Welcome to this week's edition of EW's New Music Roundup,
a
regular post highlighting the "Download This" track recommendations
from the latest crop of music reviews found in Entertainment Weekly.
All songs are from albums that are in stores now, and most are readily
available via iTunes, eMusic, or similar services. Enjoy — and be sure
to share with your fellow readers if you've got opinions on any of the
following albums or singles...
Rivers Cuomo, Alone II: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo Genre: Rock EW Grade: A– Download This: "Can't Stop Partying" (Check out Rivers Cuomo online)
Staff Web Pick of the Week: Radiohead's "Weird Fishes" video Sunny pastoral settings and creepy stop-motion puppeteering collide in this clip, created by fan Tobias Stretch for an online contest curated by the members of Radiohead. Along with this one, two more fan-made animated Radiohead videos (for "15 Step" and "Videotape") will be rolled out throughout this week on MySpace Music. (Watch it after the jump, or click here to open it in a new window)
Welcome to this week's edition of EW's New Music Roundup,
a
regular post highlighting the "Download This" track recommendations
from the latest crop of music reviews found in Entertainment Weekly.
All songs are from albums that are in stores now, and most are readily
available via iTunes, eMusic, or similar services. Enjoy — and be sure
to share with your fellow readers if you've got opinions on any of the
following albums or singles...
Staff Web Pick of the Week: Kanye West's Sky High mixtape For the latest installment in his excellent “We Got the Remix” series of online mixtapes, Michigan's own DJ Benzi got access to scads of unreleased a capella tracks from Kanye West's vault. Along with Kanye sidekick Plain Pat, Benzi tapped top-flight underground producers including Diplo and Nick Catchdubs to put their own spin on tracks like "Flashing Lights," "Get 'Em High," and more. If you can't wait to hear Kanye's actual new album 808s & Heartbreak on Nov. 25, consider this authorized giveaway a very tasty appetizer. (Stream it online for free by clicking here)
Welcome to this week's edition of EW's New Music Roundup,
a
regular post highlighting the "Download This" track recommendations
from the latest crop of music reviews found in Entertainment Weekly.
All songs are from albums that are in stores now, and most are readily
available via iTunes, eMusic, or similar services. Enjoy — and be sure
to share with your fellow readers if you've got opinions on any of the
following albums or singles...
Staff Web Pick of the Week: Britney Spears (pictured, right), "Kill the Lights" Watch out, paparazzi: Britney's coming for you! This newly-leaked track from her next album sounds a lot like her last single, "Womanizer" — except the melody's a whole lot catchier and the beat's got even more bounce. (Stream it on YouTube)
Welcome to this week's edition of EW's New Music Roundup,
a
regular post highlighting the "Download This" track recommendations
from the latest crop of music reviews found in Entertainment Weekly.
All songs are from albums that are in stores now, and most are readily
available via iTunes, eMusic, or similar services. Enjoy — and be sure
to share with your fellow readers if you've got opinions on any of the
following albums or singles...
I fear for the future of our great nation when I read articles like this one in the New York Times about wealthy folks who hire personal playlist designers to create aural wallpaper to match the decor in their homes. It's this sort of conspicuous consumption whose deliberate waste and foolishness can't be good for America's image abroad or as qualifications for the elite who roam our corridors of power and lead us, at least by example. Are there really that many affluent and spoiled people among us that "personal playlist designer" is a viable career option? And who has so little faith in their own musical taste that they would hire someone else to pick their own mood music? I may not know much about art or design (and I'd love to be rich enough to hire an interior decorator to make those selections for me), but I certainly know what music I like. Musical taste is so personal and idiosyncratic that I can't imagine letting anyone else pick the songs that make up my sonic environment each day. (Even the client cited at the end of the Times article knows that he wants Barry White (pictured) playing in his bedroom. But of course. So why does he need a consultant?) Hiring someone to make those decisions for you suggests that you simply don't know who you are. Unless, that is, you know you are a frivolous person with money to burn.
