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What to Download: New Music Today

BuzzSugar — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 16:30:44 -0700

Tuesdays are big in entertainmentville: not only do all the new DVD releases hit Netflix, but new music also pours into stores. So I take a spin through each week's music releases and pick out some albums and tracks worthy of a download. In addition to my picks below, both Neil Young and Rascal Flatts have new albums out today. Here are today's selections:

Ready for some dance music with attitude?: As I was skimming all the new music out today I saw the name Lady Sovereign and thought, "How do I know that name?" And then: "Ch Ching"! That was a fun song of hers from a couple years ago that made its way onto all my party mixes. The British rapper also toured with Gwen Stefani once upon a time. Her new album is out today and I can see rotating tracks like "Let's Be Mates" and "I Got You Dancing" into new mixes.

Pop-punk from Portland: The Thermals are a fun (and political) punk trio out of Portland whose music I've enjoyed in the past. Their fourth album out today sounds upbeat and hopeful at first, but when I listened carefully I realized most of the album is being sung from the perspective of a dead person (the song "When I Died" tipped me off), which gives it a sarcastic vibe. I'm loving the intelligent lyrics and how rocking this album is in general. Check out "When We Were Alive" and "We Were Sick" for a taste of their music.

What to Download: New Music on iTunes

BuzzSugar — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 15:32:32 -0800

Tuesdays are big in entertainmentville: Not only do all the new DVD releases hit Netflix, but new music also pours into stores, including iTunes. So I take a spin through each week's iTunes music releases and pick out some albums and tracks worthy of a download. Here are today's selections:

Comeback kid: Britney Spears's new album, Circus, is being described as "adequate" by most reviewers, and from what I've listened to so far, I'd agree. I've had "Womanizer," a song I really enjoy, on my jogging mix for a while now (and all I see is Chuck Bass). I'm not too sure what else from this odd collection of songs I will get into next, but Britney's tunes have a way of creeping up on me over time as I warm to their catchiness. One song, "Unusual You," is very pretty even though it hardly sounds like her, and "Kill the Lights" is cool. Also: What is going on with her accent on "Mmm Papi"?

The best of Chess: I caught an early screening of Cadillac Records last night (I'll share my thoughts on the movie later this week) and boy, am I in the mood for some blues from this era. Lucky for me, the original songs featured in the film have been neatly rounded up for an album available for download today. Classics like "(I'm Your) Hoochie Coochie Man" and "Forty Days and Forty Nights" by the legendary Muddy Waters sound great even on MP3. Oh man, and Etta James pouring her heart out on tracks like "Trust In Me" and "All I Could Do Is Cry" sounds amazing here too. The entire album is awesome - I downloaded it all.

One more still to come, so read more.

Before they were famous: Before Neil Young released a single song as a solo act, he taped this concert held at the Canterbury House in Ann Arbor in 1968. The tracks sound intimate, and Young sometimes seems shy, but it's cool to hear him learn his way through songs like "On The Way Home" and "Birds" live.

Buzz News Roundup, 8/20

BuzzSugar — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 13:30:14 -0700

Sadly, Dave Matthews Band saxophonist LeRoi Moore died Tuesday at age 46 from injuries he sustained in an all-terrain vehicle accident in June. - AP
Universal wants to increase Labor Day weekend grosses for Mamma Mia! by presenting Mamma Mia! The Sing-Along Edition in select theaters. - Billboard
ABC is actually going to move forward this Fall with that male-oriented spinoff of Supernanny, titled Supermanny. - Hollywood Reporter
Peter Jackson will collaborate with director Guillermo del Toro to write The Hobbit and its sequel. - Variety
The Coen brothers have hired Michael Stuhlbarg and Richard Kind to star as brothers in their 1960s period black comedy, The Serious Man. - ComingSoon
Grey's Anatomy and ER are receiving criticism by a leading Italian medical group for "teaching viewers inaccurate views on medicine" and "spreading misinformation." - The Hollywood Reporter
Neil Young has nabbed Death Cab for Cutie and Wilco as the opening acts for his tour. - Reuters
There's going to be a remake of the 1982 horror movie Poltergeist. - ComingSoon

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Cool Female Artists Cover Neil Young

BuzzSugar — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 14:30:45 -0800

I'm a real sucker for Neil Young, so a tribute album full of female musicians covering his tunes for a good cause is a pretty irresistible proposition. Plus, it's a double album, and it even has a clever title! Cinnamon Girl: Women Artists Cover Neil Young for Charity officially hits stores in February, but you can already buy it on iTunes or pre-order the CD online.

The line-up is great, as are the songs they chose. We've got Jenny Lewis pals The Watson Twins covering the epic "Powderfinger," Veruca Salt (!) doing "Burned," Britta Phillips of Luna on "I Am a Child," and Lori McKenna taking on "The Needle and the Damage Done." The only track I've heard so far is Tanya Donnelly singing "Heart of Gold," which you can listen to over on Stereogum. Check it out and tell me what you think.

All of the proceeds from Cinnamon Girl will be donated to a non-profit called Casting for Recovery, which supports women who have had breast cancer.

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Buzz Gift Guide: Go, Daddy-O

BuzzSugar — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 15:28:33 -0800

Looking for ways to beef up your dad's entertainment arsenal? Check out today's holiday gift guide, as full of daddy love as this week's episode of Heroes was.

What man hasn't dreamed of being James Bond? Indulge your dad's slick, shoot-em-up fantasies with the Ultimate James Bond Collector's Set, which includes all 21 films to date plus a full disc of special features for each, including deleted scenes and interviews.

Well, I don't know about your dad, but mine is a huge Ken Burns fan, and no Ken Burns documentary collection is complete without The War, Burns' exploration of the effects of the Second World War on not just the soldiers fighting abroad, but average American families here at home.

My dad is also a big fan of author Khaled Hosseini's bestselling novel The Kite Runner, and he recently enjoyed Hosseini's newer release A Thousand Splendid Suns. And, if your dad enjoys the book version of The Kite Runner, then you can take him to see the upcoming film adaptation.

Another dadly gift is the DVD set Neil Young: Under Review 1976-2006, a documentary chronicling the second half of Neil Young's musical career. There is also another documentary that reviews Young's earlier years as a musician, from 1966 to 1975.

Song of the Day: Of Montreal Covers Neil Young's "Harvest Moon"

BuzzSugar — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 09:30:00 -0700

At first glance, Of Montreal doesn't look like the kind of band that would cover Neil Young. (As Exhibit A, I present the above photo of Kevin Barnes and company performing at the 2007 Pitchfork Music Festival.) But I've just found a recording of the psychedelic pop-rockers performing "Harvest Moon," off of Young's album of the same name, and it's really quite lovely.

Of Montreal's Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? remains one of my favorite albums of 2007, and though the music is a bit wacky on the surface, it's pretty dark when you really get down to it. (This one, for instance, is built around the plea, "I'm in a crisis / I need help / Come on mood shift, shift back to good again.") Here, Barnes' delicate, childlike vocals add an emotional gravitas to Young's classic. To listen head over to Aquarium Drunkard and then let me know what you think.

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