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Gorillaz Bring Plastic Beach To Life In London

Admin — Mon, 03 May 2010 02:57:46 +0000

Damon Albarn and crew bring their live show to his hometown.
By James Montgomery

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Gorillaz’s Damon Albarn performs at London’s Roundhouse on Thursday

Photo: MTV

There was a British orchestra dressed up as Russian sailors. A New York City rapper made up to look like Abraham Lincoln. Members of the Clash wearing captain’s hats. Swedish and Japanese singers performing barefoot. A high-stepping brass ensemble from Chicago. What can we say? When
Gorillaz put on a show, they really put on a show.

On Friday (April 30), Damon Albarn unleashed his animated all-stars on a sold-out crowd at London’s Roundhouse theater (a performance streamed live on MTV.com) and he spared no expense, filling the stage with a seven-piece string section (the Sinfonia ViVA), a blaring army of horns (Chicago’s Hypnotic Brass Ensemble), a massive backing band (that included former Clash-men Mick Jones and Paul Simonon) and more than a few special guests — all gathered together to perform tracks off the Gorillaz’ new Plastic Beach album.

It was a show that was equal parts fierce and fragile, nasty and pretty, boomingly loud one minute, achingly quiet the next — sort of like the album itself. Things kicked off with the hushed strings of the Sinfonia and a beamed-in appearance from Snoop Dogg, who appeared on a video screen dressed as a sea captain and strutted his way through the Beach intro “Welcome to the World of the Plastic Beach.”

Then the full Gorillaz ensemble launched headlong into the throbbing “Stylo,” featuring vocals from Bobby Womack and the mighty Mos Def (who rapped through what appeared to be a C.B. microphone). That was followed by the dreamy “Rhinestone Eyes,” which saw Albarn finally step to the front of the stage — he had spent the first portion of the show tinkering with a piano in the background — while electronics chimed and wooshed around him.

The show then segued into quieter fare — “Broken,” which got a soulful boost from the Hypnotic Brass and the Sinfonia, and “Empire Ants,” featuring Little Dragon frontwoman Yukimi Nagano on vocals. The Lebanese National Orchestra for Oriental Arabic Music was trotted out for an extended, intricate jam, a transcendental few minutes that crashed right into “White Flag,” featuring hyped-up cameos from Brit rappers Bashy and Kano (and Albarn waving an actual white flag).

A thumping, super-electro take on “Superfast Jellyfish” was up next, with frequent Gorillaz collaborators De La Soul serving as frontmen (and Super Furry Animals’ Gruff Rhys singing the hook). Then Mos Def appeared once again — decked out in a stovepipe hat that, when coupled with his chin beard, made him look a whole lot like Abraham Lincoln, even if that wasn’t the intended effect — to serve as a sort of carnival barker on “Sweepstakes,” backed by the powerful Hypnotic Brass.

As the crowd cheered wildly, Albarn again stepped to the front of the stage to duet with Nagano on a bittersweet “To Binge” and, after a few tender moments, Womack emerged again to perform a moody “Cloud of Unknowing,” the penultimate track on Beach.

And then, it was over — a breakneck hour filled with highlights, all directed by Albarn. As the band exited the stage, he looked happy, but exhausted. And who can blame him? This, after all, was a show.

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Will New Def Jam Exec Sha Money XL Bring The G-Unit To The Label?

Admin — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 12:59:49 +0000

‘I would like to provide an opportunity for them to continue to grow,’ he tells Mixtape Daily.
By Shaheem Reid, with reporting by Sway Calloway

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Sha Money XL

Photo: MTV News

Executive Decisions: Sha Money XL

Queens is in the building — again. Sha Money XL has signed on to become the senior VP of A&R at Def Jam Records. The label has had such a rich history of Queens-bred fellas in the boardroom, from its founder Russell Simmons to Irv Gotti to one of Sha’s mentors, the late Jam Master Jay. XL is excited to plant his flag in the cherished hip-hop recording house.

