• Music 21.10.2008 No Comments

    Human – New Single from Day & Age Asks Are They Dancers, or Are They Human

    Returning to their dance/ rock/ pop fusion first heard on Hot Fuss for their new album, Day & Age, and the lead single “Human”, The Killers capitalize on their strengths – fast beats, commercial success and strange lyrics.
    Teaming up with Stuart Price, who co-wrote and co-produced Madonna’s disc-opus, Confessions on a Dancefloor, “Human” grabs the disco by the balls and hammers home one fantastic track.

    The Killers: Human

    Destined to conquer the charts and the hearts of clubbers everywhere with its spidery beat, “Human” mixes 80’s style synths and sleek production, and contains interesting images among all the pulsing grooves and beats, making it one of the band’s most accessible and fun tracks in a while.
    Lead singer Brandon Flowers ploughs through a grocery list of qualities that he has had to let go of including “grace and virtue”. “Give my regards to soul and romance,” Flowers wanes, “they always did the best they could / And so long to devotion, you taught me everything I know”.
    With their jump-out-of-the-box dance single “Human” The Killers mark their return to the dance floor in a big way and give cause to believe Day & Age could be a heavy-hitting singles laden album to finish off what has already been a big year for great dance/pop music.

    The Killers – From Sam’s Town to Sawdust

    New Wave revivalists The Killers, murdered the music scene in a big way with their mega hit album Hot Fuss from 2004. That album clogged the charts with multiple hits including “Mr. Brightside” and “Smile Like You Mean it” and became MTV and radio staples for nearly two years.
    Follow up album Sam’s Town, toured the group though a misguided road trip of Middle America. The album fared less well, since the steam the band had built as the new Duran Duran fizzled when they became the sons of Bruce Springsteen. Still Sam’s Town held a few bright spots including remixes of “When You Were Young” and the brilliant remix of “Read My Mind” by the Pet Shop Boys, who have included their interpretation on their latest album, Disco 4. New single “Human” follows in these footsteps.
    By Christmas 2007 the band released an album of rarities and B-sides, Sawdust, including the morbid single “Tranquilize” which paired them with none other than the gloomy Lou Reed. The murky track, which could be compared to the teaming of Kylie Minogue and Nick Cave, became a minor UK hit alongside the independent Christmas single, the uplifting “Don’t Shoot Me Santa”, which may have been inspired by their road trip through middle America during the holiday season.
    “Human” is available now. The new Killers album Day & Age is released on November 25.

    from http://dancetechnomusic.suite101.com

  • Music, Profiles 17.10.2008 No Comments

    Chinese name
    周杰倫 (Traditional)
    Chinese name
    周杰 (Simplified)
    Pinyin
    Zhōu Jiélún (Mandarin)
    Origin
    Born
    January 18, 1979 (1979-01-18) (age 29)
    Other name(s)
    President Chou (周董)
    Occupation
    Singer, musician, songwriter, record producer, rapper, director, and actor
    Years active
    2000–Present
    Influenced
    Official site
                Jay Chou (traditional Chinese: 周杰倫; simplified Chinese: 周杰; pinyin: Zhōu Jiélún; (born January 18, 1979) is a Taiwanese musician, singer, producer, actor and director who has won the World Music Award three times. He is well-known for composing all his own songs and songs for other singers. In 1998 he was discovered in a talent contest where he displayed his piano and song-writing skills. Over the next two years, he was hired to compose for popular Chinese singers. Although he was trained in classical music, Chou combines Chinese and Western music styles to produce songs that fuse R&B, rock and pop genres, covering issues such as domestic violence, war, and urbanization.
               In 2000 Chou released his first album, titled Jay, under the record company Alfa Music. Since then he has released one album per year, selling several million copies each. His music has gained recognition throughout Asia, most notably in regions such as Mainland China, Japan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam, Taiwan, and in overseas Asian communities, winning more than 20 awards each year. He has sold over 25 million albums worldwide. He starred in Initial D (2005), for which he won Best Newcomer Actor in Golden Horse Awards, and was nominated for Best Supporting Actor by Hong Kong Film Awards for his role in Curse of the Golden Flower (2006). His career now extends into directing and running his own record company JVR Music. He has also endorsed various models of Media Players released by Onda in which he appears on the box, and his signature and likeness is printed on the back of certain models of these players. 
    Live albums 
    • The One Concert Live (Includes Eight Dimensions MV VCD) (October 28, 2002) 2004 Incomparable 
    • Jay Concert Live 無與倫比演唱會 2004 (January 21, 2005) Jay 2007 The World Tours Concert Live 
    • CD+DVD (January 30, 2008)
      
    Compilations
    Extended plays
    • Fantasy Plus 范特西+ (Includes Fantasy MV VCD) (December 21, 2001)
    • Nun-Chucks 雙截棍(April 9, 2002)
    • Hidden Track 尋找周杰倫(Includes Ye Hui Mei MV VCD) (November 12, 2003)
    • Huo Yuan Jia 霍元甲(Includes November’s Chopin MV DVD) (January 20, 2006)
    • Golden Armor 黄金甲(Includes Still Fantasy MV DVD) (December 8, 2006)  
    Soundtracks
    • Secret 不能說的秘密(August 14, 2007)  
    Other works
    • Neoprint 大頭貼Single, no official release
    • JIII MP3 Player—MP3 player endorsed by Jay Chou featuring songs from Initial D movie, three old demos and a personal message from Jay (June 26, 2005)
    • Qian Shan Wan Shui 千山万水Official song for the Beijing 2008’s Olympic Games (May 2008)
    • Chou Da Xia 周大俠-theme song for new movie “Kung Fu Dunk”   
    Filmography
  • Music 26.12.2007 No Comments

    James Blunt has revealed he will be spending the festive season listening to singer-songwriters.

    They’ll be no repeat TV shows to distract Blunty as he will be holed up in his Ibiza home.

    Back To Bedlam Blunt told The Sun: “I don’t have a TV or any gadgets. All I’ve got is my music system and my music collection… singer-songwriters Lou Reed, Leonard Cohen, and Neil Young.”

    Despite a reputation as the hardest party-goer on the White Isle, James told how he spent last yuletide penning new material, adding: “Most of the town shuts down so there’s little to distract me.”


  • Music 26.12.2007 No Comments

    My Chemical Romance have published a cryptic message on their website which has lead to rumours of a split.

    On TheBlackParade.com, there is a repeating image of of a hospital monitor’s flatline and the words “00 BPM” on the bottom right handside of the screen.

    To add more mystery to the online message, the band played as fictional group The Black Parade at gigs earlier this year, a reference to MCR’s album, Welcome To The Black Parade.

    Now fans of the emo troup are speculating as to whether this means the complete end of the band or just the ‘Black Parade’ era?