Graded Song: Avicii "X You"

He is one of the many EDM artists that I am waiting for a full-length album from, yet he wants to keep releasing singles. But I digress already. Swedish DJ Avicii held a contest in which fans could upload samples, which he cut down to a select few (4000) and created a brand new song from. I have yet to be disappointed by any of Avicii's past commercial work ("Silhouettes">>>anything your fave EDM artist could produce), so how does he do with other people's beats?

To be honest, I was a bit underwhelmed by the shorter edit, but thankfully someone provided a link to the full original mix, so I will base my review on that. The beginning already grabs the listener, giving some serious "Silhouettes" vibes. Then we get a nice blend of video game like synths and piano. And then of course the massive soaring build-up before a semi-decent drop. Lather. Rinse. Repeat. I still have to admit that after hearing the original mix in full, I feel like its a bit on the light side, but it's still an amazing song nonetheless.
Final Grade:B+

AlunaGeorge "Attracting Flies"

New single alert! Electronic music duo AlunaGeorge have just released a new single from their upcoming debut, "Body Music", due in July. The song, "Attracting Flies" will be released in the UK on March 10 with a slew of remixes, including one from trendsetter Baauer (of "Harlem Shake" fame).

Graded Song: Demi Lovato "Heart Attack"

After the longevity she had last year with "Give Your Heart a Break" which she started promotions from the end of 2011 and only started getting steam during the spring, Demi Lovato is showing that she is a more seasoned and mature artist than her ex-Disney counterparts. So when an image of Demi rocking a shorter do and talking about her 4th studio album popped up unexpectedly, I was more than elated. Then the 1st single, "Heart Attack" leaked in low quality last night, so what did they do? Rush released it to iTunes to quell the masses (and potentially stop a HQ leak).

"Heart Attack" isn't the dance smash that I was expecting from the 6 second teaser. It is more guitar driven with pop sensibilities. Demi sounds amazing on it, but there are some parts where I feel like she's trying to hard to hit notes. The weakest part of the song is the pre-chorus "You make me wanna act like a girl, paint my nails and wear high heels/perfume..." and the line "Play him like a Ken doll and won't wash my hair" just sound awkward. Other than this, I can see this doing well, if not better than "Give Your Heart a Break" if she is on the same tenacious path of promo.
Final Grade:B-

Kim Tae Woo "Cosmic Girl" Music Video

Popular South Korean singer Kim Tae Woo has released a music video for his song "Cosmic Girl". Tae Woo, who has been away from the K-Pop scene for two years, brings his best George Michael to the table and delivers this somewhat dated, but effective tune. It's like they took elements of Pink's "Try" and some Broadway tune that I can't name at the moment and rocked it up. We see in the video a boy and the titular Cosmic Girl as younger, then a time lapse happens where the boy is a man working at a bar and has a chance to meet the girl again. Other than some of the effects looking cheap, I really liked the idea they were going with. Enjoy!

Kate Nash "3AM" Music Video

Kate Nash has unveiled the visuals for her new single, "3AM" The song, released this week to iTunes, is the first from her "Girl Talk" album, which is coming in two short weeks. In the video, Kate continues the 60s/70s motif portrayed in the teaser with her and her boyfriend shown in a very loving relationship that goes sour pretty fast. I mean I guess I would be too if I got left for a black girl. The video gives me "Foundations" vibes, but I actually think I like this video better.

Phoenix "Entertainment"

Phoenix is releasing an album and they released the first song from the album "Bankrupt!". The song begins with some oriental sounding instrumentation then progresses into typical Phoenix territory, which I'm loving at the moment. "Bankrupt!" will be released April 22nd and will be the band's first studio effort since 2009's Grammy-nominated "Wolfgang Amadeus Phonenix". What do you think of the bands new music?