“I’ve been floating around this industry since I’ve just been executive-producing 50 [Cent]‘s albums,” XL explained Thursday at the MTV offices. “Freelancing, doing my own thing. I’ve been able to meet with L.A. Reid. We’ve been having some great conversations. Finally, the call came. It felt so good. Def Jam is such a strong company and strong roster. The staff is amazing. I felt it instantly. I knew that this is something I can do with my New York vision and New York swag and bring that for all the guys that’s based out here. And the things that was needed to excite the industry as well, internally and externally. I connect with everybody by all levels.”

Sha said that after being with the G-Unit for so many years, there is no such thing as pressure to him anymore.

“I work good under pressure,” he said. “Working with 50, I know what needs to get done. I don’t feel pressure. I do the things that need to be done. As long as artists listen and we really become businessmen in this business, as we say we are, I think we should all prosper. I’m looking to make the company more money and take it to the top, the highest level.”

So with 50 Cent a free agent, free to bring himself and his label — which includes Lloyd Banks and Tony Yayo — anywhere he pleases, will Sha try to secure a spot for his longtime friends at Def Jam?

“I spoke to Fif, to [his manager Chris] Lighty. I would love to see that there,” Sha admitted. “Banks has an amazing record right now, independently. If things work out, then yeah, I would love to see that happen.”

If the Unit came to Def Jam, things would get interesting, to say the least. Shyne, Rick Ross, Nas and DJ Khaled, people who Fif and the Unit have had problems with through the years, are all on the roster.

“I’m a businessman,” Sha Money said when asked how he would feel having the Unit in the same building with some of their adversaries. “The beef stuff, I’m over. We at a certain point in life where we don’t even need that. We eat that. So I will let them speak for their own, but honestly, I would like to see a company continue to grow. And I think G-Unit is in a position — coming from an independent space — that can continue to do their thing. I would like to provide an opportunity for them to continue to grow.”

While the Unit deal is just in the talking stages now, Sha says his top priority is making sure Juelz Santana gets his LP out. XL already has his sights set on DJ Toomp to get in the lab with Juelz.

This will not be the last time you hear from Mixtape Daily on Friday (April 30), we promise. On Friday evening, we will have a preview of the mixtape you are all anticipating, Jadakiss’ Gangsta Grillz Invasion: The Champ Is Here Part 3. There’s no way we could get through this week without delivering a Main Pick.

For other artists featured in Mixtape Daily, check out Mixtape Daily Headlines or follow the Mixtape Daily team on Twitter: @shaheemreid and @mongosladenyc.

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Good Luck Charlie’s Jason Dolley: It’s Time to Bring Back the Family Sitcom

Admin — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 13:46:03 +0000

Remember the TGIF sitcoms of yesteryear? Jason Dolley does, and he’s not quite sure what happened to them.

“They were so huge, especially when my parents were growing up — everyone watched TV together,” he tells TVGuide.com of such classic Friday-night family comedies as The Brady Bunch and The Partridge Family. “That whole TGIF concept, for whatever reason, is gone now. But I think we will sort of fill that void.”

Dolley stars in the new Disney comedy Good Luck Charlie (premieres Sunday at 8:30/7:30c), a throwback to those old-school family sitcoms that appealed to multiple generations (think Step by Step and Family Matters). The series focuses on the Duncan siblings, P.J. (Dolley), Teddy (Bridgit Mendler) and Gabe (Bradley Steven Perry), who must care for their baby sister Charlotte (“Charlie”) when their …

Broken Social Scene, Band of Horses, Drive-By Truckers Bring Big Guitar Rock to SXSW

Admin — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 03:48:01 +0000

Photograph by Tony Landa
Night two of the SXSW Music Festival featured a trio of big guitar bands with new lineups, playing new — in some cases not even completed — albums. The pressure was on to strike a balance between satiating fans with classics and testing new material without trying their patience.

More SXSW day two guitar rock: full report on Stone Temple Pilots’ set.

The Southern rock band Drive-By Truckers — now without its third singer-songwriter, Jason Isbell — proved the worth of their new album, The Big To-Do, right from the get-go at Stubb’s. Remaining singer-songwriters Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley went back and forth with hardened new songs about old themes, principally boozing (”The Fourth Night of My Drinking”), whoring (”Birthday Boy”), and employment with “fast food wages” (”This Fucking Job”).

Muscle Shoals legend Spooner Oldham joined the band on keyboard for their final song, “Let There Be Rock.” Hood said it was in homage to record stores, where boys and girls learn about music new and old, and about Big Star’s Alex Chilton, who died of an apparent heart attack Wednesday.

Band of Horses followed with their bar-raising stadium rock. Under a crescent moon emblazoned on a blue backdrop projected onto the underside of the stage’s half-shell, frontman Ben Bridwell led his revamped lineup through a stout set including “The Funeral,” one of the great singles of the passing decade. The middle of the set featured two songs — “Factory” and “Compliments” — from the new album Infinite Arms, out May 18th. They may have been working titles but the mechanics therein were anything but in flux. “Factory” was a casual rocker with a punchy refrain and an undercurrent of keys, over which Bridwell sang something to the effect of, “I got to get my shit together and try to find something to sing.”

Headliner Broken Social Scene arrived with as much manpower as the two prior bands combined. Twelve microphones awaited the ever-fluctuating Canadian collective well past midnight. Jason Collett, a former core member participating in SXSW as his own concern, joined the band’s brain trust — Kevin Drew, Andrew Whiteman, and a freshly shaven Brendan Canning — for the intro track, a new one called “World Sick” (hear it here). The song took advantage of the band’s five-guitar assault, its ascending and descending melodies hopscotching gracefully along Drew’s lyrics about the homesickness inherent to incessant touring.

The band played a handful of old songs, among them a “7/4 (Shoreline)” embellished with a seven-person horn section, but mostly they rocked out new songs from the forthcoming Forgiveness Rock Record, out May 4th. “We’re gonna play our guts out,” Drew said, referring to dance- and keyboard-inflected songs like “Forced to Love,” “Texico Bitches,” and “All to All.” “But we’re human beings,” Drew continued, “still trying to figure things out.”

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To Quad or Not to Quad? Evan Lysacek Aims to Bring Olympic Figure Skating Gold Back to U.S.

Admin — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 09:20:13 +0000

The last time an American man won Olympic figure skating gold, Evan Lysacek was a toddler. That was in 1988 when Brian Boitano edged Canadian Brian Orser in the Battle of the Brians on Orser’s home turf in Calgary. Twenty-two years later, the Winter Olympics are back in Canada, and Lysacek, the defending world champion, is seen as the one who can end the U.S. drought. “Scott Hamilton is a good friend of mine, and he keeps telling me that most U.S. world champions have won the Olympics,” Lysacek, 24, tells TVGuide.com. “But I’m just going to do my best. I’m the type of competitor that just goes about my business and handles things when I get there.” Lysacek, who finished second at nationals behind Jeremy Abbott and ahead of Johnny Weir, has his work cut out for him with a loaded international field that includes defending champion Evgeni Plushenko. See what he has to say about his competition, whether he will throw a high-scoring quadruple jump and why the men’s team is “going to take on the world.”

Catch the men’s short program Tuesday at 8/7c and the long program Thursday at 8/7c on NBC.

T-Pain, Lil Wayne Bring Back Freaknik With Adult Swim Special

Admin — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 03:48:19 +0000

T-Pain, Lil Wayne, Big Boi, Snoop Dogg, SNL’s Andy Samberg and Bill Hader will all provide voices for Adult Swim’s upcoming one-hour animated special Freaknik: The Musical, premiering on Cartoon Network on March 7th. T-Pain headlines the all-star cast of voices, which also includes Lil Jon, Cee-Lo, Bootsy Collins, Kid of Kid & Play, Rick Ross, DJ Drama and more. The special revolves around a bunch of teens attempting to resurrect Atlanta’s spring break party Freaknik a decade after it was shut down in the Dirty, ultimately competing in the Freaknik: Battle of the Trillest contest.

“Back in the ’90s, Freaknik was Atlanta’s version of the ultimate block party,” T-Pain said in a statement. “It was Mardi Gras meets spring break at your crazy cousin’s bachelor party and anything could happen. A decade later, I’m bringing it back for people like me, who didn’t get to experience it the first time around. We’ve recreated Freaknik’s vibe and energy with amazing animation, new music and an all-star cast of characters.”

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