I feel sorry for girls in the music industry. They do have a very short shelf life.

For instance, Duffy: Who? Gone. She was massive. And I don’t doubt for a second that the same thing will happen to Adele.

Adele is known for speaking her mind, so it will be interesting to see if she has any words for Gallagher at her Grammy Awards performance on Sunday.

[Source: Spinner]

http://3voor12.vpro.nl/luisterpaal/albums/Die-Antwoord.html

They’ve got Die Antwoord under ’south african,’ ‘hip hop,’ ‘electronica,’ and ‘rave,’ so I guess they’re not totally sure what to do with them either.

[Source: 3voor12]

Granted, I should probably just stop calling these videos insane because this is going to seem dull as soon as the next one rolls around, but whatever. It looks and sounds cool.

OK Go set up over 1000 instruments over two miles of desert outside Los Angeles. A Chevy Sonic was outfitted with retractable pneumatic arms designed to play the instruments, and the band recorded this version of Needing/Getting, singing as they played the instrument array with the car. The video took 4 months of preparation and 4 days of shooting and recording. There are no ringers or stand-ins; Damian took stunt driving lessons. Each piano had the lowest octaves tuned to the same note so that they’d play the right note no matter where they were struck.

[Source: OKGO]

Even though the episode will be recorded tonight already, we’ll only be able to see it on the actual show on Sony Entertainment Television (DStv channel 113) on Tuesday 14 February at 23:15.

The Late Show with David Letterman is recorded in New York at the Ed Sullivan studio on Broadway, in front of a live audience. Die Antwoord is the musical guest for the episode that has Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Cruel Intentions) on the line-up.

The group also appears in both a video and print ad for Alexander Wang fashion line “T” for Spring 2012. The ad features the song “Fatty Boom Boom”. The ad campaign also boasts a billboard which can be seen on buildings in Manhattan.

Here are some images of the campaign:

[Thanks Onicka!]

They’ve also teamed up with Chevy to debut a new music video as a Super Bowl commercial – with 288 guitars, 55 pianos, and 1 157 ‘homemade instruments’ - if you felt that this one was lacking in the epic kind of scope you’ve come to demand of OK Go.

Have a great weekend.

Are you one of the millions of people worldwide, who share and consume music digitally?

Are you willing to pay for music, but irked by the ridiculous and restrictive licensing measures that labels put in place, for the sake of keeping their wheezing, dying CD-based business model alive?

What do you mean, if I buy a CD, and rip it to my iPod, I’m contravening licensing laws?

Time to flip a table.

The music industry is sick from Airborne on Vimeo.

For artists to make the US minimum wage each month, they’d have to make 12 THOUSAND album sales on iTunes, FOUR MILLION plays on Spotify, or nail just 1 658 fans on Airborne, who would subscribe for $1 a month.

Read that again. It’s not incorrect, just shocking.

To find out more about this incredible new service as an artist, or a consumer who feels like liberating themselves from a sham of a business model, check out the Airborne website, HERE.

The delightful little girl with the snake around her neck in the latest music video by Die Antwoord is actually their real-life daughter.

If you haven’t seen the video yet, click here.

Her name is Sixteen (for real) and she also appears on the latest cover of Rolling Stone SA along with her parents.

Here is the heartwarming family portrait:

But several years ago, when Ninja was still known as Watkin Tudor-Jones and Yolandi Vi$$er as Anri du Toit, they also appeared in an issue of Obrigado Magazine.

Sixteen was then known as Sixteen too:

What does the future hold for this seven year-old? One can only imagine. And shudder.

[Source: Hurricane Vanessa]

If the name Roger Ballen does not ring a bell, a search for his photography is strongly advised before checking out the video. If you are too impatient, then these two will have to do:

Exactly.

Here’s I Fink U Freeky:

[Source: Youtube]

The video is actually a spoof video from E! Entertainment’s: The Soup, to promote Ice’s DIY Network television show, The Vanilla Ice Project, in which the 90’s rapper tackles home improvement challenges.

The 44-year-old has been doing home improvements for 15 years, and the show is about to begin airing its second season in the US.

But like, indie rap-rock mashups are like, pretty cool anyway, and Ice pulls off his hipster vibe superbly.

[Source: LAist]

As the world anxiously awaits the release of Ten$ion, the next Die Antwoord album, check out this timely reminder, via homage to the enfants terribles of Afrikaans hardcore, that gingers are people too.

Written, rapped, directed, filmed and edited by Nib Oswald, you can also check out the lyrics and more details about the track here, as well as find out who the dishy girl playing Yolandi Vi$$er is.

Personally, the chorus is my favourite:

My-y-y my skin is ultra-white
I need sun protection from the UV light
Aye, aye, aye. I am the Scottish type
Anaemic complexion, need sun protection.

Heh, classic.

[thanks craig]

There are a few angles of attack that you can employ to defeat the summer heat.

The first, is loose fitting clothing.

The second, is a chilled beverage.

And the third, and most critical component, is music.

“BUT,” I hear you say, “we’ve heard LMFAO’s Party Rock Anthem so many times, our ears are bleeding, and we’ve lost the very will to live!”

That, my friends, is an unfortunate byproduct of the summer hit single.

But you really have no reason to complain. More than that, you have no excuse for not listening to exactly what you want to this summer, my friends.

How? So glad you asked. By mixing YOUR OWN TRACKS, that’s how. And more specifically, you can mix them with this lifesaving piece of software: The Magix Music Maker MX.

There are honestly so many features to this software, that we don’t know where to begin. Our producers and techs over at 2oceansvibe Radio gave it a once over, and went completely nuts.

Check out the new features on this version, let alone the standard features of the software:

You can snap up this sick deal HERE. Do it!

These guys were the forerunners to the band Late Final and the band consists mostly of the original members.The Thunderbirds are an institution with a MASSIVE sound, and they have reformed after 20-odd years. If YOU know someone over 50, it is your duty to tell them about this. Don’t tell them after the event, they will throttle you, I swear.

Read these names to them and enjoy the reaction as they flip their lid:

Rupert Mellor – ex First Aquaintance, Hedge Hoppers, McCully Workshop, Late Final and his murderous solo career.

Graham Merrill – trombone and lead vocals ex Navy Band, Late Final.

Richard Black – lead guitar and vocals ex McCully Workshop, Late Final.

Dave Evans – drummer extraordinaire ex Peanut Butter Conspiracy.

And then, back with the band after an absence of 25 years , their “sailor home from the sea”:

Stewie Goodwin – saxophones ex Navy Band

and last but not least, the new man on bass guitar:

Robair Stemmet – currently with Boulevard Blues Band and hopefully able to wear both hats for some time to come!

GIG DETAILS

Friday 27th January

Die Boer – Restaurant & Theatre , 6 Chenoweth St Durbanville

Doors open 6.30 pm /Show starts 8.30 pm.

Full menu and bar available.

All main meals should be served prior to the show starting.

R90 per person.

Call 021 9791911

And just for a bit of nostalgia and trivia, some of the older 2oceansvibe readers will remember these guys playing at Basin Street and the Garden Village. Prepare for the likes of Big Joe Turner, Louis Jordan, Blues Brothers, Supercharge, and lotsa good time R’R! Richard wrote the horn parts back then, but when they stopped playing, they lost the bone parts. Graham rediscovered them (20 years later) whilst moving house – so the motivation to play again was unavoidable!

Now I mean, let’s be clear – this could be an event that just happens to neatly coincide with UMG’s claimed $500 million in lost revenue from pirated films and other media; even so, it’s not beyond the realm of possibility that the the money-hemorrhaging label might be threatened by MegaUpload’s late-December announcement of an entirely cloud-based distribution model that offered artists a better money-making platform than any record label provides.

A Torrentfreak interview offers more details, and speculation:

“UMG knows that we are going to compete with them via our own music venture called Megabox.com, a site that will soon allow artists to sell their creations directly to consumers while allowing artists to keep 90 percent of earnings,” MegaUpload founder Kim ‘Dotcom’ Schmitz told Torrentfreak
…
“We have a solution called the Megakey that will allow artists to earn income from users who download music for free,” Dotcom outlined. “Yes that’s right, we will pay artists even for free downloads. The Megakey business model has been tested with over a million users and it works.”

This is all speculation right now – and we’ll update you as more becomes apparent – but if this is the true reason for MegaUpload’s shutdown, it would be a HUGE deal, and an unbelievably shitty move by a record label.

[Source: DMN]

The video sees the group seemingly referencing South African artist Jane Alexander‘s most famous piece titled The Butcher Boys. Pale, painted skins, demonic mask-like faces and horned figures allude to the famous work by the prominent resistance artist.

Check it out below, but those with a faint heart be warned, this is Die Antwoord we are talking about. The music playing in the background is from another track featured on the upcoming album, I Fink You Freeky.

[Source: Channel24]

This is little Juliet. She’s eight years old, and she and her mummy recently posted a video to YouTube where she sings about her pet dog Robert, whom she loves, and her stinky fish tank. All set to thrash metal, and now available on iTunes where it’s number one, with its own range of t-shirts and with 12 million hits on YouTube and counting. Wow, Australia… just wow. Take a look.

The video was posted last week, and besides for the attentions of millions around the internets, a number one spot on iTunes, and a clothing line, it has already attracted gushing tributes from music aficionados praising this brash jamming together of thrash beats and puppy love. “‘Rebecca Black meets Harley Flanagan” cried one magazine, as well as harsh criticism from child protection groups who are scolding Juliet’s mum and family for exploiting the little tyke.

Exploitation or not, all the attention has definitely had an effect on Juliet, whose family are looking forward to their life in suburban Brisbane settling down as soon as possible. Until the next single that is.

[Source: TIMES Live, Sydney Morning Herald]

Tune in to the Lunch Show on 2oceansvibe Radio at 12h45 today, where Dan will also be performing an acoustic set. Click “Listen Live” on the top left of this page, or go to 2oceansvibe Radio for other options (including mobile app download – join the other 35,000 people!).

TIP: For quick mobile download, go to www.2ov.fm on your phone browser.

A recent study from the University of Maryland School of Medicine and the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore showed that serious injuries to pedestrians wearing headphones has more than tripled in just 6 years. The overwhelming majority of the accidents were caused by pedestrians being hit by vehicles, unaware of their imminent approach due to being cut-off by their music.

“Everybody is aware of the risk of cellphones and texting in automobiles, but I see more and more teens distracted with the latest devices and headphones in their ears,”

So said lead author Richard Lichenstein, associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. Sadly in many of the cases approaching vehicles were sounding their horns which pedestrians could not here leading to fatalities in more than a third of the cases.

The study was initiated almost 10 years ago when a teenager was killed while crossing railroad tracks. At the time of the accident the teen was wearing headphones and did not react to the train’s horn being repeatedly sounded.

Researchers reviewed 116 accident cases from 2004 to 2011 in which pedestrians were struck by trains or vehicles:

In 70% of the cases, they were killed. More than two-thirds of victims were male and under the age of 30. More than half of the moving vehicles involved in the accidents were trains, and nearly a third of the vehicles reported sounding a horn prior to the crash. “The increased incidence of accidents over the years closely corresponds to documented rising popularity of auditory technologies with headphones,” the university says in a statement.

So next time you set off on a little walkabout maybe ditch the headphones and enjoy the sounds of nature/the city, it could make all the difference.

[Source: USA Today]

I have two ideas. One is to rant and rave about how we drink our wines too young. I could draw on recent examples that I have tasted, pound my digital fists, and, well, that would be that. In fact I can sum it up quite neatly right here: cellar your wines friends, cellar your goddamn wines.

So seeing as that column only needed 56 words, I think I will go with my second option: pairing some wines to three albums that have been occupying my earballs lately. It’s a tad facile. But then it has been shown that music can affect the way we taste wine.

The Black Keys: El Camino

I got into the Black Keys rather late in the day. I find their earlier albums a little more raw, which for me, translates into authenticity. I still dig El Camino though. It’s a popular antidote for saccharine pop, repetitive hip-horrible-hop and the host of generic shit that plagues our world. It’s not the best album ever made, but it’s still pretty damn sharp. A bit dirty. Though dirty in the way 4x4s in Joburg have sprayed on mud. Popular, mass-market dirt, but do you even care? The lyrics border on the vacuous, but hot-damn it makes you want to strip off, and roll in the mud.

Pitchfork describes Gold on the Ceiling “[as] just filthy, like George Thorogood scoring porn, all raunchy organ and licentious handclaps and chorus help from ladies attempting to sound like the sorts of ladies Steely Dan loved to write songs about.”

While Spin describes “‘Lonely Boy’ as Patrick Carney smacking his snare as if it’s the rump of a redheaded stepchild in need of some learnin.”

There is only one grape variety that can be drunk in the face of such descriptions, and with the randy, sweaty, muddy – although somewhat corporately tempered – music of the Black Keys, that’s Syrah. Or maybe Shiraz. I can hear them singing a grating song about a grimy girl, an abandoned bar, and a half-full bottle of Shiraz.

I, however, look to the French versions, the Northern Rhone in particular; their olive earthiness, their full-bodied rich character, long-lived, fresh and classic, real wines of place, wines of the dirt, the earth. Some of the most sought-after wines in the world come from this area of France. The ones I have tasted and remembered are perfect for The Black Keys; it’s the link between dirty, earthy loamy feelings with a jubilant freshness, and a devil-may-care-but-I-don’t-give-him-the-time-of-day vibe. The Black Keys make me think of sweat, bodies pushed against each other, grinding, and all the while being photographed for a GAP ad. The wines too let me imagine the earth rather than something ethereal – an honest brow’s sweat, a calloused hand, a farmer’s nod. They’re both world famous now, glowing under the public’s glare. Drink, listen, get dirty.

