Azealia Banks drops her highly anticipated EP today entitled ‘1991’. The EP is going for £1.99 on iTunes and is only worth buying if you want HQ versions of her new songs. ‘212’ and ‘Liquorice’ have been out for months, however with the additions of ‘1991’ and ‘Van Vogue’ the project comes together like a remnant from the early 90s which I’m sure was entirely the point. The whole EP is very SoHo (NY and London), club kid sounding and very enjoyable, however if this were Bank’s demo and introduction into the music scene it would certainly box her into that hipster niche of rap.
So it’s a good thing that she is planning to release a mixtape with varied songs that sound more like L8R and Jumanji.
UK artist @RaxOffical peforms ‘Up in Da Clouds’ with Andrae Melody Palmer’ at ILUVLIVE at XOYO on May 21st. Rax dropped his new mixtape ‘The PickPocket’ this week aswell-check it out for free here:
VH1’s Single Ladies is finally back for a full season starting May 28th!
Stacey Dash isn’t in the new series, but we have a new character and tons of guest stars including, Queen Latifah, Chilli, T.I., Big Boi, Lil Romeo and more to look forward to. Check out the super trailer for sneak peeks on what’s to come over the next few months!
The Fader interviews Jhene Aiko, who talks about her musical background (including the brief but awesome B2K days) and talks a bit about the new album.
Check out her performance of ‘Stranger’ (one of the best songs off her mixtape ‘Selling Souls’)
2012 is definitely the year for losing legends. Donna Summer aka the undisputed Queen of Disco has passed away at age 63 after a long battle with cancer.
This woman had TOO many great songs, here are are few for you to check out, to remember her wonderful legacy:
Another one bites the dust as ABC Family’s former number one show ‘Make it Or Break it’ was cancelled halfway through the season. For anyone not familiar with this show, here’s what wiki has to say about it:
Make It or Break It (sometimes referred to as MIOBI) is an American television drama series that focuses on the lives of teen gymnasts who strive to make it to the Olympic Games.
This show originally intended to put a face to the American gymnasts who were fighting to get to London 2012 and it really did start off SO well. The show was set up to have Emily Kmetko (Chelsea Hobbs) be the poor underdog who would eventually get her time to shine, and that was going along fine until the actress Chelsea got pregnant-so they decided to make Emily pregnant too-but not before completely destroying her character in the process, so there was no possible window for some kind of return.
Then the show got very silly by having the Payson Keeler (Ayla Kell) overcome MAJOR health issues such as a back injury so bad that some people are lucky to walk from it. Payson not only walked, she ran from it and was able to compete again. Then they rehashed that storyline with Lauren Tanner (Cassie Scerbo) a character who had no sense of sincerity, even when she really tried to she looked like the devil smiling. Lauren had to be one of the worst written characters I have ever seen on television, and the reasoning (that her mother died) was just a cop-out. One would have thought that eventually she would get the message, that the other girls were trying to support her, but no-and when it looked like she was getting her comeuppance by developing a rare heart condition that could have potentially killed her, she gets some miracle treatment that allows her to compete again and join the final five for the London 2012 Olympics.
And for all those reasons (and more) is probably why the show was cancelled mid-season. It’s a damn shame because the cast worked so well as an ensemble and like ABC Family’s other gem ‘Greek’, the show was more about the journey, lessons learned and the overall dynamic of the cast. Somewhere along the line ABC and the people involved forgot what their show was about and let the drama run ragged, so they basically pulled a Ryan Murphy.
So I say R.I.P to Make It Or Break it, I’ve followed the show since 2009 and it was all the more special because I’m actually from London and I will be rooting for the USA gymnastics team like I always have. It’s a shame we won’t get some kind of closure on these characters (especially Payson, she was by far the best character on the show) and their stories.
Open Letter to ABC Family
Dear ABC Family,
I know ratings are paramount and your channel relies on ad revenue-I get it. But please tell me why ridiculous shows like The Secret Life of the American Teenager which is nothing more than Degrassi on Syphilis medication, continues to pollute the network which otherwise boasts a good roster of shows-albeit re-runs most of the time, but those are classic shows damnit!
Bunheads is starting soon and I will be watching that, because I’m a supporter of your network and whoever chose to turn Switched At Birth into a full season deserves a raise, a new condo and maybe a free spa day, because that is the best original show you have on your network.
I’d like you to seriously reconsider even bothering with shows like 10 Things, MIOBI and The Nine Lives Of Chloe King, if you aren’t going to even help promote the shows PROPERLY and help the actors/writers connect with fans in the way the Glee fandom does-look you have me comparing something to GLEE! This is obviously a very grave moment.
