It’s here, ladies and gentlemen. The anticipation has been building up since the beginning of the year, and now Lady Gaga’s Born This Way is available for you to take home. The music industry has been so hot to get this album out that they’ve pushed all releases for the week (which would normally be on Tuesday May 24th) to Monday the 23rd. Yup, folks, you can begin your work week with Stefani Germanotta and all of her dance-pop anthemry […]
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Chart Stalker 5/19/11: The Killer Crossover
So, on weeks that are kinda dead when it comes to chart activity, I really have two options-either we go back in time and look at an old album chart, or we take a look at charts in other genres. Last time around, we took a look at the album charts from 1992, so what say we switch things up and look at this week’s top selling albums-but on the R&B/hip-hop side? 1) Goblin | Tyler the Creator 2) Hot […]
Chris Brown Leads 2011 BET Awards Nominees
Following his crocodile tear-stained “tribute” to Michael Jackson on last year’s BET Awards, the cable network has announced that singer/actor Chris Brown has received the most nominations for this year’s ceremony. Brown, whose career looked to be over after an assault on his then-girlfriend Rihanna, has completed an unexpected comeback this year. His fourth album, F.A.M.E., has already spawned five hit singles and was recently certified Gold for sales of over 500,000 copies. He’ll be vying for the Video of […]
New Release Report 5/17/11: The Calm Before Storm GaGa
In the event that you’ve been living underneath a very big rock for the past several months, Lady GaGa’s Born This Way is scheduled to drop on May 23rd. Now that you know what NEXT week’s column is gonna be all about, let’s take a look at some of the albums that are coming out this week. We’ll start with Moby . Destroyed has gotten some pretty savage reviews already, but I like the bit I’ve heard thus far, so I’ll […]
Roundball Soundoff 5/16/11: Celebrating Too Early, Miami?
Come on Miami, rolling around on the floor and crying after you won a 2nd round series. Really? LeBron said it was so emotional because they finally got over the hump by beating Boston. If beating Boston while Rondo, Garnett, West, and both O’Neals were injured is getting over the hump that’s fine, but do it with a little class. Chicago stomped Atlanta and just calmly walked off the court. Act like you’ve been there before. For those Knicks fans […]
The New Blerd Radio Episode 4: Sex & Violence
Girls-they run the world!! So Beyonce says, and Episode 4 of Blerd Radio puts that theory to the test. With five people talking in one room, things get a little interesting-aside from Blerd and Jesse, we are joined by Mrs. Jesse, Jesse’s BFF *sniff* Matt Cameron, bass player for Jack Burton vs. David Lo Pan and Matt’s wife, Liz. The girls lead us through a feisty few rounds of Fuck, Kill, Marry, we discuss the new releases of the week, Jesse gets a massive industrial hard-on, […]
Spin Cycle: Raphael Saadiq’s “Stone Rollin'”
Following up on the retro sounds of his last album, The Way I See It, singer/producer/multi-instrumentalist (and former member of Tony Toni Tone and Lucy Pearl) Raphael Saadiq has decided on a similar format for his fourth solo album, Stone Rollin‘. Variously described as a ’70s tribute album/sequel to The Way I See It (which had a more ’60s vibe) or a “rock” album, Stone Rollin‘ is neither, really. While it’s instantly recognizable as a successor to The Way I […]
Chart Stalker 5/11/11: Adele Fends Off All Comers…Again
So, Adele’s 21 is turning into quite the juggernaut. In a week when tons of superstar albums came out (8 albums debuted in the Top Ten), the British R&B singer retains her stranglehold on the top of the Billboard charts, with another 155,000 albums sold. In addition, the set’s first single, “Rolling in the Deep”, finally makes it to the top of Billboard’s Top Digital Songs chart and probably would’ve already been #1 on the overall Hot 100 singles chart […]
Bon Iver Announces Tour Dates
Fresh off the news that he will be releasing a new album in June, indie favorite Bon Iver is hitting the road. Justin Vernon will be bringing an eight-piece band on the road with him for this, his biggest tour yet. As I’ve said before, I’m not totally on his team yet, but I recently picked up the album by Gayngs (not totally a Justin Vernon project, but he appears on a lot of it) and I think I might give […]
Who is the Most Hated Music Artist Right Now? No Surprise…
The ratio of pitches we get via email vs. the ratio of PR pitches that ends up on the site is relatively small (watch us disappear off of everyone’s PR list now), but I have to say that one recent email caught my eye. It linked to the five most hated artists in music today. The process used to figure this out was pretty simple, it seems. Looks like they just did Google searches on a number of artists and measured the amount […]
New Release Report 5/10/11: Turtleneck, Chain & CDs
Spring is in full flower, y’all…and there’s another wide-ranging set of new music coming to you this week. A little bit of everything-from comedy to classic R&B to indie rock to Eighties icons-occasionally all on the same set. Here are the highlights from the May 10th release schedule. Raphael Saadiq–Stone Rollin‘: Following the critically acclaimed The Way I See It, former Tony Toni Tone/Lucy Pearl frontman Raphael Saadiq continues to mine the depths of classic R&B on this, his fourth […]
The Viewfinder: “Captain Jack Sparrow” by The Lonely Island
Those crazy cutups from The Lonely Island have struck music/comedy gold once again. This time, they’ve done it with the help of the one and only Michael Bolton. “Captain Jack Sparrow” us the latest single and video from the group’s new album, Turtleneck & Chain, which comes out tomorrow. Bolton is his usual overwrought self on the chorus, but his presence in the song’s video is completely epic. Whoever saw fit to put Bolton in a variety of different guises, […]