A Salamander Shuffle » Music Tips

Chatting Shop – the Saturdays

admin — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 08:29:08 +0000

With The Sugababes lost on duty and Girls out loud on unfixed hiatus, The Saturdays, by default, became Britain’s top girl band.

Since 2008, the five-piece have scored 7 top ten hits, and are aiming towards an eighth with new single Missing You. The track, which borrows JLS’s “raveballad” template, predates a mini-album later on this month. According to their record label, the CD will “act as a bridge” between last year’s Wordshaker and a full album in 2011. Vocalist Vanessa White explains the theory to the BBC – and recounts the band’s hideous history of leg wounds.

The group recorded their new album in Great Britain, after travelling to LA for its precedent Your last album only came out in October. How did you get another one prepared so shortly? To be truthful, we took a break at the start of the year and inside that time, we went to the studio loads and did some actually, truly cool stuff.

We were not actually meant to be releasing anything til next year but we were unable to wait, so we made a decision to do a mini-album instead. What precisely is a mini-album? An ordinary album would perhaps are composed of twelve or thirteen tracks, but here we have 8. It will be less expensive for the fans – and then hopefully we’ll finish the other songs and put something else out later on. Missing You is kind of an exit from your normal style. Why is that? If you listened to the album, you’d say it was a later version of our sound. Missing You is more out-there than that rest of it. It’s fun to experiment. What is the song about? It’s about being in a relationship where the keenness has gone – so you’re missing that spark. It’s quite deep, in actual fact for a pop song.

The saturdays missing you

Fyfe Dangerfield’s

admin — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 09:19:04 +0000

It began with a UK Television commercial for the dept store chain John Lewis. A version of Billy Joel’s classic hit “she’s always a Girl” was recorded by Guillemots founder Fyfe Dangerfield and used as the soundtrack for an advertisement showing moments through a woman’s life. Spectators were so move that they purchased enough copies of Billy Joel’s original version of the track to bring it into the pop top forty before Fyfe Dangerfield’s version was officially released.

The Fyfe Dangerfield version, a beautifully sung cover, has spent the previous two weeks in England top ten. Billy Joel’s original was a 17 hit in the US in 1977 from his discovery smash album The Stranger. Even though it had been released as a single in Great Britain, Billy Joel’s version of “She is Always a Girl” didn’t reach the top forty in the United Kingdom till this year.

Everyone knows what can occur when a popstar performs on The X Factor, not to mention the impact Happiness has on the Wed. midweeks, but the power of a good Television ad should not be put down either.

A case in point? Fyfe Dangerfield’s cover of this old Billy Joel chestnut, which is on course to break the top 10 due to a leg-up from John Lewis.

Fyfe Dangerfield She’s Always A Woman

Jason Derulo Ridin’ Solo

admin — Fri, 14 May 2010 06:05:06 +0000

Channel 9.33 does it again with their Summer start Concert tomorrow, Fri. , May 14th at the Cricket Wireless concerthall. Last year the line up included gigantic names such as Woman Gaga, The Black Eyed Peas, Flo Rida and others. Apparently Channel 9.33 can rise to the occasion, because regardless of a troublesome line up to follow from last year’s show, this year’s edition has some of the freshest artists online. Usher, Justin Bieber, Akon, Iyaz, B.O.B, J-L-S, Ke$ha and Jason Derulo will all be performing for your viewing pleasure tomorrow beginning at 6p. Usher has been an icon since the 90s, with hits like U Remind Me and most lately Love in this Club. Usher doesn’t come to San Diego regularly so this is a rare opportunity to catch the super star hunk, live in action. 2010 could be announced the year of Beiber with youths, mother’s and university youngsters alike crying out for everything Justin.

Justin Beiber was found on YouTube by his current boss, Scooter Braun. Beiber was shortly signed to Raymond Braun Media Group ( RBMG ), which is a partnership between Scooter Braun and Usher. The debut single from Beiber One Time charted in the top 30 in over 10 nations. On March 23rd, 2010 Beiber released My World 2.0, his first studio album and chase up to My World which was released in Nov 2009. The existing single, Baby which features Ludacris is spinning consistently on the radio, and is predicted to be in his set list.

Ridin’ Solo by Jason Derulo

Wedding Musicians Get the Party Started

admin — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 00:16:17 +0000

Weddings are a time for jubilation and nothing sets the mood better than the right music. Although the ceremony itself often reflects the romance of the classical era, when it comes to the party afterward people want to have fun, making it a memorable event that brings out the laughter, love, and delight everyone is feeling. Therefore, the selection of wedding music or, better yet, wedding musicians can become an important choice.

Sure, you could go with a boom box and a stack of CDs, but by the time you convince to run it and the music is pulled together the result is less than desirable. DJs are more standard and they provide the equipment and music selection preferred, but can be pricey with less than quality results in some cases. For couples who really want something fantastic, nothing beats the sound of a live dance band that can react and respond immediately to the needs of party-goers and cost is often equal to that of a good DJ. The question then becomes what kind of band or instrumentalists to hire that will leave guests in awe and remembering the event for some time to come.

