Perhaps you’ve heard of that little cinematic endeavor, The Hunger Games, and its accompanying soundtrack featuring the likes of Taylor Swift, Arcade Fire, Kid Cudi, and Civil Wars?
This week The Hunger Games arrived on DVD and Blu-Ray with all kinds of extras, including a never-before-seen music video for precocious U.K. songstress Birdy‘s contribution to the soundtrack, “Just a Game.”
Check out its exclusive online premiere below.
Most television dramas tend to deliver their biggest emotional cues via borrowed pop and rock songs. Breaking Bad is one of the few that draws much of its impact from its original score, constructed by composer Dave Porter.
The ASCAP award winner (not to be confused with this musical David Porter) has become known for building Bad‘s tension and whimsy depending on what situation Walter White has gotten himself into on any given week.
Next Tuesday, August 28, Madison Gate Records will release Breaking Bad: Original Score From the Television Series, the second soundtrack from the show which features 20 tracks from all five seasons of the show.
Check out the exclusive track listing and give a listen to an exclusive sample from the score below. (You can also preorder the album on iTunes here): READ FULL STORY »
Image Credit: Tommaso Boddi/WireImage VH1 Storytellers
“I have always loved Storytellers and, as a songwriter, how much fun it is to be able to tell your stories,” Pink told EW exclusively about being included in the line-up. Of her stories, Pink adds with a wink: “Everyone has heard mine before!”
The newest season of Storytellers launches Nov. 11, with VH1 Storytellers: Taylor Swift airing at 11 p.m. The episode roll-out is fast and furious after that, with VH1 Storytellers: Alicia Keys and VH1 Storytellers: Pink airing at 11 p.m on over the next two days, on Nov. 12 and Nov. 13, respectively. The episodes will also air on the Storytellers website.
As an additional bit of news on this front, Taylor Swift — always looking to connect with her fans in new ways — this morning announced a concert to dovetail with her Storytellers taping. She’ll tape her episode at a winning high school or college in the continental U.S. Through Sept. 23, students can vote for their school at a special website, which also includes more details about the contest. The schools with the top five votes will each receive a $10,000 grant for their music department from Swift and student hub Chegg’s philanthropic program, Chegg for Good.
The episodes, as always, will feature the artists performing and sharing stories in front of an intimate audience about their lives, lyrics, and careers. Over the years, artists as varies as Elton John, Coldplay, Mary J. Blige, and Christina Aguilera have been on Storytellers.
Tanner on Twitter: @EWTanStransky
Read more:
Jason Mraz gets emotional on ‘VH1 Storytellers’: Watch the sneak peek here — EXCLUSIVE
The Dixie Chicks release ‘Storytellers’ DVD to please loyal fans: See an exclusive clip here
Kings of Leon on VH1′s ‘Storytellers’: Watch them perform ‘Knocked Up’ here in a sneak preview — EXCLUSIVE
How much fun have you been having this summer? Probably not as much as Jukebox the Ghost.
The poppy indie-rock trio from Brooklyn have a sunny new video for their Safe Travels single “Somebody,” and by the looks of it, they know how to have a good time (it helps when you travel with a traveling troupe of flashdancers).
Shot all in one take on the Coney Island boardwalk, the clip shows the band — centered by Ben Thornewill – singing and playing the bouncy anthem as they stroll toward the camera.
They’re not alone, though: click through to see some seriously giddy seaside choreography:
Believe it or not, the Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Jesse Harris already has 10 studio albums (not including an instrumental one) under his belt. And tomorrow, the folk-pop hustler will release his next effort, the pleasant Sub Rosa. We at Music Mix HQ are fans of the record, which features cameos from Norah Jones (Harris won his Grammy for having written “Don’t Know Why” for her), Bright Eyes’ Conor Oberst, guitarist Bill Frisell, singer Melody Gardot, and Yeah Yeah Yeahs guitarist Nick Zinner. One highlight from the album is “Rocking Chairs,” a track that already has a beach-y music video, which you can watch exclusively here. Check out the new Jesse Harris video below: READ FULL STORY »
Did Adam Levine go blond? Do you need glasses? Just kidding, it’s Patrick Stump!
