Jeff Bridges

Jeff Bridges turned West Hollywood’s legendary nightclub the Troubadour into his living room last night as he previewed songs from his Aug. 16 self-titled album, as well as delved into Bad Blake’s catalog.

With a guitar strap emblazoned with BAD, Bridges easily swung back  and forth between his new alt country tunes and songs fans first heard delivered by his alter ego, “Crazy Heart’s” Blake, including the Oscar-winning “The Weary Kind.”

Given that the bulk of the sloping songs—whether for Blake or Bridges—were penned by John Goodwin, the late Stephen Bruton and T Bone Burnett, there’s no real demarcation between either.

In fact, Bridges opened with “Hold On You,” one of “Crazy Heart’s” more uptempo numbers.  Bridges, who won an Oscar for his portrayal of the wash-up country crooner, shares with Blake an easy-going, sly stage presence. He’s a natural in front of a live audience and he seemed bolstered by the presence of his wife, sister, brother Beau, and a number of other friends, included Burnett, some of whom go back to elementary school.  There were some newer friends there as well, including Ryan Reynolds and Pierce Brosnan.

[More after the jump...]

Nicki Minaj in David Guetta's new video

Beware of seemingly innocent bubbles floating in the New York sky. They may appear harmless, but touch one or come too close to its orbit and the next thing you know, you’ll be spasticly dancing out of control...perhaps in your skimpy  bikini.

That’s the take away from David Guetta’s video for his global smash “Where Them Girls At” featuring Flo Rida and Nicki Minaj. And, oh yeah, Minaj continues on her trajectory to prove she really is just a monster-eyelashed robot. And the video has a major product placement pact with Renault that practically stops the clip dead.

High atop a building rooftop in New York City, French DJ Guetta is hard at work cranking out beats, while his assistants pour a  mix into funnels that blow bubbles far and wide. Guetta has the best job ever in all of his videos. Looking like he just rolled out of bed and grabbed whatever clothes were on the floor, he throws on his shades, manipulates a few turntables and done.

[More after the jump...]

Pittbull

It’s good to be Pitbull. The Cuban-American rapper is sipping white wine in a all white hotel suite in Los Angeles, flanked by a few members of his posse, as he runs through a string of interviews to promote his new album, “Planet Pit.”

The set, which debuts in the Top 10 on this week’s Billboard 200, is the party project of the summer—chock full of club bangers featuring Pit and his friends, Ne-Yo, Marc Anthony, Kelly Rowland, Chris Brown, Enrique Iglesias and T-Pain.

The massive success of first single, “Give Me Everything” featuring Ne-Yo, Afrojack and Nayer, has come quickly on the heels of Pitbull’s raspy raps appearing on a number of the past year’s hottest tunes:  Iglesias’s “I Like It,” Usher’s “DJ’s Got Us Fallin’ In Love” and Jennifer Lopez’s comeback single, “On the Floor.”

Although not dressed in one of his trademark fancy suits, Pitbull, nevertheless, cuts a dashing figure, full of easy charm and swagger, as he talks about the making of the new album and life on Planet Pit in the embedded video in this post.

What happens when you take an extremely gifted, Grammy-winning producer and top songwriters and pair them with an “American Idol” winner? You get an album that somehow ends up feeling like the synthesis of all their efforts, but with no defining personality at all.

On “This Loud Morning,” the second album from season seven “AI” winner David Cook (out today), he has clearly tried to dig deep. He’s tackling major themes here about faith, love, loss and  navigating one’s way through this world, but they have the depth of a rain puddle.

Matt Serletic, best known for his work with Matchbox Twenty, Collective Soul and Santana, hits all the right musical marks here, which is what he’s hired to do.  Cook’s co-writers, David Hodges, Ryan Tedder, Kevin Griffin, and Marti Frederiksen, have more hits between them than would seem humanly possible. So why does this album not resonate?  Even a profession of faith, such as on “We Believe,” fails to ignite, despite a spirited delivery by Cook.

[More after the jump...]

In the new video for “Not Over You,” Gavin DeGraw models a lot of different hats, while his ex-girlfriend, a Fiona Apple look-alike, who appears to be about 16, pouts in all manner of short shorts, tight jeans, and sweaters with her ass cheeks hanging out, until they reconcile with a long, passionate kiss. And that, my friends, is why boys make music. To get to make out with the actresses in their videos...and sometimes marry them (See Rob Thomas and his wife Marisol and Josh Kelley and Katherine Heigl).

We especially like the line where he sings “Still, you’re magnificent,” as the camera lingers on her butt in a pair of Daisy Dukes as she looks longingly out over the East River--or it could be the Hudson. I’d totally lost interest by that point.

[More after the jump...]

Lady Antebellum

Credit: AP Photo

Lady Antebellum’s saccharine-y sweet “Just a Kiss,” the first single from its Sept. 13 album, “Own the Night,” gets a similarly sugary video.

The clip for the  ballad, which is already top 10 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart, follows two young backpackers who meet in Europe. The video starts as they’ve already parted and the girl is revisiting their trip (on an iPad) including gorgeous stops in London and Paris. 

They are clearly meant for each other and quickly fall in love, but decide to take it slow as the members of Lady Antebellum slowly look on, like the angels in “City of Angels” (although I don’t think they’re dead).

[More after the jump...]

One day, history will look back at Beyonce’s “4,” out June 28, and view it in much more favorable light than it’s going to get now.  In some ways, like Lady Gaga with “Born This Way,” Bey’s made her least accessible album.

