Mariah says Merry Christmas II You

Great news for you lambs out there...

Mariah just announced on Twitter page that she will be coming up with a new Christmas album collection entitled Merry Christmas II You due out 2nd November 2010.

This decision may have been a result of her very successful 16-year old Merry Christmas album which every Christmas season re-enters the world charts peaking inside the top5/10.

As autumn leaves begin to fall, international superstar Mariah Carey puts the finishing touches on MERRY CHRISTMAS II YOU, her second career album of holiday tunes, arriving November 2nd on the Island Def Jam Music Group. Highlighting the long-awaited new album is a brand new recording of Mariah's all-time standard, "All I Want For Christmas Is You."   

In addition to traditional yuletide fare - The First Noel,  Little Drummer Boy, O Little Town of Bethlehem, O Come All Ye Faithful and more - MERRY CHRISTMAS II YOU also contains four original songs composed by Mariah, including the new single, Oh Santa, and many more surprises for the fans.  Producers on the new album include American Idol's Randy Jackson, multi-platinum hit-making producer Jermaine Dupri, James Poyser (acclaimed producer for Aretha Franklin, The Roots, Lauryn Hill and more), and five-time Oscar nominee and Grammy/Tony/Emmy award winning composer Marc Shaiman. 

Since it was first released, "All I Want For Christmas Is You," written by Mariah Carey and Walter Afanasieff, has become one of the essential musical hallmarks of the holiday season, and continues to set sales records each year.  The song hit #1 on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles Recurrents chart every year from 2005 to 2008.  After ringtones began to be charted in 2006, All I Want For Christmas Is You hit #1 for the next three consecutive holiday seasons.  It became the first seasonal Mastertone to be certified RIAA gold (2006) and RIAA platinum (2007), and is ranked as the top-selling seasonal ringtone of all-time."All I Want For Christmas is You" was the featured single from MERRY CHRISTMAS

MERRY CHRISTMAS II YOU is Mariah Carey's 13th studio album, and follows up her Memoirs Of An Imperfect Angel (released September 2009), her multi-platinum E=MC2 (2008), and worldwide 10 million selling The Emancipation Of Mimi (2005).  

source: MariahCarey.com



Isn't that something to look forward to this holiday season? What do you think?

Official Video: Chicane vs. Adam Young of Owl City - Middledistancerunner

Chicane employs the vocals of Owl City's Adam Young for his first single off his fourth artist album Giants. 


Middledistancerunner was released in 02 August 2010 together with its music video and album release. I found the video concept really superb with a witty twist!

This is also me and my friend's ideal work place -- by the beach

Check the video out:

Your thoughts please?

Album Review: The Scissor Sisters - Night Work

Finally, a third offering from The Scissor Sisters -- Night Work is the third studio album. Nearly four years after they last release the album Ta-Dah!. The band had teamed-up with acclaimed producer/mixer Stuart Price. Story has it that none of the then supposed tracks for Night Work had made the final cut. It's been told as well that the whole 18-month material was scrapped as the group was not confident enough to get behind this song - had that happened, it would deem that it's over for the band.  That is when they started re-scouting for resources and Jake Shears, the band's lead vocalist went to Berlin in Germany to find inspiration for new material for the first single and other tracks.Kylie Minogue had met Stuart Price at the time the band was in the middle of their Night Work sessions. It is known that Jake Shears is very good friends with Kylie and he mentioned that this was the path the group has taken in terms of production. Kylie was very much interested in the idea and had adopted this approach where all the finished cuts will go through Stuart for final processing. 

Between Ta-dah! and Night Work, I'm still torn which one is the better album. But one thing's for sure though - that Night Work is a real treat! 

The band had been performing live with Kylie on stage. The one that marked in the history of music entertainment is Kylie's debut at the Glastonbury Festival performing with the band the song Any Which Way which would be now the second single off the album.

Noteworthy tracks: Night Work, Fire With Fire, Any Which Way, Skin Tight, Sex and Violence, Nightlife, Invisible Light.

Track list:

01. Night Work

02. Whole New Way

03. Fire With Fire

04. Any Which Way

05. Harder You Get

06. Running Out

07. Something Like This

08. Skin This Cat

09. Skin Tight

10. Sex and Violence

11. Nightlife

12. Invisible Light

What do you think?

Official Video: The Scissor Sisters - Fire With Fire

Off the Scissor Sisters' third studio album - Night Work, is the first single Fire With Fire. The video was directed by Philip Andelman and was shot in New York City.

