Upcoming Single Releases (Updated 9th August 2013)

This Week’s Releases

2 Chains feat. Pharrell - Feds Watching

Axwell - Center Of The Universe

Ben G & Waka Flocka Flame – Activist

Bump – Baby Blue

Booker T feat. Jay James – Broken Heart

Dan Croll – In Out

Dirty South feat. Joe Gil – Until The End

Ellie Goulding – Burn

Franz Ferdinand – Live EP

Martin Solveig and the Cataracts feat. Kyle – Hey Now

MGMT – Your Life Is A Lie

MK1 – Let Go

Ray Foxx feat. Rachel K Collier – Boom Boom (Heartbeat)

Texas – Detroit City EP

To Be One – Wherever You Wanna Go

The Vaccines – Melody Calling (EP)

The Wanted – We Own The Night

18^th Aug

Anna Meredith - Jet Black Raider (EP)

DJ Fresh vs Diplo feat. Dominique Young – Earthquake

Florida Georgia Line feat. Nelly - Cruise

Klangkarussell - Sonnentanz (The Sun Don't Shine) (feat. Will Heard)

Laura Mvula – She

Matt Cardle and Melanie C – Loving You

Naughty Boy feat. Emeli Sande – Lifted

Tich – Obsession

Unconfirmed

Dawes - From A Window Seat

Fall Out Boy – Alone Together

Franz Ferdinand – Right Action (EP)

Lady GaGa - Applause

Little Green Cars - Absolute Zero

Miguel feat. Jessie Ware – Adorn

Olly Murs - Hey You Beautiful

Wretch 32 feat. Jacob Banks - Doing OK

25^th Aug

Bastille - Things We Lost in the Fire

Bo Bruce - The Hands I Hold

Chloe Howl – No Strings

John Legend - Made To Love

Mausi – Move

Olly Murs - Right Place Right Time

Shane Filan – Everything To Me (EP)

Tame Impala – Elephant

The 1975 - Sex

Unconfirmed

Big Sean feat. Lil Wayne & Jhene Aiko - Beware

Little Nikki - Little Nikki Says

Naughty Boy - Think About It

Rizzle Kicks – Lost Generation

1^st Sep

Janelle Monae – Dance Apocalyptic

Joel Compass – Astronaut

Mikky Ekko – Kids (EP)

Unconfirmed

Goldfrapp - Drew

London Grammar - Strong

Mutya Keisha Siobhan – Flatline

Neon Jungle - Trouble

Pitbull feat. Danny Mercer - Outta Nowhere

Trinidad James - All Gold Everything

8^th Sep

Austin Mahone – What About Love

Katy Perry – Roar

Lethal Bizzle feat. Ruby Goe – Party Right

The Naked And Famous – Hearts Like Ours

Unconfirmed

Armin Van Buuren - Beautiful Life

Birdy - Wings

Chvrches – Lies

Cyril Hahn feat. Shy Girls - Perfect Form

Example – All The Wrong Places

Manic Street Preachers - She Me The Wonder

The Other Tribe - My Girl

15^th Sep

The Aston Shuffle – Can’t Stop Now

Catfish and the Bottlemen – Rango

Diane Vickers – Music To Make Boys Cry

Jason Derulo feat. 2Chainz – Talk Dirty

Unconfirmed

Iggy Azalea - Change Your Life

Jessie J – It’s My Party

Katie Melua – Ketevan

22^nd Sep

Haim – The Wire

Jonas Brothers – First Time

Lorde – Royals

Nelly feat. Nicki Minaj and Pharrell - Get Like Me

Unconfirmed

Chase & Status - Count On You

29^th September

Basement Jaxx – What A Difference Your Love Makes

Unconfirmed

Michael Buble feat. Bryan Adams - After All

Sheryl Crow - Easy

Upcoming Singles With Unknown Release Dates

Alice In Chains - Voices

Blue – Without You

Caro Emerald – Completely

C2C – Happy

Fergie feat. Q-Tip and GoonRock – A Little Party Never Killed Nobody

Frank Turner – Losing Days

Kim Cesarian – Undressed

KT Tunstall - Invisible Empire

Mumford and Sons – Hopeless Wanderer

Paramore – Ain’t It Fun

Pet Shop Boys – Love Is A Bourgeois Construct

Queens of the Stone Age – I Sat By The Ocean

Rudimental feat. Foxes: Right Here

Ryan Molloy – The Night

Thirty Seconds To Mars – Do Or Die

Tres.B – The Goose Hangs High

Vampire Weekend – Unbelievers

Read More

Is Calvin Harris' Music Record Good Spin?