Unlike Lady Gaga, however, who tends to take big anthems and make them even bigger through her dramatics and persona, Beyonce is focused primarily on the smaller, deeply personal romantic relationships that mark our lives. They’re the ones the first unite us and then later blow our hearts apart. The girl who was blithely, giddily “Crazy in Love” has now found that love can drive you insane.

Beyonce signals that she is not traveling down her usual sassy, beat-laden, catchy musical path by opening the album with “1 (Plus) 1.” It’s an intimate Alicia Keys-type ballad, despite the rock guitar solo, but with a weird vocal up-hollar at the end of several of the lines that are slightly jarring. The first track of an album is usually an invitation to come on a journey, to ride shotgun with the artist through the next 10 songs or so. Instead, we get a deep album track about realizing the depth of her romantic bond (I’m guessing to Jay-Z) that sounds like it would normally be in the later half of a set.

Rhythmically, she gets back on a pop track, somewhat, with “I Care.” It’s a wide-open, straight from the ‘80s, production with big, echo-y drums and reverberating synth keys. She’s still clinging to a relationship, though her partner has turned his back...so much so that he revels in her pain. By the third song, “I Miss You,” ; they’ve parted, but she still can’t let go and her needs are vexing her.

It feels like Beyonce wrote a mission statement for this album with three goals that she passed out to her raft of producers and co-writers:  1) Show she is grown up and is dealing with the complexities of love and life and is much more than  a one-dimensional dancing doll  2) Prove that she really can sing by overloading the album with repeated emotional wallops that allow for full-on belting  and 3) Make an highly percussive album that sonically combines rhythms and synths from the ‘70s and ‘80s with modern technology.

[More after the jump...]

The cover of Jill Scott's 'The Light of the Sun'

 

There’s a windfall of new debuts headed for the Top 10 of the Billboard 200 next week, led by Jill Scott’s “The Light of the Sun,” which looks like a lock to come in at No. 1.

The title, her first chart topper, is on her own label, Blues Babe, following her departure from Hidden Beach. The set is poised to sell 135,000 copies.  Coming in at No. 3 is Bon Iver’s second set, “Bon Iver.” That’s a far superior position than Bon Iver’s debut, “For Emma, Forever Ago,” which peaked at No. 64.

Country singer Justin Moore’s “Outlaws Like Me”  looks good for No. 5, while “Weird Al” Yankovic’s “Alpocalypse” is in a tight race with Pitbull’s “Planet Pit” to bow at No. 8.

As far as returning faves, after dropping to No. 3, Adele’s “21”  will likely bounce back to No. 2 with sales of up to 105,000.

Jackie Evancho’s “Dream With Me”  drops from No. 2 to 4. This week’s No. 1 set, Bad Meets Evil’s “Hell: The Sequel” drops to No. 6, while Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way” falls to No. 7. Jason Aldean’s “My Kinda Party” slides 5-10.

'The Muppets'

 

Credit: Disney

The awesomeness of “The Muppets” movie just keeps growing. Though the movie doesn’t open until Nov. 23, Disney will release “Muppets: The Green Album” (get it? ) on Aug. 23.

Among the primarily alt rock artists covering classic Muppets tunes, according to Pitchfork,  are My Morning Jacket (“Our World”),  Sondre Lerche (“Mr. Bassman”), Weezer and Paramore’s Hayley Williams (“Rainbow Connection”) and The Fray (Mahna Mahna”).

Hitfix has already posted too many amazing stories about the Muppets movie to link to all of them here, but here are two great pieces from the set here and here by Greg Ellwood.  In addition to this tribute album, the movie will have its own soundtrack with Muppet classics and new tracks from James Bobin and Flight of the Conchords' Bret McKenzie.

Muppets: The Green Album Tracklist:


1. OK Go – Muppet Show Theme


2. Weezer and Paramore’s Hayley Williams – Rainbow Connection


3. The Fray – Mahna Mahna


4. Alkaline Trio – Moving Right Along


5. My Morning Jacket – Our World


6. Amy Lee – Halfway Down the Stairs


7. Sondre Lerche – Mr. Bassman


8. The Airborne Toxic Event – Wishing Song


9. Atreyu’s Brandon Saller and Good Charlotte’s Billy Martin – Night Life


10. Andrew Bird – Bein’ Green


11. Matt Nathanson – I Hope That Something Better Comes Along


12. Rachael Yamagata – I’m Going to Go Back There Someday



 

Brian Wilson

 

Credit: Matt Sayles

River Road Entertainment, the production company behind the Runaways biopic, is planning to tell Brian Wilson’s story.

The Beach Boys’ co-founder is rife with drama, from growing up with his abusive father, Murray, to his psychotic breakdown to his relationship with his now-deceased svengali Eugene Landy to his latter-day recovery. And that’s without even mentioning the glorious music.

River Road, which also produced “The Tree of Life,” revealed in a statement that the film will take “an unconventional look at Wilson’s unique music process as well as his struggles with mental illness,” Whatever that means, according to a blurb in the New York Times.

No word yet on if River Road has secured the rights to use the Beach Boys’ music. Oren Moverman, who directed and co-wrote “The Messeng 

Thought we haven’t heard much about it lately, last summer filmmaking partners Randall Miller and Jody Savin (“Bottle Shock,” “Marilyn Hotchkiss’ Ballroom Dancing & Charm School”) announced their plans to develop a movie based on the life of  Wilson’s brother, Dennis. His story is less well known and in many way more fascinating.

I could see Zach Galifinakis or Jack Black playing Brian Wilson. Whom do you see?