Regardless of one’s feelings about The Ting Tings – day-glo pop masterminds or mere dancefloor diversions – they’d doubtlessly be a surprising addition to the canon of 2000s artists granted pop longevity. Their debut record, We Started Nothing, was a dance-rock jackpot, spilling out a startling amount of durable singles like a generous Atlantic City slot machine; but it, as a record, never offered anything below the heavily stylized surface. Not that all music needs to, mind you – it’s just […]
Posts tagged "Gorillaz"
The Singles Bar: Bobby Womack’s “Please Forgive My Heart”
Bruce Springsteen sings “we take care of our own,” but it’s obvious that when he does so, he’s not talking about young soul musicians in reference to older soul musicians. It’s not often that you hear today’s soul and hip-hop musicians (with the exception of someone like Questlove) lending a hand to the older generation to bring the music that inspired them to perform to a younger generation. It’s often left to rock musicians to bring artists like Solomon Burke […]
New Release Report 11/29/11: Got Live If You Want It!
With only one major release week left in 2011, the industry is heading into break mode, but not before unleashing two superstar live albums this week. First and foremost, there’s Live At The Royal Albert Hall, the first ever live CD and DVD from this year’s it-girl, Adele. The British singer regales us with tracks from her two smash albums, plus a smattering of covers-including a delicate take on Bonnie Raitt’s “I Can’t Make You Love Me”, which we featured […]
New Release Report 4/19/11: Another Quiet Week, Another Not-Snappy Headline
A busy week followed by a quiet week. That seems to be the way things go in the music industry go these days. After a plethora of notable new albums hit the stores last week, things have chilled out majorly this week-as only a few moderately anticipated albums are going to show up on shelves. First and foremost (AKA the only album that will probably make chart noise in a week’s time) is yet another new Glee album. Glee: The […]
Chartstalker 3/17/10: It's Ludacris!
(now say that in a Mike Tyson voice. That’s what I was going for.) This week’s Billboard album chart is led by a pair of new entries. Atlanta rapper Ludacris bows on top with his latest album, “Battle of the Sexes”. Bolstered by the hits “How Low” and “My Chick Bad”, Luda scans 137,000 units in his opening salvo. If that number sounds a little low, well, it is. Luda’s last album, “Theater of the Mind” opened with 213,000 units […]
Chartstalker 3/10/10: Who the Hell is Taio Cruz?
I’ll get to the albums chart in a minute, but I must first register my surprise at this week’s new #1 single. British newcomer Taio Cruz jumps from #53 to #1 on the Hot 100 with his new single “Break Your Heart”, which features Ludacris (who will now have an impressive three songs in the Top Ten). I’ll admit that even as I write this, I haven’t heard the song yet (bad reporting, I know…but I have the Broken Bells […]