J-Pop + Anime Songs

For anime and J-Pop songs you can go to Gendou but you have to register first.

Mariah Carey comes up with a new equation

On a recent Monday morning, Mariah Carey flew the red-eye from New York to Los Angeles, stopped by Ryan Seacrest’s morning radio show to chat, recorded a background vocal track for the song “I Stay in Love” for her upcoming album, then recorded a video for Wal-Mart’s “Soundcheck” series, which will be used as bonus footage online and played in stores.

By the time all of this was done, it was just past noon. Her afternoon consisted of another radio interview, and in the evening she returned to the studio to work on mastering the album, “E-MC2” — due April 15 via Island Def Jam.

If “E-MC2” scores big, Carey could find herself in elite chart company. She’s currently tied at No. 2 with Elvis Presley for the most Hot 100 No. 1 singles, with 17. The Beatles hold the crown with 20.

Rolling Stones, R.E.M, have new CDs

The Rolling Stones, “Shine a Light”
Moving from stadiums to ballrooms, the Rolling Stones performed two shows at New York’s Beacon Theater in October 2006, filmed by Martin Scorsese for this documentary, which opens April 4. The accompanying live album captures the pure magic of a high-energy rock show performed in a small venue, offering a mix of crowd-pleasers (“Jumpin’ Jack Flash,” “Brown Sugar”) and set-list oddities like the cheeky “Some Girls” or the feverish “She Was Hot,” which sizzles with mean guitar licks. Mick Jagger and the boys throw a curveball and bring out Christina Aguilera, who rocks her vocal acrobatics on “Live With Me,” and Jack White of the White Stripes guests on “Loving Cup,” one of the best moments. Much more dazzling than the guest list: More than 40 years into their career, the Stones sound raw and dangerously alive.

R.E.M., “Accelerate”
R.E.M.’s first album in four years shoehorns 11 tracks of jagged guitars, quick and dirty drums, and Michael Stipe’s gruff keen into 34 minutes, rocking with a blacker, blunter edge than “Document,” “Green” or “Monster.” Armed with deadpan “wow’s” and “T-Rex moves” honed from 1996’s ”Wake-Up Bomb,” Stipe limns politics, the media and the velocity of modern life with gimlet eyes, from the strutting ”don’t turn your talking points on me” of “Living Well’s the Best Revenge” to the candid “uncertainty is suffocating” of the title track. A ’70s jukebox grit dominates “Mansized Wreath,” while Peter Buck’s cool riff for first single “Supernatural Superserious” strikes like a cartoon mallet. “Accelerate” may not stun on impact like some R.E.M. records, but it’s still habit-forming.

George Strait, “Troubadour”
George Strait is one of music’s most consistent hitmakers for a reason — he knows a hit song when he hears one, and he sings it only if it fits him. “Troubadour” is chock-full of classic Strait. “I Saw God Today” is a perfect example of a track that speaks to the country core, while the title cut finds the singer reconciling his age with how old he feels. “When You’re in Love” cleverly equates romance with a vacation destination (“There’s so much to see and do when you’re in love”), and “River of Love” will have women swooning at King George’s invitation to a “stream of kissin’ about 10 miles long.” “House of Cash,” with Patty Loveless, is a powerful tribute to the Cash family home, lost to fire a year ago.

Sun Kil Moon, “April”
With a Modest Mouse covers collection out of his system, Mark Kozelek is back to sketching his signature tales of love poisoned by expectation on his second album as Sun Kil Moon. Evenly divided between the distorted guitar epics of the last two Red House Painters albums (“The Light”) and spartan voice-and-acoustic confessionals (“Lucky Man”), “April” is the aural equivalent of that heartbreak that never heals. “Moorestown” and “Blue Orchids” set the bar high, with Kozelek’s fixation on little details (“Her walls are Mediterranean blue / Her baby sister picked the hue”) setting crystalline scenes. Kozelek never sugarcoats; the sting is almost tangible when he chronicles a failed romance on “Tonight in Bilbao,” and the loss of a loved one is literally as haunting as a ghost on “Unlit Hallway,” the first of two ace pairings with Will Oldham. Throughout, Kozelek connects memory to emotion with masterful strokes.

Moby, “Last Night”
Madonna, Seal: Big pop stars who started as dance artists have circled back to the floor on their latest albums. But “Last Night,” Moby’s homage to/reconstruction of New York dance music over the course of his 42-year lifetime, is the only one that causes the desired effect: making you feel about the artist the way you did when you first heard him. The guy who sold millions of records by stretching gospel samples into lush sonic pastiches is still here — just listen to “Live Tomorrow.” But so is the one who created ’92 rave anthem “Go” — the frantic piano riff and snare rolls of “Stars” give him away. Then there’s the best ’80s-style radio-friendly house track since the ’80s (“Disco Lies”), and Kudu vocalist Sylvia Gordon closing it down with an apocalyptic torch song. Forget “Play.” This is the definitive Moby album.

