Toronto’s Microforum is the second place in the world to get its hands on new high-tech vinyl pressing devices.
Katy Perry Unleashes New Single, “Chained to the Rhythm”
oday, Capitol Records released “Chained to the Rhythm,” the first single from Katy Perry’s forthcoming album. She will perform the song live for the very first time at the 59th Annual GRAMMY Awards, which will air on CBS this Sunday, February 12, at 8:00 p.m. ET/5:00 p.m. PT. Katy co-wrote “Chained to the Rhythm” with Max Martin, Sia Furler, Ali Payami and Skip Marley. The song is available everywhere for streaming and download here.
http://vevo.ly/DyjRnM
Katy Perry’s cumulative streams now exceed 18 billion worldwide and she is the most-followed person globally on Twitter. She made her Capitol Records debut with 2008’s One of the Boys and cemented her status as a global superstar with the follow-up album, Teenage Dream (2010). PRISM, her 2013 album, debuted at No. 1 on iTunes in 100 countries and has sold more than 12.5 million adjusted albums worldwide. With the singles “Firework” and “Dark Horse” each surpassing the 10 million threshold including song sales and streams, Katy is the first female artist to earn two RIAA Digital Single Diamond Awards. Cumulatively, she has sold more than 40 million adjusted albums and over 125 million tracks worldwide. Katy played to a total of two million people on the sold-out, 151-date Prismatic World Tour and headlined the Super Bowl XLIX halftime show, which set a record as the most-watched Super Bowl halftime show ever.
Hercules & Love Affair Announce New Album And Return With “Controller” Single
Hercules & Love Affair return to the fray with “Controller”, a pulsing, propulsive new song that signals the first salvo from their long-awaited new album. Featuring The Horrors’ Faris Badwan on vocals, it takes the Hercules’ disco-house heritage and fuses it with starker post-punk stylings.
“Recently I’ve been aesthetically interested in the raw experimentation of early 80s electronic dance outside the glossier new wave pop music we know from the time,” admits head honcho Andy Butler, “Cabaret Voltaire, lots of noisier older music. It’s funny that I ended up in Belgium, considering all of the music that came from here – Front 242, Telex, and so on.”
“When I became aware of music, aged around 12, I was listening to the Jesus & Mary Chain, Cocteau Twins, Ministry, “ he recalls, “That was my formative music, the college album charts, what became alt-rock. I found I could relate to this outsider music, stuff that wasn’t pop- I already had a love for Yazoo and Depeche Mode which got me into synthesizers. It was a rebellious, angst-ridden period and I was an industrial goth kid, stockings and make-up, which then dovetailed into the whole grindcore extreme stuff. But at 15 I heard LFO’s ‘Frequencies’ and was like whoa– I walked away from vocal music initially, walked away from that aggression towards psychedelic utopia and acid house…”
With ‘Controller’ he’s reconnected. He knew he wanted a male voice for the song “a vocalist who flirted with the darkness, someone who had a touch of an Ian Astbury or Andrew Eldritch about them, or even of Ian Curtis.”
In London, working with fashion designer James Long, Andy came across The Horrors’ live version of Frankie Knuckles & Jamie Principle’s seminal Chicago house cut ‘Your Love’. He realized he’d found his voice, a rock artist willing to engage with dance culture’s history.
“Controller” is the result, a contagious song containing a hint of seamy ‘80s electro-pop underbelly, but also recalling edgy early house records by the likes of Lil Louis and Bam Bam. And then there’s the whole sub-dom, master-and-servant thing going on in the lyrics…
“That’s a fair assessment,” Andy laughs, “but actually the new album is a lot about spirituality. Faris was happy to engage with that. He went into the recording booth, would come out with something, and I’d say, “Did you just sing, ‘I love what you’re making me do’?” He’d say, “No, but that sounds cool.” That’s how the song was made, it unfolded out of an unconscious process. It’s about being used by a higher entity but there’s this second layer which is a play on intense sub-dom sexual roleplay!”
As raunchy and contentious as it is catchy, ‘Controller’ is the first single from Hercules’s fourth album on which they consolidate this sonic palette yet further, while never losing sight of their following on the dance floor. Details to be announced soon…..
Bill Murray Is Performing At Toronto Royal Conservatory Gala
The one-and-only Bill Murray will read Hemingway, Capote, and Mark Twain, dance a tango, and sing on the Koerner Hall stage. An ensemble led by his friend, cellist Jan Vogler, will perform works by Bach, Piazzolla, Ravel, and Bernstein, in this evening where music and literature meet in a clash of words and notes. Tickets go on sale Friday, February 10 at 10am here.
Guy Performs Charlie Daniels Band’s ‘The Devil Went Down to Georgia’ With His Noisy Washing Machine
“The Devil Went Down to Georgia” is a song written and performed by the Charlie Daniels Band and released on their 1979 album Million Mile Reflections. The song was the band’s biggest hit, reaching number three on the Billboard Hot 100, and would have gone even higher had a washing machine been a part of the band…wait…what?
Bedford of Bedfordshire’s Community Calendar With John Oliver
John Oliver helps Stephen Colbert look into what’s happening this month in John’s English hometown, Bedford.
