• Can US star Robin Thicke keep the momentum of his No.1 smash ‘Blurred Lines’ going with his new single ‘Give It 2 U’? Only time will tell, but the single has made its way to local media this week in the wake of its huge predecessor, which has now sold in excess of 2.3 million copies globally.
• Also making their way to media this week are the new Goldfrapp single ‘Drew’, Dirty South and Alesso’s ‘City Of Dreams’, Bridgit Mendler’s aformentioned ‘Hurricane’ and for the country fans, Dierks Bentley’s ‘Bourbon In Kentucky’. As always we’ll bring you a bigger list of those tracks doing the radio rounds in a post on our FACEBOOK page tomorrow.
• Swedish pop goddess Agnetha Fältskog has been named as a special guest at this year’s Stockholm Pride. The ABBA star won’t be performing, but will be in attendance to receive an award recognising gold sales in Sweden of her latest album ‘A’ and to put in a little face time with her most ardent fans.
• Local fans of up and coming US trio Emblem3 will face a difficult decision when their debut album ‘Nothing To Lose’ is released in Australia this Friday… to buy the standard or deluxe physical editions of the LP? Both will get a release physically (the latter containing four extra tracks), but only the deluxe version will be made available digitally. The boys rose to fame as contestants on the second American season of ‘The X Factor’.
• Universal Music has announced the upcoming local release of the Tired Pony album ‘The Ghost Of The Mountain’. Headed by Snow Patrol’s Gary Lightbody, the band burst onto the scene via their debut ‘The Place We Ran From’ back in 2010, but will return in the middle of next month with the new project, which was born in a California studio early this year. Preceded by the single ‘All Things At Once’ (out now), the album drops on Friday August 16.
• Sydney five piece Tigertown has announced the upcoming release of their third EP ‘Wandering Eyes’. They’ve captivated us before with songs like ‘Lions & Witches’ and ‘Morning Has Finally Come’ and they’s set to do it all over again with their latest five track collection, which includes recent single ‘What You Came Here For’. ‘Wandering Eyes’ will be released physically and digitally on Friday August 09.
• Perth five piece Bastian’s Happy Flight will release their new EP next month. It’s called ‘Heart/Works’ and we’re being promised a “nod to the likes of Hall & Oates” and “smart pop music” when the EP drops on Friday August 16.
• Los Angeles-based rapper Game will tour Australia’s East Coast from next month. He’ll kick things off with a show at the Esplanade Hotel in Melbourne on August 22 before visiting Wollongong, Sydney, Newcastle, Coffs Harbour, Gold Coast, Brisbane, Gladstone, Mackay, Cairns and Townsville. Tickets for all dates are on sale now.
• Create/Control will release the new album by The Polyphonic Spree in Australia and New Zealand later this year. The band is on-ground this weekend for Splendour In The Grass, but it won’t be too long before fans will be able to get their hands on the new 11 track collection, though a release date is still forthcoming.
• Iconic Aussie outfit Midnight Oil has moved quickly to quash rumours that the band is reuniting in the wake of Peter Garrett’s resignation from politics, saying simply “the band has no plans to reform or tour at this time”. Long-term manager Gary Morris revealed in the same release that he’s leaving the position after more than 30 years.
• He’s been swanning around in the No.1 spot here for the last few weeks and now Swedish DJ Avicii’s popularity has spread to the other side of the world, with his EDM monster ‘Wake Me Up’ debuting in the top spot on this week’s UK singles chart. Robin Thicke’s ‘Blurred Lines’ and John Newman’s ‘Love Me Again’ both slide one spot. Other top ten entries this week come from Selena Gomez (‘Come & Get It’ at No.8) and Breach (‘Jack’ at No.9).
• Just because Thicke’s dropped from the top spot on the singles chart doesn’t mean that he’s still not performing in Britain; his album ‘Blurred Lines’ debuts in the top spot on the British albums chart this week ahead of Jay-Z’s ‘Magna Carta Holy Grail’ and a No.3 debut for the Pet Shop Boys’ new long player ‘Electric’ (their highest UK chart in 20 years). Our own Cody Simpson debuts at No.30 with ‘Surfers Paradise’.
Australia's first stop for pop!