COOL CATCH UP: christine and the queens / victoria monet / perfume genius / jessie ware / lianne la havas / rufus wainwright

christine and the queens - la vita nuova
0:04 People, I’ve been sad
2:41 Je disparais dans tes bras
4:45 Mountains (we met)
6:45 Nada
8:48 La vita nuova
11:58 I disappear in your arms


victoria monet - moment


perfume genius - describe


jessie ware - spotlight


lianne la havas - bittersweet


rufus wainwright - damsel in distress

NEW RUFUS WAINWRIGHT!: rufus wainwright - out of the game

rufus wainwright - out of the game
[nothing like getting your celeb mate helena bonham carter to play the role of an under sexed librarian in your latest video! throw in a menage a trois with your grunge/drag/glam self and you've got a fun fun video!]

SIZZLE REEL: rufus wainwright - all days are nights: songs for lulu / rufus, kate mcgarrigle & martha wainwright - in the bleak midwinter (live @ royal albert hall)

rufus wainwright - all days are nights: songs for lulu (sizzle reel)
[with the upcoming release of his latest album 'all days are nights: songs for lulu', we get a preview of the songs featured on the sparse collection via this nicely produced sizzle reel. rufus even performs 'a womans face' and 'zebulon' for this video! for those of you in the UK and parts of europe, rufus is heading your way for a tour starting april 11th]

[as some of you know, rufus lost his mother back in january to cancer and he was able to bring her over to the UK a month before to perform at the royal albert hall along with his sister martha. this was the last performance they made as a family on stage and its totally amazing.]

rufus wainwright, kate mcgarrigle & martha wainwright - in the bleak midwinter (not so silent night, live @ royal albert hall)

LIVE WONGIE: rufus wainwright - zebulon (live @ qtv) / zebulon (live @ the guardian)

rufus wainwright - zebulon (live @ qtv)
[the last track of rufus' upcoming album 'all days are nights: songs for lulu', the song was actually written back in 2007 about an unrequited love named zebulon. somehow he popped up on a walk home and these are the thoughts put to music. coming off the loss of his mother kate mcgarrigle, to say his upcoming album is 'personal' is an understatement.

want more? you can hear the rest of the interview here (plus hear the moving song 'martha')

still have to obsess over rufus (like we did)? check out another version of this song...]

rufus wainwright - zebulon (live @ the guardian)

best of 2007: fave acts so far (1/2 year report)

this has been an amazing music year so far with new stuff coming at me daily (much that i've shared back to you). but amoung the batch, a few acts have filtered through and kept on returning to my personal playlists.

since it feels like such a slow week, i figured now is probably the best time to re-introduce some of the artist highlights of 2007 from january to june (in no particular order):

[for friends and fans of wongie, you probably know the class of 2007 (so far) pretty well. but for the rest of you, hopefully you can discover some gems from the list below. also you may have noticed that wongie faves mika, amy winehouse, gossip and lily allen aren't here (since they were loved in 06, i kind of took them out of the lineup just cause i'm a stickler like that!)]

tracey thorn - raise the roof
siobhan donaghy - ghosts
just jack - i talk to much
loney, dear - saturday waits
peter bjorn & john - young folks
feist - my moon my man (boys noize remix)
rufus wainwright - sansoucci
rihanna - rehab
glen hansard & marketa irglova (ONCE the soundtrack) - falling slowly
lil mama - lip gloss (absorb the lip gloss mash up remix)
kate nash - foundations
mia - boyz
cherry ghost - 4am
sara bareilles - love song
a fine frenzy - almost lover
roisin murphy - overpowered

discovery: linda thompson featuring antony - beauty (written by rufus wainwright)

linda thompson feat antony - beauty [link 2]

[though i've heard of folk singer linda thompson before, i never knew that she led a very tumultuous life of high drama (mostly with her ex-husband richard) and even lost her voice at one point (which she got back by injecting botox into her throat!). this is probably why she sings melancholy so well. which is also appropriate that her son's (singer teddy thompson) best friend rufus wainwright, wrote her a tune and got antony to join in on the emotional fest. personally, i can't wait to check out her album versatile heart which even features a contribution from tom waits. thanks to stereogum and docopenhagen for the song introduction]

rufus wainwright - rules and regulations (world premiere)

rufus wainwright - rules and regulations [link 2]
[seems like my love for rufus knows no bounds! i just bought tickets to go see him AGAIN later this summer at central park. it's like a drug at this point.]