The Smiths: Meat is Murder

It’s not their most loved album, but it was my introduction to this maudlin, vegetarian cult British band. Okay, vegetarian cult may be pushing it, but then vegetarians make me feel maudlin. The Smith’s melancholic poetics appeal to me; like this from “It’s Just Not Funny Anymore”:

When you laugh about people who feel so
Very lonely
Their only desire is to die
Well, I’m afraid
It doesn’t make me smile
I wish I could laugh

Or, from my favourite track from the albumn, “How Soon Is Now”:

There’s a club, if you’d like to go
You could meet somebody who really loves you
So you go, and you stand on your own
And you leave on your own
And you go home
And you cry
And you want to die

Put that shit over the longing, drawing, souless/ful vibrato guitar and you have only one wine to work with: Pinot Noir. The cliched “heart-break grape”. But it’s not for the heart break that it causes wine-makers – sending them into their own version of Morrissey-like despair – but rather (to use another cliche) the iron fist in a velvet glove character the wines are capable of showing. It’s a subtle power, unexpected. It slips down with ease but the flavors, complexity and depth can catch you by surprise.

It’s a weightless intensity that The Smiths exhibit constantly too. They express themselves clearly with the force of an overcast sky. Just as Pinot caresses rather than high-fives, Morrissey’s conviction isn’t felt from his shouting, but in a slow, meaningful eloquent murmur. Pinot’s pleasure doesn’t rely on dark colors, inky fruits or banging tannins, but rather on subtlety, silky elegance: soft skin, lips brushing, a loving whisper.

There is another wine that Morrissey’s voice brings to mind, and that is a mature Bordeaux styled blend. The tomaoto-leaf, tobacco, and memory of distant dark fruits with a finish that is so long and delicate and speaks of the many years of lying in the bottle. It tastes of time, history, evolution and maturity.

Drink, listen, feel.

The Decemberists: The Hazards of Love

This is my favorite band right now, maybe forever. Not the most musically original, and they haven’t changed a genre or created one, but Colin Melloy’s lyrics, his natural story-telling ability elevate them far above the all the dross that exists today. The Hazards of Love is a seventeen track prog-rock opera telling the story of  a woman named Margaret who falls in love with a shape-shifting boreal forest dweller named William, and features his mother, the Queen of the Forest, and a villainous Rake.

Exquisitely written, the story is operatic in breadth, and folklorish in topic. We fall in love with Margaret, we hate The Rake, we root for William and are repulsed and attracted simultaneously by the Queen. From angry, lifting guitar and straining vocals to a gentle loving whisper, the album places us in story and examines, in fantastical clarity, the hazards of love.

Okay. I gushed. A similar feeling overcomes me when I taste a brilliant German Riesling, which is perfect for this album. Something off-dry, refreshing, floral, delicious, something pretty. Wines that take you to a flower speckled field, holding hands with a lover, delicate of touch, decadent and delicious of taste. A wine suited to these lines sung by William and Margaret to each other:

And wasn’t it a lovely breeze?
That swept the leaves of arbor eaves
And bent to brush our blushing knees?

And here we died our little deaths
And we were left to catch our breaths
So swiftly lifting from our chests

Pretty, right? But yes, the Rieslings of Germany, the Mosel in particular, can have this. Some can be plain and grim, but the good ones are sublime, and a story in their own right. And as they age their depth increases, the scope of flavours multiplies, and you find yourself wondering at the magic of the wine; beauty, magic and heartache as the bottle nears its completion.This is what Melloy effortlessly creates: beauty, magic, heartache. The album slips down as easily as the riesling, entering you into a narrative that sails you quickly from the first to the last track. A tragic story, a story of love and its hazards.

Drink, listen, be told a story.

You may not like these bands, or care much for riesling, or think my pairings are a bunch of codswallop.  And, I guess, it doesn’t matter what you drink and listen to, but it does matter that they are both excellent. Love what you put in your earballs, love what you sip on.

Drink, listen, explore.

In it he swears to treat women better, and stop using the “B” word in his lyrics, all because of the joy little B.I.C. has brought to his heart. Awww.

“Before I got in the game, made a change, and got rich/I didn’t think hard about using the word bitch/I rapped, I flipped it, I sold it, I lived it/Now with my daughter in this world I curse those that give it“.

He goes on to swear to protect her throughout her life, especially when the offspring of other rap colleagues come calling during those tricky teenage years.

“No man will degrade her, or call her name. I’m so focused on your future, the degradation has passed. I wish you wealth, health and insight. Forever young you may pass. Blue Ivy Carter, my angel“.

There is credible suspicion in media and music circles that Jay-Z is not the author of the poem, released barely a week after his track ‘Glory’ entered the charts at No. 74, making his and Beyoncé’s daughter the youngest person to chart a track, given her coos and cries can be heard in the background. The poem was not released on any of Jay-Z’s blogs, and so as yet, though the sentiment is admirable, it’s unclear if these words are from the mouth of Hov himself.

[Source: NME]

As the world collectively reels from the opulence on display at the Golden Globes ceremony on Sunday night, and everyone trawls the interwebs for a bootleg copy of The Artist, another set of artists are locked in a post-awards death match following a trophy shocker that saw Madonna win best original song for her “Masterpiece”, and saw her rival Elton John scowl so deeply, his face appeared to eat itself.

Not hours before, as John and partner, David Furnish were snapped on the red carpet, Rocket Man had this to say re: his versus Madonna’s chances.

Then this happened…

Then this happened…

Ouch. Not to let his partner suffer in silence, David Furnish took to Facebook yesterday to vent their collective frustration at this musical outrage:

“Madonna. Best song???? Fuck off!!! Madonna winning Best Original Song truly shows how these awards have nothing to do with merit. Her acceptance speech was embarrassing in it’s narcissism. And her critisism of Gaga shows how desperate she really is.”

The only sourer grapes on display were the bottle of that Elton drowned his sorrows in for the rest of the evening. As yet no comment from Madonna, who has probably got lockjaw from wearing that feral victory grimace all night and most of yesterday.

Here’s Madonna’s winning song, from her film W.E.

[Source: Dlisted]

Read more...

Girls really should know better than to even let their guys watch stuff like this, let alone actively persuade them to do so. It’s the equivalent of making a guy inspect the contents of those mysterious little bins they have in the ladies’ bathrooms. We don’t want to know. We’re better off not knowing. There’s a whole universe of girly stuff that men should never see. The line “Nobody puts Baby in the corner” induces nausea in men. It makes girls’ eyes well up with tears of joy. Enough said.

The same goes for music. Take the song “Bubbly” by Colbie Caillat. Just that title alone is hard for me to look at. Bubbly? Are you joking? But check out some of the lyrics of this ode to being a girley girl: “Every time I see your bubbly face, I get the tinglies in a silly place/It starts in my toes and I crinkle my nose…” Ok, now I’m actually retching. Can I just point out that this is some hardcore frontline journalism going on right now people. I am currently wearing a bulletproof vest, reporting from the heart of chickdom – a pink, fluffy place where few men dare to tread for fear of being put off girls forever. I hope you appreciate it.

Anyway, that crinkly nose shit is like napalm for guys, just as Megadeth is for girls (at least the kind you want to hang out with). So, I think we’ve established that, while opposite sexes are often drawn to each other, there will always be parts of them that go together like oil and water. They’re best kept separate. Just occasionally though, something comes along that both sexes can get their kicks from.

Florence + the Machine could, at first glance, be deemed to be music designed for chicks. But it’s so much more than that. Yes, ladies are clearly going to dig it. But it’s a bit like Pixar movies such as Shrek or The Incredibles – they throw plenty of extremely witty stuff in there for the adults, making these movies great to watch and taking the pain out of accompanying your kids to the cinema. Now I’m not saying that girls are like kids and guys are like adults, I’m just saying that Florence + the Machine have made music that girls will love and guys will appreciate too. But it’s not because they’ve put stuff in there for guys; it’s just because the sheer force of its power respects no boundaries.

[Click 'CONTINUE READING' below for the rest of this awesome review!]

Whilst much of the subject matter is about hopeless romance and epic drama, the same could be said for much of Led Zeppelin. Ceremonials is Florence + the Machine’s second album after the brilliant Lungs – which I reviewed some time ago. They’ve handled the “difficult second album” syndrome perfectly, building on and evolving the sound established by their debut. The epic choruses are even more epic, the huge, speaker-melting production values are even huger and, of course, Florence Welch’s ridiculously powerful vocal delivery has matured into a something more complex, with more shades and nuances. She is awesome – the closer she gets to the line where brilliance becomes absurdity, the better the music gets.

The only reason she is able to sail so close to the wind is because of her exceptional vocal talents, which allow her to fly higher than most. A lesser singer would seem silly singing, “I’m gonna leave my body (going up to higher ground), I’m gonna lose my mind (history keeps pulling me down)” in a huge mid tempo, sweeping melody. Only Bono would have the sheer nerve to pull it off.

The track Shake It Out, is an anthem about starting over, “I am done with my graceless heart/So tonight I’m gonna cut it out and then restart”. Again, it’s not what she says, it’s the way she says it. It’s not a voice; it’s a force of nature, big enough to tackle themes equally as gargantuan – death, love, heartbreak, religion… nothing too trivial. What The Water Gave Me is essentially about the watery death of a spurned lover, “Lay me down, let the only sound, be the overflow…” Girls will be swept away by the romance of it all, guys will appreciate the music itself – there’s nothing delicate about it, it’s thick, driving, not dissimilar to thunder rolling through a vast valley. So, if you’re hitting the road this Christmas, firstly, drive safely and watch out for the madness that is the South African driver, and secondly, if you’re having a lover’s tiff about what to listen to, try a spot of Florence + the Machine. Happy Christmas everybody!

Late last year, 2oceansVibe reported on the top three selling albums of 2011, from Adele, Michael Buble and Lady Gaga respectively. In fact, sales of those albums actually managed to create a tiny growth spurt in a market that has been declining for over a decade.

Now a new trend has emerged that bodes less well for traditional music sales, (that is on various types of disc), because last year digital music sales and downloads edged out physical album sales by a margin for the first time ever, and that in the best year discs have had since 2000. Uh oh, see ya CD’s, it’s been swell…

Nielsen and Billboard rankings for 2011 reveal that digital music accounted for 50,3% of music sales in 2011. Digital sales were up 8,4% from the previous year.

Some more digital music tidbits for you:

• Lady Gaga took the top spot as 2011′s most streamed artist.
• The most streamed song of 2011? Nicki Minaj’s “Super Bass,” with 84,9 million audio streams and 71 million video streams.
• Adele’s album 21 was the top selling album both online and physically
• Adele’s single, “Rolling in the Deep,” was the bestselling digital song, with 5,8 million downloads.

So as we all prepare to mothball our CD collections, commentators are pointing at the wide variety of platforms that are able to access and play digital music easily, such as mobile phones and the various iDevices, as the primary vehicle behind the rising evidence that online music is where the future is at.

Says Brian Zisk of the SF Music Summit:

The ability for people to purchase music everywhere has really expanded the digital marketplace,” he says. “They don’t need to go to physical store — anywhere the phone is people are able to purchase music.

[Source: CNN]

Honduran police are currently examining arson as a possible cause for the fire, but nobody has as yet been taken into custody. The show was stopped after smoke began to fill the arena.

After the show, Redfoo (I think he’s the one with the huge hair and the weird glasses) tweeted about the incident – first joking, “Epic concert tonight!!!! Everybody in Honduras, we set the place on fire!!!!”

He also explained, “They told us that there was a fire when we were on stage. Then we went to the dressing rooms and there was smoke in the halls.”

An hour later, he was more somber, tweeting, “On a serious note. Hope everybody is safe from the fire tonight! love you Honduras!”

Here is a gallery of what went down:

[Source: TMZ]

These are the 25 tracks featured in the mashup:

• Adele – Rolling In The Deep
• Adele – Someone Like You
• Black Eyed Peas – Just Can’t Get Enough
• Bruno Mars – Grenade
• Bruno Mars – The Lazy Song
• Britney Spears – Till The World Ends
• Cee Lo Green – F* You
• Enrique Iglesias – Tonight (I’m Lovin’ You)
• Foster the People – Pumped Up Kicks
• Jennifer Lopez – On The Floor
• Jeremih feat. 50 cent – Down On Me
• Katy Perry – Firework
• Katy Perry – E.T.
• Katy Perry – Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)
• Lady Gaga – Born This Way
• LMFAO – Party Rock Anthem
• LMFAO – Sexy and I Know It
• Lupe Fiasco – The Show Goes On
• Maroon 5 – Moves Like Jagger
• Nicki Minaj – Super Bass
• OneRepublic – Good Life
• Pink – Raise Your Glass
• Pitbull – Give Me Everything
• Rihanna – S&M
• Rihanna – We Found Love

A pretty awesome way to look at this year’s music, no? If this is the first time you’ve seen one of his videos, his 2009 video is my favourite, and in my opinion his best.

[Source: DJEarworm]

2osyl and Francis Cutter put together the spectacular visuals by layering and duplicating numerous clips of the band performing, and the tying it all together with perfect timing and audio cues. The end result is amazing, buffer the clip, crank up the volume, and enjoy.

