Welcome to new free songs
Letter X artists.
XX Mia
X-Japan
X-Perience
X-raided
X-Session
Xavier Naidoo
Xentrix
Xscape
Xspace
1 2
"I'm just checking in from the studio, but if you're wondering if I've been able to do anything else this last week besides working on the album, I was able to go to the Journey with Heart and Cheap Trick concert last night!! Woo Hoo! Haha," he wrote. Archuleta said he got to go backstage and meet Journey but was so frazzled by his recording schedule that he forgot to bring his camera.
The singer has been popping in and out of recording sessions in Los Angeles and Las Vegas all summer, and she's been lining up a steady stream of collaborators for the new album, including Rodney Jerkins, Nate "Danjahandz" Hills, Keri Hilson and even Lil Jon.
Seriously. Because as soon as "TRL" really started gaining steam — say, in the fall of 1999, when a live studio audience was added to the mix — the innovations were fast and furious. With the introduction of the live audience came those little windows featuring squealing tweens (you know, the ones who would pop up during, say, the new Britney video). At the time, they were rather annoying — except when some poor girl would freeze up on live TV, and then black-hearted hilarity would ensue — but now it's fairly obvious that these were the prototypes of a million "video diaries" that would come to populate YouTube in the years to come. These were kids talking directly to the camera (and, in a way, to the audience at home), which had never been done before. Stylistically (and sentiment-wise), it was the kind of stuff we'd see in the entire lonelygirl15 series or just about any other so-called vlog you can think of these days. It's de rigueur now, but back in 1999, it was groundbreaking.
Some Artists
More Songs
Fresh news
Hyper is a fair description of the music of Spank Rock, Japanther, Dan Deacon and Matt & Kim — artists who, back in 2006, were mainstays on the bills of Brooklyn DIY über-promoter Todd P. (See MTV News' 2007 report on Todd and the burgeoning Brooklyn scene here.) While High Places' more understated approach was somewhat at odds with those bands' more raucous sound, after only their second performance ever they landed themselves a spot on a Todd P bill, beginning an association that would win them a devoted local following and lead to the release of a string of 7" records. Some of High Places' early poppy songs, like "Sandy Feat" and "Head Spins," became audience favorites, and eventually 10 tracks were released on a full-length compilation, 03/07-09/07, which makes Pearson feel like the new album is "a little more like the sophomore record, rather than a debut." High Places sticks to the band's credo — layers of quiet sounds meant to be amplified really loud and as musically honest as they can be. But the newer songs, like the trance-y "Vision's the First...," the quietly bubbling "Namer" and the beautiful closer, "From Stardust to Sentience," do, according to Pearson, represent growth. "I think we're continuing to get more comfortable working together, and I think it's more of a grown-up approach, a couple of years down the line."