Jan 07, 2009 01:15AM

Pop singer Annie readies album after label split (Reuters)

Reuters - After a worldwide record deal with Island Records collapsed last year, Norwegian electropop songstress Annie is forging ahead with plans to release her second album, "Don't Stop," sometime in 2009.

Jan 07, 2009 01:00AM

New Eminem, 50 Cent songs hit radio and Web (Reuters)

Reuters - There's still no solidified release dates for upcoming albums from Eminem and 50 Cent, but new music from both rappers has emerged in the past 24 hours.

Jan 07, 2009 12:56AM

Aerosmith gets back to work after '08 break (Reuters)

Reuters - Aerosmith is ready to return to work on its next studio album, according to drummer Joey Kramer.

Jan 07, 2009 12:53AM

Stooges guitarist Asheton found dead in Michigan (Reuters)

Reuters - Ron Asheton, a guitarist and founding member of the influential rock band The Stooges, was found dead at his home in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on Tuesday, police said.

Jan 06, 2009 08:08PM

Apple to sell copy protection-free songs (Reuters)

Reuters - Apple Inc has reached a deal with major record labels to sell digital songs without the copy protection software that had prevented fans from sharing music bought from its iTunes store, the maker of the iPod and iPhone said on Tuesday.

Jan 06, 2009 07:55PM

Lisa Marie Presley defends Scientology (AP)

AP - Lisa Marie Presley is expressing her condolences over Jett Travolta's death and defending Scientology, the religion that Presley, John Travolta and Kelly Preston follow.

Jan 06, 2009 05:04PM

Wii boosts UK games sales, music resilient (Reuters)

Reuters - British retailers sold a record combined number of DVDs, games and music in 2008 despite the economic gloom, boosted by the popularity of Nintendo's Wii and single downloads, trade bodies said on Wednesday.

Jan 05, 2009 12:10PM

A.C. Newman - Get Guilty

Artist: A.C. Newman Review: Between his solo output and his work with the New Pornographers, Carl Newman has turned out five records in six years — pretty prolific for a guy who seems to spend loads of time crafting his songs. Newman's second solo album shuffles between power pop and mild psychedelia while tossing in horns and coed harmonies. Get Guilty isn't quite as consistent as a typical Pornographers record, but the arrangements are lusher. And like all Newman records, it shows off his smarts and maintains a... Rating: 3.5 Stars

Jan 05, 2009 12:09PM

Ladyhawke - Ladyhawke

Artist: Ladyhawke Review: For Phillips "Pip" Brown, the New Zealand-born singer-songwriter known as Ladyhawke, 1985 is not merely a year: It's a career choice. Ladyhawke — the name comes from a Matthew Broderick fantasy film released in, yep, 1985 — is a retro fetishist, slathering her songs in synthesizer fanfares and thudding drum machines that precisely evoke the mid-Eighties sound of Pat Benatar, Kim Wilde and the Top Gun soundtrack. Ladyhawke is a skillful craftswoman, and in songs like the grandiose... Rating: 2.5 Stars

Jan 05, 2009 12:07PM

Anthony Hamilton - The Point Of It All

Artist: Anthony Hamilton Review: Most of today's gold-plated R&B stars are ideally suited to economic boom times. Anthony Hamilton is a down-home sort: a man to help you muddle through a recession. "We don't have to worry 'bout no groceries/We can fill up on love alone," he sings on "Cool," from his sixth album. The least flashy of the neosoul singers that emerged in the Nineties, Hamilton still has a Seventies jones (check out the Curtis Mayfield impersonation in "The News"). But his real calling card is solace, emotional and... Rating: 3 Stars

Jan 05, 2009 11:21AM

Plies - Da REAList

Artist: Plies Review: Do you like Young Jeezy but think he's a little soft? Then this Florida MC and self-avowed "goon" is for you. Da Realist is Plies' second album of 2008, coming on the heels of the gold-selling Definition of Real. Over minimalist hand claps and kick drums, Plies dishes singsong choruses and asserts his goon-itude: On the creepy "All Black," he dreams of when he can "kill my first rap nigga . . . all head shots." Changes of pace include "Spend the Night," a pop-friendly sex jam where Plies tells a... Rating: 2 Stars

Jan 05, 2009 11:16AM

Titus Andronicus - The Airing of Grievances

Artist: Titus Andronicus Review: Named for an obscure Shakespeare play and flaunting song titles like "Albert Camus," this fivesome of suburban punks are proud nerds. But they know when to kick ass: "Fear and Loathing in Mahwah, NJ" sounds like a kiss-off ballad, until the 23-year-old singer-songwriter Patrick Stickles stops short and bellows "Fuck you!" with his bandmates and they hurtle into a breakneck Celtic rocker that recalls the Pogues at their most raucous. There's emo in the tortured lyrics and E Street Band in the arr... Rating: 3.5 Stars

Jan 05, 2009 11:12AM

The Derek Trucks Band - Already Free

Artist: The Derek Trucks Band Review: Derek Trucks could very well be the best guitarist of his generation, and his sixth studio disc is his band's most accessible blues-rock set to date. Trucks hones the R&B, jazz and Middle Eastern influences of his previous outings into a tight groove on?Already Free. It kicks off with a gritty, swamp-boogie take on Dylan's "Down in the Flood" and stomps through a cover of the Southern-soul classic "Sweet Inspiration." The originals pull their weight, from the dusty, field-recording vibe of the... Rating: 3.5 Stars

Dec 24, 2008 09:44AM

Holiday rush keeps Swift on top

Tune Tracker: Overall music sales down 33% from last year -- The holiday rush finally arrived for the music biz as 17 titles topped sales of 100,000, led by the 330,000 copies of Taylor Swift?s ?Fearless? sold the week before Christmas.

Dec 17, 2008 06:32AM

Swift's 'Fearless' returns to top

Tune Tracker: Album jumps 23% on music charts -- Taylor Swift is in the process of achieving superstar status this holiday season, as her sophomore album, ?Fearless,? returned to the top of the chart with an impressive 23% sales spike, the greatest jump in the top 10.

Dec 10, 2008 06:59AM

Britney Spears' 'Circus' debuts at #1

Tune Tracker: Jive release sells 505,000 copies in first week -- Britney Spears' "Circus" (Jive) sold 505,000 in its first week, making Spears the first singer to have four albums sell more than a half-million copies in their opening sessions.

Dec 03, 2008 07:22AM

Date shift does little for music sales

Tune Tracker: West's '808' tops Guns N' Roses' 'Democracy' -- Moving on-sale dates to Sunday and Monday from the traditional Tuesday did not generate the sales rush that labels and retailers had hoped for as the holiday shopping season got under way.

Nov 30, 2008 11:30AM

Beyonce's 'Fierce' at top of charts

Tune Tracker: 'I Am' takes top slot in CD sales -- Beyonce's two-CD set "I Am ... Sasha Fierce" sold 482,000 copies in its opening session to greatly outdistance the No. 2 finisher, Nickleback's "Dark Horse," according to Nielsen Soundscan data for the week ended Nov. 23.

Nov 19, 2008 06:33AM

Taylor Swift speeds to top of charts

Tune Tracker: 'Idol's' David Archuleta nabs second spot -- The second album from Taylor Swift has posted the biggest sales week for any country album this year.

Nov 12, 2008 06:56AM

'Twilight' soundtrack opens at No. 1

Tune Tracker: Atlantic release sells 165,000 copies -- The soundtrack to ?Twilight,? released 2½ weeks before the film hits theaters, opened at No. 1 on the nation?s album sales chart.