The video features the band on a stage mounted on a moving truck. The set is complete with band instruments, sound paraphernalia, lights. The band was roving around the streets of New York with the passersby, policemen  and anyone who could see them were their audience.

Love, love this song! 

Here's the video:

Your thoughts?

Official Video: Armin van Buuren vs. Sophie Ellis-Bextor - Not Giving Up On Love

With the release of Armin's fourth artist album and the continuous anticipation for Sophie's fourth studio album, comes a fantastic pop-trance track.

Not Giving Up On Love is a result of a great collab between these two brilliant artists from a different genre. Armin, being voted as the number #1 DJ in the world according to a top DJ magazine accredited by the dance scene and Sophie Ellis-Bextor who's been bopping some 80's synthpop disco inspired euro tracks since 2000. I have anticipated for this single for quite some time and when I finally heard it first over on Armin's weekly podcast A State Of Trance I can truly say that this collab was meant to happen and the song is just a fantastic treat for all vocal poptrance lovers.

Here's the video: The video was shot in Ibiza. Sophie's scenes were mostly on a yacht and poolside donning some very posh summer ensemble and hot, hot stilettos whilst shots of Armin's live Tuesdays@Amnesia were also included. It's quite the few videos of Armin where he didn't shoot together with the guest vocalist on the music video itself. Some shots of SEB were also included when she performed the song live in one of Armin's gigs in Amnesia, Ibiza.

Do share your thoughts please --

Movie Review: Despicable Me

I got dragged into watching this movie one Friday night when my best friend Jason Tomas though of treating is a movie night (then there was hoping for free dindin as well - but didn't happen)

The whole evening I've been thinking what this movie Despicable Me is all about. I thought it was a horror or thriller type. As my tinkering went on, I remember seeing some positive tweets about it but didn't really paid much attention. During dinner we talked about our goals, where we are in achieving it, milestones in life now that we're on the latter years of our 20s and I couldn't help but segued a couple of questions about the movie. So finally our other friend Martin mentioned a few deets on the movie just to get me shush'd long enough 'til screening time.

After entering the cinema, I realised we're doing a 3D movie. On the movie onset, it only dawned on me that it's an animated movie. So I just sat back and enjoyed this free movie. 

The cast looked interesting... Steve Carrell, Russel Brand to name a few. The yellow things who are the minions of the lead are just the cutest and funniest. One highlight of the movie is the kid Agnes and her fascination about unicorns. For a while, her lines in the movie remained in my thoughts "it's sooo fluffffyyyy I could die" 

This is a story of a villain trying to prove that he is still the best villain in the world. Suffering from the lack of attention/appreciation from his mother when he was a child, he developed this sense of compulsory feeling of needing to be validated. Unintentionally using the innocent orphans for his plans against his rival. Towards the end, he realised he loves the children more than the will to execute his plan. 

Moral of the lesson is that even the most ruthless, evil person can be tamed and changed by love.

What do you think?

Album Review: Armin van Buuren - Mirage

It's the album the entire dance scene has been waiting for. After months of hard work and creativity, the number one DJ in the world delivers his fourth artist album. Armin van Buuren is proud to present to you Mirage.

Armin: Mirage has been the biggest project I've ever worked on. There's so many hours in this. Work started two years ago when I actually built a completely new studio for this project. Many new techniques were used and most of all I had so much fun creating this with the many people that are involved. It was a journey, an epic one! (from arminonly.net)

'76','Shivers' and 'Imagine' are still etched in memory of millions of dance music lovers. Fresh memories will be made as soon as the album hits stores on 10 September 2010 (10-10-10). Mirage reveals a side of Armin his fans haven't heard yet and takes in its listeners with new and surprising collaborations. Within the 2 years of endless jamming and producing, Armin invited artists like Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Ferry Corsten, BT, Nadia

Ali, Guy Chambers, Christian Burns and Adam Young of Owl City into his studio.

As the first single of the album, Armin chose Full Focus, an instrumental track set to fill arenas, clubs and scorch across the festival terrains set up for the summer of 2010.

Armin: The first track of the album has been a sure shot in my sets for quite a while now. I decided to come back with an instrumental trancer right before summer and all the big festivals. Half of my new album will be instrumental trance, but with the sound of 2010 (from arminonly.net)

Right after summer, it's time for the full 'Mirage' album to take over. Inspired and influenced by many different types of music, Mirage is more diverse than any other Armin album before. His collaboration with

Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Not Giving Up On Love is a perfect example of

that, combining the best of both worlds.

