Possibly the best Office theme on earth.
Seminal post-rockers Mogwai have announced a North American tour in support of their most recent album Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will and EP Earth Division.
The Scottish band was supposed to tour earlier this year, but due to visa issues and “medical reasons,” the group was forced to postpone five U.S. dates along the East Coast, including their set at All Tomorrow’s Parties’ I’ll Be Your Mirror festival in Asbury Park, New Jersey.
Back in September, the group wrote in their newsletter, “It is with the utmost regret that for medical reasons we have to postpone our American shows this week… We will announce new dates as soon as possible and apologise for the last minute nature of this announcement.”
It only took 4 months for the announcement. See the tour dates below, along with a few more upcoming performances in Europe and South America:
02-16 Brussels, BE - Tour and Taxis
05-17 Santiago, CL - Teatro La Cupula
05-25 London, UK - ATP I’ll Be Your Mirror
05-26 London, UK - ATP I’ll Be Your Mirror
05-27 London, UK - ATP I’ll Be Your Mirror
05-29 Vancouver, BC - Commodore Ballroom
05-30 Portland, OR - Wonderball Room
06-01 San Francisco, CA - Regency Ballroom
06-02 Los Angeles, CA - The Music Box
06-03 Solana Beach, CA - Belly Up Tavern
06-08 Atlanta, GA - Center Stage
06-11 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club
06-12 Philadelphia, PA - Union Transfer
06-14 New York, NY - Webster Hall
06-15 New York, NY - Webster Hall
06-16 Boston, MA - House of Blues
06-17 Montreal, QC - Metropolis
06-18 Toronto, ON - Phoenix Concert Theatre
06-20 Chicago, IL - Metro
2 Chainz, also known as Tity Boi in the rap duo Playaz Circle, has signed to Def Jam.
The move was officially announced yesterday on MTV’s RapFix Live. “At the end of the day, my new home and where I’ve been comfortable with for a minute is Def Jam,” 2 Chainz told RapFix Live host Sway.
Earlier this week, the Atlanta rapper confirmed in an interview with XXL that he had left Ludacris’ Disturbing Tha Peace label for major label Def Jam, where Ludacris is also signed. “It’s not DTP no more… I just took another route as far as running my own company and bossing up. But on the other hand, I’m still working with him. He has an album coming out this year. Matter of fact, we are label mates, now, which is crazy. So, yeah, that’ll be cool. I’m looking forward to that.”
Chainz had signed onto DTP as part of Playaz Circle, but now that he’s been focused on his solo career, it was time for a change. “I feel I got knowledge in this game, although this is my first time I feel like the spotlight is directed towards me and my campaign,” he told XXL. “I just feel I’ve been doing it some time. I’m not tripping off that.”
His current focus is to release two albums this year. “I got plenty of songs and plenty of concepts and I don’t plan on putting out any more mixtapes for now so I need another venue to put out music.”
The Foo Fighters have just released a new music video for These Days, the third single off their incomparable Wasting Light album.
The clip shows some really moving scenes of family life for Dave Grohl as he prepares to leave his home, young wife and family to go touring on the road again. More “literally moving” scenes follow of footage from the New Zealand concert where seismographs nearby recorded earth tremors caused by the band’s music and the weight of all 50,000 fans packed inside the stadium. Frontman Dave Grohl recalls of the New Zealand show, “I didn’t notice when it was happening, but our sound guy could feel the ground moving up and down.”
Footage of the band performing in front of the packed stadium is truly amazing. Who would not want to be a rock star, performing in front of all those adoring fans?
Next week the ground might move again when the Foos perform at the Grammy Awards in LA, where they are nominated in six categories including the Album of the Year nomination for Wasting Light.
In the week following, the Foo Fighters will headline a concert fundraiser for Barack Obama as he launches his bid for a second term in the White House. The Foo Fighters have always been staunch supporters of Barack Obama, and are absolutely backing the President’s bid for re-election. Speaking out about their support, Dave Grohl said, “He’s got the toughest job on earth. I would hate to hand the administration over to another party that is just focused on corporations, greed and money. You know, I’m a fun, peace-loving guy, but sometimes the right wing gets a little too selfish.”
“These Days” is a great song. The music video shows some really warm, moving scenes.
Foo Fighters - “These Days”
“(Kissed You) Good Night” is Gloriana’s first music video since they became a trio. The video tells a love story between actress Megan Park and actor/singer Tyler Hilton.
Neil McCoy drops the video for “A-OK”, the first single from his upcoming album “XII”, expected in stores on March 6. The album is produced by Blake Shelton, Miranda Lambert and Brent Rowan.