planet rufus: new york times profiles rufus wainwright and talks opera on urge

it's been a busy few days on the rufus wainwright fabulous press tour. as he prepares to do four sold our shows in new york starting tonight, the new york times offers up a lovely profile of the increasing cult popularity of rufus. [note: you may need to signup to read]

breaking down his most loyal fanbase as "gay men, teenagers and mother-daughter fans", the article also talks about his recently comissioned opera, which is "a tale of a (fabulous) day in the life of a diva."

over at urge, rufus leaks out a little bit more info of his upcoming project:

Rufus on the opera
"It's called Prima Donna, and it's a day in the life of an opera singer. Where it's going isn't [determined] yet. The Metropolitan Opera and the New York State Theater started this new program where they commission works by young composers and then workshop them. At a certain point they decide whether it's going to the Met or whether it's going to the Vivian Beaumont Theater. So I'm in that running. I want it to go to the Met, because I'm a grandiose type of guy. But we'll see. It's a great opera."

Rufus on how he got introduced to opera as a child
"My mother and father were always intent on bringing me to the theater or having me listen to great music. My mother insisted on playing Pete Seeger and Harry Smith field recordings and my dad was a big theater fan. I remember I went to see a Chekov play when I was 14, which was amazing. [My parents] started it and then I took it upon myself to go further. But I had very specific parents who would introduce me to that stuff. I think it's important for schools and government to permeate the young with really substantial culture. It makes them smarter."

live wongie: rufus wainwright @ the old vic, london 5/28/07

one of my post cannes film festival gifts to myself was to book tix to the rufus wainwright concert at london's old vic theatre. originally scheduled for two performances, rufus extended the gigs to 5 consecutive sold out nights at the small prestigious theatre.

for our show, rufus pulled the amazing feat of not only singing almost two hours of songs taken from his current album release the stars, but also showcasing a few numbers from his judy garland concert, singing sans mic (to hear the acoustics of the theatre) and getting dragged up for a show stopping finale. add to the fact that his amazing 7 man band managed to perform the insane orchestral arrangements of the album AND sing lovely backup at the same time, you can imagine the heaven i was in!

as a teaser for those going to see him in the US, here is what you can expect (as recorded a few days earlier in paris).


rufus wainwright - tulsa / the art teacher (live @ le trianon, paris)
[I LOVE the art teacher! just love it!]


rufus wainwright - c'mon get happy (live @ le trianon, paris)
[this is the hilarious judy finale. it's cute online, but to see it live is just joyous!]

UPDATE 5/29:
so more and more pics and reviews have come in since last nights performance (including a lovely detailed one from tricky). also just in is this moving mic-less performance of "macushla" that rufus decided to sing at the old vic to "try out" the acoustics.

rufus wainwright - macushla (live @ the old vic theatre, 5/28)
[thanks to rufus board member chinthe for the recording]

release the b-side: rufus wainwright - cowboy song

rufus wainwright - cowboy song
[still at cannes (which is why i'm keeping this short) but i just found out rufus will be attending the festival to promote the denys arcand film L’Âge des ténèbres (days of darkness, age of innocence)! though one side of me wants to stalk him like a good fanboy, the cineaste in me will most likely just go attend the world premiere this friday and call it a day. until then, check out this bonus track from his album release the stars.
UPDATE 5/25 - just heard rufus will NOT be at cannes after all! poo! i'll just have to see him on the big screen instead.]

rufus wainwright - going to a town (premiere)

rufus wainwright - going to a town
[FINALLY a copy of the video that hasn't been deleted by the record label. not sure how long this will last, so watch it while you can. directed by the ever awesome sophie mueller, rufie has some seriously bushy eyebrows or he got his eyes done. either way, it's dramatic!]

rufus wainwright day: tour news, free in-store performance, album leak

it's a big rufus wainwright day with loads of updated information, a free performance and an album leak in the process.

UPDATE 4/20: check out this really wonderful review of the album by xolondon here.

first things first, our good friend xolondon tipped us on additional performances of good ol rufie in the US including the already sold out four dates in NYC at the gramercy theater [though their own site states you can still buy tix at approx 200 bucks a pop!].

here's the full tour schedule (check this official site for updates)

