Kylie in the clouds with diamonds

Earth shattering news spreads quickly. By the time you read this, you will probably have already read it somewhere else. But it is such mind-bendingly amazing information that you might have been struck by a splash of short term amnesia. So I feel it is my duty to make it available for the purpose of memory rehabilitation.

Of course, this news is so epic in proportions that you're quite likely to be struck by memory loss here, as well. Therefore, you'll have to go elsewhere to remember you forgot you read it.

Cut and pasted with love from everywhere else on the interwebs, I'm pleased to announce the tracklisting for "Aphrodite", the eleventh, spectacular longplayer from our favorite Aussie pop rocket, Kylie Minogue.

1. All The Lovers
2. Get Outta My Way
3. Put Your Hands Up (If You Feel Love)
4. Closer
5. Everything Is Beautiful
6. Aphrodite
7. Illusion
8. Better Than Today
9. Too Much
10. Cupid Boy
11. Looking For An Angel
12. Can’t Beat The Feeling

Her label, Parlophone, realized they can't withhold anymore info on the lead single, "All The Lovers", so they've chucked it up on YouTube for your listening enjoyment. I've provided it here for your convenience. Service with a smile!



Note the high end, background graphics. The moving clouds in the clip clearly enhance the listening experience. Now it REALLY looks like an add for Kylie's new fragrance line. All it's missing is some floating, sparkly, diamondy bits.

By the way, "All The Lovers" was written by the same folks that penned "2 Hearts" from Kylie's last elpee, "X". A brave move but worth the chance now that we've heard the new single's gorgeous chorus and pulsating rhythm track beautifully adorned with synthy squiggles and chiming, ABBA-esque piano bits.

You may now return to whatever it was you were doing.

waking up with Mr. Weller

Paul Weller can always be counted on to ignite a little fire into the souls of the UK music scene during times of political upheaval. He's usually tagged as "the voice of a generation" whether he likes it or not. So it makes perfect sense that he would lunge into a new elpee at this moment. He's never been the type to saunter back into view casually.

His scathing lyrics and full throttle guitar always pushed things up a notch in The Jam. Then he switched to a more mannered approach in The Style Council, his wordplay draped in more Blue Note than blue collar.

I haven't had a chance to delve deeply into "Wake Up The Nation", his 10th solo studio effort - 22nd if you count his work with his previous bands, but I have been spinning the first single, an old school double a-side pairing, on the old Victrola quite a bit.

"No Tears To Cry" sees PW in retro 60s soul mode hearkening back to his days with TSC. It even has a whiff of Gene Pitney about it.



And "Wake Up The Nation" is an incendiary number reminiscent of his work with The Jam.



Get your face out the Facebook, indeed, Mr. Weller! There's something sorta sexy when he spits around the 1.53 mark. He's mad as hell and he isn't gonna take it anymore! Hot.

Dig him shooting a music video for both songs! He's a counter culture icon, kittens. If this double a-side single is anything to go by, I suspect Paul Weller just unleashed another towering musical statement.

we sit and watch umbrellas fly

With a-ha in the throes of their final tour before they sail into the sunset, comes the announcement that their first two longplayers, "Hunting High And Low" and "Scoundrel Days", will get the deluxe treatment. Both albums will be exclusively available at rhino.com in June with each carrying bonus tracks, non-album b-sides, remixes, demos and live recordings. Beat the rush and place your order on the pre-sale date of May 11.

First up is their legendary debut album, "Hunting High And Low". The deluxe edition of this 25 year old album uncovers several unreleased gems such as an instrumental version of "Take On Me" and an early, demo version of the same song called "Lesson One". Demos for "The Sun Always Shines On T.V." and "Train Of Thought" will also be included.

"Driftwood" and "Stop And Make Your Mind Up", tracks that only appeared as b-sides, plus tracks released exclusively in Norway like "Never Never" and "Dot The I" will appear on CD for the first time. Most importantly, the original 1984 version of "Take On Me", which differs greatly from the one that became a worldwide smash, makes it's first appearance anywhere since it failed to chart.