Ricky Gervais Attempts the ‘Hot Ones’ Spicy Wing Challenge
Ricky Gervais steps into the hot seat for the (vegan) wings of death and some scorching questions from First We Feast’s Sean Evans. Accurately dubbing Hot Ones “a cross between Charlie Rose and f*%king Jackass,” the comedian gets pummeled by the likes of Zombie Apocalypse and Da Bomb Beyond Insanity.
Will Arnett Prank Calls Toy Store as LEGO Batman
Will Arnett takes on AlphabetiCall on The Matt Edmondson Show on BBC Radio 1. All he has to do is make a phone call where each sentence starts with the next letter of the alphabet, in character, as Lego Batman. Simple?
Peace Collective named Official Merchandise Partner of the 2017 JUNO Awards
The Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS) is excited to announce that Canadian clothing brand Peace Collective will be the Official Merchandise Partner for the 2017 JUNO Awards. The homegrown lifestyle brand has designed two t-shirts, two crewneck sweatshirts and a baseball cap, featuring an embossed JUNOS logo and the company’s famed tag line “Home is Canada” or ‘Canadian Built.’ The limited edition collection is now available for music-loving Canadians to purchase online and at select retailers in Toronto and Ottawa.
In keeping with the brand’s charitable efforts, $2 from every sale of the Peace Collective x JUNOS merchandise will be donated to MusiCounts. MusiCounts is Canada’s music education charity associated with CARAS that helps to keep music alive in schools and communities across Canada by putting instruments in the hands of kids who need them most.
“We are thrilled to be creating the official merchandise for the 2017 JUNO Awards. Supporting Canadian talent, creativity and pride is at the heart of our brand, so it was a perfect fit for us to work with the country’s premier music awards,” said Yanal Dhailieh, founder of Peace Collective. “We’ve designed a line of fresh apparel that we hope people will love and want to rock in support of their favourite artists.”
“We are excited to be partnering with Peace Collective for our 2017 JUNO Awards Merchandise collection, and that it will raise money to support MusiCounts.” said Allan Reid, President & CEO CARAS/The JUNO Awards and MusiCounts. “I look forward to seeing people from across Canada sporting the Peace Collective x JUNO collection, showing off their passion for Canada and all the talented artists in this country.”
The official Peace Collective x JUNOS merchandise is available for purchase online, at Peace Collective’s flagship retail store in Toronto and Peace Collective pop ups across Canada. The collection will also be sold at multiple JUNO Week events in Ottawa.
Peace Collective is an offshoot of The Peace Foundation, which focuses its efforts on empowering Canadians to chase their passion by providing the support and resources necessary to do so.
JUNO Week 2017 will be hosted in Ottawa from March 27 through April 2, 2017. A live broadcast of The 46th Annual JUNO Awards will air on CTV and CTV GO on Sunday, April 2 from the Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa.
Deezer Launches New Global Program To Support And Develop Emerging Artists
Deezer, one of the world’s leading global music streaming services, is announcing the launch of Deezer Next, a newly created programme aimed at identifying and championing emerging talent and providing an avenue for exposure to new audiences on the Deezer platform.
Deezer Next will focus on up to 12 developing artists per country across territories and genres that have been hand-selected by Deezer. Of the 12, three of the chosen artists will be supported at a global level, with up to a further 9 artists championed in local markets, including the US, UK, Germany, France and Latin America, based on their unique talent, passion, and potential. Deezer will work directly with the artists, record labels and managers to cultivate and develop their profile through playlisting and the creation of individual content and campaigns with editorial and marketing support across all channels, including video, podcast, social and/or interactive. To further demonstrate Deezer’s commitment, music from one of the global priority artists will feature in an upcoming Deezer TV advertising campaign.
“One of the biggest challenges in the music industry is developing and breaking new artists but, as streaming is becoming the preferred choice for music fans, we now have an exciting and meaningful way of introducing and developing emerging artists on a global scale” said Sulinna Ong, Vice President, Artist Marketing, Deezer “Deezer is committed to supporting emerging artists and being an important part of the journey in developing artist careers.”
“Breaking new acts is the lifeblood of the music industry and we welcome this supportive new initiative from Deezer”, said Mark Mitchell, General Manager Atlantic Records UK.
The first three global artists confirmed to participate in the Deezer Next program are: Rag’n’Bone Man, Maggie Rogers and Anne-Marie. Rag’n’Bone Man is a British singer/songwriter who recently released the first single, “Human”, from his forthcoming debut album, Maggie Rogers is an American singer/songwriter who caught the attention of Pharrell Williams with her song “Alaska”, and Anne-Marie is an English singer/songwriter whose track “Alarm” has been attracting the ears of music fans.
“It’s so amazing and such a lovely start to the year to be considered as one of the top 3 global emerging artists by Deezer”, said Anne-Marie. This is echoed by Rag’n’Bone Man who commented, “Cheers Deezer for making me one of your Global Priorities. Pretty massive!”
Local markets will begin to announce their artists from 17th January with the UK kicking off with its list, followed by other countries throughout the rest of January.