Between the forever-in-the-making epics and the tossed-off odes to sadness and the crazy '80s radio pastiche and a bunch of other albums, next week is going to be something of a big one for the music business. How should one navigate their way through the music-consumption choices they'll be forced to make next week? Might I suggest a friendly game of Buy/Download/Kill, in which each album receives one of the three fates outlined by the game's title. My personal preferences after the jump.
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Latest by Homage: I wish to announce that I had no idea I had been listening to ChiDem for two whole days while you folks were waiting.
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A band with a charismatic frontwoman attracts a passionate young following, briefly with Contemporary Christian fans and then with a mass audience bewitched by their alternative-but-accessible vibe. While the group attracts certain emo elements and the tattooed-and-pierced set, their straight-up-the-middle pop sensibilities win over radio programmers looking for some femme-friendly rock content. Finally, after a steady build, the attachment of a key single to a preordained hit movie brings them into the Top 40 in a big way.
I’m not the first person to make the connection between Evanescence and Paramore, but the No. 34 BillboardHot 100 debut of “Decode” from the chart-topping Twilight soundtrack makes it a bit more obvious. It’s Paramore’s highest-ever pop debut, and it finds them embracing the teen-goth subculture.
Evanescence’s Amy Lee could tell Paramore about how lucrative the black-wearing-girl demographic can be. But she also has the 2003 Ben Affleck comic-schlock movie Daredevil to thank for Evanescence’s breakthrough. “Bring Me to Life” probably would’ve been a hit eventually no matter what, but the Hollywood-fueled promotional boost—at a time when modern rock and even top 40 radio were allergic to female-fronted rock songs—didn’t hurt.
The only difference is that Evanescence went the Hollywood route with its first major-label single. One wonders why Paramore didn’t go this way sooner.
Latest by LeBron: Personally, I think Lacuna Coil has it all over both Evanescence or Paramore. Tell me "Our Truth" -- which was used in Underworld -- wouldn't work better as an anthem for Twilight. (Ok, I admit, I've read the books...)
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Latest by mediajunk: @CapnCalamity: What's even weirder? MTV2 used to play music videos too! Now, it's a refuge for Beavis, Butthead, Jackass, Rob, Big, Ryan, Fitty, etc. Strictly He-Man-Woman-Haters-Club, apparently...
In this crowd, you'd think the great Sifl & Olly could get a little more »
First he claimed to have pattered the interiors for his "Love Lockdown" video after Patrick Bateman's apartment in Mary Harron's film version of American Psycho; now, he's claiming to have similar music taste as the titular maniac, saying that "The whole album is shit that 50 [Cent] would rap over, but I’m trying to put them Phil Collins melodies when I rap to them." Bateman, you may remember from the very NSFW scene embedded after the jump, was also really into No Jacket Required-era Collins:
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Latest by jopari: FYI 11 out of the 12 tracks are out (and the 12th has been performed live IIRC).
It's pretty solid. Paranoid is the best by far but if you hated Flashing Lights you'll loathe Paranoid twice as much. more »
Kanye West's 808s And Heartbreak had its release date moved up from mid-December during a fit of pique the blog-happy MC had a few weeks back, and now it's official: Instead of coming out on "NOVEMBER SOMETHING," the album's coming out on Monday, Nov. 24. (Ludacris' Theater Of The Mind and the Killers' Day And Age are also being released on that Monday.) Some sites have speculated that the release dates are being moved from the traditional Tuesday drop date to Monday as a way to take advantage of the pre-Thanksgiving sales rush, but it's pretty obvious to me that the real reason 808s is coming out early is to maximize its sales totals in the first full chart week for another high-profile release: Guns N' Roses' Chinese Democracy.
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Latest by MrStarhead: @2ironic4u: Hoobastank's next release doesn't count as a bomb, since the last album bombed. This is just a last-gasp contract-completion album. more »
It would appear that Kanye (and director Hype Williams) have punched "Ralph Bakshi" into their hipness calculators and come up with a winner. Enough years have passed and enough people have forgotten Bakshi's flop Cool World that major contrarian points can be scored by using the legendary animator as an inspiration. Cynicism aside, though, it's a fantastic video. It's easy to forget that taste and style aren't just things shallow people do, but elements of aesthetics, and art is nothing without aesthetics. (Also, the Jetsons.) [via kanYe West: Blog]More »
Over the weekend, the latest leak from Kanye West's 808s and Heartbreak emerged, in anticipation of its release on Nov. 25. "Robocop" has a beat that sounds like it's the result of Kanye listening to Nine Inch Nails and Portishead's 2008 releases, a string break, and the now-requisite Autotuned caramelizing of every syllable he utters. But unlike the other three songs to snake out of pre-release embargo, West had no hand in the release of the track; yesterday he made a post on his blog titled "I DID NOT LEAK ROBOCOP!!!... THAT'S NOT EVEN THE FINISHED VERSION... I'M PRETTY UPSET ABOUT IT BUT THAT'S THE WAY LIFE IS SOMETIMES!" No further explanation was given, but who needs that when any post on your blog will generate comments like "I'm still buying 5 copies of your album to share with the fam. No worries Mr. West"? A YouTube embed of "Robocop" after the jump.
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Latest by Al Shipley: Part prankster, part Plies fan, part "person with way too much time on their hands," ChangeStyle feels like he can only communicate with the YouTube community by freaking/faking them out.
