Archive for October 28th, 2009
Google Announces Song Search With LaLa, MySpace Partnerships
October 28th, 2009
In an attempt to tap into the digital-music market dominated by iTunes, Google today unveiled a new song-searching system that will allow users to quickly stream a free track using LaLa or MySpace Music. Both Google and the record business hope the simple-to-use form of music search dissuades users from typing in, say, “Beyoncé” and “torrent” and turning up thousands of illegal song-download results. “The best way to address that [torrent-searching] situation is to provide ...
Lil Wayne Turns Out Otherworldly Rhymes on Leaked “No Ceilings”
October 28th, 2009
Photo: Martingdale/WireImage
Lil Wayne’s new mixtape No Ceilings has hit the Web four days before its planned Halloween release — and less than a week after Tha Carter III rapper pleaded guilty to gun charges in New York City. With a prison sentence looming, rhymes like “T.I., hold your head” in the opener “Swag Surfin’ ” feel pretty weighty. But overall, it’s a stellar mixtape that features Wayne rapping over beats from some of the biggest ...
Eminem Drops a Controversial Rhyme at BET’s Hip-Hop Awards
October 28th, 2009Fricke’s Picks: The Icelandic Beck
October 28th, 2009
Sin Fang Bous is one guy from Iceland, Sindri Már Sigfússon, who makes the seductive small-combo pop on Clangour (Morr Music). The close-up vocals, austere overdubs and beach-angel harmonies suggest Beck’s Sea Change with laptops and a light coat of frost. Sigfússon tours here in October and November, so you can see how he does it live.
New Music Report: Basement Jaxx
October 28th, 2009
The “Christian Rock” pick in this week’s New Music Report (contributing editor Christian Hoard’s current fave) is Scars, the fifth album from British house duo Basement Jaxx. The group’s 2001 album Rooty featured the hit “Romeo,” which charted in the States thanks to its synthetic yet warm vibe, and Scars is their best album since then. All the tracks are all sung by guest vocalists including Santigold and Kelis, as well as smaller names like ...
Chris Brown Makes Live Comeback at Jersey’s Powerhouse Concert
October 28th, 2009
Chris Brown headlined radio station Power 105.1’s Powerhouse ‘09 concert at New Jersey’s Izod Center last night, marking his first official concert since his February 8th altercation with Rihanna. After performances by The-Dream, Trey Songz, Fabolous, Mario, Keri Hilson and Day26, Brown’s live comeback arrived, and the “Forever” singer was greeted with loud applause, MTV reports.
Brown opened his set with new single “I Can Transform Ya,” emerging from his fleet of dancers as the crowd ...
Live at Rolling Stone: Jamey Johnson Covers Kris Kristofferson
October 28th, 2009
Rolling Stone is always thrilled to capture a young star covering a legend’s work, and that’s exactly what happened when onetime Breaking artist Jamey Johnson stopped by our studios for an acoustic rendition of Kris Kristofferson’s “A Moment of Forever.” Kristofferson was also the subject of a recent RS story: an epic profile by Ethan Hawke in Issue 1076. Check out Hawke’s guide to the outlaw poet’s essential tracks and click above to watch Johnson’s ...
Adam Lambert Defends Album Cover as “Deliberately Campy”
October 28th, 2009
Photo: Mayer/WireImage Reaction to Adam Lambert’s debut album cover has certainly been strong. Some fans have pledged their allegiance to the American Idol alum’s glamtastic artwork on For Your Entertainment, while others have slammed it as more than a tad over-the-top (the phrase “space alien from Planet Fierce” has come up — on both sides). Lambert himself weighed in on his Twitter today to explain the thinking behind the glowing, spacey cover: “Thank you to ...
Trailer for John Lennon Biopic “Nowhere Boy” Debuts
October 28th, 2009
The trailer for Nowhere Boy, a film based on the teenage years of the Beatles‘ John Lennon, debuted this week, just days before its premiere tomorrow at the London Film Festival. The movie, directed by Sam Taylor-Wood, was filmed in Lennon’s boyhood city of Liverpool and stars British actor Aaron Johnson as Lennon. The film is based on a book by Lennon’s half-sister Julia Baird called Imagine This: Growing Up With My Brother John Lennon ...
Breaking: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
October 28th, 2009
Who: Before this rising New York indie-pop quartet played a note together, they had a band name, a MySpace page and some shared tastes: “We loved loud, sort of enthusiastic, life-affirming pop like Yo La Tengo and Smashing Pumpkins,” says frontman and songwriter Kip Berman, “where there’s big guitars and everything’s right in the world.”
Sounds Like: February’s debut disc and the just-released Higher Than the Stars EP are dreamy and shimmery, with plenty of guitar ...