Nine years after forming the alt-rock band The Killers, lead vocalist Brandon Flowers has decided to try it solo. The album is called Flamingo and it’s due out September 14. The first single “Crossfire” was released on June 21. One helleva awesome music video was made for it earlier this month and it’s embedded for your viewing pleasure above. In it Flowers finds himself in many situations where he’s held captive by ninjas. And every time the sexy Charlize Theron is there to rescue him. The music video was shot beautifully (thanks to direction from Nash Edgerton) and the combat choreography is really impressive. And oh yeah, Flowers sounds great. Something tells me he’ll do just fine ridin’ solo. Peek after the break for a quick behind-the-scenes look at the making of the video. Continue reading Music video: Brandon Flowers (of The Killers) — “Crossfire”
Category Archives: Entertainment
Behind the scenes with Mr Hudson
Just last week UK artist Mr Hudson finally dropped his debut solo album Straight No Chaser in the U.S. On his YouTube page Hudson posted a number of behind-the-scenes featurettes that show how much effort he put into making the record. I embedded my favorite video above; it’s a peek at how the killer track “Time” was constructed. The video shows how frustration can be turned into a fine work of art with some hard work and perseverence. Watching Hudson figure out the song’s skeleton on the piano and then peering into the studio to see him listen to a mastered version of it is quite satisfying. Look after the break for the making of “Anyone But Him” and “Everything Is Broken”, with appearences by Kanye West and Kid Cudi, respectively. And if you haven’t downloaded the album yet, get it here.
[Via YouTube] Continue reading Behind the scenes with Mr Hudson
Music video: Bethany Cosentino, Rostam Batmanglij & Kid Cudi – “All Summer”
Converse (yes, the sneaker company) brought together Bethany Cosentino of Best Coast, Rostam Batmanglij of Vampire Weekend, and rapper Kid Cudi to create a collab track for their “Three Artists, One Song” campaign. The song was released first (download it here), and a fun music video followed (watch above). The song matches our current season pretty well, what with its upbeat tempo and catchy verses. Say, don’t those papercraft heads look mighty familiar?
[Via DatNewCudi]
Lupe Fiasco’s LASERS is complete, release date up in the air
It’s official: Lupe Fiasco’s highly anticipated third studio album LASERS is complete. Lupe shared the news with his fans first via his Twitter account:
Lasers is out of my hands guys and gals…it’s done and that’s all I can tell you…when they drop it…they drop it…so drop it…
Now it’s up to Atlantic Records to announce a release date and it’s golden. According to most sources, there’s no reason why it should not release sometime in this year. While you’re waiting, go give the first two singles off the album a listen here: “I’m Beamin’” & “Shining Down“.
[Via Twitter]
Rapper Consequence talks up G.O.O.D. Music Day
September 14 is the expected release for four big albums that are signed under Kanye West’s G.O.O.D. Music label: Big Sean’s debut album Finally Famous, Kanye West’s Good Ass Job, Kid Cudi’s Man On the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager, and Consequence’s ConsTV. In an interview with HipHopDX, rapper Consequence was asked about the supposed G.O.O.D. Music Day. Read the excerpt from said interview below.
DX: So on September 14th you, Kanye West, Kid Cudi, and Big Sean are all droppin’ your respective projects. But just to play devil’s advocate, you sure you wanna do that? It’s hard enough getting folks to cop one album let alone four albums on the same day.
Consequence: Well…the idea for doing the G.O.O.D Music Day emerged between me and Sylvia Rhone, just to be quite honest. I’m very communicative with Sylvia Rhone on everything that I do. We had actually met with Kanye one night, and as me and her left the meeting, we left together and I was like, “Yo, we need to really get this paper right now.”
When we left we thought that this is where we need to take advantage of the situation. So…she got on the phone…made some boss calls, and then we got to it. At the time when [Big] Sean announced that [he was also dropping his album on September 14th] I didn’t know that he was in the mix of that, but it’s all good.
But initially, how that shit came about was me, Kanye and Kid Cudi. I just hadn’t announced it because I know we had things that had to be ironed out. And it got ironed out where it’s – ‘Cause actually at the end of the day, Kanye being the head of G.O.O.D Music had to approve that. And the approval was based on, “Let’s shake the game up.” Cudi got the kids, Cons got the streets, ‘Ye got the globe, so we all gon’ eat. [Laughs] (Added emphasis.)
With Tony Williams’ King or The Fool and John Legend’s Wake Up (produced by The Roots) expected to drop on or around the 9/14 date too, Sepember might just be the greatest month for music in 2010. Yeah, I went there.
[Via HipHopDX; DatNewCudi]
Star Trek + Tik Tok = pure amazingness (somehow, someway)
I really can’t stand Ke$ha anymore, with her whiney songs that always get stuck in my head. As much as I’ve been trying to keep a safe distance from her catchy tracks I stumbled upon this masterpiece. Somehow, someway, YouTube user MissSheenie was able to perfectly match classic scenes from Star Trek: The Original Series with Ke$ha’s first single “Tik Tok”. Now enjoy.
Pokémon theme song gets one-man a cappella multitrack treatment
And that one man is Danny Fong. Fong used only his voice to record the Pokémon theme song you know and love. With a total of 58 different audio tracks & 16 video tracks Fong used his voice alone to bring together the drums (hi-hat, toms, kick drum, snare, cymbals), rhythm guitar, bass, piano, and vocals. My only objection? This kid owns a frightening amount of V-neck shirts.
[Thanks, @andrewseely]
Violinist takes on Mario
Watch as Japanese violinist Teppei Okada masterfully plays the iconic soundtrack and gameplay sounds from Super Mario Bros.!