[Source: The Atlantic]

The 2000s haven’t been kind to the US music business, with year on year shrinkage in sales since Y2K leading to the longest slump this side of the Second World War. In 2011, three artists managed to turn the slide around, while many others floundered in mediocre sales. Care to guess who?

Rolling in the sales

The year’s biggest seller was indubitably Adele with her sophomore album, 21. It’s likely to hit the six million and counting mark by the end of the year, not to mention stellar sales of her singles, including “Someone like you”, “Rolling in the Deep” and “Rumour has it”. Given we’re unlikely to see a 22 out of her, 2012 already looks dreary to record execs.

Christmas ker-ching!

Michael Buble’s Christmas came in 2nd this year with almost two million copies of his holiday crooning easily edging out his competition from Justin Bieber’s Under the Mistletoe. It also passed Lady Gaga’s Born This Way to the number two spot.

Gaga takes the bronze

Mama Monster assumes the third spot then, due to impressive holiday sales for Buble, and also a controversial initial offering of title single “Born This Way” on Amazon for 99c when it was first released. Her major money spinner was her tour, which raked in over US$72 million from her ardent Monsters.

All in all, those three managed to turn around the music sales slump by a mere  one percent, and no-one is expecting a repeat performance in 2012. Other “big” artists, and supposed comebacks only did moderate business. Coldplay’s Mylo Xyloto managed a paltry 877 000 in eight weeks (paltry since their last album managed over 700 000 in a single week), while supposed comeback kings, Blink 182 barely scratched 260 000 in ten weeks on release.

[Source: The Wrap]

If you live in an urban area, then peace and quiet can come at a particularly high premium. If it isn’t the endless number of construction sites banging away at all hours, or the soundtrack of a stress-filled office, then it could be traffic on a busy road, noisy neighbours, and even jet engine noise underneath a flight path causing distraction.

However, a new study by the University of Michigan in the States shows that the greatest threat to peoples’ quality of hearing is none of these noisy urban nuisances; in fact the biggest contributor to modern loss happens right in your earlobe, courtesy of high powered modern MP3 and stereo music devices, such as iPods, mobile phones and portable stereos and music players.

In the study of 4500 New Yorkers, 90 percent of public transit users and 87 percent of non-transit users are exposed to damaging noise levels mainly from using their MP3 players or stereos. Habitually, they expose their sensitive inner ears to volumes of 80 decibels and upwards, or roughly the volume of an active vacuum cleaner right into their ear.

The obvious solution is, of course, to turn down the volume, but the research suggests this isn’t as obvious a solution as you might think. Many people are actually using the high volume music in their headphones or speakers to distract from other nuisance noise that might be bothering them in their environment, unwittingly compounding the threat to their hearing faculties.

Says Rick Neitzel, one of the researchers on the study:

“I do think it’s a serious problem, there aren’t really any other experiences where we would tolerate having nine out of 10 people exposed at a level we know is hazardous. We certainly wouldn’t tolerate this with another agent, such as something that caused cancer or chronic disease. Yet for some reason we do for noise.”

[Source: TIMES Live]

Die Antwoord will drop their second album on 7 February. Called TEN$ION, the LP will be released on their own label, ZEF REKORDZ. The cover has been revealed and features an angel-winged, demonic-faced Yolandi Vi$$er eating what appears to be a human heart.

This has been released a long with this track-list for the album:

01 Never Le Nkemise 1
02 I Fink U Freeky
03 Pielie (Skit)
04 Hey Sexy
05 Fatty Boom Boom
06 Zefside Zol (Interlude)
07 So What?
08 Uncle Jimmy (Skit)
09 Baby’s on Fire
10 U Make a Ninja Wanna Fuck
11 Fok Julle Naaiers
12 DJ Hi-Tek Rulez
13 Never Le Nkemise 2

If your Antwoord lust has not been satisfied by now, then have a look at the music video for the first single, Fok Julle Naaiers, below:

[Source: Pitchfork]

Typically the process of synthesizing an artist’s voice would require them to sing every single possible syllable in the target language, one at a time, which would later be stitched together to form songs. This takes time, effort, and requires the singers to be alive to do it.

Vocaloid claims, however, that they’ve succeeded in bypassing the recording phase, as displayed by their resurrection of Hitoshi Ueki, a popular Japanese vocalist who died back in 2007.

Said Yamaha researcher Hideki Kenmochi in an interview with Wired,

As far as I know, many viewers were satisfied with the result, and so am I. It really sounds like him, because the creator [the programmer in charge of the voice library] did a good job.

The technology isn’t perfect by any means – the uncanny valley effect that makes overly-detailed CGI faces look creepy also applies to synthesized music, and there are times when it’s clear that a bit of voice was computer-generated.

Still, the methods Vocaloid are employing are so promising, in fact, that they’re planning to release an album with the robot Ueki-voice in a year or so.

[Source: Wired]

This is literally one of the most incredible things I’ve ever seen. You are about to witness footage of a guy called Gabriel Shai who is a covers artist on the scene in Cape Town – popular on the Cape Town Jewish wedding circuit. He can play anything and only uses one hand.

I GIVE YOU MY WORD THIS IS NOT A PISS-TAKE.

Watch it all the way through, as it just gets better and better.

According to his website:

My brand is a one man band, my objective is to take every event and change the dynamics from normality to insanity. I do this by using the under current of the event’s inner rhythm and transform this energy into an explosive party atmosphere.

You need to watch the video to understand what he means.

You also need to watch it at least once a day because it is so layered that you will find a treat every time.

A few things stand out for me:

- The use of the record scratching machine leading into Red Red Wine.

- Slipping into an English accent for Oasis’ Wonderwall, when he sings the words ”realise what you got to do”

- The incredible height he gets from his legs leading into chorus of Sweet Caroline.

- And my own personal favorite which is so layered – comes quite near the end when he does New York New York and sits down next to the three business men. That’s one thing, but then just before it jumps to the next track he says something like “very stylish.”

The guy is a phenomenal entertainer.

Click CONTINUE READING below to watch it and let us know your favourite parts!

Contact Gabriel Shai at www.gabrielshai.co.za

[Thanks, Dan]

Military police stormed a rock concert on Saturday, scattering the crowd and arresting 65 people, 59 men and six women, for being punk rockers.

The punks had their dog-collar necklaces and body piercings removed before being stripped of their “disgusting” clothes, “cleansed” in a lake and being handed a toothbrush and told to “use it!”

Local police chief Iskandar Hasan:

We’re not torturing anyone. We’re not violating human rights. We’re just trying to put them back on the right moral path.

The rockers have received 10 days of rehab, where they will learn military-style discipline, take religious classes, including Quran recitation, before they’ll be allowed to go home.

“Sorry… We don’t have any number four’s”

“When I count to three, everybody dunk your heads”

“Repeat after me: I will not listen to Against Me!”

Twenty-year-old, Fauzan, was most upset:

Why? Why my hair?! We didn’t hurt anyone. This is how we’ve chosen to express ourselves. Why are they treating us like criminals?

The cleansing has been described as the latest effort by authorities to promote strict moral values in Aceh, which is the only Indonesian province to have imposed such stringent Islamic laws.

[Source: WashingtonPost]

The study was conducted by psychologist, Dr. Lorenzo Stafford, who had 80 regular drinkers between the ages of 18 and 28 rate a range of drinks on levels of bitterness and sweetness while while Stafford played a variety of audio distractions in the background, ranging from total silence to “loud club-type music playing at the same time as reading a news report.”

Stafford found that participants who were listening to loud music (as opposed to the weird electro-news report mashups) were liable to report that their drinks tasted much sweeter, and drank far more of the booze at hand. Stafford also found that alcohol made “loud club-type music” far more tolerable, generating a feedback loop where loud music makes you want to drink, and drinking makes you okay with loud music, which explains why whatever music you don’t like exists.

Anyway! Next time you’re given the stink-eye for drinking too much or too fast, lurch over and explain why it’s the music’s fault, and that there’s a scientific paper somewhere the proves it. That’ll probably smooth things over.

[Source: PA]

Last week, Justin Bieber almost ruined the collective festive cheer of the entire world by announcing he was working on a dubstep album, but thankfully it’s still the season for giving, and a handful of awesome classic rock outfits have announced their plans to tour SA in 2012, effectively cancelling out the horror aftershocks of the Lesbieber’s awful, awful news.

First off, The Eagles are landing in South Africa in April 2012, with performances scheduled on Wednesday, April 4 at Cape Town Stadium; Saturday, April 7 at the Superbowl in Sun City; and on Sunday, April 8 at FNB Stadium in Johannesburg.

This will be the first time the Rock ‘n Roll Hall Of Fame alumni, and six time Grammy winning group will be performing in South Africa, and in terms of classic American rock, you don’t get much better than The Eagles. Tickets go on sale tomorrow via Computicket.

Then, in May/June, classic British outfits, The Moody Blues, Procol Harem and 10cc will be participating in The British Invasion which will be held in Grand Arena, Grand West, Cape Town on May 30 and at Johannesburg’s Coca-Cola Dome on June 1.

If that weren’t enough, there is still Sting, who will be stopping in South Africa as part of his Sting: 25 Years tour, with performances on March 24 and 25 at the Coca-Cola Dome in Johannesburg, and March 27 and 28 at the Grand Arena, GrandWest in Cape Town.

There’s more than enough classic blues and rock coming our way to offset anything that Canadian pop imp might dubstep at us. Make sure you get your tickets as soon as, because you can be sure seats for these will run out fast.

[Source: TIMES Live]

‘Eksie Ou’ – by Jack Parow

Voor die gym voor dit opmaak,met n protein shake
2ure op die treadmill anders is ons spyt
mens health covers,voel altyd fokken great
want al wat regtig tel innie lewe is hoe jy lyk
innie bed teen 8uur met n goeie fokken boek
groot innie bolyf,ma lig innie broek
tel die energade op,brandy moet jy neersit
hang nog by clubs uit al is ons amper 40
date net dom blondes,want dis fokken maklik
probeer heeltyd diep wees,ma bly oppervlakig
lifestyle centres en clinique for men
lifestyle blogs,lyk soos barbie se ken
pims en fokken lemonade,kuai en buzz
nul personality,lifenhancing drugs
so klap jou fokken hanne vir die moffies met die guns
en kom soek parow by die bar as jy lus is vir n man

sit heel voor in die kerk,ons lewe bo ons ryk
ons bid alweer werk,die bediende moet mos stryk
kaarte by woolworths en edgars accounts
country road vat my huis toe,die last boy scout
nog n huisie in n kompleks,twee karre innie garage,
mug en bean breakfasts,eet net ceaser salaads
bybel innie handsak,ma as dit moeilik gan dan skei ons
cafe oppie straat hoek,ma as ons iets soek dan ry ons
mannies en peddies,botox en lifts
tuinboys en nanys,mouldy en miff
ons huis lyk soos n ad vir mr.price home
ons almal fokken lyk soos moerse nice clones
getroued met mr.min,gemis deur min,
bloed rooi fokken lipstick en hare mooi geperm
familie vakansies op knysna of plet
asb kan iemand ons net fokken red

ons dra brille sonder lense,bly in open plan flats
vol bal en klou tafels en opgerolde yoga mats
side path hairstyles en sailor tatoos
ons facebook vol gepak van fotos van on shoes
rook net tabak deur ou oom pype
dit proe dalk soos kak ma dit lyk baie greater
nog n kak fotograaf,nog n ice fokken model
nog n graphic designer,nog n valpre bottle
vintage fokken klere,ryk soos homeless shelters
probeer almal different wees,ma lyk die fokken selfde
praat met n aksent ma kom van die kaap af
jy kan ons drop in n music video straight vanie straat af
ons almal speel in bands,ma speel nooit fokken shows nie
ons is almal selfcontious omdat niemand ons onthou nie
nog n band uit die paarl,nog n waste of space
nog n and union bier,nog fokol om te wys
sandwich by superette,wyn by by power and glory
meestal by die bar want ons lewens is te boring
nog n klein biekie makeup,lyk soos n post mortom
nog n pose,nog n smile,nog n album op we are awesome

Jack Parow certainly is the guy. He pulled out his iPad and showed me the vinyl Jack Parow toys that are launching soon. And then he reached into his bag and forced me to taste his new Jack Parow Braai Sous. And I’m glad he did – it’s blerrie delicious!

I kept a bottle and marinaded some chops in that stuff this weekend. Nothing short of a miracle, I tell you! Do yourself a favour and get a bottle.

Truth be told – the album is pretty rad – I enjoyed the title track Eksie Ou (it’s completely hysterical – he has a go at quite a few metro and hipster institutions), as well as most of the others.

He’s even done tracks with Gazelle, David Kramer and others. Pretty sick.

So get the braai sous and the CD as well. Crank up a braai and play the CD loud. It’s the Jack Parow Experience, and it’s yours to own!

According to Digitalspy:

The video – which stars supermodels Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford, Eva Herzigova, Helena Christensen and Yasmin Le Bon, will not be aired on MTV and VH1 as it has been branded too sexual.

A source said: “MTV are simply overreacting to this video, it’s not like this is anything new in pop videos, which have always been controversial. Compared to some pop videos this is all rather tame.

“The video was also banned for its blatant product placement, yet this is how videos are made today. Four million viewers on YouTube have already seen the video anyway, it’s a bit of light-hearted fun, titillation and escapism.”

