Category: Music

Neil Young’s Protest Album Online First

Neil Young’s newly recorded protest album “Living With War,” including a song calling for the impeachment of President Bush, will be posted for free Internet streaming next week.

Starting April 28, fans can log onto Neil Young’s Web site, and listen to the 10-track collection in its entirety, free of charge.

The Canadian-born Young, 60, who has tackled social and political themes through four decades as a singer-songwriter, wrote and recorded his latest studio offering over a two-week period this month, backed by a 100-member choir.

Much of the album conveys a sense of outrage, vowing repeatedly in the title track “to never kill again,” mocking Bush’s conduct of the Iraq war in “Shock and Awe” and calling for his removal from office in a provocative song titled “Let’s Impeach the President.”

The album also strikes a chord of empathy with soldiers separated from their families, and features lyrics ridiculing America’s consumer culture, political corruption and religious fundamentalism.

[Source: Yahoo! News]

New Michael Jackson Album Due Next Year

Michael Jackson has returned to the studio and plans to release a new album next year for a record label owned by the son of Bahrain’s king.

2 Seas Records, which is owned by Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad Al Khalifa, said Tuesday it had signed an exclusive recording agreement with Jackson, and the new album was tentatively scheduled for release in late 2007.

The label, which is due to release Jackson’s long-promised Hurricane Katrina benefit single, “I Have This Dream”, said British music executive Guy Holmes had been named chief executive of the company. It said Holmes would oversee the making of the new album “and the management of Michael’s other business interests.”

Michael moved to live in Bahrain last year, soon after being acquitted of child molestation charges in California.

Personally, I think Michael Jackson is one of the musical geniuses of our age, and that he still holds the title King of Pop. A lot of people don’t think his latest music has been as good as his 80’s or early 90’s stuff, but I disagree.
Of course he has a number of classics from the 80’s and 90’s, but up to his last album “Invincible” he had some really cool songs, that I truly enjoyed.

I can’t wait for this new album. I wonder if there will be any mild middle eastern influences in the new music though.

[Source: Yahoo! News]

Joseph Attia Wins Star Academy 3

So, for the first time in the history of the Arab Star Academy show, someone who really deserves the title has won; Joseph Attia from Lebanon won the title last Friday night.

The three finalists, competing for the title, were: Hana Idrissi from Morocco, Hani Hussein from Egypt and Joseph Attia from Lebanon.

The guest stars for the final prime were: Wael Kfoury and the one and only Tina Arena.

Tina was awesome as usual, as always better live than on tape, which is something we can’t say for that many singers in the world.

I felt that the show organizers wanted Jpseph to win, giving him some extra pushes and shining the light on him a bit more.
But in any case, he totally deserved the title, and I’m quite happy for him. I wish him the best of luck in his career.

‘Crazy’ Single, No. 1 Solely Through Downloads

“Crazy” by U.S. duo Gnarls Barkley sat atop the British singles chart Monday — the first track to reach No. 1 based solely on computer download sales.

The single by the pseudonymous Barkley — U.S. producer Danger Mouse and hip-hop artist Cee-Lo — went on sale in record stores Monday. But it had already sold 31,000 copies through the Internet, making it the previous week’s best-selling track.

I think that’s cool…
This is a very important point in the history of online music distribution, showing how much it is maturing as a medium.

I wonder how far away we are from when a movie will hit the No. 1 spot based solely on downloads. It will take a lot of fat broadband connections, but nevertheless it’s possible.

[Source: CNN]

Tina Arena Was In Tunisia

So what do you know, Tina Arena, one of my favourite female artists was in Tunisia shooting the video for her new single “Je M’appelle Bagdad”, which is one of my favourite songs off her new French album “Un Autre Univers”, and I didn’t know about it and didn’t get to meet her. Now that’s shitty…

The video was shot in the Tunisian Desert and in the Palace of Tozeur. It was directed by Thierry Vergnes, the same guy beind the

The X Factor, The Essence of Success

FremantleMedia has announced that it is launching a local version of The X Factor in the Middle East.

The X Factor, XSeer Al Najah (The X Factor, The Essence of Success) will be produced by Lebanese production company Studiovision and will premiere on 26 March on music channel Rotana TV, culminating in the grand finale on 4 June.

FremantleMedia regional manager, Middle East and North Africa Isabelle Garcia said, “We are really excited about bringing this format to the Middle East. Not only do we have fantastic judges with great backgrounds but also the acts coming forward are something the Arabian public has never seen before.”

FremantleMedia adds that thousands of hopefuls with dreams of becoming the next Arabic singing sensation have turned up to perform at auditions in The Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Kuwait, Egypt, Dubai and Tunisia. Judging the talent are Michel Elefteriades, owner of the celebrated Music Hall in Beirut; Nelly from Egypt, a performer in both the acting and singing fields and Khaled El Sheikh, a Bahraini producer and composer. Following in the footsteps of the UK production, the three categories will comprise younger and older contestants and groups.

The X Factor has been broadcast in five territories to date: the UK, Belgium, Colombia, Australia and Russia.

The difference between The X Factor and SuperStar is that at the end of the auditions, hopefuls are whittled down to 120 and divided into three categories. Each category are assigned one judge faced with the task of shaping up their acts so that one of them emerges as the winner.

Sounds interesting…

[Source: FremantleMedia]

Santana – All That I Am

These past couple of days, I’ve been listening to Santana’s new album “All That I Am“, which is another magnificent work of pure art.

Santana’s guitar does another set of wonders on this album, in which he collaborates with artists like Joss Stone, Michelle Branch, Mary J. Blige, Will.i.Am, Steven Tyler, Bo Bice, sean Paul and others.

My favourite songs off this album are: “El Fuego”, “I Am Somebody”,
“I’m feeling you”, “Twisted”, “Cry Baby Cry”, “Brown Skin Girl”, “I Don’t Wan’t Wanna Lose Your Love”…etc.
In fact every song on this album is a potential hit and favourite, making this album another great hit packed album just like “Shaman” and “Supernatural” were.

His music is just so much fun, his guitar is really sexy and beautiful, and his collaborations with other artists are very successful.

I totally recommend this album to every music lover. I guarantee you’ll enjoy it.

My score for it is: 9.5/10.

Coldplay’s New CD DRM Rules

Coldplay’s new CD comes with an insert that discloses all the rules enforced by the DRM they included on the disc. The rules are only visible after you’ve paid for the CD and brought it home, and as the disc’s rules say, “Except for manufacturing problems, we do not accept product exchange, return or refund,” so if you don’t like the rules, that’s tough.

Some of the other rules go as follows: “This CD can’t be burnt onto a CD or hard disc, nor can it be converted to an MP3” and “This CD may not play in DVD players, car stereos, portable players, game players, all PCs and Macintosh PCs.” Best of all, the insert explains that this is all “in order for you to enjoy a high quality music experience.”

Now, I understand why record companies want to implement DRM technologies in their CDs, but to do it at the expense of the paying consumer and the experience he has with the CD is complete nonsense and so disrespectful.
I for one listen to most of my music in my car, so imagine how pissed off I’d be if I bought an original CD and it didn’t work in my car!
In fact, my original copy of Natalie Imbruglia’s album “White Lillies Island” doesn’t work in my car CD player, because of another stupid DRM technology, and everytime I feel like listening to it and I can’t, I get pissed off like hell.
Is that the kind of quality experience they want us to be going through?
Do what you have to do to protect your rights, but don’t step on our rights as consumers while doing so!

I wonder how Coldplay feel about all this?

[Via: Boing Boing]