Singles: Kid Cudi – “REVOFEV” & “Erase Me” (Featuring Kanye West)
Ahh yes. Rapper Kid Cudi has brought the goods. Check out the first two singles off his sophomore album Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager. The first is “REVOFEV” (pronounced Rev Of Ev, short for Revolution of Evolution) which is produced by Plain Pat with strings by Larry Gold. Cudder officially released the mastered track on his blog. The second is titled “Erase Me” and it features vocals by Kanye West. The version that’s been let loose into the wild is only a radio rip, but it sounds great for a recording.
In “REVOFEV” Cudi asks, “Where will you be for the revolution?” Yeah, because this album is going to be that good. The track has a slow tempo and reminds me of many songs from MOTM, especially “Solo Dolo”. It’s not nearly as dark but I definitely hear similarities in sound and style. “Erase Me”, on the other hand, is starkly different from anything I’ve heard Cudi produce lately. It’s a very cheery, upbeat song that uses drums, guitars, and echoing vocals that results in an extremely catchy pop-rock vibe. And the fact that Mr. West makes an appearence is just icing on the cake.
MOTMII is expected to drop on G.O.O.D. Music Day, September 14 that is. But for now, take a listen and download the tracks at the links below.
[audio: Kid Cudi – REVOFEV.mp3]Kid Cudi – “Erase Me” (Featuring Kanye West) (Radio Rip)
[audio: Kid Cudi – Erase Me (Featuring Kanye West) (Radio Rip).mp3]Update: The dirty CDQ version of “Erase Me” is out now. Download it here.
[Via KidCudiBlog; 5starhiphop]
Mr Hudson’s debut album finally releases stateside
It’s been a long time coming for British musician Mr Hudson. Though you’ve probably heard of him from Jay-Z’s recent single “Young Forever”, Hudson has been in the music biz since 2007 when he dropped his first album A Tale of Two Cities. Back then he was in a band called Mr Hudson & the Library. Having listened to his debut album and working alongside him at his Glow in the Dark tour, rapper Kanye West fell in love with Hudson’s sound, and so he decided to sign him to his G.O.O.D. music label. Hudson graciously accepted and started to work on his debut solo album Straight No Chaser, which would be executive produced by Kanye. The 12-track album includes singles “There Will Be Tears“, “Supernova” (Featuring Kanye West), “White Lies“, “Everything Is Broken” (Featuring Kid Cudi), and “Anyone But Him” (Featuring Kanye West). It released in the UK way back on October 19, 2009. After numerous delays, it was finally made available to purchase and download in the U.S. on June 29, 2010. The UK version contains two additional tracks (“Lift Your Head” & a Calvin Harris remix of “Supernova”).
The best way to describe Mr Hudson’s music is alternative hip hop/electro-pop, if that makes any sense. Straight No Chaser is a breakup album, so naturally it features heavy bass thumping tracks with softer ones to balance it all out. Hudson is a fan of auto-tune, and so a number of the tracks include him using it. Interestingly, he eliminates the use of auto-tune when he’s touring; he finds it to be a fun and useful tool when working in the studio. Having listened to the album only once all the way through, I am not ready to formally review it yet. However I can say that Mr Hudson is going to be huge. He is a gifted artist with a knack for writing and beatmaking. I’d really like to see him perform live someday. Just read these choice words from collaberator Kanye West: “I believe Mr Hudson has the potential to be bigger than me, to be one of the most important artists of his generation.” Again, that comes from Kanye West!
Be sure to look after the break for some more Hudson content. You’ll find music videos for “Instant Messenger” and “Central Park”, plus there’s a short trailer that celebrates the U.S. release of the record. Continue reading Mr Hudson’s debut album finally releases stateside
Kanye West’s “Power” single hits iTunes, severed head and all
We already know that “Power” is the first single off Kanye West’s forthcoming album Good Ass Job. What you didn’t know is what exactly ‘Ye was thinking when he wrote the song. Though it’s still up for interpretation, I think we can all deduce what was West takes away from his masterpiece single by looking at the George Condo album artwork that’s tagged with the track in iTunes. At the end of the song West says, “You got the power to let power go.” It appears as if this severed head belongs to Kanye, and the sword left in it plus the bloody residue represents the death of the old egotistic, power-hungry Kanye and the birth of a new man. What kind of man that is we still don’t know; but there was no Taylor Swift type incident at the BET Awards last week, where Kanye performed a fantastic rendition of “Power”, and that’s a good start.
Head over to iTunes to download the “21st Century Schizoid Man”-sampled track and start anticipating the rumored September release of Good Ass Job.
September 14 is G.O.O.D. Music Day
According to rapper Big Sean, September 14 is going to be a huge day for the G.O.O.D. Music crew. In the form of a tweet, Big Sean announced that his upcoming debut album Finally Famous, Kanye West’s Good Ass Job, and Kid Cudi’s Man On the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager will all release on Tuesday, September 14. If this were to actually happen it would be INSANE. You must realize, though, that all of these albums likely will not simultaneously drop on the same day since almost every major rap album get the “delay treatment”. Naturally I am skeptical about the whole thing. However, if such a day does pass I’m positive it will prove to be a fantastic marketing ploy for the G.O.O.D. Music record label (which was founded by Kanye West in 2004). I know I’ll be first in line to purchase all three of these anticipated releases.
Since Big Sean pushed out the tweet, more G.O.O.D. Music artists have decided to jump on the release date bandwagon. Consequence (ConsTV) and Tony Williams (King or The Fool) have publically stated that their albums will also drop 9/14. And the cherry on top? Rumors are swirling that John Legend is working hard to finalize his next album Wake Up (produced by The Roots) in time for the September date. With just about two months until the day, the anticipation is killing me. No really, it is.
[Via 2dopeboyz; RapRadar; TheSmokingSection, Thanks Corey Z.]