For their upcoming episode of VH1′s Unplugged series, the band performed a stripped-down version their breakout hit “Stereo Hearts.” With a twist: they replaced The Voice of Maroon 5′s Levine (see what we did there?) with that of former Fall Out Boy Stump, the guy who originally helped put Gym Class in a top-five Chokehold back in 2006. Sneaky move, Heroes.
Don’t believe us? Well, we’ve got an exclusive clip of the performance here. Check it out for yourself in the video below:
Image Credit: Alli Harvey/Getty Images
As the Aug. 14 release date for the Fleetwood Mac tribute album Just Tell Me That You Want Me gets nearer, we get treated to more and more gems from the Starbucks-masterminded compilation. A few weeks ago, we heard the New Pornographers offer their version of “Think About Me,” and, more recently, our ears met Best Coast’s cover of “Rhiannon.”
Now we have British model and musician Karen Elson giving her take on the Rumours closer, “Gold Dust Woman,” which you can listen to exclusively here.
Give the track a spin below, and head to the comments to let us know how you think Elson did:
READ FULL STORY »
Image Credit: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic.com
Despite Chris Rock’s protestations (“It’s just people singing over rap beats!”), R&B had a fruitful and vibrant decade from 1990 to 2000: The rise of New Jack Swing, the innovation of hip-hop soul, a bevy of breakout stars, and the ever expanding and collapsing boundaries of the genre.
To celebrate the Age of Irony’s best booty shakers and slow jams, VH1 is airing “40 Greatest R&B Songs of the ’90s” on Thursday night at 9 p.m. With the assistance of stars like Usher and Keith Sweat, the countdown special tips its hat to smashes like Ginuwine’s “Pony,” Boyz II Men’s “Motownphilly,” and Bobby Brown’s immortal “Humpin’ Around.”
In fact, all three of those songs appear in the bottom 10 of the countdown. Check out entries 40 to 30 in an exclusive reveal below.
Breezy San Diego singer-songwriter (and onetime future Mrs. Mraz) Tristan Prettyman won’t release her third album, Cedar & Gold, until September 25.
But in the meantime, she’s offering the premiere of its lead single, “My Oh My,” exclusively on EW.com. Click through to hear swaying her love-is-the-drug rocker: READ FULL STORY »
Image Credit: Martin F. Vielma/Crackle
A few years ago, Grammy-winning record producer and unofficial sixth Radiohead member Nigel Godrich was lamenting the lack of the great music-based television shows like The Old Grey Whistle Test as well as great experiments like The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus. So he did something about it and created From the Basement, a series with a simple premise: Great bands performing killer songs in a small room with no audience.
“I think what happened was MTV came along in the ’80s and destroyed the way that people film music on television,” Godrich told EW via phone from London. “The performance ended up in the edit, and it wasn’t very direct. It’s a selfish thing, really—as a music fan, I really wanted to see people performing on television, so we went ahead and did it. Musicians hate doing TV because it’s such a different world and a horrible environment for them, so wouldn’t it be cool for me as a music person to do a TV show? Then I could get something out of them that TV shows wouldn’t get.”
The series has mostly existed online and on U.K. television, but the third season—premiering this summer—will be featured the 3D network 3net. That means that not only will you be able to experience dynamic performances by the likes of the Shins, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Feist, and Foster the People, but you’ll also be able to watch them in 3D
“I was quite cynical about it when it was suggested to me,” Godrich admitted of the introduction of 3D. “I’m very careful about anything that seems like a gimmick, but the technology is so good and it looks so amazing. When you see a photograph of an Impressionist painting, it doesn’t really make sense until you go to France and stand in the museum and watch this thing vibrate in front of your face. It really is another level of intimacy, and it really translates in a really sophisticated way.”
Of course, those not equipped to view things in three dimensions won’t be left out in the cold, as From the Basement will be available on Crackle, which is available on a bunch of different smartphones as well as video game systems. That will let you catch stuff like the Shins performing “Bait and Switch,” which you can watch in the exclusive clip below. READ FULL STORY »