Actually, it's a little more complicated than that equation. Let me break it down: Mick Boogie and Terry Urban are hip-hop DJs. Together, they came up with the idea for a mixtape that would combine a capella vocals from Jay-Z songs with beats sampled from Coldplay songs. (Think Danger Mouse's2004 masterwork The Grey Album with a different English band.) Mick and Terry produced a few of these mash-ups themselves, then recruited a bunch of other producers to help out with others. That is Viva La Hova, and it hit the Web earlier this week.
On one level, it's almost a surprise that more people haven't thought of this before Mick and Terry. After all, Jay-Z and Chris Martin have publicly shouted out each other's work many times, even collaborating hereandthere. But album-length mash-up projects rarely turn out as well as they look on paper. Usually, you get a couple of legitimately clever tracks, then a whole bunch of awkward filler, like all the well-meaning people of moderate talent who tried to jump on the bandwagon after the aforementioned Grey Album.
So give Mick and Terry their due: Viva La Hova is actually really dope, front to back. They got a nice range of producers to contribute, from established underground talents (9th Wonder, 6th Sense) to lesser-knowns who I'll be checking for in the future (nVMe), and nearly all of them came up with something worth bumping. The whole thing has given me a new appreciation for all sorts of Jay-Z and Coldplay tunes I hadn't listened to in a while. I'm particularly fond of "Never Changing" (below), which oh-so-cleverly blends Jay-Z's "Never Change" and Coldplay's "We Never Change." And don't miss the spot-on cover art!
Welcome to this week's edition of EW's New Music Roundup,
a
regular post highlighting the "Download This" track recommendations
from the latest crop of music reviews found in Entertainment Weekly.
All songs are from albums that are in stores now, and most are readily
available via iTunes, eMusic, or similar services. Enjoy — and be sure
to share with your fellow readers if you've got opinions on any of the
following albums or singles...
Staff Web Pick of the Week: "The Symphony" video on MTV Music The Wild West-themed clip for Marley Marl and the Juice Crew's classic 1988 posse cut is just one of the thousands of vintage videos available free on MTV's newly launched YouTube alternative. Their lip-synching skills might not have been quite up to par, but the lyrical chemistry between Craig G, Masta Ace, Kool G Rap, and Big Daddy Kane still holds up 20 years later. (Watch this video by clicking here, or catching the embedded clip after the jump)
Have we really been missing Elliott Smith for five whole years? I didn't blog about the anniversary of his death last Tuesday, in part because I didn't quite focus on the specific date until a couple days later — but also, if I'm being completely honest, because thinking about the day when we lost one of my all-time favorite artists just gets me down. What is there to say? It was an awful, unreasonable tragedy. The only thing you can really do in the face of that is to keep remembering all the beauty he brought into the world.
That's why I'm infinitely grateful to blogger (and former EW intern) Dave Greenwald for compiling a full set of the cover songs Elliott performed live over at The Rawking Refuses to Stop!. Lots of really great stuff there; many of these MP3s were in heavy rotation on my old laptop years ago, and they've only taken on more significance now. Putting on Either/Or or XO can still be pretty painful for this fan, much as I love those albums. Somehow it's a little easier to hear Elliott singing someone else's words and melodies. I'm particularly partial to his takes on the Beatles' "Long Long Long," the Kinks' "Waterloo Sunset," and, oddly enough, Oasis' "Supersonic." Feel free to share your own favorites among Elliott Smith's live covers in the comments below, as well as any other memories you have of a talent gone far too soon.
UPDATE: As some of you have already noted in the comments section, the live covers compendium that I linked to has just been taken offline, apparently as a result of some misplaced copyright concerns from Google. You'll find an explanation and a working link to all the MP3s in this post.
Welcome to this week's edition of EW's New Music Roundup,
a
regular post highlighting the "Download This" track recommendations
from the latest crop of music reviews found in Entertainment Weekly.
All songs are from albums that are in stores now, and most are readily
available via iTunes, eMusic, or similar services. Enjoy — and be sure
to share with your fellow readers if you've got opinions on any of the
following albums or singles...
