The A.V. Club - Music

Music: Newswire: The Grammys draw largest television audience since 1984

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 11:17:00 -0600

Whether it was due to curiosity seekers drawn in by Whitney Houston's death the night before, or the fact that Adele's 21 is the first genuine music-industry blockbuster in years, Sunday's Grammy telecast drew huge ratings, attracting the show's largest audience since 1984 and its second biggest overall. In all, 39 million people tuned in, which is actually more people than watched the Oscars last year. Score one for Team Music. [via The Hollywood Reporter]

Music: Newswire: No official cause of death after Whitney Houston's autopsy

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 08:50:00 -0600

Officials conducted an autopsy on Whitney Houston's remains Sunday, but the cause of death officially remains unknown, and won't be determined until toxicology results come back in several weeks. Houston's body was discovered in the bathtub of her Beverly Hills hotel room, and the singer had water in her lungs when she died, prompting initial reports that she drowned after taking Xanax and drinking alcohol to calm her nerves before a performance Saturday night at an event honoring record executive Clive Davis. TMZ is reporting that the L.A. coroner's office has already told Houston's ...

Music: Stream: Damien Jurado, Maraqopa

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0600

Damien Jurado has been a respected member of the indie-folk circuit for years, but the upcoming Maraqopa suggests that he's about to take a big step forward into a larger musical world. Working with producer Richard Swift, who aided Jurado on 2010's fine St. Bartlett, he has created a swirling, sinister, psych-tinged tapestry of guitar solos and ghostly backing vocals for this typically strong set of songs. We'll run a review of Maraqopa when it comes out next week, but for now you can check out the album via this exclusive stream below.

Music: Playlisted: A Place To Bury Strangers

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 23:59:00 -0600

We get a lot of records sent to us here at The A.V. Club. Fortunately, we end up liking some of them. In Playlisted, we share our latest recommendations. Album: Onwards To The Wall by A Place To Bury Strangers (out now on Dead Oceans) Press play if you like: An icestorm of black static and splintered echoes ripping savagely into a flock of dreamy, melodic, dead-eyed drones. Also: moaning. Lots of moaning. Some background: With The Jesus And Mary Chain about to undergo its latest resurrection, A Place To Bury Strangers is either more or less relevant than ...

Music: Newswire: R.I.P. Whitney Houston

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 22:37:00 -0600

A pop music superstar whose fame was once nearly as big as her once-in-a-generation voice, Whitney Houston died today at the age of 48. Police are investigating the cause of death, though there are no obvious signs of criminal intent. Houston died in a Beverly Hills hotel room, where she was staying while in town to perform at a musical tribute for her mentor, music executive Clive Davis, which still went on as scheduled this evening. Also moving forward is tomorrow’s Grammy telecast, a show Houston once owned and once again will overshadow, only this time for horribly shocking ...

Music: Newswire: Madonna's stalker on the loose after escaping mental health facility

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 09:37:00 -0600

In 1996, a man named Robert Dewey Hoskins hopped a security wall guarding Madonna's Hollywood home and threatened to cut the singer's throat if she refused to marry him. Hoskins was later arrested and sent to prison for 10 years. Last July, Hoskins was arrested again, and shipped off to a mental health facility in Norwalk, Calif., where he remained until recently. As of today, nobody knows where he is; according to L.A. police, Hoskins has escaped the mental hospital, and remains at large. It appears his breakaway was pretty nonchalant: In a spare moment when no ...

Music: Podmass: Week of Feb. 2-8

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0600

Like podcasts? Check out the A.V. Club podcast Reasonable Discussions, which posts at avclub.com every other Wednesday. Contact Podmass at podmass@avclub.com.‬ QUOTES OF THE WEEK “They say, ‘Oh, you never met a dearer man.’ I always say, ‘What choice do they have?’ Who is going to put up with a surly, sardonic cable guy? They’ve got to be nice—everybody’s looking for a reason to knock them the fuck out.” —Gary Gulman, Never Not Funny “Paul, your wife has said that the complementary dog to your manhood is a skinny, sedate, easily pushed-over, constantly ...

