“Touch’n You” — Rick Ross ft. Usher
Rick Ross shows off his softer side with Usher by his side in the music video for “Touch’n You,” the first single off the upcoming album God Forgives I Don’t. It’s a little weird seeing Rozay doing something other than rapping about guns and drugs, but he wines and dines his lady convincingly enough, playing chess and lounging by the pool together. Meanwhile, Usher whispers and croons sweet nothings causing women everywhere to get weak in the knees. God Forgives I Don’t drops on July 31.
“Good Girls (Don’t Grow on Trees)” — Cris Cab ft. Big Sean
Nineteen-year-old Cris Cab is probably the world’s happiest up and coming artist right now. Not only did Pharell co-write his first single “Good Girls (Don’t Grow on Trees)” and Big Sean lend his talent to the single, but Wyclef Jean also produced this great reggae-inspired track. That’s three hip-hop powerhouses putting faith in a kid from Miami whose claim to fame is quirky covers of hip hop songs and the result is wonderful. Cab sings about treating his woman right, since good girls are special and hard to find. It’s nice to see a young man brought up so well…I wonder if he’s single…
“Good Time” — Owl City & Carly Rae Jepsen Read more…
Selena Gomez will be hosting and performing at the 2011 VMAs, which airs live on Sunday, June 19 at 9 p.m. ET. That’s right, singer/songwriter/actress Selena Gomez is confirmed to co-host and perform at one of the hottest award shows of the year.
Gomez currently has more than 18 million Likes on her Facebook fan page and nearly five million Twitter followers. The rising star also took home Favorite TV Actress at the KIDS CHOICE AWARDS this year and her band, Selena Gomez & the Scene, won Favorite Breakout Artist at the PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARDS, beating heavyweights Justin Bieber and Ke$ha. So it’s no surprise the star will be the host – she’s a hot ticket!
With her band’s third studio album due out June 28, her latest film, Monte Carlo in theatres July 1, and her We Own The Night summer tour, Gomez is no doubtedly busy this summer. But the star is making some time for Canada, kicking off her busy summer up with a few thousand of her closest friends during the biggest street party in the world. This marks Gomez’s first trip to MuchMusic HQ and the MMVAs.
“I am thrilled and honoured to host the MuchMusic Video Awards,” said Gomez. “I look forward to seeing all my Canadian fans and kicking off the summer together.”
“Selena Gomez is a bona fide star,” adds Sheila Sullivan, Executive Producer, 2011 MUCHMUSIC VIDEO AWARDS. “Her films and TV show are seen around the world and her songs are topping the charts. Now she brings her signature smile to the MMVAs stage where her fans are guaranteed to welcome her to the most exciting and loudest award show on earth…don’t worry Selena, we supply earplugs.”
Past MMVAs performers and presenters include Drake, Ke$ha, Justin Bieber, Katy Perry, Nickelback, Rihanna, Kelly Clarkson, Britney Spears, Kanye West and more, and this year is sure to be no different. Be sure to tune in!
Don’t say you’ve seen an electro-group perform live, until you’ve seen DUBBS.
It’s only fair really.
Instead of going up on stage like most groups only to then just press a play button on a laptop, DUBBS re-creates every aspect of the beat-pumping tune with a variety of equipment- giving the audience the most real-live dynamic electro-concert experience possible.
The three-man Canadian team consists of brothers Alex (Vocals) and Chris (Drums) Van Den Hoeff, and Ottawa producer Martin Sinotte, who hope to make a name for themselves with their revolutionary club-bopping tracks and unique live sound-experience.
“Most DJ’s just turn knobs to play a hit song. That’s it,” says Sinotte. “But then you have us who play the song with a live beat pad, live keyboard, live everything. You have Alex singing, Chris on drums. It gets wild.”
Adds Alex, “It’s a poppy-techno sound with a twist. We call it a new age of electro-house.”
Amy Millan is helping out to raise money for Haiti
While Hollywood and the rest of the world organize to provide relief for the victims of the recent earthquake in Haiti, Canadian stars are lending their support, reports CBC.
Ottawa poet Oni the Haitian Sensation put on a benefit concert at Babylon nightclub Thursday. Others with family in Haiti also performed, such as Cuban musician Cesar Ricardo and Staff 613, a band who plays Haitian music. About 200 people attended, raising $8,000 for Humanitarian Coalition.
Ottawa’s Haitian community is also planning a fundraiser Jan. 22 at Maison du Citoyen in Gatineau, QC.
