BIG ASS SATURDAY NEWS WRAP #99

• Though there’s been nothing official forthcoming from their label Warner Music just yet, The Veronicas are very much on the way back into the spotlight, revealing that their new album is to be entitled ‘Life On Mars’. Though details about the new LP are very thin on the ground thus far, it’s anticipated that the new album will drop in either September or October.
• US songstress Ke$ha appears as a guest vocalist on the new album by US outfit The Flaming Lips. She’s one of a number of big name collaborations for the LP, entitled ‘The Flaming Lips And Heady Fwends’. Also guesting are Yoko Ono, Bon Iver, Tame Impala and our own Nick Cave. The LP will be released on Friday July 06.
• Designer Hugo Boss has announced that he’ll be teaming up with Danish producer Kasper Bjørke for a new project entitled ‘HUGO Tracks’. Fans will be treated to online specials, downloads, podcasts and more as a result of the collaboration.
• Among the new tracks serviced to radio this week was the new EP from Melbourne outfit Boy In A Box. Championed by Triple J and signed by ABC, the boys’ new EP features four new recordings including the title track plus ‘I’m Alive’, ‘Let’s Go Dancing’ and ‘End Of The Line’. It’s due into stores on Friday July 06.
• For a more comprehensive look at the tracks serviced to Australian media this week (and every week), head over to our FACEBOOK page and check out the list, published this week on Thursday. You might even love to ‘Like’ us!
• Fans of legendary outfit ZZ Top will be wetting themselves with excitement over the fact that the band has dropped a brand new four track digital EP entitled ‘Texicali’. The four tracks (‘I Gotsta Get Paid’, ‘Chartreuse’, ‘Over You’ and ‘Consumption’) are the first new recordings from the band in almost a decade and serve as a precursor to an as-yet-untitled full length album, due later in the year.
• Also on their way back later this year is US alternative outfit Green Day, who this week pulled the covers off their new album ‘¡Uno!’. The album is the first in a trilogy of new albums, with ‘¡Dos!’ and ‘¡Tre!’ due in the months following. ‘¡Uno!’ will be released in Australia on Friday September 21.
• Hot on the heels of The xx announcing live shows in Australia, band member Jamie XX has announced solo sideshows in both Sydney and Melbourne. He’ll play Sydney’s Good God Small Club on July 19 and Melbourne’s New Guernica on July 17. Tickets for both dates are on sale now.
• We’ve been told this week that The Living End has a secret. They’re not revealing anything until the official announcement on Monday July 02, but they’ve hinted that “TLE-heads are going to go bananas over it.”
• Those plucky chaps from Brisbane outfit Hey Geronimo are now counting down the days ’til the July 01 release of their new EP. So excited are they that they’re heading out on the road in the hope of (ahem) bowling you over with a quintet of live shows across the East Coast. They’ll kick things off in Melbourne on June 29, before hitting up Brisbane, the Gold Coast and Sydney. All dates and deets on their FACEBOOK page.
• The peeps at Channel [V] this morning revealed their top four finalists in the race to snap up a new presenting role on the network. Still in the running for the plum role are Bridget Hustwaite from Ballarat in Victoria, Charlie Cotton from Melbourne, Gus Kell from Sydney and Marty Smiley, also from Melbourne. The winner of the gig will be revealed on Saturday June 30.
• Sydney outfit The Rubens have sold out their first shows in both Sydney and Melbourne, revealing that new dates have been added to their tour schedule in both cities. They’ll now play a second show at Melbourne’s Corner Hotel on July 10 and a second show at Sydney’s Oxford Art Factory on July 18. Tickets for both are on sale now.
• A wave of national pride has seen Take That frontman Gary Barlow & The Commonwealth Band ascend to the No.1 spot on the British singles chart this week with the track ‘Sing’, created to commemorate Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee. Rising from No.11 last week, it’s been enough to hold off a fast-charging Flo Rida and his ‘Whistle’, which debuts at No.2.
Usher’s new single ‘Scream’ is in at No.5, with DJ Fresh’s newbie ‘The Power’ doing the business right behind him with a No.6 debut.
• It’s all Barlow on the albums chart too, with the ‘Sing’ EP remaining in the No.1 position for the second week in a row. Ed Sheeran’s all-conquering ‘+’ improves from No.13 to No.2, while Paloma Faith’s ‘Fall To Grace’ falls only one spot. Read our recent interview with Paloma HERE. A re-issue of Paul Simon’s ‘Graceland’ debuts at No.10, with the new Kylie best-of in at No.11.
Is trouble brewing for Alexandra Burke, however? Her new dance/pop album ‘Heartbreak On Hold’ manages only a No.18 debut.
• The eight week reign of Gotye and Kimbra on the Billboard singles chart is finally over, with starlet Carly Rae Jepsen finally ascending to the No.1 position Stateside with ‘Call Me Maybe’. One Direction edges a little higher with ‘What Makes You Beautiful’ and is now top five, while Katy Perry’s new single ‘Wide Awake’ bursts into the top ten at No.9.
• On the US albums chart, Adele returns to the top this week with her international smash ’21’. The hit album now ties with Prince’s ‘Purple Rain’ soundtrack and the ‘Saturday Night Fever’ in sixth place on the ‘Most Weeks ever at No.1’ in the 56 year history of Billboard. Country star Alan Jackson is right behind her, however, with a No.2 debut for his new long player ‘Thirty Miles West’, while the new Beach Boys album ‘That’s Why God Made The Radio’ is in at No.3. Neil Young and Crazy Horse’s ‘Americana’ and Big K.R.I.T’s ‘Live From The Underground’ make up the rest of the top five debuts (at Nos.4 and 5 respectively), with Curren$y’s ‘The Stoned Immaculate’ in at No.8 and Brandi Carlile’s ‘Bear Creek’ in at No.10.
• And don’t miss all the happenings in the charts at home, with our weekly Chart Watch column. It’s live at 9am AEST tomorrow.

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