It’d be no exaggeration to say things are going well for Katy Perry at the moment. Her last single, ‘California Gurls’, enjoyed huge airplay worldwide, hit the top spot of the singles chart in eight countries and topped the Shazam Tag Charts in both the UK and USA. A more impressive feat, however, has probably been the fact that she’s managed to make an honest man of feisty British comedian Russell Brand. Although the English comedian is just beginning to break America with films such as ‘Get Him To The Greek’, he is notorious in his home land for his womanizing, former life as a drug addict and general skill for saying precisely the wrong thing at the absolutely worst time – all character traits that he’s supposedly left behind following his engagement to Ms Perry.
Perry’s latest single follows ‘California Gurls’ lead of summery electro pop. Entitled ‘Teenage Dream’ the official video montage for the song sees Perry going about the place in her underwear and fraternizing with a chiseled, six pack endowed male-model type. Quite what Russell Brand will make of all this is anyone’s guess: all that’s clear is that ‘Teenage Dream’ is likely to be yet another smash hit for the saucy American songstress.
Last weekend we headed down to Shoreditch Park for this year’s 1,2,3,4 Festival. As always the one day event attracted the cream of underground music, assembling a lineup that pulled in the fashion conscious masses of East London. Headlining this year’s event were Canadian hardcore punks F**ked Up who gave the day a suitably riotous finish. Lead singer Pink Eyes tore in to the crowd, delivering songs from within the mosh pit. It’s not everyday you can claim to see a band who are led by a large, semi naked man with blood dripping from his forehead. However it wasn’t only F**ked Up who stole the show, the day was full of standout performances spread across five arenas.
Highlights of ’1,2,3,4′ included a lively show from Sharks, who filled their small tent with many forced to peer in through gaps in the tent. Comanechi gave one of the strongest performances of the day, drawing a huge crowd to the Rough Trade tent. Dum Dum Girls provided the perfect soundtrack to a sun kissed afternoon, after S.C.U.M. showed that they still haven’t quite justified the hype the received earlier in their development.
Wavves held their own on the Main Stage after a car crash performance from Peter Hook who embarrassingly fist pumped his way through Joy Division’s ‘Unknown Pleasures’. After the much documented meltdown at Primavera, many thought Wavves’ Nathan Williams would give a repeat performance today. However, despite issues with the sound levels onstage, the band delivered a solid set of material largely taken from their latest album ‘King Of The Beach’.
The dance tent attracted it’s fair share of attention throughout the day with A1 Bassline, Drop The Lime and Toddla T all playing out to a packed tent. For more pictures of the event, click the link below.
Corey Taylor is the charming and tattooed all American front man of hard rock band Stone Sour. The band have their third studio album ‘Audio Secrecy’ scheduled for release later this year on September the 6th. Shazam caught up with lead singer Corey Taylor at London’s Hard Rock Cafe to chat about the new album, playing live and presenting the Kerrang Awards.
Your new album is called ‘Audio Secrecy’ are you really excited about its upcoming release?
I am really excited, I’m really proud of it so I’m excited for people to hear it. The people I’ve played it to so far have been blown away so I feed off of that – there is a part of you that records for yourself and also there is the entertainer in you that wants people to enjoy what you do.
I always start making records for me and if I’m happy with it then that’s all that matters; but eventually you get to the stage where you are like “does anyone want to be my friend and like my music?”
This is your 3rd studio album. How does this one differ or in what ways is it an extension of your previous work?
Well, I think the really cool thing is it’s a little bit of everything. The first Stone Sour album we made it for us, we didn’t know if anyone would dig it so we just put it out there. We discovered then that we had a really good fan base and so we pushed it further on ‘Come What(ever) May’ and we expanded on the first album – then it kinda blew up and we were like ‘holy s**t!’. So this time round we said screw it, lets just do everything we ever wanted to do; so we put together the best songs we could and really worked on them, hammered them down.
So listening back to the new album I think we have achieved a cohesive and layered sound and yet it has a good live feel to it. The performances are great, the music is great….the singer is s**t but hey, he is good looking so you gonna have to let him off!
Having said that, this feels like our time and it’s really exciting. We have been working a long time on this. Stone Sour is the first real band I was ever in. It was the band I left to join Slipknot and it just made sense to reform when it was time to do something else and we have never been afraid of hard work.
If you like big and ballsy dance music we have just the tonic for you. Retro/Grade – AKA electronic music veterans Serge Santiago and Tom Neville – is a project that takes the best parts of late era European disco and early American electro and staples them to a throbbing house undercurrent. The group gained plenty of attention last year when their track ‘Moda’ became one of the most played tracks of the Ibiza season: gaining serious plaudits from electronic music luminaries such as Pete Tong, Erol Alkan and Ewan Pearson.
After almost six months working diligently in the studio, Retro/Grade are now ready to drop their first long player. Entitled ‘MOTION’, the album will be released on Deconstruction and features a plethora of synth drenched dance-floor rocking cuts.
