Madonna: "Get Together" Video
Related Videos
Nina B: "Music" (Madonna mash-up)
RaVeNel Records own rapper, Nina B, is back with another hot remix. She blew it up with a mash-up of 50 Cent's "I Get Money," and now she's paying tribute to one of pop music's greatest artists, Madonna. Check out her mash-up video for "Music".
Barry Manilow's unparalleled career encompasses virtually every arena of music, including performing, composing, arranging, and producing. A Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee, Manilow has triumphed in every medium of entertainment. Industry charts rank him the undisputed "Number One Adult Contemporary Artist of All Time" with record sales exceeding $65 million worldwide. This pop icon has written hundreds of songs and performed around the globe thrilling millions of fans, winning a Grammy, an Emmy, several Tony Awards, and an Oscar nomination along the way. "Rolling Stone" proclaimed Manilow "The Showman of Our Generation." Over his 30-year multifaceted career, Barry Manilow has proven he is indeed the performer who most embodies that accolade.
Natalie Walker. Urban Angel. Biography. Born and raised in Indiana, vocalist Natalie Walker is an artist whose lilting, melodic voice and lyrical reveries reflect a life journey of determination and self-discovery. With musical influences ranging from Alison Krauss to Portishead, Jewel to Lauryn Hill, Beth Orton to Bjork, the former lead singer of downtempo electronic group Daughter Darling now delivers her own unique, haunting sonic landscape that is at once organic, ethereal, elegant and entrancing. ?Creating music is my outlet,? says Natalie. ?I was born to sing. When I don?t, I feel empty. When I do, I feel fulfilled. It?s that simple.? Urban Angel, her solo album debut, was co-written by Natalie and two-man production team Stuhr. ?I worked with two really great producers out of Brooklyn, Dan Chen and Nate Greenberg. They?d send me the rough copy of a song and the music would just evoke emotion,? she explains. ?Its like fitting pieces of a puzzle together. When you?re in the studio recording its all very raw and real. I try to make a song new each time I sing it. I want it to be unforgettable. My producers are amazing. They forced me to develop my real voice. I?ve improved my vibrato and my tone. Stuhr delivered exactly what I asked of them. It couldn?t have happened more perfectly.?
The truth is, Maria McKee is only beginning to tap into what she has to say. On Peddlin' Dreams (Eleven Thirty Records), her sixth solo album, she draws not only from her own songs but also from those of her bassist, producer, frequent co-writer, and husband, Jim Akin. Their distinctive styles, brought into focus by an approach to recording unlike any that McKee had followed before, make Peddlin' Dreams one of her most urgent and eloquent works. That, of course, is saying a lot. From her early performances at sixteen, singing with her brother, Bryan MacLean of the epochal group Love, through her run with Americana pioneers Lone Justice and on to the career she has established on her own, McKee has maintained an uncommon honesty and excellence as a writer and singer, as those who have written with her (Steve Earle), recorded her material (The Dixie Chicks), or added her songs to high-profile film soundtracks (Pulp Fiction) can attest. Her last studio album, High Dive (2002), epitomizes her work up to that point: Meticulously produced, finely polished, it fit McKee's pattern of spending as much time as necessary to come up with an album that met the high standards she sets for herself. Fans learned to be patient, knowing that the payoff would be worth the wait. It always was, especially High Dive, which earned vast praise. Mojo magazine, in a four-star review, called the album "an organic, risk-taking record oozing rich details," while USA Today declared that Maria "has one of the strongest and most versatile voices in pop music." In addition to dates in the U.S., Maria toured across the U.K. and Europe on a 10-country tour in support of the album. Peddlin' Dreams is a departure, conceived with the same self-imposed expectations yet reflective of her evolving ambitions. On this project, McKee and Akin emphasize emotion over seamless craftsmanship; the production quality is as strong as ever, but its intention is to invest each track with a live feel. On "My One True Love" she whispers her vocal, as if standing inches away from the listener in some quiet room of the heart; on "Everyone's Got a Story" she's fronting her band in a raucous jam, ripping licks on her guitar over a thrashing beat. The other songs settle between these extremes, each with its own balance of intimacy and abandon -- and all of it feels totally alive. "The truth is, High Dive was a labor of love," Maria explains. "It was also incredibly demanding -- a lot of hard work for both Jim and me. We wanted to make Peddlin' Dreams' more direct and spontaneous. We didn't think about it too much; we just went in and did it. The process was much more