Graded Song: Rilo Kiley "Let Me Back In"

I was introduced to Rilo Kiley by my best friend during my freshman year of college and fell in love with their. Their last studio album, 2007's "Under The Blacklight" is a modern hipster classic and I'm still searching for a physical copy of the thing as we speak. Since I got into them extremely late (three years after the release of "Under The Blacklight") I have been waiting for them to release another full length project. Now, it's 2013 and they are back...kinda. Instead of the LP I have been dreaming of for three years, the "Silver Lining" band are releasing a collection of B-sides, rarities and unreleased material: "RKives."
I guess I have to take what I can get. Today, they released their comeback track, "Let Me Back In" via Spin.com. Was it worth the wait?

This is different... Very mellow compared to their previous material (the stuff I heard.) I feel like it should be on a Best Coast record. I can imagine myself, Jenny Lewis, or both of us I really have no preference, straggling back into Los Angeles with no shoes, dirty and bruised from some biker gang fight. The instrumental part towards the end seems reminicisent to either clogging or tinkiling, a Filipino cultural dance. The song is an ode to the band's hometown. Not too shabby RK, not too shabby
Final Grade:B

Rilo Kiley - Let Me Back In
Shared from whatsthatmusicguy using Embeddlr
listen at spin.com

Phillip Phillips "Gone Gone Gone" Music Video

After pretty much kicking dirt in the past five or so American Idol winners faces by having his coronation song "Home" reach the top ten three separate times, having more chart relevance and having major coverage via the Olympics, Mr.Philips Philips has finally decided to release a second single from his debut album, "The World from the Side of the Moon". That song is "Gone Gone Gone" a catchy-yet-cliche guitar driven tune that will do wonders on the charts in the spring if he gets the right promo for the song. The music video for the track shows a lot of couples via vintage footage and modern day cinematography. And there also shots of him playing his guitar in a film room I guess and around a large fire. I'm going to need this to go top ten. It's perfect.

Graded Song: SHINee's "Dream Girl" + MV

SHINee's back...SHINee's back...and now I'm done. Another unexpected comeback via SM Entertainment. SHINee's who's "Sherlock" mini album spawned the uber successful title track have come back with not one, but TWO full-length album. The first, "Chapter 1. Dream Girl – The Misconceptions of You" came out yesterday while the second one will not be out until April. Along with the nine track album, we also get the title track.

Initially  I was going to dismiss the song as a major disappointment compared to the new jack swing vibe that "Sherlock" gave, which made SHINee sound a lot fresher than their contemporaries. However, after the third listen, I can say that I kind of like the song. It's a lot more Euro-friendly, with the four-on-the-floor progression It definitely is a grower, but could have been polished a bit more. Lower the reverb, clean up some of the vocals towards the beginning. The best part of the song was the rap part and the chorus, which is how I expected the song to sound when I saw the trailer a few days ago. There was also a part in the second verse that reminded me of Super Junior's "Mr.Simple" for some reason. It was a good effort SM, but not your best
Final Grade:C-
The concept for their album is a modern "Alice in Wonderland" (at least that's what neitzens are equivocating it to). I'm definitely liking the new look. There is also a dance MV to go along with it! Enjoy!

The Midnight Beast "Love Bites" Music Video

UK music collective The Midnight Beast have released a Valentine's Day themed song and music video, "Love Bites." When you first hear the song, you would think that Stefan Abingdon was admiring his new found girlfriend over a Zedd-style meets Super Junior M's "Break Down" instrumental, but the video tells a completely different story, where the girlfriend is actually a brain hungry zombie. Why don't you take a look for yourself?

Marina and The Diamonds "E.V.O.L"

Marina and The Diamonds must not be feeling the love this Valentine's Day. The "Primadonna" singer has released a song for free (probably for the bitter people who have no significant other this time of the year) called "E.V.O.L" which is love spelled backwards. A video shot in black in white with Marina in a leather jacket, flipping her shoulder length hair was also uploaded to her YouTube channel as part 8 of the "Electra Heart" series. You can download the song for free here.

