Search Results for: the voice

Amazon.com Inc., pushing further into the digital distribution of books, unveiled a thinner and faster version of its Kindle electronic-book reader but raised controversy among publishers and others with a new text-reading feature. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos displays the Kindle 2 e-book reader at an event Monday. “Our vision is every book ever printed in any language all available in 60 seconds,” said Amazon Chief Executive Jeff Bezos at a Monday press conference in a New York library. The Seattle company also said it has a new work by best-selling novelist Stephen King, called “Ur,” which will be available exclusively… Read more »

Three years ago, Cobra Starship weren’t even a band. Two years ago, they weren’t one either, but at least things were beginning to happen. Gabe Saporta – tired of watching his band Midtown being mired in the major-label quagmire – began writing songs on his own, under the name of Cobra Starship (apparently borrowed from a brand of vintage jackets). Somewhere along the way, he got tapped to write the theme song for the Samuel L. Jackson flick “Snakes on a Plane,” which became the first official Cobra release. Since then, they’ve released two full-lengths, kicked out a keytar player… Read more »

American Idol returns for its eighth season on Tuesday with a new judge, a better showcase for talented singers and a wary eye on its status as America’s most-watched television show. The five-month search for a new star kicks off with a two-night, four-hour premiere featuring the familiar blend of hundreds of hopeful, and sometimes hopeless, contestants auditioning in cities across the nation. But producers have tweaked the formula to keep viewers tuning in en masse after last year, when the numbers of “American Idol” faithful slipped to about 28.1 million per episode from an average 30.8 million in 2006.… Read more »

What do you get when you combine one of rock’s most distinctive voices with one of acoustic music ‘s most celebrated talents? The answer is Fiction Family, a collaboration forged by Switchfoot lead vocalist Jon Foreman and Nickel Creek guitarist Sean Watkins ATO/ Credential Recordings will release their self-titled debut disc January 20. “We’re a bit of an odd couple, and that’s what makes it work,” Foreman says. “Even though we have different backgrounds, the music we grew up listening to and still admire today is very similar.” The unlikely musical pairing began when Nickel Creek and Switchfoot were playing… Read more »

LOS ANGELES — Don’t get Katy Perry twisted: She absolutely loves being pop’s quirky poster girl, the wild child who doesn’t censor herself and causes raised eyebrows with songs like “Ur So Gay” and “I Kissed a Girl.” But for all her success over the last year, Perry is hoping that songs like her most recent No. 1, “Hot n Cold,” show she has more to offer than kitsch and controversy. “It’s my personality, which is up and down and sassy and cheeky,” says Perry, who recently became a Grammy nominee “You’re gonna see me with all kinds of different… Read more »

Deleted Scenes admit to being meticulous about their multi-layered music, and the group’s debut CD, “Birdseed Shirt,” took about a year to record and mix. “We’re a very slow-working band,” said singer-guitarist Dan Scheuerman. “The mixing process was long and exhaustive and exhausting; my brain was mush by the end of it. [Recording engineer L Skell] is the most detail-oriented, verging-on-obsessive person I’ve ever met.” But his obsessiveness gives “Birdseed Shirt” (What Delicate Recordings) a haunting sonic depth, with a sound that is big but not cavernous. The band’s patience and attention to detail paid off, too: “Birdseed Shirt” is… Read more »

NEW YORK – Coldplay was the hottest iTunes album download this year: Its “Viva la Vida” was crowned the best-selling album of 2008, while Leona Lewis’s “Bleeding Love” was named the top-selling single. Coldplay’s CD has sold more than 2 million copies since its release in June, and has sold more than 500,000 copies digitally – most of which was through iTunes, according to the band’s representative. ITunes does not release its sales figures, its spokesman said in releasing its list on Monday. Jack Johnson’s “Sleep Through the Static” was the No. 2 selling album, while the soundtrack to the… Read more »

All is fair in Chinese Democracy, except when the citizens are denied the opportunity to drink what the Dr. ordered. Axl Rose, wholely mum when Dr. Pepper announced that it would bestow a free 20-ounce bottle to all Americans when Guns N’ Roses’ years-in-the-making album finally dropped, is taking the company to task via his attorney after learning that not all customers were served. The soft-drink slinger had arranged to bestow online coupons to any thirsty freebie-seeker who visited its website on Nov. 23, but the site crashed due to…well, high traffic brought on by people’s insatiable desire for free… Read more »

Former Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker is suing Bombardier Inc., a Canadian Aerospace conglomerate and makers of the Learjet; Clay Lacy Aviation, a jet-charter company; and Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company for monetary damages stemming from a South Carolina plane crash he survived in September, according to TMZ.com. The crash resulted in the deaths of four of the plane’s six occupants, including Barker bodyguard Charles “Che” Still, whose mother, Thelma Martin Still, filed suit in L.A. County Superior Court alongside the drummer. DJ AM was the crash’s only other survivor. A federal inquiry into the crash two months ago led investigators… Read more »

Americans have spoken, and their collective voice has summoned for change. After years of ads, infomercials, primaries, debates and an online campaign that generated a groundswell of support among the nation’s disaffected youth, Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama has defeated the Republican pick for president, Arizona Senator John McCain. The junior senator from the state of Illinois announced his candidacy 22 months ago, beginning his historic, barrier-busting bid for the nation’s highest office. CNN called the election for Obama at 11 p.m. ET, as the polls closed on the West Coast. He will be America’s 44th president. Obama is projected… Read more »