It's been 13 years since their last album, 1999's The Autobiography of Reinhold Messner so it's time for your inner high school student to rejoice, twentysomethings – Ben Fold Five is reuniting!
Folds tweeted a photo of himself with his one-time (and we guess current) bandmates in the studio recording, saying, "It's happening fo sho - Day 1 in studio with Robert and Darren through March #NewBenFoldsFiveRecord."
Asked by a fan when the group expects to release their new record, Folds simply tweeted, "spring release."
Ben Folds, Twitter
Are you excited for a new Ben Folds Five record? Let us know in the comments below
Last weekend, Epic Records’ notorious chairman and CEO LA Reid sent Fiona Apple fans into a frenzy when he tweeted that new music was coming from the icon “in the next few weeks.” While we really wanted to believe that, it did seem a bit out of left-field considering there has been absolutely no word about the album from the label previously, and an Epic Records spokeswoman has already started raining on our hopeful parade.
When Time shared our doubts, they reached out to Epic for comment and their spokeswoman clarified Reid’s statements. While a new Fiona record will indeed be coming out in 2012, she states that Reid’s tweets were “taken a little bit out of context” and that we won’t be getting new music in the next few weeks after all.
“It’ll absolutely be this year,” she told the Times, “but timing-wise, I don’t know exactly when.”
Not sure if “taken a little bit out of context” is the right way to put it since impending new music from Fiona is exactly what Reid said was imminent (and he’s the freakin’ CEO!).
Despite Apple’s incredible talent – being one of the few “vintage-y” singers left in our time (and my personal favorite voice in music, period) – her last release had complications just like her next one seems to be having. When Fiona began tracking her last disc Extraordinary Machine back in 2002, it took three years of legal label-limbo and fan outcry before it eventually saw the light of day. The label even had the album mastered by another producer after being unsatisfied with the work of Fiona’s go-to producer, Jon Brion. Read More...
We’re not even a full month into 2012 and one of our favorite female voices in music, Norah Jones, has plenty for us to look forward to. Just a few weeks ago, Jones released the second album behind her side-project The Little Willies – a group that focuses on covers from Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson and Dolly Parton – and now Billboard is reporting that super-producer Danger Mouse will take production duties on her upcoming fifth album, Little Broken Hearts, due for release as early as this spring.
Jones first teamed up with Mouse (aka Brian Burton), who is one of our favorite producers around, for his side-project, "Rome" – a unique collaboration with Italian composer Daniele Luppi, which was inspired by old spaghetti western soundtracks and boasted Jones and renaissance man Jack White as the voices behind the project.
It’s also worth mentioning that Burton can arguably be credited with the meteoric rise of The Black Keys since he’s produced two of their last three efforts (Attack & Release and El Camino).
Apparently the release isn’t too far off either – Jones and Burton have already written all of the material for the album quietly at the producer’s studio in Los Angeles and even handled instrumentation all on their own. While the effort is more of a “partnership” with its producer than past Jones efforts, it will still be considered a solo release for her. Read More...
LA Reid hit Twitter to pump up the spring slate from his Epic Records and in the process revealed that Fiona Apple's long-finished follow-up to 2005's Extraordinary Machine will finally he hitting stores – perhaps very soon!
"Lots of good music coming from @Epic_Records in the next few weeks," Reid tweeted. "Stay tuned music fans. Welcome back Fiona! #BeEpic."
When asked by one of his followers, Reid went on to clarify that, yes, he was indeed referring to Apple. Billboard reports that her album was originally due out in the spring of last year but has been held up for unknown reasons. During a November concert in Los Angeles, the always-frank singer-songwriter told the crowd that she wasn't able to remember how to play any of the songs on the new album because "they've been done for a f**king year."
We're pretty excited for new music from Fiona! Are you? Let us know in the comments below!
As far as I’m concerned it’s still 1999. That’s the year the greatest song in pop music made its debut. In April of that year, my boos, the Backstreet Boys, dropped their first single off their Y2k-themed Millennium. The track, “I Want It That Way,” changed the scope of pop music at the time, which had favored cheese over substance. It was deeper, more meaningful and definitely impactful.
The chart-topping, Grammy-nominated tune landed at #10 on the MTV/Rolling Stone magazine-curated list of "100 Greatest Pop Songs Of All Time.” Written and produced by pop demi-god Max Martin (along with fellow Swede Andreas Carlsson and Kristian Lundin), the song quickly became a “TRL” and Top 40 radio staple.
The video itself was a more mature look at the five guys in the band. The Wayne Isham-directed clip was actually pretty simple, given the complex heartache of the track. The sun-drenched video just followed the guys through an airport. As the song crescendos, the guys are met by screaming excited fans holding up handmade signs, a scene they regularly encountered in 1999. (I know, I was there.) That year, the video was up for 4 VMAs and eventually took home the Moonman for Viewer’s Choice. (It probably should have won all of them in retrospect.)
In fact, it was so great and so popular that it was later parodied by the very funny guys of Blink-182 for their “All The Small Things” clip, released later that same year.
So hit “play” and party like it’s 1999 all over again.