This collection is rounded out by the original 12" mixes of the singles "The Sun Always Shines On T.V.", "Train Of Thought" and "Hunting High And Low".

Here's the quartet of music videos shot for each of the singles from this landmark album.









And now, the rarely seen, original version of "Take On Me".



The following is the complete tracklisting for the deluxified edition of "Hunting High And Low".

CD 1

Original album:

1. Take On Me
2. Train Of Thought
3. Hunting High And Low
4. The Blue Sky
5. Living A Boy's Adventure Tale
6. The Sun Always Shines On T.V.
7. And You Tell Me
8. Love Is Reason
9. I Dream Myself Alive
10. Here I Stand And Face The Rain

Remixes and extended versions:

11. Take On Me (1984 Original 7" Version)

12. The Sun Always Shines On T.V. (Extended Mix)
13. Train Of Thought (Steve Thompson U.S. Mix)
14. Hunting High And Low (Extended Remix)


CD 2

B-sides, demos and rarities:

1. Take On Me (Demo)*

2. Train Of Thought (Demo)*

3. Hunting High And Low (Uptempo Demo)*

4. Blue Sky (Demo)

5. Living A Boy's Adventure Tale (Early Version)*

6. The Sun Always Shine On T.V. (Demo)*
7. And You Tell Me (Demo)
8. Love Is Reason (Demo)*

9. I Dream Myself Alive (Demo)*
10. Here I Stand And Face The Rain (Demo)*

11. Stop And Make Your Mind Up

12. Driftwood

13. Dot The I

14. The Love Goodbye

15. Nothing To It*

16. Go To Sleep

17. Monday Mourning
18. All The Planes That Come In On The Quiet *

19. Never Never
20. What's That You’re Doing To Yourself*

21. You Have Grown Thoughtful Again*
22. Lesson One (Early 1982 "Take On Me" Demo)*
23. Presenting Lily Mars

The extended version of a-ha's ambitious, moody, sophomore elpee, "Scoundrel Days", contains demos for each album track, the non-album B-side "This Alone Is Love", as well as unreleased live performances of "Train Of Thought", "I’ve Been Losing You", "Blue Sky" and "Cry Wolf" recorded in England.

Bonus tracks include the extended versions of "Cry Wolf" and "Manhattan Skyline".

Three singles were lifted from their second longplayer. With the exception of "I've Been Losing You", which I couldn't locate on the interwebs, here are the videos that were lovingly lensed for each one.





And, as if by magic, here is the tracklisting for the expanded edition of "Scoundrel Days".

CD 1

Original album:

1. Scoundrel Days
2. The Swing Of Things
3. I've Been Losing You
4. October
5. Manhattan Skyline
6. Cry Wolf
7. We're Looking For The Whales
8. The Weight Of The Wind
9. Maybe, Maybe
10. Soft Rains Of April

Extended versions and remixes:

11. I've Been Losing You (Extended Version)

12. Cry Wolf (Extended Version)
13. Manhattan Skyline (Extended Remix)


CD 2

B-sides, demos and rarities:

1. Scoundrel Days (1984 Demo)*
2. The Swing Of Things (Demo #3)*
3. I've Been Losing You (Octocon Studios Demo)*
4. October (Demo)*
5. Manhattan Skyline (Demo)*
6. Cry Wolf (Demo)*
7. We're Looking For The Whales (1984 Demo)*
8. The Weight Of The Wind (Demo)*
9.Maybe, Maybe (Demo)*
10. Soft Rains Of April (Guitar Version)*
11. Scoundrel Days (Octocon Studios Demo)*

12.This Alone is Love (Original Version)

13. Days On End
14. Train Of Thought (Live In Croydon)*
15. I've Been Losing You (Live In Croydon)*
16. Blue Sky (Live In Croydon)*
17. Looking For The Whales (Live In Croydon)
18. Cry Wolf (Live In Croydon)*

Asterisks indicate previously unreleased recordings. And there you have it.

By the way, I'll be seeing a-ha at the Nokia Theatre in glorious NYC tomorrow evening. Expect tweets from the show and a full report over the weekend. Over and out!