"Calvin Harris Makes UK Chart History!" screams MTV today (http://www.mtv.co.uk/news/calvin-harris/387754-calvin-harris-makes-uk-chart-history-with-18-months) as Harris' latest album sees nine of its tracks reaching a position inside of the top ten, beating the previous record held by himself and then Michael Jackson. Now, I'm not one to pull apart a great achievement for Harris - after all, they've all scored within the top ten so have all proved popular releases with the public - but is there a little bit of spin and marketing trickery involved in this record. Let's take a look:

Five of the nine singles, a considerable number, were released before the album hit the shelves so it is more likely that they'll sell than if people had bought the LP, 'Bounce' appearing in the charts a massive sixteen months before the album. There is a sense of irony that releases from an album entitled '18 Months' has seen '26 Months' between its first and latest single. The most recent three releases, post-album, are the ones that have appeared at the lower end of the top ten.

'We Found Love' was technically a Rihanna track on which he featured, which then was subsequently included on the album '18 Months', but is still included in this chart history acknowledgement

And all but one of the singles released are the ones on the album with guest stars, cleverly using different vocalists to make each one separate, opposed to always using his vocals.

Part of me congratulates Harris for such an achievement and I'm sure if I was in a similar position I'd go for the record, but another part of me feels like, recently, he's been churning out consistently sound-a-like recordings, nothing like the variety and distinct hits off his 'I Created Disco' or 'Ready For the Weekend' follow-up. Plus, releasing so many singles, to me, devalues the idea of an album, that it becomes more of a compilation than a solid album, though maybe that's the future of LPs in a digital download world?

So, what do you think: great talent or cunning release strategy?

Read More

Peter Capaldi confirmed as the 12th Doctor

Well, it's official. In a change of the way it normally goes the bookies were right and Peter Capaldi (The Thick Of It, In The Loop, World War Z, The Hour etc) has been announced as the 12th Doctor stepping into the shoes of Matt Smith.

It's an interesting choice and one that has been circulating on the internet for a while now but mostly as tongue-in-cheek idea (much to Den of Geek's chagrin who now have to write a 3000 word review of the new One Direction film).

"@denofgeek: If Peter Capaldi is cast as the 12th Doctor tomorrow night, we will commit to a good 3000 words on the One Direction movie."

So is it a good choice? To me, yes. He's going to have a challenge winning over those who only know him from his work as foul-mouthed Malcolm Tucker from the Thick Of It, but for those who've seen his other work - including his role in Torchwood - can attest to his suitability.

Though cut out of context, this snippet from his appearance in series two of The Hour attests to his ability to say lots with so little.



There will be a few issues to overcome - namely he's already been in 'The Fires of Pompeii' and the aforementioned Torchwood spin-off, something new for an actor in the role of the Doctor, forgetting assistants - but to have an older Doctor, an established actor and someone with a good range in charge - will be good for the show.

I look forward to seeing him in action from this Christmas.

Read More

The Sound of Silence on Twitter

Today marks a special day on Twitter as many take themselves off it in support of the many, many people who have been receiving abuse on the social network, including leading feminists and famous females such as historian and television presenter Mary Beard.

It's been interesting - and shocking - following the debates about abuse on Twitter recently, with debates on such mediums such as the Jeremy Vine Show on Radio 2 and it's just staggering how many warped opinions people are using both online and in person, using things such as rape as threats, and general misogynistic and downright unbelievable things said in all seriousness by individuals that sound like they've stepped out of a bad 70s sitcom.

Twitter has moved to say it will do more to tackle abusive behaviour on Twitter (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-23559605) which is a good thing, but is it getting to the root of the problem?

Like the recent discussions about legislation to limit access to pornography on the internet, going for an opt-in way of working, are we tackling the wrong level in the chain? It's all very well criticising ISPs for not doing enough on porn or Twitter for not doing enough to block abusers, but should we not be going for the actual people creating the content, i.e. the people uploading the porn and the individuals uploading the abuse to Twitter?

