Marvel has just released another teaser clip which was shown alongside the trailer during Agents of SHIELD on ABC last night (October 28). Watch the Avengers try to lift Thor’s hammer in Age of Ultron – unfortunately, the ‘lift-Thor’s-hammer’ party gets rudely interrupted by Ultron.
In the clip the Avengers are having a quiet drink and attempting (unsuccessfully) to lift Thor’s (Chris Hemsworth) hammer. But the party is cut short when Ultron (James Spader) arrives calling the group – “unworthy” and “puppets”.
Marvel released a trailer last week and it broke all records with 34.3 million views in the first 24 hours! We can look forward to a ‘marvel-lous’ 2015 with plenty of super hero action on the cards:
Avengers Age of Ultron – May 1, 2015
Ant-Man – July 17, 2015
Captain America: Civil War – May 5, 2015
Doctor Strange – November 4, 2016
Guardians of the Galaxy 2 – May 5, 2017
Thor: Ragnarok – July 28, 2017
Black Panther – November 3, 2017
Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 – May 4, 2018
Captain Marvel – July 6, 2018
The Inhumans – November 2, 2018
Avengers: Infinity War Part 2 – May 3, 2019
Lord Of The Rings & Hobbit screen legend Sir Ian McKellen appears in George Ezra’s video for his new single Listen To The Man. With some pretty brilliant lip-synching and excellent dialogue, this video is absolutely charming. It doesn’t notice at all, but George was really nervous performing next to Sir Ian McKellen, “It was nerve-racking trying to act beside him. I’m not an actor, and he’s phenomenal.”
Sir Ian keeps muscling in when George is trying to sing and halfway through the video they have a little disagreement – as far as George is concerned the Hobbit star is hogging the limelight. “He just keeps butting in and p***ing me off. And stealing the camera. In real life, I hate being on camera but in the video, that frustrates me.” After a little negotiating though, they sort it out and end up the best of friends.
According to a press release, George invited his new mate to see him performing in Shepherd’s Bush – to which the East London-dwelling Sir Ian said “Is there any chance you can play closer to Limehouse?”
George’s world tour continues until March 14 next year – he’s playing all over Europe, Australia and the US. Catch him in Paris on November 20, Madrid on February 14, London on February 20 and New York on March 16.
Listen to the Man is the 5th single to be taken from George’s debut Nº1 album Wanted On Voyage that was released in June 2014 and follows the other singles Did You Hear the Rain?, Budapest, Cassy O and Blame It on Me. The album received positive reviews from music critics with Neil McCormick of The Telegraph stating “Playing guitar, bass and keyboards, Ezra delivers structurally simple songs with enormous gusto, suggesting an uncynical, joyous release in the very act of making music.” Have to agree with that wholeheartedly.
OK Go have released an incredible music video – well, spectacle, for their single I Won’t Let You Down. They are riding the Uni-Cub, a self-balancing unicycle and they actually dance in formation with it! Shot in one take – it’s absolutely mind blowing! The video was filmed in Japan, in a huge warehouse outside Tokyo, with a lot of help from Honda. One comment on YouTube said “That’s the Japan 2020 Olympics opening ceremony already sorted.” And you will see how appropriate that comment is when you’ve watched the video.
In just one day the video has manage to notch up over 2.5 million views! OK Go have always been pioneering in their approach to videos but this one takes things to the next level. The four band members glide around the shot amongst dancers with umbrellas and some brilliant aerial videography. As well as the Uni-Cubs, Honda also contributed a “multi-copter” camera that was used to shoot the video.
Frontman Damian Kulash chose the director, Morihiro Harano, who then linked the band with Honda’s Ad Agency and Japanese choreographer Airman. Kulash said that the dancers were incredible to behold – “they were like automatons. One of [Airman’s] deputies would shout something to this whole battalion of Japanese schoolgirls, and they’d run like they were in military school, and nail it every time. It was a real treat to behold.”
Although the video was done in one shot it took 60 tries to get it right! It was filmed in double-time evoking Hollywood choreographer Busby Berkeley’s signature style. For the final scene, filmed in a parking lot, Harano cleverly set up huge speakers playing the song at half speed which “allowed for more precise movements even with the complicated choreography,” he said.
The single is from the bands 4th album – Hungry Ghosts which was released on October 14 via OK Go’s own label. Available for pre-order in the UK via iTunes and Amazon.
