Well that didn't take long! After yesterday's posting of Dragonette's new single, Our Summer, along with the acapella stems for any wanting fixers, our pal Marc hit us with his blend a few short hours later.
Muse, meet Martina and company. Good on ya!
mp3: Muse x Dragonette - Thoughts Of Our Summer (Marc Johnce Mash)
By all accounts, I should have been writing about Nikki & Rich for quite some time...in turn, and on all subsequent accounts, you should have every right to be angered with me for not doing so. Hopefully, the fire we've got to give out now remedies all prior injustices. On to the music!
As per their official words: "Nikki & Rich are Nikki Leonti, a California-born pastor’s daughter who grew up singing in church, and Rich Velonskis, a Queens, NY-born former DJ and established hip-hop/R&B producer who got his start spinning in New York City clubs as a teenager. These two seemingly opposite characters first met in 2007. Nikki was based in Nashville working as a background singer for Carrie Underwood and Rich was in Los Angeles producing tracks for Eve, Robin Thicke, Mario, and Ludacris, under his moniker Rich Skillz…Rich was looking for a strong vocalist and lyricist to collaborate with and take his tracks to the next level and he found the perfect match in Nikki."
As per my beastly opinion: "OH HELL YES!"
And now for something a little more fleshed out. Nikki & Rich are creating a fresh and fun spin on what I like to call "pop wop"...a splash of doo wop with a pop sensibility that will attract music lovers from all genres. And they're sure to get more notice from the rock crowd, now that the pair have covered Muse's Uprising. Girl's got some pipes, and she's not afraid to use 'em. You can read more on the story behind the decision to re-imagine this song over on Billboard.
Check out the video below, then grab the track after that.
mp3: Nikki and Rich - Uprising (Muse Cover)
Possibly sparked by sharing a bill in Austin during SXSW, stadium rockers, Muse, and indie champions, Metric, join forces for an October-November tour through North America. Each act is currently on their own headlining tours, and will hit the road this fall for a 9-stop tour together. Passion Pit will also jump on board with the English trio for a handful of dates.
The tour begins in Quebec City on October 21 and rounds out in Cincinnati on November 6. As has been customary over the past few years, the bands, primarily Metric, have selected cities just outside of the mainstream metropolitan venues. Thankfully, we get the Canadian troupe here on May 16 at Terminal 5. Tickets are still available here.
All dates for the Muse/Metric bills are below. Tickets and more info here.
Oct 21 - Quebec City, QC - Pepsi Coliseum
Oct 23 - Uniondale, NY - Nassau Coliseum
Oct 24 - Newark, NJ - Prudential Center
Oct 26 - Raleigh, NC - RBC Center
Oct 27 - Charlottesville, VA - John Paul Jones Arena
Nov 2 - Kansas City, MO - Sprint Center
Nov 3 - St. Louis, MO - Scottrade Center
Nov 5 - Columbus, OH - Value City Arena
Nov 6 - Cincinnati, OH - US Bank Arena
mp3: Muse - Supermassive Blackhole (Emre B Remix)
mp3: Metric - Gold Guns Girls (Mike Shinoda Remix)
I am in the funkiest mood ever today. The hair looks great, the clothes = on-point and after a shaky start to the day yesterday, the final hours of the day prior turned out mega super rad. But more on that later.
Naturally, when good stuff happens for us, we love paying it forward. Hell, you were getting these links anyway, but after all my words, I'm dumping a ton of tracks that I love on you...some for relevant reasons and others just cause they copntinue to rock my world.
Hussle Club is Prince Terrence, a noted NYC nightlife fixture and drummer for Santigold, Spank Rock, HEARTSREVOLUTION amongst others. I Have High Expectations For What I Want To Be But In The Mirror I Don't See Them Staring Back At Me and RCRD LBL has floor-friendly remixes from regulars Felix Cartal and Bird Peterson.
Dragonette gear up to hit the road with Little Boots and Fan Death. Dates here, but sadly none in NYC (boo), so to remedy, gobble up a new remix of Pick Up The Phone by Arithmatix! (the alias of Micahel Van She).
Ryan McGinley substitutes naked hipsters with collaboration-prone actress Tilda Swinton in a new short film for Pringle Of Scotland. Watch the gorgeousness ensue here.
Muse announce 4 additional live shows through the end of Spring. Their third single, Resistance, from their latest album, will be released in the UK on February 22. Details on all this can be found here.
Melbournian-DJ Andy Murphy's previous project was Citylife, which hit a beat of heat a while back on the blogs. His new collaboration with DJ Jori, however, is Jam Xpress, and they've dropped by with their Re-Jam of The Jackson 5's I Want You Back. It's free below.
mp3: Toni Braxton - Yesterday mp3: Alphabeat - Hole In My Heart (Chew Fu FixXx) mp3: Meck (Featuring Leo Sayer) - Thunder In My Heart mp3: Dragonette - Pick Up The Phone (Arithmatix! Remix) mp3: The Jackson 5 - I Want You Back (Jam Xpress Re-Jam) mp3: Major Lazer (Featuring Mr. Evil and Mapei) - Mary Jane mp3: Crookers (Featuring Kelis) - No Security (Bart B More Remix)
