iTunes' top 10 selling albums of the week ending May 25, 2009:
1. Relapse, Eminem
2. 21st Century Breakdown, Green Day
3. ISolated INcident, Dane Cook
4. A Fine Mess, Kate Voegele
5. Season 8 Favorite Performances, Adam Lambert
6. City of Black & White, Mat Kearney
7. Season 8 Favorite Performances, Kris Allen
8. Blackout!, 2 Method Man, Redman
9. The Fame, Lady GaGa
10. Abnormally Attracted to Sin, Tori Amos
iTunes' top 10 selling singles of the week ending May 25, 2009:
1. "Boom Boom Pow," Black Eyed Peas
2. "Don't Stop Believin (Glee Cast Version)," Glee Cast
3. "New Divide," Linkin Park
4. "Heartless (American Idol Studio Version)," Kris Allen
5. "No Boundaries," Kris Allen
6. "Mad World (American Idol Studio Version)," Adam Lambert
7. "Waking Up In Vegas," Katy Perry
8. "Fire Burning," Sean Kingston
9. "I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho, More English Extended Mix)," Pitbull
10. "Poker Face," Lady GaGa
Sweethead, a new band featuring members of Queens Of The Stone Age and Mark Lanegan's band have formed and are set to release their debut EP in July. Named after a David Bowie B-side, Sweethead features Troy Van Leeuwen (Queens Of The Stone Age) on guitar, Norm Block (Mark Lanegan's band member) on drums, Eddie Nappi (Lanegan) on bass and vocalist Serrina Sims.
The band's debut EP The Great Disruptors will be released on July 13. It includes a cover of The Kinks' Tired of Waiting For You, which you can also download for free from Sweethead.net.
The new Marilyn Manson album is streaming in full on his MySpace page. The album, The High End Of Low, will be in stores on Tuesday, May 26th. Read about it here.
Taking Back Sunday is also doing the MySpace listening party thing for their new album, New Again. The album hits stores on June 2nd, but tomorrow, May 28th through Friday, fans can preview the entire album at the band's MySpace page.
White Stripes' drummer Meg White married her fiancé Jackson Smith in a double wedding ceremony in Jack White's backyard on Friday (May 22). The Nashville garden's second wedding featured The Raconteurs' and The Dead Weather's bassist "Little" Jack Lawrence and his fiancé Jo McCaughey. The wedding was attended by a small group of close friends and relatives, according to the Associated Press. Jackson Smith, a guitarist, is the son of punk icon Patti Smith and MC5's late guitarist Fred 'Sonic' Smith.
Phish are ramping up excitement for their reunion tour, by releasing a new track titled “Time Turns Elastic,” their first studio recording since their five-year hiatus began. The title may sound familiar to fans, because the track began as a collaboration between singer-guitarist Trey Anastasio and composer Don Hart, and a classical version of the suite debuted with the Orchestra Nashville in September 2008. It was also performed in Baltimore last week.
The Phish version hit iTunes yesterday, while Trey’s studio version of Time Turns Elastic — along with his original demo — will be released on June 9th, 2009. The new iTunes release clocks in at 13 minutes and 29 seconds and features all four members of Phish. The track is expected to appear on the band’s new album, due out July 28th, the band announced in a press release.
“I began writing this little tune for Phish — and it just kept growing and growing,” Anastasio said in the release. A video posted on the Phish site features footage of the band performing the track in the studio. The song is also streaming in its long entirety over at Phish’s MySpace page. Even before the announcement video, however, the track was found on iTunes by eagle-eyed Phans hours, according to Glide Magazine.
Last year, Quincy Jones personally asked Amy Winehouse and Mark Ronson to contribute a collaboration track for an all-star tribute to the legendary music producer (and father to Rashida Jones, the beautiful supporting female lead in "Parks and Recreation" on NBC). A year later the track is unfinished, and Jones has decided to move on without them.
"The track isn't finished and she's not around," Ronson said. "If she's not here then, unfortunately, there's nothing we can do about it."
Had she not been hung up on her cracked-out island getaway for the past few months, Winehouse would have also been part of a Jones tribute concert, which is scheduled to feature Michael Jackson.
Another source added, "Basically after Amy's horrendous gig in St Lucia, and then pulling out of the Island 50th Birthday gig, everyone realized she wasn't going to get it together. Quincy Jones is one of the most respected men in the music industry, so it was a huge honor for Amy to be asked to record for him. To snub him is a big no-no. The frustrating thing is what there is part of the track sounds really good, but it looks like no-one will ever get to hear it."
KISS frontman Gene Simmons had a few words in response to fans who wanted to know about KISS's appearance on "American Idol" last week. Specifically, fans asked about runner-up Adam Lambert, who sang with the band on the finale.
"Respectfully, I don't think Adam is a rock singer," Simmons writes. "He sounds much more convincing singing ballads and Broadway shows. His voice doesn't seem to have a ‘rock quality.' But, I'm sure he's going to do just fine." Then again, when asked which of the two finalists Simmons would put his money on career-wise, Gene responded, "Adam."
Sweet, snuggly Jesus. Weezer have teamed up with the makers of the Snuggie for their own version of the blanket. For those not in the know, the Snuggie is a blanket with sleeves. It became popular last year over Christmas.
Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo says, "A Wuggie is basically exactly like a Snuggie, except it says Weezer on it. The people at Snuggie are doing it with us and promoting it with us. It's a totally legit Snuggie".
Everybody's still talking about Susan Boyle's second 'Britain's Got Talent' performance, butthe tide has notably begun to shift. In fact, a lot of people didn't like her rendition of 'Memories,' including Lily Allen. The drunkard Smile singer tweeted her thoughts on Boyle: "Susan Boyle is so overrated ... yes, she can sing, but it's not about talent with her."
While his fourth album is only weeks away from hitting shelves, Pete Yorn is making plans to release a duets record with actress/singer Scarlett Johansson on September 8th. That's right, miss "Hey I can sing Tom Waits songs! Badly!" is giving the music biz another go.
Break Up will feature nine songs including the lead single, "Relator," which is available online for streaming and download today. A cover of Big Star's "I Am The Cosmos" was also recorded. Johansson released her first album Anywhere I Lay My Head, a shiteous collection of Tom Waits covers, in 2008. The album has sold 19,000 copies to date.
Yorn says "I was having a strange week of insomnia and when I finally passed out, it came to me in a dream. I woke up and the whole thing was in my head, fully formed."