Music: For Our Consideration: The Grammys are worth watching (seriously)

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0600

On Sunday night I will be seated with a laptop in front of my television and tuned into the 54th annual Grammy Awards. My job requires that I do this, plumbing my brain for supposedly smart and insightful observations about whether Adele’s probable domination of the night’s proceedings means more or less than her gaudy sales numbers from 2011. (My speculative verdict on this speculative scenario: Not really.) But even if I weren’t being paid, I would watch. If you haven’t seen the Grammys recently (or at all), I’m only slightly less surprised to hear ...

Music: Playlisted: Jade Alston

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 23:59:00 -0600

We get a lot of records sent to us here at The A.V. Club. Fortunately, we end up liking some of them. In Playlisted, we share our latest recommendations. Album: Single On A Saturday Night by Jade Alston (available for free download at jadealston.com) Press play if you like: Beguiling, smoky-voiced R&B singers in the mold of Toni Braxton (but with none of the adult-contemporary stuffiness); forlorn, day-dreaming soul music; prolonged sighs. Some background: A one-time VJ for a Philadelphia music-video show, 24-year-old singer Jade Alston quietly self-released her debut mixtape in the very last days of ...

Music: Newswire: Barack Obama is on Spotify now

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 15:15:00 -0600

Instantly rendering Mitt Romney’s weekly “Ray Conniff Record Party” residency sort of old-fashioned, Barack Obama has become the President of Spotify, expanding his already-considerable online presence to an account with the popular music streaming service. The announcement was made via Obama’s Tumblr—which, like his Instagram, is not a joke—and came complete with the President’s first-ever official playlist, featuring selections from his 2012 campaign staff as well as “a few of Obama’s favorites.” Of course, the playlist doesn’t say which among the following songs are actually Obama’s jams (except for “Let’s Stay ...

Music: Newswire: Today in music videos: Jay-Z and Kanye West's "Niggas in Paris" finally gets an appropriately crazy video

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 11:57:00 -0600

Jay-Z and Kanye West's video for the 2011 stomper "Niggas In Paris" might leave you black and blue and dizzy all over—the dark-hued, kaleidoscope-trippy concert montage comes with a disclaimer that "This video has been identified by Epilepsy Action to potentially trigger seizures for people with photosensitive epilepsy." Meanwhile, six vaguely conjoined Kanyes bawl, "Can we get married at the maaaawwwll?!" and a grainy Blades Of Glory-era Will Ferrell clip makes for an eerie interlude. This shit really is crazy. [via Pitchfork]

Music: Newswire: Gorillaz collaborate with James Murphy and Andre 3000 because they really like Converse

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 11:02:00 -0600

World’s arguably best nonhuman band Gorillaz announced today the fruits of their previously announced partnership with Converse: Their contribution to the shoe brand’s “Three Artists, One Song” project is called “DoYaThing” and features James Murphy and Andre 3000. The song will be available to download from the Converse website on February 23, and we're guessing it will at least be pretty good. Four of Damon Albarn and Gorillaz co-creator Jamie Hewlett’s designs will be featured on Converse Chuck Taylor All Stars, so there's that, too.

Music: Newswire: Opening Track: Daniel Rossen, Silent Hour/Golden Mile

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 08:39:00 -0600

In Opening Track, we take an early look at a forthcoming record that we’re excited about. Today, we check in with Daniel Rossen, who will release a solo EP, Silent Hour/Golden Mile, on March 20. Why we're excited: Rossen is a primary songwriter behind two top-flight indie-rock groups, Grizzly Bear and Department Of Eagles, neither of which have put out new albums in several years. Grizzly Bear currently is at work on the much-anticipated followup to 2009's Veckatimest, which should be out later this year. But it's always nice to have a little snack to ...