Cher Lloyd "With Ur Love" Music Video (USA Version)

Disappointed to say the least. Cher Lloyd has finally decided to release the pop perfection that is "With Ur Love", which should have been the 2nd single instead of the Disney reject that was "Oath". I was expecting something amazing from the US version of this song, since the video for "Want U Back" was better than the one for her native UK. Too bad it wasn't. The new video shows Lloyd bringing many suitors to a dark and dank looking castle and having dinner, where she proceeds to take different parts of them to make an ideal mate. Which has absolutely nothing to do with the song. Period. I was expecting a nice fairy tale themed video from what the teaser showed but all we got was a disturbing video with Cher looking like Selena Gomez in some shots and making Nicki Minaj faces in others. I'll stick with colourful, balloon-filled one with Mike Posner.

Graded Song: Jay Park "Appetizer" and MV

South Korean by way of Seattle rapper Jay Park has been hard at work on his 2nd full length LP. His first, "New Breed" was one of the best selling albums of 2012 in Korea and it came in second on this website's Best Album of 2012 list. Well, to tide his fans over until he releases the first official single (or makes his "comeback"), Jay has released a song produced by frequent collaborator Cha Cha Malone simply titled "Appetizer." Does this give us a hint about what the next LP will sound like?
On the first listen, I am indifferent. I am a major Jay Park fan, but the rap reminds me of Chris Brown's raps, which in my eyes aren't too impressive. His lyricism is still sharp, but some of them are a bit on the ehh side ("She be yellin' World Star, and I ain't even in a fight")the chorus is also a bit on the flimsy side and the spoken part at the end about his haters eating genitals are a turnoff. I do like ChaCha's production, as he rarely disappoints.
Final Grade:C
The music video shows the rapper performing in a club with a bunch of confused looking extras and some B-boys (I'm guessing his AOM brothers). Good thing this is just a teaser, because I would have been highly disappointed.

Lana Del Rey "Burning Desire" Music Video

With her ever confusing single releases and plethora of vintage looking music videos, Lana Del Rey has given us another in the form of "". The song is a cut from her "Paradise" EP and doubles as an ad for the Jaguar F-Type, one of Lana's many endorsement deals. The girl looks glamorous as hell, performing in a floor length gown in a red room, vintage mic and no awkward spinning in sight with a man driving the fancy sports car down a winding road. If this doesn't want to make you want to take out a second mortgage on your home to buy it, I don't know what will.

NU'EST "Hello" Music Video

K-Pop rookies NU'EST finally make a comeback with their song, "Hello." and the 2nd mini album of the same name. The song is a lot different from the urban dance track "Face" one of my favourites from last year. I consider it the male counterpart to BoA's "Disturbance", with the R&B influence and the emotive vocals. I really like the song, each of the artists shine, but it is Ren (the group member who looks like a very attractive woman) who stands out the most. The premise of the video is that each of the members see their girl meeting up with another man and their reactions. Watch below.

Justin Timberlake "Suit and Tie" Music Video

Justin Timberlake has released the music video for his comeback song, "Suit and Tie". The video for the mediocre first single from JT's upcoming "20/20 Experience" LP, shows Timberlake performing the song big band 20s style with a black and white motif and some minimal choreography, then Jay-Z and girls begin stripping. Way to keep it classy.

Graded Song: B.A.P "One Shot"

After releasing successful singles like "Warrior" and "Power", one of the more successful rookie groups B.A.P has released their comeback single, "One Shot" and the mini album of the same name. Do they disappoint or give their fans what they want? The song is much grittier and raw than the other single, which were in their own right pretty raw and pretty gritty. There is more of 90s rap feel to it, late 90s. It also sounds like another popular K-Pop song, EXO's "Mama" but without all the creepy Gregorian chants. I mean, I like it, but I feel like they are running the risk of becoming redundant if they keep using the hardcore theme when they create their songs.
Final Grade:C+ The music video clocks in at 7 minutes long and took close to a million dollars to make. I guess that their label has a lot riding on this comeback. The video reminds me of one of those cliche action flicks that they put out with that one action star just to make money. There was shooting, betrayal, and boats. Yeah, pretty much an American action flick...

