A PSA for those of you who have wanted to digitize your vinyl library but who haven’t wanted to take the technological plunge: The online clearinghouse Woot is selling a USB turntable (i.e. a turntable outfitted for a direct connection into your computer) for $49.99 today. [Woot; HT Jon Solomon] More »
ARTIST: Madonna
TITLE: “Celebration”
WEB DEBUT: July 30, 2009 More »
In news that will probably thrill people who feel that network TV needs more incoherent, self-serving screeching, E!’s Marc Malkin is reporting that Kara DioGuardi has signed a deal to return to the televised talent competition for its ninth season. This news got me thinking about poor old Paula Abdul, who’s been publicly tussling over her contract with the show’s producers. Which is pretty annoying, since her comments to the show’s hopefuls, while completely undiagrammable as sentences, are actually pretty useful when you compare them to the endless streams of “dawgs” uttered by Randy Jackson and DioGuardi’s self-aggrandizing sing-offs. This calls for a poll, I think: Which member of the American Idol cast is the weakest link? Let’s go to the ballot box! More »
Green Day and Pink are the latest additions to the “featured performers” lineup at this year’s MTV Video Music Awards, taking place on Sept. 13; they join Muse and Taylor Swift on the evening’s bill. Pink will continue to flog Funhouse, which only came out a year ago (it feels like forever!); meanwhile, I am wondering if Green Day will bring out Stephanie, a fan in attendance at the band’s Madison Square Garden show the other night who hopped onstage and performed “Jesus Of Suburbia” with the band on guitar while clad in a Misfits T-shirt, and who had the crowd eating out of her hand by the time she was done. (Hey, the VMAs are in New York this year!) Clip of what is, I hope, the first of many incredible moments in this young woman’s life after the jump. More »
Degrassi alum / budding pop star Aubrey “Drake” Graham is returning to the small screen in Canada with Us And Them, a “sitcom about best buddies–and polar opposites–trying to make their way in the entertainment industry.” Wow, I wonder how they came up with that concept? I’d like to take this opportunity to send a message to the show’s producers: Please don’t hire the guy who did the really stupid dialogue for the “Best I Ever Had” video for your writing staff. (Yes, I know the culprit for those hollow lines about “taking that d” and The Mighty Ducks was probably Drake and/or the video’s director Kanye West, but it needed to be said.) [THR] More »
The mysterious Swedish outfit that goes by the name jj included a drugged-out, female-fronted flip of Lil Wayne’s “Lollipop” on its Pitchfork-beloved album jj n° 2 called “Ecstasy.” You will probably not be surprised to learn that in this scribe’s opinion, this take on Lil Wayne’s No. 1 hit beats Framing Hanley‘s by about eleventy billion miles. [DUTTY ARTZ; HT Jessica Hopper] More »
He switched his phone number (it’s now (281) 206-4336), so you shouldn’t feel too bad if you were curious about the whereabouts of Houston-bred MC Mike Jones, who turned asking people just who he was into a cottage industry. As it turns out, he’s been hanging out at home, losing weight on the Subway diet, getting into fights with lots of his former associates, paring down his collection of houses and cars to a place where he now has one of each, and working on a new record. There’s much more—seven pages worth of much more—but happily, the story ends with Jones just hanging out in Ocean City, Md., signing for people who attended a show of his until “whenever.” Aww. [Houston Press More »
After deleting his semi-confused blog post about the brouhaha involving the similarities between his compositions for Kelly Clarkson and Beyoncé earlier, songwriter Ryan Tedder has released a statement defending his integrity, the merits of both songs, and Clarkson’s songwriting bona fides. Here we go… More »
While I am fully aware that the NPR music-centric program All Songs Considered has its name because of the public-radio network’s news block All Things Considered, it still pained me to see the results of their reader poll for The Best Music Of 2009 So Far (Because The Music-News Well Is Dry And We Need Some Pageviews, Now, Don’t We). If Camera Obscura’s brilliant “French Navy” showing up way too low on the best-songs list was the only issue I had with it, I probably wouldn’t be posting. But two Decemberists songs in the top 10? A Lily Allen track that isn’t the unnerving “Everyone’s At It”? No Micachu/Ida Maria/Dinosaur Jr.? Not even a token No. 30 mention for Kelly Clarkson? Sigh. So, perhaps we can spend a chunk of this hazy, news-free afternoon coming up with our own rebuttal list of their rundown of best songs? And then we can all have a little blog contretemps, or at least a mix-CD exchange. The NPR list after the jump. More »
