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Pop Rock Nation

Tag: New Music

  • New Release(s) of the Week 3/31/09: Prince

    princeWhen Prince left Warner Brothers back in ’96, one major sticking point was that his then label refused to allow him to release music at the pace he wanted to. Among the many issues Prince had was the fact that his magnum opus, 1987’s “Sign O’ the Times”, was whittled down from 3 discs to a more consumer-palatable 2. Prince finally got his 3-disc set upon his release from Warner with ’96’s “Emancipation”, which, while not bad for a 3-CD set, you can find for five bucks used at most retailers these days.

    After slowing down his release schedule slightly, Prince has returned with yet another three-disc set: “Mplsound”, “Lotusflower” and “Elixir” are all being released as one package tomorrow. The catch? This set will only be sold at Target stores and via target.com. Prince is following the model set by AC/DC and The Eagles (successfully) and Christina Aguilera and Guns ‘n Roses (not so successfully). We’ll see if the Purple One still has what it takes. Judging from public response to his performances on Leno last week, I think it would be foolish to count the little man out.

    A few other things to look out for this week:

    Keith Urban “Defying Gravity”- A new album from Mr. Nicole Kidman and the first set he’s recorded since completing rehab a couple years back. The Aussie country star should wind up with the week’s biggest-selling debut.

    Bow Wow “New Jack City Pt. 2”- He’s not been Lil’ for some time now, and Bow Wow has, quiet as kept, been one of hip-hop’s most consistent sellers over the past decade or so. I wonder if he’s writing his own lyrics yet, or if Jermaine Dupri’s still hiring ghostwriters for him. I won’t discuss the stupid title for fear that our own GG might jump through the screen and strangle me.

    UGK “UGK for Life”- This should wrap things up for the Houston-based hip-hoppers, seeing as 1/2 of the group, Pimp C, passed away a year and a half ago, sadly following their biggest commercial success with “International Player’s Anthem”. This album features a bevy of guests paying tribute, from MCs like Too $hort and Eightball & MJG to smooth soul singers like Raheem DeVaughn.

    Gavin DeGraw “Free”-The piano man returns barely a year after his last album with a stripped-down, raw set of original tunes and covers.

    Flo-Rida “R.O.O.T.S.”- So I was watching MTV the other day and Flo-Rida was announcing videos, and he saw fit to explain his name as “Florida” broken up into “2 syllables”. Hey genius, both “Florida” and “Flo-Rida” have three syllables. Someone send dude back to 5th grade. Anyway, this guy’s had the #1 single in the country (“Right Round”) for something like 6 weeks now, so someone’s gonna buy this, right?

    Get your complete list of this week’s releases right here.

  • New Release of the Week 3/17/09: Les Claypool

    claypoolListening to a Les Claypool album is like getting high without the drugs. The former bass player for Primus (who scored a hit with “Wynona’s Big Brown Beaver”) has a playing, performing and singing style that can charitably be called “weird”. After a three year absence, Claypool is back with “Of Fungi & Foe”, the most high-profile in a quiet week for new releases.

    (and see, this is what I don’t get. Take Kelly Clarkson and The-Dream, for example. Why not release them a week apart so both albums have a chance to debut at #1 and fans have a reason to return to record stores? I don’t get it. But, yeah. I said that already.)

    Also new and exciting this week…

    Gabriella Cilmi “Lessons to Be Learned”-This Australian singer was profiled a couple of months back by our own Jason Matos and is now finally getting a Stateside release for her new album.

    Marianne Faithfull: “Easy Come, Easy Go: 18 Songs for Music Lovers”-One of the most striking female voices in music returns with a covers album. I’m not sure what material is being featured here, but her dark, dramatic voice can make anything interesting, so this might  be worth checking out.

    Ray J. “For the Love of Ray J.: The Soundtrack”-After becoming addicted to “I Love New York”, I’ve managed to stay away from most of VH-1’s Celebreality shows. Brandy’s annoying little brother now has one of those shows, which is even more reason to change the dial. Not sure what this “soundtrack” features, but hopefully it’s a reminder that the dude sang before he became a porno actor/media whore.