The ban comes 30 years after the group’s ‘Girls On Film’ music video was also blocked by MTV after it featured topless girls mud wrestling.

‘Girl Panic’s nine-minute visual was directed by Jonas Akerlund who has previously worked on Lady GaGa’s ‘Paparazzi’ and ‘Telephone’ videos. MTV has called for the director to re-edit the cut before it will show it.

[more here]

Cool, whatever – let’s watch the video! Click link below to check it out!

Nicely..

In the video for single “Why Don’t We Do Something?”, the band recreates some of iPhone’s most popular games in real life, including Angry Birds, Plants Vs. Zombies, Flight Control, Cut The Rope and Fruit Ninja.

[Source: Memeburn]

In a glowing display of Christian charity and respect for others, a religious blog in America, Christians For A Moral America, has issued a statement to its followers via Twitter, calling on them to pray for pop singer, George Michael’s death.

Pray for George Michael’s demise. He has chosen a satanic lifestyle and must meet an appropriate end,

This was tweeted by the CFMA via their GodsWordIsLaw Twitter account. Michael is currently in hospital in Austria, where he is being treated for severe pneumonia, which forced him to cancel an upcoming tour.

Despite online outrage at the CFMA’s ranting, the blog has defended their original statement, issuing another shining example of the many principles Christ stood for, such as empathy and tolerance:

Lol wow you sodomites will do and say anything to justify your satanic bedroom practices. Face it, it’s filthy and abnormal.

Nice timing, CFMA, just in time for Christmas. Morons. Their blog itself is less than a month old, and the Twitter account even less so. Mostly the blog busies itself with bilious ranting at GLBT issues and personalities.

[Source: MambaOnline, Washington Blade]

The old days of the singing telegram were actually quite special. The first singing telegram was delivered in 1933 when George Oslin, then public relations director for Western Union, decided he wanted to break the usual “bad” news association telegrams had and make them fun.

The system took off well and was in operation until 1974. Then, in 1980, Western Union re-launched the service and got external companies to send out employees in costumes, to sing, dance, deliver balloons. Even strippers were part of the service.

That service was finally suspended in 2006 when the company focused more of its efforts on the money transfer business.

As of today, the service will resume again, with a twist: receivers will now hear the voices of the senders, and artists like Snoop Dogg, from a chosen template format that gets delivered via email.

While some of the professional performers will be American, Western Union will also continue to focus on their other target markets like India and parts of Africa.

With the advent of other technologies, and the existence of other social networking platforms, Marc Audrit, Vice President for Global Creative Excellence, remains optimistic people will use the service:

If you’re a 22-year-old fan of Timbaland, you may not have a clear idea of what a telegram is. That’s OK, because when something that may sound dusty, unknown, is presented with something fresh, up to date, there’s a very interesting tension, an electricity from a storytelling perspective that’s intriguing.

The service will be free to use up until the end of the year, after which Western Union will begin to charge for it.

It’s also expected that the company will find a way to incorporate its primary service – money transfers – into the new service.

[Source: NYTimes]

In a video that was leaked to the The Daily, Miley Cyrus is shown at her 19th birthday party, having a great time. It even included a dwarf version of Nicky Minaj singing “Super Bass.” No spice. A little while later, whilst giving her speech (with a very stoned looking Kelly Osbourne), Miley says, “You know you’re a stoner when you’re friends make you a Bob Marley cake. You know you smoke way too much fucking weed.”

Oops. Seems you’ve stepped right into that one. Kelly Osbourne has since gone into full damage control on Twitter:

Perhaps the lady doth protest too much? This is Billy Ray’s kid, after all.

[Source: The Daily]

If you haven’t bought the last album – do. It really is that good. Don’t get me wrong, if you don’t like garage rock, this Detroit outfit made a firm return to its rough ‘n ready roots. The album has everything I loved about the band: that harsh guitar, the clackety drums of Meg White and Jack White’s mad hatter sense of humour.

It is common knowledge that I like some commercial bands like Coldplay and The Editors. Let it be known then that I wish it was Coldplay that had broken up and not the White Stripes. I’ve also bought Mylo Xyloto recently, and it is shite. Chris Martin clearly needs to go solo, and the rest of the band must deploy its ample talents to worthier pursuits.

The thing about the White Stripes is that they take with them not just a great band, but an entire genre of music with them, to the grave. I think their passing marks the end of garage rock.

What had long been coming was finally confirmed on 2 February when the White Stripes released a statement, saying that they would no longer release any more new material or do live performances. “The reason is not due to artistic differences or lack of wanting to continue, nor any health issues as both Meg and Jack are feeling fine and in good health,” the band said. “It is for a myriad of reasons, but mostly to preserve what is beautiful and special about the band and have it stay that way.”

John Anthony Gillis (born July 9, 1975) was an early familiar face in the Detroit indie music scene, starting as a drummer for punk band Goober & The Peas in the early 90s. Gillis played lead guitar for The Go and Two Star Barnacle. In September 1996, Gillis married bartender Megan White, taking her surname for his own. They started the White Stripes as duo (it stayed that way for as long as it lasted), playing in the Motor City’s burgeoning underground garage rock scene alongside acts like Bantam Rooster and The Dirtbombs. They signed with independent label, Italy Records in 1998, and released their first single Let’s Shake Hands on vinyl soon thereafter.

The couple split up in March 2000, just as they were on the cusp of sensation. In their early days, the band performed as brother and sister, even as evidence of their marriage surfaced. Speaking later to Rolling Stone, Jack explained this by saying, “When you see a band that is two pieces, husband and wife, boyfriend and girlfriend, you think, “Oh, I see…” When they’re brother and sister, you go, “Oh, that’s interesting.” You care more about the music, not the relationship – whether they’re trying to save their relationship by being in a band.”

The White Stripes released their first album (self-titled) under independent label Sympathy for the Record Industry in June 1999. The band’s blues-metal-punk bare sound gained them immediate attention. The album was the most “garage” (the name came from the early perception that the performers of such music were young amateurs who played in their parents’ garages) of all the albums they’ve ever produced – Jack’s whimsical, esoteric soapbox lyrics shrouded in the naked growl of his guitar which thumped along to Megan’s drums and cymbals.

The band developed a design aesthetic as raw as their sound – they always performed in stark reds, blacks and whites. Their third album, White Blood Cells, garnered them international acclaim, with the British press comparing them to the iconic 70s punk band the Sex Pistols. Their 2003 album Elephant – released under the V2 label – was by far their most successful, evoking darker emotions than their previous albums.

Allmusic said that Elephant “captures this contradiction within the Stripes and their music; it’s the first album they’ve recorded for a major label, and it sounds even more pissed-off, paranoid, and stunning than its predecessor. Darker and more difficult than White Blood Cells, the album offers nothing as immediately crowd-pleasing or sweet as ‘Fell in Love With a Girl’ or ‘We’re Going to Be Friends’, but it’s more consistent, exploring disillusionment and rejection with razor-sharp focus.”

The White Stripes is one of the few bands to don the “garage rock” cloth and find both critical and commercial success. Seven Nation Army, the first single off Elephant won the 2004 Grammy for Best Rock Song, with the album winning Best Alternative Music Album in the same year.

In further albums (Get Behind Me Satan, Icky Thump), the band’s sound swelled to include piano accompaniments and other instruments like marimbas. Singles like Blue Orchid, My Doorbell, the Denial Twist and Icky Thump became radio hits.

The band was not without its critics – perhaps inevitable for a band that produced such a basic, unfussy style. Oddly, the greatest controversy the White Stripes ever generated was in 2006 when Jack White wrote a tune for a Coca-Cola advert, sparking an outcry from the band’s indie fans. Jack White retorted that he’d never promised not to write music for a commercial. Regardless of taste, the band’s influence on contemporary rock music is undeniable. The beauty of a good garage rock tune is that it can be adapted to virtually any style of music, from bluegrass to dance.

Towards the latter part of the last decade, Jack White branched off into other music projects, including producing, writing and performing (with Alicia Keys) Another Way To Die, the Bond theme song for Quantum of Solace.

With the peak of garage rock in the early 2000s – driven by The White Stripes, The Strokes, The Hives and The Vines – in decline as the decade wound down, the band failed to release another album after 2008’s Icky Thump, though they performed live from time to time. The band’s decline happened against the tragic tapestry of Detroit’s own demise in the wake of the car manufacturing industry after the world economic downturn.

“The White Stripes do not belong to Meg and Jack anymore,” the band said in their final farewell. “The White Stripes belong to you now and you can do with it whatever you want. The beauty of art and music is that it can last forever if people want it to. Thank you for sharing this experience. Your involvement will never be lost on us and we are truly grateful.”

I for one, sorely miss them.

Check it out:

You can download the song for free from their website. Here are the lyrics:

You’re sitting at the table at the end of a meal
You went for a steak ‘cause you felt sorry for the veal
Your friend lifts his hand and starts waving at the bar
Hope he just wants the cheque ‘cause you don’t know CPR

The waitron brings the book with urgency and haste
Clearly expecting a large tip he has drawn a smiley face
You’re reaching for your wallet, will it be cash or card?
Unfortunately no cheques ‘cause it says so on that placard

Your friend takes the slip, now the awkward fight begins
You say you’ll pay but he insists that everything’s on him
You try cast your mind back to figure out what you ate
It’s hard to remember ‘cause you had a lot on your plate

You attempt to sneak a peak but he’s covered it with his hand

It’s the Secrecy Bill, you can’t believe it’s been passed
It’s the Secrecy Bill, it happened so fast
It’s the Secrecy Bill, no matter how you appeal
It’s the Secrecy Bill, now watch them pay for that meal

[Thanks Simon!]

That’s what Mick Jagger, Damian Marley, Joss Stone, Dave Stewart and Indian composer A.R. Rahman have done. They’re all in a band called SuperHeavy. They should have called it Motley Crew but it was taken apparently. The music is as diverse as the musical backgrounds of its members, with reggae, soul, Indian orchestral string arrangements and of course Jagger’s inimitable vocal stylings all being tossed into the brew.

Mick Jagger hasn’t really been himself since the eighties. To be fair, it must be exhausting waking up in the morning, looking in the mirror and thinking, “Okay, here goes, another day being Mick Jagger.” Especially when Keith Richards is looked upon as an international treasure and is writing memoirs telling the world what a “tiny todger” you have. Yet somehow Mick seems liberated in his roll as the mad great uncle in the band. It is worth checking out the video for the single Miracle Worker. Mick truly knocks it out the park when he appears in his pink suit and belts out the lines “There’s nothing wrong with you that I can’t fix, I come a running with my little bag of tricks…” The guy is pushing 70, and looks a little scary to be honest, but he still sings like a legend – the definition of a cool voice. Not a technical master, just fucking cool sounding. And let’s not forget those moves…

Somehow, in this guise, Mick’s not grasping for his title as a rock god, as he seems to be in the Stones. He’s just a legend, and there’s nothing to prove. Maybe he feels threatened by Keith or something, whereas here he’s just chilling, “passing frontman duties around like a spliff” as they wrote in Rolling Stone magazine.

[follow link for more of this rad review!]

Then there’s Damian Marley, son of Bob and arguably his most talented offspring. If you haven’t heard Welcome To Jamrock, I would strongly urge you to purchase said album at your earliest convenience. In many ways Marley is the secret ingredient here, adding a much needed dose of authentic reggae culture and relevance to the group.

As for Joss Stone, I thought she was going to be a super cool artist when she first appeared with her debut, the boringly titled Soul Sessions, where she did a great cover of Fell In Love With A Girl (Boy in her case) by the White Stripes – produced by Questlove, the mastermind/drummer of the Roots. Then she got a bit annoying with the whole soul diva schtick.

Dave Stewart, who apparently put SuperHeavy together, also created Eurythmics, who were very good at what they did once upon a time. Apparently he was inspired by the sounds washing into his home in St Ann’s, Jamaica. Finally, just to add a bit of spice, the band includes A.R. Rahman, an Indian composer who has scored Bollywood films, is a singer songwriter and producer and is responsible for all the exotic string arrangements that are mixed in with all the soul infused reggae.

So it’s a mad mix of credible people and sounds. They’ve pretty much thrown anything and everything at it and seen what sticks. It’s totally unpredictable music and what’s brilliant about SuperHeavy is that they don’t fall into the trap that most super-groups do, where it’s more about who is in the band than the music they’re making. Much of the album is reggae, mixed with soul, mixed with exotic string arrangement, with some rock n’ roll infused with ganja smoke and a spot of black magic. It doesn’t follow any rules and is highly experimental, but it’s also not messing around, the beats are strong, the music is driving. It’s upbeat and confident. Which may be what’s so invigorating about it, both for the musicians and the listener. They’ve all thrown away their baggage and started from scratch, even Mick Jagger! It’s like the Queen of England going, “I’m tired of being the Queen, I’m going to try something completely different.”

Granted, some of the songs sound a bit unresolved, but overall, it’s a heady, exotic mix and, above all, it’s fun. SuperHeavy is irie.

[Buy the album online, here]

From his iconic riffs in Voodoo Chile, to his re-working of All Along Along The Watchtower, and his rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner, there is no doubt that Hendrix is the single most influential guitarist of all time. Rolling Stone stated it best:

His playing was effortless. There’s not one minute of his recorded career that feels like he’s working hard at it – it feels like it’s all flowing through him.

