[Hot Video Alert] Hurts - Miracle

British synthpop duo, Hurts (AKA Theo Hutchcraft & Adam Anderson) have been on my list of bands to see since the release of their STUNNING debut album, Happiness in 2010.  Unfortunately, the band has yet to really spend any time promoting their work here in America but here's hoping they do at some point!  The band recently released their sophomore album, Exile, on March 11th via Major Label/RCA.  Preceding the release of the album was the band's LUSH lead single, "Miracle," which was accompanied by a simple, yet still epic visual (which you can watch BELOW the fold).  While the song has a certain Coldplay feel to me, it's just too beautiful to ignore.  This song sounds expensive, and I like expensive things.

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[Review] Marina and The Diamonds - Power & Control

Last week, Welsh singer/songwriter Marina and The Diamonds unveiled the STUNNING Casper Balslev (Marina and The Diamonds, The Presets, Ladyhawke)-directed video for her new single, "Power & Control" and I immediately flashed back to when I heard her glorious voice for the first time.  The voice of Marina Diamandis is in a league of it's own. It's a beast so POWERFUL...so UNIQUE, that you don't know whether to love it unconditionally or question where the eff it came from.  To be honest...I'm kind of floating in the middle of that spectrum.  "Power & Control" will be released July 9th in the UK (iTunes UK).

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[Hot Video Alert] Emeli Sandé - My Kind Of Love

While Emeli Sandé is busy taking over America, her fans in the UK are getting amped up for her the release of her fourth single, the sensational "My Kind Of Love," due May 7th via Virgin Records.  Written by Sandé, Emile Haynie (Kid Cudi, Tinie Tempah) and Danny Keyz (Dr. Dre, Eminem), with the latter two also serving as co-producers alongside Craze & Hoax (Tinie Tempah, Tinchy Stryder), "My Kind Of Love" is another straight up stunner off Sandé's brilliant debut album, Our Version of Events.  

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Emeli Sandé Set to Make American Television Debut April 19th on Conan, Album Out June 5th

As you know by now, Scottish-born singer/songwriter Emeli Sandé is one of my 'Ones to Watch in 2012,' and for good reason - she's BLOODY AMAZING! After playing a small string of dates this past February and March, Sandé returns to the U.S. this Spring where she will be playing two special shows; an April 18th gig at the Bootleg Theatre in Los Angeles, followed by a performance April 24th at the Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn.  Not quite the large scale U.S. club tour I was hoping for but hey, it's exposure nonetheless.  In addition, Sandé has the incredible honor of opening for Coldplay during their North American tour this summer (tour dates BELOW). 

As if a major tour wasn't enough exposure, Sandé will be promoting her debut album, entitled Our Version of Events, with a couple of high profile TV appearances, starting with her American television debut April 19th on TBS's Conan show, where she;'ll perform her first U.S. single, the incredibly amazing "Next To Me."  Sandé will then appear on the Rachael Ray show during the week of May 14th.  Emeli will also be taking over radio with a performance and interview on NPR's World Café. Now that's a lot of promo!  Things are certainly heating up and I'm thrilled to see Capitol Records working their butts off to make Sandé the star here in America that she deserves to be.

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Ones to Watch in 2012: Emeli Sandé

I love it when America discovers someone talented that the rest of the world has known about for months, even years! Today, the talent I'm referring to is Scottish singer/songwriter Emeli Sandé.  Sandé is due to release her debut album, Our Version of Events on June 5th via Capitol Records.  This is HUGE! I'm envisioning lots of promotion, performances on The Tonight Show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show (except I think Ellen is on hiatus in the summer), it's going to massive. Capitol better promote the hell out of this supreme being. She deserves some Stateside recognition, for sure!

Sandé is already off to a promising start in her native UK, releasing debut single "Heaven" last August and having it debut in the #2 spot on the UK Singles Chart.  Aside from garnering the adoration of some of her musical contemporaries like Adele and Alicia Keys, Sandé has already won the prestigious BRIT Critics' Choice award (won in the past by Adele and Florence + The Machine), and was nominated for the Breakthrough British Artist award.  We'll have to wait until February 21st to see if she wins.  As if these accolades aren't enough, Sandé was also hand picked by Coldplay to open for the band on their European tour.  Follow up single "Daddy" (featuring Naughty Boy), which came out at the end of November, wasn't as fortunate, only coming in at #21.  We've all seen this before - first single is a top 5 hit, second single just barely outside of the top 20, third single 40+ and BAM. Dropped. I am hoping and praying that this does not become Emeli Sandé's fate.  The third single, entitled "Next To Me" is scheduled for release on February 12th, followed by the album's UK release the next day.

