Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Music News & Notes

Jennifer Hudson Super Bowl lip-synching explained

Show's producer says 'it was the right way to do it'

The producer of Jennifer Hudson’s performance at Sunday night’s Super Bowl has an explaination as to why the Oscar-winner lip-synched instead of singing live.

The singer, who recently suffered the tragic loss of three members of her family in a triple-shooting, sang the national anthem at the opening of the game between the Arizona Cardinals and the Pittsburgh Steelers, and producer Ricky Minor says miming was the “right way to do it.”

"This was such an important performance, because it's the first time everyone has seen Jennifer," Minor said. "But she's in such a great place, with such great spirits, and time can heal her wounds. She's on fire right now and totally grounded."

"That's the right way to do it," he said. “There's too many variables to go live. I would never recommend any artist go live, because the slightest glitch would devastate the performance."

Minor also said that she got many calls and messages directly after the performance, including a text message from actor Jamie Foxx which said “Amazing. It brought tears to my eyes."

=============================

Flamin' Groovies Reunite

Flamin' Groovies principals Cyril Jordan and Roy Loney have decided to reunite for the first time since 1971, at the eighth Ponderosa Stomp festival, to be held April 28-29 at New Orleans' House of Blues.

The Flamin' Groovies formed in San Francisco in 1965 and set a template for the power pop movement with their 1969 debut, "Supersnazz," and the 1970 follow-up, "Flamingo."

Loney left the Flamin' Groovies after the album "Teenage Head," and the Groovies were largely dormant until 1976, when Chris Wilson replaced Loney. That year's album "Shake Some Action" spawned a cult classic single of the same name, and was the group's only release to ever reach the Billboard 200 (No. 142).

=============================

Record Store Day 2


With the rest of the economy joining the music business in a perilous free fall, independent record stores are getting hit hard right now. But help is on the way in the form of the second annual Record Store Day, which will be celebrated April 18 at independent record stores around the country. And, as an incentive to get customers back into the shops, Matador is releasing several great limited edition vinyl specials.

There's a 7" with Sonic Youth covering Beck's "Pay No Mind" on the A-side and Beck doing SY's "Green Light on the flip, a previously unreleased LP of a 1997 Pavement gig from Cologne, Germany and another 7" with Jay Reatard's "Hang Them All" on the top and Sonic Youth's "No Garage" on bottom.

Only 2,500 copies of each record will be available at participating Record Store Day spots.

Matador Record Store Day Limited Edition Vinyl:

Pavement: Live in Germany [Cologne, 1997]

Pay No Mind 7"

A1: Sonic Youth: "Pay No Mind" (Beck cover)
B1: Beck: "Green Light" (Sonic Youth cover)

Hang Them All 7"

A1: Jay Reatard: "Hang Them All"
B1: Sonic Youth: "No Garage"

=============================

Cursive set release date for "Mama, I'm Swollen"

Cursive have announced the details and release date for their forthcoming album. The record is titled Mama, I'm Swollen and is due out March 10, 2009.

The band notes that due to the extremely short turnaround between today and the release, vinyl will not be ready for a simultaneous release on March 10th. The band is promising "180 gram vinyl and cool deluxe packaging." The album was also described like this:

Mama, I'm Swollen finds Kasher at his literate, lyrical best, where references to both Poe (“Going To Hell”) and Pinocchio (“Donkeys”) are intertwined seamlessly within his own tales of characters grappling with the moral quandary of being human, adult, and playing a role in ‘civilized’ society. Musically, Cursive is as smart and sophisticated as ever, the songs’ rousing, cerebral content complemented by moments alternately hushed and exhilarating (the cathartic “From The Hips,” the noisily melodic romp “I Couldn’t Love You”), eerily moody and jaunty (the almost prayer-like “Let Me Up,” “Mama, I’m Swollen”) – moments that often occur within the very same song.

From the charging bass lines of album opener “In The Now” to the quiet first chords of confessional closer “What Have I Done?”, Mama, I'm Swollen is a natural progression that remains distinctively Cursive: a fluid amalgamation of the band’s sound past, present, and future – a band that both your punk kid sister and English lit grad student best friend can call their own.

No comments: