It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

While there are tons of new releases this Fall from many of my favourite American artists; I would like to take a moment to bring to your attention just how amazing the lineup of British releases is going to be this Autumn. I will either bankrupt myself catching them all like Pokemon, or die of excitement.

Robbie Williams - Reality Killed the Video Star (November 9, 2009):
Williams himself describes the album: I want people to feel elated, I want them to dance, I want them to forget about who they are and where they are for 50 minutes – and, within those 50 minutes of forgetting who they are, I also hope people relate to the songs. This is a record that I’m very proud of – I think it’s fucking brilliant. I want it to be the record that, if people think of Robbie Williams, they go, Yeah, Reality Killed The Video Star.

Cheryl Cole - Three Words (October 26, 2009):
Following her first single without her fellow members of Girls Aloud (will.i.am's "Heartbreaker"), Cheryl Cole releases "Fight for this Love" October 19th. Mostly produced by the same production team behind Girls Aloud (Xenomania).

The Saturdays - Colonial Masses (October 12, 2009):
After listening to their leadoff single "Forever is Over" tell me this won't be amazing.

Bananarama - Viva (September 14, 2009):
In true Bananarama fashion, this album is chock-full of covers (iiO's "Rapture," Fox's "S-S-S-Single Bed," and Simon and Garfunkel's "The Sound of Silence" to name a few) and their first single since 2005, "Love Comes."

New Wye Oak CD Today

Baltimore-based Wye Oak release their second album, the Knot, today. Check out the video below to see what they're about.

RuPaul and Samantha Ronson

2009 marks the 40th anniversary of the famed Stonewall Riots in New York City, as a result, pride celebrations all over the country are going all out to celebrate the gay affair this year. The well-known secret to a successful pride season is music and entertainment, so although Atlanta's pride festival is not until October this year, the city is still celebrating the actual anniversary weekend (June 27th-28th) in style. A couple of the weekend's musical offerings:

World famous drag queen, RuPaul, will be performing at Primal club in Atlanta (formerly known as WetBar)on Friday June 26th with pre-sale tickets on sale now for $20 a piece.
For tickets and information.

As well, Saturday June 27th, world-famous DJ Samantha Ronson (of Lindsay Lohan fame)will be spinning at Primal club in honor of the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall riots. Samantha Ronson's myspace.

Wilco: The Album

While the official release isn''t until June 30, Wilco's latest effort is streaming on their website here.

Wilco: The Album is rather low-key, acoustic fare along the lines of Sky Blue Sky, their most recent release, but perhaps is an even more relaxed, soothing work. It certainly is a far cry from the reverb and feedback as seen in Yankee Hotel Foxtrot or, to a lesser extent, in A Ghost in Born. Not quite the best work by Tweedy and company, but pleasing to the ear, nonetheless. Music that is seemingly perfect for a lazy sunday drive in rolling, rural terrain.

The cover, oddly featuring a Bactrian camel, was taken at a well-known German restaurant in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Your Disco Needs You

So, after a career spanning three decades (22 years to be exact), 60 million albums sold, breast cancer survial, and (more importantly) starring in the feature film version of Street Fighter and escaping unscathed, you'd think it's about time for an international superstar to, I don't know, do her first US tour right?

So now you can buy Kylie bed sheets, smell like Kylie by wearing her perfume, AND see Kylie in one of her (originally six) now eight concert dates in North America.

See her official website for details on tickets . . . which are mostly sold out after pre-sale.
http://www.kylie.com/home

In the meantime, please enjoy some non-traditional Kylie.

Lady Gaga & Lily Allen in Concert

Over the past week, I had the honor of seeing two quite amazing (yet strikingly different) pop acts in concert: Lady Gaga (April 9th, Center Stage) and Lily Allen (Apr 15th, Variety). While both were very entertaining in their own light, I want to focus on their opening acts as I believe both of these bands have great potential.

White Tie Affair: Hailing from Chicago, the band opening for Lady Gaga was pop/electronica at its finest. Candle (Sick and Tired) was the highlight of their show as it was the one song most people in the audience had actually heard before.

Natalie Portman's Shaved Head: From Seattle, their rock/electronica style complemented Lily Allen quite nicely. Much like Lily Allen is more rock than the dance-pop Lady Gaga, NPSH has much more of an indie rock sound than the dance-oriented White Tie Affair.

Different as Lady Gaga and Lily Allen are, I think it should be noted that both ended their shows with a nod to Britney Spears. Lady Gaga took to the stage for her finale wearing a cop-hat and short shorts almost identical to Britney Spears' live concert finale costume for Womanizer whereas Lily Allen closed out her show performing the song.

You're gonna make mistakes, you're young.

Metric has a new album (Fantasies) coming out in a couple of weeks, and this is their second single off of it. It is called Gimme Sympathy, and it has been playing in my head for the past couple of weeks.
I can say the new album is rockin', I have had it for half a month now and haven't been able to stop listening to it. A review will be up soon!