He seamlessly weaves chords and single-note runs together and uses chord voicings that don’t appear in any music book. His riffs were a pre-metal funk bulldozer, and his lead lines were an electric LSD trip down to the crossroads, where he pimp-slapped the devil.

Prove them wrong. I dare you. I don’t think you can.

Other guitarists included Eric Clapton at number two, and Jimmy Paige at number three. The Top 10 also features Pete Townshend from The Who, Eddie van Halen, and jazz/blues pioneer BB King.

[Source: Rolling Stone]

Noel, however, is not taking the new suit lying down, and is counter-claiming against Liam for leaving abusive voicemails on Noel’s wife’s voicemail, and threatening to beat him with a guitar. Seriously. Noel sums up his anger at Liam’s behaviour over the years in this quote from one of the court documents:

The claimant [Liam] had a history over the years of not only throat problems and of pursuing such an incompatible lifestyle, but of treating Oasis fans and the defendant with disrespect by disrupting gigs, including walking off stage, assaulting them and generally acting irresponsibly.

Come on boys, can’t we all just be friends? You don’t want to be looking back in anger one day.

[Source: NME]

I don’t need to see a picture of Kurt asshole and I’m going to have you fucking removed if you keep holding that up. I’m not Kurt, I have to live with his shit and his ghost and his kid every day and throwing that up is stupid and rude and I’m going to beat the fuck out of you if you do it again. You weren’t fucking married to him, I fucking was. You didn’t get kicked out of a band by him, like Dave, he did. Go see the fucking Foo Fighters and do that shit. Great, we’ll leave now…fuck you!

She then zapped the audience and left the stage – only returning after the crowd chanted: “The Foo Fighters are gay!” Her last words on the matter, before continuing to play, was:

[Referring to Dave Grohl from the Foo Fighters] I don’t care what you listen to at home, but if a guy takes off money off my kid’s table, fuck him.

Here’s a video of the incident:

[Source: NME]

The suggestions are a little off sometimes – ‘Die Antwoord,’ for instance, somehow comes up wit “10 oz. Talisker Scotch. Garnish with maraschino cherry.” – but because the site is linked to Last.fm and its ever-growing stock of obscure music and music tags, the brains behind this thing go pretty in-depth. The ‘Bob Dylan‘ is “8 oz. Sipsmith Gin and 8 oz. Cough syrup.” Which, I mean, yeah, sounds about right.

By in-depth I also mean cruel – the drink of choice for Miles Davis is “1 oz. Heroin.”

For a neat drinking game, put iTunes on shuffle in conjunction with drinkify. Just, you know, have some paramedics on stand-by.

[Source: drinkify]

Afrikaans zef rap sensation, Die Antwoord, have released a statement on their website indicating that they have parted ways with their record company, Interscope – and that’s putting it diplomatically. This comes just days after the band released the first single, “Fok Julle Naaiers,” off their upcoming second album TEN$ION, which was produced by Interscope, and is due to drop shortly.

According to the group, Interscope wanted them to re-work “Fok Julle Naaiers” for a more “mainstream appeal”, and Die Antwoord, unsurprisingly, were not amused, responding:

So anyway… Interscope offered us a bunch of money again to release our new album TEN$ION. But this time, they also tried to get involved with our music, to try and make us sound like everyone else out there at the moment… So we said: ‘U know what, rather hang on to your money, buy yourself something nice…we gonna do our own thing. Bye bye’.

The band has announced that the album will now be released by their own label, ZEF REKORDZ, and further singles will be made available for download digitally.

Do you think Die Antwoord have what it takes to do it alone? Have at it in the comments.

[Source: News 24]

Townshend made the comments in BBC 6 Music’s inaugural John Peel Lecture, named in honour of the legendary DJ. Townshend was famous for regularly smashing his guitars on stage, an act which later grew into exploding drum kits.

Amongst the lack of services that digital music stores offered artists (Townshend mentions record labels providing “editorial guidance” and “creative nurture”), he spoke out about the lack of scouting for new music and the ability for record labels to get a new band off the ground. Currently bands must submit independently produced music to iTunes for approval. If you’re a band that’s just started out and happen to be really good, this is where a record label would sign you up and help you out a little bit. iTunes doesn’t do that. He said:

Is there really any good reason why, just because iTunes exists in the wild west internet land of Facebook and Twitter, it can’t provide some aspect of these services to the artists whose work it bleeds like a digital vampire, like a digital Northern Rock, for its enormous commission?

iTunes accounts for more than 75% of all legal downloads. An Apple spokesman declined to comment on Townshend’s remarks. The flaw in his argument is this – iTunes is a store. Not a label. Musica and Look and Listen don’t provide bands with money to create music, the simply sell it. A young band would think it silly to approach Musica and say “we have this great idea for an album, wanna fund it?”

Here’s the thing: Would a band rather starve and have their music heard, or have money and be ignored? I’m sure Pete is doing just fine with his personal net worth of £40 million.

[Source: BBC]

Here’s self-described “crazy Xhosa white boy,” Quite A White Ou in their latest jam, making a short taxi ride from Kloof Street down town so much greater with Ndingumlungu:

There’s also a version on YouTube with lyrics in both Xhosa and English here.

[Source: Taxijam.tv]

Goldfish back in 2004

Cute, hey?

Now here’s a pic of the same two goons on stage in Amsterdam in front of God-knows-how-many people – rocking their collective socks off. Truly special to behold!

How rad? Do you have any idea how many groupies you would destroy if you had that kind of vibe going? But you don’t. They do. And they the beauty is these two Cape Town lads have never let the team down. Not once will you hear a bad word about them. They work hard and they are reaping the rewards. It is NO surprise they have just signed with EMI.

Check it out:

GOLDFISH SIGNS WITH EMI MUSIC NETHERLANDS

During last week’s Amsterdam Dance Event, the South-African Dance act Goldfish signed an agreement with EMI Music Netherlands. Goldfish is very successful in South-Africa and The Netherlands, but their popularity increases in the countries Germany, Brazil and the United States amongst others. Yesterday, after the closing of the ADE, the band departed for a tour in the United Kingdom.

Erwin Goegebeur, Chairman of EMI Music Benelux, is very proud with this latest signing: “It has been obvious for some time that Goldfish is a very special act. The exciting mixture of Dance combined with live instruments and jazz influences induced several successful shows and hundreds of enthusiastic fans this ADE. With David Guetta, Swedish House Mafia and Deadmau5 in the roster, EMI confirms it’s prominent position within a contemporary and popular genre. This signing is very special, because Goldfish holds the potential to instantly explode worldwide. An exceptional high number of our foreign EMI colleagues share our enthusiasm.”

Goldfish’s reaction: “We are excited to be working with a fantastic team at EMI who we believe have the capacity to take Goldfish to the next level worldwide. EMI has an amazing roster of Dance Music Legends and it’s great to be a part of that now. This is just the beginning!”

As I said, I’m hardly surprised. This kind of shit comes as standard when you’re awesome.

So gay…

The Blonde and Baby Jesus will be back in town in November for amazing gigs all over South Africa, including Trinity on November 4 and “Submerged Sundays” starting 27 November at St. Yves in Camps Bay.

Check out their website here for more.

First on the list is Justin Bieber, who’s album is on the shelf and ready to corrupt you in a way that you never thought possible. Whilst the entire album is super cheesy and just generally awful, credit must be given to Bieber. He’s shown some real artistic and vocal growth compared to his previous albums – he’s almost sounding like a man now. Best lyric? “The wisemen followed a star, just like I followed my heart.” Puke. Click here if you hate yourself.

Next up is everyone’s favourite weird chick and indie kid fantasy, Zooey Deschanel. The star of the new TV Show, “New Girl,” also has a band called “She and Him,” and him and her have now released a Christmas album too. I expect it to be quirky. The album is called “A Very She and Him Christmas.” A sample of the first song, “A Christmas Waltz” can be heard here. The album is available on CD or Christmas (red) vinyl, and even has matching wrapping paper.

Lady Gaga is also rumoured to be releasing her own interpretation of Christmas. She has however announced that she will be collaborating with Barney’s in New York to produce a special line  of limited edition gifts, based around the theme of “Gaga’s Workshop.”

Christmas music is unfortunately one of those evils we all have to bear. It’s a fact of life, like taxes and sunburn. Faced with the difficult choice between Boney M and Bieber, what would you choose?

[Source: YouTube, Hollywood Reporter, Barneys]

Tensions gets its “freakier and more absurd” (Spin‘s words) sound from the band’s decision to stay in Cape Town;

“We needed to stay in Africa and return to the tension we had before our success,” explains Ninja. “By staying home the acid trip of blowing up slowly faded away. The less that was going on the more creative we were.”

The tracks titles that we know so far are “Tsotsi Taal,” “The Money and the Power,” “I Think You’re Freaky,” “Fatty Boom Boom,” and “Baby’s on Fire.”

Which sounds about right.

[Source: Spin]

It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.

Who could we use as an example to illustrate this point? Ooh, I know, how about Randall Abrahams? Did you catch Mark Haze on Idols covering Lady GaGa’s Born This Way? It was like a giant leap forward for SA Idols. The song choice was a stroke of genius and the execution was outrageously good. The guy’s talent was there for everyone to see. But when Randall spoke, he didn’t say a word about the inspired song choice or the pitch perfect rendition. No, he seemed to have a pre-prepared script in his head and he was sticking to it no matter what. He announced with great authority that Haze was too professional or too polished or something. I can’t actually remember. Which says a lot. Whatever it was, it was as if he’d just been watching Rick Astley wheeling out Never Gonna Give You Up for the billionth time.

Could it be that there was something else at play? Did Randy perhaps feel threatened by a performance that rendered his encyclopaedic knowledge of popular music irrelevant and dull? So, I guess what I’m trying to say is, take the authoritative words of those who criticise with a pinch of salt. There are of course writers who truly know their stuff and act as a kind of quality control for music, movies, books, food etc. They are often referred to as critics, but they’re really writers. A writer aims to inspire debate and form an opinion. Hunter S. Thompson performed this role to some extent. So does AA Gill. The writer is very much “in the arena”, risking failure whilst striving for success. The people I’m talking about are more like bouncers at a nightclub; spitefully exercising what little power they have to take their revenge on society.

The reason I’m banging on about this with such self-righteous authority (see what I did there?) is that I read a couple of reviews of the latest Cold War Kids album online and started to wonder whether I was listening to the same album, and subsequently began to question how much credence should be given to reviews, particularly online.

[click 'continue reading' below for the rest of this EPIC review]

A critic at a prominent website has decided to single out Cold War Kids as a band that produces “faceless, nondescript, blues and soul injected indie rock that is working well for many of their bettors”. And yet, when I put my headphones on and listen to Mine Is Yours, I hear a set of great songs with spacious, crisp production and, in particular, a singer with an incredibly expressive voice. To compare them to the Black Keys, as the reviewer in question does, is absurd, but then again he refers to the Kings of Leon as “fellow cheese-merchants”, which is a little OTT and hints at a critic who has a grudge to bear or a chip on his shoulder or an axe to grind or ants in his pants or something.

The song, Louder Than Ever is a standout single that has the same kind of irresistible hooks that gave the band their break with Hang Me Up To Dry. Elsewhere on the album, Out Of The Wilderness has real impact as it breaks down half way and builds into a grandiose finale that this band pull off so well. While the album may lack the jagged rawness of their previous work, I would describe it as a more mature sound, rather than a dive for the middle of the road as some have interpreted it as. But don’t believe everything you read, including these words. You may love it. You may hate it. The important thing is that you check it out for yourself.

The video for the single “We Found Love,” is a simple pumping dance track about being in love, dancing the night away, smoking drugs and having your boyfriend stick a syringe into your asscheek and tattooing the word “mine” onto it. The video is a little like a drug trip – fun and innocent at first, and then quickly devolving into a hazy mess of “what the fuck just happened?”

It tells the story of a young couple, him looking a little like her former lover/assailant, as they party together and “find love.” It’s a highly realistic depiction of how it works in real life, I feel. It deals with themes of young love, addiction and partying whilst covered in mud. I’m sure a lot of hippies can relate.

Rihanna is of course known for her dark videos, with songs like “Disturbia”, as well as “S&M” (which had a rather badly timed release after her scuffle with Mr Brown). That being said, as dark and twisted as the video may be, it remains a very catchy song. Rihanna remains sexy as hell too.

We don’t. We shouldn’t have to.

You know Kings Of Leon? The critically-acclaimed, four-album, world famous guys who do live shows like this?

Yep, those guys.

Tickets to the Cape Town gig are basically sold out. Which means that this is the PERFECT opportunity to not only get a ticket, but also kill your friends and family with the jealousy that your seating plan – RIGHT ABOVE THE STAGE – will provoke. Thank you, oh, thank you, Groupon.

Here are the deets:

PAY

R650

SAVE

R600

FOR

26 October 2011

AT

Cape Town Stadium.

Get the deal HERE.

GO GO GO!

Yiffers around the world celebrated yesterday as UK-based [insert your preferred style here] group, Coldplay dropped their much anticipated, South Africa-shot, video for “Paradise,” a single on their upcoming fifth studio album, Mylo Xyloto.

The video features the foursome gallivanting around parts of Cape Town and the Klein Karoo, dressed to the furry nines, in what is clearly a visual (not to mention visceral) homage to the classic children’s’ ditty “Nelly the Elephant”.