    Superdrag “Industry Giants”- Superdrag made their initial impression back in ’96 with the song “Sucked Out”, which got an assload of MTV play and was a reasonably-sized hit on the alternative charts. After taking a break in 2003, they are back with “Industry Giants”, an album that features all the original members.

    Get your complete list of new releases .

  • New Release of the Week 3/10/09: Kelly Clarkson

    kelly

    OK. We’re going to experiment with a new format here. I’ve been stretching to find new releases to talk about for almost the entire year now, so maybe focusing on one release would be better.

    So, yeah, Kelly Clarkson’s back. If you all remember, America’s Sweetheart went down in flames with her last album, “My December”, although truth be told, the music enclosed within wasn’t a hell of a lot different (or better, or worse…maybe a little less catchy) from the music that had rocketed her to fame a couple years prior with hits like “Since You Been Gone”. Her lyrics may have been a little angrier, but it’s not like being an angry broad didn’t help Alanis Morissette sell fifteen million records, right? At any rate, much was made of her beef with label head Clive Davis, a man who apparently had an issue that Clarkson decided to (shock, horror) write her own material without the help of song doctors. Davis worked his best “I’ll show you, bitch!” magic, and “My December” went on to sell a respectable but not blockbuster-level 800,000 copies.

    Now, if I was Kelly, I’d have been like “Look, 800K is not a bad number, especially in today’s music market. I’ll keep my publishing, downsize my fan base a little bit and keep on truckin’”. However, I’m obviously not Kelly Clarkson, because Idol #1 went back to Clive with her proverbial tail between her legs and rejoined forces with song doctors old (Max Martin) and new (Katy Perry-for true??) for her fourth album, “All I Ever Wanted”, which is out today. So far, the gambit is working: the first single, “My Life Would Suck Without You”, rocketed to #1 on the Billboard charts, even though the song itself is a lazy recycling of “Since You (or was it U) Been Gone”.  The album’s gotten decent reviews so far, which at least gives me a little hope that the remainder of the set is better than the single. Kelly begrudgingly gets my $9.99, as will her “Idol” brethren Taylor Hicks. These two start off the “Idol” release season proper with their new albums-watch out for new albums by the likes of Elliott Yamin, Mandisa, Ruben Studdard and LaKisha Jones, all before the current season ends this spring. People talk a lot of shit about Taylor, but I give him props. He seems like the one “Idol” winner who’s not interested in selling out for success. Good for him.

    In addition to Kelly and Taylor, here are a couple of other quick hits:

    The-Dream is the latest in a long line of R&B artists who are much better songwriters and/or producers than they are singers. The guy behind songs like “Umbrella” and “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)” is back with his second album, which is called “Love or Money” or “Love vs. Money” or some bullshit like that. Maybe someone should change the title to “Stick to Producing, Bucko”, because The-Dream’s simplistic lyrics and barely-there singing voice don’t give me much hope for this guy being the future of R&B. Then again, his records sell, so what do I know?

    One of the guys The-Dream helped rocket to fame was J. Holiday. If you’ll remember, he had that song “Bed” a couple years ago, which mixed a Prince-style slow jam with that damn “eh” tic that “Umbrella” popularized. It was surprisingly effective, but the success of the song had everything to do with the song itself and nothing to do with the artist. So expect the sophomore slump to eat Holiday whole with his new “Round 2”. Oh, I love imaginative titles. Don’t you?

    Two words you never expected to hear in a sentence together: Chris Cornell and Timbaland. Well, guess what? The greatest rock vocalist of his generation hooks up with Timbo (I’m not going to wrack my brain to come up with a superlative in this case) for the oft-delayed album “Scream”, which is sure to piss off every Cornell fan that Audioslave (who I actually *liked*) didn’t already piss off. I think it’s hilarious when people call moves like this “selling out”. ‘Cause first off, it’s not like Cornell wasn’t already selling googobs of records, right? Second, what rock icon would take the chance of working with a commercially successful pop producer, running the risk of alienating his *entire* audience, and say “Yeah, this is gonna sell me TONS of records!”? Like, are you serious?

    OK. I wrote way more than was my original intention, so I’ll bring this column to a speedy close by saying you can get a complete list of albums that came out today right here. Enjoy.