Staff Web Pick of the Week: The Killers' "Human" video We still haven't quite figured out how to translate those lyrics. Meanwhile, if its new video is any indication, "Human" is all about how it feels to...er...rock out in a lonely Southwestern desert for an audience composed of steep mesas and a snow leopard. Hey, when the song is this much fun, who cares what it all means? (Watch it on YouTube)
Welcome to this week's edition of EW's New Music Roundup,
a regular post highlighting the "Download This" track recommendations
from the latest crop of music reviews found in Entertainment Weekly.
All songs are from albums that are in stores now, and most are readily
available via iTunes, eMusic, or similar services. Enjoy — and be sure to share with your fellow readers if you've got opinions on any of the following albums or singles...
Staff Web Pick of the Week: The Fireman, "Nothing Too Much Just Out of Sight" Back in the 90s, Paul McCartney and producer Youth made a pair of electronic albums under this alias. Now they’re back with a barn-burner of a single that leaves all that ambient experimentation behind. How cool is it to hear Macca getting all "Helter Skelter" with the electric guitar riffs again? (Download it free at ATO Records' site)
Seven days ago, I asked the cosmos to grant me my wish of hearing a mash-up of the new singles from Kanye West and Radiohead (both artists are allowing fans to remix their master recordings). And lo, something like six hours later, somebody going by the name of DJ Earworm posted up a remix that met the criteria in the comments section. Since I am a blogger of my word, and I promised the first person who met my challenge a shout-out, here it is: Congrats to DJ Earworm, the first and only remixer to respond to my request, and good looks on the speed! Now, I'm not one to talk — you should hear (or rather, you shouldn't hear) the fiasco that resulted when I attempted to meet my own challenge in GarageBand over the weekend — but I did notice that Earworm's first attempt was a little rough. So I was pleased when he or she returned a few days later and posted a new, improved remix which integrated the two tracks much more smoothly. Hear DJ Earworm's final submission here. Dope! This is something I could really see entering rotation in my iTunes. I don't know much (or anything) about Earworm's other work, but he or she's got skills, don't you think?
Welcome to this week's edition of EW's New Music Roundup,
a regular post highlighting the "Download This" track recommendations
from the latest crop of music reviews found in Entertainment Weekly.
All songs are from albums that are in stores now, and most are readily
available via iTunes, eMusic, or similar services. Enjoy — and please
share any feedback you may have...
Staff Web Pick of the Week: Mick Boogie's The Honor Roll mixtape What better way to celebrate VH1's 2008 Hip Hop Honors than by rounding up a cast of rising talents to reinterpret classic tunes from this year's honorees (Slick Rick, De La Soul, Naughty by Nature, Cypress Hill, Too $hort)? Give DJ Mick Boogie credit for the clever concept, and applaud Kidz in the Hall, Izza Kizza, Mickey Factz, and many more Z-lovin' up-and-comerz for pulling it off. (Download it free from Mick Boogie's blog)
If you know me at all, you must have guessed that I'd be irresistibly compelled to write about two developments in the world of music last week. First my #1 faves, Radiohead, encouraged fans to remix their new single "Reckoner" by putting its constituent "stems" for sale on iTunes. (This means fans can buy up to six isolated parts taken from the master recording of "Reckoner" — one with only percussion, one with only guitar, one with only lead vocals, and so on — and then splice, recombine, and otherwise manipulate those parts however they want to create a new piece of music. Radiohead did the same thing earlier this year for "Nude.") Then Kanye West put up the stems of his new single, "Love Lockdown," for free on his own website, letting the public in on his creative process yet again. Stems, stems, as far as the ear can hear!
Radiohead has set up a special website where you can upload your own remix or sift through the hundreds of accumulating entries and vote for the best. (Well-known DJs Cadence Weapon and Diplo have already kicked in predictably dope takes; I'm also partial to vlogger Jay Smooth's Prince mashup.) And there are plenty of cool "Love Lockdown" remixes floating around online, too. (I recommend Teen Wolf's glitched-out attempt and the Perez Hilton-approved T-Minus 321 mix, for starters.)
