Miley Cyrus 'Can't Be Tamed' but she can sound like everyone else - listen to the new single now

Miley Cyrus, pictured here greeting Sarah Jessica Parker backstage, is back and BIGGER AND BETTER THAN EVER, or so her people would have you believe.  In reality she's just back and a little mediocre.  'Can't Be Tamed' is the brand new single from Miley's upcoming album and while certainly not terrible, it's nothing we haven't heard before.  It could have been a Britney or Christina track from three years ago, or a Rachel Stevens cast-off.  Gone are the guitar-driven tween jams and angsty "he totally said he'd call but he totally didn't because he heard I gave J'Syn a handy-J at the Sonic Burger" attitude, and in its place is an electro swing sound that keeps getting made but has yet to really result in a hit (save for Britney's '3,' but let's be honest here, the threesomes sold that baby not the music) Still, the girl has a certain something that makes the track a little more than just the sum of its parts.  Take a listen and let us know what you think:



"Passable"

Christina unveils her 'Not Myself Tonight' video, and we don't hate it - watch the premiere!

We previously wrote about how Xtina's new track was a bit 'Sexyback-lite,' and went on to say generally not positive things about it.  There are of course some brilliant bits, and she's got a mighty nice set of pipes, but the deafening buildup to the track rendered it nearly impossible to appreciate on its own merits.  Luckily the video has surfaced, and gives us a few shiny new praises to heap upon Ms Aguilera's already over - Bedazzled heap of comeback press.

It's pretty, futuristic in a sort of retro sense, and it also sort of is a blatant ripoff of Madonna's 1989 'Express Yourself' clip in the way that people run out of ideas and then decide to fix it all by "paying tribute" to some creation that nobody doubts would be better off left alone. 

All in all, though, it's the best Christina has looked in years (read: ever) and she certainly pulls off the whole glossy shebang with the ease and style of a true professional. 



"Well done."


Out for download now in the US, and available May 2 in the UK.

The new Alphabeat video ticks all the boxes - watch 'DJ (I Could Be Dancing)' now!

Alphabeat are the current leaders in 90's dancefloor nostalgia.  While others are still toying around with 80's synth sounds and Dynasty shoulderpads, Alphabeat have pioneered the next logical step for pop.  Full on, 'Rick Dees and the Weekly Top Forty playing an Expose-dance-mix' 90's jams.  Amazing?  Amazing.

The video for their new single is equally as brilliant as their music manifesto, but in case you don't believe us here are some of the more important points:

1.  There are GIANT LP RECORDS in it that SPIN AS PEOPLE STAND ON THEM
2.  There is a lot of neon

That's really all you need to know going in, actually.



Out May 31, from the re-released/retitled "The Beat Is..." album.

Who'd like to preview Lady Gaga's new album? Well here you are then.

It would be surprising and a bit troubling to meet any person on this Earth who has not heard every track from Lady Gaga's debut album(s) at least several times.  For the Gaga machine this is both a good thing and a bad thing.  We're sure everyone is pleased as punch that her songs are so ubiquitous the world over, but with the star gearing up for a tour there's no chance for any new material to keep listeners interested anytime soon.  In this age of "out of sight, out of mind," this is a problem.  The solution?  Foist a dodgy remix album on everyone, of course.

Yes, following in the glorious and BEST-SELLING (read: hit number 6 in Belgium) footsteps of 'B In The Mix' and 'J To Tha L-O,' Gaga is taking a bunch of reworked version of old material and packaging it as something new.

Don't fret, though.  There are the standard rave-up, poppers-o-clock club versions of course, but some actual gems as well.  Take a listen to the sampler (featuring the UK-exclusive track listing) and see for yourself:



The album is out in Japan now, and drops May 3 (10th in the UK) everywhere else that matters except the US.  For those of us Stateside, it's amazon.co.uk time.

Marina and the Diamonds would like you to know that they are still not robots - watch the video now

A long long while ago we blogged about Marina and the Diamonds and their brand new single 'I Am Not A Robot.'  There was a video and a press campaign and performances and then NOTHING HAPPENED.  A year or so later, Marina has actually managed to make a dent in the charts with followup singles 'Mowgli's Road' and 'Hollywood,' and her "people" have to decide what to do next.  Apparently of the opinion that Marina has only ever written three good songs, her team have decided that the CLEAR ANSWER is to chuck out a song that already has proven to be an epic failure, and leave everything the exact same as before. 

So here's the video that you already saw a year ago, for a song that is now suddenly new again for no reason.  On the upside, it's still a pretty damn great tune.



"The same."

Hurts show us what is 'Better Than Love' - listen to our new favorite single now!

Hurts were impressive when they were stripped down and super emo on their last single 'Blood, Tears and Gold.'  Apparently being impressive was not enough, as the guys have upped their game on the follow-up.  When we say they upped their game we mean they handily won the match, killed all the other players and then did some sort of "scorched earth" maneuver so that the battlefield would not even be usable for generations to come.  We tend to use the word "amazing" quite a bit, but we super really mean it this time.  For real.



The single is out May 17, with the album following in August.  We suggest you buy both.

Let's all take a look at the June 2010 Kylie 'Elle' cover shall we?

"fuzzy."

Thanks to reader Joey K for this blurry tidbit of joy.

Let's take a listen to the new Gabriella Cilmi single - listen now!

The Cilmi train keeps on rolling, following on from the top ten 'Woman On A Mission' with a brand new track that is less immediate, but absolutely brilliant in a subtle campy Bee Gees kind of way.   It's by Xenomania so it's already incredible, and is one of those rare tracks that has a verse that is almost better than the chorus.  Gabriella is also very easy on the eyes, but we all know that doesn't matter in music these days because everyone just focuses on an individual's raw talent and personality.




Yes, very nice. 

The single is out soon, but the parent album 'Ten' is available now in the UK