Music Video - Leona Lewis 'Trouble'

Leona keeps bleeding love, and in the video for "Trouble" she's completely fine breaking things in her swanky apartment. "Trouble" is the latest single off Leona's Lewis forthcoming album Glassheart which got pushed back a couple times, but so far the finishing touches on the tracks made it worth the wait. In the video Lewis and Colton Haynes (from Teen Wolf) portray a 500 Days of Summer-eque romance fail. Hey, she told you she was trouble from the beginning.

Glassheart is available October 16th.

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Music Video - OK Go 'Needing/Getting'

The always innovative OK Go partnered with Chevrolet for their new video. They set up over 1000 instruments over two miles of desert outside Los Angeles. A Chevy Sonic was then outfitted with retractable pneumatic arms designed to play the instruments, and the band recorded this version of 'Needing/Getting', singing as they played the instrument array with the car. The video took 4 months of preparation and 4 days of shooting and recording. It was directed by Brian L. Perkins & Damian Kulash, Jr.

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Music Spotlight: Kelsey Byrne // Part 4

Watch Part 4 in Austin Abbott's (@numerochair) music series we're featuring on Reel Artsy. In this session Kelsey Byrne and Matthew Politoski perform "Good Morning."

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Music Spotlight: Mausi

This UK four-piece creates undeniably catchy indie pop. Check out 'sol', their single for ATG Records. Anchored by a simple piano melody, it's a fun summer track that will make you want to dance dance dance! The accompanying video shows the band playfully bounding across Europe intercut with Disney clips. For more info go to wearemausi.com

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DOWNLOAD sol (Polarsets Remix)

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Music Spotlight: Kelsey Byrne // Part 3

Watch Part 3 in Austin Abbott's (@numerochair) music series we're featuring on Reel Artsy. In this session Kelsey Byrne and Matthew Politoski perform "Knife." Wonderful! Amazing! And all sorts of awesome! 

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Music Video - Wilco 'Dawned On Me'

Popeye and crew return in the awesome new animated video for the single 'Dawned On Me' off Wilco's new album 'The Whole Love'. Watch as Jeff Tweedy competes with Popeye for the hand of Olive Oyl. This video collaboration with King Features presents the first hand-drawn Popeye cartoon in more than 30 years! It was directed by Darren Romanelli.

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Download This - XXYYXX 'Breeze'

Check out this track from young upcoming electronic producer XXYYXX aka 15-year-old Orlando native Marcel Everett, who makes minimal beats into epic tracks you can chill to. He is definitely someone to watch this year. For more visit his Soundcloud

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Music Spotlight: Low Leaf

LA artist Low Leaf is a singer, harp player, and piano player. All at the same time. She also produces her own beats. Pretty impressive. This is her performing a track called 'Take Time'. Check out her EP for more.

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Trailer - I Am Not A Hipster

Writer/director Destin Daniel Cretton's film just premiered at Sundance. It stars Dominic Bogart as a San Diego musician who has to deal with himself and his family during not entirely welcome visits from his father and sisters. The film has been garnering strong buzz and comparisons to Once. A teaser has been released and hopefully it will get a distributor soon.

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Music Spotlight: Kelsey Byrne // Part 2

Watch Part 2 in Austin Abbott's (@numerochair) music series we're featuring on Reel Artsy. In this session Kelsey Byrne and Matthew Politoski cover "Every Time You Go" by Ellie Goulding.

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Music Spotlight: Kelsey Byrne

We'll be featuring Austin Abbott's (@numerochair) music series on Reel Artsy. He's an upcoming director based out of New York with an eye for spotting music talent. First up "Winter" by Kelsey Byrne and Matthew Politoski.

Byrne describes her style as "an ecstatic jazz-pop-indie-folk-rock explosion" and I agree. There's something special to her sound, it's simply delicious, warm and toasty like a grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup... oozing emotion in a familiar but pleasant way.

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Interview with Elenowen

A guy, a girl and a singing contest.

Elenowen (Josh & Nicole Johnson) had a stand-out performance on NBC's The Voice with their dreamy rendition of The Swell Season's Oscar-winning song "Falling Slowly." The couple radiated a tender sincerity further magnified by their luminous harmonies. They didn't make it to the final round but Elenowen is on the path to carving out their own brand of success.

Their single "Honey Come Home" rose to #1 on the iTunes singer/songwriter chart. They launched a web series, The Basement Sessions, that chronicles their music journey and recorded a new studio album. With lyrics like "let me pour you a glass of red / to get your mind off the things I said" layered with depth and maturity, and steeped in bittersweet storytelling, Elenowen is one of the best duos to emerge from the 2011 music scene.