Forming a band in Canada is kind of like raising a barn. You send word to the neighbourhood, calling for all the essential tools, and on production day, whoever wants to lend a hand can get in on the project.
It happened with Broken Social Scene, as Toronto’s indie scene amalgamated into a pre-emptive supergroup of some of the country’s best songwriters. And just when fans began getting comfortable with the lineup, BSS parted ways to take on this century’s music industry from all angles. Emily Haines became Metric, Feist went solo, a large contingent became Stars, and the rest split their separate ways forming Do Make Say Think, Apostle of Hustle, The Weakerthans, Land of Talk and so forth.
Silver Starling made their public debut in 2009, yet another offspring of the ever-expanding aftermath. Founded in Montreal by Marcus Pacquin (who helped in the studios of both Stars and Arcade Fire) and Liam O’Neil (originally of Young Galaxy), Silver Starling was only supposed to be a two-man affair at first. But then Pacquin’s wife, Marika Anthony-Shaw, got in on the deal adding a unique touch of strings (viola, specifically) during breaks from touring with Arcade Fire herself. As the songs began calling for a rhythm section, more musicians were called upon, and soon Gab Lambert (of Marathon) and Peter X (of We are Star 69) gained permanent standing.
Amy Millan
You may know her from her band Stars, but Amy Millan has a strong solo career. Earlier this year she released her excellent sophomore solo album, Masters of the Burial. I sat down for a beer with Amy, and caught up about her new album, music blogs, and Broken Social Scene. Check out www.amymillan.com for more!
The Sam Roberts Band and Stars have joined the lineup for the 2009 Hillside Inside festival.
The indoor event, which takes over Sleeman Centre in Guelph, Ont., on Feb. 7, will also feature Bedouin Soundclash, K’Naan, Great Lake Swimmers, Bell Orchestra and others.
Ticket information and a full list of performers can be found at the official Hillside website here.
The inaugural Hillside Inside festival took place earlier this year and was headlined by City And Colour and The Weakerthans.
The event is a winter spin-off of Guelph’s annual Hillside Festival in the summer, which enters its 26th year in July.
The Sam Roberts Band will preface their Hillside gig with a tour across Canada starting on Jan. 8, accompanied by The Stills.
Meanwhile, Stars will have their own mini-tour in Australia and Japan leading up to Hillside.
Stars fans will be happy to know that “Sad Robots” is almost here.
The Montreal-based group have announced they will release their six-track EP exclusively through sadrobots.ca on Sept. 1.
The EP, which was written and recorded this past summer at Montreal’s Studio Plateau, features five new songs and a live version of “Going, Going, Gone,” off the band’s 2001 debut album “Nightsongs.”
Those who go to the web page after Aug. 31 will be able to download an MP3 of the live track for free.
Limited edition physical copies of the EP will also be sold at shows during Stars’ upcoming North American tour.
The tour, which kicks off Sept. 17, will see the band “unveil the beauty and tragedy of Sad Robots with an all new live show, draped in the Sad Robots visuals,” according to the official statement.
They will play material from all four of their full-length albums, including their most recent release “In Our Bedroom After The War,” which was nominated for the 2008 Polaris Prize.
Here are Stars’ Canadian dates, accompanied by fellow Canucks Hey Rosetta!:
• Oct. 29 – Fredericton, NB @ SUB Ballroom (University Of New Brunswick)
• Oct. 30 – Moncton, NB @ The Manhattan Club
• Oct. 31 – Charlottetown, PEI @ The Wave (University Of Prince Edward Island)
• Nov. 1 – Halifax, NS @ The Marquee Club
• Nov. 3 – St. John’s, NL @ Club One
Death Cab for Cutie is coming to Toronto’s Olympic Island.
The Bellingham, Wash., band will headline an outdoor music festival on the island June 7, along with Rogue Wave and Canadians Stars and Young Galaxy.
The event is being presented by ATG Concerts, RMS Concerts and Toronto radio station 102.1 The Edge.
Tickets will go on sale via Ticketmaster at noon on Thursday, and will be available at Toronto’s Horseshoe Tavern, Rotate This and Soundscapes on Friday.
The Olympic Island mini-concert extravaganza has attracted such acts as Modest Mouse, Sloan, Bloc Party and Broken Social Scene in previous years.
For those that can’t wait until June for their Death Cab fix, the band’s newest album “Narrow Stairs” will hit stores May 13. It is the follow-up to 2005′s “Plans,” which was nominated for a best alternative music album Grammy.
Stars are backing their fourth studio album “In Our Bedroom After The War,” which was released last September. The Montreal band will also be at Toronto’s Berkeley Church on Saturday to tape a concert for a television show called “Beautiful Noise.”
Young Galaxy, also based in Montreal, released their self-titled debut last April.
Just three of the 54 albums nominated for this year’s Shortlist Music Prize are by Canadian artists, reports ChartAttack.com.
The award is handed out for the best album released in the U.S. between January and November of last year that sold less than 500,000 copies domestically. Albums from 48 different labels and nine countries were nominated by Gary Lightbody of Snow Patrol, Ronnie Vannucci of The Killers and four radio personalities.
Lucky Canucks Feist, Arcade Fire and Stars will duke it out against the likes of Bjork, Justice, M.I.A., The Hives and Wilco. Previous winners include Sufjan Stevens, Damien Rice and N*E*R*D.
Canadians Arcade Fire, Feist and Stars are among 54 acts being considered for the Shortlist Music Prize.
The U.S. award is given to artists considered underappreciated and deserving of greater commercial success by a jury of musicians, producers and journalists.
Albums are only eligible for nomination if they have not been certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America ? that is, if they have sold fewer than 500,000 copies in the U.S.
Arcade Fire is nominated for their album “Neon Bible,” Feist for “The Reminder” and Stars for “In Our Bedroom After the War.”
The 2007 long list also includes Bjork’s “Volta,” Eddie Vedder’s “Into the Wild” soundtrack, PJ Harvey’s “White Chalk,” Wilco’s “Sky Blue Sky” and Klaxons’s “Myths of the Near Future.”
The jury for the Shortlist Organization, known as the “Listmakers,” is this year made up of Snow Patrol’s Gary Lightbody, the Killers’ Ronnie Vannucci, journalist Rev. Moose, DJ Chris Douridas and the hosts of Hunnypot Internet Radio.
Created in 2001, the Shortlist’s past winners include Sigur Ros, Damien Rice and last year’s winner, Cat Power for her album “The Greatest.”
A bevy of musicians, including a few big Canadian names, are throwing their support behind Lake Ontario Waterkeeper.
The grassroots environmental charity released “At The Barricades: Volume 1” last week, the first of three planned benefit albums featuring artists assembled by Canadian musician and producer Chris Brown. Among those contributing new and exclusive tracks to the compilation are Stars, Sarah Harmer, Broken Social Scene and the Tragically Hip’s Gord Downie.
Volume 2 and Volume 3 will be released in 2008 and 2009, respectively.
“‘At The Barricades’ reflects the efforts of musicians committed to the fight for clean air and water,” said Brown.
To celebrate the release of Volume 1, Lake Ontario Waterkeeper will hold two shows in Ontario this week. Toronto’s Dakota Tavern will host the first one on Thursday, featuring performances from Citizen’s Band, Tony Scherr, drummer Anton Fier and other artists who appear on the compilation album.
On Friday, the artists will perform at the General Wolfe Hotel on Wolfe Island near Kingston, Ont. The show will be accompanied by a live taping of Waterkeeper’s weekly radio show and podcast, “Living At the Barricades.”
Created in 2001, Lake Ontario Waterkeeper is one of 160 chapters of the Waterkeeper Alliance. The group aims to take back the public’s right to safely swim, drink and fish in local waterways.
Here is the tracklisting for “At The Barricades: Volume 1”:
Edgar Mitchell — “Introduction”
Broken Social Scene — “Until It’s Dead”
Bruce Cockburn — “Beautiful Creatures”
Boi Brasiliero De Itaquitinga — “Toada De Cavallo Marinho” (Scotty Hard Mix)
Interlude
Chris Brown — “Oblivion”
Sarah Harmer — “Escarpment Blues” (Live)
Interlude
Sex Mob — “I Like It A Whole Lot”
Gordon Downie — “Nothing But Heartache In Your Social Life”
Mads Mouritz (Mouritz/Hoerslev Projektet) — “Paa Et Kontor”
Kate Fenner — “Old Man”
Pete Seeger — “Walking Down Death Row”
Stars — “1st 5 Times” (Remix)
Dave Bidini with The Scribbled Out Man — “The Monct On Hellraisers”
Tony Scherr — “Natural World”
Interlude
Bill Frisell — “Across The Universe”