Gray matter

Hard to believe it has been eleven years since Macy Gray graced our radio waves and television sets with her retro ditty, "I Try".

Well, now she's back, back, BACK! After a three year hiatus, Lady Gray returns with "Beauty In The World", a jaunty little handclapper from her forthcoming, fifth, studio longplayer, "The Sellout".

The colorful and quirky video was shot on a couple of locations including a concrete playground and a back alley where people throw their garbage.

Apparently, cheerleaders are still all the rage with video directors.

It's the combination of Macy's gravelly vocal deliver, stoner naiveté and slurry, soulful sensuality that generates interest in every new elpee she releases. Not every track on her albums are winners, but the right song always piques people's curiosity. And "Beauty In The World" has summer smash written all over it.

And what's not to love about a song that rhymes "beauty" with "booty". Genius!

Beyoncé poses a question

By the looks of things, I do believe Miss Beyoncé has been hanging around that Lady Gaga an awful lot. Seems she's been picking up some of her styling tips, too. B is best when she's just a touch campy and hits you with an uptempo groover. She certainly doesn't disappoint with her latest, "Why Don't You Love Me".



The video is like a late 50s family sitcom crossed with a 70s blacksploitation film. A brilliant juxtaposition of creative ideas.

But is this really another single from the "I Am... Sasha Fierce" project? If it is, it would be the NINTH to be lifted from it, which carries the distinction of possibly having the worst album title ever.

Sade in the sunshine

I'm back from the sunny climes of LA just in time for Sade to release "Babyfather", the second single from their best selling, critically acclaimed elpee, "Soldier Of Love".

It's a breezy, summery song with a bit of a dub reggae lilt to it. Always a fan favorite from the beginning, Sade has been hocking her wares and performing the tune on the US television chat show circuit. Strangely, there hasn't been a peep about a concert tour.

The video for "Babyfather" looks as if it was lensed in the side streets and alleyways around the City Of Angels and features Sade with her hair down for a more casual look. Hair pulled back is always a more serious affair.

Sade makes everyday, household chores look so damned glamorous! Loving the lime green number with the rubber gloves. A stylish ensemble! Now that I'm back from LA, it's time to dust and vacuum around the abode. Perhaps I should pull out some couture and get cleaning.

morning meanderings in the City Of Angels

It's a stunningly gorgeous day in my current locale, the magnificent city of Los Angeles. The glitter, the glamour, the grit. It's still a bit like the NYC of yore. The graffiti splattered urban jungle from the 70s and 80s. It's ironic that the home of Disney is not as gleemingly sterile as its east coast counterpart.

But that's part of what made NYC more sexy and seductive 25 or 30 years ago. The smell of the greasepaint on Broadway or the curious melange of urine and rotting garbage in the grimy subways. The seedy underbelly of 42nd Street or LES (Lower East Side for our out-of-towners). It allowed for art, fashion and music - the towering triumvirate still present across Europe - to feed off each other in an organic frenzy. NYC was king beat and every walk of life on that tiny island collided and conspired to create disco, freestyle and hip-hop.

Now the city is sanitized. Don't get me wrong. I still love it. But it has been scrubbed clean. Simultaneously with that, technology moved the music off the streets and into the sleepy bedrooms of the suburbs. That once vibrant scene is a distant memory. Most of the record shops are gone. The iconic concert venues have been shuttered. Communities and creative collectives have taken up residence online. Now the streets are alive with the sound of high end eateries and upscale fashion boutiques. It's all very "Sex In The City". A Carrie Bradshaw wannabe sipping a latte on every corner.

But back to LA. The artifice. The air of phoniness. The laid back insincerity. That layer is ever apparent. But there are still a few places where you can dig a little deeper. Just like any city, really. Due to it's sprawling nature, LA still has some grit to it. There's a sense of us and them. Both ends of the financial spectrum are well represented and, therefore, tension exists. That underlying sturm und drang is marinade for the musical masses.

Right underneath the scalpel enhanced noses of the botox revolution and the phalanx of fake tits, there is a heartbeat among the creative classes. It's all tears and tiaras. A clutch of people honing their emotive crafts in the shadow of the entertainment machine.