But here's what I'm wondering. How has no one created a super-remix fusing the stems from both "Love Lockdown" and "Reckoner" yet? The two songs' tempos, feels, and so on aren't totally dissimilar, so I'm pretty sure this would be possible. Whether it would be advisable is a whole other question. But come on! Someone's gotta try, right? I'm hereby throwing down the gauntlet: The first person to mix "Reckoner" and "Love Lockdown" together and post a link in the comments below wins my undying respect, a shout-out of some sort, and probably a lot of clicks from the people at Digg.com. Mega bonus points if your Frankenmix actually sounds any good. I'm giving you a week to pull this off, Internets. (And by all means, let me know if I've somehow missed someone who's already done this...) In the meantime, are there any other new Radiohead or Kanye remixes out there that you're liking?
Welcome to this week's edition of EW's New Music Roundup,
a regular post highlighting the "Download This" track recommendations
from the latest crop of music reviews found in Entertainment Weekly.
All songs are from albums that are in stores now, and most are readily
available via iTunes, eMusic, or similar services. Enjoy — and please
share any feedback you may have...
Is anyone else besides me still watching HBO's True Blood? (Slezak? Anybody?) I am hanging in there for now, mostly on the Alan Ball benefit of the doubt factor, and also because I'm still somewhat intrigued by the series' larger mythology — but most of these plotlines are losing my interest, fast. However! The most recent episode gave me another reason to keep tuning in: Mysterious vampire hunk Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer) has awesome taste in indie rock.
See, I noticed that when Bill was driving Sookie (Anna Paquin) back from that vampire bar in Shreveport, he was playing a song by the very cool Cambodian-American band Dengue Fever on his car radio. Jittery Sookie was all, "Can we turn this down? What language are they speaking, anyhow?" (She should talk, with her odd would-be Louisiana accent; some NSFW phrasing in link.) Bill calmly informed her that the song was being sung in "Cambodian" — a language that's more commonly known as Khmer — but the point is, it wasn't some freaky vampire dialect, okay? Sookie reached over to turn off the tunes anyway and asked Bill to pull over. Then some cops showed up and everyone forgot all about that unusual-sounding music. (Watch the whole scene below.) But a press release from Dengue Fever's camp has just reminded me that Bill was indeed enjoying the excellent title track from the band's 2005 album Escape from Dragon House — which was also the name of Sunday night's ep. Love it.
So there are really two important lessons here. First: Bill Compton may be, like, 175 years old, but apparently dude reads his MP3 blogs. (If True Blood's music team chooses to show Bill jammin' out to some Vampire Weekend in a later episode, BTW, I automatically revoke all cool points they get for this.) Second: Dengue Fever rock, and their fans are definitely not limited to either A) vampires or B) people who watch HBO programs of dubious quality. Wouldn't you agree?
Welcome to this week's edition of EW's New Music Roundup,
a regular post highlighting the "Download This" track recommendations
from the latest crop of music reviews found in Entertainment Weekly.
All songs are from albums that are in stores now, and most are readily
available via iTunes, eMusic, or similar services. Enjoy — and please
share any feedback you may have...
Staff Web Pick of the Week: Deerhoof, "Offend Maggie" We're calling it right now: The title track from the San Francisco art-rockers' latest is hands-down the year's catchiest song about wrong-number voicemails. (Hear it online at Deerhoof's MySpace)
Feel a little overwhelmed when you look over the vast sea of new music releases impacting each week as CDs, MP3s, and streams? You're not alone! But fret no longer. Welcome to the inaugural edition of EW's New Music Roundup, a weekly post highlighting the "Download This" track recommendations from the latest crop of music reviews found in Entertainment Weekly. All songs are from albums that are in stores now, and most are readily available via iTunes, eMusic, or similar services. Enjoy — and please share any feedback you may have...