We’re loving the new, tongue-in-cheek music video for Tiga’s single Bugatti – it’s like a Wes Anderson movie on acid! In collaboration with Helmi and Division Paris the Turbo Recordings founder has made a suitably quirky video full of 80’s nostalgia with a dash existentialism and a sprinkling of the bizarre – it’ll will certainly be the most entertaining 3 minutes you’ll watch today. (Look out for the Pink Floyd reference at the end).
Tiga, Montreal dance producer and one of dance music’s biggest and best loved stars, never seems to lose his enthusiasm, he is always reinventing and innovating and up for anything. Back in 2009 he described his occupation perfectly in an online interview, “I see it as my job to descend from above and sprinkle the crowd with unimaginable spices.” Bugatti was released last year on his own Turbo label and recently signed to Universal.
Bugatti was the result of “a couple of hours in the studio being a little bit stupid. The times I take myself the least seriously are the best. I’ve fought hard with myself to keep that childlike attitude..It’s my favourite thing in the world when you make something weird with absolutely no calculation and people love it anyway.”
Bugatti is released via Virgin EMI on December 8 and is available for pre-order now. The single comes packaged with remixes from Eats Everything, Amine Edge & DANCE, Life Sim, and Doorly. A vocal version featuring Pusha T is also available.
Next year we can look forward to a new studio album from Tiga – the follow-up to Ciao (2009)
(Just for the record, Tiga doesn’t drive or even own a Bugatti – he has a BMW 750i.)
Congratulations to Fuse ODG who has just scored his 4th Top 10 hit on the UK charts with TINA, featuring R&B singer Angel and produced by the legendary Killbeatz. The song is named after his debut album T.I.N.A which was released in June this year and stands for This Is New Africa. Fuse is passionate about raising the profile of Africa and Africans and TINA, the movement he founded, urges Africans to rebuild communities and present a positive image of Africa to the rest of the world.
Fuse’s real name is Nana Richard Abiona and he is of Ghanian descent, born and raised in London. His stage name came about from the fusion of diverse musical styles, Afro-pop, hip-hop, R&B, funk and rock – and ODG stands for ‘Off Da Ground’. Fuse brought Afrobeats to the mainstream – note the plural, because Afrobeat was the analogue African funk style made famous by Fela Kuti. Afrobeats is the contemporary take – a combination of digital rhythms, synths and big hooks that has been the standard sound of the youth in Ghana and Nigeria for quite a while. Now, the new generation of black British kids are re-mixing it so it sounds like an urban street party.
This 4th Top 10 was preceded by Antenna, that peaked at Nº7 on the UK singles chart, Azonto (Nº 30), Million Pound Girl (Badder Than Bad) (Nº5) and Dangerous Love (Nº3).
As well as his TINA mission, Fuse ODG uses his talents as a musician to help young people. He works with young offenders and has pioneered a group called Escape which promotes creativity as a way of keeping kids off the streets and therefore away from crime.
Many musicians get their big breaks in the music industry by writing hit songs for superstars. Here’s a list of celebrities with hit-making genes – a list of recent chart topping songs that were actually, and in some cases surprisingly, written by other famous artists. Some intentionally, some chose to pass on the opportunity seeing it as unfit for themselves, others were inspired collaborations between the artists.
This song was penned by Ed Sheeran when he was only 17. He had forgotten about the song but when Sheeran started working with One Direction on their second album, a friend (Fiona Bevan) had got in touch and reminded him about a tune they had come up with. Sheeran played it to the young English-Irish boy band and they loved it. Many thought it wouldn’t be the right sound for the lads but they were proved wrong when they released it on their second studio album Take Me Home and it became their fifth top ten hit in Ireland, second Nº1 in the UK (as did the album on which it appeared), fourth top ten hit in Australia, Nº2 in New Zealand, 41 in the Billboard Hot 100, their fourth top 40 hit on the Canada Hot 100 AND went platinum and gold in six countries. Not a bad feat for a song that had been criticized for being “lumpy” and “jarring”. It’s a very sweet acoustic song, and if you listen carefully you can detect Ed Sheeran’s influence all over it.
This was written by Jessie J and Claude Kelly with the intention of it being released by Jessie herself. However, once the song was written her team felt that it wasn’t quite the right style for her and so it was offered to Miley Cyrus for the album The Time of our Lives. Miley’s style at the time was clearly not as twerky or shocking as she was still trying to ditch the Disney-girl-next-door persona for her more recent wild child character. Jessie J’s reasoning behind rejecting her own song was that it wasn’t edgy enough, it definitely wouldn’t pass for Cyrus now but back in 2009 it was exactly what Miley needed to bulk up her album. Party in the USA became an international success topping the charts in eight countries and continues to be Hollywood Record’s biggest selling single which went seven times platinum in the US and four times in Canada.
