In just a couple of weeks, Miniature Tigers will release their all-around enjoyable sophomore LP, Fortress. Perhaps you’ve already heard the indie foursome’s lead single, “Gold Skull,” which recently earned a spot on EW’s 10 Hot Songs of Summer playlist. Today we’re proud to premiere another Fortress jam, “Mansion of Misery,” right here on the Music Mix. Consider it as a little something extra to tide you over ’til the album’s July 27 release.
Apparently the song’s twisty, turny, kitchen-sink instrumentation was influenced by a late-night viewing of The Shining in the converted upstate N.Y. church where Miniature Tigers recorded Fortress. “That movie put us in a weird headspace, so we decided to go nuts on ‘Mansion of Misery,’” reveals frontman Charlie Brand in a press release. Spooky inspirations aside, it’s all in the service of an extremely hummable sunshine-pop melody. We predict this tune will leave you in a very pleasant headspace indeed.
Check out “Mansion of Misery” after the jump and let us know what you think. If you like it, you can preorder the album online.
Image Credit: Matthias Clamer/Fox; Fred GreissingGlee‘s Amber Riley will kick off this year’s Major League Baseball All-Star Game in Anaheim, Calif. tomorrow, the Associated Press reports. Riley, who plays Mercedes Jones on the hit show, will sing several songs including the national anthem before the game begins. That’s not the only musical entertainment on hand. Colbie Caillat will also be there to sing a no doubt mellow version of “God Bless America” during the seventh inning stretch. And the Canadian Tenors will sing “O Canada” before the game, if that’s your thing.
Will you be watching the All-Star Game, or attending in person? Which musical performance are you most looking forward to?
Despite my best efforts, it was awfully hard to walk into Lilith Fair on Saturday with an open mind. I was initially jazzed for this summer’s return of the “celebration of women in music,” but then the underwhelming day-to-day lineups got announced and the show dates started to get cancelled and some big-ticket artists decided to drop out, and by the time Lilith rolled into Irvine, Calif.’s Verizon Wireless Amphitheater, it felt a little bit like attending the funeral of something that wasn’t quite dead. But festival co-founder Terry McBride asked us critics to check out Lilith for ourselves, and “then see if you want to criticize it afterwards.” So off to Irvine I went, through the Lilith looking glass on a beautiful, sunny, SoCal day. What did I find there, between sets from Sarah McLachlan, Miranda Lambert, local fave Jenni Rivera, Emmylou Harris, Brandi Carlile, and ever so many more? Hmm. You mean besides the free tampons?
Image Credit: Scott Gries/Picture Group/MTVA Jersey boy cannot live on GTL alone. Paul DelVecchio, a.k.a. DJ Pauly D, the man with perhaps the most architecturally impressive coif in all of Shore-dom, will graduate from standing behind the decks to, quite possibly, taking his own place on the pop charts with the July 20 release of the inaugural Jersey Shore soundtrack, featuring his first official foray into creating juicehead jams for the masses.
EW spoke to Pauly (Mr. D?) to find out, in his own words, how the magic happens. Read on:
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: So tell me about your contribution to the soundtrack.
PAULY D: I have a bonus track that’s gonna be on there, and it’s entitled “Beat That Beat.” It sorta sums up the whole Jersey Shore experience—you know, beatin’ that beat, letting you know what we do in the club.
So does that mean going into the studio for you, or doing it on GarageBand? Did you do vocals? Explain!
It was in the actual studio, Universal’s studio, and I did the production and vocals, all that.
Had you done this before? Have you been hoarding a lot of ideas for an opportunity like this?
Oh yeah, tons of ideas, just pourin’. I been DJing my whole life, but this is my first track on a major record label, you know?
OK, so tell me who’s on your playlist this summer, other than, obviously, Enrique.
For sure David Guetta, a lot of DeadMau5, Lil Jon, Paul Oakenfold, a lot of those guys.
I read that it takes you about a half hour to do your hair. Do you have a soundtrack for that, or do you prefer to do your grooming in peace and quiet?