Armin: The Nervo Sisters, Sophie Ellis-Bextor and me met up to write the vocals for Not Giving Up On Love. I was thrilled to work with them on this. We gave it a more analog feel with some real drums, to give it a pop-rock feel. We also put a piano top line on the track and then the vocals of Sophie, which I think is a win. It's a lush summer tune with an epic vocal that gets stuck in your head and cheers you up! (from arminonly.net)

Mirage is filled with musical fusions and surprising interpretations, from the orchestral masterpiece of title track Mirage, deep trance track I Don't Own You and housey Feels So Good to the eerie Take A Moment and feel-good Drowning and my personal favourites Not Giving Up On Love (with Sophie Ellis-Bextor), Minack (collab with Ferry Corsten) and Youtopia (with Adam Young of Owl City) 16 tracks that highlight how Armin has matured as an artist (plus 6 more from iTunes)

Noteworthy tracks are Desiderium 207, Mirage, Not Giving Up On Love, I Don't Own You, Drowning, These Silent Hearts, Coming Home, Minack, Youtopia


Track list:

01. Desiderium 207
02. Mirage
03. This Light Between Us
04. Not Giving Up On Love
05. I Don't Own You
06. Full Focus
07. Take A Moment
08. Feel So Good
09. Virtual Friend
10. Drowning
11. Down To Love
12. Coming Home
13. These Silent Hearts
14. Orbion
15. Minack
16. Youtopia
iTunes Bonus
17. Breathe In Deep
18. Take Me Where I Wanna Go
19. I Surrender
20. Love Too Hard
21. Virtual Friend (acoustic version)
22. Mirage (other version)

Your thoughts guys--

Album Review: Robyn - Body Talk Pt. 2

After the release of the dance version of Hang With Me, Body Talk pt.2 is set to be released on 06 September 2010. I got the leaked album a full month ahead of its released but decided to do my write-up later a few days prior its official release. I can't wait to get my hands on a physical copy!

After watching Hang With Me video and while loving the part 1, I immediately imagined how the part 2 would sound like. Well, it wasn't exactly how I imagined it - it was a bit of a letdown at first. Part 1 established a really high benchmark which admittedly and realistically challenging to top. However, part 2 gives its predecessor justice and still worthy of being a successor. 

The part 2 is more of a fun, clubby record. If part one sounded like a melo-dramatic juvenile trying to get heard and expressing oneself, the successor is more of a let-loose, I-don't-fucking-care-I'm-having-fun kinda record! But if you listen carefully to the lyrics and message of the songs, they express unpolished emotions like anxiety (In My Eyes) and heartbreak (Love Kills) covered in luscious and slick club beats. Filled with electro beats, most of the tracks are for targeted listeners only. The sound is very niched. Good thing I am a part of that niche! This record is an acquired taste. I advice one to listen to it repeatedly and put some intervals (days, hours) in listening to it and include in your set a different genre. I have personally done such and in doing so, I got to appreciate the sound more. Listening to it on a high-definition speaker or headphones helps a lot.

The highlight of this album includes U Should Know Better, a duet with a renowned hip-hop artist Snoop Dogg and of course the dance version of Hang With Me (part 1 contains the acoustic) plus a whole lot of electro-synths rich tracks like Include Me Out, to very noteworthy tracks We Dance To The Beat and  Criminal Intent and Indestructible (acoustic) which is a great slow Robyn song. 

I have slowly gone to love the 8 tracks on this record. They grow on me every time I listen to them. My faves are In My Eyes, Hang With Me, Criminal Intent, Indestructible.

Would be a shame if you didn't grab a copy of this fuckin-tastic record. Still worth the moola!

Track list:

01. In My Eyes

02. Include Me Out

03. Hang With Me

04. Love Kills

05. We Dance To The Beat

06. Criminal Intent

07. U Should Know Better (with Snoop Dogg)

08. Indestructible (acoustic)

iTunes Bonus

09. Bad

Let me know your thoughts --

Bigfish presents Godskitchen Tour 2010 featuring Sean Tyas

A couple of months after the Innovation Black event (Ferry Corsten's Once Upon A Night in Manila), Big Fish brought another eventful night in the dance scene -- Godskitchen Worldwide Tour 2010 and featured the trance dj and producer Sean Tyas. I have listened to his podcasts a couple of times - tyTANIUM sessions. I'm not a fan of his but when I got myself a copy of his best & remixes compilation, I found a new high (literal) respect for this fella.

