Beyoncé is having a rough 2011. I don’t know how she felt about turning thirty on September 4, but if she’s as career-obsessed as I suspect she is, it was probably the least of her concerns. Yes, 2011 has not been without a few triumphs: She rocked the Glastonbury Festival in June, and she set a Twitter record for “most tweets per second recorded for a single event” (8,868) when she announced at the August 28 MTV Video Music Awards that she is expecting her first child with husband Jay-Z.

But by October, even that bright spot was mired in controversy when Beyoncé’s baby bump seemed to collapse as she sat down for a couch chat during an Australian TV appearance. A faked pregnancy? Stranger things have happened—like an underperforming Beyoncé album. Despite debuting at No. 1 with 310,000 copies sold its first week in June, Beyoncé’s fourth solo album, 4, has sold below expectations while failing to launch a major hit single.

But collapsing baby bumps and album sales might be small-time woes compared to the accusations of theft and copyright infringement that continue to dog the singer.

In the past, she’s been accused of contributing minimally to the creation of some of the songs for which she receives songwriting credit, and in 2005, she was sued (albeit unsuccessfully) for copyright infringement for her 2003 No. 1 hit “Baby Boy.” Then in 2006, Destiny’s Child‘s “Cater 2 U,” for which Beyoncé and her group mates were listed as co-writers, was at the center of another copyright infringement suit, which was settled out of court.

Continue reading ‘Sound And Vision: Beyoncé’s “Plagiarism” Controversies — Has She Been Caught Stealing, Or Is She Paying Homage (Again)?’

Electronic music producer/ singer-songwriter James Blake is the type to speak softly and carry a big stick. Usually.

Concerts by the young Blake are hushed, pastoral affairs; the audience in rapt attention to the 22-year-old wunderkind and his craft. The “crown price of the quiet revolution”, so named by Clash Magazine, is also known to please critics with everything from plaintive piano ballads to exercises in wonky, R&B flavored dubstep. All that said, the young man is pretty well mannered and soft spoken. Again, usually.

In a recent interview with The Boston Phoenix though, Blake had a few choice words for some of his fellow musicians who work within the dubstep fold, “I think the dubstep that has come over to the US… definitely hit upon a sort of frat-boy market where there’s this macho-ism being reflected in the sounds and in the way the music makes you feel.” Blake also mentions certain producers that he “cannot be bothered mentioning”—Skrillex, Flux Pavillion, Nero, Porter Robinson, Datsik, Zeds Dead, etc.—and that what is considered by many to be dubstep now is a “pissing contest.”

C’mon gramps! Get with the times, man.

Continue reading ‘James Blake: Analogue Values In A Digital World’

Last month when the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announced its fifteen nominees for induction in 2012, the organization really outdid itself—and not in a good way! Donovan? Not again! Erik B. & Rakim? Not before LL Cool J! Joan Jett and the Blackhearts?

What? No “Weird Al” Yankovic? Hasn’t he been eligible for four years?

The Hall of Fame has been scraping from the B-list for a while now, but the voting body should take a closer look at the A-list. There’s still a lot of unheralded talent there, and that would not include Joan Jett. Yes, Jett’s former band, The Runaways, deserves credit for introducing girl power to hard rock, but did Joan Jett and the Blackhearts really earn a spot in the hallowed Hall based on the strength of one really awesome No. 1 smash, 1981′s “I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll,” which the band didn’t even write? In the general scheme of things, aren’t they sort of a rock & roll footnote?

Not Linda Ronstadt. Perhaps the most influential female in ’70s rock, who spent the ’80s juggling genres from new wave to mariachi to the great American songbook, she’s the most deserving artist never to be nominated. And let’s talk about Pat Benatar and Stevie Nicks, who is already in the Hall of Fame as a member of Fleetwood Mac but whose solo career is far more worthy of the honor than Jett’s post-Runaways. At least the nominating committee finally had the good sense to give props to Heart, though I’ll eat my copy of the “Alone” Cassingle if the Wilson sisters actually get in.

Continue reading ‘Sound And Vision: Guns N’ Roses? Joan Jett? Why the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Is on the Verge of Becoming a Joke?’

The tradition of protest music has a long, rich tradition in America. From nascent beginnings in the early twentieth century and the labor movement to the great civil rights protest songs of the ’60s to the ’70s anti-Vietnam singer-songwriters to today, it’s an integral part of the story of rock ‘n’ roll. Whenever some perceived injustice becomes large enough, you know there’s going to be performers involved to lead the rallying cry.

“Don’t you know they’re talkin’ bout a revolution/ It sounds like a whisper.” Well, not quite a whisper, Tracy Chapman. Sure, Chapman wasn’t writing this about the #OccupyWallStreet movement or the subsequent protests when “Talkin Bout A Revolution” was released back in ’88. But that song and her words ring more true now then they have in a long time.

