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Last night ABC aired JANET JACKSON's interview with ROBIN ROBERTS. It was a touching interview that focused a lot on Janet's relationship with Michael and her thoughts about his death. It also covered her music, weight issues, and touched on her relationship with Jermaine Dupri. Janet really opened up to Robin, and it was nice to see that through it all she is still able to smile. Watching the interview and listening to her new greatest hits album NUMBER ONES (a winner start to end!) has reminded me how much I like her and enjoy her music. At the end of the interview we also get to see clips of the MAKE ME video which looks like a return to form! - Camille
We had the pleasure of interviewing VIA TANIA at Norwood during CMJ week. Tania discusses the transition from making music with her sister in Australia to moving to the U.S. and creating her new delicious new album MOON SWEET MOON which she describes as "Moon Music."
Check our review of their CMJ performance right here!
, which is essentially a pop record done with aplomb, which draws many parallels to Contra
, Vampire Weekend’s new album that is slowing being revealed song by song. Both boast these funky afro-latino beats that make you want to calypso or bachata around your room and winsome deliveries from their lead singers. But more on this when Contra is officially released. Needless to say, Islands was firstto market with this sound combo; credit where credit is due. The crowd at the show was decidedly young… like do-you-have-pubes young making my 25 years look hoary. But I must say, them kids got taste. Enjoy my pretty pics. - guest post by Alexandra Serio from The Morning After Pills
this week on Youtube - yes, you better watch it before some dick wad up in the record label reports it to Google-owned Youtube. Can you imagine being that guy?
. Overall the album sounds reminiscent of Britney's Blackout with a much darker twist. Her vocals sound much more consistent than the previous album.
will be released physically and digitally on November 22nd as a single album, a 2CD
bundle which includes debut The Fame and of course the $75 Deluxe Edition
including the bits of Gaga's wig (Oohh la la!) and photo book. 
on 7'' vinyl for ya. It includes the title track and a live B-side of Ego recorded in Finland.
KAP BAMBINO are a definitely a band to watch! This high energy Parisian pair have a new album BLACKLIST coming soon. It's electro mixed with a little punk and its just SCREAMING to be experienced live in the flesh!
Luckily for us North Americans the band have just commenced a U.S. tour. They are playing in NYC at Webster tonight and with SLEIGH BELLS on the bill as well this is a show not to be missed! For a little taster of what you'll get, just check out this video showing their crazy performance of NEW BREATH a few years ago. These guys look like they lose their minds on stage!
I'm loving their track BATCAVES and its Blair Witch style video and another of my favorite of their tracks is BLUESCREEN which we have cleared for you to download! - Camille
"Kap Bambino are still one of the best live bands around My favorite frogs, Kap Bambino came to London to launch their new single 'Batcaves' the other night at The Old Blue Last. They never cease to amaze me with their live performances and only seem to get better every time I see them. Regardless of whether or not you're a fan of the band, I think its near impossible to deny that their energy onstage is pretty fackin' entertaining." - NME
North American Tour Dates
November 12 - Wrong Bar - Toronto, ON
November 13 - Foufounes Electriques - Montreal, QC
November 14 - The Studio @ Webster Hall - New York, NY (w/ Sleigh Bells)
November 15 - Venue - Vancouver, BC
November 17 - Dance @ ARENA Nightclub - Los Angeles, CA
November 19 - Popscene/330 Ritch - San Francisco, CA
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Widescreen
Wow! I'm really loving this new RIHANNA track COLD CASE LOVE that was written by JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE. It's such a departure from the bubble gum pop that Rihanna usually comes out with (which I love) the album is shaping up to be much darker than previous efforts (to be expected I suppose) These lyrics are deep "We opened up a cold case love and it got the best of us, and now printed pictures and white outlines are all that's left at the scene of the crime" and the music is almost haunting. I must say that I would love this one even more if she had put pen to paper but I think Justin did a great writing from her perspective. On just three listens I this has to be my favorite of the leaked tracks from Rated R so far! - Camille
For those of you that can't wait to hear the album in full you can preview clips of every Rated R track below (for the record I'm waiting!)