Bruno Mars is a huge star in his own right but his talents do not stop at himself. He has written, co-written and collaborated on countless hit songs. One which has raised some debate as to the named credits is CeeLo Green’s F#@k You (more politely named Forget You). Bruno credited himself as the writer but CeeLo has since argued that Mars’ efforts were creditable but only as far as the producer not the writer of the smash hit song. Eventually the agreement resulted in the song having been co-written by Green and Mars. Some of Bruno’s other big hits for which there are no arguments that he deserves the credit for are; Flo Rida’s Right Round, Adam Lambert’s Never Close your Eyes, Justin Bieber and Love Me, Travie McCoy and Billionaire, The Vamps’ Can We Dance, B.O.B.’s Nothing on You (in which Mars actually features) are some of his big behind the scenes accomplishments.
Justify My Love released in 1990 as the first single from the Immaculate Collection album and later in 2009 was added to the Greatest Hits album. The single went worldwide and topped the charts in seven countries. It is by far her most controversial and overtly sexual song, as promoted by the video which went on to become the highest selling video single of all time. Madonna did write a few words of the song but the majority of the lyrics were written by another famous singer songwriter; the one and only Lenny Kravitz.
Originally written with a male vocal in mind by Ne-Yo amongst other songwriters. After some deliberation Ne-Yo felt that the song required a female vocal and so co-wrote a new version alongside Beyoncé. Beyoncé had a few changes to make to it but whatever the two finally recorded seemed to work as it hit the charts in twenty countries. Ne-Yo has penned many songs working with and for the likes of Jay Z, Jennifer Hudson, New Kids on the Block, Rihanna, Jessica Sanchez, Lyndsey Lohan, Kelly Rowland and more.
Written and produced by Keys, Kanye West and Harold Lilly this became Keys’ third top ten hit in the States in 2003. Released as the lead single on her second studio album The Diary Of Alicia Keys, You Don’t Know My Name won her a Grammy Award and a Soul Train Music Award. A soulful ballad like this is not Kanye’s typical style of music and so this one came as quite a surprise, but as it turns out West does have a softer side and can turn his pen to many a talent.
We Found Love was written, produced (and featured) by Scottish DJ Calvin Harris in 2011. The video is yet another controversial hard-hitting portrayal about love, drugs, sex, destructive relationships, partying and hopelessness. This is one of Rihanna’s biggest dance hits; some go as far as claiming it to be a “club anthem”. Collaborating with DJ Calvin Harris on this proved a huge success topping the charts in no less than 25 countries and her longest running number one single. And one of the best selling singles of all time.
Sia has written songs for many famous artists as well as herself, including the most recent world cup song We are One (Ole, Ola) featuring Pitbull and JLo. Sia wrote Diamonds for Rihanna which became her (Rihanna’s) 12th Nº1 single coming top of the charts in twenty countries. As well as being a very successful musician, singer-songwriter in her own right, Sia has also been the brains behind many other artists’ chart topping hits such as; Cannonball by Lea Michelle, Ne-Yo’s Let Me Love You Until You Learn to Love Yourself, Perfume by Britney Spears, Radioactive by Rita Ora and Beyoncé’s Pretty Hurts to name but a few!
Don’t have Creation 5? Download it from the App Store!
Finally a Pitbull music video without boobs and butts… haha! this time it’s Penguins! Join Pitbull in his family friendly video as he jet-sets around the world in Celebrate from the Penguins of Madagascar movie. Directed by David Rousseau, Mr Worldwide jets to various exotic locations across the globe on his private plane, before hitting the studio with Skipper, Kowalski, Rico and Private. After a brief spell as a cartoon character himself, Pitbull then hits the stage to perform – and yes, there is much too much penguin crowd-surfing! 🙂
You might recognise parts of the song as it samples the chorus from the funky rock song I Just Want to Celebrate by Rare Earth (1971). Celebrate is the 3rd single to be released from Pitbull’s upcoming album – following Wild, Wild Love and Fireball.
Celebrate will appear on the Penguins Of Madagascar soundtrack, as well as Pitbull’s 8th studio album, Globalization, which will be out on November 24. The movie – a spin-off of the ‘Madagascar’ trilogy – will arrive in theatres on November 26.