It also features footage shot at the band’s amazing [insert desired city name here] show. Anyway, enjoy the vid. Don’t forget to pause it constantly, in an effort to see if that’s your/your cousin’s left arm in the crowd, while I spend the rest of the day trying to get the tune to “Nelly the Elephant” out of my head.

Dot Jarlett worked for him at his Kenwood mansion in Surrey in the late 1960s. Here’s her son, Barry Jarlett:

“He was in the kitchen and he had this tooth which he had wrapped in a piece of paper. He said: ‘Dot will you dispose of this’ and then he said: ‘Or, as your daughter’s a Beatles fan, you can give to her as a souvenir’. It is something that we felt was very personal and my mum actually gave it to my sister who has kept it safe. John Lennon was very generous to my mother. He treated her like family because he didn’t really have a very big family and he really looked after my mum. He used to call her Aunty Dot.”

The tooth will be auctioned in Stockport on 5 November.

[Source: BBC]

The American “jam rock indie band” (unfortunately I don’t fit into skinny jeans, so I’m not able to tell you what that means) got together to re-work one of their songs to be played only on iPads. At the beginning of video, they dedicate the song to the late Apple co-founder, Steve Jobs. The tablets are used to replace everything from bass guitar, lead guitar, drums and even a xylophone. The song was performed live at the band’s annual “moe.down” festival in New York.

The band’s lead guitarist, Al Schnier, describes their music in the following way:

It’s an amalgamation of a wide variety of the history of rock, all regurgitated and recycled through the eyes, ears, hands, whatever of the guys in our band and all of that with a sense of adventure, a sense of humor, also a constant desire to push the envelope. All in this arena of taking chances, improvising live, and making things up on the spot.

What’s even more amazing is when you listen to the original version of the song. Crazy good.

[Source: YouTube]

Cape Town Tourism chiefs are grinning from ear to ear this week as they smugly proclaimed that just after filling Greenpoint stadium last Wednesday night, UK alt rock sensation Coldplay applied to the City authorities to record a new music video in and around the Mother City, as well as in the Klein Karoo.

Filming took place  over the weekend before the band hauled ass to Johannesburg to perform in front of 62 000 Gautengers’ cellphone cameras on Saturday night. The video will be released globally later this year, accompanying a new single from the band’s upcoming fifth studio album, Mylo Xyloto.

Your correspondent hung around the AFDA campus in Observatory all yesterday to glean some deets from the shoot (come on, those rich kid film brats get into everything), but to no avail. It seems likely the shoot relied more on our precious and unique local flora than… er… fauna. Still, iKapa 1, Egoli 0.

[Source: Channel 24]

This isn’t the first award for pure awfulness thrown at the song. In 2004, Blender magazine voted it the “Most Awesomely Bad Song of All Time”. It also means that when you’re at practically anyone’s wedding reception and the DJ busts out one of these gems, you can reliably inform him that his song choices are pants. Rolling Stone told you so.

Rolling Stone‘s 10 Worst songs of the 1980s as follows:

1. Starship – “We Built This City”
2. Europe – “The Final Countdown,”
3. Chris de Burgh – “The Lady in Red.”
4. Wham! — “Wake Me Up (Before You Go Go)”
5. Men Without Hats — “The Safety Dance”
6. Falco — “Rock Me Amadeus”
7. Bobby McFerrin — “Don’t Worry Be Happy”
8. Toni Basil — “Mickey”
9. Taco — “Puttin’ On the Ritz”
10. Rick Astley — “Never Gonna Give You Up”

You can check the poll here. Aand to play us out, the worst song of the 1980s:

What are your bad music memories of the 1980s? Let rip in the comments.

[Source: ABC News]

The simple idea of how music is distributed and popularised on social media today involves people tweeting, chatting or posting about their favourite bands. Bart Becks, former chief executive of a Belgium internet company and co founder of SonicAngel, explains that by turning that model on its head and scanning these platforms, the company actively selects artists that are generating hype.

But, unlike other fan funded websites, SonicAngel selects its artists before fans get a chance to chip in and help pay for them to launch an album. This allows them to choose the artist and and be selective about who the allow on to the platform. They do, however, have a separate platform that allows bands to upload tracks and attract votes from fans.

Through SonicAngel, fans can then buy shares for 10 euros each, and get a payout when the artist starts coining it.

Becks and Maurice Engelen (who is also the front man for electronic band, Lords of Acid) decided to set up a label after Engelen coached a contestant on Belgium’s version of X-Factor, who failed to get a record deal.

The Brussels-based label has already had three number one hits in Belgium in the past year, a number three and a number seven hit in France, with 20 artists currently being funded.

They are currently working on a model with the university of Ghent, and the Massachchusetts Institute of Technology that scans the entire web for top trending artists.

Up and coming artists, 1.

X Factor, 0.

[Source: timeslive]

Soulful UK songstress, Adele is heading in to the studio to record the theme for the upcoming 23rd Bond film, according to reports from music industry insiders (read: pizza, flowers, and cocaine delivery people).

While the title and tune of the song are still under wraps, Adele is reportedly thrilled to be offered the chance to join the ranks of artists who lanced the boils of their swelling careers with a Bond ballad, including: Tina Turner, Paul McCartney and Madonna, among many others. Chris Cornell? Are you there?

Production on the next Bond installment was stalled for two years due to financial problems at MGM, the studio that produces the series. Double-dip recession notwithstanding, Bond will be back on our screens in 2012, in an adventure that is being filmed right here in South Africa.

With these things in mind, we put our heads together here at 2oceansVibe towers, and discovered that the Bond producers can save a fortune and don’t even need to get Adele into the studio – just set one of her already soulful ballads to the best visuals that her singing evoke, with a South African twist of course!

So, play the first video with the volume down:

And listen to the second, Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep” (see? subtext!) while you watch:

It’s perfect Bond! Long legged birds strutting while Adele rolls around in the deep. Bond 23, we have your opening sequence nailed!

[Source: Contact Music]

A new book by a former Los Angeles Police Department Detective, called Murder Rap, was released today. It alleges that Sean Combs, AKA Puff Daddy, commissioned both the murders of Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls. The lyrics to Every Breath You Take (I’ll Be Watching You) make a little more sense now.

Biggie Smalls, left, and Tupac Shakur, right, clearly upset at having possibly been killed by Puff Daddy.

The book, written by Greg Kading, reveals that the LAPD has been sitting on extensive tapes and documents containing confessions from key players behind the alleged assassinations of Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls. LAPD higher-ups pulled Kading off the double investigation right when he was poised to drive it home, he says. Then they shut it down completely.

Here’s a video of Kading discussing his book:

[Source: LA Weekly]

According to Jackson’s personal assistant, Michael Williams, Dr. Murray asked if he could be taken back to Jackson’s house to remove a “cream” which he didn’t want the world to know about. This was after Jackson was pronounced dead. Williams found the request strange and said that he told a fib to Dr. Murray (claiming that the police had the keys) to avoid the issue.

We do not yet know what the cream was, or if it was indeed a cream at all. Perhaps it was a type of medicine that shouldn’t be served up at the same time as the “propofol” drug, which lead to his cardiac arrest and subsequent death.

Not a good start for Dr. Conrad Murray.

[source : sky live]

You can catch the Brothers Streep live on their own show, every Friday on 2oceansVibe Radio. Click here, for details.

This, from the Telegraph:

Opening statements in Dr Conrad Murray’s trial began with prosecutors airing a recording of a groggy and seemingly drugged Michael Jackson just weeks before his death.

Deputy District Attorney David Walgren told the jury that the message was retrieved from the mobile phone of Dr Conrad Murray.

Recorded in May of 2009, a barely audible Jackson can be heard talking about his planned ‘This Is It’ tour. According the prosecution, the 50 year-old was under the influence of the anesthetic propofol, the drug that eventually caused his death, at the time.

Mr Walgren used the recording to contend that Dr Murray should have ceased administering propofol to the pop singer long before his death.

[more here]

Follow the link below for the audio.

ABCNews had this to say:

Attorney David Walgren showed a photo of Jackson dancing at the Staples Center the night before he overdosed on propofol and put the picture side by side with a picture of Jackson lying lifeless in a hospital bed wearing a hospital gown.

[more here]

Click link below to see the photo used on the first day of the trial.

Quite aptly, lead singer Michael Stipe chose words that reflect the intelligence so often associated with one of the greatest rock bands of all time:

A wise man once said: ‘the skill in attending a party is knowing when it’s time to leave.’ We built something extraordinary together. Now we’re going to walk away from it,” he continued as each member of the band gave their opinion on the reasons behind the decision to part musical ways.

From the R.E.M. statement:

To our Fans and Friends: As R.E.M., and as lifelong friends and co-conspirators, we have decided to call it a day as a band. We walk away with a great sense of gratitude, of finality, and of astonishment at all we have accomplished. To anyone who ever felt touched by our music, our deepest thanks for listening.

They rose to fame with albums such as “Automatic for the People” and “Out of Time,” and following drummer Bill Berry’s 1997 retirement after suffering a brain aneurysm, Stipe, bassist Mike Mills and guitarist Peter Buck agreed to honour his wish and carry on without him.

The band has sold about 20 million records since 1991 and at least another 10 million in the years before that.

[Source: Bloomberg]

Granted, Ji Lee only has about 5,000 followers, but you know what the Internet’s like; as soon as he mentioned that. “The “Listen with your friend” feature in ticker is blowing my mind. Listen to what your friends are listening. LIVE,” some kid took  a screenshot and started posting that thing everywhere.

We figure this means that music you’re listening to will pop up on the right-side window of your Facebook screen, and that there’ll be a link that lets your friends listen to the same song at the same time. If that’s what you’re into.

Last.fm won’t be happy.

[Source: TechCrunch]

Some 51 000 members of the general public in 25 countries voted the former South African president number one on the visibility and perception scale, followed immediately (and somewhat surprisingly) by tennis star Roger Federer. Microsoft’s Bill Gates came in at third place, and investor Warren Buffet, business mogul Richard Branson and Apple’s Steve Jobs took fourth, fifth and sixth place respectively. Oprah Winfrey holds the eighth spot and U2′s Bono also made the top 10 in ninth position.

Other notable rankings were: the Dalai Lama, 13; US president Barack Obama, 14; Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, 20; footballer David Beckham, 24; the Pope, 26; Prince Albert of Monaco, 28; and Madonna, 29.

Meanwhile, our current prez, Jacob Zuma beat Wikileaks founder Julian Assange (who came 37th), Lady Gaga (41), Hugo Chavez, president of Venezuela (49), George W Bush (50) and Cuban leader Fidel Castro (51). A very good showing by the Saffers, then.

While respondents in the survey recognised Mandela as an inspirational character, it’s not mentioned how positive or otherwise the perception of JZ is worldwide.

[Source: Citizen]

I’d be lying if I said I remembered all the DJs from those days. There was the astonishingly rowdy breakfast show with their awful phone competitions. Then there was the boring 09h00 to 12h00 presenters who spoke softly, like they were actually in every KwaZulu Natal office. Except for Damon and Mags. They were fun to listen to, but played far too much Nickelback and Westlife for anyone’s good. I remember Jane Linley-Thomas very well because of that crazy laugh of hers.

Even if a lot of the DJs were forgettable, they all had one thing in common: eighties music.

They all played eighties music.

I could never understand it. Why did Durban love music from two decades ago that much?

There is no way that you can listen to that much eighties music and not like some of it. That’s my excuse when people ask me why I like that one song by Kajagoogoo, and Tears for Fears.

Which brings me nicely to one-hit wonders. The point of such songs is that you nostalgically play them once every six months to remind yourself of a more innocent time. Being very young, my generation’s one-hit wonder songs are probably Temptation by Brandon October, Popular by Darren Hayes of Savage Garden (ironic, right?) and the unspeakably bad This is the World We Live In by Alcazar.

These one-hit wonders pale into insignificance next to the spectacular failures of the 1970s and 1980s. These bands, a mere humorous footnote in the annals of popular music, were kept alive by East Coast Radio for much longer than they honestly deserve.

This column is really a tribute to Durban’s Number One. Thanks to those DJs and their music selection committee, I got the joke when Jay-Z and Mr. Hudson sang Forever Young. I was belting out the tunes like all the white 30-somethings when the Wedding DJs played at Oppikoppi this year.

I threw out the question of the greatest one-hit wonders of all time on Twitter yesterday afternoon, and the responses were varied and colourful. This is not a compilation of the five most chosen songs. This is not a democracy. This is my list.

But if you grew up on East Coast Radio, I’ll happily entertain discussion on the list in the comments.

In no particular order:

Honourable Mention: Forever Young by Alphaville

No, sorry. No. Alphaville doesn’t count as a genuine one-hit wonder. The entire album is a collection of one-hit wonders. Songs like Big in Japan, Sounds like a Melody and Summer in Berlin all had their place in the sun.

I’m afraid the rules are clear: for a song to be a one-hit wonder, it must be the only one in a band’s entire repertoire to gain traction in the popular arena. One song. Not an entire album.

The One and Only by Chesney Hawke

There was nothing wrong, per se with this guy’s effort. It was bad, in that acceptable eighties way. He was a good looking bloke. In another age, he would have been in Westlife. He had a crop of lush, feminine hair.

What Chesney Hawke did very wrong was to try and pull the 1980s into the next decade. Bad idea. The nineties were for the darker affections of Nirvana, Rage Against the Machine and Skunk Anansie.