Staff Web Pick of the Week: TV on the Radio (pictured, top), "Dancing Choose" Those cryptic lyrics might or might not be making fun of the journalistic profession — "He's a newspaper man/And he gets his best ideas from a newspaper stand"? — but we're too busy grooving to the twitchy rhythms to care. (Check it out online at TV on the Radio's MySpace)
I'm not a huge Rilo Kiley or Postal Service fan, but as far as I'm concerned, alt-rock thrush Jenny Lewis can do no wrong. Her new solo disc, Acid Tongue, doesn't drop until Sept. 23, but right now, you can hear the whole thing streaming on her MySpace page. Like her Rabbit Fur Coat (2006), it's a roots-tinged tour of the backroads of American spirituality, exploring sex and murder, faith and doubt, along with the able support of some famous guests. And like Rabbit Fur Coat, it'll probably get stuck for months on an endlessly repeating loop in my iPod. Listen to the whole thing here, or get a taste of it in the video above, along with Lewis guest Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie and Postal Service.
Eleven years ago, a little tune came along that blew up into one of
the biggest songs of 1997, "Bittersweet Symphony," by UK band the
Verve. Verve (sadly) broke up soon after, but have reunited for Forth, out August 25. EW got hold of one track off the new album, "Judas," which we're streaming after the jump, so check it out below -- as well as our review in the magazine -- and let us know (a) if you've missed the Verve and (b) if you'll pick Forth up when it's released.
Who is John Matthias (pictured)? Take your pick. He's the British avant-folkie who just put out an accomplished, unsettling album, Stories from the Watercooler. He's also the physics Ph.D who, with collaborator Nick Ryan, created Cortical Songs — a far-out project due this month in which all the music was "written" by an artificial brain program on a computer, then played by a human orchestra. (For a more detailed explanation which may or may not clarify matters, try this academic paper by Matthias and Ryan.) But most importantly to the likes of me, John Matthias is an old pal of Thom Yorke's who totally played violin and viola on The Bends. In fact, Yorke recently repaid that 13-year-old favor by remixing one of those Cortical Songs tracks. So what does it sound like when Radiohead's leader works out his infamously complex relationship with modern technology... on a piece of music that literally emerged from some sort of rudimentary robot mind? Check it out at Nonclassical Music's Myspace, or stream it below (thanks to Pitchfork for that):
I, predictably, am loving it. This remix could easily have fit in on Yorke's electronic solo album The Eraser if only he'd seen fit to sing a little something over that dissonant backdrop. That's a compliment — it's fun to hear him going crazy with all those glitchy bleeps and blips again, even if it's only for a few minutes. So I'll definitely be enjoying this track while I wait for Radiohead to follow through on the tantalizinghints they've been dropping about new material in the works (already? OMG!) — and I'll be keeping my ears open for the next twist in John Matthias' career. How about you?
Just a quick heads-up to let you all know that indie label Sub Pop is giving away a free MP3 of one of the most gorgeous songs from one of the year's best albums (h/t). This is because early downloads of Fleet Foxes from iTunes accidentally included a damaged version of "He Doesn't Know Why"; I, meanwhile, do(es)n't know why Sub Pop illustrated their apology for this with a random picture of Gary Coleman in a sweater. But hey, who cares — free music! Grab this tune while you can, and I guarantee you won't regret it, unless you have some sort of irrational hatred of reverb-drenched harmonies.
Okay, PopWatchers, as some of you may have noticed, I've been a little obsessed with My Morning Jacket of late. I make no apologies — Evil Urges is an effing great album, and I cannot wait to see them play between the hours of midnight and 3 a.m. at Bonnaroo next week. So how happy was I when my friend Dan e-mailed over this link to the Black Cab Sessions, a site wherein they stick an artist in the back seat of a London taxi and give them one take to perform a song? Click over and you'll see Jim James and guitarist Carl Broemel doing an admirable job of holding it together as the cab jostles and jiggles their performance of "Touch Me I'm Going To Scream Pt. 2" (hooray, omnichord!). I'd embed it here, but they haven't posted a borrowable version on YouTube yet; instead, please enjoy Britt Daniel and "I Summon You."
All this time, I thought Mike Gravel was just a crazy-old ex-senator whose purpose was to provide comic relief (and occasional flashes of demented insight) during the Democrats' televised primary debates. Boy was I wrong. Turns out Mike Gravel is a crazy old ex-senator whose purpose is to provide comic relief for the whole Internet! I mean, check out this insane cover of the Beatles' "Helter Skelter" that he just posted on YouTube. (Hat tip to Matthew Yglesias. Warning: Video contains disturbing images of warfare and gratuitous abuse of green-screen technology.)