In September 2009, Josh Kelley and his wife Katherine Heigl adopted a young South Koreean girl named Naleigh. Now Josh sings the love for his daughter in his new video “Naleigh Moon”, directed by his wife.
2011 will likely go down in Ben Gibbard’s memory as an eventful year. His band, Death Cab for Cutie, narrowly escaped serious injury at a show in Ottawa last summer when the stage collapsed just prior to them playing. Then, by year’s end, his short marriage to actress and singer Zooey Deschanel was in ruins. The couple filed for divorce in early January.
With a new year in progress the veteran Seattle pop rock band returns to the road to promote their eighth studio album, “Codes and Keys,” which was released in the spring of 2011 and is nominated for a 2012 Grammy Award for “Best Alternative Music Album.” This new touring bout includes a show in March in Singapore and continues with a U.S. trek that begins in April in Denver, Colorado. More dates through Europe and the rest of the world are expected for the summer.
KOvideo caught up with Gibbard at his home during a break. It’s certainly been a life changing few years for the 35-year-old Washington State native. For one thing, and it’s a very big thing, “Codes and Keys” was the first record he made sober. Following DCFC’s 2008 chart topper “Narrow Stairs,” Gibbard stopped drinking. While Gibbard’s personal life is out-of-bounds, he talks candidly about that and his passion for making (and listening to) music.
KOvideo What’s your favorite thing to do when relaxing at home?
Ben Gibbard I really look forward to being in the living room and putting on to a record. I associate being at home with listening to records and being in one place. Listening to records is very symbolic of music being sedentary. I spend so much of my life with music and being in constant motion that it’s nice to be able to interact with music in a sedentary way where it stays in one place. The only movement you have to worry about is turning over the record in twenty minutes.
Live music is a very different beast to listening to a record, isn’t it.
That’s also great, but so much of my life is doing things like that in the live situation that I very much relish music being in one place for a while.
Plus, all you have to do is put the record on and listen. You do not have to perform, even if you’re listening to Death Cab. It’s more passive.
Yeah, but you have to be attentive. You have to also be aware that you are going to have to get up from your chair and flip the thing over. It requires due diligence. [Laughs]
Since “Narrow Stairs” was released you’ve had a number one album with that record and had this record debut Top Ten on the Billboard chart in the U.S. – number three to be precise – and this time it was without having to do any promotion. That must feel pretty good.
It does feel good. It’s nice, most importantly, now almost fourteen years into doing this, is the fact that the band has survived for so much longer than I ever thought it would. It feels really great that people still listen. That the music that I’m writing and we’re putting together is still finding a place in people’s lives. At the end of the day, that’s the most important thing. It was a hoot to have a number one record for a week and it was great that so many people went out and bought “Codes and Keys” in the first week. My biggest concern as a musician and as a songwriter is to keep my head down and focus on what is important as an artist. And that is to keep creating things and never rest on your laurels.
Do you mind if we talk bout your sobriety – is this the first album you made since you quit the hooch?
It was, yeah.
How was that? Was it a different experience to before?
It certainly is a lot easier to write when you aren’t hung-over. You get a lot more done in a day when you don’t wake up angry. I would never go so far as to say that the tone of this record related to that change in my lifestyle. But I certainly think that I’ve got a lot more work done in the years since I quit drinking than I did in an average year when I was. If only because you are not pissing away hours of your evening and the next day subsequently feeling bad about it, you know. I’ve always been an early riser and it’s a lot easier to rise when you aren’t affected by what you’ve done the night before. It’s a lot easier to get to the studio; it’s a lot easier to get to work.
Are you surprised that you are still inspired all these years later?
The four of us are like sponges for music. We’re all constantly inspired every time we start to make a record because someone’s got a new piece of gear, or they’ve found a new record with a great keyboard sound: It’s like, ‘Oh, I just bought his new thing that makes this weird sound that would work great on that song’. As long as those moment are still happening, that’s just who we are. I don’t know if I’m in a position to say this or not, but I think every record we’ve made has been different than the record previous. Apart from two records n the middle of our career perhaps.
Any secret ambitions left, anything else you’d like to achieve?
I suppose my goals now as a musician don’t have a number attached to them, they don’t have an award attached to them. It’s not like it’s my goal to win a Grammy, not that I don’t welcome the opportunity. But selling triple platinum with this record isn’t a concern of mine and those things never ever have been. The important thing is to try and keep making music that excites me, primarily, and excites my band members, and fires us up to get in the studio and make more records. As long as I continue that I think I’ll continue living the life I want as a musician.
