Watch Bodies of Water’s Dark New Video for "Under the Pines"
January 7, 2009
The Breaking Blog kicked off 2008 with a post about L.A. quartet Bodies of Water, and we’re happy to do the same in 2009! Click above to watch the band’s creepy but beautiful new video for “Under the Pines,” which features a shotgun, a dog, a child burned by lye and the band’s thick layers of knotty rock. Last year we said the band’s sound recalled “The Arcade Fire as composed by Ennio Morricone. The band funnels roots rock, soaring gospel, the Mamas & the Papas-style harmonies and Spaghetti Western themes into an uplifting, California-baked package.” We’ll stand by that description in ‘09.
The Stooges guitarist Ron Asheton found dead at 60 (AP)
January 6, 2009
AP - Ron Asheton, the guitarist for the Stooges whose raw sound helped inspire the first generation of punk musicians, has died. He was 60.
Michael Jackson ‘To Leave Beatles Songs To McCartney’
January 6, 2009
Michael Jackson will bid to end his long feud with music legend Paul McCartney by leaving him the Beatles back catalogue in his will, according to reports.
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Eminem’s New Song, ‘Crack A Bottle,’ Featuring Dr. Dre And 50 Cent, Hits The Web
January 6, 2009
Song’s release follows close on the heels of 50’s premiere of ‘I Get It In.’
By Shaheem Reid
Eminem
Photo: Michael Caulfield/ WireImage
Code red! The three-headed monster is wide awake and ready to assault the world. Just hours after 50 Cent’s new single, “I Get It In,” touched down all over the Net on Tuesday (January 6), a new Eminem song surfaced. Well, it’s not so new, to tell the truth.
Several weeks ago, an unfinished variation of the jam landed on mixtapes under the title “Number One.” On Tuesday, the apparently final version debuted under the official title “Crack a Bottle” (the name Em revealed last month when lamenting the leak). The new incarnation features Dr. Dre and 50 Cent.
Eminem’s lyrics are still the same. “So crack a bottle, let your body waddle/ Don’t act just like a sloppy model, you just hit the lotto,” Em raps on the chorus, after introducing himself like a ring announcer. “Uh-oh, uh-oh, bi—es, hoppin’ in my Tahoe/ I got one riding shotgun, and not one of them got clothes.”
“Andre the Giant,” as Eminem refers to Dre, comes in second with the same verse we heard Slim Shady reference on the unfinished mixtape version: “They see that low-rider go by, they like, ‘Oh my!’/ You ain’t gotta tell me why ya sick, ’cause I know why/ I dip through in that six tre like, ‘Sic ‘em, Dre!’/ … What else can I say, I love L.A. … / I’ll be damned, I just crashed my Benz/ Driving round with a smashed front end. Let’s cash that one in.”
50 Cent has the last verse, which he dedicates to balling “out of control” and intimidating other big Willies: “I’m the napalm, the don, I’m King Kong,” Fif boasts. “Get rode on, wrapped up and ringed on/ I’m so calm, through Vietnam, ring the alarm … / I stunt, I style, I flash the sh–.”
A couple of weeks ago, Eminem told Billboard.com that he was disappointed about the song leaking, before it was ready.
“It wasn’t close to finished, and it even has me doing guide vocals for Dre as a suggestion of how he could lay his verses down,” he told the site. “It’s like someone catches you peeping in your window before you got the Spider Man costume all zipped up! Nobody is supposed to see that. We are gonna finish it up, though, and get it out there how it’s supposed to be.”
Interscope Records hasn’t released a statement about plans for the song, which will likely appear on Eminem’s Relapse, one of the most-anticipated new albums of 2009.
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Katy Perry’s Ex: ‘You Act Like You’re 10′
January 4, 2009
Katy Perry and hip-hop star Travis McCoy split because the singer’s rapid rise to fame forced the couple apart, according to reports.
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Bon Jovi to Hillary Clinton: I’ll Be There for You (E! Online)
January 4, 2009
E! Online - Forget government bailouts! Former first lady Hillary Clinton is hoping Jon Bon Jovi can help with her financial crisis.
Clarification: New Year’s parties story (AP)
January 2, 2009
AP - In Dec. 30 and Dec. 31 stories about New Year’s Eve parties, The Associated Press reported that the economic downturn contributed to slow ticket sales for events hosted by R&B singer John Legend and Lindsay Lohan. It is typical for New Year’s Eve parties hosted by Opium Group to sell out the afternoon of Dec. 31, and they did for the latest parties, spokeswoman Vanessa Menkes said.
Download Bell X1’s New "How Your Heart Is Wired"
January 1, 2009
Irish rockers Bell X1 will return March 3rd with *Blue Lights on the Runway*, the follow-up to this year’s *Flock*. Singer-guitarist Paul Noonan said the group started recording the new disc last November in a “big, draughty, stately home called Ballycumber House, under the beady gaze of musty portraits of the Lords and Ladies of the estate from the 15th century. We wanted to make something different, something tight and coherent from start to finish. Where we’ve landed is a little bit electronic, a little bit Bacharach, a little bit New Orleans Funeral March.”