natural." More than that: Their approach on Peddlin' Dreams signals a shift in Maria's thoughts about recording, her relationship with the public, and deeper issues as well. "In the past I haven't been the most prolific artist," she admits. "It's taken me as much as six years to go from one album to the next. I've had to sit with songs and ideas a long time until I've felt satisfied with them. I want to make better use of my talent now. If I'm honest with my songs, I can put albums out more frequently; that's become important to me because of how incredible my fans have been and how important it is for me to connect with them as often as I can." Her first step was to surrender the reins of production. She had her reasons: to concentrate more fully on performance, to expedite the process. Most crucial, though, is her respect for Jim's insight and skills. "High Dive was very collaborative," Jim says. We shared production credit. This time, she said, 'Go ahead. You make it.' She came into the studio to sing and play her parts. I'd hear the chord progression, the lyrics, or maybe just the melodies -- the skeleton of the song -- and then flesh it out. It was effortless, immediate, a production based on intuition." Jim's expanded role made it easier for Maria to find the heart of each song. "With this album, I wanted a more open, almost stark recording," he explains. "It's all about emotion in the vocal. Where the voice cracks and reveals something that's almost beyond what the artist intends." Sessions began with Jim and the drummer, Tom Dunne, who drove out to a warehouse in Costa Mesa. There, they cut the drum tracks, without a click or even any demos for reference. "Tom was just playing to the music in his head," Jim says. We'd do three, four, or five complete takes, and I'd choose the best one. The idea was to go for a John Bonham sound -- very open, big, and natural, with minimal, mainly distant miking. I was very happy with what we got." These tracks were the foundation for Maria and the musicians as they cut the songs that featured the full band. Everything fed off the drums; you can hear it in "Everyone's Got a Story", "Sullen Soul", and "Peddlin' Dreams", where Dunne's sound, raw and punchy, defines the live feel. Each of these performances, like the ones cut solo or with a scaled-down lineup, were captured at Maria's and Jim's home studio, which they'd completed just in time for the High Dive sessions a little more than two years ago. This, too, served the goal of going for the emotional gold. "Jim loves having a home studio because he can capture me in different moods," Maria says. "I'm sort of mercurial, so he'll observe and say, 'Hmm, Maria would really handle this song especially well right now." Clearly Maria had her reflective, introspective days, as reflected on the plaintive "Appalachian Boy" and the wistful "My One True Love". Other times she must have been feeling playful ("The Horse Life"). And her gritty, snarling guitar solo on the jam that ends "Everyone's Got a Story" just might have come from what she describes as "a melancholy frame of mind." Maria also turns in a moving rendition of Neil Young's "Barstool Blues". "After going over the Americana terrain for years and years, the worst thing anybody can say to me about my music would be, 'Oh, it's like American barroom rock!'" She continues, "So it's ironic for me to do 'Barstool Blues', which is the greatest song ever written with that sort of imagery yet it totally transcends any genre because it's such a great piece of art. To Jim and me, Neil Young is a god -- but I have to do something risky on every album, and for me that meant recording this song because his original version is perfect." The point is that every moment of Peddlin' Dreams is real. Every note reflects the new immediacy in her music. In its details and taken as a whole, Peddlin' Dreams is a message to McKee devotees: Expect more exceptional work, covering more bases, more often from this extraordinary artist. For all that she's achieved, Peddlin' Dreams points the way toward greater things just over the horizon. "Who knows how the next record will sound?" says Maria. "I certainly don't. I just know that I'm staying in the moment now. And I believe that's going to bring everyone who's enjoyed my music -- the Lone Justice people, the High Dive people, and everyone else -- together like nothing I've ever done before."
Felix da Housecat: "Madame Hollywood"
Chicago's disco visionary FELIX DA HOUSECAT is set to return to dominate dance floors and airways with his stunning third album VIRGO BLAKTRO & THE MOVIE DISCO. A master class in sugar-frosted vocal pop, soulful synth-funk and pulsing electronic disco, it is comfortably the most satisfying album this dance music icon has produced. Six years after he glammed up dance floors with Kittenz And Thee Glitz, 20 since he stepped into a studio to record his first underground hit at the age of 15, one of modern pop's great outsiders is about to embark on the next phase of his remarkable career.
