Tag Archive | "regina-spektor"
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Bonnaroo 2010: Sunday In Photos & Videos
Posted on 14 June 2010
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Tags: best coast, interpol-lights, nyc-4-29-10, premiere, press, regina-spektor, rock, stereogum, stereogum-premiere
Best Coast – “Far Away” (Stereogum Premiere)
Posted on 03 May 2010
When we posted Best Coast’s Ronald McDonald-in-love video for “When I’m With You” we mentioned Bethany Cosentino’s forthcoming “Far Away” 7″. It’s no longer forthcoming: The fuzz-out pop gem’s out today, backed by “Everyone’s Gone.” Take a listen to the homesick A-Side.
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Does The Simpsons’s Ke$ha Credits Mean We Are Officially Done With The Simpsons?
Posted on 03 May 2010
Because the show’s writers would surely not try to win us back with a Ke “Tik Tok” lip dub as the opening credits last night. Surely that was a mistake, and we can go back to ignoring each other, and occasionally checking in when we hear a musician’s going to make a guest appearance, a musician that is surely not Ke.
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Tokyo Police Club – “Wait Up (Boots Of Danger)”
Posted on 03 May 2010
We premiered the longer, slower “Breakneck Speed” a couple weeks back; but Champ single “Wait Up (Boots Of Danger)” moves closer to Tokyo Police Club’s regular (breakneck) speed. “You never get nervous anymore / So wait up!” singer/bassist Dave Monks demands over the chorus, though “demands” is a little strong for these guys — it sounds more like an urgent request shouted over the song’s danceable drums.
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Tags: american-idol, celebrity, celebrity-news, latest-posts, michael-jackson, MTV, mtv-news, Music News, news article, news-story, regina-spektor
Regina Spektor Tells Musical Stories At Sold-Out Sydney Opera House
Posted on 28 April 2010
‘It’s so amazing not to play by yourself,’ she told her devoted Australian fans.
By Matt Elias
Regina Spektor (file)
Photo: Jeff Gentner/Getty Images
SYDNEY, Australia — The warm night in Sydney was the perfect backdrop for the sun-drenched tunes from Regina Spektor’s most recent effort, Far. The cathedral-like Sydney Opera House only added to the ambience.
The Brooklyn songstress took the stage Wednesday night (April 28), greeting the mostly female sold-out crowd, which rejoiced at the first notes of “Calculation” (the opening track on Far). Although the singer/songwriter was far from home, the audience proved to be more than familiar with her material. Fans shouted requests and “I love yous” between songs but were silent whenever Spektor, on piano, marched through a track.
The set continued with more selections from her 2009 album, including “Eet” and a peppier version of “Folding Chair.” By the third song, the crowd had grown giddy, waiting for Spektor to address them directly. During a quiet moment, spontaneous giggling erupted and seemed to spread. Regina responded: “I feel like I have some lipstick on my nose.”
The singer reached back into her catalog for “Ode to Divorce,” an oldie that highlighted the concert hall’s brilliant acoustics. Spektor’s voice sounded so close, it was as if you were sitting beside her on the piano bench. She followed that up with the frantic “Machine” and “Laughing With,” which drew extra cheers.
The remainder of the evening was peppered with crowd favorites and a back-and-forth with the audience. After the crowd clapped along to “Better,” a fan begged, “Tell us a story, Regina!” That drew a clever response from Spektor: “I am. I’m telling stories all night long!” While she spent most of the night at the keys, Regina finally got up for “Dance Anthem of the 80s” (also from Far), strapping on a guitar as she recalled “The Simpsons” episode where Homer goes to rock-and-roll summer camp.
As the nearly two-hour show drew to a close, Regina told the crowd, “It’s so amazing to play here, and it’s so amazing not to play by yourself,” referring to the devoted fans who came to see her.
In case anyone wasn’t sufficiently impressed, Spektor returned for a five-song encore. Fans showed they had her back, filling in when Regina forgot a few of the lyrics to “Samson.” That exchange brought to mind the words from “Eet,” sung earlier in the evening: “It’s like forgetting the words to your favorite song/ You can’t believe it, you were always singing along.”
What do you think of Regina’s most recent album, Far? Tell us in the comments!
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Black Eyed Peas Top Non-Jackson Album Sales On Billboard
Posted on 01 July 2009
Jonas Brothers’ Vines slip to #2, and Regina Spektor debuts at #3.
By Gil Kaufman
Black Eyed Peas
Photo: MTV News
The Black Eyed Peas are probably happy that their latest, The E.N.D. (Energy Never Dies), will be back on top of the Billboard 200 chart next week. But despite retaking the lead after falling to #2 last week, some of the “Boom Boom Pow” of the feat will be diminished in light of the fact that their disc was really the fourth best-selling album in the country last week.
Though the Peas sold 88,000 copies of their album, late pop superstar Michael Jackson would have pushed them down to the #4 slot if his albums were still eligible for the current charts. As it is, Jackson’s catalog saw a remarkable resurgence after his death last Thursday at the age of 50: Three of his albums selling in excess of 100,000 copies, marking the first time catalog albums outsold the 200 champ. They were ineligible, however, for the Top 200 albums charts because they were released more than 18 months ago. (The one Jackson album that is eligible, a Motown double-disc released last August called Gold, does make the chart way down at #191, with sales of close to 3,000.)
