Inside Nokia Music

Solo albums, the inevitable self-indulgent need to liberate oneself creatively from the mostly unsung heroes largely responsible for the success of the band from whence one came, all the while preying on their established fan base. As a flag-flyer for the lesser credited band members this is something I have my reservations about… Apparently!

Nonetheless, as a ‘Comes With Music’ subscriber and an adamant discography collector of multiple physical formats from the bands I hold in high esteem, I can afford the luxury of completing these discographies for that purpose alone, and still take a chance on new music without the fear of a fad purchase that sits embarrassingly among the pride in my collection… and so, as a dedicated Incubus fan and collector I order a physical copy in the best possible edition I can find. Since a competitor had exclusivity for it’s first week of release, I forget about it until it arrives… Read the rest of this entry »

Somewhere in between Glastonbury and the work I’ve had to catch up as a result of being away for it, The Smashing Pumpkins sneaked this beauty in below my radar and as a result, I feel a little violated for missing out on a few extra days of absolute bliss!

If you haven’t heard Freak yet, the first track from Vol.2 of the one-track-at-a-time mega 11 EP 44 song project Teargarden By Kaleidyscope then do yourself a favour and stop reading this, do not pass go, do not collect $200 and listen to it immediately!

Freak is classic Pumpkins with murky overdrives, Zwan-like optimism and Na-Na-Na-Na sing-alongs. Having thrown countless hard earned reddies at The Smashing Pumpkins for half my life now, I’m completely stunned that tunes of this quality are up for grabs free for the anticipated 5 year duration of this project (if it’s seen through to the end).

It’s worth pointing out that 19-20 year old drummer Mike Byrne is beginning to show signs that he may well be capable of filling the horrific void of Jimmy Chamberlin’s departure and that The Smashing Pumpkins 3.0 are about to hit their stride.

The Smashing Pumpkins are available to download from the Nokia/Ovi Music Store and if you’ve got Comes With Music download the lot for free!

A new addition to the Nokia XSeries family comes today with the announcement of the new Nokia X5. Colourfully expressive, musically charged and built with ease of use in mind for social networking & messaging on the move. In a world gone mad for touchscreen phones, the Nokia X5 thinks outside the box and offers a full sliding QWERTY keyboard for those who desire traditional keypads, as well as unique design without compromising on social networking features – Be there, be square!

Social features?

Access to Social Networking sites Facebook, Twitter, Hi5 and Myspace are all covered, all your favourite IM accounts supported, and the ability to log in to multiple email accounts makes it fun and easy to stay connected on the move.

As part of the ongoing XSeries standard, your favourite contacts can be accessed from the home screen, and now includes the new Message Box feature – Just shake the phone to reveal the number of unread messages!

Tell me about the music!

Excellent sound quality? – Check!

Loud speakers? – Check!

Easy access to the device’s music collection? – Check!

Space for all my music? – 2GB memory card for up to 1000 tracks. Upgradable to 32GB

What about special features? – Of course!… Spin your X5 during music playback to select a track at random with the new ‘Surprise Me” application (Your head should be filling up with party game ideas right about now!) and ‘Dance Fabulous’ which lets you use your own music on the device to play the game and create dance moves.

The Nokia X5 will also be available in a ‘Comes With Music’ edition in selected markets – TBA

That’s great, but what about self expression?

We all know that in the decade of the twenty-teens it’s all about the bold and the overstated, and so the Nokia x5 will be available in Pink, Azure, Graphite Black, Yellow Green, and Purple with an estimated retail price of €165 before taxes and subsidies.

For more details check out the Nokia X5 Data Sheet

The Nokia X5 is available soon in the Southeast Asian Peninsula, Eurasia and Latin America

Adam Lambert - For Your Entertainment

Adam Lambert could only really exist right here and now. In this place in time where theatricality and showmanship are reclaiming their place in pop. Only now; in a post-Gaga world with GLEE, the self-proclaimed freak flagship bringing spangly show tunes into people’s living rooms every week, could someone so flamboyant and unapologetically melodramatic ever be a winner.

But of course he wasn’t. Adam Lambert did not win American Idol, the US version of Simon Cowell’s pop-star machine franchise, in 2009. However, he’s probably better off anyway, reality-TV success has often proved to be a double edged sword; the shows winners often fading away into obscurity, over managed by cautious executive types and forgotten about by the viewing public who are already looking forward to the next series’ sob stories.

Not so for Lambert, the life-long performer (he appeared on stage and in musical theatre since a pre-teen) who made sure he wasn’t going to be forgotten after he sashayed into America’s consciousness emulating the great rock front-men and combining their swagger with the kind of vocal histrionics usually reserved pop’s divas; not to mention raiding their makeup bags and nicking their heels.

