beyonce - listen (from 'dreamgirls') (world premiere)

beyonce - listen (thanks to the awesome blog chris picks)
[i'm absolutely giddy cause tomorrow i'm going to watch dreamgirls and i'm a little bit worried that i've personally overhyped the movie to a point of letdown. of course i'll do a brief reaction to it when i get back, but until then, here is the official 1st video of the film. so drama that it's karaoke ready!]

madonna - live to tell (confessions tour version)

madonna - live to tell (confessions tour)
[this is the performance that didn't make the NBC special last week. definitely one of my all time favorite madonna songs ever and the dancing intros are awesome!]

damien rice - 9 crimes (world premiere)

damien rice - 9 crimes
[been looking for this video for ages, well here you go, decapatated balloon head and all]

check out this amazing live performance: jamiroquai feat beverly knight - main vein

jamiroquai feat beverly knight - main vein
[found this amazing performance while i was surfing youtube today, decide what you will of jamiroquai, you can't deny the fact that this man is a resolute performer. his live concerts are amazing to watch and well... tell me you're not a little exhilarated after seeing this performance on the awesome later with jools holland. speaking of which, beverly knight is kick ass, why this woman isn't a worldwide superstar at this point is beyond me!]


jamiroquai - runaway
[new recording from his greatest hits album. not the best song, but still a fun one to boogie along to when you're cleaning the house]

if all this is getting you a bit nostalgic, go and buy his greatest hits album now
high times: singles 1992 - 2006

another gwen stefani single so soon?

it's never a good thing when you put out a follow-up single only weeks after the 1st one is released. but in the case of gwen stefani, it looks like the lackluster reaction to wind it up is reason enough to quickly put out single number #2 from her upcoming (and just as lackluster) album the sweet escape (not that this choice is any better).

gwen stefani feat pharrell - yummy

beyonce feat ghostface killah - irreplaceable (remix)

beyonce's "irreplaceable" is fast becoming THE song of the season. garnering new fans from various radio formats and a write up in the NY Times about her current resurgence in the charts (#3 and rising), B is definitely proving that her music career isn't on the drop off (personally, i never felt that way).

on the eve of the dreamgirls release, i celebrate beyonce's return to the top of the pop with a remixed version of one of the best songs of 2006.

beyonce feat ghostface killah - irreplaceable (remix)
[looking around for some dance mixes for all you beat queens, but this version is all you'll get for now]

love the song? buy the album

dixie chicks live (american music awards / VH1 storytellers performances)

there were alot of performances on the AMA's last night that were surprisingly sub par (beyonce, pussycat dolls, snow patrol), but the one group that kind of rose above it all were the dixie chicks. performing what i hope to be their next single, 'easy silence' is not only one of my fave songs of the year, but watching them perform the song is just a delight.

dixie chicks - easy silence [youtube link]


dixie chicks - silent house (VH1 Storytellers)


dixie chicks - not ready to make nice
[here's a recent performance by the dixie chicks on one of my fave shows on VH1. describing the real stories behind their songs, these explanations add depth that always changes your perception on album tracks.]

speaking of which, have you seen their amazing documentary shut up and sing yet? if you haven't go now!

weird video: 30 seconds to mars - from yesterday

30 seconds to mars - from yesterday
[i've never felt anything for this band and after watching this preposterous video, my feelings are still the same. who said yes to this 10 minute (expensive) nonsense? you have to see this 'oriental' mess to believe it]

robin sparkles (aka cobie smulders on 'how i met your mother) - let's go to the mall (world premiere)

[taken from my pop culture blog: wongie's world]

if you've ever watched the endearingly funny cbs sitcom how i met your mother, you'd know how the group love nothing more than to take a loving jab at each other.

well, last weeks episode offered an amazing gem when the group discovered a music video from the past of 'serious' news reporter robin sparkles (played by cobie smulders)...seems like robin was a teen pop star back home in canada.

i've been cracking up to this for the past hour, and hopefully you will too!
here's how it all went down:


robin sparkles - lets go to the mall

hear good music: amy winehouse

to call amy winehouse a work in progress artist is an understatement. originally introduced back in '93 as a soul/jazz singer, amy's first album 'frank' was a deft mix of modern jazz meets stark sassiness. the release ended up being one of the top sellers of the year, propelling amy into a much unwanted limelight.