While the Peas saw a 40 percent drop-off in business — even as their disc crossed the 500,000 mark in just three weeks — the bigger story was the precipitous plunge of the Jonas Brothers’ Lines, Vines and Trying Times, which shed 72 percent of its business in week two and drops to #2 on sales of 68,000.
Making a very strong debut at #3 is critics’ fave Regina Spektor, whose Far moved 50,000 copies, leading a parade of new titles in the top 10 that also includes prog-rockers Dream Theater with Black Clouds & Silver Linings (#6, 40,000), the “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” soundtrack (#7, 39,000) and R&B smoothie Ginuwine with Man’s Thoughts (#9, 37,000).
The rest of the top 10 finds the Dave Matthews Band’s Big Whiskey & the Groogrux King at #4 (47,000), Eminem’s Relapse at #5 (47,000), Lady Gaga’s Fame at #8 (37,000) and the “Hannah Montana” soundtrack at #10 (34,000).
Speaking of prog rock, wordy experimentalists the Mars Volta land at #12 with their knotty latest, Octahedron (30,000). Incubus take a major tumble with their hits package Monuments & Melodies, which shed 77 percent of its business from last week’s debut to drop from #5 to #24, and indie favorites Dinosaur Jr. have a decent debut at #29 with the second effort from the reunited lineup, Farm (14,000).
Fans were clearly so jacked about the “Transformers” movie that even the score album by Steve Jablonsky sneaked into the top 50 at #49 (9,000). Further down, a re-imaging of reggae great Bob Marley’s tunes for children, B is for Bob, bows at #77 (6,000). Punkers Alexisonfire hit #81 in the first week for their album, Old Crows/Young Card (6,000), and veteran R&B crooner Al B. Sure! makes a tentative return after more than a decade of musical silence with Honey I’m Home,, which debuts at #85 (6,000). “American Idol” finalist Michael Johns hit #97 with his first album since his 2008 run on the show, Hold Back My Heart (5,000).
Expect the Jackson activity to continue through next week, following the memorial services over the holiday weekend, as well as some new blood in the top 10 next week with an album from Brad Paisley, a solo album from Matchbox Twenty leader Rob Thomas and the latest from Wilco.
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Regina Spektor: Timeless, But Never On Time
Posted on 24 June 2009
‘I’m not a people-pleasing housewife,’ Spektor tells Bigger Than the Sound.
By James Montgomery
Regina Spektor
Photo: Sire Records
Here is a story about Prince, one that has been repeated to me several times and one I am therefore assuming to be true: He has no concept of time. Or, more specifically, he does not believe in the constraints of it. If the Purple One has something on his schedule for, say, 2:30 p.m., it will probably happen sometime around 11 p.m., or whenever he declares himself ready. Or maybe it just won’t happen at all. Time does not dictate Prince’s routine, because he refuses to acknowledge its existence. This is amazing when you think about it.
Regina Spektor is most definitely not Prince. But she is on the same time-management system.
To wit: I have interviewed Spektor three times. On the first occasion, she was profoundly late (so much so that she could’ve actually been considered early). The second, she was profoundly late and her handlers could not get in touch with her because, as it turned out, she had walked into a telephone pole. The third time was Tuesday, and once again she was late, and once again her handlers could not get a hold of her, though this time it wasn’t because she had injured herself — it was because she had fallen asleep and missed her alarm.
I am not including this information to point out how “quirky” or “childlike” or “naïve” Spektor is — because, really, those seem to be the only three adjectives music journos use to describe her these days — but rather, to prove a point: Spektor’s new album, Far, hit stores on Tuesday. It is the follow-up to her breakout Begin to Hope, which, if you’ve watched a TV drama aimed at the 25-54 demo, you’ve probably heard sprinkles of by now (Spektor, it should be noted, does not own a television set). And this makes Far a really big deal, not just for her, but her label, Sire Records.
And knowing all that, she overslept anyway.
“This is the one thing I would love to change about myself,” she laughs. “Sometimes I have days when I’m really good at being on time, and then I fall off the wagon. All it takes is one time … but sometimes I also think I feel too proud of myself when I am on time, like it’s an occasion. So I should probably work on that too.”
But she probably won’t, because time is a very funny thing for Spektor, and not just when it comes to scheduling. Far is the follow-up to Hope in sequence (and expectation) only — the songs on it date from as far back as 2001 or as recent as five months ago. She didn’t write, say, “Dance Anthem of the ’80s” or first single “Laughing With” specifically for the album — she just had them lying around and figured now was as good a time as any to release them onto the world. She decided to work with four producers — Mike Elizondo, Jacknife Lee, David Kahn and Jeff freakin’ Lynne — not because of their decade-spanning résumés, but rather “because they all seemed like humble, cool people.” These are not how hit follow-up records are made — not these days, and really, not ever.
Which is good, because the jury’s still out on whether Far will continue Spektor’s hot streak. Early reviews have been mixed — most seem to find fault in the quirk (the dolphin noises she makes on “Blue Lips,” the Germanic accent she adopts on “Machine”), while others miss the rough edges she bent her voice around on 2004’s Soviet Kitsch. These are all actually fairly accurate criticisms … I’ve listened to Far three times now, and I find myself noticing the same things; though, to be fair, I’m firmly entrenched in the Kitsch camp, as opposed to the glossier territory she explored on Begin to Hope. Then again, Spektor probably doesn’t care about this at all. Actually, I know she doesn’t, because she told me.
“I think people who really care about something they really like — it’s natural to only want more of that. Forget about music, people feel that way about shoes. They go back to the store where they bought a pair of shoes three years ago and they now all have pointy tips instead of round ones, and they don’t want any of that,” she says. “I’m that way. I would wear the same pair of shoes until I’m 80 years old. But music is a breathing thing, and they’ll always have those records. My job is not to make people happy, you know? ‘Can I get you more to drink?’ I’m not a people-pleasing housewife.”
And at this juncture, her handlers break in and try to wrap up the conversation. Spektor is due to leave for Europe in the morning, and there’s much scheduling to do. But before we go, I ask her about making music — twisty, turny, timeless and tangible music — in a time when none of that matters and everything is, essentially, completely and utterly disposable. She sighs and recommends a book for me to read, “The Lexicon of Musical Invectives,” which she describes as “a collection of nasty reviews of classical music, from Bach to Wagner,” then launches into a rant that one could describe as “delightfully quirky,” if one were a lazy music journo, though I prefer “timeless.” Or, rather, beyond the concept and constraints of time itself.
“I mean, in this book, it’s music criticism from the 19th century, and they’re ripping Tchaikovsky a new a–hole, but the thing that really gets me is that it’s written so beautifully. It’s nasty reviews in beautiful language, and that’s what I want,” she says. “My dad will forward me some of the stuff people write about me, and I think it’s all bullsh–. It’s all, ‘Oh, this sucks, that sucks, blah.’ I don’t want that. I want you to write poetically about how bad I suck.”
Questions? Concerns? BTTS@MTVStaff.com
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Tags: angeles, boston, boyfriend, cheerleader, grizzly, indie, movie, MTV, photos, regina-spektor, see-this-story-on-digg, stereogum
New Regina Spektor - "Folding Chair"
Posted on 02 June 2009
If you’ve been let down by Far’s more MOR sounding pair of lead listens, the somewhat spunkier and upbeat “Folding Chair” offers a measure of relief. Hear it at MySpace. Album’s out 6/23 on Sire.
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Tags: eagle-feed, heads-will-roll, indie, music, nyc-5-18-09, psychic-city, regina-spektor, sign-out, stereogum, vampire-weekend, video, videogum, videos
New Regina Spektor Video - "Laughing With"
Posted on 28 May 2009
What I think Regina’s trying to say in “Laughing With” is that no one laughs at god. Because she says it a lot of times. The somber piano ballad doesn’t tackle theological ontology with quite the same FM-oomph as Joan Osbourne did, but its weighty “life is like this”isms will probably register with the same sort of yearning-for-meaning demo. The video plays on the album art imagery, Spektor strolling through charcoal doodles and art pieces in the vein of M.C. Escher and René Magritte, decapitating herself with a smile at one point and going for yogic sun salutation in another. God can be funny, but this one’s pretty straightforward and serious.
Continue reading New Regina Spektor Video - “Laughing With”…
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Tags: bishop-allen, blonde, blonde-redhead, count-the-dots, crystal-castles, kings-of-leon, mercury-lounge, morning-jacket, music, regina-spektor, richard-cheese, school, steve-winwood, tickets
Crystal Castles, Regina Spektor, Blonde Redhead & other tix
Posted on 21 November 2008
Tickets are on sale (@ noon) for the Planned Parenthood benefit Regina Spektor is playing at Bowery Ballroom.
Tickets are on sale (@ noon) for the Crystal Castles New Years Eve show at Music Hall of Williamsburg.
Tickets are on sale (@ noon) for the Blonde Redhead New Years Eve show at Terminal 5.
“Great seats” were released this week for My Morning Jacket at MSG on New Years Eve.
Tickets are still on sale for the show A Place to Bury Strangers are playing at Mercury Lounge on New Years Eve.
Tickets are on sale (@ noon) for the upcoming Devotchka show @ Webster Hall
Tickets are on sale (@ noon) for Femi Kuti’s headlining show at Webster Hall and don’t forget he’s playing GlobalFest too.
Tickets are on sale (@ noon) for the show The Sword are are playing at Bowery Ballroom.
Tickets are still on sale (@ noon) for the show School of Seven Bells are playing at Mercury Lounge.
Tickets also are now/still on sale for NYC shows by Steve Winwood, Richard Cheese, BB King & Buddy Guy, Kings of Leon, Stella, Electric Six & Local H, and Bishop Allen.
Continue reading “Crystal Castles, Regina Spektor, Blonde Redhead & other tix” at BrooklynVegan.com
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