Tag: "David Bowie"

Music icon David Bowie has released the official video for his latest single, “The Next Day.”

Originally removed from YouTube based on a ‘misunderstanding,’ the latest visuals from Bowie are as cinematic as you have come to expect from the man who gave us Ziggy Stardust. Bowie is seen as a quasi-christ in the clip, with Gary Oldman as a priest and Marion Cotillard as a troubled girl with “holy” hands. We’ll let Bowie tell you the story himself, but don’t be surprised if some people start crying foul in the days ahead. You can view the video below.

David Bowie has never been one to apologize for expressing himself, so any angst one feels after viewing this video might as well be forgotten. Bowie is about art, and this is easily the most artistic thing we’ve seen in the last month. Comment and let us know if you agree. Continue reading ‘David Bowie Debuts “The Next Day” Video’

Our latest Artist of the Week is The Delorians. We were captivated by this band the moment we discovered their track “Attacked By A Panther,” a track really unlike anything else we’ve heard on OurStage.

The band, out of Louisville, Kentucky, cites a wide range of influences, including but not limited to “‘classical’ music.” It’s not a surprise to see a number of ‘60s acts, from The Kinks to The Crystals, on their list. Don’t think that this is another throwback pop act, though. Their sound is indeed retro, but difficult to pin on a certain era. It’s romantic, spooky, grand, but simultaneously fuzzy and somewhat lo-fi. Yet it’s not garage rock. There are sweeping elements from the pre-rock and roll era of pop, filtered through the ‘60s and into ‘70s glam. In fact, some of their songs evoke very early Bowie, himself a student of the music-hall vocalists of the ‘40s and ‘50s. Perhaps the band has summed it up best in their one-line bio: “The Deloreans are like Sinatra in Vegas, David Lynch, and being at the beach.”

Anyway, the songs are catchy as hell, is the main thing. Check out “Attacked By A Panther” below. Continue reading ‘The Deloreans: OurStage Artist Of The Week’

Bowie to Bowie, are you reading me Bowie? He’s an okay musician, but we all agree that David Bowie’s finest work as an artist has been on film (Labrynth, Zoolander). Today, you can enjoy his screen charisma is this delightfully bonkers new video for “The Stars (Are Out Tonight),” starring Bowie and the great Tilda Swinton as a staid older couple tormented by their celebrity/demon neighbors. The characters’ identities become more fluid and interchangeable in the self-reflexive clip, evoking past eras of Bowie’s career.

They Might Be Giants OR They Might Be Giants OR They Might Be Giants: Rolling Stone has the new TMBG album, Nanobots, streaming here. This time around, the clever bastards have catered to our collectively dwindling attention span and something something something what were we were talking about? OH, yes, the album, which is packed with super-short bite-sized pop songs.

Daft Punk is playing at Columbia: The enigmatic Daft Punk has made their enigmatic web page just a little less enigmatic, with the appearance of the Columbia records logo below the dual space-age helment artwork, which had previously stood alone. Rumors had abounded that the duo would be leaving EMI and landing at a new home, and this seems to confirm it. With this news, they are likely to release a new record soon.

Music sales are down. Wait, no, they’re up. Sorry, force of habit: For the first time in 12 years, music sales are growing (by .3 percent). Hey, it’s something.

RIP Dan Toller: Allman Brothers guitarist has died at the age of 65, after battling ALS.

Happy birthday, Johnny Cash.

Happy 66th birthday to the one and only David Bowie! As a special birthday treat, the glam rock legend has released his first single in over a decade titled, “Where Are We Now?” Melodious, somber and enticingly Bowie, the new track serves as a peak into Bowie’s upcoming album, The Next Day, which will be released March. 12 in the U.S. You can view the music video for the new single, along with the track listing for The Next Day after the jump. Continue reading ‘David Bowie Releases First Single In A Decade “Where Are We Now?”’

