US Chart Roundup: Phillip Phillips Has A Classy Week

Just when you thought the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 couldn't get any more stagnant, positions 1 through 9 remain the same this week as they were last. This means Gotye and Kimbra's "Somebody That I Used To Know" is #1 for a seventh week, thus making it the longest-running chart-topper of the year to date. (Kimbra's debut LP Vows debuts at #14 this week on the Top 200.)The song that dropped out of the Top 10 is Train's "Drive By", which gets...

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I Wrote About Carly Rae Jepsen For CNN

Being the person who broke "Call Me Maybe" in America (Justin Bieber who?), naturally I was asked to write about Carly Rae Jepsen for CNN.You can read all about it here....

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Florence + The Machine's "Spectrum" Video & Calvin Harris Remix

We all know Florence Welch is a bit of a drama queen, and this is no more evident than on Ceremonials track "Spectrum", which finds her wailing out "say my name" atop an insistent thumping of drums.Adding to the over-the-topness of the song is the music video, which was co-directed by David LaChapelle and John Byrne. Here Flo shrieks and twirls in a multi-layered wig (?) with sexy ballet dancers, wears a gold disco suit and has glowing rocks shining...

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It's Scissor Sisters' "Baby Come Home" Video

I'm not the biggest Scissor Sisters fan in the world, but for the most part I've enjoyed a large part of their output over the past eight years, and have even caught them live three or four times. That said, I really liked "Only The Horses," the Calvin Harris-produced lead single off new album Magic Hour, which is out now.I came to realize I was in the minority with my affection for the tune, however, and so now comes the band's second single off...

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Saint Etienne's New Album Out In US Today

Saint Etienne's eighth, and arguably best, album of their 21-year career, Words And Music By Saint Etienne, was released today in the US. My two-disc import copy arrived from Amazon UK in the mail.Dare I say it, this is probably the best album of the year so f...

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Happy Birthday, Kylie Minogue!

Kylie turned 44 today. Here she is on the UK version of The Voice the other night performing new single "Timebomb". This broad was given genes from the gods....

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UK Chart Roundup: Saint Etienne Land Highest Album Debut In 14 Years

First, the UK singles: The Wanted debut at #2 with "Chasing The Sun", recorded for their self-titled  US EP, thus marking their sixth Top 10 single in the boy band's home country. Another debut that fares pretty decently (considering it was released just two days prior to the chart being published) is Kylie Minogue's "Timebomb", which enters at #31. It's her highest position on the UK chart since "Get Outta My Way" made it to #12 in 2010. Elsewhere,...

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Kylie Minogue's "Timebomb" Video Premieres, Single On Sale Worldwide

Kylie Minogue has always been best when keeping things simple, and when she just goes about doing her thing — sexy dance-pop. And when she gets it right, she makes it look effortless.A great example: her new single "Timebomb", released to commemorate her 25th year in the music business. The video, directed by Christian Larson, is a colorful stunner that conjures up memories of both Madonna's "Ray Of Light" and Kylie's own "Come Into My World". I...

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Kylie Minogue "Timebomb": Hear The Full Song

Holy f***! There's a new Kylie Minogue single called "Timebomb," and it just leaked! (Guess now we know what that ticking time bomb — duh — was for on her site this week). The tune has been slapped up on the Australian iTunes store as a preview, but here 'tis in full:I need to sit with this jam for a bit, but upon first listen I like it. Very robot...

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US Chart Roundup: Carly Rae Jepsen Is Going To Do You In, Justin Bieber

With Gotye and Kimbra's "Somebody That I Used To Know" now tying fun. and Janelle Monae's run at #1 with "We Are Young" — six weeks, the longest of any single in 2012 so far — the rest of the Top 10 is pretty much locked in place.I say pretty much because one of the only movers is Carly Rae Jepsen, and she has now crept up to #2 with "Call Me Maybe". The song is quite literally a phenomenon (I won't take all the credit), and its track to the top...

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Phillip Phillips Won 'American Idol' Season 11

Excellent! I was wondering who the next person to be dropped from a label deal a year after signing was going to be....

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William Orbit Remixes Chris Brown's "Don't Wake Me Up"

Chris Brown makes me want to projectile vomit onto the wall, but William Orbit's remix of "Don't Wake Me Up" is too fantastic to not post. Just block out the whole singing part.This is kind of what you were expecting MDNA to sound like, right?PLAYER REMOVED BECAUSE IT WAS TOO SEXY FOR RECORD LAB...