as a reaction to her increasing popularity (and pressure to commercialise her sound), amy went into a very public downward spiral that included drugs, alcohol and eating disorders.

something positive must have kicked in because amy found herself an ally in producer mark ronson and quickly recorded her follow up album back to black. the album, is a raw and soulful affair that captures the essence of the real amy (she also told her record label to deal with her musical direction or f-off AND fired her management team in the process).

personally, i'm just growing to love this artist more and more these days.

amy winehouse - rehab
[i can't get this song out of my head, the opening line with the deep south vocal drawl is just killer]


amy winehouse - you know i'm no good
[2nd single off her current album, thanks to xolondon on the video tip]


amy winehouse feat the jools holland band - teach me tonight
[this is really a testament to her talent. here she is on the wonderful later with jools holland show performing a dinah washington classic. amazing really!]


amy winehouse - f**k me pumps
[taken from her 2003 album frank, you can understand why amy can't stand to listen to some of these tracks]

hot girls on video: girls aloud, pussycat dolls, nelly furtado

girls aloud - i think we're alone now
[unfortunate ploy to cover a crap song to make instant cash. the girls should know better than that. still trashy as hell though!]


pussycat dolls - buttons (AMA performance)
[the absence of the sixth pussycat, a trip on the chair and a bizarre performance through and through. things are weird in the tranny camp]


nelly furtado - say it right (AMA performance)
[actually no snide thing to add here, just love the song and her]

gwen stefani - wind it up (original neptunes mix)

gwen stefani - wind it up (original neptunes mix)

[i've been listening to the new album the sweet escape for the past few days and i keep on going back to the original neptunes version of this song. honestly it's so much better than the bollucky mash up with 'lonely goatherd'.

while i'm at it, here is the classic original julie andrews version of one of my all time favorite songs growing up:

julie andrews - lonely goatherd (the sound of music)]

DRAMA on daytime tv this morning! clay aiken vs kelly ripa vs rosie o'donnell

this is what happened last friday when clay co-hosted with kelly, then it's her response on monday when regis came back


so rosie reacts to friday's incident and well... kelly called the view.
for once i don't agree with rosie, that clay aiken is lame.
[oh and if you want to see more pop culture stuff, go to my other site wongie's world]

nbc brings two amazing shows on air: tony bennett & madonna

tony bennett: an american classic
[directed by rob marshall, the special features duets with barbara streisand, juanes, stevie wonder, diana krall, kd lang, elton john and a performance with christina aguilera that's not on his current album. here's a taster from SNL two weekends ago]


madonna - confessions tour [filmed at wembley arena earlier this year, this 2 hour special does not have the controversial performance of 'live to tell' on the cross... deal, it's free!]

let the dreamgirls hype continue! beyonce, jennifer hudson and anika noni rose rock

i'm gagging to watch a preview of this film, like yesterday (a few friends saw it last week and have been raving on about jennifer hudson's performance, kinda like oprah is today on her show).

but until then, tracks have been popping up all over just to create more buzz. and it's working... i'm in a state!

and since i like to share, let's all go into a state together:
here's the trailer to get the juices flowing...

and now some songs
dreamgirls - dreamgirls (theme song)
jennifer hudson - i'm telling you i'm not going
[so amazing it gives me goosebumps!!!]
beyonce - listen [a new song written for the film, a potential oscar nomination?]

beyonce performing listen on oprah

check out the official (and mega campy) video for the song one night only (thanks to dreamgirls fans)

dreamgirls - one night only (almighty remix) [and here's the crappy remix of the already campy song, but some disco bunny out there might actually like this]

excited yet? what's the word for 'beyond' excited? i think it would be DREAMGIRLS!

i love these songs! the fratellis, the magic numbers, duke special, frontline

the fratellis - whistle for the choir
[any band that met at a fairground deserves special attention. the ability to craft perfect pop songs also helps]


the magic numbers - take a chance
[my favorite hobbits are back! the new album those the brokes isn't as great as their self titled debut, but i just love them enough to not care.]


