tie the knot at the heavy metal festival, whose lineup this year includes Ozzy Osbourne, Mötley Crüe, Rob Halford, Drowning Pool, and Goatwhore.

“As with other wedding packages, the one-stop Unholy Matrimony Packages provides just about everything the happy couple will need…except a marriage license,” explains the press release.  “Each special package includes a variety of items to mark the special day and 10 general admission pit tickets for the bride & groom and 8 guests; an official Ozzfest wedding ceremony by ordained minister, Ozzfest’s MC Big Dave; an Ozzfest cake and champagne toast.”

Frankly, it seems a bit of a rip that couples won’t be married by Ozzy himself—though I guess his legendary issues with diction might present a problem were he to officiate.

Anyone out there want to get married at Ozzfest? Would it seem like a better or a worse idea if Goatwhore agreed to play the reception?

(Follow the Music Mix on Twitter: @EWMusicMix.)

More from EW.com’s Music Mix:
Michael Jackson: Rodney Jerkins working on unreleased material
Kanye West joins Twitter
The Cars to reform (maybe)
Eminem tops the albums chart for a fifth week
Kanye West previews new songs at Facebook headquarters

Jul 28 2010 02:18 PM ET

Michael Jackson: Rodney Jerkins working on the late legend's unreleased material

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Categories: In Memoriam, Michael Jackson

Michael-Jackson-2001Image Credit: Kevin Mazur/WireImage.comWork on the wealth of unreleased music that Michael Jackson left behind is ongoing, according to producer Rodney “Darkchild” Jerkins. In an online interview noted by MTV News, Jerkins said he hopes to help bring some of that material to the public. “I’m about to work on an unreleased project that we’re talking about doing right now,” he told VladTV. “It’s definitely going to come, but it takes time… There’s definitely going to be stuff to come and hopefully I’ll be a part of that.”

Jerkins worked extensively on Jackson’s underrated 2001 album, Invincible. Are you glad to hear he’ll have access to some of the music in Jackson’s vault? How eager are you to hear finished versions of those legendary unreleased tapes?

(Follow the Music Mix on Twitter: @EWMusicMix.)

More from EW.com’s Music Mix:
The Cars to reform (maybe)
Eminem tops the albums chart for a fifth week
Kanye West previews new songs at Facebook headquarters

Jul 28 2010 01:48 PM ET

Kanye West joins Twitter

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Categories: Hip-Hop/Rap, Kanye West

Kanye West is now @kanyewest. The rapper’s social media roll-out continued today with a brand new verified Twitter account, just a day after his surprise performance at Facebook’s corporate office.

In his first-ever tweet, Kanye said he was “Up early in the morning taking meetings in Silicone Valley.” A few minutes later, he added, “Lol I spelled Silicon wrong ( I guess I was still thinking about the other type of silicone ITS A PROCESS!! : )” Then, just a few minutes ago, came some more interesting information: “The album is no longer called Good Ass Job I’m bouncing a couple of titles around now.”

Surely all this online activity means that we’re about to learn even more about that mysterious new album of his. West’s days of laying low are definitely over. So far he has 16,000 followers and counting. Are you one of them? What do you think he should call his album?

Also: Kanye West already has the funniest Twitter feed of all time

(Follow the Music Mix on Twitter: @EWMusicMix.)

More from EW.com’s Music Mix:
The Cars to reform (maybe)
Eminem tops the albums chart for a fifth week
Kanye West previews new songs at Facebook headquarters
Wyclef Jean running for president of Haiti?
M.I.A. promises free make-up show after Hard NYC

Jul 28 2010 01:11 PM ET

The Cars to reform (maybe): If they do get back together, will you see them?

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Categories: Music, Reunions

the-carsImage Credit: Everett CollectionThe Cars have prompted speculation that they are set to reunite by posting a photograph of the band rehearsing on their official Facebook page. The legendary pop-rockers enjoyed a string of hits in the ’70s and ’80s—including “Let’s Go,” “Shake It Up,” and “Drive”—but split after their 1987 album, Door to Door.

The photograph shows Ric Ocasek and Elliot Easton with guitars, David Robinson behind the drums, and keyboardist Greg Hawkes standing in on bass for Benjamin Orr, who sang many of the band’s best-loved tunes and died from pancreatic cancer in 2000.

According to the Boston Globe, Greg Hawkes has acknowledged the photo does show a band rehearsal, but he was coy on the subject of a Cars reunion. “I hate to be vague, but I really can’t say,” said Hawkes. “It’s a crazy world.” Ocasek’s spokesperson was unavailable for comment.

Would you go and see The Cars if they reformed? And what song would you most want them to play? I’ve embedded some vintage clips after the jump to help jog your memory.

READ FULL STORY »

Jul 28 2010 01:00 PM ET

Soul singer Al Goodman dies at 67

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Categories: In Memoriam, R&B

Al-GoodmanImage Credit: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty ImagesBaritone soul singer Al Goodman died July 26, CNN reports. He was 67 years old and passed away due to heart failure during surgery on a tumor.

Goodman was originally part of The Moments, an R&B group whose hits included 1970′s “Love on a Two Way Street,” later sampled on Jay-Z’s “Empire State of Mind.” The Moments later evolved into a trio called Ray, Goodman, and Brown. They scored a No. 1 smash with 1980′s “Special Lady.” You can hear both tunes after the jump.

The Music Mix sends its condolences to Al Goodman’s friends, family, and fans.

UPDATE: Due to a captioning error, this post originally pictured Al Goodman’s late bandmate Harry Ray. We sincerely apologize for this mistake.

READ FULL STORY »

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