Bloc Party to release new album this week

courtesy of NME.com

Bloc Party will release their new album in two days time (August 21) - but you'll be able to hear a new song from the record exclusive on NME.com from Tuesday (19) afternoon.
The band announced the shock release during a webchat with fans on Blocparty.com yesterday (August 18).

NME.com can exclusively reveal that Intimacy, the band's third album, is available to pre-order on CD and mp3 from Blocparty.com now.

The record will see its release in stores on October 28 on Atlantic Records. Fans who pre-order the physical album, which will contain different tracks from the digital release, will receive a free download of the digital version upon purchase.

Intimacy was recorded in two separate sessions, as the band chose to work with both Paul Epworth and Jacknife Lee on the record.

The tracklisting for Intimacy will be:

"Ares" "Mercury""Halo""Biko""Trojan Horse""Signs""One Month Off""Zephyrus""Better Than Heaven""Ion Square"

Bloc Party have made new song "Trojan Horse" available as a stream on the NME Office Blog.

Head to the NME Office Blog now.

The band play the Main Stage this week at Britain's Reading and Leeds Festivals on Saturday (August 23) at Reading and Sunday (24) at Leeds

Rihanna bests Archuleta to stay atop singles chart

By Jonathan Cohen

NEW YORK (Billboard) - Barbadian pop singer Rihanna begins a second week at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart with "Disturbia," but she barely fended off the best chart debut in more than 18 months, in the form of David Archuleta's "Crush."

Archuleta's track sold 166,000 downloads in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan, and opens at No. 2.

The last song to debut so high on the chart was Fall Out Boy's "This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race" in late January 2007. "Crush" also scores the best opening by an "American Idol" finalist with a song not performed on the show.

Chris Brown's "Forever" slips from No. 2 to No. 3 on the Hot 100, with Katy Perry's "I Kissed a Girl" down one rung to No. 4 and Coldplay's "Viva La Vida" trading places with M.I.A.'s "Paper Planes," placing them at Nos. 5 and 6, respectively. Kardinal Offishall's "Dangerous" featuring Akon remains at No. 7.

Rihanna's "Take a Bow" drops from No. 4 to No. 8, while Ne-Yo's "Closer" inches up one notch to No. 9. Taylor Swift lands at No. 10 with "Change," one of five songs to debut this week from AT&T's "Team USA Soundtrack." The cut sold more than 131,000 downloads.

Kenny Chesney scores his first top 50 debut on the Hot 100 with "Everybody Wants To Go To Heaven" at No. 41. The lead single from his fall album, "Lucky Old Sun," sold 30,000 downloads.

Opening at No. 65 this week on the Hot 100 is Hit Masters' cover of Kid Rock's "All Summer Long," thanks to download sales of 37,000. Kid Rock's original version is not available digitally but as a result of increasing airplay jumps from No. 28 to No. 25.

Reuters/Billboard

Dido bringing it all "Home" in November

By Jonathan Cohen





NEW YORK (Billboard) - British singer-songwriter Dido has slated a November 4 release date for her oft-delayed third album, "Safe Trip Home."


Look No Further," a track from the RCA Label Group album, is being made available as a free download from DidoMusic.com as of Friday (August 22).

The first official single, "Don't Believe in Love," will be issued digitally and on CD on a date to be announced.

"Safe Trip Home" is the follow-up to 2003's "Life for Rent," which has sold more than 2.1 million copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

The set was co-produced by Jon Brion and Dido and her brother Rollo Armstrong, working together under the moniker Ark. One track, "Grafton Street," was co-written with Brian Eno.

THIS SONG'S EVEN BETTER THAN THE ORIGINAL!

by Anna Chan

Last week, I listed Marilyn Manson’s cover of “Sweet Dreams” as one of the worst cover songs, but apparently, many disagreed with me. But that’s the beauty of music: What sounds awful to one person may resonate with another.

It’s certainly tough to put a new spin on a much beloved original such as the Eurythmics’ tune and have most people love it, but some musicians can take anything from a huge hit to songs that are just OK and turn them into masterpieces.

