Inside Nokia Music

It’s what you been waiting for, 3 more of the high quality official videos from the Rihanna Rated R album launch party live from London with special guest appearances by Young Jeezy and Jay-Z… Woop Woop!

Hard ft. Young Jeezy

Live Your Life/Run This Town ft. Jay-Z

Umbrella ft. Jay-Z

For some of the new readers who may not know, Rihanna teamed-up with Nokia to launch her new album Rated R with the shindig to end all shindigs at The O2 Academy Brixton (lovingly known by most as Brixton Academy). Rihanna did a sweeping set of classics and selected new tracks that were performed live for the very first time. The entire set was live-streamed from the event for the world to see.

Some of the more cunning fans already know these official videos are out there and have been hitting them up like free candy, those of you don’t… here’s what’s available so far in glorious high definition and sound quality to match.

Wow!… is all I can really say about last nights Nokia presented Rated R launch party as the show kicked off with the rousing Mad House intro segueing into the first ever live performance of the so-very-fitting Wait Your Turn as “The wait is ova, The wait is ova” blared through the house PA in what could easily be some of the best live sound production I’ve ever heard.

There has been some uncertainty from fans over Rated R first single Russian Roulette but it becomes apparently clear that this is indeed not the case for the select few thousand super-fans in the audience tonight as the song performed live does nothing short of raising the roof. I’ve said it before and I’l say it again… Russian Roulette’s chorus is an epic soarer, and this live performance is testament to it.

One of the things that struck me immediately is that the sound is heavy, particularly on the Young Jeezy featured Hard, a song that I just can’t stop talking about since the show and probably won’t for a long time to come.

Saying that though, I’m sure most will be talking about Jay-Z joining Rihanna for a performance of Run This Town and save-the-best-for-last show-closer Umbrella. As a huge fan of the studio recording’s drum loop sample, I was particularly moved by the live drum interpretation as it brought an element of the new sound beautifully to this incredible classic. Frustratingly, with exceptional research skills, I just spent about an 45min looking for the tour drummer’s name but came up with nothing… Big-up to you my man, you were world-class!

All-in-all I feel truly honored to have been a part of this amazing event with Rihanna back and sounding better than ever!

Relive the event soon on nokia.com/rihanna with videos of Rihanna’s performance.

Wait Your Turn is exclusively available right now (selected markets only, please check) for download on the Nokia Music Store and the album Rated R (Nokia Exclusive) on 23 November which features 2 exclusive tracks Hole In My Head and Russian Roulette (Donni Hotwheel Remix)

Edit this setlist | More Rihanna setlists

Only 4 days to go till Rihanna’s Rated R album launch party in London and we’re all super-psyched about hearing some of the new songs performed live for the first time as well as some great Ri-Ri classics, personally I’m holding out for a little Unfaithful.

Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter for a daily challenge at 2pm from now until Saturday for a chance to win tickets to this historic and highly sought after event. If you’re not lucky enough to snag a pair of tickets, fear not as you’ll still be able to catch the online live stream at nokia.com/rihanna but be sure to register soon.

We are very excited to announce a global music partnership with Island Def Jam Music Group and Universal Music Group International to bring exclusive content to music fans around the world. The partnership will launch global superstar Rihanna’s highly anticipated fourth album Rated R with an online live streamed launch party performance from a secret London location with simultaneous listening parties happening around the globe on 16th November.

Register at www.nokia.com/rihanna soon to ensure you don’t miss out on this historic event. The event also coincides with the release of the Nokia X6 mobile phone which is also available in a ‘Comes With Music‘ edition.

Rihanna’s coming-of-age album Rated R comes to the Nokia Music Store the following week on 23rd November with exclusive cover shots, a remix and an exclusive track. Nokia ‘Comes With Music’ customers will also be able to download an exclusive Rihanna application, footage from the London live album launch in the Ovi store and in selected territories an exclusive window to the track Wait Your Turn from Rated R before it’s release.

I had the honour of interviewing Rihanna yesterday in LA.

Stay close, it will be published soon

Gaz.

Since I hold the rules and regulations that govern us in such high regard, regrettably I shall not be live streaming tonight’s Dead Weather gig from Brixton Academy as I was unable to arrange permission to do so…awe!

… and since we’re on the subject I’d also like to bring to light yet another one of my boo-boo’s… The Dead Weather pop-up store that I referred to in my previous post is actually a Third Man Records pop-up store that covers The White Stripes and The Raconteurs too, and since my trip abroad has been postponed a couple days I now get to go too… Woohooooo!

Here’s the original Dead Weather newsletter with all the details.

THIRD MAN RECORDS ANNOUNCES TEMPORARY SHOP IN LONDON

Third Man Records is happy to announce our first foray into the United Kingdom with the opening of Third Man Records and Novelties for TWO DAYS ONLY at the historic Shoreditch Church in East London. Opening day is Friday October 30th and closing on Halloween, October 31st.

Come see us for all Third Man releases and miscellany from The Dead Weather, The White Stripes, and The Raconteurs to all Third Man 45s, T-shirts and loads of rare and collectible items. We’ll also have a limited run of exclusive merchandise made specifically for this London location, so make sure you come down early!

We will be open 2 days only, store hours are as follows:

Third Man Records and Novelties
Shoreditch Church, London
Shoreditch High Street
London E16 6JN

Friday, October 30: 11 am to 6 pm
Saturday, October 31: 11 am to 9pm

See you there!

Nokia Music Store Exclusive

It’s a big Dead Weather week as Horehound third single I Cut Like A Buffalo is released with a Nokia Music Store exclusive featuring Bone House and Hang You From The Heavens recorded live @ From The Basement.

I’ll be attending The Dead Weather @ Brixton Academy, London on Thursday 29th October and intend to live stream a couple tracks of the performance with my Nokia 5800 and installed Qik application to this blog and potentially other locations that I’ll tweet from my Twitter account on the day… this will be a first for me and I as I intend to only stream I Cut Like A Buffalo and previous single Treat Me Like Your Mother, I can’t give an exact time of broadcast as the setlist is obviously out of my control.

I’m absolutely gutted that a trip abroad means I’ll miss it but for the ardent collector The Dead Weather will also have a pop-up store at Shoreditch Church on Friday 30th and Saturday 31st October.

… and since we’re on the subject, I must have been fast asleep last week when it was released as I only just came to know of this now. Here’s version 2 of the Jack White directed music video for I Cut Like A Buffalo.