Apparently, this is not a joke. And I can't stop playing it. Those wild Whoos! Those deadpan Yeah, yeah, yeahs! I'm convinced that Gravel is a Shatner-level interpretive genius. That, or a covert member of the Manson family. "Do you, don't you want me to love you?" How can I be any clearer: I totally want you to love me, former Sen. Gravel! Anyone else wish they could go back (to the top of the slide) and re-cast their vote for the candidate with the hands-down best viral-video team in the race?
The good folks at CNET have help for coping with the long gap until the second season of HBO's hilarious Flight of the Conchords series. They're offering a free download of New Zealand's 4th most popular comedy-folk duo's song "Ladies of the World." (And here's the scene from the first-season episode.) It's just a little something for ALL the ladies: Domincan, amphibian, erudite, and hermaphrodite ("With your sexy lady bits, and your sexy man bits too / Even you must be in to you-ooo-ooo..."). Funny and funky. God, I miss those guys. Good lookin', CNET. Or as Bret and Jemaine say: Wham-bam, merci, danke, thank-a-you, ma'am.
Show of hands, reggae fans: How many of you knew that Chris Blackwell — the legendary record man who founded Island Records in the late '50s and broke Jamaican icons like Jimmy Cliff and Bob Marley to the wider world — was still active in the music biz? I honestly wasn't sure Blackwell was even alive, let alone making music, 'til I stumbled across a chilled-out dub remix he did for Manu Chao's new single, "Politik Kills." (Check out a fan-made video for the original tune above.)
He's just one of a whole slew of diverse artists who've contributed remixes to a new website Chao launched this week. They take a whole range of approaches to Chao's minimal, simmering indictment of entrenched power; as always, the Paris-born, Barcelona-based songsmith is redefining the limits of both "world music" and "protest music." I'm partial to Prince Fatty's horn-filled, carnival-esque take and the off-kilter nortec version from Mexico's Bostich and Fussible (all streaming free at the site). And if you don't like any of those, Chao's letting fans download the master files for "Politik Kills" and upload their own remixes. Go ahead and check 'em out for yourself — which ones are your favorites?
Last night I had the distinct privilege of attending the Blackout Ball, hosted by Jive Records and Miss Britney Spears. Sure, it was an online affair and anyone with an Internet connection was invited and if you ask me, the rhyming couplet e-vite was a little tacky. But a ball, how fabulous! After obtaining the necessary "secret words" for "access past the velvet rope," I got to yuck it up with other Brit fans (YOU_WANA_PECE_O_ME, BRiTsBoY, and so on) in the Blackout "cocktail hour chat room." (Cocktails were strictly virtual.) It was there we waited anxiously for the cyber-gala's main event, the premiere of Britney's new music video for her third single from Blackout, "Break The Ice."
After watching the video, I can honestly say that Britney has never looked better. She's wearing a tight black bodysuit number and thigh-high boots, which really accentuate her slim, sexy figure. She performs some unbelievable stunts (back dive off a skyscraper, through the glass ceiling of a nightclub, and into a pool of water) and breaks out martial arts moves that I had previously thought physically impossible (the 360 degree spin of her lower leg, moving fluidly as if disconnected from her knee... impressive!) Her long, tasseled blond tresses look gorgeous, and her lip-synching can only be described as impeccable. Yes, Britney looks spectacular in "Break The Ice."
I guess my major problem with the video was that it was fully animated.
PopWatch reader Jason in Greenville, S.C., sent me an e-mail over the weekend directing me to check out a piano-only version of Mariah Carey's latest single, ''Touch My Body.'' And while the rendition doesn't leave me quite as rapturous as one YouTube commenter ("love it am crying!" is the listener's four-word review), I have to admit I've had it on repeat loop all morning long in my office. So this means either a) I'm officially ancient and months away from filling my iPod with elevator music; or b) Jason is right in his observation that Mariah is underrated for her ability to write a terrific, complex melody. Listen for yourselves, PopWatchers, then make the call.