[Laughs] Nah, I always have music on at all times, so the second I wake up I throw music on, just whatever the mood of the day is, and get ready. So there’s always music goin’ when I’m doing my hair. READ FULL STORY »
You know when you’re cooking, and you need a pot or pan that’s in the back of the cupboard, and you know it’s going to make a horrible, clanging racket? But, hey, you’re cooking…this is a necessity, so you grit your teeth, you soldier on. A similar sense of grim, cacophonous duty pervaded this morning’s performance of “It’s My Life”/”My Life Would Suck Without You” by the American Idol season 9 Top 10 as part of Good Morning America‘s Summer Concert Series today. Billed not-quite-accurately as a “mashup” by hosts Robin Roberts and George Stephanopolous, the number proved to be more of a clumsy welding together of two songs with the word “Life” in the title. As someone who’s planning to catch a show on the Idols Live tour later this summer — a tour that canceled selected dates earlier this week — I’m dismayed to discover the closing number simply does not work. I mean, I could wax cruelly about the way the voices of Siobhan Magnus and Michael Lynche, in particular, collided in New York City’s Central Park like a lively sparrow and a hawk’s talon. But instead I will ask: Is it too late to call an audible and make “It’s My/Suck” go the way of “No Boundaries”? Distract yourselves by watching in the clip below how reigning champ Lee DeWyze sheepishly keeps the mic at least a foot away from his mouth at all times. Dude is onto something.READ FULL STORY »
Image Credit: Fotonoticias/WireImage.comAccording to the LiveNation website, Rihanna has canceled stops on her “Last Girl on Earth” tour in Phoenix, Dallas, and Atlanta, on top of already-dumped shows in Denver and Indianapolis. (The tour’s opening date in Washington last weekend was also canceled, due to “production changes.”) We’ll put in a call to find out what’s going on, of course, but thought you should all know.
Meanwhile, weigh in! Why is Rihanna struggling? Is it because she called her tour “Last Girl on Earth,” but then brought along also-a-girl Ke$ha as an opening act, thereby rendering the tour’s title moot? And as we fill in yet another square on the Summer Tour Cancellation Board, I guess it’s time to start asking: Anyone get a bingo yet?
Several, in fact: In a new song leaked to Perez Hilton and reportedly produced by J.R. Totem (Rihanna, Jason Derulo, Sean Kingston), LiLo warbles of a dangerous love that feels, alternately, like being “hit by a train,” “falling from a building,” “drinking deadly poison,” and “crashin’ my car, comin’ flyin’ through the windshield.”
Is it about old flame Sam Ronson? Dad of the Year Michael Lohan? Carvel? Stream the song after the jump, and tell us your theories—and what you think of the song—in the comments section below: READ FULL STORY »
Image Credit: Chris Hatcher/PR PhotosR&B stud Usher found his pop sweet spot with his will.i.am-produced smash “OMG.” Before being unseated by Katy Perry’s “California Gurls” last month it was No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for weeks. Now it seems that he’s got another hit on his hands, set to burn up radios next week. “DJ Got Us Fallin’ in Love” is the first single from Versus, his forthcoming conceptual sequel to his March album, Raymond v. Raymond.
The Max Martin-produced cut boasts has a synth bass line with a serious Miami club vibe. (And Mr. 305 himself, Pitbull, is featured rapping in the blend of English, Spanish, and slang only he can only get away with.) Lyrically, this song isn’t much special. It’s simply a fun record about the DJ spinning the right tunes to get the party going.
“DJ” was released online this morning, and will be serviced to radio next Monday (July 12). For now you can hear it at his website. While the eight-track Versus hits stores August 24. What do you think of it? Are you ready for his new album? Let us know.
Not many pop stars could compel me to wake up at 5 am for a Today show concert, but Lady Gaga is one. This morning Her Ladyship performed at Rockefeller Plaza as part of the “Toyota Concert Series on Today,” and needless to say, she rocked the Rock. I was far from the only one who wanted a little Gaga with my morning coffee, though. The courtyard outside of Today’s Studio 1A was crawling with Little Monsters—paws up, clenched, and suffering from serious “Bad Romance” cat-scratch-dance fever. As Gaga herself acknowledged on Twitter, some of her fans even camped out as much as 12 hours before the show, jockeying for the best possible vantage point for an eye-popping view of their idol in all her spandex-and-sequins glory. Ann Curry reported that the largest crowd ever for a Today show concert—20,000 screaming fans—had assembled in Rockefeller Plaza, breaking the previous record held by Justin Bieber.
