As promised, the new Gorillaz album The Fall — secretly recorded during the band's recent American tour entirely on Damon Albarn's iPad — will be released for free on the band's site Christmas Day (there's an Advent countdown calendar and everything). And as a Christmas Eve treat, the band has gone ahead and dropped the full version of The Fall track “Phoner to Arizona,” along with a mesmerizing fast-cut music video of scenes from the tour, the Gorillaz cartoon characters, and old-timey planes landing and taking off. Unlike their traditional star-stuffed, ultracatchy fare, this is the kind of stripped-down version of the band's bread and butter that you might expect Albarn to make while dealing with bumpy tour-bus rides, backed-up mobile septic tanks, bunk beds, and scratched up Grown Ups Blu-rays (aAlso: ladies!). Which means: a nearly instrumental, funky as hell four-plus minutes, full of synth burbles and keyboard noodles that would definitely sound great with Mos Def/Snoop/Lou Reed vocals. Check it out!
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The New Gorillaz Single Doesn’t Necessarily Not Sound Like Something Damon Albarn Made on His iPad While on Tour
By Amos BarshadFirst Lil Wayne's comeback single "Six Foot, Seven Foot" incited lasagna-gate; now, a fellow by the name of Nicholas RAS Furlong says he was ripped off for the track's sample (of Harry Belafonte's "Day-O (Banana Boat)"). Via Furlong's Twitter: "Wow … so I'm playing a few ideas in the studio last month with Bangladesh in the room … Just now hearing Lil' Wayne's new single … Tell me why the same exact sample I used in one of those songs, this dude goes home and flips? Coincidence? No … #HelloBiter." Bangladesh's manager denies that the producer has ever even met Furlong. We're going to have to give Bangladesh the benefit of the doubt on this one, not only because he's got a proven track record of top-notch production but also because he gives awesome interviews. Check out his reasoning for why he didn't send the beat to T.I.: "I've given him amazing beats before, and we just don't get anything done. At the end of the day it's really not the beats, it's about the artist. Some artists like to stay the same, and that's what T.I. does. He's in a place where he's not sure what he should be doing, so he stays in the same place because that's where he feels safe. My beats are not safe." [Billboard]
Jay Electronica, Jay-Z’s Latest Signee, Got a Mountain Dew Commercial
By Amos BarshadWhy is Jay Electronica — the well-respected, not-commercially-relevant emcee — starring in a national Mountain Dew ad campaign? Well, this is exactly the kind of stuff that happens when Jay-Z decides to put you on. Mirroring the look of that magical night of magic at NYC venue the Box when Electronica was officially signed to Roc Nation, the spot shows the dude doing a bit of his recent track “The Announcement” to a fervent crowd that disappears when he closes his eyes and then reappears when he opens them again. We would call out some of the more amusing elements of this — namely, the idea that Jay Electronica's preshow routine involves swigging Mountain Dew Code Red (“they call me Jay Electronica / fuck that, call me Jay elec-Mountain Dew”) — but if this commercial is really going to run on TV, that's actually fairly commendable, seeing as it's basically just a long shot of the guy rapping and not doing much else. Better question: Since when does Mountain Dew have TV commercials? And what does Code Red taste like again?
The opening party of the Cosmopolitan hotel in Las Vegas, going down on New Year's Eve, will feature performances from Jay-Z and his pal Chris Martin's band Coldplay, each copping up to a cool million bucks to play. Also on hand will be Jay's and Chris's respective significant others, Beyoncé and Gwyneth Paltrow, although they will not be performing (officially, that is). But, yeah: Best double date ever! [Page Six/NYP]
Big Boi Wins the Hearts and Minds of College Kids With Stage Banter About Drugs
By Amos BarshadLast night New York's Terminal 5 hosted the Winter Elixir, an event organized by the site BroBible.com (tagline: "Every bro has a story") featuring Big Boi and D.J. sets from LA Riots and Chromeo's Dave 1. It wasn't the ideal audience for Outkast's active half: A distinct majority was made up of what looked like college freshmen back for Christmas break, who were alternately making sure their ripped-up leggings were still strategically placed and figuring out whose parents were out of town in order to facilitate continued underage debauchery. We tried to do the math: So that means they were how old when Outkast was the biggest band in America?
The good news: Lauryn Hill has fully exited her recluse period, continuing to roll out tour dates, for a current total of seventeen shows that bounce between the East Coast, the Midwest, and Canada from the end of this month through February. The take-it-as-you-will news: A press release sent yesterday announcing the dates — in which Hill says she "may never play venues of this size again" — promises the "classics, reworked yet faithful to the rigor, soulfulness and power of the original music." Thoughts?
Paramore Ex-Members Tell All: ‘A Manufactured Product of a Major Label’
By Amos BarshadEven if you aren’t a fan of the once-ascendant pop-punk band Paramore, the drama surrounding their recent fracture is not to be ignored. The backstory: On Saturday, the band released a statement announcing that founding members and brothers Zac (drums) and Josh (guitar) Farro were leaving, saying, “None of us were really shocked. For the last year it hasn't seemed as if they wanted to be around anymore … we support them finding happiness elsewhere." Then, late yesterday, Zac and Josh shot back with their side of the story. It’s a doozy.