Please excuse his hands. more »
Kanye West will bring his indie saddo act to next month's American Music Awards, where he'll share the stage with Ne-Yo, Taylor Swift, Alicia Keys, and the Fray—remember The Fray?—while waiting on pins and needles to see if he beat Flo Rida in the "Favorite Male Hip-Hop Artist" balloting. Also, he leaked the mastered version of "Heartless" via... his Twitter. Yes, really. [Pop & Hiss / Twitter]
New York's Power 105 debuted another song from Kanye's 808s And Heartbreak last night: "Coldest Winter," which is pretty much Kanye singing his own version of Tears For Fears' "Memories Fade." over some big, booming drums and his heart being split right in two. (No, really, you can hear it.) Since the only version of the song making the rounds is a radio rip, the fidelity is a bit questionable (even allowing for computer-speaker limitations), but I've listened to it about five times this morning already, and I don't see myself stopping anytime soon. [YouTube / Nah Right]
Latest by Poubelle: @BigRicks: Thanks! The YouTube one got pulled again.
I really like this one. I'll probably like it even better when a better-quality version shows up (as it will). more »
The newest track to leak from Kanye West's forthcoming 808s And Heartbreak is "Heartless," which has lyrics that sort of depict the "anger/grief" stage of breakup grief. Over a track that sounds like a calliope breathing its last before going up to that great circus tent in the sky, an AutoTune-assisted West takes his ex to task, comparing her to Dr. Evil and getting defiant about the possibility of her finding anyone else. West himself premiered the track on his blog, but if your workplace frowns on lots of pictures of women who seem to be recreating the original UK cover of Electric Ladyland—with wigs—you may want to check the YouTube embed we've placed after the jump.
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Latest by sparkletone: I mostly want to just take the vocal and turn this into some Tom Moulton-y disco shit.
Which is kind of how I felt about Love Lockdown too. more »
At the end of my 2007 poll essay, I mentioned that Kanye West was clearly trying to ingratiate himself to the indie audience: fake videos with Will Oldham and Zack Galifinakis, collaborations with Daft Punk, dropping in on upstart indie MCs' videos. Judging from The Fader Blog's play-by-play of an L.A. listening party for the forthcoming 808s and Heartbreak (and here I'd so been looking forward to Good-Ass Job, the long-bruited fourth part of West's educational saga, but whatever), he's gone all the way in by making a friggin' Junior Boys album. I'll reserve judgment on that particular move, but let me just say I sincerely hope it's a lot more like Last Exit than like So This Is Goodbye. [The Fader]
One thing that was left out of the clip of Kanye West premiering his video for "Love Lockdown" on yesterday's Ellen DeGeneres Show: The revelation that the clip was inspired by the movie—not the book—American Psycho, which tells the story of a sharply dressed, music-obsessed Wall Street guy who also happens to be a homicidal maniac. But wait, Kanye has something to say about that whole killing bit! "You know at the end of the movie [that] he didn't really kill anyone. [I just liked] the clean aesthetic and the way he was all about labels. I wanted to express all of that in the video." Well, huh. Maybe this means that he's trying to put himself in the running to score the musical version of the movie? Or he could just be expressing his worries about the economy, I guess. A side-by-side comparison of Mary Harron's and Kanye's competing visions after the jump.
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Latest by MayhemintheHood: @D.R. Mosby: I think I get what you're saying, and that's an interesting idea. It's one that could definitely work, because perhaps that's why Patrick Bateman's apartment was so minimal and "clean"(although one could argue that was just a roided-out more »
Kanye West has premiered the video for "Love Lockdown"—which has an homage to George Michael's "A Different Corner" and women who are painted in such a way that when they lock in love under some blacklights I'm pretty sure they're supposed to form a spaceship—on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and it's currently the clip of the day on the show's site. This premiere, which took place on what seems to be today's episode of the show, follows the news that Britney Spears' video for "Womanizer" will be premiering (for real this time) during this Friday's episode of 20/20. (Hard news, you know.) While this makes sense on a "more eyeballs" level, I have to wonder just how out of control this sort of cross-pollination will eventually get. Akon's new recession-proof single getting its first shot at TV time on CNBC? Christina Aguilera premiering her next video during Bridezillas? "Weird Al" Yankovic debuting the clip for his next food-related song during a Very Special Top Chef? (Actually, that last idea kind of rules. You'd better credit me, Magical Elves!) [YouTube / The Ellen DeGeneres Show / HT: Prefix]
Latest by I'm Crushing Your Head: @How do I say this ... THROWDINI!: On the subject of music videos premiering after "The Simpsons"...don't forget "Do the Bartman" off The Simpsons Sing The Blues (which I have on a cassette somewhere). more »
Kanye West's long-discussed television collaboration with Curb Your Enthusiasm producer Larry Charles appears to be dead, according to Charles, because the show was "too hardcore." While the idea of Kanye on television every week is a dream come true for me as a blogging professional, is it possible HBO is passing on the show because it's just not a great idea?
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Idolator
Between the forever-in-the-making epics and the tossed-off odes to sadness and the crazy '80s radio pastiche and a bunch of other albums, next week is going to be something of a big one for the music business. How should one navigate their way through the music-consumption choices they'll be forced to make next week? Might I suggest a friendly game of Buy/Download/Kill, in which each album receives one of the three fates outlined by the game's title. My personal preferences after the jump.
More »
Kanye West will bring his 
