Some celebrities are so hot they just keep on earning, even years after they leave this mortal coil. British newspaper The Guardian pays tribute to these retail powerhouses this week with a list of the top-earning dead celebrities of 2009.
Leading the ranks of musicians generating cash by the ton from the grave is, unsurprisingly, Michael Jackson - third overall among his celebrity peers. The King of Pop has a musician from another age close on his heels in the number four position: Elvis Presley. Rounding out the list for Team Music are John Lennon in the seventh slot (with the Beatles Remastered to thank, no doubt) and Jimi Hendrix in eleventh.
See the whole list at the Guardian's web site.Which other artists would you have expected to see on the list?
Now, I'm not the biggest Idol fan, but I saw this just-released album cover for Adam Lambert's upcoming release, For Your Entertainment, and it kinda blew me away. I'm really not sure what to make of it--I feel simultaneously drawn to it and vaguely horrified:
Mariah Carey is the Rainman of pop music. Focused, blank faced and sometimes capable of genius. Each toothpick lying on the diner floor is a hit song; each cheese puff is a music video featuring a greased-up, jiggling Mariah bearing an expression that translates to either a)Tabula Rasa; or b) “I’ve had too much turkey dinner.” I can’t tell. My Latin ain’t so good. It goes without saying that Mariah Carey is an undisputed talent who has achieved greatness. She has a reported 5-octave voice and has sold something in the neighborhood of, what – like 200 million records? Amazing! I used to get chills listening to she and Whitney Houston dominate radio in the early 90s with pop songs that showcased considerable soul and range. Like major powerhouse vocal business. It just knocked me to hear voices like that. Whitney disappeared from the scene and Mariah stole it, supplementing her vocal range with some kind of fantastical Hip Hop genie oil that, when applied directly to skin, creates MTV and radio perfection. A quick scan through music video history finds Mariah in all manner of locale (a school, a countryside hoedown, in water, in posh cars, on various silk beds, in her knickers, in bikini in front of Vuitton luggage, in mansions, etc.), jiggling awkwardly and touching herself prettily while wearing a bloated, vacant smile that reminds me a bit of Patrick Swayze’s smile in Ghost when his spirit left Oda Mae for the last time. Perhaps the smile is just a way of coping with the interminable breeze that seems to follow the poor woman around onscreen (it’s always windy in her videos, which is perplexing considering many of them take place indoors.). A couple vids from the early years are below, but the new ones, the really gross/awesome ones ("Don't Forget About Us," "We Belong Together," "Say Somethin'," "Touch My Body"), cannot be shown here, sadly. "Embedding disabled by request." (Sigh*).
The lips parted, peekaboo glances and self love that mark her music video performances could be almost lovable if there were something substantial -- like her shining TALENT, for example -- to anchor it. There's not. The last few albums have been produced within an inch of their digital lives, her vocals seemingly quadruple tracked and Pro-Tooled to bits, only to be ultimately sidelined by Hip Hop glitterati guest appearances. I’m all for double-tracking vocals (Dave Gilmour in Dark Side of the Moon, anyone?) and collaborating with your buddies but at some point it becomes a major bummer. The vocal legend’s latest (with its straight-faced title), Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel, provides no reprieve on the bummer front. More breathy vocal business. More songs with barely any sung words. More tiny dresses fit to burst. More indoor breezes. More self-conscious touching of the face and hair. More lazy grins. More killer song titles like “Angels Cry” and “H.A.T.E.U.” (although to be fair, "H.A.T.E.U." is one of the finest songs on the album). A quick aside: while Memoirs… came close to winning the award for Best Accidentally-Comedic Album Title, the trophy still stays safe in the harbors of Mariah’s 2008 release, E=MC2. I know the new album has sold a quarter of a million and that my opinion may elicit derision from some, but folks - please be gentle. I am an imperfect angel; Don’t H.A.T.E.ME. Love me, love me…
Beck's new thing is covering entire albums. Have you heard? He gets a group of band members and other acquaintances together and they go through a whole iconic album and create cover versions of each track on that album, all in just one day.
The first work to be dissected and reassembled was The Velvet Underground & Nico, re-imagined by members of Beck's past tour bands and a few other friends, including actor Giovanni Ribisi.