As Sean intro'd a few good songs like Waiting -- the crowd did wait for a while until we finally saw Sean on the decks. 

First we started a bit early and as the night progressed, when Tyas took over the decks, the crowd went insane. He spinned some of his famous remixes and drove the crowd to utopia. Most of his cuts were not very much known to me but the way he mixed it up and came up with the set he used that night was enough to lose myself on the dance floor. 

Was in the company of my best friend and was also great seeing and bumping in to some really great friends!

I can say that I had more fun in this event compared to the Innovation Black and Red with Ferry and Markus respectively. The night was perfectly fun, aside from one significant incident that transpired. 

See you all on the next event - Innovation White. Above & Beyond will be driving this night so I confirm attendance this early!

Album Review: Dash Berlin - The New Daylight: The Remixes

Dash Berlin started to set things alight in early 2007, when mega-hit 'Till The Sky Falls Down' shattered into the many club-nights, to be followed by several successful remixes. Supported by the big DJ's out there, Dash continued his journey in the ever-evolving dance music culture. Backed up by his legendary production team; Molijn & Kalberg, Dash Berlin is designing an ambitious and unprecedented new division in Trance, critically acclaimed as the 'Dash Berlin Sound'. Futuristic, scintillating, but above all, moving and emotive music that relates to the universal dance floor experience, shared by innumerable music fans from multifarious cultures around the globe.

After the initial success things progressed naturally into the next big step for Dash, which was setting up his personal foundation for future music in the form of his own, freshly inaugurated imprint. Aropa Records, launched in March 2008 as an official part of the Armada Music group, kicked off with a massive collaboration with Cerf, Mitiska and Jaren on the international Trance anthem 'Man On The Run'. The creation of a full Dash Berlin album was the next logical step for the energetic Dutch DJ.

So here it is, 'The New Daylight'. The album is an ode to all the people worldwide who have been supporting him and the scene in general. According to Dash, it's not about the DJ, it's about the people that live and breathe the music. “There is no Dash Berlin without them”, he says humbly.

It's that universal, hopeful feeling, a feeling of togetherness and unity that is the main inspiration for the album. "I'm optimistic about the world and the future", Dash says, "people are sharing so much knowledge and information nowadays, we are getting wiser with every new daylight".

Stay tuned for more; hence Dash Berlin is the future.

This is the remixed compilation of this tranceful collection

Tracks:

01 Till The Sky Falls Down (Artic Moon Remix)

02 Man On The Run (Nic Chagall Remix)

03 Wired (Dash Berlin 4AM Remix)

04 Waiting (First State Remix)

05 Never Cry Again (Jorn van Deynhoven Remix)

06 To Be The One (Cressida Remix)

07 End Of Silence (Josh Gabriel Remix)

08 The Night Time (Timo Juuti Remix)

09 Renegade (Sied van Riel Remix)

10 Janeiro (Signum Remix)

11 Feel U Here (Paul Trainer Remix)

12 The New Daylight (P.A.F.F. presents Casper Sky Remix)

Your thoughts please--

Official Video: Kylie Minogue - Get Outta My Way

Just stop. Stop and watch this brilliant, beautiful video.

This is the video for Kylie Minogue‘s upcoming single, Get Outta My Way, due to be released on September 27.

This is the kind of video that I need with me at all times. The kind that I want to pull out of my pocket and view on my BlackBerry during an uncomfortable waiting time while stuck in a traffic jam or after an awful day of work to remind me that there is still some good in the world. 

Visually speaking, GOMW isn’t something we haven’t already seen from Kylie, albeit a sampling of her best moments: From the masterful floor choreography of “Slow,” to the lights and glam of “Wow,” to the damn near identical writhing and posing found with “In Your Eyes,” the formula isn’t exactly new.

Yet this video is as arresting as any of her others, if not much more so. Words fail to describe the beauty and elegance of it all–the fact that Kylie manages to flaunt her beauty in the most effortless of ways. There’s drama, but no pretense. The result is sophisticated camp, like a high fashion photographer’s first foray into pop.

I mean, the clothing! That magnificent chained corset? The shoes? THAT GOLDEN CLAW THING ON HER HAND?! I die, Rachel Zoe style.

What beats this? Honestly? Does anything, really? I don’t think so, for now. This is one of the finest videos Kylie Minogue has ever created, and certainly one of the best of the year.

Simply put, this is divinity captured in video. Enjoy your gay coma.

What do you think?