Posted by Justin on January 30th, 2010 | 1 Comment

What in the hell is going on with Kelis? I know she had a baby with Nas and they got divorced but she’s gone really crazy, I mean more than the screaming, “I hate you so much right now” level of crazy we’ve come to expect. The only thing that is missing from her outfit from the Data Awards in LA (which – why is Kelis there?) is that her skin isn’t blue. (Side Note: for a tutorial, watch this.)

Back to Kelis – Lady, you are 30 years old. Get it together. And can we give the McQueen crab claw shoes a rest? It’s so 10 minutes ago – I saw in my best Ana Wintour voice, behind my blueblockers.

And as for this new album you got coming together, Flesh Tones, due in April…well, we’ll see how I feel about you doing this obscure dance music. The list of producers thus far? David Guetta, Will.I.Am, Boys Noises, Diplo and Switch, and Free School. Fine. Whatever. Give it a shot. Couldn’t hurt because aside from your debut, your albums have been worth shit. Sorry boo.

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Posted by Justin on January 30th, 2010 | 1 Comment

I do love me some Roisin Murphy, lemme jus’ say that.

Since the lady just had a baby, she’s openly said that she feels it’s not the proper time to put out an album because her mind, for obvious reasons, isn’t in putting a record together. However, to the delight of Roisinettes across the world, she’s decided to release songs piecemeal. The first was Orally Fixated, which was all about how she was pregnant and wasn’t allowed to smoke so she became obsessed with trying to have something in her mouth. Of course, us dirty folks made it about Blow-j’ers and such.

The track was kinetic, crazy, funky and a little clunky. You definitely had to be a fan to enjoy it – because it was not made for new listeners. I liked her experimenting and taking the sound of Ruby Blue and Overpowered and mixing it and improving it.

But the next release, Momma’s Place? If you could see me licking my fingers you would know how much I love this 90′s throwback track. And written before pregnant?  Check out the track after the jump…

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Posted by Justin on January 30th, 2010 | 1 Comment

Like Billboard magazine, the BBC – in all its conglomerate wisdom, basically had a short list of 15 artists they picked as the possible ‘Sound of 2010.’ Unlike Billboard, the BBC actually elects a true winner, an artist they deem to be the most buzzworthy, one with the highest potential as far as success and musical credibility and from their previous winners, you can see how they have been fairly spot on. Take it for what it’s worth – the poll is among music industry folk and journalists covering music.

2009: Little Boots, 2008: Adele, 2007: Mika, 2006: Corinne Bailey Rae, 2005: The Bravery.

The contenders for 2010:

• Daisy Dares You
• Delphic
• The Drums
• Devlin
• Everything Everything
• Giggs
• Gold Panda
• Hurts
• Joy Orbison
• Marina and the Diamonds
• Owl City
• Rox
• Stornoway
• Two Door Cinema Club

and the winner…Ellie Goulding, whom bloggers have been creme-ing their jeans over for the last 6 months at least. Video clips, demos and remixes have created quite a lot of hype with her work with Starsmith and then her recent duet with Erik Hassle. Under the Sheets is honestly one of my favorite songs of last year (and probably will remain strong in 2010) and her latest single, Starry Eyed, has just premiered with its own video and the Russ Chimes remix is also spectacular.

Posted by Shan on January 29th, 2010 | 1 Comment

I’m sure everyone who cares has been following this. Viral videos about an artists upcoming record… but who is it? Posted as “iamamiwhoami”, the blogosphere is a flutter. Is it Bjork, Goldfrapp, The Golden Filter, Christina Aguilera or someone who isn’t on our radar at all? If it’s someone unknown artist, then kudos to you cause you got everyone’s attention. Even ours.

Personally, since the beginning I’ve been hedging my bets on Aguilera but recently when tweeted about it, her stylist said, “You’re gonna believe what you want, so I just won’t answer anymore. Everything I say gets attacked. From now on my lips are sealed.”

It’s not necessarily a denial, but maybe just skirting the issue. Check out this dissection of the video titles by MuuMuse, along with several other notable facts.

Take a look yourselves, if you haven’t already. We can count out Goldfrapp since we’ve seen the artwork and heard several of the songs from their new album. But don’t forget that they did work with Xtina on her new album.

Regardless of who it is, the music sounds interesting.

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Posted by Justin on January 29th, 2010 | 1 Comment

Billboard mag has made a list of ‘artists to watch’ in 2010. I’ve heard of 2. What about you? Thoughts?

Billboard’s picks:

• Austin’s Bridge
• B.O.B.
• J. Cole
• Esther Dean
• Ana Isabelle
• K’Jon
• Pixie Lott
• Marco Di Mauro
• Nicki Minaj
• Yeasayer

Guess in a year’s time we’ll be able to come back to this and see if they were right or not. I’m placing my money on the BBC’s list, which actually is more of a contest with a proper winner, which means there’s even more riding on the artists (come back tomorrow for that full list!)

Posted by Justin on January 29th, 2010 | 1 Comment

Owl City. You came to me upon a random recommendation, albeit one that was later totally fantastic cause it led to some lovins, but this is not the time nor place for that story. Ahem.

Owl City is Adam Young, a guy who is one of those people who got a big old em ef en break. While in Minnesota, and fighting bouts of insomnia, Adam took to the basement and found several instruments and a computer sitting around and wa-la: Owl City was born. In the heyday of Myspace, which I think is now returning to its roots as a place for bands to share music, he uploaded songs and garnered quite a following, so much so, that he got a deal from Universal and released his first full-length (proper) album, Ocean Eyes, in 2009. But what some don’t know – is that there is a plethora of Owl City back catalogue from the Myspace days.

Let’s discuss further, shall we? And get to that Deluxe Edition of Ocean Eyes that just came out.

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Posted by Justin on January 29th, 2010 | 1 Comment

Now, this isn’t news. Beyonce needs to take a mutha f-ing break. I feel at the rate she’s churning out music, she’s approaching that JLO stratosphere of “Nah, we’re gonna hate you for the rest of your life no matter what you do.” And that would be shameful, since Beyonce has talent whereas aforementioned La-Lopez does not has a lot of OTHER hobbies like babies. So let this be the warning: Beyonce – shape up because you about to expire. Hokay?

I was deleting a lot of my Beyonce library, pairing it down to the essentials and not the superfluous awful tracks that made up most of Dangerously in Love. It’s the same process I employ when getting a new Janet Jackson album and finding that without 18 interludes, there’s about 6 or 7 tracks in totality. Reedick.

However, scouring through the tracks I came across this gem of an unreleased, leaked demo, supposedly produced by Stargate, although it sounds to me so similar to Kylie’s In My Arms. And if Beyonce made an album of ess like this, I’d eat it up with a glowstick spoon once I got my rave pacifier out of my mouth. So go ahead, listen and lose control:

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