Project number two is now in the works, which means you'll find a new cover from Songs of Leonard Cohen on Beck's site each week, courtesy of Beck, Devendra Banhart, Ben, Andrew and Will from MGMT, Andrew from Wolfmother, Binki from Little Joy, and Beck's touring band members Brian Lebarton and Bram Inscore.
Too many cooks in the kitchen? Check out a track from each "Music Club," as Beck is calling them, and decide for yourself.
News from the Department of Whiskey Tango Foxtrot...
In case you haven't heard, Radiohead's Thom Yorke just launched a new band with Flea (Red Hot Chili Peppers), Joey Waronker, Mauro Refosco, and longtime Radiohead producer Nigel
Godrich. Apparently without a name, they played a few shows in LA recently. So who made it out to see this group? Please regale ChordStrike with a review of the show.
Have you ever dated someone and thought everything was going swimmingly until the moment they showed you their poetry, or played you the track they'd just finished, or invited you to see their band play? You know the feeling. You try to pretend it doesn't matter. You don't want to be snobbish. People have different tastes. It's no big deal. So... you act like you like it, maybe. You say it's "nice," or "interesting."
Not so with Norwegian tech-pop queen Annie. On 2004's Anniemal, she sang about chewing boys up and spitting them out on the devastatingly catchy "Chewing Gum." On the first single from her forthcoming November 2009 release, Don't Stop, she demonstrates how to break the news that, well...
And just to make up for the audio-only nature of the above video, here's another little something to chew on...
Dickie Peterson, founding member and bassist for Blue Cheer - the band that pulled the flower children into a heavier space - passed away yesterday. His band's contributions to psych rock and hard rock cannot be overstated.
I have to admit, I wasn't quite sure what to expect when I got on the phone with Jerry Cantrell, Mike Inez, and Sean Kinney of Alice in Chains (William DuVall was unfortunately unable to make it, but the guys had plenty of good things to say about their friend and fellow band member.)
I wanted to ask them about Layne Staley, and reforming as a band, and adding a new member (William), and their new album (Black Gives Way to Blue), but I thought they might be tired of answering the same old interview questions. Fortunately, however, conversation flowed freely, and the guys were a lot of fun to chat with. They were genuine, honest, and engaging, and it shows.
What I found most eye-opening was their story of how Black Gives Way to Bluecame into being (it wasn't planned!). Listen to this story and more in the 17-minute interview, and check out song samples from the new album below.
Sometimes, when the world feels like it's too much, you need to stop, breathe, and find a way to regroup. There are many forms of rejuvenation--I've always found mine in yoga, martial arts, or meditation. And I've increasingly found that the right music soothes my frayed nerves like nothing else.
But finding the right music can be tricky, and most new age music is too airy-fairy for my taste. It's thin and whispery, like cotton candy, and I need something solid and whole and grounding. New age music also tends to scare people by conjuring images of droning monks, sleepy piano music, whalesongs, or other nature sounds, or ridiculously cheesy CD covers featuring temples nestled in the clouds or dolphins arcing through the waves.
Fortunately, Kundalini Meditation Musicis none of these things. Featuring seven powerful tracks, this album is instantly calming, and just listening helps me rediscover a sense of balance. The word "kundalini" means "coil" in Sanskrit, and in yoga, the term "kundalini shakti" refers to a coil of energy that lives at the base of the spine. One can awaken this energy through meditation, or yoga, or pranayama (breathing), and cause it to uncoil and journey upward through the spine.
This music is no doubt intended to aid in process of awakening your kundalini energy, but you don't have to be a kundalini practitioner to enjoy it. The album features a number of well-known mantras warmed by just the right touch of instrumental music--soft guitars, a hint of cello and violin, unobtrusive piano, and background harp. But the voices of the singers remain front and center, as they should. The instruments serve to keep each track both texturally and rhythmically interesting, while at the same time remaining appropriately in the background--subtly enhancing, not detracting from, the featured mantra. Again, it's all about balance, and each track delivers. It's not easy to set a mantra (typically sung without instrumental accompaniment) to music--kudos to the arrangers.