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Hot Video Alert: Coldplay - Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall

English alt rock band Coldplay is BACK with their first new music in nearly 2 years (not counting their 2010 Christmas single, "Christmas Lights,")! How exciting is this?! "Every Tear Drop Is A Waterfall" is the band's first single off their forthcoming fifth studio album. The song was produced by Markus Dravs, Dan Green and Rik Simpson and written by the boys of Coldplay (Guy Berryman, Jonny Buckland, Will Champion and Chris Martin) and features chords from the 1976 song "I Go To Rio," written by Peter Allen and Adrienne Anderson.

Released on June 3rd, "Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall" peaked at #6 on the UK Singles chart and at #14 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the band's third biggest single here in America, behind 2005's "Speed of Sound" (#8) and 2008's "Viva La Vida" (#1).  While I'm hardly complaining that Coldplay is back, the song is...dare I say it...a little expected.  Now, I don't expect every artist to completely reinvent his or herself with every album, but I was hoping for a little bit more freshness in their sound.  Oh well. I guess I'll take what I can get of Mr. Gwyneth Paltrow and the boys until their new album comes out.

The colorful video premiered on VEVO June 28th, which you can watch below.  Shot in East London, the Mat Whitecross-directed video features the band playing behind a lovely graffiti backdrop, painted by the band's artist "Paris," utilizing the stop-motion technique, a film making style seen fairly frequently in music videos these days.  Download "Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall" (+ 2 additional tracks) on U.S. iTunes HERE and check out the video below.

Check out Coldplay on the web:

Official Site//MySpace//Facebook//Twitter//VEVO

Hot Video Alert: Coldplay - Christmas Lights

The video for Coldplay's new holiday single, "Christmas Lights" is magical. Filmed in London, this video actually has me all revved up for a new Coldplay album. I can't believe it's been since 2008 that we've had a new Coldplay record! "Christmas Lights" was released on December 1st via Capitol/Parlophone. The song was written and produced by Coldplay (with Rik Simpson and Brian Eno assisting with the production) especially for the holidays, not for the new album as some thought initially. The Mat Whitecross-directed video features everything from fireworks, a Christmas pageant stage set and brightly colored player piano to a line of violin playing Elvises (see if you can spot British actor Simon Pegg of Shaun of the Dead fame in that line!). The video also features an appearance by 100 of the band's fans, who release a bunch of brightly-colored balloons from a boat. A very cool video for a very mellow song, made even cooler by the GORGEOUS artwork, designed by Yu Matsuoka Pol.

The single peaked at #25 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart as well as #12 on the Billboard Digital Songs chart. Over in the band's native UK the single peaked at #13. Why not check out the video below, buy the song on iTunes (HERE) and while there, check out a special behind the scenes clip over on Ping.

Check out Coldplay on the web:

Official Site//MySpace//Facebook//Twitter//VEVO//YouTube

WTF? - Coldplay featuring Kylie Minogue

I found this gem over on my new fav music blog, Arjan Writes. How come I never heard about this? Is this going to be Coldplay's next single? It's a deep, dark, depressing duet with none other than Ms. Kylie Minogue.



WHAT? Dark & Depressing? Kylie Minogue? This is rarely a feeling associated with any of Kylie's music (save for her 1995 single "Where The Wild Roses Grow" with Nick Cave, which Arjan appropriately references). This is SO bizare. If there is a single here, I hope and I pray that it gets remixed.

I'm not saying that everything under the sun needs a remix, but if you're going to pair up with Kylie Minogue, (arguably the Queen of Pop) don't make such a drag!

The song is called "Lhuna" and you can listen to it over on Arjan's blog. - Via Arjan Writes

**EDIT** According to Wikipedia, this is being released as a Charity Single to bring attention to World AIDs day (which was yesterday). Now I feel bad about attacking the tempo of the track. Still, it's not very uplifting, now is it? Thoughts?