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'X Factor' Winner Matt Cardle Dropped By Label

Remember 2010 X Factor winner Matt Cardle? Don't feel bad if you don't, because even the folks at his own label in the UK, Columbia, were apparently looking over their roster, uttered, "Who the hell is this?!?" and decided to axe him.His X Factor winner's song "When We Collide" was the biggest-selling single of 2010, but the Gary Barlow-penned "Run For Your Life" caused people to take the title seriously — it charted at #6 then fucked right off the...

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Kylie Minogue Is Going To Explode On Friday

There's a ticking time bomb (hey, that would be a great name for a song title) on Kylie Minogue's official site that's set to go off on Friday. And let's hope that when it does, it's not more of this 25th anniversary live orchestral Abbey Road shenanigans.Best case scenario: it's the unveiling of a new single. Worst case scenario: it's something to do with that "new" Best Of Kylie Minogue hits package that has absolutely nothing new on it (out June...

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Shadow Dancing

I've been on a total Gibb spiral since the passing of Bee Gees' member Robin Gibb on Sunday. And it's caused me to to go back and find a new appreciation for the many wondrous jams of Andy Gi...

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2012 Billboard Music Awards: The "Winners"

I'm not sure how many Billboard Music Awards Adele won (somewhere around 12) last night, because I stopped counting around six. Regardless, she was a no-show at the Vegas shindig. Unfortunately, LMFAO were on hand to not only perform, but to pick up the 67 awards they won. Oh, well. Here's The Wanted doing "Chasing The Sun" and "Glad You Came." Below that is the full list of winners from the awards show.2012 BILLBOARD MUSIC AWARD WINNERSTOP ARTIST:...

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Carly Rae Jepsen Butchers "Call Me Maybe" At The 2012 Billboard Music Awards

And so the world's love affair en...

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Natasha Bedingfield's Tribute To Donna Summer Cut Short At Billboard Music Awards

One of the reasons I was most curious to watch the Billboard Music Awards last night was to see how the show would pay tribute to Donna Summer, who died last week, if at all. Turns out they did, and Natasha Bedingfield was tapped to belt out "Last Dance" at the Las Vegas shindig.She sounded great, but producers cut to a commercial just when Natasha was getting to the good part of the song. That was definitely one of the more tacky parts of the evening....

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UK Chart Roundup: Scissor Sisters Have A So-So Week With "Only The Horses"

The quality of The Saturdays' music output pretty much nose-dived to shit levels and has stayed that way after their promising first album, so it's disheartening to see that "30 Days," the lead single off the stripper pack's upcoming fourth album, charted higher this week in the UK (#7) than new Scissor Sisters jam "Only The Horses" (#12).Yeah, I know — the Internet has collectively torn the Calvin Harris-produced "Only The Horses" to pieces. But...

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My Donna Summer Youth, Way After Disco Sucked

I'll just come out and say it: Donna Summer's passing at the age of 63 yesterday has affected me way more than Whitney Houston's death in February. To be completely honest, I had no emotional investment in Whitney. Her music in the mid-to-late 1980s was so bland and saccharine to me. It just wasn't sexy.Of course, I say this, and my introduction to Donna Summer really came with her 1989 Another Place And Time album — the one produced by Stock Aitken...

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US Chart Roundup: Gotye Still Rules, Train Climbs And The Wanted Sink

Gotye and Kimbra rack up a fifth straight week atop the Billboard Hot 100 with "Somebody That I Used To Know", which puts the song just behind "We Are Young" by fun. and Janelle Monae as far as the most weeks spent at #1 this year (six). And unfortunately for both of these tunes, they've now reached the point where I want to take a baseball bat and smash the radio every time each of them come on (which, really, is like every two minutes).Meanwhile,...

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Sixpence None The Richer Are Back After A Decade With New Single "Radio"

Well, okay — Sixpence None The Richer have technically been back since 2008, when original members Leigh Nash and Matt Slocum reunited to record a new album...which was supposed to come out in 2010...and then 2011....and now it's this year.Lost In Transition, the band's (now a duo) first LP in ten years, is due out on August 7. Here's first single "Radio": It's no "Kiss Me", of course. But pleasant enou...

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There's A Really Good Song On Owl City's 'Shooting Star' EP Called "Take It All Away"

Owl City released a new EP called Shooting Star yesterday. I know, I know — you want to roll your eyes, right? But there's actually a pretty decent song on the four-track set that's worth a listen or two (or 12 or 17).Here's "Take It All Away": I like this jam. His songs always sound like summertime up in the clouds to me. But this one sounds like summertime in the clouds with a rainbow of fruit flavors shining out of a unicorn's budissy. Even...