There’s a lot to love about Halloween. Whether you’re five years old and gathering candy from the neighbors, or 25 years old and hanging out at a basement show eating candy from the punch table, that holiday spirit never quite fades. So for the young at heart, we’ve put together a list of five must-hear Halloween anthems. Don’t expect to find your run of the mill tracks on here. OurStage is all about bringing those lesser-known tracks to the front of your iPod, and that’s exactly what we plan to do right now. Check out the list after the jump.

Continue reading ‘The Editorialist: 5 Halloween Songs To Spook And Surprise You’

Andrew Osenga has taken folk music where, arguably, no artist has gone before—space.

How else to explain the Nashville-based singer/songwriter/producer/musician Osenga’s “story” Leonard, The Lonely Astronaut, released on September 18. Perhaps the album’s theme was born of his love of science fiction and folk? Sure, rockers have explored this concept for years—David Bowie‘s 1973 album Aladdin Sane and Pink Floyd‘s 1973 album Dark Side of the Moon come immediately to mind—but it’s fairly new territory for folk. Credit Osenga’s eclectic taste in music for the turn.

“I was into grunge and then Peter Gabriel, Pink Floyd, all the shows on the big stages,” he said of his early influences. “The music was heartfelt but they could hide the fact that they were heartfelt by putting on a big show. When I moved to Nashville I became friends with folk artists and really got into Paul Simon, Emmylou Harris…..And I’m a huge literary nerd, too, so that helped make this.” Continue reading ‘Your Country’s Right Here: Andrew Osenga Gets Spacey with Folk’

• Bruce pulls a real shocker of an endorsement.
• JT is bringing sexy back. But actually.
• Dude, you haven’t done anything in ten years. Stop trashing on the Biebster.
• Ziggy Stardust takes a walk.
• A Grateful Dead beer is long overdue.
• Playing in a backyard, just like the old days.

• Why is Mom in bed with that alien?
• Tom Waits plays his most authentic role ever.
• So pop is louder, blander, and more depressing than ever?
• Honestly, who would ever want these?
• “No good, no good!”
• This is a ballsy move.

You couldn’t pay me to be an American Idol bigwig right now. The show is about to face its greatest challenge since the 2008 battle of the Davids (Cook and Archuleta).

The producers and the Fox network already have to worry about sagging ratings (the average viewership in season 11 dropped 23 percent to below 20 million for the first time in nine years, and the show fell from No. 1 for the season—to No. 2—for the first time since 2005), not to mention less commercially viable Idols and external competition from The Voice, The X Factor, and pretty much any reality show that promises to make a nobody a star.

Now, the producers have to deal with pleasing Mariah Carey, who has signed on as a judge next season, replacing either Jennifer Lopez or Steven Tyler, both of whom left after two years in order to focus full-time on their music careers (and in the case of Lopez, her “acting” career, too).

I once interviewed Carey for an Us Weekly cover story, and I found her to be warm, intelligent and surprisingly funny, but she’s a diva through and through. (She actually walked into the living room of her New York City hotel suite cradling her miniature dog!) Idol will reportedly pay her a very diva-like sum of between $12 and $17 million a season (a hefty and not altogether worthwhile expense, considering that Carey is well past her pop heyday), and I don’t even want to think about her list of perks and demands.

Meanwhile, there are murmurings that Randy Jackson, the last remaining original judge, currently in contract negotiations, might be moving from the judge’s table into more of a mentoring role, in an attempt to revamp the show for season 12, launching in January of 2013. Sadly, that restructuring doesn’t extend to Ryan Seacrest, the inexplicably still-highly employable host, who has signed up for another two years at a pay rate of $15 million per season. Is it too late to invite ex-judge Ellen DeGeneres back for the job they should have offered her in the first place?

Continue reading ‘Sound and Vision: An ‘American Idol’ Wish List– Who Should Replace Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler?’

Today is kind of a slow news day. And so, today, you get… rock stars in drag: the superlatives.

Most natural: Bowie

Most disturbing: Queen

Most frequent: Mick Jagger and The Rolling Stones

Best homage: Blur (as Blondie)

Most dudes: Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention

Best pout: Ozzy Osbourne

Most confusing to high school jocks in 1994: Kurt Cobain

Most committed: New York Dolls

Best looking: Bono