The Scoop |
July 2008by Danny Canak MIDNIGHT OIL’S ALBUM OF ALL TIMEMidnight Oil’s ‘10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1’ has been voted as the greatest Australian album of all time by The Age's weekly entertainment section, EG. The album, released in 1982 and selling more than a quarter of a million copies, received a total of 150 votes by the selection panel comprising musicians, critics and broadcasters. The Oils won by a nose over AC/DC’s ‘Back In Black’ which received 149 votes. Not far behind were classic albums from INXS, Skyhooks, Paul Kelly, the Hoodoo Gurus and Crowded House. AC/DC received the most nominations (four), while Midnight Oil, Cold Chisel, the Saints, You Am I, Crowded House, Paul Kelly, The Go-Betweens, and the Easybeats received two each. Most nominations came from the 70s & 80s but four albums from this decade, including the Avalanches, Jet, Silverchair and the Drones, managed to make the list. SILVERCHAIR’S SONG OF THE YEARSilverchair’s ‘Straight Lines’, a song written by the talented Daniel Johns and Julian Hamilton (The Presets), was named as the Song Of The Year at the APRA Music Awards held at Sydney’s Hilton on June 16th. The song was also the Most Played Australian Work on the nation’s airwaves over the past year while Daniel Johns was named the APRA Songwriter Of The Year for a record third time. This makes Johns the only songwriter in the history of the APRA Music Awards to receive this distinction. Other winners on the night included Rogue Traders (Dance Work Of The Year for ‘In Love Again’), John Butler (Blues And Roots Work Of The Year for ‘Good Excuse’), Wolfmother (Most Played Australian Work Overseas for ‘Woman’) and Sally Seltmann (New Buffalo) who won the Breakthrough Songwriter Of The Year award after co-composing Feist’s highly successful ‘1234’ hit single. First time APRA Award winners included Jade Macrae (Urban Work Of The Year for ‘In The Basement’), Troy Cassar Daley (Country Work Of The Year for ‘Everything’s Going To Be Alright’) and composer Kenneth Schroder (Jazz Work Of The Year for the song ‘Eucalypso’, performed by The Moovin’ and Groovin’ Orchestra). COLDPLAY BREAKING RECORDSColdplay’s long awaited fourth album ‘Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends’ is breaking records all over the world. In Australia, it has become one of the fastest selling albums in years after it debuted at #1 and went Platinum within days of release. It also debuted at #1 on the US Billboard 200 with over 720,000 copies sold in its first week of release there, #1 in the UK where it is the fastest-selling album of the year, and was also #1 in Japan, Canada, France and Germany. ‘Viva La Vida’ also set the record for highest first-week album sales ever on the iTunes Store worldwide. Recorded with producers Brian Eno and Markus Dravs, ‘Viva La Vida’ includes the single ‘Violet Hill’ which was offered free on the band's website for one week in May and was downloaded by over 2 million people globally. LIL WAYNE’S US DOMINATIONLil Wayne’s latest album, ‘Tha Carter III’, has become the biggest US release of 2008 after selling over 1 million copies in its first week of release. It is the only album to achieve this feat since 50 Cent’s ‘The Massacre’ in 2005. More surprisingly, this is Lil Wayne’s first #1 album and also marks the biggest debut of any album in the history of Universal Motown Records. Cash Money co-founder Bryan ‘Birdman’ Williams says, “Lil Wayne is truly changing the game of hip-hop. Lil Wayne is the most talented rapper out there right now, and these numbers prove it.” The rapper has been quite prolific of late making over 70 guest appearances on other artist tracks including Fat Joe’s 2008 Grammy nominated single ‘Make It Rain’, DJ Khaled’s ‘We Taking Over’, and Wyclef Jean’s ‘Sweetest Girl’. ‘Tha Carter III’ is available now locally. DISTURBED #1Disturbed have also had a highly successful month with their fourth album, ‘Indestructible’, debuting at #1 on the Australian Motorola ARIA Chart making it their first #1 locally. The album also went to #1 in Canada, New Zealand and the US, where it sold over 250,000 copies in its first week of release. This is now their third consecutive US #1 album and makes them one of only six other rock bands in US history to achieve this feat! AIRBOURNE’S INTERNATIONAL SUCCESSAfter relocating to the US earlier this year, Airbourne are starting to make inroads internationally. Their ‘Runnin’ Wild’ single/album managed to take the #1 position on the Heatseekers chart during the first week of release while in Canada, their track ‘Too Much, Too Young, Too Fast’ was the #1 most added track at radio. The album also managed a #27 debut on the German mainstream charts last month. Airbourne recently toured the US with Finger Eleven while they have just completed playing at some major European festivals including the Donnington Download Festival with Kiss in England and the Waken Festival in Germany with Iron Maiden. Next on the agenda is a huge national tour of the US on the Mayhem Festival alongside Slipknot, Disturbed & Dragonforce. OPERATOR PLEASE DEALFollowing on from Wolfmother, The Vines and Jet having their music used in global television campaigns, Operator Please have hooked up with Motorola for a worldwide ad campaign that will see their single, ‘Just A Song About Ping Pong’, used to launch Motorola’s latest phone. The ad is already airing in England and is expected to hit Australia later in the year. Meanwhile. The band are currently playing some major European festivals but will be back in Australia in the first week of August to play at the sold out Splendour In the Grass Festival in Byron Bay. Their latest single ‘Two For My Seconds’, recently performed on Network Ten’s Rove program, is out now. NEW RELEASES THIS MONTHBeck makes a welcome return this month with his Danger Mouse produced new album ‘Modern Guilt’. The album, which is said to be a psych-rock, folk, electronic affair, has just hit the stores. Death metallers Whitechapel have also just unleashed their crushing Metal Blade debut 'This Is Exile'. The band fuse groovy riffs with crushing breakdowns, tremolo picking at neck breaking speeds, and incredibly evil and dissonant sounds. Similarly, Misery Signals have made huge strides within their own creative bubble encompassing raging metallic crunch and real life narratives blended with beautiful instrumental and melodic post-rock sections. Their new album ‘Controller’, produced by Devin Townsend, will be available from July 19th. UPCOMING NEW RELEASESHawthorne Heights will be releasing their third studio album, ‘Fragile Future’, on August 2nd. Building on the experiences of the last few years, including the death of a band member and a controversial lawsuit, Hawthorne Heights have created a record that has reinforced their desire to play music, perform live for fans and grow as individuals and artists. Making a shock return a week later will be 90s rockers Extreme who will be unleashing their first album in thirteen years on August 9th. ‘Saudades de Rock’ is a groundbreaking record boasting badass, groove-laden, swaggering numbers ('King of the Ladies'), raw funk metal ('Learn to Love'), expressive ballads ('Interface') and soulful, piano steered winners ('Ghost'). Finally, hip-hop superstar T.I. will be releasing his hugely anticipated new album ‘Paper Trail’ on August 12th. ‘Paper Trail’ follows T.I.’s two previous #1 albums, 2007’s ‘T.I. vs T.I.P.’ and 2006’s RIAA platinum-certified ‘King’. « June 2008 · August 2008 » |