Now this isn’t going to be some partisan treatise on the pros and cons of the movement—we’ll save that for the wonky policy blogs. However, as the Occupy protests continue on into their fifth week, they have begun to draw in disparate segments from all across the pop culture spectrum. We’ve had conservative bloggers investigating/instigating in the fray, Gossip Girl alums hoisting cardboard signs and familiar Hollywood faces of varying loveliness. Oh, and Giraldo Rivera. More importantly, we’ve had a couple of good, old fashioned protest-music moments. And no, we don’t mean that guy with the acoustic doing Pete Seeger covers, though that guy is pretty cool.

It’s unknown what inspired Jeff Mangum of dormant folk group Neutral Milk Hotel to perform for the protesters on Wall Street. The notoriously retiring frontman has been making public appearances with increasing frequency in the past couple of months, playing sold out shows in east coast locales with tickets selling at near unaffordable prices. So, while you might not have been able to catch the reclusive Mangum in a solo set at some tiny club, if you were in downtown Manhattan on October 4th and happened to be a fan of collegiate indie rock, then you were in for a real treat. The best part? The tech savvy protests streamed the entire impromptu event as it happened on livestream, turning a cool moment into a viral thing.

“Of course I support [Occupy Wall Street],” Mangum said after his performance. “This is just something small that I can do.” Aw, what a guy!

Continue reading ‘Artists-In-Occupation: Musicians And #OccupyWallStreet’

We all have preferences when it comes to music, and genre is just one of many factors that determine what’s on our individual lists of music favorites. When it comes to the voices of our preferred musical acts, we know the type of singers who possess the power to send chills down our spines, and we know who doesn’t do it for us. But what role does gender have in all this? Many of us have already made a subconscious decision as to whether we prefer male or female voices, but how much weight does that hold?

Both women and men have the ability to produce incredible sound, and Mariah Carey, female powerhouse with a killer range, is a great example of all the great things the female voice is capable of. She is able to hit almost unimaginable high notes, but is also has a full, warm sounding lower-range. And while the female voice is sometimes disliked for its upper-range, Carey successfully proves that reaching incredible vocal heights does not have to sound shrill or painful. On the flip side, the male voice is typically lower and richer—many say it is easier to casually listen to the male voice. A great male singer is Josh Groban, whose vocal training has crafted him a powerful instrument with an incredible sound. His voice is so versatile and easy to listen to, and yet is capable of conveying so much emotion through his music.

Continue reading ‘Vocal Points: Battle of the Sexes’

Every great screen biography of a music superstar needs three key ingredients to really sing: 1) An icon with the greatest story never told. 2) A talented lead actor or actress gunning for an Oscar nomination—singing talent and striking resemblance optional (Angela Bassett didn’t sing a word in What’s Love Got to Do with It, and she looks nothing like the film’s subject, yet she was Tina Turner). 3) Kick-ass songs.

Fantasia Barrino as gospel great Mahalia Jackson is coming soon. The Elton John Story (aka Rocketman) is reportedly finally in the works (I’d cast Justin Timberlake over mentioned favorite James McAvoy and pray that he can nail a British accent), as is Aretha Franklin’s (with or without Halle Berry, the Queen of Soul’s No. 1 choice), Anne Hathaway as Judy Garland and Sacha Baron Cohen as Freddie Mercury.

Robert Pattinson was announced as a possible Kurt Cobain at one point last year, but it’s hard to imagine that we’d get the true story as long as Courtney Love is around to kill it or put her spin on it. Ryan Gosling has the chops to pull off Cobain, but he’s already in everything and he’s several years older than Cobain was when he committed suicide. Note to aspiring biopic producers: One doesn’t have to cast a “star” as the star. Some biopics (Amadeus, starring Tom Hulce as Mozart; La vie en rose, with Marion Cotillard as Edith Piaf) do just fine without huge names.

Now that she’s gone too soon, too, it’s probably only a matter of time before we get Amy Winehouse‘s “untold” story. Note to aspiring biopic producers: Tabloid-era stars are best left alone unless, as with Eminem’s 8 Mile, the focus is on life before they were famous. Otherwise, we’ve already seen the action play out in the pages of Us Weekly and People magazine.

But what about those biopics in various stages of development and non-development? Here are six that I’m dying to see.

1) David Bowie: The star. The spectacle. The songs… Iman. I can’t think of a rock icon whose story is more deserving of the screen treatment. It would be a shoo-in for the Best Costume Design Oscar, and with a star like Jonathan Rhys Meyers (who already played a Bowie-esque figure to perfection in the 1998 film Velvet Goldmine), an actor worthy of the material.

Continue reading ‘Sound And Vision: Justin Timberlake as Elton John and Six Other Wish-List Music Biopics’

Sometimes, the best kind of live shows are the ones that catch you by surprise; the ones that are full of unexpected moments and the ones that leave you smiling. Here at Live Wired, we got to experience both this past weekend, a full day of music courtesy of Matt Nathanson. The Massachusetts-born singer, who released his album Modern Love back in June (check out his interview with OurStage after the album was released) put on two wonderfully different performances on Saturday. Seeing Matt in concert is more than just a live show; it’s an entire experience full of his incredible stage presence and his constant conversation with the audience.

In the early afternoon, Matt and his right-hand man Aaron Tap, took the stage at a jam-packed record store, with people squeezed in between rows and rows of albums. The set was acoustic and mostly comprised of newer material, which allowed us to hear beautiful versions of songs like “Bottom Of The Sea” (Matt joked was the sequel to “Under The Sea” from  the movie The Little Mermaid). The song translated perfectly into an acoustic performance, with Matt and Aaron providing wonderful harmonies. Acoustic shows are always more intimate, and Matt took full advantage of that atmosphere, spending a good chunk of time between songs talking with the crowd. While sometimes this approach doesn’t work well for artists, he had everyone laughing hysterically the whole time. Noticing a few younger kids to the side of the stage, he had some fun while explaining the meaning behind some of his songs, attempting to make them more “PG”. To the delight of the crowd, he played one of his older and more popular songs, “Come On Get Higher”. Everyone sang along; and there’s something about a giant crowd in a small room singing in unison with a couple of acoustic guitars that is so wonderful. It brings everyone together. It’s what live music is really about.

Continue reading ‘Live Wired [Review]: Matt Nathanson 10/8′

Mash-ups are a mainstay on the hip hop scene with rappers constantly collaborating to deliver fresh material.  Even the most vicious emcee paired up with the current R&B diva has a natural charm, and we’ve come to expect Rihanna, Beyoncé or Kelly Rowland backing up big verses from big rappers.  Now, it seems that hip hop has crossed over into the pop star realm, blurring the lines between the sugary sweet stylings of pop icons like Britney, Katy and Bieber with the hard-hitting sound of the streets.

We got our biggest dose of the crossover craze when Nicki Minaj announced she would join Britney Spears on her Femme Fatale Tour this year. In a groundbreaking move, fans of pop music’s reigning queen would be shoulder to shoulder with fans of the hottest thing to hit hip hop in years.  What resulted was one hell of a party!

Now, other singers are following suit, and pairing up with some unlikely collaborators. Justin Bieber will throw a little hip hop into the holidays when he releases Under The Mistletoe, on November 1.  The fifteen-track holiday album features a version of “The Little Drummer Boy” with none other than Busta Rhymes. We can’t imagine Rhymes’ grimy, gruff voice singing about the birth of Christ, but we’re all ears.  Other guests on the album will include Usher, Boyz II Men and Mariah Carey.

Continue reading ‘Soundcheck: When Hip-Hop Goes Pop’

Ty Mayfield

Ty Mayfield may have had some success behind the kit early in life—if you count a rousing rendition of Genesis’s “In The Air Tonight” for a high school talent show—but he really found his calling when he dropped the drumsticks and sidled up to the piano. Exhibit A: “19 to 2,” a punchy piano melody with an airborne chorus that catapults your spirits. Mayfield’s charismatic crooning and gleeful piano playing are a straight shot of serotonin. From his cheerful professions of love on “The One For Me” to the high-speed swagger of “The Curveball,” the singer/pianist delivers mood-enhancing piano pop a la Gavin DeGraw or Ben Folds. For the most part, Mayfield sticks to piano and organ, but he’s not adverse to technology. “Do What I Do” is the most ambitious of his tracks, a percussive mélange of digital bleeps and blips that tapers into the slow coast of the chorus. Despite his youthful appearance, Mayfield’s a polished performer on the brink of success. You can feel it in the air.

“19-2″ – Ty Mayfield

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That’s right, R&B/rap sensation Drake is Canadian! Who would’ve thunk it?

To not know that Drake is from the Great White North in this day and age would require one to have been under a rock, which is subsequently under a large pile of rocks in the desert where there is no WiFi connection. It’s a convention of the genre to toast one’s hometown, or to “rep your hood” (as is the preferred vernacular) but no one is a bigger promoter of their city then Drake. “All I care about is money/And the city where I’m from” is a couplet in not just one but two of Drake’s singles. And the most recent release from his upcoming full length Take Care—”Headlines”—came out with a video that is a visual love letter to Toronto.

Drake ~ Headlines (Official Video) from OctobersVeryOwn on Vimeo.

Is Aubrey Graham on the payroll for the Tourism Board of Ontario or something? The video features the Rogers Center opening majestically for Drake as he stands stoically on the field. We are also treated to shots of Drake gliding vertically above the city in a glass elevator (maybe on the side of the CN Tower?) and Drake in an ugly sweater. Solid effort all around.

Drake’s not the only rapper to really show his city love, even if Toronto isn’t the gangster’s paradise that other hip-hop strongholds have historically been.

Continue reading ‘Rappers, Reps And Hometowns; Or, Did You Know Drake Was From Toronto?’