It may not make you "Crazy," but the latest Gnarls Barkley video, from the Atlanta duo's upcoming second CD The Odd Couple (due April 8), might just cause seizures. Not because of the song — though it's definitely danceable — but because of the dizzying array of fractals on the retro Dance Party USA-style set. (Gnarls' Danger Mouse talked to EW.com's Margeaux Watson here about the making of the clip, in which Justin Timberlake, pectured below left, has a cameo as the dance show host.) In fact, MTV UK has reportedly held off on airing the video until they can prove it doesn't trigger those who are susceptible to go into convulsions. Judge for yourself, here:
So, what do you think readers? Does it make you want to dance, or maybe just get dizzy and throw up a tiny bit?
So the Smashing Pumpkins just debuted a new video for the studio version of "Superchrist" on MySpaceTV, and yes, I am filing this item under 'The Eh List' category.
I'm not saying it's a bad song. Even the totally out-of-place violin bridge sorta fits, à la Wim Wenders, with the angel wandering forlornly around the set — but what's up with the leering bass player and the scantily clad nurse quartet? It's as if Billy & Co. decided in the middle of filming that they needed some visual Viagra to counterbalance all that dude hair.
I loved the Pumpkins back in the day, even when MTV tested my patience by playing "Today" to death (experience a flashback after the jump). But does the "Superchrist" video mark a return to form for the Pumpkins? Who else misses D'arcy and James Iha? And speaking of hair, Billy Corgan with some?
PopWatchers, we need to keep an eye on Adele, a soulful singer-songwriter who I'd describe as sounding a bit like gritty Amy Winehouse and melancholy Eva Cassidy, and occasionally even a young Gladys Knight. Adele, who turns 20 in May, has been generating major buzz in the U.K. (her first album, 19, debuted at No. 1 in Great Britain) but here in the colonies, she's largely unknown. To get to know this upstart's music, start with her single "Chasing Pavements," her live rendition of "Hometown Glory" (broadcast on the BBC last October), and my favorite Adele clip — her evocative love song "Daydreamer," performed on the long-running London-based music showcase Later with Jools Holland:
If this is your first impression, what's your take on Adele, her sound, and her prospects for success in the U.S.?
With "Supernatural Superserious," R.E.M. does what they do best: upbeat pop with a strong hook and angsty lyrics — in this case, about how we all still feel like the awkward teenagers we once were. I think Michael Stipe & Co. sound as refreshingly restless as ever, which bodes well for their upcoming album Accelerate (due April 1). Check out the grainy-good, as-basic-as-it-gets video:
However, in a classic case of too much of a good thing, "Supernaturally Superserious" has its own website, where 12 low-tech mini-movies essentially deconstruct the final cut into the separate shoots. (Tip: avoid opening all the video windows at the same time, or the site may get all ganked up, technically speaking.) There's an implied "what is an outtake?" notion to the whole concept, but — all due respect to director Vincent Moon — after clicking around for a while, I just kept wondering, Why do this? Watching the dozen different (yet similar) visual manifestations of the same tune was, for me, merely tedious in the end. That said, I enjoyed seeing the band's spontaneity as they traipsed around NYC's Lower East Side (including a stop at the sex shop Babeland) on a seemingly shoestring budget. I'm superseriously curious to find out: What are your reactions to both the site and the song, PopWatch music lovers?
You've waited so patiently, Mariah Carey fans; nearly three years since the release of 2005's The Emancipation of Mimi. Behold, then, the Mariah Motherlode: Not only was her upcoming album's title released today (it's E=MC², physics fans!), but a sneak peak at a new track dropped online; listen here.
It's not a bad mid-tempo jam — sunny, flirty, and syncopated just the way Mimi likes it; basically, classic Carey. But allow us to offer one quibble: What the eff is going with this recent Diva Cougar Complex? Janet just dropped an album full of bathroom-wall come-ons, and now Mariah, who used to be all, "I had a vision of love," is cutting straight to "TOUCH MY MONKEY! TOUCH IT!" Are we being overly Amish here, or would it be nice to retain a little mystery? Your comment board awaits!