Obviously the police have lots of work on and resources, especially in 2013, are tight, but rather than getting Twitter to block the idiots posting these messages and freeing them to just set up another account or moving to Facebook or other message boards to spout their comments, shouldn't we get to the cause of the problems, the individuals?

Today, as Mary Beard observes the one day of silence, she has received a bomb threat - http://metro.co.uk/2013/08/04/mary-beard-receives-online-bomb-threat-as-users-observe-twitter-silence-3910407/. It'll be interesting to see how this played out. Paul Chambers made an angry, off-hand comment back in 2010 threatening to blow up Robin Hood airport after his flight was cancelled (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-19009344). Only media pressure and celebrity involvement stopped him from going to jail, and that wasn't a direct threat. So are we going to get the same treatment of this person, i.e. have them arrested and sent to court? A bomb threat is a bomb threat and if the police take one incident seriously then they must take the rest.

I think there is lots that Twitter - and other online services - can do to stop abuse online in all its forms - sexism, racism, homophobia, general trolling - but without tackling the root of the problem, the individuals who think it's perfectly acceptable to abuse people online in such ways, then the problem won't be solved.

Perhaps some of it is education. This generation of young children are some of the first to not know a time pre-internet so they need to be taught that saying something online is no different to saying something to someone's face. If you wouldn't threaten someone in real life or insult them, why would you do it online?

If I went onto the street now and shouted out in front of an audience 'I'm going to murder you' to someone I'd expect to be arrested. Why should it be any different threatening rape on a public social network? It will be interesting to see how this all develops.

Read More

Peter Capaldi for Doctor Who?

The bookies have stopped taking bets on Peter Capaldi (The Thick Of It) being the 12th Doctor, with the identity of the next Time Lord being revealed for certain tonight live on BBC One at 7pm. Though talk about suspended betting suggests it's a done deal, this isn't the case as a similar thing was done about Paterson Joseph prior to Matt Smith being announced as the 11th Doctor.

I don't think Peter Capaldi will be announced as the new Doctor but I think he would make a good one. Anyone who saw his performance in series two of 'The Hour', especially the unspoken scene with Anna Chancellor that brought his storyline to an end, will attest to his acting talent. There has been a lot of negativity towards the suggestion he could be next to waggle the Sonic Screwdriver but I think that's more down to his strong association with Malcolm Tucker from 'The Thick Of It'. I doubt his spin on it would involve cursing at the Daleks or running spin against the Cybermen.

In fact, the only thing Capaldi has running against him is his strong and impressive appearance in Doctor Who spin off 'Torchwood' and whether this could correlate with him then appearing as the Doctor. We've had assistants appearing as different characters in the show before - Karen Gillan and Freema Agyeman - but never the Doctor as far as I know.

I'd be quite happy with Peter Capaldi taking the role of an older Doctor - he'd certainly bring the emotion to the role. However, my favourite choice is still his 'The Hour' co-star and James Bond actor Ben Whishaw, though the 'Black Mirror'-starring BT advert-featuring Daniel Rigby seems to be tipped on Twitter with rumours of a Fringe show set for tonight featuring him has been cancelled.

But we won't truly know until tonight. Who will be Who? Find out on BBC One tonight at 7pm.

Read More

Is there really a benefit for artists to allow their music to be streamed?

One topic that has been circulating the online news channels this week is the issue over streaming music, a hot discussion that has arisen ever since the rise of Spotify, a service embraced by many record labels in an attempt to combat the ever increasing rise of illegal downloading and torrenting.

But it’s not been all rosy. Thom Yorke, of Radiohead fame, removed some of his solo material from Spotify in a protest over how little artists get paid per stream (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-23313445). According to that report, streaming still only accounts for 13% of worldwide sales, but is the fastest growing field. Artists are reluctant to say how much they get paid by streaming services, but it is deemed to be far less than they get for actual downloads, which stands up as the revenue generated from advertising around free streaming is much less than cold, hard digital cash for a download.

In another article covering online musical, it is revealed that, post-festivals, artists who do not have their material on streaming sites, find the ratio of sales to illegal downloads is less than those who have them on streaming sites (http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/23372783), meaning if people can re-discover a new artist they heard first on a streaming site, they are then more likely to purchase the song rather than torrent it.