Basically I’m saying, stop getting our hopes up that we are going to see cool, original programming like we did in the late 90s/00s from ABC. I know what you would really like to do is make two other versions of Secret Life and mash them between episodes of That 70’s Show whilst you try to capitalize off Kaley Cuoco’s new fame by showing ‘8 Simple Rules’ reruns all the damn time. That’s what obviously sells so hey, if it ain’t broke who the hell am I to tell you to fix it?
So JUNSU dropped his video for TARANTALLEGRA(타란탈레그라) today.
For all the Harry Potter fans out there, this song is obviously named after the Dancing Jinx (that causes uncontrollable dancing) and the video reflects that a lot…I wonder if they’ll be sued for using this at the title of the song though…I digress.
Gotta say I’m feeling the song (mostly the chorus-it’s so catchy). The dancing is hot and the diverse casting in the video was refreshing as well.
I really wish K-POP videos would ditch that whole purgatory lookin’ set; dancing shrouded in darkness, smoke and fire, It’s beyond old at this point. This video however does a great job of showing what a charismatic solo performer Junsu is. Let’s hope his debut solo album puts him at the top-I’d love to see him become the next Rain/Se7en but with more crossover appeal.
Crystal Kay returns with ‘Take it Outside’ continuing the more dance-oriented style she’s been leaning towards for a while (especially with the flawless Haru Arashi). This song actually sounds like something Rihanna would have recorded during her ‘Loud’ era.
Check it out:
However her next OFFICIAL single will be called ‘Forever’ and is out June 6th 2012 and the album ‘Vivid’ will be out June 27th 2012.
Last month a friend introduced me to music’s best kept secret: Up Dharma Down, a four-piece band from the Philippines with two albums (and features) that blur musical genre lines across the board.
Comprised of Armi Millare (lead vocalist and keyboard), Carlos Tanada (lead guitars), Ean Mayor (drums) and Paul Yap (bass), UDD debuted in 2006 with their first critically acclaimed album ‘Fragmented’ and opened with the English-language rock single ‘Maybe’:
To say that Up Dharma Down is unique is a huge understatement. The closest artists out right now with a similar sound would probably be New Zealand superstar Bic Runga (seriously get into her if you like this style of vocal soft rock) and Coldplay.
I like Up Dharma Down because, like a lot of young artists out at the moment they are embracing their cultural heritage and singing in their national language which is Tagalog. This is a big thing for OPM (Original Philippine Music) which has taken a bit of a beating due to the rise of Korean music in South East Asia. Young music-buyers are drawn in by the glitz and glamour of K-POP and many have neglected OPM as they see it as mostly Ballad music for the older generation.
However, Up Dharma Down amongst many others like; MYMP, River Maya and Kitchie Nadal to name just a few are flying the flag for Tagalog speakers and indadvertedly music lovers in general.
BBC’s Mark Cole dubbed UDD as the Asian Band most likely to cross-over to the Western market and I truly believe they have what it takes and that is mostly due to the familiar chords that wouldn’t sound out of place in the 90’s indie scene and the charismatic, reluctant leader Armi Millare.
Armi’s voice has that raw, powerful but vulnerable quality that makes you instantly sit up and listen. Armi is a vocalist, song-writer, and pianist and really has the whole package in terms of being an all-round performer, and she really ‘gets’ the fact that she’s only as strong as the band backing her up. The way UDD have been presented via their fans to me is that this is truly a Four-piece band and not just Armi and The Pips. She’s known for being very understated and kind of shy until she gets behind the keyboard and microphone.
Up Dharma Down are also known for their visuals, that sometimes deviate from the obvious, like in the ‘Sana’ video that had many people confused, I’m assuming those people, like myself don’t speak Tagalog so I can understand why after seeing the video on youtube they would be confused about the context.
These guys are also known for being very grassroots when it comes to promoting themselves and connecting with people from all over the world. They always mention Twitter, Tumblr and Facebook when gigging (links are below) which is the truly the best way to reach people (as K-POP has proved). I’m very thankful for this age of the Internet where foreign music-and translations of the lyrics are nothing but a click away as it would be a crime not to be able to experience such wonderful music from all over the world.
Their second album, ‘Bipolar’ which came out in 2008 features one of their best songs Taya:
And they currently have a new album in the works that should hopefully be released this year.
If you happen to be in South East Asia this year, try and catch Up Dharma Down live-they play in intimate venues and really connect with the audience. Just watch a few youtube performances of the songs I posted above to see what I mean.