Judge for yourself here, with a free download of a band-new *Runway* track:
“How Your Heart Is Wired”
[right click and select "save as"]
Merle Haggard beats lung cancer, but craves pot (Reuters)
December 31, 2008
Reuters - Merle Haggard is not letting a bout with lung cancer get in the way of his ambitious touring and recording plans.
Kanye West, Young Jeezy And More Go-To Guest Artists Of 2008 (Who Aren’t Lil Wayne Or T-Pain)
December 31, 2008
Ludacris, Ne-Yo and Jay-Z also improved songs with their notable cameos.
By Shaheem Reid and Jayson Rodriguez
Kanye West
Photo: John Shearer/ Getty Images
We know that Lil Wayne and T-Pain are the top-two guest appearances in the game either way you rank them. In 2008, the two worked with just about everybody, from T.I. to Fall Out Boy. Bankable! Having T-Wayne on your record practically guaranteed you big airplay on at least one radio format.
Who else put it down this year? Glad you asked. We ranked our top cameo performers of 2008 not named T-Pain or Weezy.
1. Kanye West
Best Cameo: His work on
Young Jeezy’s “Put On” was amazing. On the song, ‘Ye went from talking about the pain of losing his mom to needing at least one of the Simmons sisters to help soothe him. Yet we have to go with his verse on T.I.’s “Swagger Like Us”: blissful confidence wrapped around melodic wordplay. As a sidebar, don’t sleep on his verses from
Jamie Foxx’s “Digital Girl.”
2. Young Jeezy
Best Cameo:
Usher’s “Love in This Club” was the biggest song he hopped on, giving the Snowman some great crossover, mainstream exposure, but we’ll go with Young on Shawty Lo’s “Dey Know” remix. You had us at “hello.” “I’m in my cool whip, insides Jell-O/ Hop up out that pretty mutha—-a, like, ‘Helllllll-ohhhh!’ ”
3.
Ludacris
Best Cameo: ‘Cris rips the meat off the bone every time he sinks his teeth into a record. The beloved blabbermouth has more styles and metaphors than entire rap crews. This is a tough one, considering how much we love his threat to Samuel L. Jackson on T.I.’s “Top of the World.” But we’ll go with T-Pain’s “Chopped N Screwed” — vintage ‘Cris lyrics with an animated style.
4. Jay-Z
Best Cameo: His name alone on your track makes it an event. His stint on T.I.’s “Swagger Like Us” had us singing, but the bars he just snuck in on DJ Khaled’s “Go Hard” remix are so mean. Did you hear the reference to Heath Ledger? And let’s not forget his cautionary line about Andy Griffith’s alias: “Number-one rule if ya ass get caught/ Don’t chatterbox to the Matlock.”
5. Fabolous
Best Cameo: “Addicted,” of course. Fab and
Ryan Leslie made a dope tandem on that track and on Slim’s “Good Lovin.” Let’s not forget that Loso also shined on songs that paid homage to his hardcore roots, such as the remixes of Red Cafe’s “Paper Touchin” and Maino’s “Hi Hater.”
6. Rihanna
Best Cameo: Uh, this one is as easy. The absolute standout was “Live Your Life,” one of T.I.’s biggest records ever. Rih Rih’s word to the wise is a mantra to live by: “So keep on gettin’ ya paper/ And keep on climbin’/ Look in the mirror/ And keep on shinin’/ Till the game end, till the clock stop/ We gonna post up on the top spot.”
7. Ne-Yo
Best Cameo: He helps more rappers in a bind than Murray Richman. Just ask the Game (”Camera Phone”) and
Jadakiss (”By My Side”), who connected with the talented songwriter in 2008 to turn what would have been album cuts into radio-friendly hits. But unequivocally, Ne-Yo’s biggest guest turn was on Plies’ “Bust It Baby (Pt. 2).” His nimble crooning smoothed out the goon’s rough edges and inched Plies closer toward mainstream stardom.
8. Ron Browz
Best Cameo: “Eeeeeether boooy” laced Busta Rhymes’ “Arab Money” with his Auto-Tune-enhanced vocals and then upped the Vocoder a notch on
Jim Jones’ “Pop Champagne.” He might not be T-Pain yet, but Harlem’s newest heatmaker is two-for-two and recently inked a deal with Universal Motown for a solo project.
9. Jim Jones
Best Cameo: Jones has a way of making every song he jumps on uniquely his, so when he latched onto Kid Cudi’s “Day ‘N’ Nite,” well, the gruff Dipset honcho murdered the Cleveland newcomer on his own ish. Dark, unrelenting and woozy, it’s classic Capo.
10. Akon
Best Cameo: ‘Kon kept his top-40 rep in tune on Kardinal Offishall’s “Dangerous,” but the Senegalese singer certified his ‘hood cred when he belted out the hook on
DJ Khaled’s posse cut “Out Here Grinding.” He balances out a lineup of thugs with his elastic vocals wailing over the Runners’ rumbling synths. Watch for the hook on this one.
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