To celebrate the imminent release of the album we’re giving away free downloads of Retro/Grade’s latest track, ‘Pulsar’. Mixing Herbie Hancock’s eternal party starter ‘Rockit’ with one of their own tracks, ‘Pulsar’ has already been a stand out moment of Retro/Grades impressive live A/V shows.
You can download ‘Pulsar’ by following the Soundcloud link below.
It’s no secret that Michael Jackson was a big influence on the R&B crooner Ne-Yo. His dance moves, vocal delivery and knack of writing huge cross over soul/ R&B tunes all owe a certain debt of gratitude to the King Of Pop. On his latest single, however, Ne-Yo ups the ante and goes full on MJ crazy and the results are truly impressive. The video sees the singer in ‘Smooth Criminal’ mode donning a trilby, suit and trademark black loathers. He even uses Jacko’s signature trademark breathy beatbox style interjections to give the record a spookily familiar feel.
Going against the grain of most urban artists, Ne-Yo also shuns the gangster image of many of his contemporaries by painting himself as an Eliot Ness style crime fighting figure. It’s evidently a move that fails to decrease his flair with the ladies such is the bevy of attractive females throughout the video.
Once again Ne-Yo delivers another fine R&B hit to add to his already impressive list of work. ‘Champagne Life’ may owe more than a little to Jackson’s unique vocal styles, but in many ways it’s exactly the kind of record Jacko’s many fans would have hoped he’d be making if he were still around.
Ne-Yo’s new album ‘Libra Scale’ is due out September.
At the start of each year, inevitably the music world offers up a wave of potential new acts that attract varying amounts of attention. One of the more intriguing of these was Magnetic Man, the dubstep supergroup consisting of Skream, Benga & Artwork. All members in the trio hailing from Croydon, South London, were instrumental in the early days of the genre and were also involved in the Big Apple Records scene where dubstep was conceived. It seems only right that they should be part of what is likely to become the genre’s biggest cross over band. Arguably interest in the group has risen ever since Skream lent his inimitable bass frequencies to La Roux’s ‘In For The Kill’, which combined with the fact that they appeared on the front cover of the NME before releasing any track has made Magnetic Man one of the most hyped bands of the year.
Their debut single ‘I Need Air’ saw the light of day this week. Pushing forward the boundaries of bass driven dance music, the track sees the trio collaborate with Angela Hunte; who originally composed the colossal ‘Empire State Of Mind’. It proves a great taster for the album and shows – if we had any doubt – that Magnetic Man will more than justify the praise they’ve already been given. We caught up with Artwork to chat about living up to the pressure of hype and to discuss how they found time to record an album in between their hectic schedules.
It’s hard to remember a movie soundtrack that’s generated as much heated enthusiasm as ‘Tron Legacy’. The soundtrack has been produced by Daft Punk – the French robot duo that pretty much single handedly catalysed popular music’s current obsession with ‘80’s influenced electro sounds. Already there have been several hoax tracks leaked on the web claiming to be from the film, such is the clamour of excitement surrounding all things Daft Punk. With bloggers furiously speculating on what the tracks may sound like and potential remix packages, the levels of anticipation that the soundtrack for ‘Tron Legacy’ has produced could probably out way the actual movie.
Well now the wait is over… You can now stream tracks from Daft Punk’s score direct from the Tron Legacy official site. However, those expecting something akin to Daft Punk’s more tuneful moments (‘One More Time’ / ‘Harder Better Faster’) may be disappointed. What we’re presented with, so far, is a more orthodox sci-fi soundtrack awash with moody synth action a la Vangelis or Tangerine Dream.
Those feeling nostalgic for the party rocking, robot helmet wearing Daft Punk should check out the above video that shows how to make that signature head gear from scratch. All you need is a spare 17 months and a mastery of complex injection moulding techniques.
As the summer festival season rolls on, we have another opportunity for you to win tickets to a fantastic weekend of music. A new addition to this year’s festival calendar has appeared in the form of the London Electronic Dance – or L.E.D. Festival. The event, held in London’s Victoria Park, takes place on Friday 27th and Saturday 28th August and features exclusive sets from some of the biggest names in dance music. Headlining the event will be electro pop’s man of the moment David Guetta; who performs fresh from soundtracking the World Cup alongside K’Naan and Will.i.am on ‘Wavin’ Flag’.
Another highlight of the show will be an exclusive performance from electronic music mainstays Leftfield, who will undoubtedly unleashing a torrent of legendary tracks from their genre defining albums ‘Leftism’ and ‘Rhythm And Stealth’. With support slots also taken up with the likes of Soulwax, Goldfrapp, Calvin Harris, Friendly Fires, Tiga, Axwell, Annie Mac and Aphex Twin; the event is a guaranteed win for fans of bangin’ beats . For full ticket info, head to the L.E.D. website now.
Tickets for the event are still available. However, we do have a pair of tickets for one lucky reader. All you need to do to win is answer the question below:
