in the news: silent song

November 9, 2010 in music

I’ve had trouble coming up with something to blog about today so what does one do when words fail? Turn to silent song, of course.

The British charity single, “2 Minute Silence” has been released to support the Royal British Legion ahead of Remembrance Sunday (when Brits observe two minutes silence at 11am).

The song may not have any words but the film clip features British Prime Minister David Cameron, Radiohead’s Thom Yorke, tennis player Andy Murray and British actors Bob Hoskins and David Tennant.

The Royal British Legion’s director general, Chris Simpkins, told the Daily Telegraph, “rather than record a song, we felt the UK public would recognise the poignancy of silence and its clear association with remembrance.”

The track costs £1 and over 29,000 Facebook user have joined a group entitled, I’m going to get the Legion to Number 1 for Remembrance Sunday.

See a sneak peak below and then go do your bit for the Royal British Legion.

in the news: the iphone band

October 19, 2010 in music

Atomic Tom, a four-piece band from Brooklyn, have been performing for a while but nobody really paid them much attention. After all, there are a lot of semi-decent bands in NYC.

Over the past few days, however, this band has become rather popular. On Friday, the group performed its single “Take Me Out” on New York’s B Train using their iPhones as their instruments.

Now I know a thing or two about viral campaigns and I have to say this is a pretty awesome idea. It’s had great success for the band, with their album now hitting #11 in the iTunes charts.

Publicity stunt aside, you’ve got to give it to the boys for creativity and iTalent. Enjoy!

monday mash-up

August 2, 2010 in music, news

It’s that time of week again when Mondayitis hits us all hard. Unless you’re at home playing nurse to a boy who just had surgery to fix his collarbone. Then you’re probably keeping yourself entertained by surfing the net while he’s in a drugged-out haze. Here’s the best of what I’ve found today:

Just in case you missed it, America’s closest thing to a royal wedding took place over the weekend – Chelsea Clinton married long-time boyfriend Marc Mezvinsky in Rhinebeck, NY. Hillary and Bill were there, of course, as were a whole host of A-grade (Democrat) celebs. Reports say the ceremony was conducted by a rabbi and a reverend as the bride is Methodist and her groom is Jewish, with the couple reading a poem by Leo Marks titled The Life I Have. Chelsea wore a gorgeous, traditional Vera Wang gown for the ceremony (see right) and changed into Grecian-style gown by the designer for the ceremony. See more photos at Jezebel.com.

Apparently Richard Ashcroft wasn’t feeling the Splendour in the Grass vibe last night. The former front man of The Verve stormed off stage during his set at the festival because he was unhappy with the small crowd that had come to watch him. He reportedly lashed out at Splendour organisers for putting him on at the same time as two of the festival’s major draws, Empire of the Sun and the Pixies. He stopped mid-song, told startled fans he may as well go and watch the Pixies instead of continuing with his set, threw down his tambourine and stormed off to a waiting car. Read more at news.com.

Finally, check out musicovery.com – it’s an online radio station that matches the music to your mood. Just pick where you fit on the matrix of energetic vs calm and dark vs positive or choose an artist to set the mood. At the moment, I’m feeling Porcelain by Moby.

top tunes: odessa by caribou

April 24, 2010 in music

I’m generally a “real instrument” kind of girl but for some reason this electronic tune by Canadian artist Caribou (formerly Manitoba) has got under my skin. It’s been on high rotation on Triple J for a while now but if you haven’t heard it, click on the sample below.

in the news: powderfinger to disband

April 9, 2010 in music, news

Sad news today that one of the successful bands out of Brisbane will call it quits after 20 years. Powderfinger will disband (so to speak) after a seven-week tour through 21 cities in September-October this year.

At the press conference this morning, Bernard Fanning read a statement on behalf of the band:

With the completion of our last album, Golden Rule, we feel that we have said all that we want to say as a musical group. We firmly believe that it is our most complete and satisfying album and can’t think of a better way to farewell our fans than with music that we all believe in and also with, hopefully, our best tour to date.

Powderfinger will be supported on the “Sunsets” tour by fellow Aussie rockers Jet (except in Brisbane, the Gold Coast and Newcastle, where they will be supported by The Vines). Tickets go on sale 30 April at 9am EST.