Traditional Consumption

I am very traditional in my music consumption. I still prefer to own my music – be that digitally or physically – rather than stream it as it’s then mine to do what I want with. I prefer to sample music via YouTube as I find the need to download software for streaming sites unnecessarily clunky. But I can see the benefits of streaming as a means of trying out new songs and hearing ones you may not necessarily want to pay for, with lots of 89 pences quickly adding up for people who like their music but don’t have bundles of cash hanging around.

Benefits to Artists

Though streaming is seen as being beneficial to artists, is it? Which is the most likely scenario? People interested in a record just listen to it on a streaming site as and when they want to and never own the track as they don’t need to, giving the artist a very small return; or not having it available for stream and so they have to buy it themselves, rewarding the artist more; or does this latter way mean more people would rather download it illegally than slap down 89p, meaning the artist gets no revenue at all?

Releasing singles earlier

Take a current track recently added onto YouTube – the new MKS song ‘Flatline’. I’ve listened to it a few times on YouTube but it’s not yet available to download. I’m happy to wait for it to be available for download but there will be lots who don’t want to wait and will either rip it or torrent it. Would there be an advantage for record labels to start releasing new singles earlier and help combat piracy?

It’s an interesting balance between music availability, cost and access and one that streaming companies, the artists, and consumers will be battling it out for a while yet.

I would love to hear your comments on streaming and artist revenue below!

Read More

New! Super Luigi U [Review]

Released last month as DLC to last year’s ‘New! Super Mario Bros U’ for Nintendo’s Wii U console, I’ve just purchased the month-later physical copy of the game. The add-on sees the original levels scrapped and replaced by brand new ones, with Mario replaced by a floatier Luigi and each level replaced by a shorter, more difficult, but completely new version and limited to 100 seconds on the clock.

On the surface this spin-off may seem like a shameless cash-in with the world map unchanged and secret levels missing, especially in the light of Nintendo seemingly milking their plumber as much as they can, but actually it’s quite a deep and playable piece of DLC, though it should be as it’s more expensive than your usual add-ons.

Though world one is pretty straight forward and the three star coins hidden in each level simple to find, there is a fairly steep difficulty curve as levels become much harder, but very rarely too frustrating. Finding all three star coins becomes more challenging, athletically rather than actually finding them, and a different way of playing needed becomes apparent.

Out goes the exploration of the previous games’ levels, in comes the speed-run friendly, acrobatics of a new game, utilising a floatier, jumpier Luigi who, in contradiction to other reviews, isn’t that difficult to control and for every time his jump throws you in the path of an enemy, it helps you get over a tricky obstacle. There is a certain pleasure in the game from seeing Luigi dodging over obstacles like a gymnast, trying to reach the ending before the time runs out, though in effect this rarely happens; more likely it is a well-placed enemy, trap or obstacle that will hit you.

The difficulty of the game is balanced well between losing lives and the plethora of coins and how much easier it is to land on the top of the final flagpole with Luigi, which gains you an extra life, but you’ll still find the Game Over screen appears regularly.

The game continues to work with Miiverse integration, allowing you to leave messages for players, and elements such as chasing Nabbit, mushroom houses, the relatively boring and easy bosses, and up to 4-player gaming returns, this time with the invincible Nabbit replacing Mario for younger players.

The game throws in the odd change, such as a hidden Luigi in each level (though it would be nice for the game to note if you find it by, say, touching it on the gamepad) and the removal of secret exits – which feels a missed opportunity – but mostly feels very similar, even down to the game throwing you back out of the map after each defeat, which feels like a barrier between you and the game as you find yourself dying much more regularly than in a usual game of Mario – sorry – Luigi.

With all the assets, sounds and music coming over from the original, it looks and feels very similar but for players after a much greater challenge and have exhausted the previous game, then this is a must buy, and your only decision is whether to buy it physically for £10 more so it sits on your shelf, or go for the download option (which requires you owning the main packaged game). If you didn’t enjoy the first or found that too difficult then you need to avoid this.

I thoroughly enjoy the challenge and the levels are as ingenious and tricky as Nintendo’s best.