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Calvin Harris & Ne-Yo's "Let's Go" Video: They Clearly Want You To Drink Pepsi...And Dance

There's really not much more to say about this vid. Lots of Pepsi product placement in the globe-trotting clip for Calvin Harris and Ne-Yo's "Let's Go", and some dancing (toward the end). The artists in question are barely present here, visually, FYI.I've been a fan of Calvin's from the get-go, and I dig this song enough, though it does play like a retread of Rihanna's "We Found Love" (and isn't nearly as catchy as the Harris-produced "Call My Name"...

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UK Chart Roundup: Keane Can Still Manage To Score A #1 Album

Rihanna-esque bimbette Rita Ora lands at #1 on the UK chart this week with her official debut single "R.I.P." It's her second trip to the top in 2012, following her feature on DJ Fresh's "Hot Right Now." Ora's "R.I.P." is now the 10th single to top the UK chart this year, and it's the fifth new #1 in five weeks.Unfortunately, the rest of the singles roundup is a total drag, so we'll turn to the album chart, where Keane's Strangeland has become the...

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US Chart Roundup: 'MDNA' RIP

The Billboard Hot 100 is pretty flat this week, as once again there are no new songs in the Top 10, and Rihanna's "Where Have You Been" zipping into the Top 40 (from #78 to #29) is about the only single action worth mentioning.And over on the Top 200, where Carrie Underwood's Blown Away is the #1 album, let's face it — Madonna MDNA Death Watch has become quite an event. In its sixth week on the chart, Ye Olde Madgepyre's LP has dropped to #65.So...

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It's Nelly Furtado's "Big Hoops (Bigger The Better)" Music Video

I will admit that Nelly Furtado's new single "Big Hoops (Bigger The Better)" is a complete disappointment after the total jams she put out with Timbaland six years ago, like "Promiscuous", "Maneater" and "Say It Right". It's pretty much devoid of any hook.But something about the video, which features her walking on eight-foot stilts through downtown Los Angeles and hanging out with Native American hoop dancers, makes me like the song slightly more....

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UK Chart Roundup: Sex Tape Star Tulisa Is #1

Sex tape star Tulisa has topped wig-snatching Canadian Carly Rae Jepsen on the UK single chart with her ultra-generic dance track "Young." Even I was getting tired of seeing "Call Me Maybe" at #1, but who knew being an Internet porn queen could be so influential with music buyers?Meanwhile, Cover Drive have followed up the addictive, Rihanna-ripping "Twilight" with the not-quite-as-good, Black Eyed Peas knockoff "Sparks", which debuts at #4. The...

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Saint Etienne "I've Got Your Music" Video Submission

Saint Etienne are asking fans to email in short clips of themselves holding up one of their favorite 12” records for possible inclusion in their upcoming “I’ve Got Your Music” video. This is the one I turned in.Here's the example video they posted on YouTube, featuring some hot-ass dude. And here's the video I turned in this morning. (Just pretend it's hot-ass dude's fac...

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US Chart Roundup: Ellie Goulding & The Rest Of The Brits

Fourteen months after her album Lights was released in the US, and over two years after it first dropped in her home country, UK electro-pop broad Ellie Goulding finally lands her first Top 40 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, with title song "Lights." The song slides up nine positions this week to #40.A quick survey of the rest of the Brits in the upper reaches of the chart finds The Wanted back up one to #4 with "Glad You Came", and their boy band...

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Cheryl Cole Grinds On The Concrete Of Los Angeles In Her "Call My Name" Video

Cheryl Cole plays the role of what appears to be a hooker with bad taste in clothing in her "Call My Name" video. (Or maybe this is actually a documentary?) She basically slinks around in a reservoir tunnel in her leopard print thong, showing off her tattooed thighs and ass, then she meets up with a crew of dudes and engages in a smoke and mirrors dance sequence that would make Britney Spears proud.All that said, I absolutely love this Calvin Harris-produced...

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College & Electric Youth's "A Real Hero" From 'Drive' Nominated For MTV Movie Award

College featuring Electric Youth's "A Real Hero" from the Drive soundtrack — i.e. one of the best songs from 2011 from the best movie of 2011 — has been nominated for an MTV Movie Award in the Best Music category. (That's Electric Youth up above.)If you're not up to speed on this song, or the movie, get your skull checked and listen below. "A Real Hero" has seriously been on every playlist and mix I've made since seeing Drive in September. Then...

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