Download Amy Winehouse: Serious Soul

March 19, 2007

Amy Winehouse has a big week coming up. Her album "Back To Black" is coming out and the British singer will be in the U.S. for several television appearances and live shows. Unfortunately the chanteuse appears not to be in the best shape right now. After allegedly breaking up with her boyfriend, the singer cancelled two gigs in London last week while she was spotted in local bars drinking her pain away.

She previously had to call off an appearance for her gay fans at London's G.A.Y. Half-way through her performance she fell ill and had to throw up. Yuck! Not classy.

An earlier comment wrapped up her love for both gays and booze best. "I like pin-up girls," Winehouse said in an interview with PinkNews. "I'm more of a boy than a girl. I'm not a lesbian, though — not before a sambuca anyway."
Hopefully, she will be able to meet all her commitments in the U.S. to promote "Back To Black." This is one record you definitely need to have in your music collection this year. Amy is like a young Shirley Bassey on speed. Brassy and bold.

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Return of Ultra Nate. Silky, Sexy and A Little Sweet: Sample Here

March 12, 2007

Baltimore powerhouse Ultra Naté returns to the dance music scene this May with her brand-new album "Grime, Silk & Thunder." The disc will be released on Tommy Boy's Silver Label imprint that exclusively releases new music to the gay & lesbian community.

Dance aficionados among you will surely remember Ultra Naté's classic "Free" and her duet with Amber and Jocelyn Enriquez on the dance floor stomper "If You Could Read My Mind" in the late nineties.

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Robbie Williams, and Pop Briefs (or Brief Pops)

March 09, 2007

Robbie Williams might be in rehab but his label continues to release new material. His latest single "She's Madonna is an excellent track that was produced the Pet Shop Boys. Listen to the DJ vinyl remixes on Juno here .

Eurovision fever is building! The annual European song contest will be held this May 12 in Helsinki, Finland after that country won the contest last year. The Attic, one of my favorite Swedish pop bands, competed to represent Sweden in the national finals. However, their song "The Arrival" did not make the cut and was voted out early in the preliminary rounds. The track is totally hot and will surely be a pop hit across the continent. Watch the video here on YouTube here.

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Yoko Ono is Not A Witch

March 07, 2007

Millions of people are familiar with the name Yoko Ono -- an icon linked to some of the most memorable moments in pop culture history.

Most people know Ono from her marriage to the late John Lennon, and not from her genre-pushing art and music projects that she has continued to create over the last four decades. Her latest music release "Yes, I'm A Witch" (Astralwerks) features remakes of her songs by some of today's most critically -- acclaimed artists -- or "the superstars of indie music," as Ono likes to call them.

All of the 17 tracks on the album feature Ono's original vocals wrapped in a new production by a participating artist. Included on the disc are classic Ono songs such as "Kiss, Kiss, Kiss" (by Peaches), "Rising" (by DJ Spooky), "Revelations" (by Cat Power), "You And I" (by the Polyphonic Spree) and "Toy Boat" (by Antony and The Johnsons).

This new effort follows her very successful dance music releases in 2004 that included the Billboard Chart-topping remixes for her song "Hell In Paradise" and a remix of "Every Man Has A Woman Who Loves Him" from the 1980 Lennon/Ono "Double Fantasy" album. On the 2004 dance version of "Every Man," Ono tackled the controversial same-sex marriage issue head on. She re-recorded the vocals and included the lyrics "every woman has a woman who loves her" and "every man has a man who loves him" to show her support for gays and lesbians.

Yoko Ono spoke exclusively with OutZoneTV about her latest project, her inspirations, peace in the world and the upcoming film "Chapter 26" about the assassination of John Lennon that stars Jared Leto.

How did the idea for "Yes, I'm A Witch" come about?
There were a lot of creative new versions of my songs that different artists recorded. It started to accumulate so I decided it would be great to put out remakes of my songs on a CD for everyone to hear. I invited artists that previously covered my songs or were a fan of mine to pick a song from my catalogue, and then I gave them the original vocal and instrumental cuts to work with. All of the new versions are so brilliant. I'm thankful to each one of the musicians for recording such great versions of my songs.

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Macy Gray Needs a Hit

March 06, 2007

After Macy Gray first hit the scene with the memorable "I Try" in 1999, she hasn't been able to repeat the massive success of that song.

For her new album "Big," she turned to hitmakers Will.i.am, Robin Fair (of Mary J. Blige fame) and Justin Timberlake to come up with some radio-friendly, potent tracks for the record. She also invited a whole batch of stars to make cameos on the album including Fergie, NAS and Natalie Cole.

On paper, this new CD should be a shoe-in. Gray's voice is so distinct and different that it easily sets her apart from the slew of mediocre R&B singers.

But I'm not feeling most of the songs on "Big."

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Justin Timberlake's "What Goes Around" Ready for The Winter Party

March 02, 2007

Justin Timberlake and his hot-and-heavy producer Timbaland have come up with some savvy productions that not only move fans of JT's popular brand of hip pop, but also make great remix material for the dance floor. Superstar DJs Junkie XL, Paul Van Dyk and Quentin Harris have all put together kicky revamps of Timberlake's latest smash "What Goes Around" that hit #1 on the Billboard Top 100 Chart last week.

My favorites remixes are done by Dutch DJ/producer Junkie XL. On both his Small Room mix and Big Room mix, he completely ravaged Timbaland's original production by taking apart Justin's vocal tracks and stripping out the soulful instrumentation. Instead, he added a jerky new bassline and sweeping electro bits to create two sizzling, melancholic house stompers. Listen to the New Order-esque bass line on the Big Room remix right at the 5:40 minute mark. Sublime! I'll bet this will be a popular spin at the upcoming Winter Party in Miami. --Arjan

Paul Van Dyk Club Mix
Windows [high] [low]
Real [high] [low]

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New Talent Alert: Ultraviolet

March 01, 2007

Sarah Hudson gave "Project Runway" designer a few sleepless nights on the first season of PR when she was the subject of the challenge, and the guest judge. The contestants had to design a dress for her, "an emerging pop singer."

Back in 2004, I met up with Hudson to talk about her major label debut "Naked Truth" that I regarded as one of the most promising pop debuts at the time.

The gay-loving Hudson (who is the cousin of movie actress Kate Hudson) grew up down and out in Los Angeles with both her parents working in the music business. She attended an all-girls private Catholic high school where inspiration for her future songwriting was easy to come by - there was sex, drugs, Mercedes and BMW's, and lots of "daddy's little girls."

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