Rihanna "Stay" Music Video

After performing the song with Mikky Ekko at last night's Grammy Awards, which would have been a better single choice than the parrot job known as "Diamonds," the single is in the top five of iTunes and will definitely go #1 if she keeps sounding as great as she did last night. Now we have the visuals for the track. The video, directed by Sophie Muller, shows Ri-Ri in the bathtub while the song plays in the background. It reminds me of Avril Lavigne's "Wish You Were Here." I wonder what's up with Rihanna and water lately? Also, there are apparently 2 versions of the video, so I will update when version 2 is out.

Grammys 2013: The Winners

The Grammys of 2013 was full of a lot of surprises and snubs. fun. got a ridiculous amount of Grammys for 2012's most overhyped, overplayed, and misunderstood song "We are Young," while Mumford and Sons pulled an Arcade Fire type upset and bested the likes of Frank Ocean (who should have swept the big four) and Jack White for Album of The Year. I guess some of Adele's British charm rubbed off on them. Black Keys did what Foo Fighters did last year and swept most of the rock categories and frontman Dave Auerbach won Producer of The Year. The same can be said for Jay-Z and Kanye West, who gained most of the awards in the rap categories. Here is a partial list of winners:

Album of the Year: Babel, Mumford & Sons
Record of the Year: Somebody That I Used To Know, Gotye & Kimbra
Song of the Year: We Are Young, Fun. & Jeff Bhasker
Best New Artist: Fun.
Best Pop Solo Performance: Set Fire To The Rain [Live], Adele
Best Pop Duo/Group Performance: Somebody That I Used To Know, Goyte & Kimbra
Best Pop Vocal Album: Kelly Clarkson
Best Dance Recording: Bangarang, Skrillex & Sirah
Dance Electronica Album: Bangarang, Skrillex
Best Rock Album: El Camino, The Black Keys
Best R&B Performance: Climax, Usher
Best R&B Song: Adorn, Miguel
Best Traditional R&B Song: Love On Top, Beyoncé
Best R&B Album: Black Radio, Robert Glasper Experience
Best Rap Performance: N****s In Paris, Jay-Z and Kanye West
Best Rap Song: N****s In Paris, Jay-Z and Kanye West
Best Rap/Sung Collaboration: No Church In The Wild, Jay-Z, Kanye West, Frank Ocean, The-Dream Best Rap Album: Take Care, Drake
Best Producer: Dan Auerbach

James Blake "Retrograde" Music Video

After premiering his comeback track on Friday, minimalist musician James Blake has released the music video for "Retrograde". The song acts as the first official single from his upcoming sophomore album, "Overgrown" due in April. The video shows some sort of weird alien invasion thing going on and some motorcyclist seems to be in the middle of it all. Not too sure about it, but the song is still amazing either way.

Justin Timberlake "Mirrors"

This is the Timberlake I was hoping and wishing for. A song from JT's much awaited third studio album, "The 20/20 Experience" has leaked in the form of "Mirrors". The song, produced by long-time collaborator Timbaland is a throwback to "Cry Me a River", but with a more mature and thought out tone. It's much better than "Suit and Tie" and is begging to get the single treatment. Enjoy below.

Justin Timberlake - Mirrors
Shared from andrewpresents using Embeddlr
download/iPhone

Graded Song: James Blake "Retrograde"

The king of minimalist dubstep is back at again! James Blake came out of the gate in 2011 with the masterpiece that was his self-titled debut, which garnered him much critical acclaim and a Mercury Prize nomination. It didn't yield but one top forty hit, a cover of Feist's "Limit To Your Love." Then he collaborated with Bon Iver and I lost interest because I think Justin Vernon is a pretentious hipster douche who let a little 14 year girl outdo one of his songs ("Skinny Love"). But I digress. Like I stated before, Blake is back, ready to release his second studio album "Overgrown" in April and the lead single, "Retrograde" was played for the first time on Zane Lowe's BBC radio show. Sensual, a bit more on the R&B side for Blake. A simple slow handclap gives way to a buzzing synth buildup and something that sounds like a horn. He does a lot more actual singing rather than the half-singing, half mumbling. His ooooooohs pretty much scream orgasm. If sex was translated into music, this is what it would sound like. I can only imagine how the video is going to be.
Final Grade:B-