My favorite tracks are the regal "Heal (Ra Ma Da Sa)," sung by peace activist Snatam Kaur, "Miracle (Guru Ram Das)" sung by German-Mexican duo Mirabai Ceiba, and "Universe (Universal Gong)" (an intriguing track consisting entirely of gong music), performed by Harijiwan Khalsa. I think the gong track might be my favorite, simply because I had no idea that gongs could create such fascinating, shimmering sounds--it was wholly unique, and somehow deeply grounding. Who knew that a gong could sound so primal, so "earthy"?
While this music is a fitting backdrop to mellow practices like yoga or pilates, it's also suitable for winding down at night, or zoning out during a bus ride home from work, or sitting down to a relaxing dinner. Give it a try, even if the term "new age" tends to make you want to run away. You just might like it.
Influential Australian indie-rock band The Go-Betweens are to receive
an honor perfectly befitting their name: a bridge named after them. The
Go Between Bridge, currently under construction in their hometown of
Brisbane, was so-named after a public vote on eleven suggested names.
It will connect Milton and South Brisbane over the Brisbane River.
It's
not uncommon for musicians or other prominent figures to have roads
named after them, but such an appropriate naming of a major structure
is rare. It'd be great if Australia also had a Highway To Hell, but finding a town mayor happy to receive that road might be tricky. Liverpool's airport is named after John Lennon, but San Francisco's isn't named after Jefferson Airplane. Decatur, Illinois is the birthplace of Alison Krauss, which gives it the option of having trains arrive at the somewhat awkward Alison Krauss and Union Station. OK, so they're unlikely to take up that option, but if officials in Oakland, California, ever get round to honoring
their funk heritage, all they have to do is re-christen a high building
the Tower of Power. That's a no-brainer, right?
SoundUnwound's editorial team write about the latest big music news and
quirky stories which catch the eye. We'll be posting a selection of
these news stories on Chordstrike every week; for much, much more,
visit SoundUnwound.com, the new music site from IMDb and Amazon. Follow us at twitter.com/soundunwound.
Now that the ‘80s music revival is in full swing, those of us who were lucky enough to experience the original decade, and who were sad to see its musical demise, have a lot to be thankful for--and nobody has re-imagined the clean, danceable pop of the ‘80s for the new millennium better than British synthophiles La Roux. Sporting artistic influences of the highest
order, including Prince’s dark electro funk, Eurythmics’ shocking visual and
melodic style, and a heavy dose of the sharp songwriting and synthtastic soundsof Yaz (or Yazoo to you Brits) , the team of
Elly Jackson and Ben Langmaid have created an anachronistic gem of an album
that’s so strong, it could have brought back the ‘80s all on its own.
So much synthpop from past decades, as well as from today,
has a plastic, disposable feel to it, and truly, much of it is just that—but
not La Roux. What’s so salient about this debut release is not only its sharp attention
to sonic detail and stylistic flair, but, as with all of the best pop music, its
top-tier songwriting. These songs are catchy, deeply felt, full of attitude,
and just the right length. Every listen leaves me begging for the back button, and
check my iTunes library—of all the records I’ve loved and obsessed over this
year, nothing has had more play than La Roux. Tracks like “Bulletproof” are
undeniable, amplifying the most ‘80s elements of the ‘80s into a distilled and
concentrated dose of thoughtful, dark, pop perfection that feel like they’d be perfect
for everything from exercising and dancing to road-tripping and relaxing.
But honestly, you don’t need to be a fan of ‘80s music, or
even pop to appreciate what this album really is—a timeless, quality work of
art created by talented people who feel what they’re doing so much that every synthesized
note feels completely natural.
Check out La Roux's video for their latest single, "I'm Not Your Toy," as well as the classic "Bulletproof," below.
There are plenty of live albums issued solely as afterthoughts or
contract fulfillments, but there are plenty that are as transcendent as
the best in-person concert experiences, only with zero lines at the bathroom. For
this particular list we came up with the following criteria:
• Only one album per artist.
• Albums were been performed live in front of an audience, but don't necessarily have to be culled from a single performance.
• No EPs or singles—this list is about albums
• We decided to limit this list to music, which means no comedy. We
wanted to save those records for a separate list for laffers.
Of course, we exercise their judgment regarding quality and/or
historical significance. If you disagree with our choices (and there's
a good chance you will), let us know in the comments.