Yup, whilst a pop-star coming out after having already proven themselves and built up a loyal fan base is nothing new (especially here in the UK where Will Young did just that after winning the original series of Pop Idol, now some nine years ago) being outed, and seemingly willingly, whilst still courting the voting public’s favour was a lesson in acceptance for the notoriously conservative America.  But the viewers proved they were (almost) ready for an openly gay Idol by voting him into the final and supporting the album after its release. And judging by the positively rabid response he got on ‘ole Wossy the other week there are plenty of fans here in the UK who are giving him and his album, ‘For Your Entertainment’ a warm welcome.

So is it any good? Well, perhaps surprisingly, yes actually. I don’t say surprising because of its reality-TV heritage or because of any doubt of Lambert’s vocal ability, but instead because of its odd provenance.  Written and recorded whilst still touring the US with the other Idols it nonetheless manages to boast one of the most impressive rosters of featured writers and producers seen on an album in the last few years.

This is noticeable right from the get go, opening track ‘Music Again’ written by The Darkness frontman Justin Hawkins features his trademark falsetto warbling mixed in with a bouncy Mika-esque refrain; “You make me want to listen to music again”. This is followed by lead single ‘For Your Entertainment’, a spiky, whip cracking bit of glam rock (the video for which is below, and if his writhing makes you a bit uncomfortable, just imagine it’s your lady pop starlet of choice; essentially it works exactly the same). Next up is the power ballad ‘Whataya Want From Me ‘penned by P!nk; another catchy tune with a few smart lines; even if it is a little too easy to imagine that it was donated to him after being left out of P!nk’s own album. ‘Strut’ is a powerful, thudding motivator made for stomping it out on fashion runways. You can practically hear Tyra Banks cheering him on (“Fierce darling! Smize!”)

But the collaborations don’t stop there, in fact ‘Soaked’ might just have you doing a double take; yes that is more than a hint of Muse you’re hearing. It’s unmistakably Matt Bellamy, in fact he has recorded it himself and it’s a mere question of personal preference as to which is better. I’d argue that whilst Matt might own the song-writing talent Mister Lambert is absolutely pulling his weight fronting the track, his voice just copes better with the kind of notes that Bellamy aims for but often mangles.

Alas the album can’t be all “I was born with glitter on my face, my baby clothes made of leather and lace” (’Sure Fire Winners’) and there are low points, namely the oozy-woozy ‘A Loaded Smile’ written by Linda Perry – who, maybe it’s just me, but no longer seems to be contributing the album highlights that she used to.

Max Martin lends his trademark electronica to ‘If I Had You’, in which he insists he would give up the money, fame and rock star lifestyle if given a chance with a certain someone. Sorry Adam, but I’m not convinced. ‘Pick You Up’ starts off sounding a little familiar but somehow ends up sounding like it belongs at the climax act of a big Broadway musical, maybe reflecting more of Lambert for once than co-writer Rivers Cuomo.

Even Mummy Monster, Gaga herself donates a track in ‘Fever’ (simply replace “Po-Po-Poker face” with “Fe-Fe-Fever”, job done.) and Sam Sparro fiddles the knobs (as it were) on the suitably languid and sultry feeling ‘Voodoo’. There are a few others that can be skipped over: ‘Sleepwalker’ I could Sleep through and unfortunately ‘Time for Miracles’ wouldn’t do much to save the movie soundtrack it featured on, (Roland Emmerich you owe me seven quid and two and a half hours for ‘2012′.)

But eventually there are a couple of tracks which do more believably seem to have come from Lambert, the defiant ‘Masterplan’, and the closet door smashing ‘Aftermath’ - “Wanna scream out, no more hiding, don’t be afraid of what’s inside, gonna tell you, you’ll be alright, in the aftermath”.

Overall it’s an enjoyable and catchy album, but only by being the sum of its parts. The help gone into it by the legion of writers and producers combined with Adam’s undeniable vocal talent and theatrical presence is what makes it work. I hope that having this support from other artists will buoy his confidence and teach him some tricks that so he can rely less on their contributions have more input of his own on the next album.

For Your Entertainment is available to download at the Nokia Music Store.  If you’ve got Comes With Music download it for free!

Rated R has just gone Platinum in 9 countries and is getting the remix treatment with 10 exclusive tracks entirely by in-demand-man Chew Fu Phat. Chu Fu has built himself a highly reputable portfolio having remixed tracks for the likes of Black Eyed Peas, Kings Of Leon and Lady Gaga to name but a few.

1. Mad House (Chew Fu Straight Jacket Fix)
2. Russian Roulette (Chew Fu Black Russian Fix)
3. ROCKSTAR 101 (Chew Fu Teachers Pet Fix)
4. Wait Your Turn (Chew Fu Can’t Wait No More Fix)
5. Photographs feat. will.i.am (Chew Fu 35mm Fix)
6. Rude Boy (Chew Fu Bumbaclot Fix)
7. Hard feat. Jeezy (Chew Fu Granite Fix)
8. G4L (Chew Fu Guns In The Air Fix)
9. Fire Bomb (Chew Fu Molotov Fix)
10. Stupid In Love (Chew Fu Small Room Fix)

Serving as Rated R’s third international single, Te Amo is circulating radio stations with the Paris shot video due to drop any day now.

