first listen

Lady Antebellum- 747 is Here — Review

Lady Antebellum's '747'

When I heard that Lady Antebellum was releasing another album so soon after last years Golden, I was a little skeptical.  Boy was I wrong!

They made a conscience effort to change up their sound by switching from their long-time producer Paul Worley to Nathan Chapman.  “We wanted to sound a lot bigger and a little more in your face than records in the past,” Kelley tells Billboard.  “We went out of our way to make sure that we found songs that had a lot more drive and energy to them. We really wanted to find songs that would translate to the live show like ‘Freestyle’ and ‘Bartender,’ so that’s how we approached this record.”

Hillary Scott said that it was time to shake things up. “We took a half a year off, and so much of the landscape of country music had shifted in a really exciting kind of way. We would go out on tour and see that our uptempo songs were the ones that were really connecting with the audience. That whole environment really carried over into the live show. It also carried over into our writing. It just led us to a place where we weren’t afraid to take some chances. We’ve always said we could reel ourselves back in, so we might as well go for it.”

While the album has the typical Lady A Ballad-leaning songs, “Down South” and “Lie With Me” have more of an  edge. “Freestyle”is a song that exemplifies their new sound and energy.  It is a song that sounds more like Florida Georgia Line than typical Lady Antebellum of the past.

That energy re-emerges in “Just A Girl” — “Now I know that I’m just another one of your Friday nights but this is going to be the last time” —  with it’s three-chord driving melody and take-back-my-dignity message; and the reflective rocker “Sounded Good At the Time.”

Listen to the album below (and then buy it )

What We Know About Taylor Swift’s “1989”…

  • The new LP is titled 1989 and will drop Oct. 27 via Big Machine.
  • That’s the Polaroid-inspired album art up above.
  • There will also be a deluxe edition of the album including three bonus tracks — all voice memos recorded to Swift’s phone that turned into actual songs.
  • Check out Billboard’s review of 1989′s Max Martin-produced lead single “Shake It Off” here. The team that created I Knew You Were Trouble and We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together. Their goal, she said, was to created something that sounded “like nothing like anything I had done.”
  • “Shake It Off” has already topped Billboard’s Trending 140.
  • Taylor revealed that she’s been working on the new album for the past two years. “I woke up every single day that I was recording this album not wanting but needing to make a new style of music. What ended up happening was that we made the most sonically cohesive album I’ve ever made – my favorite album I’ve ever made”
  • The idea, Taylor revealed, was to “get a huge group of professional dancers and throw me into the middle of them and see what happens.”
  • This will be her “first documented, official pop album,”

 

New Music This Week

Natalia Jiménez feat. Wisin – Creo en Mi Natalia
Nicki Minaj – Anaconda
Stevie Nicks – The Dealer
Slipknot – The Negative One
R5 – Heart Made Up On You
Creep – Vintage Soul Radiohead Cover ft. Karen Marie
The Script – Superheroes
Rick Ross – Supreme
Brantley Gilbert – Small Town Throwdown ft. Justin Moore, Thomas Rhett
Ed Sheeran – Don’t
5SOS- She Looks So Perfect
Franz Ferdinand – Stand On The Horizon
Christina Perri – Burning Gold
Sam Smith – I’m Not The Only One
5 Seconds Of Summer – Amnesia
Katy Perry – This Is How We Do
Mary Lambert – Secrets
Lana Del Rey – “Ultraviolence”
Janelle Monáe – Electric Lady
The Gaslight Anthem – Rollin’ And Tumblin’
Porter Robinson – Flicker
The Janoskians – This Freakin Song
Eric Bellinger – Kiss Goodnight ft. Kid Ink
Nick Jonas – Chains
DJ Mustard – Down On Me ft. Ty Dolla $ign, 2 Chainz
Lucy Hale – Lie a Little Better
Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga – Anything Goes
K Camp – Blessing
Jessie J, Ariana Grande, Nicki Minaj – Bang Bang
Beck – Heart Is A Drum
Hilary Duff – Chasing the Sun
Fences – Arrows (feat. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis)
BANKS – Beggin For Thread
Tensnake, Jacques Lu Cont – Feel Of Love ft. Jamie Lidell
“Weird Al” Yankovic – Tacky
G-Unit – Come Up
Maddie & Tae – Girl In A Country Song
Common – Diamonds (Explicit) ft. Big Sean
Kasabian – bumblebeee
The Pretty Reckless – Fucked Up World
Future – “Coupe”
Luke Bryan – Roller Coaster
OneRepublic – Ordinary Human
The Shins – So Now What
Chance The Rapper – I Am Very Very Lonely
What The F@#K You Gon Do? – Explicit
R5 – Heart Made Up On You
Basement Jaxx – Never Say Never ft. ETML
Pharrell Williams – Come Get It Bae
Bastille – Oblivion
Rise Against – I Don’t Want To Be Here Anymore
The Script – Superheroes (Audio)
Juicy J, Wiz Khalifa, Ty Dolla $ign – Shell Shocked ft. Kill The Noise & Madsonik
Hopsin – ILL MIND OF HOPSIN
Wicked Medley – Peter Hollens & Nick Pitera
Röyksopp & Robyn – Do It Again
Steve Angello – Wasted Love ft. Dougy from The Temper Trap
Jason Aldean – Burnin’ It Down
Ice Cube – Drop Girl ft. Redfoo, 2 Chainz IceCube
Kimbra – Miracle (OFFICIAL AUDIO)
“Weird Al” Yankovic – First World Problems

New Music Tuesday — July 22, 2014

This week was a week of beginnings and restarts.  5 Seconds of Summer released their debut album.  It is very pop-tastic.   La Roux is back with their first release since 2009.  With hits like Bulletproof under their belt, this album will definitely get you out of your seat and dancing.  Jesse McCartney is back with a new more mature sound.  If you ask me, he is getting close to being a knock off of Justin Timberlake.  McCartney needs to find a sound of his own because boy can actually sing.  Listen below.