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Cold Case Love
What a nice little surprise this morning from SOLANGE. In her cover of STILLNESS IS THE MOVE by the DIRTY PROJECTORS she includes a little ERYKAH BADU flavor - sampling BAG LADY (which happens to be one of my favorite tracks ever.) I'm so obsessed with this right now, it's such a nice slow groove to chill with as we move into the weekend! Erykah and Solange really need to collaborate on something pronto - Camille
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Stillness Is The Move*
*Thanks Pitchfork!
Our favorite Irish lass ROISIN MURPHY is giving us a treat tomorrow! The fabulous ORALLY FIXATED will be available to download for 48 hours tomorrow at The Guardian starting at 10am GMT ending Friday at 5PM GMT. Go grab it!
*Thanks to the Roisin Murphy Blog for the photo!
CASXIO first grabbed my attention with that the delightful electro funk debut single SEVENTEEN and its eye catching video (watch here) featuring front man Lucas Guerin taking on the role of a 17 year old girl, styling and all! Eager to learn more about the man behind the dress and his band, we sat down with him at CMJ to have a very random chat about everything from their debut album and inspiration from Madonna to erm, communicating with fish. You'll have to watch to see how that topic came up! - Camille
Ooh its video premiere time! Here is LADY GAGA's latest BAD ROMANCE that just premiered. Once again Gaga comes with a creative video, its so nice to see someone continually raising the bar! My friend said he sees a little ANNIE LENNOX in her here (I'm totally seeing Bare era with those close ups of Gaga's face when she's dressed in white - and the orange hair sparks a memory too) She's not afraid to let the ugly hangout, the outfits are incredible and she's kicking ass with the choreography - dare I say it the total package! - Camille
Matt and I saw DRAGONETTE perform a ridiculously great show at Santos Party House this week and we're still on a high from that as we bring you this banging remix by BUFFETLIBRE of EASY. It's one of my favorite tracks from FIXIN TO THRILL and I'm loving this funked up remix. These guys always hit the mark with their mixes! - Camille
Keep your eyes on Hard Candy for our new interview with Martina and our concert review coming soon!
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Easy (Buffetlibre Remix)
I'm experiencing major LADY GAGA love right now! Though I've always enjoyed the music and many of her performances, I've never really watched many of her interviews. I've been checking more out recently and enjoying hear her talk about her art and the musicians she admires like DAVID BOWIE. It's nice to see someone out there with great artistic reference points who is clearly passionate about music. I think Gaga is the closest to MADONNA that we'll ever see.
Check out DANCE IN THE DARK this hotly leaked track from THE FAME MONSTER. On this 80's vibed track I hear hints of many great artists like PET SHOP BOYS and BOWIE. Most obviously to me is the beginning which sounds like ENJOY THE SILENCE by DEPECHE MODE and a little later there are shades of SUPER TROOPER by ABBA. Could I also say the shout outs towards the end are very VOGUE or would that be a stretch? You decide... - Camille
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Dance In The Dark
- Matt
I'm so excited by this viral approach ROISIN MURPHY is taking the release of her new material, there is nothing I like better than seeing an artist talk unscripted directly to us fans! In this cute little video shot in Roisin's house, with her dog Charlie seated on her lap, she talks about her how pregnancy has affected her, DJing and of course the new music! We learn that Orally Fixated is a production with SEIJI and how the new stuff is darker than OVERPOWERED material - leaning more towards the modernistic side of pop (love that!) She ends with a message to the fans asking us to be patient while she has her baby. We'll certainly do that Ro!
Check out some stunning new pictures of Roisin taken by Mark Squires here
sooner. Not only did they return with a slick 80's tinged first single Uprising (featuring a White Wedding sample thrown so perfectly in just to make sure you are paying attention) now we have the sexy rock ballad UNDISCLOSED DESIRES with a video premiere and Stuart Price remix to knock it up a notch. It's a radio rip so it won't sound all crispy in your speakers - but worth a listen and a shake or two on the dance floor. - Matt
I just checked out AlwayzFunkyFresh and saw that ALICIA KEYS just gave an incredible performance of her beautiful next single TRY SLEEPING WITH A BROKEN HEART for Pepsi Music. Alicia really knows how to deliver a ballad so that you really feel it! I really hope the track gets an amazing video to go with it, the one for the equally fabulous first single DOESN'T MEAN ANYTHING was pretty but lacking something.
