New Track

LOS ANGELES — Amid all the parties surrounding the Grammy Awards last weekend, it’s hard to imagine someone who seemingly attended all of them — Ne-Yo — having enough energy to host a concert after the big show. (He’d even hosted a “midnight brunch” on Saturday night and performed two nights in a row.) But that’s exactly what the man did on late Sunday night at Club Nokia, finishing the seemingly endless weekend off in style with a stellar performance.

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Chiefs at Spotify, the music streaming service that allows users to listen to music free, generating money from advertising, have announced that they will add “over one million” new songs to their library after signing a deal with independent music distributer CD Baby. The deal will mean that songs by artists who have had material distributed by the company, including Regina Spektor, Gary Jules and Jack Johnson, will be available to listen to on the service.
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Things had been silent from the Dirty Vegas camp for 4 years now, the trio seemingly collapsing into a black hole after two albums and several classic singles including the Grammy Award winning Days Go By (you remember the clip, the one with the breakdancing dude!) After their self imposed exile the band are now set to return, announcing a new record deal with Mark Knight’s rapidly expanding Toolroom Records empire.
(More about International News: Dirty Vegas reform for new album…)

The development of London’s latest next-big-thing genre �nouveau disco’ took another unexpected twist last week, when it morphed into �cosmic disco’ courtesy of the Guardian. “Thirty years ago, club culture was all about disco. In 2009, an offshoot of the genre is spiking in popularity,” the paper declared.
(More about International News: ‘Cosmic disco’ the new nouveau disco…)

Two-time Grammy nominated composer and arranger Frank Macchia has put together quite a little crew for himself, collecting five of Los Angeles’ best saxophonists and adding former Weather Report drummer Peter Erskine for an extravaganza of epic proportions that can only rightly be called Saxolollapalooza.

Macchia, who’s a hell of a saxophonist in his own right, joins Eric Marienthal, Gene Ciptriano, Sal Lozano, Jay Mason, Erskine, and Bob Sheppard for this woodwind-plus-drums force of nature.

The resulting album, the aforementioned Saxolollapalooza, is a blast of white hot energy sparkling with pithy reverberation and exquisite arrangements.

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Country music star Hank Williams III recently announced a tour in 2009 to support his latest album ‘Damn Right, Rebel Proud.’ The tour starts at New Orleans on Feb 15 and continues a hectic 11 city schedule to finally wind up at San Francisco on Feb. 28. Hank Williams III visits a number of Southwest and West Coast on the tour including Austin, TX; Ft. Worth, TX; San Diego, CA; Las Vegas, NV and West Hollywood, CA.

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Epic Records has announced that Amanda Ghost - singer-songwriter who co-wrote James Blunt’s ‘Your Beautiful’ - is its new President. The US label, which is owned by Sony, is home to the likes of Pearl Jam, Franz Ferdinand, Modest Mouse and Good Charlotte. Ghost is perhaps most famous for penning Blunt’s 2005 global hit ‘You’re Beautiful’, and helping the singer to get signed by showcasing his material to record labels.
(More about James Blunt songwriter becomes boss of Pearl Jam, Franz Ferdinand label…)

"Every Scratch, Every Click, Every Heartbeat": The reference is to Elvis Costello's song "45" which, to oversimplify matters, conflates music and life. All the same, "Bass and treble heal every hurt" and though this series doesn't feature the dreaded soundtrack to my life, it might be said that each entry spotlights "a song to sing to do the measuring."

Here, I explore the sheer exuberance of Van Morrison's "Jackie Wilson Said (I'm in Heaven When You Smile)."

…I'm so wired-up
Don't need no coffee in my cup…

Ridiculous and sublime.

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Chris Cornell has announced details of a second London show, after his gig at the Scala on February 23 sold out. The star will now also play London’s O2 Shepherds Bush Empire on March 2, a week before he releases his new album ‘Scream’. ‘Scream’ sees the former Soundgarden and Audioslave man team up with producer Timberland to create a continuous piece of music that he says is inspired by Pink Floyd’s ‘The Wall’. It is released on March 9.
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I usually don’t pay much attention to soundtracks, especially those comprised of a gathering of older songs strung together because they fit the “mood” of a motion picture. A score is a different story, as music created exclusively for a motion picture can often be very moving and exciting. Henry Mancini and Nino Rota come to mind.

In the case of the soundtrack for Underworld: Rise of the Lycans, I wasn’t expecting much.

(More about Music Review: Underworld: Rise of the Lycans - Original Soundtrack…)