Sun/Mon, 04/22-23/07 Rufus Wainwright Triple Door Seattle, WA
Wed, 04/25/07 Rufus Wainwright Palace of Fine Arts San Francisco, CA
Tue, 05/01/07 Rufus Wainwright El Rey Theatre Los Angeles, CA
Tue/Wed, 06/05-06/07 Rufus Wainwright Gramercy Theatre New York, NY
Fri/Sat, 06/08-09/07 Rufus Wainwright Gramercy Theatre New York, NY
Sat, 06/16/07 True Colors Tour: Bank of America Pavilion Boston, MA
(Cyndi Lauper, Erasure, Debbie Harry, & Dresden Dolls)
Sun, 06/17/07 True Colors Tour: Merriweather Post Pavilion Columbia, MD
(Cyndi Lauper, Erasure, Debbie Harry, & Dresden Dolls)
Sat, 08/04/07 Rufus Wainwright Mountain Winery Saratoga, CA
Sun, 09/23/07 Rufus Wainwright Hollywood Bowl Hollywood, CA
(Plays Judy Garland: Live at the Hollywood Bowl)
Mon/Tues, 06/11-12/07 Rufus Wainwright The Danforth Music Hall Theatre Toronto, ON

now if you live in the nyc area and have some free time on the 16th of may, rufus will be performing for free at the barnes & noble on 17th street!
here is the info posted on his myspace:

Rufus at Barnes & Noble in New York City

Rufus will do an instore performance and signing at the Union Square Barnes & Noble in New York City (33 East 17th Street) on May 16 at 7:00PM to promote his new album 'Release the Stars'. Be sure to get there early!

FINALLY, i just got my grubby hands on the upcoming 5th album release the stars and i have to admit that on first listen, i'm not as instantly wowed as i was when i heard previous albums like want one or his self titled album a few years back.

i love rufus to death, but this time around i have to say that i'm kind of 'eh' about this collection (even if neil tennant and marius devries on deck as producers). though i cannot deny that even amidst my blase feelings i can recognize the adventurous amounts of musicality that went into this album. so for that reason alone you should check it out.

here are the track listings (and my faves highlighted):

01. Do I Disappoint You
02. Going to a Town
03. Tiergarten
04. Nobody’s Off the Hook
05. Between My Legs
06. Rules and Regulations
07. I’m Not Ready to Love
08. Slideshow
09. Tulsa
10. Leaving for Paris pt2
11. Sanssouci
12. Release the Stars

on the radar: rufus wainwright

i just received the official press release for the upcoming rufus wainwright album release the stars and though my bud xolondon has passed on loads of info already, i thought i'd add a few new tidbits to the mix.

- Rufus was originally going to write a simple, bare boned album, but when he got to berlin, the city inspired him to create a grand (hopefully OTT) "huge gilded album".

- though executive producer neil tennant, sis martha, joan wasser (aka joan as policewoman) and actress sian phillips all feature on the album, rufus also ropes in teddy thompson, sharon jones (brilliant vocalist of the dap kings) and some new names to me, jenni mulduar and lucy roche (yes a daughter of THAT roche!).

- much of the album was written while his mother was undergoing a major surgery, hence an emotional urgency that threads through the every song.

- after last years successful judy garland concert at carnegie hall (which i absolutely loved!), rufus is planning on recreating judy's performance at the hollywood bowl in LA on September 23, 2007 (buy tix here)

- rufus will launch his album tour in coachella and then travel through various stops in europe, (including two performances at the old vic in london - i just bought tix and you can too!!!) before coming back to the states.

until the album comes out, here are two tracks from the animated film meet the robinsons for you to enjoy:

rufus wainwright - the motion waltz (emotional commotion)

rufus wainwright - another believer

(on the fence) hear good music: mika

the blog world has been going apeshit the past few weeks over the lebanese, but raised in paris/london, wunderkind singer/songwriter, mika.

i'm not quite sure if i'm on the fawning camp that many fans have sided on, but i have to admit that the songs are doggone catchy (think scissor sisters trying to make rufus wainwright music. the final results are interesting...but not quite perfect).

between you and me, mika reeks of record label tampering (his website features 6 songs that are all over the place in style, yet strangely familiar at the same time). but if success follows this young campy performer now, then i believe mika in three years time will be an exciting artist to go loopy for. decide for yourself.

check out the 1st video "grace kelly" (and some live performances) from his upcoming album life in cartoon motion here on yahoo music.

then check out more stuff below:

mika - relax, take it easy (live at ronnie scotts)
[so is he an electro pop act?...]


mika - grace kelly (live on jools holland)
[...or a piano playing swooon-inater? btw, this performance is too forced to be interesting. he's so lucky he's cute and has a crazy voice!]

mika - happy ending
[just cause i'm nice]


mika - love today
[finally, this song is the current theme song for the (r)ed campaign in the US, check out chris kattan and model alina get their groove on]