I chatted with Nicole about her quest for authenticity in her music, fashion and beyond.

On watching the Oscar-winning Irish film Once:

It was a really special moment when Josh and I saw the movie for the first time.

...Sitting in the theater and when that scene comes up when they're in the music shop and singing that song ["Falling Slowly"] it's just so real and passionate and we just, both of us started crying, in the theater, like man, this is what we want, this is who we want to be, real artists. And... shortly after that we started Elenowen.

What does authenticity mean to you and how does it influence your art?

A lot of it is a matter of opinion. One song, one movie can stir you, can move you and can really change you. And then for someone else it doesn't do anything for them, so I think Josh and I's goal has really been to make sure our music is really moving us.

It's meaningful to us but not everybody is gonna understand it. We're not expecting everybody that hears our music to become a mega fan because everyone's entitled to their own opinion. We're just always trying to make sure that we're writing genuine music. Whether it sparks from an idea that we get from a story we heard ...or whether we're writing literally from a story that happened to us today, whether we're writing about an argument we just went through, a hard time, a great time, whatever it is we're writing about we really try to make sure that it moves us. And that at the end of the day when we listen to our music that it's real. That's the way we try to stay authentic and stay true to ourselves.

What core beliefs did you and Josh promise to stay true to, whether or not fame came into play?

 

Before we went out to L.A. for The Voice we honestly did not see it coming. We were kind of plowing through our plan which was make music, put out a new record and just kind of do our own thing. When our management company was contacted by NBC to see if they had any new upcoming talent and our manager said 'Would you guys be interested in this?' And we're like 'Sure, why not, we'll just see what happens.'

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Download This - Alston David 'Are We Like Family'

A slice of Oklahoma City dream-pop. Alston David's debut album is available for free on NoiseTrade.com. Stand out tracks include "Are We Like Family" and "When California Falls Right Into the Ocean." 

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Music Spotlight: The Shortcoats

Lorene Scarfaria's latest effort offers a more refined sound, sliding into full-bodied indie rock. The screenwriter/director/singer teams up with Jonathan Sadoff and her boyfriend, Adam Brody, giving us a less devilish version of his Jennifer Body's character. Who will The Shortcoats have to sacrifice for success? Will Brody wear heaps of black eyeliner at shows? And more importantly will they lure concert-goers into creepy white vans? All jokes aside, The Shortcoats have potential, there's an earthy tone to Scafaria's voice that translates well with her new collaborators. It's the kind of music that radiates a year-round Autumn nostalgia, a warmth made perfect for one of those cloudy days.

The Shortcoats belong at Monday night residency at the Satellite or Echo. They're more Hollywood Hills but their music invokes a little Silver Lake charm.

The stand-out songs on This Time Last Year are "Too Late" and "So Long" which play as companion pieces, starting and ending the EP strong.

Not much is written on The Shortcoats, I don't even have an official site or Facebook to point you to, but if you're willing to jump down the rabbit hole you'll find yourself pleasantly surprised.

This Time Last Year is now available on iTunes.

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TV Tonight - SNL

The 37th season premiere of Saturday Night Live airs tonight at 11:30/10:30c on NBC. Alec Baldwin hosts (for a record breaking 16th time) with musical guest Radiohead!

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Trailer - Beats, Rhymes & Life

Actor Michael Rapaport's directorial debut is a documentary about legendary hip-hop group A Tribe Called Quest. Rapaport sets out on tour with them in 2008, when they reunited. As he travels with the band, he captures the story of how tenuous their relationship has become. It will screen at LA Film Fest on June 24th and opens in NY & LA July 8th.

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Music Video - Kitten 'Chinatown'

LA indie rockers Kitten jump back and forth in time in the awesome video for Chinatown. Their EP Sunday School is available now.

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Download This - Mr. Little Jeans 'The Suburbs'

Norwegian singer Monica Birkenes (aka Mr. Little Jeans) does a fantastic Arcade Fire cover.

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Download This - Big Sean 'I Do It'

Rising Detroit rapper Big Sean just dropped another single from his highly debut anticipated album Finally Famous, which hits stores June 21st.

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Download This - XV 'Smallville'

Kansas rapper XV aka Vizzy is killin' it right now. This must have track off his latest mixtape Zero Heroes, features a Smashing Pumpkins sample and dope production by J. Cole.

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