Country fans, don't cuss me out, but Faith Hill's music has always had a narcoleptic effect on me. Bland, blond, blah... I just didn't get what all the fuss was about. (In gossip-land, I admit she's piqued my interest for things like turning up at the 2001 American Music Awards with a gutsy, albeit ill-advised, haircut and scolding a fan who got handsy with husband Tim McGraw during a 2007 concert.)
But now, after watching her wrestle "That's All Right, Mama" to the ground, I'm gonna rethink my position. The video — a performance shot for ABC's 2007 TV special Elvis: Viva Las Vegas — debuted on the country star's official website today, and it proves Faith has more fire than I thought.
PopWatchers, let us know: Do you think the country-pop hitmaker does the King's song justice? And would you like to see more of this side of Faith Hill?
Welcome to this week's edition of EW's New Music Roundup,
a
regular post highlighting the "Download This" track recommendations
from the latest crop of music reviews found in Entertainment Weekly.
All songs are from albums that are in stores now, and most are readily
available via iTunes, eMusic, or similar services. Enjoy — and be sure
to share with your fellow readers if you've got opinions on any of the
following albums or singles...
Welcome to this week's edition of 
Welcome to this week's edition of 
Welcome to this week's edition of 
I fear for the future of our great nation when I read articles like this one in the 
Welcome to this week's edition of 
Have we really been missing Elliott Smith for five whole years? I didn't blog about the anniversary of his death last Tuesday, in part because I didn't quite focus on the specific date until a couple days later — but also, if I'm being completely honest, because thinking about the day when we lost one of my all-time favorite artists just gets me down. What is there to say? It was an awful, unreasonable tragedy. The only thing you can really do in the face of that is to keep remembering all the beauty he brought into the world.
Welcome to this week's edition of 
Welcome to this week's edition of 
Seven days ago, 
Welcome to this week's edition of 
Radiohead has set up 
Welcome to this week's edition of 
Welcome to this week's edition of 
Feel a little overwhelmed when you look over the vast sea of new music releases impacting each week as CDs, MP3s, and streams? You're not alone! But fret no longer. Welcome to the inaugural edition of EW's New Music Roundup, a weekly post highlighting the "Download This" track recommendations from the latest crop of music reviews found in Entertainment Weekly. All songs are from albums that are in stores now, and most are readily available via iTunes, eMusic, or similar services. Enjoy — and please share any feedback you may have...
Eleven years ago, a little tune came along that blew up into one of
the biggest songs of 1997, "
Who is John Matthias (pictured)? Take your pick. He's the British avant-folkie who just put out an accomplished, unsettling album, 
Just a quick heads-up to let you all know that indie label Sub Pop is 
The good folks at CNET have help for coping with the long gap until the second season of HBO's hilarious Flight of the Conchords series. They're offering a free download of New Zealand's 4th most popular comedy-folk duo's song "
Last night I had the distinct privilege of attending the Blackout Ball, hosted by Jive Records and Miss Britney Spears. Sure, it was an online affair and anyone with an Internet connection was invited and if you ask me, the 
It may not make you "Crazy," but the latest Gnarls Barkley video, from the Atlanta duo's upcoming second CD The Odd Couple (due April 8), might just cause seizures. Not because of the song — though it's definitely danceable — but because of the dizzying array of fractals on the retro Dance Party USA-style set. (Gnarls' Danger Mouse talked to EW.com's Margeaux Watson 
You've waited so patiently, Mariah Carey fans; nearly three years since the release of 2005's The Emancipation of Mimi. Behold, then, the Mariah Motherlode: Not only was her upcoming album's title released today (it's E=MC², physics fans!), but a sneak peak at a new track dropped online; listen 
Country fans, don't cuss me out, but Faith Hill's music has always had a narcoleptic effect on me. Bland, blond, blah... I just didn't get what all the fuss was about. (In gossip-land, I admit she's piqued my interest for things like turning up at the 2001 American Music Awards with a gutsy, albeit ill-advised, 