And in the US Rude Boy is #6(3) on the Billboard Hot 100. After 5 consecutive weeks at #1 Rude Boy is now the second most played record on US radio.

Rated R///Remixed is released today

Rihanna’s albums, singles and remixes are available to download at Nokia Music Store including the Nokia exclusive edition of Rated R featuring 2 bonus tracks. If you’ve got Comes With Music download them all for free!

As a Muse fan from ‘Origin’ days, the bitter pill of their extreme commercial success has been a tough one to swallow. Already a huge departure in sound, Supermassive Black Hole expanded the fan base far beyond the devout… and even more so when it featured on the first Twilight soundtrack.

What would arise from this would create a divide… Twilight Muse fans, and the fans of old, scorned by the fear of association.

Having declared that they would not feature on the Twilight: Eclipse soundtrack after contributing a rendition of  I Belong To You minus Mon Cœur S’ouvre À Ta Voix to New Moon, the band made a swift U-Turn and opted to contribute the previously unreleased track. Penned by Matt Bellamy around the release of The Resistance following the end of a relationship, Matt said on Zane Lowe’s Radio 1 show that he figured it would be better to release it now when it was “still relevant”, instead of holding one to it for the next album.

So, as an unbiased listener not concerned with the fear of association, but of song quality alone… I have to say I’m unsure! It sounds like the counter to I Belong To You. Which would make sense as such since I believe it was written about the same lady in Bellamy’s life. Perhaps a few more revolutions around the particle accelerator and we’ll collide!

Muse albums and singles are available to download at Nokia Music Store. If you’ve got Comes With Music download them all for free!

The band have just officially confirmed a slot on what they referred to as the “Main Stage” on Saturday 26 June – Assuming they mean the Pyramid Stage (get with the program guys) they’ll either open Saturday’s proceedings, or fill the as-yet-unconfirmed slot between Seasick Steve and the poorly placed Shakira (hmmm!).

Album number 2 Sea Of Cowards is carded for release on the 10th May with first single Die By The Drop already making it’s rounds in the realm of the music video.

A leak of the song Gasoline also made it’s way onto You Tube and if these 2 tracks are a sign of what the album has in store for us, then The Dead Weather will most certainly make it into my end-of-year list this year again.

Here are both…

The Dead Weather are available to download at Nokia Music Store or if you’ve got Comes With Music get all their records for free!

The last track for the first of 11 EP’s from forthcoming epic project Teargarden By Kaleidyscope has dropped and finally brings something heavier in the form of Astral Planes.

More akin to the sound of the Pumpkins in their hay-day, it’s a welcomed addition to the catalogue and will hopefully redeem Billy Corgan in the eyes of his detractors… The poor dude just keeps digging himself deeper and deeper with some poorly made decisions like performing live at an Urban Outfitters on Record Store Day… Silly Billy!… oh well, never mind.

Here it is, I’d place the sound somewhere between Siamese Dream and Melon Collie and the Infinite Sadness.

Astral Planes by The Smashing Pumpkins

Just got my tickets to Lady Gaga’s Monster Ball tour show at the O2 Arena and I’m pretty psyched as it’s only my second pop gig after the Rihanna Rated R launch party. Not my usual flavour, but then that makes it all the more exciting doesn’t it!

As we all know by now, Lady G’s new single made it’s UK video debut last week and I felt the Jonas Åkerlund directed video deserved an honourable mention for Gaga’s retaliation to the long-standing claims that she’s an hermaphrodite. Why something like that is so controversial is beyond me… but anyway, check it out @1:00, but be warned… this is the explicit version!

You can download Lady Gaga’s and Beyoncé’s music from the Nokia Music Store or if you’ve got a  ‘Comes With Music’ account, download it all for free!

A Stitch In Time by The Smashing Pumpkins

The next instalment from the epic forthcoming Teargarden By Kaleidyscope has landed sooner than expected with the release of A Stitch In Time - hopefully this is a sign that the project may begin to progress a little quicker.

It seems that on my previous post I may have been mistaken about something. Clues are beginning to show and suggest the “album” will be 11 x 4 track EP’s and not 4 x 11 track EP’s as I originally thought (yes, I know that doesn’t constitute an EP). But there are still a few things that suggest I was right in the first place.

A Quote from Billy’s Blog

“The story of the album is based on ‘The Fool’s Journey’, as signified in the progress of the Tarot. It is my intention to approach this by breaking down the journey of our life here into four phases as made by these different characters; the Child, the Fool, the Skeptic, and the Mystic.”

I think I’m sticking to my guns on 4 “EP’s”!

Can’t say I think much of the track just yet, but I usually have to chew food and allow it to tantalise both the sweet and the sour sides before I can say anything with wholehearted honesty.

All 3 tracks so far have been pretty tame, but the smart money’s on the “fool” and the “sceptic” chapters bringing the thunder!!!

I’ll be posting on the entire progression of this project.

Smashing Pumpkins albums are available to download from The Nokia Music Store - if you’ve got ‘Comes With Music’ get them for free!