Many wedding players, like Reel Ting, are not limited to when it comes to music. Classical music played on steel drums provides a twist on the original composition that is not only unusual, but produces angelic, lyrical music that is particularly unique. When the party kicks into high gear, however, they are more than ready to liven up the party with a beat that will ensure party-goers never want to finish. With the selections provided by steel drum bands, feeling like one is on a tropical isle can be experienced regardless of where the event is held.

When booking any wedding band it’s important that sufficient experience and references are provided and that they are checked exhaustively. After all, a bridal couple has only one opportunity in their lifetime to do it properly so guaranteeing that the greatest dance band is on the job for the event will save much worry. For instance, a steel drum band like Real Ting with ten years of experience and many letters of recommendation can reassure engaged couples that their event will be a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

The right wedding musicians should bring style, flamboyance, talent, and professionalism to any event. Florida is blessed in that it has many options for live music, but possibly it is luckiest for the talented steel drum bands, like Reel Ting, that are based there. For any couple planning to wed, whether residents Florida or those traveling in for a destination wedding, it should be a first choice to make the affair memorable and special.

Reel Ting is South Florida’s favorite steel drum wedding band. Call today to book your date, and get ready for your guests to have the time of their lives at your wedding.

Beyonce Knowles to Testify in Court

admin — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 11:45:49 +0000

R ‘n’ B singer Beyonce Knowles is reportedly set to testify in court in connection with a copyright dispute, after a man alleged that

Singer/songwriter Rickey Allen had filed a lawsuit against the Beyonces girl group in 2006, claiming their 2004 track Cater 2 U was inspired by a song he composed with the same title, which he first copyrighted in the mid-1990s.

Allen’s song is about “relieving the stress of a significant other” and he insists even the lyrics in Destiny’s Child’s song are suspiciously similar to his.

He claimed he handed over a version of his song to producer Maurice Joshua, who is said to have later worked with the Bootylicious hitmakers in the studio. Joshua maintains he never held a copy of the song.

Lawyers for the trio, which disbanded in 2005, asked to throw out the case but U.S. District Judge James Holderman has now given the go-ahead for the copyright case to hit a Chicago, Illinois courtroom on December 10.

According to the Chicago Sun-Times newspaper, Beyonce is expected to take the stand, because her legal team claims she came up with the idea for the track.

“She is perhaps the most important witness for the defendants,” Contactmusic quoted a statement in their legal filing as stating.

“Do we say (Beyonce’s) responsible for copying? Yes. But there’s no such thing as innocent copying, even if it’s unintentional. The jury will decide the notion that these are simple coincidences,” Allen’s lawyer Matt Wildermuth added.

The trial was previously delayed due to Knowles’ busy schedule.
If it stays that way by Sunday then JLS would be denied a rare chart double. Their second single Everybody In Love bounced Cheryl Cole’s track Fight For This Love off top spot this week to land them a second No.1.

A statement on the Official Chart Company’s industry website said yesterday: ‘Please note that as a result of registration issues related to the new Robbie Williams album Reality Killed The Video Star, a number of sales have been omitted from the albums sales total in today’s sales flash.

HD Radio and multi-casting or more is really better

admin — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 19:21:49 +0000

HD Radio technology is the next big thing because it makes it makes FM stations sound nearly as good as listening to a CD. The sound is just amazing – clean, pure and crystal-clear. It even enables AM stations to sound as good as an FM station today.

What’s the difference? While both HD AM and HD FM are digital, AM radio has smaller sections of bandwidth than FM radio. This means there is not enough “space” to give AM stations the same near-CD quality as FM stations. But there is enough bandwidth that AM stations will be able to broadcast with the same clarity of signal as one of today’s analog FM stations. This performance boost is expected to make AM radio a better alternative to FM than it has been – to give you more listening choices.

Because HD radio is digital, its signals can be subdivided. This allows a station to multi-cast. meaning it could broadcast two or more programs at the same time. So, its listeners might be able to choose between music from the ’60s, ’70s or ’80s – on the same station at the same time.

This could change everything you know about radio because it allows stations to do more niche broadcasting, just as cable as brought niche channels to television. For example, the radio station you’ve always tuned to for classic rock, might subdivide into classic rock, and reggae, or classic rock and old school hip-hop.
Naturally, you would be able to hear these stations only if you have an HD receiver. If you don’t, you’ll still hear the same AM or FM station you’re used to.

To learn which stations are already broadcasting in HD Radio technology, what HD radios cost and where to find them, please go to my web site, www.hd-radio-home.com. Doug Hanna is a retired marketing executive and long-time radio fan. He is the author of many articles on family finances and HD radio technology