Also, we're gonna have to wait just a little bit longer for the new album THE ELEMENT OF FREEDOM, which has been pushed back to December 15th, I'm sure it will be worth the wait!
I think it's time I showed Cheryl some love on Hard Candy! I've long been obsessed with GIRLS ALOUD who always put out a kick ass pop album, so I was excited to hear CHERYL COLE's solo effort. On first listen I was not that taken with the single FIGHT FOR THIS LOVE, thought I can't get enough of it now! To be honest I was expecting the high impact of GIRLS ALOUD material, which this didn't have. The album as a whole is more low key than the high powered pop created with the band but is fabulous nonetheless. Her first video is also a great one - love the look! Go Cheryl! - Camille
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Fight For This Love
It was an eclectic night at the High Rise PR CMJ showcase last Friday night! At 8.30 VIA TANIA started the night with a great little largely acoustic set, which had everyone intrigued. I really love Tania's voice it's so mellow and emotive, which at times slips into Bjork territory. I'd have love to have been seated sipping some wine listening to them perform instead of standing crammed into a tiny room but you can't win 'em all! (the newly released album Moon Sweet Moon is a fabulous chill out music!)
This is definitely a band that I'm excited to hear more from in the future. Keep your eyes on Hard Candy for our chat with Tania and Charles coming soon!
Time for a bumper RIHANNA post! So many leaks in this last week I can't keep up! My favorite of the recently leaked tracks is BUBBLE POP, which samples GOOD LIFE by the INNER CITY (please don't tell me you are too young to remember that tune!) Of course this one is not on the album, but rumored to be from the GOOD GIRL GONE BAD sessions, go figure!. I'm also loving RUSSIAN ROULETTE but none of the rest of these are really grabbing me, they may be demo versions I suppose, but I'm waiting for an UMBRELLA.... yes I said it!
In other Rihanna news, she recently did an interview with Diane Sawyer for Good Morning America which will air on Thursday. The video for WAIT YOUR TURN will premiere on her official site tomorrow - Camille
Official Track List:
1. Mad House
2. Wait Your Turn
3. Hard Ft. Jeezy
4. Stupid In Love
5. Rockstar 101 Ft. Slash
6. Russian Roulette
7. Fire Bomb
8. Rude Boy
9. Photographs
10. G4L
11. Te Amo
12. Cold Case Love
13. The Last Song
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Wait Your Turn
Bubble Pop
Hard
Russian Roulette
After only hearing two tracks from CASXIO which I instantly loved (SEVENTEEN and BOILING POINT as featured on the Seventeen EP) I was eager to hear more from them at the High Rise PR CMJ showcase.
Casxio frontman Lucas Guerin had spoken to us earlier in the day about the material that would be on their first full length release, he was looking forward to seeing the reaction to it, and lets just say I think he'd have been pretty pleased... the crowd was so into it!
The bands live performance is just amazing, really high energy! The sound has been compared to Prince and I think its a justified comparison as Lucas hit some notes there that would totally give him a run for his money!
Look for our interview this Lucas coming to Hard Candy this week... It's a good one!
Setlist:
One of the best bands I saw at CMJ last week was FOOL'S GOLD, it's a crime I have not posted about these guys before, as I enjoyed the odd track here and there, but seeing them live at the IAMSOUND showcase at the Bowery Poetry Club got me REALLY excited about them.
They are not the typical indie band you find at CMJ, these guys have some serious Latin flavor! My favorite tracks were Surprise Hotel, Nadine and The World Is All There Is. It was 1 am on a work night but the minute these guys took the stage the energy level picked back up and everybody began shaking their stuff.
One of my favorite parts of the performance is the way they ended it. One by one they came off stage still playing their instruments and danced around in a circle in the middle of the audience, then before I knew it they were walking out of the bar and onto the street, still playing... best stage exit ever.. the only thing that would have made it better is if I'd succeed in getting a conga line going out the door behind them! If you ever get the chance to see the live don't miss it! - Camille
Surprise Hotel at IAMSOUND CMJ Showcase...
The rehearsal video of MADONNA & LADY GAGA's SNL skit has emerged at its great! The timing is on here so the first part makes sense, M is actually singing! I had to giggle at the couch part where Gaga actually gets a grab of Madonna's hair, I don't think she got her paws on it a second time! - Camille