There's a sense of energy being created by the rubbing together of sticks despite the presence of reality show renegades and pseudo celebrities. The very existence of the Hollywood system, and the desire to simultaneously reject it and aspire to it, is the friction that fuels the artistic fire in this town. LA still has pockets of that inspiring urgency NYC lost during the millennial shift.

Perhaps I'm romanticizing it a bit too much. This is what I ponder in the quiet, early morning hours of a jetlag induced haze. With a cup of tea in hand and a laptop at the ready, it's a sunshine day in LA. And my soundtrack for the thoughts brewing and swirling around my cerebrum? The sonic sensuality of Maxwell.

He's touring with Jill Scott this summer. And he just dropped the magnificent, fourth single from his still gorgeous, fourth longplayer, "BLACKsummers'night"



A beautiful, piano driven, soul ballad dripped in shades of Marvin Gaye and Al Green. Love the simplicity of the video with its nod toward old school, Hollywood variety shows like "The Ed Sullivan Show".



Will you look at the time? Gotta dash and make my way over to Amoeba to scour the bins for valuable audio baubles. But first, I'm gonna swing by Robeks and pick up a freshly made, carrot juice with extra ginger to kickstart my afternoon. Health, health, health! Welcome to LA.

you spin me round

Alphabeat are a clever lot. They're fun. They shimmy their Danish asses on the borderline without straying into being twee.

Case in point... Their new single, "DJ (I Could Be Dancing)", not only has the benefit of a parenthetical prefix added to the title, it also sports a cute, budget impaired video. Let's take a peek.



Looks like that "set" is held together with chewing gum and sellotape. (That's Scotch tape for our American readers.) I feel a bit sorry for ver Beat. You can almost feel their lack of enthusiasm as they plod through their bouncy tune with what amounts to little more than an empty room adorned with two round platforms. The money would've been better spent had they did something a little more DIY with a couple of handhelds.

As for the single, I like the way it has been freshened up and reswizzled. Who doesn't like a classic, 90s house piano and Black Box inspired, vocal samples?

"DJ" has been a fan favorite of their current album, "The Spell" (or the lamely titled "The Beat Is..." as it is known in the UK), and will finally see a release on May 31. I just wish the rest of the elpee was as tingle inducing as the three singles lifted from it.

give us some Pixies and some Roses and some Valentines

The Divine Comedy come crashing back down to Earth with "Indie Disco", a brand new tune from their forthcoming elpee, "Bang Goest The Neighbourhood". Thankfully, Neil Hannon has splashed out a wee bit of cash on an accompanying video.

After Neil released his collaborative side project, The Duckworth Lewis Method, last year he's back in his guise as TDC with a simple song about love at the local danceateria. To these ears, "Indie Disco" has specks of 90s vintage Blur and Pulp mixed in with the usual 60s inspired string filigree. It's a jaunty, little number without a sniff of foppery.

The namechecking throughout the song is sweet without ever being twee. The late 60s Britannia cool color blocking visuals and the obvious use of the towering Elvis/Tom Jones inspired title in lights. The last shot of the growing pile of record sleeves is a lovely, ironic, arched eyebrow moment.

Well done, my good man!

timezone hydroplaning

Not much to report here. We're all waiting breathless for new albums from Scissor Sisters and Kylie Minogue. It seems the competition knows these are on target to be albums of epic proportions for many pop aficionados. So the slate is a bit bare until then.

If you come to realize I'm not checking in on a regularly here and across all my social media hangouts, blame it on the timezone hydroplaning. I will be away from my home base quite a bit over the next couple of weeks for a not so super secret mission that will shift my orbit in the coming months. Plus, I'll be toiling away in the studio on a few projects in between. Exciting times, indeed!

In the meantime, with Goldfrapp playing on my iPod over and over ad infinitum, please enjoy the latest visual nugget from Gorillaz. Not sure if this is the official video for "Superfast Jellyfish", the second single lifted from their latest longplayer, "Plastic Beach". Whatever the case, it's still entertaining.