duke special - last night i nearly died
duke special - no cover up (my fave song of his at the moment)
[last weekend i saw an episode of jools holland online in which a visually annoying dredlocked bloke sat behind a piano and basically sang beautifully crafted songs. after doing some research, i discovered that duke special is actually an alias of irish singer songwriter peter wilson. though his sound has always veered a bit towards folk leanings, his contract with v2 allowed his current album songs from the deep forest to be filled with lush orchestrations and musical depth. i'm definitely intrigued]


captain - frontline
captain - frontline (dfa remix) [thanks to american athlete]
[i haven't been keen on this band for awhile, maybe cause the vocals of lead singer rik flynn just sounded really weak, or because they sounded like rehash of 80's band prefab sprout (or other bands of that elk), but this song just keeps nagging at me and well... i've been converted. perhaps that's how i should approach dating]

the feeling are gay... no really

actually it's not even a big deal, but i just thought the subject title sounded funny... basically in an article in attitude magazine back in june, lead singer of the feeling, Dan Gillespie Sells, decided to come out of the closet (big whoop).

anyways, if you haven't heard or purchased the debut album twelve stops and home by this UK based five piece yet, then you're pretty much missing out on some of the best guitar pop songs of 2006. add to the fact that the members are all pretty dandy and good looking, well... they're definitely one of the better discoveries of the year.

check out some of their releases below:
the feeling - i love it when you call



the feeling - sewn


the feeling - never be lonely

dancing is good for you: adventures close to home (november 2006 mix)

the UK hipster club adventures close to home consistantly brings in their fave indie acts for their monthly parties and throws amazing parties in between. being dj's themselves, the organizers create a monthly soundtrack to their club, incorporating their fave acts of the moment and of course bootylicious rock out remixes of the songs their loving.

thanks to the cool site headphone sex i got ahold of november's mix and it is fucking brilliant!

i hope you enjoy just as much i am (turn it up)!

Adventures Close To Home (November 2006 mix)
Kelis vs Kongo Thong (ACTH Edit)
Ali Love - K Hole (SebastiAn Mix)
Epicman & Plan B - More is Enough
Uffie - Hot Chick
Yo Majesty - Club Action
DJ Mehdi - Boggin'
JME vs The Eraser (ACTH Edit)
Carl Craig - At Les (Russ Gabriel Mix)
Indo - R U Sleeping?
Various Production - What About Them?
MIA - XR2 (ACTH Raveon Remix)
Klanguage - Priceless Things
Diplo vs Ramirez (ACTH Edit)
Klaxons - Magick (Simian Mobile Disco Mix)
Futureheads - Worry About it Later (Switch Mix)
(Lotterboys - Superdope
SebastiAn - Ross Ross Ross
Justin Timberlake - FutureSexLoveSound
Standing in the Way of Control - The Gossip (Headman vs Tronik Youth ACTH Edit)

i just love andrew bird

andrew bird - skin, is my (live at bonnaroo)
[i actually discovered andrew after listening to a live recording he did last year. i was instantly drawn to this chicago native's obvious musical talent and diversity. but rather than give you too much info, i hope that this awesome performance from this years bonnaroo will give you a good idea of how wonderful this artist is]

and if you like this here's a free mp3 from his artist website
a nervous tic motion of the head to the left

snow patrol feat martha wainwright - set the fire to the third bar (world premiere)

snow patrol - set the fire to the third bar
[not as immediate as chasing cars, but it's still a lovely song]

hear good music: chad vangaalen

hailing from alberta, canada, singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist/artist chad vangaalan has had the words 'insular' and 'distant' thrown at him due to the fact that much of his music was recorded in his basement. but with his growing popularity among indie fans, chad has learned to actually perform in front of crowds these days.

don't expect some kind of twee male vocal performance here, what makes chad's music so interesting are the bursts of guitar/keyboards that totally take you for surprise. add to the fact that he animates all his music videos is worth the price of admission alone.

with two albums under his belt, skelliconnection and infiniheart, it's going to be interesting to see what this kid will be planning on next.