Video: Odds And Sods: World premiere: a new Crooked Fingers video

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 17:00:00 -0600

Our friend and yours, Eric Bachmann, released his latest Crooked Fingers album last year--it's called Breaks In The Armor, and it's worth a listen. You may have seen a couple of the live-on-the-rooftop videos we shot last summer as Undercover bonus tracks (if not, they're here and here), and now we've got the world premiere of the music video for "Our New Favorite." In a beautiful convergence of serendipitous kismet, Picture Show Films--the same team that shoots our Undercover (and Pop Pilgrims, and One Track Mind)--ended up making this video for Crooked Fingers. Enjoy!

Music: Newswire: The Beach Boys will be joined by Foster The People and Maroon 5 at the Grammys for some reason

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:58:00 -0600

When the Beach Boys announced in December that the remaining members would appear at the Grammys, there were still many questions hovering around the project. What will they sound like? How did Mike Love bribe Brian Wilson into it? And what is the “surprise” that the reunion announcement promised? Today, the Grammys helpfully answered the last part, and though it’s not zombie versions of previous Beach Boys members, it’s almost as weird: Maroon 5 and Foster The People are set to join the group on stage for their Grammy performance. What on earth that’s supposed to sound ...

Music: Newswire: See the magnificent television acting debut of Dawes on last night's Parenthood

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 13:30:00 -0600

Here at The A.V. Club, we like the band Dawes' acting debut on the television series Parenthood, and you should too. To convince you of the band's amazing acting abilities and perhaps give you a little space to discuss how their talents extend even into the sphere of the theater, we have snipped out the scene featuring the band. Background: Peter Krause's character, Adam, is obsessed with both Dawes and getting the band to record at the studio he owns with brother Crosby (Dax Shepherd). Crosby knows the band somewhat, so Adam asks him to lean on ...

Music: Set List: Richard Thompson

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 12:01:00 -0600

In Set List, we talk to veteran musicians about some of their most famous songs, learning about their lives and careers (and maybe hearing a good backstage anecdote or two) in the process. The artist: Richard Thompson initially came to musical prominence while still in his teens, playing with the seminal British folk band Fairport Convention. In early 1971, Thompson decided to give it a go on his own, but after releasing his 1972 solo debut, Henry The Human Fly, he decided on a new musical collaborator: his new wife, Linda. The duo recorded several albums together during their marriage ...

Music: Newswire: Timbaland and Missy Elliott will both release albums in June

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 11:30:00 -0600

Timbaland and longtime collaborator Missy Elliott will both release new albums come June, Timbaland tells MTV. The new collections mark a long-awaited return for both artists—it's been seven years since Elliott's The Cookbook and three since Timbaland's Shock Value II. In classic Timbo-Misdemeanor style, they’re purposefully keeping the releases in sync: “I just don’t want to move too ahead of her, and she [doesn’t] want to move too ahead of me,” Timbaland says. “So we’re both doing it at the same time.” [via Pitchfork]

Music: Newswire: People Still Buy Music: Lana Del Rey lands right behind Adele at the top of the chart

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 10:22:00 -0600

Lana Del Rey has taken her lumps in the press recently, but the singer-songwriter really does have fans: Her new album, Born To Die, debuts this week at No. 2 on the Billboard albums chart, with 77,000 copies sold. Will Die have legs, or will it quickly fade as the media coverage falls back in the upcoming weeks? While Del Rey won't be touring in support of the record for another several months, she's likely going to be appearing on television and (we'd bet) in other people's songs, which could help the album. At any ...

Music: For Our Consideration: Chimes Of Freedom: The dos and don’ts of covering Bob Dylan

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0600

Bob Dylan is a thief. This is not an indictment. Read even a little about Dylan’s early years in the New York folk scene—or watch Martin Scorsese’s documentary No Direction Home—and you’ll find a good number of grumbling contemporaries with stories to tell about how the man formerly known as Robert Zimmerman stole from them. He swiped vintage record collections, and arrangements of old folk songs (which on the hootenanny circuit was tantamount to taking someone else’s act). Even his stage name was stolen, from Dylan Thomas. But that’s showbiz. Performers build on ...