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Thursday, December 4, 2008
MUSIC
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ATLANTA (AP) -- Akon's explosive rise to the top of the music charts was fueled by feel-good songs and naughty grooves — but his criminal past was always an underlying part of his success. His breakthrough album was titled "Konvicted," his music company is called Konvict, and the clank of prison bars are often heard in his music.
The unique combination of sounds like disco, garage, electronic funk, quiet storm, and freestyle belong to San Serac, also know as Nat Rabb. His music stretches across the traditional boundaries of labels and it all began with the artist simply growing up around music. It's time for another Britney Spears comeback: Call this one the remix version. It was only last year that our damaged diva attempted to put the focus back on her once spectacular music career with "Blackout." A tight collection of sexy club-oriented grooves, "Blackout" was a delight, and had so much hit-worthy material even Janet Jackson could have been resurrected with it. CHICAGO (AP) -- Jennifer Hudson's estranged brother-in-law has been arrested in Illinois in the deaths of the singer's mother, brother and 7-year-old nephew. Authorities say 27-year-old William Balfour was arrested Monday at a prison where he was being held on a parole violation. A year after the release of Full Circle, Drowning Pool’s third CD, the multi-platinum Dallas rock band issued a third single from the album by popular demand. Before Death Cab For Cutie’s major-label debut, Plans, sold a million copies and got a Grammy nomination; before the band’s new CD, Narrow Stairs, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart; before the now-famous Death Cab For Cutie made it, the band took the Spanish Moon stage in Baton Rouge eight years ago to play for a grand total of three people. Guitarist Nathan Connolly joined Snow Patrol, the pop-rock band from Northern Ireland and Scotland whose international hits include “Chasing Cars” and “Run,” in the spring of 2002, three years before the group’s great success arrived. January 2004 was a big year for three New Orleans natives because it was the beginning of the band The Tomatoes. With influences like Tom Petty, the Rolling Stones and the Clash, band members Will Burdette (guitar/lead vocals), George Ortolano (bass/backup vocals) and Woody Vantagnan (drums) have lived their last four years together making music, touring the country and, of course, recording albums. Everyone in the Duke Spirit lives in London, but the British rock band’s epic touring means the stage may be more home to the group’s members than any particular street address. Following the 2006 release of Cuts Across The Land in the United States, the van-traveling Duke Spirit played an amazing 285 North American gigs. It’s rare that a rock or pop group carries on successfully after the loss of an identity-defining lead singer and lyricist. The 1980 suicide of Joy Division’s 23-year-old front man, Ian Curtis, left three shell-shocked musicians behind. NEW YORK (AP) -- Britney Spears is craving more freedom — and less of the "control" that's stabilized her personal life and reinvigorated her career over the last several months. In an upcoming behind-the-scenes documentary, the 26-year-old pop star says: "If I wasn't under the restraints that I'm under right now, with all the lawyers and doctors and people analyzing me every day and all that kind of stuff ... I'd feel so liberated, and feel like myself." The Eagles of Death Metal do not play death metal or sound anything like the Eagles. When asked if the band’s style was “punky garage band with soul,” group leader Jesse Hughes said, “I'm going with that. That's awesome, dude!" Mary Gauthier wondered if anyone would show up for her first show in Baton Rouge, the city where she grew up. Despite being critically acclaimed and much-admired by her singer-songwriter peers, the 46-year-old, Nashville-based Gauthier, by her own, and probably grateful, admission, is no Taylor Swift. As much as British singer-pianist Joe Jackson defies musical genres, he always sounds like himself. That’s true whether he’s performing his new wave-era hit, “Is She Really Going Out With Him?”, Duke Ellington’s “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore” or, one of his latest songs, the brooding, Chopin-esque “Solo (So Low).” Following the resounding praise that greeted her previous four CDs, singer-songwriter Mary Gauthier’s 2007 disc, Between Daylight And Dark, inspired a new round of acclaim from The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times and many other publications. Her breathtakingly honest songs earn comparisons to Johnny Cash, Lucinda Williams, Steve Earle and John Prine. If talent and paid-up dues mean anything, Lady Gaga is going places. A veteran of New York City clubs at just 22, Lady Gaga’s The Fame is a masterful dance-pop debut reminiscent of the early work of another singer-songwriter-performance artist who used New York as a launching pad, Madonna. The Louisiana Sinfonietta played mostly Mozart Sunday afternoon at First Baptist Church. Mozart, that master of classical form and melody, was represented by his sacred choral-orchestral piece, “Litaniae Lauretanae” (“The Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary”) and the Concerto for Flute, Harp and Orchestra. After Ides of March released its 1970 hit, “Vehicle,” Jim Peterik, singer-guitarist in Ides of March and, later, Survivor, could have lived anywhere. He did tour the nation and make albums in America’s show business capital, Los Angeles, but Hollywood’s glamour didn’t lure him from the Chicago area he still calls home. Even though Joe Jackson won a scholarship to London’s Royal Academy of Music, the versatile singer-pianist-composer earned his first international success with his album debut, Look Sharp!, and a new wave-era hit, “Is She Really Going Out With Him?” I’m The Man, Jackson’s follow-up to Look Sharp!, produced another British hit, “It’s Different For Girls.” A Scottish pop-rock band that made a big impact in the United Kingdom in the mid-to-late ’90s and got much notice in the United States, too, Travis just released its second CD in two years. |
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