Despite the rather tepid reception global audiences gave to her latest English album ‘She Wolf’, Shakira has remained unstoppable and is now ready to go back to her roots in her new Spanish language album ‘Sale El Sol’ (The Sun Comes Out). The Colombian superstar who stormed the global charts last July with the World Cup anthem ‘Waka Waka’ is ready to once more steal this summer’s spotlight right before it ends with her new tropical-flavoured track ‘Loca’.
Originally a meringue hit by Dominican artist El Cata, who also features in Shakira’s cover. The biggest surprise of ‘Loca’, though, appears in its English version, where an unexpected collaboration with original British grime rapper Dizzee Rascal is already generating headlines all across the music press. Shakira is no stranger to having hip-hop guests in her records; Will.I.Am; Lil Wayne or Wycleff Jean count among them, but it’s the first time she teams up with someone as leftfield as Rascal.
‘Sale El Sol’ will be released on October 10th featuring both singles in their English and Spanish versions.
Seattle grunge instigators Mudhoney are the Sub-Pop record label success story, inspiring a whole generation of musicians to go forth and be Superfuzzed. In October the band will embark on their biggest run of dates for years playing Scotland, Ireland and England. Shazam got the opportunity to chat to the incredibly smart and witty lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Mark Arm who, in between fits of laughter at the strange world of being in a successful band, managed to tell us about the upcoming tour and the potential of a new record.
You are doing a tour in October in the UK, are you looking forward to that?
Yeah you know we haven’t done a proper UK tour since probably the early ‘90’s like ‘95 or ‘98.
Do you still enjoy playing live?
It’s important to me – I think it’s my biggest strength. Unfortunately I don’t think we get to do it as much as I would like, but I would rather work with these guys in the band than ones that don’t work as well together, you know what I mean.
It appears that even the normally debilitating process of incarceration can’t stop the productivity of Lil’ Wayne. Despite having to serve time until November 5th, Lil’ Wayne has readied his latest album ‘Tha Carter IV’ for release on – you guessed it – November 5th. The one obvious question is; how did the rapper manage to record in jail? According to sources, Wayne was heavily involved in the track selection process, which dipped into his bountiful stock of recorded output.
‘Right Above It’ features another of hip-hops recent success stories Drake, it sees Lil’ Wayne in a reflective mood. Commenting that “you know you’re at the top when only heaven’s right above it”, we can only wait to see if time inside has quenched the stars ego. However with his next album sure to rocket to the top of the charts, I wouldn’t bet on it.
If anyone caught Booka Shade‘s set at Lovebox festival, you may have been slightly perturbed at the fact that their set got cut short. Due to the sheer weight of people who’d forced into the tent to try and watch them, organisers were forced to stop the duo’s set. The team behind Lovebox commented:
“The decision of the safety authorities to shut down the tent was made for cautionary reasons and we share everyone’s frustration and disappointment at being denied the chance to enjoy Booka Shade experience in full. With this in mind we are able to announce that Booka Shade will be playing a special one off late license 2am affair at the HMV Forum in Kentish Town on Friday 10th September.”
Tickets for the event are already on sale from the venues website; however we’re giving one lucky winner the chance to win a pair of tickets. To win simply email your answer to the following question to competition@shazamteam.com
It looks like Tinie Tempah has another big hit on his hands as ‘Written In The Stars’ makes it a second week at number one in the UK pre-release tag chart.
On the week that saw the release of their much delayed second album, the inventers of the swiftly forgotten ‘new rave’ genre, Klaxons returned to London for a show that undoubtedly gave them a confidence boost before headlining the Radio One/NME Stage at Reading & Leeds festival. If the band had any pre gig nerves, these were quickly banished when the demented guitars of ‘Flashover’ begun. The packed crowd quickly warmed up and reacted as well as the band could’ve hoped. Despite the freshness of the new tracks, they still resonated well with the sold out audience.
Predictably the biggest cheers were reserved for tracks from their Mercury Prize winning debut ‘Myths Of The Near Future’, with ‘Golden Skans’, ‘Magick’ and ‘Atlantis To Interzone’ all receiving an ecstatic response from the crowd. While it’s been heavily noted about the gaps between their first and second album, it’s also important to note that fans simply haven’t had the chance to hear the songs for a while. Therefore it may be slightly unfair to compare both sets of songs just yet. Latest single ‘Echoes’ also stood out as a fan favourite, it’s brain invading chorus was sung back at the band from across the room.
Importantly it looks like the band have put their maligned recording experience behind them, with all members looking chuffed at the audience between songs. Looking relaxed and in a jubilant mood – at one point bassist Jamie Reynolds stops proceedings to wish keyboard player James Righton happy birthday – Klaxons may have just got through their heavy case of second album syndrome unscathed.
Klaxons are on tour throughout the year, for more details check their MySpace.
When MGMT released their second album ‘Congratulations’ this year, many were quick to point out that it didn’t boast a stand out pop track to the standard of ‘Kids’ or ‘Time To Pretend’. However, the slow burning album has done nothing to dent the bands popularity - with the band only being kept off the top of the Billboard charts by the puzzling phenomena that is Justin Bieber.
Their latest single is the title track from the album, a mellow acoustic number that recalls ‘Weekend Wars’ from ‘Oracular Spectacular’. In the head puzzling video, the duo follow a slowly disappearing, unrecognisable creature throughout the desert. The bizarre animal - which resembles an outcast from Jim Henson’s workshop - provides another head scratching twist in their career. One thing’s for certain, they clearly refuse to let the pressure of being on a major label compromise their artistic control.
The band embark on a huge tour in September across the UK, Europe and USA. For more info, head to their MySpace.
Two years since his debut ‘Alegranza’ earned rave reviews from even the most highbrowed critics of the blogosphere, and just a few weeks after her EP ‘Piratas De Sudamerica’ – comprised of four cover versions of some of his favourite Latin artists- saw the light of day; the Canary Islands born, Barcelona based DJ and cultural agitator Pablo Diaz-Reixa is back again under his El Guincho moniker. This time with his second full length, ‘Pop Negro’.
Keeping the same winning formula alive, influenced as much by the trendy psychedelic loops of Panda Bear as it is by the most forward looking world music acts around the globe, we had already heard the summery, marimba-flavoured ‘Bombay’ and now another brand new single has leaked online. ‘FM Tan Sexy’, according to Reixa is the result of his research on hit singles from the late 70’s; 80’s and early 90’s and the common elements they share. And if we have to judge by how catchy this new track is, he may have found the secret behind bonafide hit making.
‘Pop Negro’ is released in the UK via Young Turks on September 13th. The singles ‘FM Tan Sexy’ and ‘Bombay’ are currently available as free downloads from El Guincho’s own website.
The televisual juggernaut that is Simon Cowell’s X Factor is a phenomenon that always manages to divide opinion. Love it or loathe it, the show dominates the popular consciousness and is almost inescapable to anyone who reads a paper or turns on a TV screen during the shows run. However, the latest controversy may be the show’s biggest yet.
The early stages of the competition are often the most entertaining due to the stark contrast between the more talented performers and the tone deaf wannabes that slip through to the televised rounds. In spite of this the X Factor post production team has decided to add a hefty dose of auto tune – software that masks vocal mistakes – to proceedings; thus giving performances a homogenous robotic twang.
It’s a move that’s seen both fans and critics of the show up in arms. However, adding a manipulated voice to a track is not always a bad move… In honour of the latest X Factor hoo-hah we’re compiling some of the best moments in vocoder history.