Had he recorded and released his song ten years earlier, we could very well be thinking of Chesney Hawke in the way we think of Bryan Adams today.

Macarena by Los del Rio

What can I say about this that you don’t already know?

It was a mistake. A terrible, terrible mistake.

99 Luftballons by Nena

Click here to view the video.

Remember 99 Red Balloons by the ska-punk band Goldfinger? The song was borrowed from Nena, a 1980s German New Wave artist.

Twenty-eight after it was first released; I still think that this was a really good song.

What makes it doubly cool is that it was a protest song against a divided Berlin.

In the Summertime by Mungo Jerry

Shout-out from the 1970s!

In the decade of Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and The Doors, we had this.

Interesting side-note: Mungo Jerry went through 21 band members.

This one was a particular favourite of East Coast Radio’s weekend evening DJs. A plague on their houses.

A Whiter Shade of Pale by Procol Harum

There is absolutely no reason why Procol Harum should be on this list. But here they are. One of the fathers of progressive rock and what we’d later come to call “art rock”.

Their only song that really caught the public imagination is A Whiter Shade of Pale, the famous tale of booze-sodden tale of seduction and lust. It has been featured in countless films and hummed by many millions of drivers on the highways of planet earth.

There are over 1 000 known cover versions of the song.

And yet Procol Harum never became as famous as, say, Genesis.

It is a crime against music.

Billboard carried a report that said: “A yearlong Drug Enforcement Administration investigation states that the Los Angeles offices of Interscope Records were used for pickups and deliveries of hundreds of kilograms of cocaine in 2010 and 2011. Shipping company Rock-It Cargo, which has a lengthy list of musical clients, shipped music cases that allegedly contained drugs to New York studios.”

[Source: Channel 24]

That’s right, Jax himself has taken to Youtube to beg, no literally plead with young South Africans to collaborate with him on a musical project, and he’s not alone…

Nine of South Africa’s top musical talents, inclusing Jax Panic, DJ Cleo, Dance, You’re On Fire and Karen Zoid have banded together with Sanlam, Litnet and MK to offer YOU the chance to scribe South Africa’s next musical mega-hit.

Sing ‘it is a competition aimed at encouraging South African youth to flex their song-writing skills and collaborate with some of SA’s top artists. Not only could your song be selected and transformed into a music video, winners also stand the chance to land an iPad 2 and a cash prize- for the artistic process, you know.

“Who could say no to that face?”

Sing ‘it is running now, and entries close end October. You can get more details from the competition website, Facebook, and Twitter

Queen is one of those bands that make you think, “They don’t make ‘em like this anymore.” All the best bands flirt with madness. Queen, of course, did cross the line from time to time, but this is an occupational hazard of being true rock gods. And I’m sure they didn’t beat themselves up when they spilled a bit too much madness into the magic potion, which they did fairly regularly, and may be the reason why Queen are best known for their Greatest Hits albums, as opposed to that one perfect studio album, like Led Zeppelin managed with Physical Graffiti, or the Stones pulled off with Exile On Main Street. What they are remembered for is a stunning array of incredible songs and mind boggling live performances, most notable at Live Aid in 1985, a performance that was voted the world’s greatest rock gig in an industry poll in 2005. Freddy had 75 000 people clapping in unison to Radio Ga Ga. It was outrageous.

The musicianship within this band is ridiculous. We all know that Freddie had the voice, with its operatic undertones and the kind of power and range that would make Pavarotti sweat more than usual. He also wrote many of the hits, including Bohemian Rhapsody and Don’t Stop Me Now (only he could have written this song) amongst many others. But let’s have a look at the rest of the chaps, starting with John Deacon, the bass player. George Harrison was the quiet Beatle. Bill Wyman the quiet Rolling Stone. John Deacon was, er, the quiet Queen. A great bass player and multi instrumentalist who also happened to write Another One Bites the Dust, You’re my Best Friend and I Want to Break Free amongst others. He also invented an amplifier used by himself and Brian May, helping to create some of those unique Queen tones. Roger Taylor was not just the drummer, he is also an accomplished singer and wrote Radio Ga Ga, A Kind of Magic and These Are the Days of Our Lives amongst others. As for Brian May, well aside from his PhD in astrophysics, Brian has been known to dabble in guitar godliness (ranked 39 in Rolling Stone Magazine’s 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time), songwriting (Tie Your Mother Down, We Will Rock You and Fat Bottomed Girls – brilliant song title, Brian) and lest we forget that he, with help from his dad, built his own guitar, the legendary Red Special. A guitar he uses to this very day. He also plays using an old six pence coin instead of a plectrum (all the guitarists out there are raising their eyebrows). [Click 'continue reading' for more of this AWESOME review - Seth]

So, anyway, in celebration of Queen’s 40th anniversary, and coinciding nicely with Freddie’s 65th birthday (born in Zanzibar by the way) last Monday, Universal has been reissuing re-mastered versions of all 15 studio albums, which all include bonus tracks. It’s a Queen extravaganza! The world is ready for a Queen revival. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the more successful the world gets, the more boring the popular music becomes – Phil Collins, Chris De Burgh – the soundtrack to a world full of yuppies. The more screwed up and penniless the world becomes, the wilder the music gets – Bowie, Queen and Pink Floyd in the 70’s and early 80’s when the world was dogged by the fuel crisis and various recessions. It’s escapism.

Now in troubled times, the music is crazy again. If you happened to have watched the MTV Music Video Awards the other night you would have seen Lady Gaga (who took her name from the Queen hit Radio Ga Ga) opening proceedings with none other than Brian May on guitar, letting the Red Special whale like only he can.

Have you given Bohemian Rhapsody a listen lately? It’s better and madder than ever. Its six minutes in length flies by. It’s a musical odyssey building to the best ending in rock history. In Wayne’s World when they’re all singing along to it in the car, going through all the mad operatic bits, “Oh mama mia, mama mia, mama mia let me go, Beelzebub has a devil put aside for me, for me!” then when the ending kicks in and they all start head banging. Genius. That is the awesomeness of Queen captured right there. Then there’s Another One Bites the Dust, Don’t Stop Me Now, Killer Queen, Fat Bottomed Girls, Somebody to Love, Under Pressure (featuring Bowie), do I need to go on? The cool thing about re-releasing the actual albums is that it’s a chance for Queen fans to dig out some buried treasures, and there are plenty of them. And for all the haters (there are many who are allergic to Queen), if you’re struggling to pay the mortgage and you’ve had to sell the Beemer and times are tough, now might be the time to go out and get Greatest Hits I and II. The songs are so full of exuberance, the talent so huge and the sound is so unique, but the best thing is that they make you want to stop taking everything so seriously. I wish I could have seen them playing live at their peak. Above all other bands. Even Led Zep. And that’s saying something. There will never be another Queen.

It’s not ‘We Will Rock You,’ if you were wondering.

Rolling Stone calls the video – which has the band wearing trucker clothing and soaping each other up (sexily?) – an homage to “gay porn from the ’70s and ’80s,” for what it’s worth.

I’m confused as you are, but hey. Gay truckers.

[Source: AVC]

The Chinese government, in a not-unusual display of authoritarian petulance, has banned the download of over a hundred music titles from popular online music sites in China.

The government claims that the tracks, from a range of American, European and Asian artists including Lady Gaga, Katy Perry and the Backstreet Boys, were not submitted for proper review to authorities in the Chinese Ministry of Culture, and so, recent hits such as Gaga’s ‘Judas’ and Perry’s  ’Last Friday Night’, along with not so recent ones like the Backstreet Boys “I Want It That Way”, have been blocked, all in the name of “national cultural security”.

As horrifying a thought as not being able to grab the latest Gaga online might be to some of us, this is no new thing in China where the government maintains vice-like control over the Information and Communications sector, especially since the Arab uprisings of earlier this year, and the explicit role that social networking sites and apps played in assisting the unrest.

I’m not sure if 2oceansVibe is fully available in China, but in solidarity with our pop-starved Chinese brothers and sisters, I’ll just leave this here in case:

[Source: Associated Press, Vancouver Sun]

Take a look at other ways OK Go are living your childhood dreams here.

[Source: OK Go]

Meet Karmin, a duo from Boston in the States who are doing things to RnB tracks that make the original artists sweat in their Ice Creams. Take a listen below! I’m prepared to bet you’ve never heard Chris Brown’s ‘Look At Me Now’ done this way before, and may I recommend their take on Cee Lo Green, Tinie Tempah and Kanye West, among a bunch of others.

You can find out more about Karmin and check out more of their vids [here].

Here’s the vid. Slightly PG lyrics.

80% of the tickets have been sold and I STRONGLY urge you to get your tickets NOW to avoid disappointment. Seriously, stop mucking about.

What’s more, all proceeds go to MyLife – so your karma will get a boost at the same time. Two birds, one stone and all that…

See you there!

CLICK HERE to buy tickets or
contact marina@thelittleblackbook.co.za for sponsorship opportunities.

CLICK HERE to check out the event page on Facebook.

And if that hasn’t made things better, look at their last video for Calgary, which makes absolutely no sense at all but remains gorgeous to look at.

Have a good weekend.

[Source: Bon Iver]

In news certain to make the Kloof Street set spit up their Vida all over their vintage Converse, Katy Perry has become the second artist in music history to send five singles from an album to the number one spot in the US. The first was the late, great Michael Jackson with singles from Bad released 1987 through 1988 (yeah yeah, check the jokes at the door please…).

Perry is the first female artist to scoop the achievement so far, as her title single “Teenage Dream”, lead single “California Gurlz” (featuring Snoop Dogg), “Firework”, “E.T.” (featuring Kanye West) and most recent single “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)” from her second album have all hit the top spot in the US. the album has sold over 1.7 million copies since hitting stores in September last year.

And now, while scalding espresso drips silkily down your Ramones T, let’s revisit the scrumptious video to Perry’s latest single “Last Friday Night”:

What?! Come on! It has Hanson, Kenny G, Rebecca Black, Corey Feldman, Debbie Gibson and Eyebrows McHairgel from Glee! Now that’s counter-culture!

[Source: Billboard.com]

Reports today reveal that Liam is suing Noel for saying that he backed out of a 2009 V festival performance not because he was ill, but due to a “hangover”.

Liam told the Sun in the UK, “I have taken legal action against Noel Gallagher for statements he made claiming Oasis pulled out of the 2009 V festival Chelmsford gig because I had a hangover. That is a lie and I want Oasis fans and others who were at V to know the truth.”

Liam says he had laryngitis and that  Noel’s comments went “way beyond rock’n'roll banter and questioned my professionalism. I tried to resolve this amicably but have been left with no choice but legal action.  All I want is an apology.”

Ok, if you say so – seems a little excessive to file a high court action, then.  But no-one’s ever accused Liam of being moderate.

He is also disputing Noel’s claim that the band’s split was partially owing to a disagreement over whether Liam could advertise his Pretty Green clothing range in the concert programme.

[Source: Guardian]

Barney’s in New York has announced that this year’s festive spectacular will feature a month-long holiday installation from the Empress of Weird, Lady Gaga.

Barney’s is a venerable downtown Manhattan department store world-famous for its festive decorations and store layouts around the holiday season. Barney’s basically perfected the Christmas Window – think Woolworths annual art-deco, tinsel, fishing line and bauble monstrosity times one thousand, and actually nice to look at.

This year, Barney’s is going in a… new direction. Gaga’s Workshop will feature designs from Mama Monster herself, along with a host of objects and accessories for sale created by designers such as Thierry Mugler and Nicola Formichetti. Unknown is whether Mama will be allowing her little monsters to sit on her lap and whisper their dearest Christmas wishes into her bedazzled ear, before one of her elves (dressed in red chantilly lace) leads them away and gives them a complimentary meat bracelet.

If you want to visit this nightmare before Christmas, but can’t shell out for a ticket to the Big Apple, the entire installation will have a digital outlet on the Barney’s website, so head there around November if you’re after some early Christmas fear.

Until then, here’s the brand-spanking-new Gaga video for ‘You and I’ off her Born This Way album- oh, and by “you and I” she means herself and herself. There’s making out. Might be a little NSFW. Call it an early Christmas present.

[Source:  PR Newswire]

Basically, the paparazzi rap is inspired by photographers’ obsession with the current filming of Christopher Nolan’s third Batman flick.

Hathaway reckons she performs it in “the style of Lil’ Wayne,” but we’re not too sure. Maybe it’s just Hathaway rap style.

[Source: Mashable]

What’s more, Bittereinder aren’t idiotic about it. They’re angry without being bitter, and they are proud without being supremacist about it.

You don’t get that very often.

And it’s not just Afrikaans – Jaco van de Merwe spits mad rhymes about being from Pretoria in his collaborative work A Tale of Three Cities.

You can tell that they know what they’re doing because they’re also willing to mock the sort of totems of Afrikanerdom: in a particularly memorable Oppikoppi moment, Jack Parow (this really could have been a column about him) sang one song with Bittereinder, his right fist raised defiantly in the air and a Bible in his left. I imagine the spit of every Afrikaner beyond the age of fifty would curdle at the sight of that.

That is a quality I’ll appreciate in any band. Plus, Jaco, Peach and Louis make excellent music.

Then there is Mr. Cat and the Jackal. They make Balkan-sounding music. There’s precious little of South Africa in it. Should I care about that? I feel as if that should offend me, but that feels like I am being too precious about my music.