Van Morrison, “Keep It Simple”
Forty years on, a new Van Morrison album is still welcome. “Keep It Simple” is his first collection of all-new material since 2005, and as the title hints, there’s not a lot of embellishment, just a kind of basic, rhythmic and melodic flow. “That’s Entrainment” is one of the better tunes, the title referring to Morrison’s word for hitting the sweet spot in a situation or performance. “How Can a Poor Boy” shows his streetwise side, with what sounds like a Hammond B-3 providing the muscle. “Don’t Go to Nightclubs Anymore,” a declaration of domestication, is either a brazen rewrite or affectionate tribute to Duke Ellington’s “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore.” The album is front-loaded with these relatively energetic tracks. Much of the rest is resigned, reflective and spiritually attuned, but not always keenly focused.

Click for related content

Stipe, R.E.M. take rougher-edged approach

The Black Keys, “Attack and Release”
Throughout four proper albums, the Black Keys hewed to a no-nonsense formula: guitar, drums, vocals, period. It was so satisfyingly simple and raw, it’s likely that the duo could successfully have deployed it again. But, to paraphrase the old saying, you can’t know what you’ve been missing until you’ve had it, and on “Attack & Release,” we have it. Danger Mouse, the first producer to work with the Keys, takes on a role akin to gardener: He nurtures the duo’s innate musicality, allowing its elemental blues-rock to bloom into something far grander. Clever but tasteful arrangements and an impeccable shine make songs like “Same Old Thing” seem anything but. The heavy, dirge-like “Lies” and the playful, faux-spooky “Psychotic Girl,” which melds whimsical keyboard with earthy banjo and slide guitar, are but two of many highlights.

Akwid, “La Novela”
This sibling duo of brothers Sergio and Francisco Gmez broke ground nearly a decade ago by blending traditional banda beats with rap and hip-hop. Here, the brothers expand their sound by incorporating a broad variety of regional Mexican rhythms — from norteno to cumbias adorned with rippling accordions — as the basis for tales of growing up poor in the hood. This mix of grittiness and sophistication strikes just the right note, achieving cohesiveness despite a changing cast of guest acts that includes Fidel Rueda, Voces del Rancho, Los Tucanes de Tijuana and Jenni Rivera (on a clever English-language track). With its perpetual change of pace in music and lyrics, “La Novela” is riveting, and it works as a vehicle for singles and as a stand-alone piece of music. Equally important, it’s an example of on-target evolution within a niche genre.

Dr Pepper issues challenge to Guns n Roses

Many have tried, but so far nobody has been able to pry the decade-in-the-works Guns N’ Roses album “Chinese Democracy” from the hands of lone remaining original member Axl Rose.

Now, Dr Pepper thinks it’s up to the challenge. The soft drink company says it will give a free can of Dr Pepper to “everyone in America” (excluding ex-Guns members Slash and Buckethead) if “Chinese Democracy” arrives anytime during the calendar year 2008.

Rose responded on his band’s web site (http://www.gunsnroses.com) that the band was “surprised and very happy to have the support of Dr Pepper.” But the offer did not prompt him to rise to the challenge.

Gregg Allman being treated for hepatitus C

An Allman Brothers Band member says Gregg Allman is unable to play several upcoming concerts because of his treatments for hepatitis C.

Drummer Butch Trucks says the band has canceled appearances in Florida next month and bowed out of its annual run of shows at Manhattan’s Beacon Theatre in May.

Trucks says Allman began undergoing treatment last year.

LA Times apologizes for Shakur's story

The Los Angeles Times apologized for using apparently fabricated documents in a story implying that a 1994 assault on Tupac Shakur was carried out by associates of Sean “Diddy” Combs, and that he knew about it ahead of time.

“The bottom line is that the documents we relied on should not have been used,” Editor Russ Stanton said in a story posted Wednesday night on the newspaper’s Web site. “We apologize both to our readers and to those referenced in the documents ... and in the story.”

Pulitzer-prize winning reporter Chuck Philips, who wrote the story, and his supervisor, Deputy Managing Editor Marc Duvoisin, also apologized.

English town lifts 44-year Rolling Stones ban

They’ve played to sell-out audiences all over the world — except in Blackpool.

Until now.

After being banned for almost half-century from the English seaside resort, the Rolling Stones are free to perform there again, the local council said on Thursday.

The ban was imposed in 1964 after a riot broke out during one of their early gigs at the Empress Ballroom.

Chandeliers were smashed, a Steinway grand piano was trashed and seats torn out after a member of the 7,000-strong crowd was said to have spat at guitarist Brian Jones.

But now the council has written to the group saying all is forgiven.

Muxtape

When was the last time you made a mixtape? Until five minutes ago, the answer for me was, "It’s been so long, I don’t remember." But now, thanks to Muxtape.com the answer is, "Just five minutes ago. Want to hear it?"

The Muxtape Service

Muxtape.com makes it easy to assemble a mixtape that’s as easy to share as sending someone a link. After an incredibly simple signup process, you’re able to upload MP3 files no larger than 10 megabytes each, up to a total of 12 songs. Once your muxtape is complete, you can send a link ([your login].muxtape.com) to anyone, who will be able to stream your muxtape in his or her browser.