7/10

Read More

Upcoming Single Releases (Updated 1st August 2013)

This Week’s Single Releases

AFI – I Hope You Suffer

Blitz Kids – Run For Cover

Brookes Brothers feat. Chrom3 – Carry Me On

Charlene Soraia – Broken

Disclosure – F For You

Imagine Dragons – It’s Time

Lana Del Rey vs Cedric Gervais – Summertime Sadness

Miley Cyrus - We Can't Stop

Miles Kane - Taking Over

Noah & The Whale – Lifetime

Primal Scream - Invisible City

RESET! – I Need You

Sean Paul - Other Side of Love

The Strypes – What A Shame

Tinie Tempah feat. 2Chainz – Trampoline (EP)

11^th Aug

Axwell - Center Of The Universe

Bump – Baby Blue

Booker T feat. Jay James – Broken Heart

Ellie Goulding – Burn

Ray Foxx feat. Rachel K Collier – Boom Boom (Heartbeat)

The Vaccines – Melody Calling (EP)

The Wanted – We Own The Night

Unconfirmed

Alice In Chains - Voices

C2C – Happy

DJ Fresh vs Diplo feat. Dominique Young – Earthquake

Kim Cesarian – Undressed

KT Tunstall - Invisible Empire

Mikky Ekko – Kids (EP)

Naughty Boy feat. Emeli Sande – Lifted

Rudimental feat. Foxes: Right Here

18^th Aug

Anna Meredith - Jet Black Raider (EP)

Klangkarussell - Sonnentanz (The Sun Don't Shine) (feat. Will Heard)

Laura Mvula – She

Matt Cardle and Melanie C – Loving You

Unconfirmed

Dawes - From A Window Seat

Franz Ferdinand – Right Action (EP)

Lady GaGa - Applause

Little Green Cars - Absolute Zero

Miguel feat. Jessie Ware – Adorn

Olly Murs - Hey You Beautiful

Tich – Obsession

Wretch 32 feat. Jacob Banks - Doing OK

25^th Aug

Bastille - Things We Lost in the Fire

Shane Filan – Everything To Me (EP)

Tame Impala - Elephant

Unconfirmed

Bo Bruce - The Hands I Hold

John Legend - Made To Love

Little Nikki - Little Nikki Says

Naughty Boy - Think About It

Olly Murs - Right PlaceRight Time

Rizzle Kicks – Lost Generation

The 1975 - Sex

1^st Sep

Joel Compass - Astronaut

Martin Solveig and the Cataracts feat. Kyle – Hey Now

Unconfirmed

Goldfrapp - Drew

London Grammar - Strong

Mutya Keisha Siobhan – Flatline

Neon Jungle - Trouble

Pitbull feat. Danny Mercer - Outta Nowhere

Trinidad James - All Gold Everything

8^th Sep

Austin Mahone – What About Love

The Naked And Famous – Hearts Like Ours

Unconfirmed

2 Chains feat. Pharrell - Feds Watching

Armin Van Buuren - Beautiful Life

Chvrches – Lies

Cyril Hahn feat. Shy Girls - Perfect Form

Example – All The Wrong Places

Manic Street Preachers - She Me The Wonder

The Other Tribe - My Girl

15^th Sep

The Aston Shuffle – Can’t Stop Now

Jason Derulo feat. 2Chainz – Take Dirty

Unconfirmed

Iggy Azalea - Change Your Life

Katie Melua – Ketevan

22^nd Sep

Jonas Brothers – First Time

Lorde – Royals

Nelly feat. Nicki Minaj and Pharrell - Get Like Me

Unconfirmed

Chase & Status - Count On You

29^th September

Basement Jaxx – What A Difference Your Love Makes

Unconfirmed

Michael Buble feat. Bryan Adams - After All

Sheryl Crow - Easy

Upcoming Singles With Unknown Release Dates

Fall Out Boy - Alone Together

Fantasia feat. Kelly Rowland – Without Me

Ghostpoet – Cold Win

Inc. - Angel

Jack Savoretti – Lifeline

John Legend – Made To Love

Paramore – Ain’t It Fun

Rudimental feat. Foxes: Right Here

Texas – Detroit City

Vampire Weekend – Unbelievers

Volcano Choir - Byegone

Within The Ruins – New Holy Wars

Yodelice – Fade Away

Read More