The crowd at Oppikoppi would certainly accuse me of pretentiousness. They loved Mr Cat and the Jackal.

Luckily for all, I got to sit down with the band (all of them) at Oppikoppi to ask them about all of this.

Sipho: Why this particular style?

Mr Cat and the Jackal: We got the idea from the different kind of instruments we have. We like playing different kinds of instruments, and making different kinds of instruments. It’s a concept, you know. We just built on it.

S: Are any of you classically trained?

MC&J: Some learn it in the schools, some learn it on the streets. We’re street.

S: The sort of Balkan influence in your music. Are any of you guys actually from there?

MC&J: (They laugh) No. If you listen to different music, it will come through in your music. We just dig that style. If we pick up an instrument and start jamming, I go where the instrument goes. It’s like that. We let the instruments guide us.

S: Am I wrong in thinking that there is just so little of South Africa in your music? Are you guys cool with that?

MC&J: We’ve recently started getting this vibe where people say “You’re making European music. Where is [sic] your roots?” But I think we do incorporate our surroundings in our music. A lot of the percussion stuff is African. It’s something new, man. We can’t deny where we’re coming from and that element will never fall flat in our music. But other than that, why do we need to pronounce South African? We’re Afrikaans singing in English. It’s a show, man. A concept. It’s not like we’re ashamed. We’re fucking Afrikaans kids from Cape Town singing in English.

S: Who listens to you?

MC&J: We recently did a gig for old people at a church, and they loved it. That went well. One of our friends’ little daughter loves us. It’s just anyone who likes to be entertained.

S: Take me through the “pirate” motif.

MC&J: There is no “pirate” motif. One of our songs relate to a story about a pirate. Only one of our songs. It’s funny that they don’t see us as being a travelling story band, because we’ve got that a lot in our music. When we play live, it’s normally the song with the story about the pirate that gets people moving, and it sticks in their heads. It’s also because we sing rough, people think it’s a pirate thing.

S: You’ve cut two albums now. How long do you think Mr Cat and the Jackal will last?

MC&J: As individual musicians, we’re focused on the music. But as Mr Cat and the Jackal, we’re very much an entertainment entity. We’re visual inventors. We want to have live plays and visuals when we’re playing. If we could make people smell the ocean while we’re playing, we would do it.

Read more:

Mr Cat and the Jackal in Chris Roper’s blog.

[Images : Sipho Hlongwane]

2oceansvibe will be there in more ways than one, because this year’s event will be broadcast LIVE on 2oceansvibe Radio! The Just Jinjer frontman’s guests this year include the man himself, Ard Matthews, Zolani(Freshly Ground)  Dino Moran, Laudo (aKing), Crash Car Burn, Louise Day and D-Seven. Dan Nicholl will be the MC and Auctioneer!

CLICK HERE to buy tickets or
contact marina@thelittleblackbook.co.za for sponsorship opportunities.

CLICK HERE to check out the event page on Facebook.

I know you’re dying to know, so these were the best performances that I saw: Bittereinder, Michelle Shocked, Sipho “Hotstix” Mabuse, Not My Dog, and Mr Cat and the Jackal.

Before going, I obviously read up a lot on what to expect (Natalie Roos’s blog was quite useful in this regard), and especially, what not to forget at home. The Oppikoppi organisers also had an impressive shopping list of instructions and advice.

I was quite prepared – but then again, not prepared enough. There were some things that I only found out once I got there, and I wish someone had told me this before.

Don’t bring cash

Apparently this was the first Oppikoppi were they forfeited cash for a weird card-based system. What basically happened is that I had to go to something called the Bushveld Bank, and was given a card where I was told I could either put money on it from my credit card, or cash. I did have cash on me, but that particular line was ridiculously long.

I actually don’t understand why they didn’t just stick to cash (perhaps something to do with a big sponsorship from Standard Bank?) because the card system didn’t solve anything as far as I could see. The cards are all identical, save for a tiny number on it. But there is no way that the system ties in a card to any individual. Neither does it have a PIN number. It you lose it, you’re screwed. Exactly the same as having cash.

If they decide to keep the card system for next year, don’t do what I did and draw a fat wad of cash in town. The system isn’t clever, but then again, neither is wandering about with hundreds of rands in notes which you can’t use.

Do your exploring in the first day

Especially if you’re a newbie. Go check out all five stages. Find where the bog and showers (if you’re in the media/band area) are. Find out where your friends are camped.

It sounds like something that people with common sense will know, but you don’t do it. You get so caught up with the main stage and the beer garden, you forget to have a look around.

I only went to the top bar on the very last day. The party up there is huge and energetic, and I damn near missed it completely.

The cold is exaggerated, but the dust definitely isn’t

“Nah, I can’t be that bad,” I said to my friends when they warned about the dust, the cold and the potholes on the way there. It really is that fucking dusty. Especially if you’re going to be staying in Mordor. And if you take the R511 from Brits to Northam, you will have to negotiate potholes the size of a car’s bonnet.

But it isn’t that cold. You’ll need two jackets, and an extra blanket for sleeping, but you won’t freeze to death. Besides, if you notice the cold, you aren’t drunk enough.

Bring an extra pair of jeans, and eye drops for your poor, chapped eyes. Also, Wet Wipes aren’t enough. Bring a beach towel as well. If you’re going to get especially grubby, Wet Wipes will just make you slightly damp and dirty. You’ll need a towel to remove the worst of the dust from your face.

Kreef Hotel is for the weak

Bring your own tent, mattress, sleeping bag, booze and fire wood. It’s more fun.

Don’t bother with the funny hats

Seriously. Someone out there will have a bigger, dumber and more retarded outfit than you can think of.

I’m kind of glad that the pith helmets at Big Blue were sold out when I went to buy one for Oppikoppi.

The best acts to see won’t be the big, international ones

Maybe I’m a little biased, but I don’t think much of Sum41 and The Used. I’ve never been a fan. The best performances I saw weren’t even (mostly) on the main stage. I really like the Skellum Stage. It’s small, acoustic and very intimate. If you had a press pass and stood in the pit, you could look right up into Michelle Shocked’s nostrils from down there.

Leave goddamn early on Monday morning

It’s not the getting out of the camp, or the town that’s irritating thing here. It’s the long queue of traffic all the way back to the highway. You should have your shit together and be on the move by 08:00 on Monday morning. Otherwise you’ll be stuck behind some slow doos all the way to the highway.

Oh, and did I mention taking leave on Monday?

The Frank Sinatra I picture in my head is in his mid 40s and up. Always wearing a tux. On stage, microphone in hand, maybe a tumbler of whiskey resting on the grand piano, and ideally a 25 piece big band orchestra behind him. In Vegas, of course. The old Vegas, before “the big corporations took it all over, when the dealers knew your name, what you drank, what you played. Today, it’s like checkin’ into an airport”, as Ace Rothstein ranted at the end of the movie Casino.

Sinatra and Las Vegas go together like whiskey and water. When he died in ’98, the city honoured him by dimming the lights on the strip. This new compilation, Sinatra – Best of Vegas, has 17 tracks recorded at the Sands, Caesars Palace, and the Golden Nugget between ‘61 and ‘87.

The first group of tracks was recorded at the Sands during November of 1961. This is Sinatra in his mid 40s at the height of his powers, cocky and self-assured, throwing little chirps in between lyrics and clowning around a little. But this doesn’t detract from the genius of his vocal delivery and song interpretation. Moonlight in Vermont is a smoky introspective number, hypnotic in its subtleties and orchestral arrangement. The crowd is spellbound. In the middle of singing, “Evening summer breeze…” Franks suddenly says “God damn boy I tell ya!” The crowd laughs, before being put straight back under as Frank immediately returns to his vocal master class. He’s basically toying with them. Later, at the beginning of The Lady is a Tramp, he’s obviously taking a sip of his drink: “Jack Daniels.” [a ripple of laughter]. “That’s what it is”.

[click "Continue Reading" for the rest of this review]

The sound of the big band adds a whole new dimension. As a singer it must be like being strapped to the nose of a nuclear warhead. “She gets much too hungry to wait for dinner at eight,” Ba-da-ba-da-BAM! I love the way the orchestra simmers in the background then suddenly explodes into a tower of sound. Later, in I’ve Got You Under My Skin, Frank says, “We’re gonna take this here building and move it three feet that way… Hold on to your handbags!” It honestly feels like it’s possible.

In a way, it’s easy to appreciate Sinatra. He defines cool. But I guess what really makes him win you over, is that behind all the bravado and clowning around, he occasionally lets on that he’s just another “broken hearted bum on a losing streak”. It’s kind of endearing from a guy who seemingly has everything. Before singing Angel Eyes, he says, “They’re all about a guy who’s losing, these saloon songs… In this case, this is about a guy whose been left behind by his chick whose left town… she got a peak at the guy’s wallet and they both left”. The following vocal delivery has more emotion in it than the entire Emo music genre.

Many years ago, as a young aspiring musician, I went and played a couple of songs for a local music producer. I was pretty confident that my songs were going to blow this guy away. When I stopped playing he told me I should go and listen to some of the greats. For pure singing, he suggested Sinatra. He made the point that when you try to sing along to a Sinatra song, you always find that you’re singing lines too early or too late or holding notes for too long. You have an idea in your head of how the song goes, but it never actually goes like that. There are other stories, like the one musician who was convinced that Frank was singing out of tune in the studio one day, but then when listening to the playback it sounded perfect.

As a singer, Sinatra was operating in a different league, hearing things that only he hears yet we all somehow appreciate. On the side he was also a good actor and held his own as a standup comedian, all of which you get a taste of in this superb live album. If you consider yourself to be a reasonably well-informed person, this collection of classic performances is obligatory. And if you’re a seasoned aficionado, it’s an essential addition to your collection. If you don’t fit into either of these categories, then you’re simply not to be trusted.

Regardless of which side of the fence you sit on when it comes to pirating music, you have to respect the guys from Blink-182. For their latest single, they used several unauthorized fan clips that appeared on YouTube to make a music video for their latest single.

This is what the guys had to say:

To launch our first single in eight years, AT&T helped us search YouTube for every instance of fans using our music without our permission. And then we rewarded them for it. This film is made out of clips from all those videos. Thanks for being a fan.

The song is called “Up All Night” – check it out below:

[Source: Torrent Freak]

I mean, normally I’d have a problem with a power-pop band in leotards, but OK Go pull it off. The video was shot in collaboration with modern dance company Pilobolus – but that’s not really the cool part.

See, if you’re use Google Chrome (and you should be. Naughty.) you get to see the number in all its interactive HTML 5 glory; much like Arcade Fire’s The Wilderness Downtown, the video makes use of cascading pop-up videos to mindblowing effect.  I mean, the old-school HTML 4 embed we’ve got at the top of the page is pretty sexy, but to enjoy the full, interactive experience, open allisnotlo.st on a Google Chrome browser. Go ahead. I’ll wait.

Now that your mind’s been blown, take a look at some of OK Go’s other wonderful things. It’ll speed up your recovery.

[Source :all is not lost]

Sergio Vigalato, a 66-year-old former southeast Alaska charter boat skipper, is the man behind the project and runs American Taxidermy in Burbank, California.

Sergio was completely unaware of the existence of Lady Gaga and her meat dress, but when the hall of fame contacted him he decided to take on the task.

The dress, which apparently represents equality (although I think it represents raw meat), arrived at his shop frozen and decomposing, but within three months the disgusting wonder is now on display for all to behold.

[Source : Channel24]

The album was recorded at Heritage Studios in Cape Town with Brendyn Rusti Rossouw, mixed by Neal Snyman,
mastered at Sterling Sound Studios in New York and released through 2 Feet, an imprint of Sheer Sound cc. “Long. Beautiful. Complex. Real. Deep. It’s been two years of intensive work, and the last six months have been ridiculously intense. The last month, well, that’s been insane. Last week nearly broke us. We’ve given everything to this album. We’ve made music that has satisfied us deeply.” – Jeremy de Tolly.

LOST IN THE FALL is quite different from any previous offerings from THE DIRTY SKIRTS. Whether it’s an evolution or a sudden change in direction – it’s heavier in parts, and it’s deeper in content. They have written some of the most complex and interesting music of their careers so far. To them, LOST IN THE FALL is the best work they’ve ever done and it is reflected in the 12 tracks of deep, beautiful and intense music.“LITF is a visceral, dark, lyrical and dreamy album. It’s our finest work to date,
and we’ve poured our heart and soul into it.”

This is not to be missed. 2oceansvibe will be there and we suggest you get there to. It’s gonna be one helluva party.

BUY TICKETS HERE

And for the rest of you who like to live on the edge, you can win tickets! We’re giving away 2 tickets for EACH launch gig.

To win, email jeremy@theclique.co.za with the subject “Dirty Skirts tickets for [city]“ and tell us what animal appears at the 02:13 mark on their music video “Strike The Match”, from the same album. Click CONTINUE READING to see the video.

sdvsdvsdv

This is a night for life-lovers, friends, family, good times, good wine and fantastic food. Paul, Bern & Lindi Le Roux REALLY know how to lay it on.

Winter perfection… Space is seriously limited. Fun is seriously UNlimited, so book now.

19h30 for 20h00.

R200 for dinner & show (glass of wine included).

Email info@caferoux.co.za for tickets.

2oceansVibers don’t queue…. And don’t pay. WIN a double ticket!

Enter by sending an email to james@lwg.co.za saying ‘I’m with the band’.