In short: wow is this cool. I’m absolutely in love with the idea of the muxtape, and the site’s interface is clean, simple, and thoroughly functional. Almost everything works well (besides a minor bug or two). Everything looks great, and the concept is stellar.

Earth Day

Looking for an excuse to avoid celebrating Earth Day? "There's nothing going on nearby" is probably not going to fly.

The Roots, Ricky Skaggs, Los Lonely Boys, the Neville Brothers and Mickey Hart from the Grateful Dead are among the headliners for eight simultaneous Earth Day festivals planned at major cities around the U.S. on April 20, organizers said Tuesday.

The free events will be staged at parks in New York, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles, Miami and San Francisco. The flagship event will be the Earth Day 2008 celebration on the National Mall in Washington.

Abdul kicks off Today Concert

For its 13th consecutive year, NBC’s TODAY show is bringing together the biggest names in music to rock the Plaza. This year’s “Toyota Concert Series on TODAY” kicks off with a special comeback performance by “American Idol” host Paula Abdul on Friday, April 25.

The “Toyota Concert Series on TODAY” will continue its tradition of bringing TODAY viewers the hottest artists in the industry continuing all the way into the fall. America’s favorite morning program will also feature some surprise guests and blasts-from-the-past performances, which will be announced throughout the series.

Takes rough-edged approach

Think fast. R.E.M. has banished the quiet, dream-like mood of their last two records and is about to unleash the hard, sharp-eyed “Accelerate,” their first album in four years.

As Michael Stipe, Peter Buck and Mike Mills follow the first single’s edit-it-yourself video with the album’s launch on iLike and a worldwide tour, frontman Stipe spoke to Billboard.com about the set’s “really fast, really raw” take on politics, teenage geekdom and the media; and how he and his bandmates “worked really hard to try to upset the things we had gotten bogged down in.”

Cuban music dies away

Cuban bassist and composer Israel "Cachao" Lopez, who is credited with pioneering the mambo style of music, died Saturday at age 89, a family spokesman said.

Known simply as Cachao, the Grammy-winning musician had fallen ill in the past week and died surrounded by family members at Coral Gables Hospital, spokesman Nelson Albareda said.

Cachao left communist Cuba and came to the United States in the early 1960s. He continued to perform into his late 80s, including a performance after the death of trombonist Generoso Jimenez in September 2007.

Green day for Tankian

A few days before the fifth anniversary of the Iraq War, rock musician Serj Tankian is sitting in an Austin hotel room and ruminating on the costs of the endless battle. But Tankian isn’t talking about dead soldiers or civilians; he’s talking about the cost to the Middle East’s environment, an issue that few people have raised.

“The topsoil there has been destroyed,” he says, “and who knows what kind of damage all those bombs have caused to the ecosystems in the Middle East?”

Many bands these days are claiming the “green” label, but their concern often starts at the merchandise table and ends at the recycling bin. Not so for the System of a Down frontman-turned-solo artist, who sees beyond silos and realizes that issues like electoral reform, recognition of the Armenian genocide, poverty and the environment are all related.

Back to Life

Even if he survives a horrific head injury suffered in a bus crash, Grammy-winning Tejano singer Emilio Navaira faces a long recovery and an uncertain future, his doctors say.

Navaira, 45, known to his fans simply as Emilio, was behind the wheel of his tour bus before dawn Sunday following a weekend show when it slammed into an interchange barrier on a Houston-area freeway, propelling him through the windshield.

Police said while the crash remained under investigation, their preliminary probe showed Navaira was not licensed to drive the 26,000-pound bus. His agent said the singer loved to drive it and normally did.

One Final Effort

Ladies and gentlemen, George Michael is giving North America one more try.

The pop star is gearing up for his first tour of the United States and Canada in 17 years, opening a multi-city “25 Live” tour in San Diego on June 17, Michael announced Monday. The tour is scheduled to wrap in Sunrise, Fla., on Aug. 3,

Other stops include Atlanta, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Los Angeles, Seattle, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, New York, Boston, Toronto and Montreal.

With Britney, Apple brings commericial success

Folksy French-Israeli singer Yael Naim found commercial success after her song “New Soul” played in Apple’s MacBook Air laptop ads, pushing the song to No. 7 on U.S. music chart Billboard’s Hot 100.

She already had gained fame for what some saw as a comic choice to cover Britney Spear’s “Toxic,” singing a soulful, poignant version of the commercial hit while playing piano.

But Naim, 29, whose self-titled new album was just released in the United States two months earlier than originally planned following the success of the Apple ad, says she’s not worried about being seen as too commercial.

Musically Speaking: The Metric System Works

Canadian indie rock band Metric is on a roll right now, with a much-sought-after slot at next month’s Coachella festival in Indio, Calif., and its first DVD, “Live at the Metropolis,” in stores now. The band, which has opened for the Rolling Stones, consists of guitarist and producer James Shaw, vocalist and synthesizer player Emily Haines, bassist Josh Winstead and drummer Joules Scott-Key, is working on a follow-up album to 2005’s successful “Live It Out.”

Made March 26th 2008

Wow, we've started our blog, it's Anime Wolves and Grand Theft Gaming joint blog to make the best music blog up to date, so keep watching - or listening to our blog's updates