Dappy "IOU" Music Video

Dappy has finally released the amazing track "IOU" as the fourth official single from his debut album, "Bad Intentions." The song, one of the standouts of an otherwise almost flawless debut was begging to be released as a single, but I was afraid he would release it as the final one in favour of fan favourite "Bring It Home," one of the only two that didn't do anything for me personally. The video is a mixture of tour footage of Dappy performing the song and meeting fans. Very simple and he put a spin on the message of the song.

Fall Out Boy "My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark (Light Em Up)"

Punk rock fans rejoice and stop the that blood offering you were preparing to do. Fall Out Boy is BACK TOGETHER. It was made official today, though it had been abuzz for a whole week now (thank Beyonce and her Super Bowl performance for that one) and they aren't just back to release some 10 year anniversary album. They plan on releasing a brand new LP, going on tour and have gifted their fans still suffering from their hiatus almost three years ago with a single. A single with a title so long, only Fall Out Boy could get away with it: "My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark (Light Em Up)." Now that's a mouthful.

Kate Nash "Girl Talk" Track Previews + "3AM" MV Trailer

As time ticks away until the expected March release date of Kate Nash's "Girl Talk," we have something to tide us until then. You can now listen to snippets of the complete album below. The direction is more rock, but it is less heavy than the previous material she teased last year and the most pop it gets is the lead single, "3AM." Speaking of "3AM," Nash pulled a Lana Del Rey and uploaded a almost 7 minute prologue to the music video, which hopefully will premiere sometime this week. Nash is shown with a boy, both in 60s inspired attire and Prince's "Purple Rain" playing in the background. You can listen to the snippets and watch the prologue below. Enjoy!

Album Preview
3AM Video Prologue

Graded Performance: Beyonce-Super Bowl Halftime Show

Beyonce is back!!! King B has been out of the game (not really) taking care of Blue Ivy, fending off rumours of a surrogate and snapping sexy pho. 2013 saw her lip sync  perform at the inauguration and now the moment we have been waiting for...halftime at Super Bowl 47! A 12 minute set of nothing but the best from the singer, even if she negleted to perform anything from B'Day. Bey started off with an intro of her amazing-yet-underrated single, "Run The World (Girls)" which was then cut short to show caricatures of her face and a large flaming silhouette on the stage while she sang "Love on Top", showing off the vocals that we should have heard a week or so ago. After that a high energy, hair-whipping, hip thrusting orgy with her first solo #1 "Crazy In Love". Then we get some Michael Jackson realness for the single that should have been "End of Time", complete with a live horn and sax section, but where were the Les twins?  She then proceeded to duplicate her 2011 Billboard Music awards stage and Dutty wined to "Baby Boy". Then we got a major surprise when Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams came out to perform a small medley of hits (Independent Women, Bootylicious). They even got to sing a small bit of "Single Ladies" before Bey booted them off stage to do her own thing. She closed the show by singing one of her crowing achievements as an artist, "Halo", commanding the audience to put their hands to the stage so she could feel their audience ala Dragonball-Z Spirit Bomb style.
The performance was all kinds of amazing, but I was disappointed with some things. Kinda pissed off that Beyonce did not premiere a new single from her upcoming album like we assumed was going to happen and she only did two DC songs when they have such a large discography. I would have loved them to do "Say My Name" and "Survivor".
Overall Grade:B+

Little Mix "Change Your Life" Music Video

UK girl band Little Mix have released the music video for their empowerment anthem, "Change Your Life." The song acts as the third single from the X-Factor alumns, following "Wings" and "DNA". The video shows the girls in the studio and preparing to go on tour. I guess they didn't want to do the typical empowerment anthem video, but I feel like it would have worked for this type of song.