Here are just a few I’ve found to be fantastic:

“Superstar”: All right, so last week, I blasted Here for covering Ministry’s cover of Bob Dylan’s “Lay Lady Lay.” Yet this week, not only am I giving props to the Carpenters for their cover of the Delaney, Bonnie & Friends song (which Richard Carpenter reportedly first heard as performed by Bette Midler), I’m also giving huge kudos to Sonic Youth’s cover of the Carpenters’ version on the tribute album “If I Were a Carpenter.” The Carpenters version is probably by far the most popular version of the song, and though Karen Carpenter's vocals were lovely, Thurston Moore's vocals and the band's arrangement had her beat. Granted, a more up-to-date sound may appeal to younger ears, but Moore’s vocals really captured the painful longing, while the music reverberated with the hollowness of being alone. It gives me goose bumps every single time

Revolting Cocks’ “Do Ya Think I’m Sexy”: Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing terrible about Rod Stewart’s original. It’s fun, it’s sassy, but it’s also a little bit cheesy. (The idea of a 63-year-old singing this to my young-ish ears is also a bit icky.) But RevCo’s 1993 cover (found on their album “Linger Ficken’ Good”) sexed up this hot song a bit more, the way I imagine it should’ve originally sounded in 1978 (though their video is definitely on the silly side). The band turned it from a disco-y type tune into a rocking dance-floor hit sung in a suggestive voice. (Remember the original line “He says I’m sorry but I’m out of milk and coffee”? The new line replaces the beverage with … KY Jelly!) As Austin Powers would say, “Yeah, baby!”

RUN DMC’s “Walk This Way”: This 1986 remake of the 1977 Aerosmith hit is a great example of not only a fantastic cover tune, but also proof of how mixing genres can work. The hip-hop pioneers took the band’s blues-y rock tune, added some funky turntables by Jam Master Jay and rapped Steven Tyler's girl-crazy lyrics, transforming it into a hip-hop/pop hit that helped revitalize Aerosmith’s sagging career and made rap more mainstream. Plus, the video, which also features Aerosmith, is pretty fun.

My other favorite cover songs include:
Soft Cell’s “Tainted Love”Hate Dept.’s “You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)”
Doll Factory’s “Baby One More Time”
Battery’s “Gangster’s Paradise”
80 percent of the “For the Masses” album, a tribute to Depeche Mode

Which cover songs do you think are the greatest of all time?

Sheryl Crow rockin’ new voters — for free

Singer to give away album to people who get 3 friends to register to vote

LOS ANGELES - Sheryl Crow is giving away free music — a tactic she calls the "Tupperware" party approach to inspiring young people to vote.

The Grammy Award-winning singer announced a plan Wednesday to give a digital copy of her album "Detours" to the first 50,000 people who register three friends to vote.
"I hope people wake up and emotionally engage in issues," Crow said in telephone interview during a visit to Los Angeles.

Crow's giveaway is a kickoff to Rock the Vote's voter registration drive. She is also offering a free download of her politically charged song "Gasoline" to anyone who logs onto the Rock the Vote Web site or anyone on the group's mailing list, said the organization's executive director Heather Smith.

Crow, 46, was one of the founding artists of Rock the Vote 18 years ago. She said the "Detours" album fits perfectly into the group's cause since the lyrics touch on topics such as adoption, breast cancer, the war in Iraq, the environment and Hurricane Katrina.

"It's about the issues that everyone's talking about, but there's a lot of hope," Crow said. "At this moment in my life, writing about anything else would be uninteresting and impossible because I feel such urgency."

Crow, who has advocated for environmental, health and humanitarian causes, said her fans know where she stands politically. But in this voter registration campaign she's concerned only for the future of her 1-year-old son, Wyatt, and the future of American democracy.

Crow suggested that more musicians should use their music to promote issues that affect Americans. She said she was inspired by pop musicians from the 1960s and 70s, when political songs were performed by Edwin Starr, Buffalo Springfield, Marvin Gaye and Peter Paul & Mary.

"There was healthy competition among artists to create art that was commercial and political at the same time," Crow said.

"Our music (now) is not representing the times — at least not socially and politically. Or maybe we're just distracted."

Rock the Vote aims to register 2 million young people to vote by November — the largest youth voter drive in history by three times, Smith said.

"These musicians speak to millions of people every day so for them to use their voices to inspire people is a key part of our program," she said.

Anyone who recruits three people to vote will have to log onto the Rock the Vote Web site and go through a verification process before receiving Crow's album, Smith said.