We surpassed all the modest goals we had as a band in like 2003. [Laughs.] Everything about the last eight years has been gravy. If the band ended tomorrow I wouldn’t feel like I’ve missed out on some opportunity, or we didn’t accomplish what we needed to accomplish. It doesn’t make everything we do from that point on futile as much as you realize that the only reason we’re doing this is because it’s fun and we feel inspired to do it. I think that in a way that’s a much more freeing position to be in than if you have some goal that you’re trying to accomplish. If you’re goal is to win Grammies then that’s a pretty piss poor reason to make music. That’s not why you do it. As long as that remains our focus, the joy of doing it, then I want to keep doing it.
Paula Abdul will not be a part of The X Factor’s next season.
According to E! News, the long-time reality show judge has not been renewed for the 2012 edition show, which means that next season’s X Factor line-up will have several new faces, as co-hosts Steve Jones and Nicole Sherzinger had already been fired earlier. The news of her departure from X Factor’s judge panel has been confirmed by Fox network and Abdul herself.
The decision to let her go comes as a major shock as the former American Idol judge is a close friend of X Factor creator Simon Cowell.
One of E! News’ inside source told them: “She found out today. At this point, the only ones staying are Simon and L.A. Reid.”
“Simon wants to take the show in a different direction,” a separate informer revealed.
Could it be a negotiation strategy by Fox to get Abdul to lower down her salary demands? The general belief is that this surprising parting of ways is a product of artistic differences and is pretty much genuine.
The news also baffled Nigel Lythgoe, who immediately recorded his response on micro-blogging website Twitter.com. “Shocked to see Simon has fired Paula Abdul, Nicole and Steve from the X-Factor,” he tweeted.
Rapper Bow Wow has led some to believe that he previously engaged in a short-lived romantic fling with reality star Kim Kardashian. While speaking with the radio station Power 105.1 this past January 27th, the twenty-four year old was asked about his past love life, and his connections with Angela Simmons and singer Ciara.
It wasn’t until Kim Kardashian’s name was brought up by Power’s host that Bow Wow (according to Global Grind) cracked a smile and seemed to be caught off guard. Addressing the question on air, the singer and actor replied evasively. “Yo, I just want to know one thing though. Where did you hear ‘that’ one from? [Just say it’s not true and we can leave it alone?] I just want to know where you heard that one from.”
The ‘Roll and Bounce’ star did admit however they he once knew Kim Kardashian on a personal level. “We were cool. [Did we make a tape?] No. I think we’ve all been guilty of hitting the record button on the iPhone once in a while. To be honest, I have not seen, heard nor spoke to Kim in, I would say, like two years. Yeah. Yeah. But, sweet person, cool peoples.”
Surprisingly Bow Wow’s possible admission that he may have had a brief fling with Kim Kardashian has yet to get a response from the socialite, or her camp.
The ‘Get In It’ singer also spoke about his daughter, making a possible movie about his life after talking with Snoop Dogg, and reuniting with his father during the interview. Watch his talk with 105.1 in a clip below.
Madonna, the Queen of Pop, will headline the halftime show of the Super Bowl XLVI next Sunday. The halftime show is one THE most watched shows on the planet, being watched by viewers all around the globe. Last year more than 100 million watched the game. The halftime ad spaces are highly sought after, this year commanding a price upwards of $3.5 million per 30 second advertisement.
At the Super Bowl on next Sunday, Feb. 5, Kelly Clarkson will sing the national anthem, Miranda Lambert and Blake Shelton will sing “America the Beautiful”, and Madonna will headline the halftime show. Various reports indicate that during the 12 minute set, Madonna will be joined by Nicki Minaj and party-boy rockers LMFAO.
Recently in an interview with Jay Leno, Madonna said that the Super Bowl performance is going to be “the most nerve-racking thing I’ve ever done … The Super Bowl is like the Holy of Holies of America…And I have to go on in the middle of that ‘Holy of Holies’ and put on the greatest show that was ever put on before.”
Asked for a hint about what she’ll be doing in those 12 minutes, Madonna said, “I’ll be singing.“
Though Madonna’s set list is not yet officially announced, fans might expect her to give “all her luvvin’, provide a ray of light and be in vogue with her music.” Does this mean that the set list will include “Ray of Light”, “Music”, and “Vogue”?
The timing of the performance concerns the performer. Madonna said, “I have eight minutes to set it up and seven minutes to take it down. I have 12 minutes to put on the greatest show on earth. Okay, that’s a lot of pressure.“
At this stage, next Sunday’s Super Bowl leaves a lot to the unexpected - the game result, the ads, the halftime show - but everyone is expecting the show to be great, if not the greatest show on Earth.
Madonna - “Vogue”
