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  • New Releases 12/21-22/09: Mary J. & More!!!

    I’m pushing this out a little earlier than usual for one reason:

    Mary J. Blige’s “Stronger with Each Tear” is available on amazon Mp3 for $3.99 for today only! Four bucks for a Mary J. album-ANY Mary J. album-is a pretty good deal. I broke my longstanding embargo on buying digital for this, figuring you couldn’t beat the price. Although “Stronger” appears to be on the average side of Mary albums, hell…it’s only four bucks!!

    Also out today (or tomorrow):

    Didn’t buy Eminem’s “Relapse” yet? Want to embarrass yourself by buying the work of a past-his-prime rapper and giving it to your kid, whose probably already moved on to someone else? Well, knock yourself out. “Relapse: Refill” hits stores this week, and if what I’ve heard of the unreleased material is any indication of what the entire album sounds like, stay the hell away. When you haven’t had anything new to say in almost a decade, it’s probably time to hang it up, and the fact that Eminem is in his mid thirties and still slinging poop rhymes and gay-baiting means that, despite his considerable skill, it looks quite unlikely that I will ever pick up another Eminem album for the rest of his career.

    The only other notable release is the “We Are Young Money” compilation from the Lil Wayne-led campaign. Weezy has already done his part for promotion by getting arrested late last week for marijuana possession. Artists appearing on this compilation include Drake, Nicki Minaj, Pleasure P, and Lloyd. In other words, yawn…

    With that, we close up shop on new releases for 2009. January 2010 will bring new music from the likes of Peter Gabriel, Vampire Weekend and Ke$ha, as well as reissues from The Jackson 5 and Maxwell. As always, you can get a full list of this week’s releases here!

  • Raging Against Christmas: Anarchy in the U.K.

    It’s quite a big deal to have the #1 single in the UK over Christmas. Over the years, that spot has hosted artists ranging from Band Aid (whose “Do They Know It’s Christmas” topped the chart in 1984) to Mr. Blobby (don’t feel bad if you don’t know who that is…unfortunately, I do).

    Anyway, for the past few years, the Christmas #1 in Britain has been tied in with “X Factor”, AKA the British version of “American Idol”. Like “Idol”, “X Factor” is spearheaded by Simon Cowell. Although the show doesn’t mean much on U.S shores, it has spawned at least one certified hitmaker (for a brief time, anyway) in Leona Lewis.

    One guy took exception to Cowell’s domination of the UK charts (and what it represents to true music fans) and started a Facebook campaign to get people to download Rage Against the Machine’s “Killing in the Name” in the hopes that it would prevent “X factor” winner Joe McElderry from hitting the #1 spot with his cover of Miley Cyrus’s “The Climb” (I can’t make this stuff up folks).

    So, the results are in and the #1 single in the UK is…”Killing in the Name” by Rage Against the Machine! Half a million people downloaded it last week, pushing the 18-year old song to the top of the charts. This chart victory is all kinds of symbolic, proving the fact that British music fans are a little tired of having processed musical cheese shoved down their collective throats (although it might have been better had they used their Facebook clout to promote a new artist who needs the publicity). It’s also cool that the guys from Rage have promised to donate money to charity as a result of their chart-topping success. Now if we could just do something about Susan Boyle here in the States…

  • Is It Just Me Or…

    Is it just me or…is Baby By Me the greatest Ne-Yo song ever, until 50 Cent comes in and then it becomes the worst 50 Cent song ever?
    First it’s her neck, yeah then her back
    Yeah I’m a freak, I get into all that
    Girl I perform for ya, like a porno star
    Till ya had enough then I just need a little bit more

    Yep, the dude has to bite a Khia song these days.

    Is it just me or…does Lady GaGa need to throw the New Kids On The Block a bone?
    The first time I ever heard of Lady GaGa was on the terrible Big Girl Now cut on the New Kids latest album The Block. She was even on their comeback tour. Then she blows up. How about getting the Boston boys on a track and releasing it as a single GaGa? How about having them join you on your burning piano? Throw the dudes a bone!

    NKOTB
    NKOTB


    Speaking of things related to the New Kids, is it just me or should Mark Walhberg stop pretending that he wasn’t a white-boy rapper in the 90s named Marky Mark?
    And to even take it a step beyond, I think he should make a comeback. Since he’d never do it without pretending that it wasn’t him, I say we take it to the next level. How about he raps with a luchador mask on and comes out as MC Invincible, which was the name of one of his films? Ok, fine, I know that’s just me.

    Is it just me or should Kris Allen have marketed himself as the anti-Glambert?
    Since Lambert decided to go way over the top as a drama queen in marketing his album, couldn’t Allen have just done the opposite and reached out to all the people who were just disgusted with Lambert? I would’ve looked at all the markets that did the lowest TV ratings for Lambert’s set on the American Music Awards and immediately booked concerts in those areas and called myself Kris “No Nail Polish And Make-Up” Allen.

    Is it just me or is Beyonce the hottest thing in the world until she starts performing and makes mugs that make her eyes bulge out?
    If you don’t believe, you only need click here. I have no idea why she feels the need to make that face over and over again during her concerts. And to add to that, if you take Jay-Z’s mean mug when he throws down his B-boy stance, you have the muggin’est couple in music.

    Photo of the New Kids On The Block added by http://www.flickr.com/people/80842482@N00 and shared via Creative Commons