• The new 5 Second Of Summer single has arrived. ‘Hey Everybody’ was released to both radio and retail yesterday, but it’s possibly not had the universal praise the boys may have been expecting; many accusing the track of plagiarising Duran Duran’s ‘Hungry Like The Wolf’. It’s the next step towards the release of the boys’ new album ‘Sounds Good, Feels Good’, due on October 23.
• After slamming charts across the planet with his breakout smash ‘Are You With Me?’, Belgian EDM superstar Lost Frequencies is back with new single ‘Reality’. Though it’s yet to start impacting here in Australia, give it time; it’s already a No.1 hit in his homeland, Germany and Austria and is top five in a number of countries across Europe. The track was serviced to media in Australia late this week by Ministry Of Sound.
• Olly Murs has released a brand new single entitled ‘Kiss Me’. Never before released, the track is lifted from a forthcoming deluxe “Special Edition” repackage of his album ‘Never Been Better’, which will hit the shops on November 20.
• This (above) is the cover image for the new Jason Singh single ‘Quicksand’. The former Taxiride star has committed to recording and releasing six new singles within the next 12 months, but he’s taking us, his audience, along for the ride via a series of YouTube videos (HERE). The single will be released at 8pm AEDT on Wednesday October 21.
• We had an inkling this was coming… After giving us a new single (‘I’d Go With You Anywhere’) and teasing us that it would come from a new collection, Birds Of Tokyo have confirmed that they’ll drop ‘Playlist… A Singles Collection’ early next month. ‘I’d Go With You Anywhere’ is the only new song on the 18 track release, which covers songs from as far back as 2005. It’s out on November 06.
• Cage The Elephant has confirmed they’ll release their new studio album ‘Tell Me I’m Pretty’ on December 18. The ten track LP was produced by The Black Keys’ vocalist Dan Auerbach and was a result of the band wishing to “be more transparent”, according to lead singer Matt Shultz. “We wanted to capture the sentiment of each song, and whatever emotional response it provoked, to be really honest to that,” he said in a statement.
• Following on from the main line-up announcement back in mid August, organisers of Victoria’s Beyond The Valley Festival have confirmed the addition of sixteen more acts who’ll be taking the stage at the December 29 – January 01 event. auspOp favourites Client Liaison and Hayden James are in, along with the likes of Anna Lunoe, Sam Feldt, Skepta, Kingswood, Feki and more. Three day tickets to the festival are already sold out, with the supply of two day tickets on the verge of exhaustion.
• Halsey’s forthcoming Aussie headline shows are fully sold out. The 21 year old US starlet first upgraded her Melbourne show due to demand and then added a second Sydney date at the Metro Theatre. But even those moves weren’t enough to satisfy her local audience, with all three shows sold out within minutes of going on sale on Thursday morning.
• Jamie xx has also been some some heavy-duty selling out this week. His biggest ever Aussie solo show – to be held at Melbourne’s Forum Theatre on January 10 – sold out within five minutes of tickets going on sale yesterday morning.
• Missy Higgins will be on hand to launch a brand new outdoor performance venue near Sheffield in North-West Tasmania on March 19. She’ll take to the stage at the all-new Skyfields venue alongside the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra. “This will be my first show with a proper, world-class orchestra like the TSO so I’m incredibly excited to perform my songs with them,” she said in a statement. “I think this show is going to be epic, and something really different and special for my fans. Plus, the venue is just spectacular. I also missed Tassie on my last tour so this show is well overdue!” Tickets are on sale today.
• The Mountain Sounds Festival will return to the New South Wales Central Coast in early 2016 and early bird tickets are now on sale. Organisers have confirmed that Saturday February 20 is the date you should mark in your calendar, as that’s when some of the country’s hottest talents will take over the Mount Penang Parklands in Kariong. The line-up announcement is due later this month.
• 20 year old New York songstress Melanie Martinez has been named as the special guest for all of Adam Lambert’s 2016 Aussie tour dates, including his original shows in Sydney and Melbourne, which are now fully sold out. Tickets for Adam’s second shows in each city (as well as the Adelaide date) are still available.
• And the spectre of Sam Smith’s ‘Bond’ theme ‘Writing’s On The Wall’ in the No.1 position on the UK singles chart has proved to be a one-week apparition, dropping after last week’s top spot debut and opening the door for Justin Bieber’s ‘What Do You Mean?’ to take the top spot. Philip George and Anton Powers are ‘Alone No More’ at No.4 on debut and ‘Wake Up’, the new single from British boyband The Vamps, pops in at No.12; worryingly, given it’s the song to kick off their next album project, it’s their first single to miss the UK top ten.
• It’s all about Rudimental on the British albums chart, with their sophomore album ‘We The Generation’ debuting in the No.1 position, taking the mantle from fellow UK electronic act Disclosure, whose ‘Caracal’ slips to No.8. There’s a new top ten entry (No.5) from Editors (‘In Dream’) and another from Avicii (‘Stories’) at No.9. Janet Jackson’s new album ‘Unbreakable’ just misses the top ten on debut, premiering at No.11.
• It’s another week in the No.1 spot Stateside for The Weeknd’s single ‘The Hills’, but his previous No.1 ‘Can’t Feel My Face’ has been replaced in the No.3 spot by Drake’s ‘Hotline Bling’. Fetty Wap, R City and Taylor Swift all improve and Shawn Mendes notches up a top ten hit with ‘Stitches’ (No.9).
• It’s Fetty Wap who’s got his name all over the No.1 position on this week’s Billboard 200 albums chart. Following on from a string of successes on the singles chart, his self-titled album premieres in the top spot ahead of Drake & Future (No.2), Don Henley’s ‘Cass County’ (a debut at No.3) and George Strait’s ‘Cold Beer Conversation’ (new at No.4). Thomas Rhett’s ‘Tangled Up’ premieres in the No.6 position, with new albums from Chvrches, Disclosure and The Dead Weather debuting at Nos.8, 9 and 10 respectively.
• That’s another big-ass Saturday edition of The Purge. But don’t forget… we’ll be back at 6pm AEDT tonight with all the juiciest Australian chart information we can muster in our weekly Chart Watch. It’s a date.
TICKETS PLEASE
SATURDAY OCTOBER 10 : Missy Higgins (Skyfields)
MONDAY OCTOBER 12 : Gary Clark Jr (Sydney, Melbourne)
MONDAY OCTOBER 12 : Conrad Sewell (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane)
TUESDAY OCTOBER 13 : Field Day (Sydney)
TUESDAY OCTOBER 13 : The Vaccines (Brisbane)
THURSDAY OCTOBER 15 : Icehouse (Toowoomba)
Australia's first stop for pop!