Odd Future Delivers a Contrarian Christmas Message
By Amos BarshadSeeing as they seem to hate everything, it’s not surprising that Internet famous rap crew Odd Future’s addition to the holiday-music canon would be a song called “Fuck This Christmas.” Continuing to channel the spirit of early Eminem — complete with tried-and-true sure-to-offend trademarks like dropping the F-word early and often, and sketching out detailed scenes of grisly violence, plus all brand-news ones like threatening to sodomize a beloved sci-fi character (you'll have to listen to find out who!) — the crew stays bluntly on message over a plodding near-nothing beat and a pitchy-on-purpose chorus. It’s unclear whether lines like “I drunk a fifth of eggnog / stole Santa’s reindeer / joy rolled the North pole” and “burn some Christmas trees with large amounts of thick snow” and "No more presents / no more cranberry sauce" are supposed to be funny or ominous or both, but no matter how you take them, they're sure to not get you in the Christmas spirit. Also unclear: Is it this Christmas in particular that's bothering Odd Future, or the tradition as a whole?
Leaked: Pitchfork Darling James Blake Slows Things Way Down
By Amos BarshadJames Blake, James Blake
Official Release Date: February 7, 2011
The Verdict: James Blake — the newbie British musician, not the Harvard-educated tennis player known for his powerful, flat forehand (thanks, Wikipedia!) — rode a triptych of EPs to indie fame this year, landing the eighth spot on Pitchfork's "Best Albums of the Year" list. And that's all before releasing his proper debut. Which, by the way, has just leaked.
Paul Wall — the man behind "Sittin' Sidewayz," one of the finest products to emerge from the early aughts Houston rap scene — has lost over 120 pounds with a procedure known as the gastric sleeve. He explains how he chose that particular option to Ozone: "Gastric bypass is the one where you lose the most weight the quickest; it’s for people who are 400-500 pounds and have health problems that they need to fix right away. Since [the weight loss] happens so fast it leaves you with a lot of saggy skin. The lap band, which is very popular, is when they put a band around your stomach and it makes you feel like you’re full, so you don’t eat. But there’s ways to cheat with it, and with the lap band, you can always get it removed to go back to normal. I decided to go with the gastric sleeve, because it’s a little more serious." Also: "I’ve probably worked out twice since I had [the surgery] and that was just a light workout." Paul Wall! [Vibe]
The Internet’s Latest Demand: Free Nas’s Lost Tapes 2!
By Amos BarshadOver the years, the Internet has demanded — and, of course, been given — a variety of pop-culture happenings: the phoenixlike rise of Betty White, the union of U.K. Christmas No. 1 and Rage Against the Machine song, and the much-deserved second life of Jericho, to name a few. Next up: the release of Lost Tapes 2, the sequel to the beloved 2002 collection of unreleased Nas tracks.
The Abbey Road street crossing has been listed at Grade II status for its "cultural and historical importance," meaning, we suppose, that it will be very difficult for anyone to build a mall over it. Says Minister for Tourism and Heritage John Penrose: "This London zebra crossing is no castle or cathedral but, thanks to the Beatles and a 10-minute photo-shoot one August morning in 1969, it has just as strong a claim as any to be seen as part of our heritage." Meanwhile, in America, all of the roads on which Bon Jovi did iconic things continue to go unrecognized. [BBC via Spinner]
Earlier this morning, two dudes broke into 50 Cent's 52-room Connecticut mansion through an unlocked door. They were caught at 6 a.m., with marijuana in their possession; also, the one in red, Alexander Hernandez, was found in a closet, drinking a bottle of wine he had ganked from 50's collection. They've been arrested and are being held on $50,000 bond, but look at their faces — they just had the best night ever! On a Monday, too. Damn, good job, guys. [TMZ]
Kings of Leon Continue to Cancel Shows in a Manner Not Befitting Their Rock-Star Swag
By Amos BarshadOf all the currently active bands who can sell out arenas and whose core members are under the age of 30, Kings of Leon alone possesses the kind of brashness and loud, guitar-based music fundamental to the traditional "rock star" aesthetic. So why do they keep letting us down by canceling shows for totally wimpy reasons?
Timbaland Has a Sad Christmas Message for You
By Amos BarshadOver the summer TMZ reported that Timbaland, so distraught after a $2 million Jacob & Co. watch went missing, took off without alerting his family to his whereabouts, leading to the cops being called in and rumors of a suicide scare floating. (Timbaland later explained it all to Ryan Seacrest, but didn't sound very happy while doing it.) Well, here comes the latest missive from the super-producer, and — yeah, he still sounds kind of bummed. The ostensible point is to officially announce his G.O.O.D. Friday–cribbing series Timbo Thursdays, which will launch in January with a new jam for your ears to enjoy weekly, forever. But Timbaland also sneaks in references to the giant-ass Christmas tree placed strategically behind him and all the secretive charitable work he's doing (100,000 PlayStation/Xboxes are going out for free!) that nobody even knows about. Mostly, though, if we were to take away one thing from the video, it's that nobody better take any more watches from Timbaland.
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