chad vangaalan - red hot drops

check out more singles from the subpop site here:
graveyard [love this song]


clinically dead [from his first album]

johnny cash - god's gonna cut you down (world premiere)

johnny cash - god's gonna cut you down
[taken from the rick rubin produced album, johnny cash: american V - a hundred highways, it's pretty amazing to see how diversely influential johnny's music truly is. a definite who's who of music at the moment! what a cast!]

can't get enough of gwen stefani? check out her webisodes and get a preview of some new songs off the sweet escape

need some more info on the new gwen stefani album the sweet escape? check out the webisodes on her website which features the photo shoot of her album cover and also a few songs from the upcoming release.

webisodes

[update 11/17] chris picks just offered up snippets of the sweet escape. as expected, nothing is really exceptional.

check out this borat gem and more at wongie's world

shameless plug for you to check out my pop culture blog wongie's world, where there's loads more where this came from!

watch it while you can, borat met martha stewart on jay leno last week. the making of the bed sequence is worth watching alone! i'm still laughing!

some fun new left of center vids

the kooks - ooh la
(brighton boys return again with another catchy song from their awesome debut album inside in/inside out. honestly, they had me at hello)


the holloways - generator
(these guys sound like a kooky college band from north america, except they're from north london.. wacky)


lily allen - littlest things
(skipping the boho for some glamour, wongie like-y!)


lil chris - gettin' enough
(the guys writing for this lil pike are awesome! it's a lil slice of 80's retro heaven!)


bodyrox feat luciana - yeah yeah
(i listen to this on my ipod all the time, making it weird when i'm walking on the streets of soho pretending i'm the shit... i'm not)


outwerk feat mr gee - elektro
(shit video, but the song is really good on the ipod, i mean, dancefloor)

gwen stefani - wind it up (world premiere)

gwen stefani - wind it up
(not a big fan of this song, but the video is kooky!)

beyonce - irreplaceable (live on trl)

beyonce - irreplaceable (acoustic live on trl)
[thanks to perez hiltion for the youtube tip]
[of course i've been singing this song non-stop for the past month, but this version is by the far the best representation of the song. b is in top form!]

free gifts for you!

because i'm going away for a few days, i thought i'd give all of you daily visitors a nice giftbox of goodies until i return.



midlake - head home
[i just love this band so much, so any chance to share them to you is my pleasure!]

placebo - running up that hill (kate bush cover)
[who knew this classic song could get so goth?]








christina aguilera - hurt (jake ridley mix)
[a strange chill out version of this song that actually isn't that bad]





cham feat rihanna - boom boom
[currently #1 on the reggae charts, cham releases yet another catchy hit]

nelly furtado - say it right (world premiere) / all good things (come to an end)

nelly furtado - say it right
(watch it before it gets taken off, definitely my fave song on the album loose - oh and check out her male dancer PAUL, i think i'm in love!)


nelly furtado - all good things (come to an end)
(and while we're at it, the video to the european release)

hear good music: gomez

after hyping throwaway pop singles/acts for the past month, i decided that at least once a week, i need to go back to talking about acts that deserve some coverage (though don't expect some crazy hipster 1st-in-line introduction to hot underground blog-friendly new acts, there are 1000 of those blogs around!)

the band that have been on my high rotation this week are gomez. though the quintet have been around for a good decade, their blend of quirky roots rock meets retro soul has always allowed me to appreciate them but not go apeshit over their sound.

even when i heard that they got dropped by their label last year, i was a bit ambivalent to what happened. then about two weeks ago, i was on a ride upstate to look at foliage and the song "see the world" came on the radio. the song resonated so strongly that i went on a gomez rampage just to get reacquainted with their music.

turns out their latest album 'how we operate' was not only recorded with outside producer gil norton (pixies), but also under very limited budget resources, meaning they went into the studio knowing exactly what songs to record.

the final result is amazing. streamlined, mature and emotional, 'how we operate' is not only their most widely appealing album to date, but the guys don't sound like a hodge podge posse anymore.

i'm a newfound fan.

gomez - see the world


gomez - how we operate
(also featured on the grey's anatomy soundtrack)


gomez - girlshapedlovedrug