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Pop Rock Nation

Tag: New Releases

  • New Releases 1/5/10: J5, Kanye and More!!

    Welcome to January, folks. The flood of releases has slowed to a trickle, but it hasn’t totally died off. Here are a few of the releases attracting people to stores or their local DSPs this week.

    Ke$ha “Animal”-True story. I don’t recall having EVER heard Ke$ha’s “Tic Toc”, despite the fact that it’s been the #1 record in the country for the past two weeks and recently broke a record for most legal downloads in a week. So in order to not seem totally out of touch, I’m listening to the song in the background while I type this. I don’t think I’m gonna be able to get through this whole thing. Granted, I come into this prejudiced: strike 1 for Ke$ha is that she sang the chorus of Flo-Rida’s obnoxious “Right Round”. Strike 2 is that she has a stupid-ass dollar sign instead of an “S” in her name.

    Sorry, I just had to turn that off-it’s terrible. Give me Robyn. Give me Lady GaGa. Hell, I’d even take Fergie over this crap!! No wonder people talk so much shit about pop music these days. Anyway, for those of you who would be interested in this (and God help you if you are), her debut album comes out today. Watch it become a huge hit.

    Katharine McPhee “Unbroken”: Show of hands-how many of you remember Katharine McPhee? She’s the chick that placed second to Taylor Hicks (and beat out Elliott Yamin and Chris Daughtry) on American Idol back in 2006. Of course, she wound up selling the least out of the four. This is probably because she gave off the vibe of a mature jazz/standards diva on the show and then wound up doing a complete 180 and making a Beyonce record. Still, one must admire the fact that she still has a major label contract (with legendary jazz label Verve, at that!). Her sophomore release will probably be a little more in line with what we heard from her on “Idol”.

    Kanye West “Storytellers”: Is Kanye’s career over? This CD/DVD won’t tell us the answer because it was recorded at the beginning of 2009, a good nine months before Taylor-gate. I’m not sure what the purpose is of releasing this, since there was a point in time when it came on every half-hour on VH-1 and VH-1 Soul, but for those interested in hearing Kanye’s slightly unhinged ramblings, this one’s for you. Me, I’ll just wait until the next studio album.

    (By the way-I don’t think Kanye’s career is over. You think the average Kanye West fan gives a fuck about Taylor Swift?)

    Jackson 5/Michael Jackson: Reissue Campaign: The Jackson onslaught continues. Universal has remastered and re-released every Motown-era Jackson 5 and Michael Jackson solo album, with the exception of the first two, “Diana Ross Presents the Jackson 5” and “ABC”, which are still available in a two-fer package. Vinyl junkies can also rejoice, because these reissues are also available on wax. And if you know how difficult it is to find vinyl copies of some of these albums, you’ll truly appreciate the re-release. Personally, I’ll be picking up a few of these to fill a couple of holes in my collection.

    Anyway, that should be more than enough to satisfy you music junkies. Get a full list of this week’s releases here.

  • 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!

  • New Releases of the Week 10/6/09: Backstreet Boys,KISS & More!

    This week’s a little lighter on the superstar action than the two or three weeks that preceded it, but there’s still a heavy flow of new music finding it’s way into stores and online outlets. Here’s a quick snapshot of some of the highlights…

    Backstreet Boys “This is Us”: You’ve gotta give BSB credit for sticktoitiveness. It’s been a good six or seven years since their sell-by date, and yet they just keep plugging along. “This is Us” is their sixth album over on these shores, and it’s being touted as a return to dance-pop after a couple albums of adult contemporary (and very sleepy) balladry. They’ve reunited with their original producer Max Martin, along with Redone, who’s the producer behind Lady GaGa. First single “Straight Through My Heart” didn’t do anything for me, and BSB have generally never been my cup of tea, but I give ’em props for still trying when everyone else of their ilk has folded.

    Michael Buble “Crazy Love”: Here’s a one-two punch for the housewives. The latest album from the Canadian crooner (which releases on Friday) features his standard mix of standards and contemporary love songs. Among the familiar titles here-“Georgia on My Mind” and a redo of Billy Vera’s classic “At This Moment” (you know, the “Family Ties” song). Buble himself wrote two songs, including first single “Haven’t Met You Yet”, and the album also features an appearance by The Dap-Kings of Sharon Jones (and Amy Winehouse) fame. Unfortunately, I can’t think of Michael Buble anymore without remembering the camera phone pics that popped up on the ‘Net last year and saying to myself “I’ve seen this dude’s butt”.

    Mike Doughty “Sad Man Happy Man”: Yes, folks. I have a man-crush on Mike Doughty. The singer-songwriter and former leader of Soul Coughing is one of rock’s more interesting characters and a genuinely nice guy to boot. Oh, yeah. He also makes good music. His new album, “Sad Man Happy Man” is a worthy follow-up to 2008’s excellent “Golden Delicious”, and also briefly reunites Doughty with David Kahne, who did some production work for Soul Coughing back in the day and is probably best known for producing Sublime’s breakthrough album (did you hear that they’re back together…why??). He also has one of the more interesting blogs of any popular musician.

    KISS “Sonic Boom”: That hissing sound you heard was a million dudes in their late thirties and early forties pissing themselves when they found out that KISS was touring and releasing an album. Gene Simmons and Co., who will probably (finally) get inducted into the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame next year, are back with “Sonic Boom”, an album that will be sold only in Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club stores. It’s the band’s first album in over a decade, and you get new songs, some remade classics, and a live DVD. It’s the next best thing to being there, I guess.

    Meshell Ndegeocello “Devil’s Halo”: I must say, I kinda have a crush on Meshell too. She’s been rocking my world for 16 years now and has yet to release an album that’s been less than stellar. She’s changed her sound up on just about all of her albums, going from funk to jazz to hip-hop to folk and back again. This album has a pretty strong pop/rock flavor, and is probably the most guitar-centric of her career. I reviewed it for Popdose. Have a look-see, why don’t you?

    Also in stores today: albums by Blake Lewis, Roseanne Cash, Brandi Carlile, Vic Chesnutt, Toby Keith, and…Lita Ford??

    Get your full list of the week’s new releases here!