Many young Gagaphiles sported the lighting-bolt face paint from the “Just Dance” video. Others donned her sequined mask and stylish swimming cap from the beginning of the “Poker Face” vid, when Gaga emerges from a pool of water not so much as Botticelli’s Venus as the Creature from the Black Lagoon. One male Little Monster showed off his very own homemade cigarette glasses—and gave them to Meredith Vieira for her to model. Another dude came bedecked in Gaga’s Tholian crystal outfit and headpiece she wore at the Grammys in February.
I attended Gaga’s Monster Ball concert for the first time at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night and, as always, admired the level of passion and intensity she brought to otherwise mostly shallow pop songs. Her commitment to pure artifice is truly inspiring and challenges our tired conceptions of “depth” and “superficiality” more than any other artist of her generation. But I’ll confess I felt some trepidation as her Today concert started.
First of all, and most obviously, Gaga’s never particularly struck me as a morning person. Secondly, the Today show would require her to contain her excesses within the family-friendly parameters of daytime television. She wouldn’t be devoured onstage by a giant anglerfish, or sprawl herself out on her piano’s keyboard and gracefully pound the ivories over and over with her buttocks. When she’s performed on The Ellen DeGeneres Show or The Oprah Winfrey Show–and she doesn’t wear the arch-camp persona she assumes in her Monster Ball concerts–she can lay on sappy clichés like “I love my fans so much” as thick as poisoned honey poured over greasy diner food.
When interviewed by Meredith and Ann, Gaga repeated some of these platitudes, but my fears were mostly groundless. Flaunting her Broadway-caliber pipes, she started in right before 8:30 with a passionate rendition of “Someone to Watch Over Me,” followed immediately by “Bad Romance.” During the commercial break, she continued to consult with her musicians, telling her pianist, Joe, he should have left “a little more space” in his accompaniment between the verses of “Someone to Watch Over Me.” Then the heavens opened up. As if it wasn’t enough that Gaga already commanded the crowd, apparently she could summon the weather, as well, because the rain only seemed to enhance her performances of “You and I,” “Alejandro,” and “Teeth”:
It’s hard to believe how far Gaga has come in the 19 months since she first appeared on Today as a fourth-hour guest brought on to give Kathie Lee and Hoda a hilariously awkward dance lesson. From high school outsider to global superstar, Gaga’s career is itself the ultimate wish-fulfillment fantasy—to the point that her audience almost becomes part of her act. During her Monster Ball concerts she talks about how she used to be where all the rest of us are—in the crowd, screaming for her (and our) favorite popstars.
Apparently, she once even camped outside MTV’s Times Square studio to catch a glimpse of Britney Spears performing on TRL. That Gaga has taken such pains to narrativize her journey from obscurity to fame in a way democratizes the experience of being famous. As one fan sporting Diet Coke cans in her hair told me after the show today, “When I see her perform, I feel like a superstar too.” Lady Gaga has not merely captured the hearts of her fans, but like the hungry beast of her song “Monster,” she’s devoured them.
Even rain can’t hold Lady Gaga down! Despite intermittent pouring showers, an estimated 18,000 fans showed up to New York City’s iconic Rockefeller Plaza to watch Lady Gaga do her thing this morning on the Today show. And despite it being a somewhat sanitized performance (unless you consider exposed bras risqué), it was a totally solid, soaking-wet show. Did you know this girl can siiiiing? She certainly proved that.
But maybe, too, her fans’ rain-soaked resilience was brought to you by pizza: The Today hosts revealed that Gaga sent loads of NYC pies to the throngs who’d been waiting in the plaza since Tuesday. That little move, set up by her PR team or whatever I don’t care, makes me love her more.
But to the performance! While sitting at the piano, Gaga started with a appropriately jazzy (since she’s in NYC!) few bars from “Someone to Watch Over Me” before moving into her megahit “Bad Romance.” At first, the staging had a sort of bordello vibe to it. And she even injected a little of her “Someone to Watch Over Me” jazz into the first few seconds of “Bad Romance,” which had me thinking: Jazz versions of The Fame and The Fame Monster? Yes, please.
In just a couple of weeks, Miniature Tigers will release their all-around enjoyable sophomore LP, Fortress. Perhaps you’ve already heard the indie foursome’s lead single, “Gold Skull,” which recently earned a spot on EW’s 10 Hot Songs of Summer playlist. Today we’re proud to premiere another Fortress jam, “Mansion of Misery,” right here on the Music Mix. Consider it as a little something extra to tide you over ’til the album’s July 27 release.
