Apr
13
50 Cent, Yayo Named in ‘Gangsta’ Lawsuit
A New York City mother and her 14-year-old son filed a civil lawsuit against 50 Cent, Tony Yayo, Violator Management and the Universal Music Group labels Interscope, G-Unit and Shady Records on Wednesday. The teen is the son of the Game’s manager, Jimmy “Henchman” Rosemond, and he claims Yayo and three other men jumped him on a Manhattan sidewalk in March of 2007 when they saw him wearing a Czar Entertainment shirt. (Czar is the Game’s management company, and the Game hasn’t been on good terms with G-Unit since a feud in 2005.)
In one of the strangest record label partnerships of the past few years, Island Def Jam Music Group and TAG body spray have announced a joint hip-hop venture headed up by Jermaine Dupri.
Blondie has announced a series of shows in support of Parallel Lines’ 30th anniversary. The tour starts on June 5 in Baltimore and winds down at Milwaukee’s Summerfest on June 28. More dates are also expected soon.
Alison Sudol, the 22-year-old songbird behind A Fine Frenzy, isn’t afraid to flaunt her soft spot for the sentimental. Her debut album, One Cell In The Sea, finds Sudol’s fragile vocals and diary lyrics entwining with haunting piano, to craft ballads of love and heartbreak. Last year these poignant compositions struck an empathetic chord with music fans around the world, resulting in international chart activity for her first single “Almost Lover,” and earning her an opening slot on tour with Rufus Wainwright.
Bacardi and Groove Armada have signed a one-year partnership that covers recordings, touring, and audiovisual content. As the liquor company’s global experiential manager, Sarah Tinsley, explained it to Billboard.com, “Essentially we are taking over the role of a record label—producing the music, promoting new music, and the artist is playing at our events.”
A major change of direction for Natalie Cole, Unforgettable found the singer abandoning the type of R&B/pop she’d been recording since 1975 in favor of jazz-influenced pre-rock pop along the lines of Nat King Cole’s music. It was a surprising risk that paid off handsomely — both commercially and artistically. Naysayers who thought that so radical a change would be commercial suicide were proven wrong when the outstanding Unforgettable sold a shocking five million units. Quite clearly, this was an album Cole was dying to make. Paying tribute to her late father on “Mona Lisa,” “Nature Boy,” “Route 66,” and other gems that had been major hits for him in the 1940s and early ’50s, the 41-year-old Cole sounds more inspired than she had in well over a decade. On the title song, overdubbing was used to make it sound as though she were singing a duet with her father — dishonest perhaps, but certainly enjoyable. - 
Way back before the Smashing Pumpkins were superstars, right around the release of Siamese Dream, it was already an open secret that they were not a democracy; they were a dictatorship, ruled under the iron fist of singer/songwriter/guitarist/conceptualist Billy Corgan. He came up with their sound, equal parts metal and dream pop, he wrote the songs, and, according to most reports, he recorded almost all the guitars and bass on their albums, masterminding their sound down to the littlest details. Anybody that meticulous was also sharp enough to know the value of image too, so Corgan knew it was better to present the Smashing Pumpkins as a full-fledged band, not a solo project, and he came up with a diverse lineup ideally matched for the alt-rock ’90s: he was the skinny misfit leader, surrounded by female bassist D’Arcy,.. - 
After spending the 1980s moving in an increasingly pop-friendly direction, 1991’s We Can’t Dance marked a return to earlier aesthetics for Genesis. Edgier with more prominent guitars and live drums than on Invisible Touch, the record was the band’s strongest musical statement in over a decade. With “Driving the Last Spike” and the dark “Dreaming While You Sleep” the group revisited one of their forgotten strengths, telling extended stories. That’s not to say the album is a return to The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway or Trick of the Tail. Indeed, while there are several extended pieces on the record, there is none of the eccentricities, odd meters, or extended virtuoso solos of the band’s progressive heyday. The album’s closer, “Fading Lights,” comes the closest, featuring an outstanding instrumental mid-section. - 
With Crystal Planet, Joe Satriani made an effective return to his signature sound following the erratic blues-rock detour of Joe Satriani. For the follow-up to Crystal Planet, Satriani is once again exploring novel territory in an effort to keep his music fresh, and Engines of Creation is the biggest stylistic shift he’s made yet — to electronic music. Satriani’s guitar is still the focal point of the music, to be sure, but while his virtuosity is obvious, it’s often submerged in the new demands of this musical idiom. That isn’t a surprise either, given that Satriani is one of the few guitar shredders whose taste and musicality have never been in question. But fans who simply want to hear him rip through his typical jaw-dropping solos may be disappointed (even though, in the end, there are more than a few solos), as will those guitar fans who reflexively disdain all sounds electronic. Having defended it, though, Engines of Creation isn’t.. - 
Review by brother_ike “brother_ike”