One Direction finally released their hugely anticipated video for Steal My Girl yesterday, starring Hollywood legend Danny DeVito. The surreal video also stars sumo wrestlers, ballerinas, Maasai warriors, a marching band, a cute chimpanzee, a lion..it’s amazing and bizarre at the same time. The music video seems to have absolutely nothing to do with the song but its a spectacular visual anyway, just roll with it…
One Direction have been teasing clips for the past week and when they finally released the video, it was incredible that servers didn’t crash from the assault of hundreds of thousands of fans going online to watch it. YouTube views are currently standing at almost 5 million after just 24 hours.
Danny DeVito plays the Director of the boys music video and in a rather amusing beginning lectures them on why they are assembled together in the desert: “Gentlemen! Why are we here? We’re here in the name of art! We’re here to commit ourselves to a higher form of expression…I’ve seen your work and today, we’re going to take it to a new level! We’ve come to the most barren place on earth, to create! Today, we bring life to the desert!” He then goes on to label each of the boys with a symbol – Love (Harry), Light (Niall), Power (Liam), Danger (Louis) and Mystery (Zayn).
The use of the animals, especially the chimpanzee, has caused a bit of a scandal with PETA up in arms about it. In an open letter addressed to Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson, PETA told the pop stars that they are “concerned about reports that a chimpanzee, a lion and other wild and exotic animals were used in a new One Direction video. You may not know that animals used for entertainment productions, including music videos, endure horrific cruelty and suffer from extreme confinement and violent training methods.”
Controversy aside, One Direction are now gearing up for their 2015 tour to support their new album Four. General tickets go on sale November 1st – although fans have a chance to purchase pre-sale by visiting the One Direction Facebook page on October 29.
Ever tried clapping games as a kid? Well, Pentatonix’s new video for their awesome cover of Fleet Foxes White Winter Hymnal will show you a thing or two about clapping..Their tight-knit harmonies, energetic vocal arrangements and incredible clapping skills are front and centre in this video.
If the clapping thing fascinates you – try watching the tutorial below, to see how they did it (tap here to watch in Creation 5):
The a cappella quintet released their holiday album That’s Christmas to Me on Tuesday via RCA Records and White Winter Hymnal is the first cut from the album. Highly recommended for your Christmas listening pleasure, the album opens with a modern take on Hark The Herald Angels Sing and finishes with a cover of Let It Go from Frozen. In between are lots of other classics like Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy and Silent Night.
Scott Hoying told The Hollywood Reporter, “I think this album’s more creative than our last one which was just typical Christmas songs with really pretty a cappella arrangements. But this one, I feel there’s more concepts and ideas.”
Its been a really busy period for the group as last month they also released their 3rd EP, PTX Vol. III, which shot straight to No. 5 on Billboard’s Top 200 Album Chart and No. 3 on the Digital Albums Chart. Selling more than 46,000 units in its first week, the EP is the group’s highest debut and chart position.
That’s Christmas To Me Track List
1. Hark The Herald Angels Sing
2. White Winter Hymnal
3. Sleigh Ride
4. Winter Wonderland / Don’t Worry Be Happy ft. Tori Kelly
5. That’s Christmas To Me
6. Mary, Did You Know?
7. Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy
8. It’s The Most Wonderful Time of The Year
9. Santa Claus Is Coming To Town
10. Silent Night
11. Let It Go (Bonus)
London house production duo Waze & Odyssey might just be the new Nº1 on the UK charts this weekend with their remix of R Kelly’s 1995 Top 10 single – Bump & Grind. The track is trailing Meghan Trainor’s All About that Bass by a mere 3,000 copies and Friday/Saturday sales could easily see this underground house track claim the top spot.
The track is basically a dance remix of R Kelly’s original tune and it has nailed every dance floor around the world. It certainly ruled the airwaves in Ibiza this summer. Every night, as the Ibiza clubs started to fill to capacity, Bump & Grind 2014 could be heard across the island.
Waze & Odyssey formed 3 years ago and they have been releasing music on the house music circuit since then. But their Bump and Grind remix has really taken off in an extraordinary way – the duo talked to the Official Charts Company about its success:
“We made it to play in a DJ set one night. We played it out and it went wild. Then a few DJs asked for a copy and they started playing it out and we were getting all these wild reports back. About a year ago someone approached us about releasing it and so we decided to put it out there for those who maybe hadn’t heard it. It’s been an underground favourite for a while now.”
“It started maybe 2 years ago with Skream dropping it in one room of the Warehouse Project in Manchester, while in the other room Horse Meat Disco were playing it. From then everyone from DJ Ez to Duke Dumont to Rudimental have all been playing it. It’s been very much an underground thing and loads of people will get in touch with us, even now saying that they’d be searching for the track for months before knowing what it was. With it now getting radio airplay, it’s just gone mad!”