Last fall, John Mayer had to delay the release of his new album, Born And Raised, after he was diagnosed with vocal problems, much to his many fans’ dismay. Now, months later, the singer/songwriter has reemerged and is opening up a bit about the album, noting that while he is feeling better, he is not yet 100 percent.
Rollingstone.com reports that at the National Association of Music Merchants Conference in Anaheim, Calif., where he was promoting a limited-edition guitar (a custom 00-45SC John Mayer Edition Martin, for those wondering) he said that the album will have "organic cowboy guitar sounds,” adding that he had this very romantic thought when it came to the album’s vibe: “What would it sound like if I wrote an album of cowboy songs on this guitar under the stars?"
Mayer has certainly tackled various topics on his songs over his career ranging from heartbreak and love to loneliness and even politics (both actual politics and those of the heart) and he says that this next release will see him launching a new phase in his musical evolution. "Every new record I start, a new aesthetic comes in. I can't help it,” he said. “I think it's gonna be more organic, more natural lyrics and chords and artful simplicity.” Read More...
Last year, the New Kids on the Block and Backstreet Boys combined their boy-band superpowers for the incomparable spectacle that was the NKOTBSB Tour, which saw the guys tearing up stadiums and arenas across the U.S. with tracks like "I Want It That Way," "Step by Step" and the groups' joint track, "Don't Turn Out the Lights."
The nine guys will once again hit the road this spring, taking their act to Europe and elsewhere for the next leg of the tour. When MTV News caught up with BSB's Howie D while he was promoting
his solo album, Back to Me, he said he hoped the show would stay the same — mostly because he didn't have much time to start from scratch.
"For the NKOTBSB show, it will be the same show as of right now," he said. "We haven't really gotten into re-rehearsals until probably March, so as far as I know, we're not changing anything. I hope not, because that means I have to learn new choreography, and I don't have much time to learn new stuff."
There is some time, however, for other stuff. With tourmate Jordan Knight hitting the road on his own later this month, Howie said he'd "love" to go on a headlining Back to Me trek too.
The NKOTBSB Tour kicks off April 20 in Belfast, Ireland, before wrapping up June 1 in Jakarta, Indonesia. We Americans are hoping that the guys have enough energy to add some American dates to that. Hear us, NKOTBSB?
Did you check out the NKOTBSB Tour before it headed overseas? Share your reviews in the comments!
Whether it's your fourth grade talent show or your network TV debut, everyone has one of those not-so-fresh moments where things just don't go off the way you expected in front of a huge audience.
Buzzed-about singer Lana Del Rey had one of those on Saturday night. Two of them, in fact. Hyped as the first artist to play "Saturday Night Live" before the release of a debut album, Del Rey took some serious fire after she stumbled through shaky, deer-in-the-headlights performances of "Video Games" and "Blue Jeans."
In a moment that made Ashlee Simpson's infamous lip-synching scandal seem like child's play by comparison, Del Rey even took fire from respected NBC news anchor Brian Williams, whose email meant for Gawker Media founder Nick Denton was accidentally made public after he told Denton that the performance was "one of the worst outings in 'SNL' history."
Del Rey is used to answering her critics by now about everything from her looks to the full-court major-label push behind her upcoming debut, Born to Die.
But she is, of course, not the first star (or future star) to do a face plant in their big debut.Read More...
Now this is a bit of unexpected news that warmed our hearts a bit.
It seems the fantastic Elizabeth McGovern , Cora, Countess of Grantham on our favorite show in the entire world ever, "Downton Abbey," has a bit of a side career as a singer-songwriter with the band Sadie and the Hotheads, and her "Downton" co-star Michelle Dockery (Lady Mary) likes to join her and her bandmates down at the pub to perform some jazz.
(That we would love to join them both at the pub is another story entirely.)
But now comes word that McGovern, who you might also remember from her turns in 80s hits "She's Having a Baby" and "Once Upon A Time In America," and Dockery are checking their corsets at the door to hit the studio … TOGETHER! The pair are recording an album!
"It’s going to come out later in the year,” McGovern told the UK Telegraph at a private screening of "My Week With Marilyn." Dockery added, “It’s been so much fun. Elizabeth is a great songwriter."
So when Williams hit the red carpet for this weekend's BET Honors, reporters were curious if she'd met little Blue Ivy Carter. Well, she has and had nothing but glowing things to say. "She is absolutely gorgeous. We were all in love," Williams told USA Today on the red carpet. "They [Beyonce and Jay-Z] have already settled into their role of being parents, and it's just awesome to see. They might have inspired me a little bit, but this ring finger got to get a little more heavy first!"
Williams' happy words come on the heels of a Twitter tongue-lashing after she was criticized for not offering well-wishes on the social network following Blue Ivy's birth. "Let's get ONE thing straight....I do NOT have to say congrats to someone when they're NOT on twitter...ESPECIALLY when I talk or email them all the time....or when I'll be physically present as well," she wrote. "This is a beautiful, precious, private time between two people and excitement is to be expected but NOT disrespect! #churchdismissed"
Also on hand at the BET Honors was Kelly Rowland, who was a little more coy about B.I.C. Read More...