The White Stripes: "Blue Orchid"
get behind me satan -is the white stripes? fifth album -produced by grammy award winning producer jack white -recorded in Detroit at third man studios, mixed in Memphis at ardent studios, mastered in new york city at masterdisk -album contains thirteen original songs -songs were written on piano, acoustic guitar, and marimba -songs are deceivingly orchestrated, some sounding as if they were recorded with a full orchestra when they only have piano and bass on them -none of the songs had been played live before the recording of the album -none of the songs were completely written before the recording of the album -contains the white stripes shortest song to date -only three songs are electric guitar based -the band used their live sound engineer to engineer the recording -their fourth album, elephant was released one year after completion. the first single from get behind me satan, ?blue orchid,? was released two weeks after completion -jack white has described the record as an exploration of ?characters and the ideal of truth? -the band will tour prior to, and continue after, the album?s release but are only playing countries and cities that they?ve never been to before. The band plan to tour the u.s. and Europe afterwards. -a vinyl version of the record will be put on hold pending a unique release. -produced by jack white, engineered by matthew kettle, mixed by jack white, mix engineer john hampton, mastered by howie weinberg, photos by ewen spencer all songs written by jack white album artwork design by the third man artwork layout by arthole graphics
Normally it's a great honour if a big pop band like Franz Ferdinand asks an underground producer to remix a song. If then also Royskopp, Yello, Annie, Mylo and even Roxy Music call the guy and ask for a mix you can be quite sure that the producer must be more than just one of the many new one hit club wonders. And if next this artists starts to record his solo album and people like Soulwax, The Rapture and Radio 4 want to sing on it, it's not unlikely that there is something special going on. All this is happening to Swiss born, but Berlin-based disco producer, DJ and painter Robi Insinna aka Headman. You can easily call Robi one of the leading figures of the new disco movement. His first HEADMAN album "It Rough" was released back in 2003 on the small German label Gomma and set new standards in club circles. It was immediately nominated album of the month" in Jockey Slut Magazine/ UK and called one of the most important and innovative albums of the year by DJ?s such as Trevor Jackson, Ivan Smagghe or even Hell. The title track (with a Chicken Lips re-work on the 12") caused a huge fuss in clubs around the world. Since then he has been building up a worldwide underground reputation as remixer, producer and DJ regularly playing hot clubs like Bugged out or Optimo in the UK as well as Tribeca in New York and FUN in Berlin. This year he even has been invited to play at occasions like the MTV music awards aftershow party in Lissabon or the famous Colette Shop Parties in Paris. He also is currently travelling with SOULWAX as Tour DJ all over Europe. Besides the records on his main label Gomma, Headman has also recently been asked to publish a single on London's Output records. He also started an own little inprint (Relish records) and from time to time he puts out records under his moniker Manhead. But his main project is the HEADMAN music: The Headman style is a very special version of (balearic) Disco, combining the organic sound of 70ies Leftfield Disco and Rock with the energy of 90ies house. The new album includes songs Robi recorded with Stephen Dewaele from Soulwax/2many DJs (he performed on the first single ROH), Matt Safer from The Rapture, Anthony from Radio 4 and Erol Alkan from London?s TRASH Club. The remix for the first single ROH was done by Trevor Jackson aka Playgroup. The second single MOISTURE includes two club mixes by Robi himself and the kicking MUSTAPHA 3000 remix. Robi`s projects are especially notable for their artwork. He studied painting at the famous Brera Art academy in Milan/ Italy and starts to get known also for his big Head paintings. (The ON album will include a 16 page booklet showing paintings made for every song on this CD) For more information for Insinna?s paintings please check out www.relishrecords.com/art (www.headman.org)
Ben Jelen is the first artist release for 2007 from Custard, home to multi-platinum selling "You're Beautiful" singer James Blunt. Jelen recently finished recording the final tracks for the album with producer/label head Linda Perry whom also mixed the majority of the songs in addition to two mixes from famed producer Bill Bottrell (Shelby Lynne, Tom Petty, Rosanne Cash, Elton John).
Kudu tap into Siouxsie circa 82, dark Chicago house circa 86, deep 70s funk, and, consciously or not, UK jungle tekno circa 91. They are real deal, and their music is so primal that they could just as validly be classed a rock act as a jazz or dance act. On stage Kudu are dark and raw and desperate, but their pop potential has always been apparent to anyone with ears for song craft and eyes for charisma. Bar Star, the first single from the upcoming full-length from Nublu Records entitled Death of the Party, confirms this perception. In addition to the aforesaid ingredients, Kudu on record have a sense of fun lifted from Deee-Lite, ESG, church in rural Georgia and parades in New Orleans. Kudu plans to tour extensively surrounding the release of the record, and they have already received press from the likes of XLR8R, URB, Pitchfork, and the acclaimed music writer Simon Reynolds. Remixes of Bar Star are as diverse as Kudu?s influences. In Flagranti, the head of Codek Records, turns Bar Star into a disco track that echoes Prince and the Time?perfect for a Miami Dancefloor. Freddie Mas, of Tigersushi fame, twists the track into an AC/DC-like cock-rock funk anthem. This is the twelve inch of the year from the band of the year.
Sally Shapiro: "Jackie Jackie"
Sally Shapiro?s debut 2007 release ?Disco Romance? is set to be one of this years head turning, ear popping albums, written and produced by Johan Agebjorn and released by North America?s very own, Paper Bag Records. Shapiro?s sound is one that fuses exaggerated electro beats reminiscent of a neon, bygone era whilst preserving an understated innocence, elegance and light. Shapiro?s 2007 release marks the beginning of a journey into the depths of the cool, hollow sounds of an isolated and detached dance floor, wrapped in an abundance of warmth and character that cannot be compared.
