• It’s your Saturday edition of The Purge and it’s kicking off with the new superstar collaboration from Stargate. The Norwegian production duo, famous for working with everyone from the likes of Rihanna, Mariah Carey, Beyoncé, Katy Perry, Mariah Carey… even S Club 7 and Atomic Kitten in their earlier years, has teamed up with both P!nk and Sia on their new single ‘Waterfall’. With homegrown favourite Sia on board, Australia’s favourite adopted musical daughter Pink also on vocal duty, plus the superstar production team, there’s every chance ‘Waterfall’ will be a big, fat hit. It dropped digitally yesterday.
• The boys from ’90s Aussie boyband CDB are cooking up something new. They’ve got a new album in the offing in 2017 and they’ve started teasing some of the sounds from the studio on their FACEBOOK page.
• British popstress Charli XCX has dropped a new mixtape. It’s called ‘Number 1 Angel’, it arrived digitally yesterday and it’s the result of a massive amount of work from Charli over the past month. The ten tracker features collaborations with Uffie, Raye and MØ (among others) and gives audiences a little hint of what to expect from her upcoming third studio album, due later in the year.
• Could it really be that U2’s classic album ‘The Joshua Tree’ is 30 years old? Yes, yes it is. And to celebrate, Island Records will be releasing a special 30th anniversary edition of the LP in June. A super-deluxe collectors’ edition will include the original album, plus a live recording of the band’s 1987 concert at Madison Square Garden, plus rarities, b-sides, brand new remixes and a hardback book. Start saving your pennies for its June 02 release.
• There’s a new version of ‘The Secret Daughter’ soundtrack in town. The new version, released yesterday, features four new Jessica Mauboy recordings including her rendition of Rihanna’s 2012 classic ‘Diamonds’. That track was serviced to media on Thursday ahead of the album’s release. But it’s her cover of Vance Joy’s ‘Mess Is Mine’ that’s the best of the bunch.
• Swedish electro outfit Little Dragon will release their new album ‘Season High’ next month. The act’s fifth studio album follows on from 2014’s ‘Nabuma Rubberband’ and has been preceded by ‘High’ and ‘Sweet’, both of which are available as grat tracks with the album pre-order. It’s out on Friday April 14.
• Melbourne outfit AB Original have been announced as the winners of the 2017 Australian Music Prize for their album ‘Reclaim Australia’. In winning the award for the year’s best Australian album, the duo (made up of Briggs and Trials) pick up a cool $30,000 cash prize thanks to PPCA. “When we made this album – we thought it was career suicide,” the band said in a statement. “For us to be afforded this platform with so many listeners is not lost on us. We went all out because we thought it was the last one we’d make. All of this support is igniting us to do another one! We are very grateful.” AB Original beat out the likes of The Avalanches, DD Dumbo, Olympia and Big Scary to claim the prize.
• Bob Evans is heading out on the road for an extensive national tour. The ‘Lonesome Highways Tour’ will see the renowned Aussie artist performing to audiences across the country from the first show in Canberra on April 20 through to the last in Castlemaine on June 09. Punters buying tickets via his website also receive an exclusive six track EP of previously unreleased material.
• Legendary outfit America will be back in Australia in the middle of the year. Most famous for their classic hits ‘Horse With No Name’ and ‘You Can Do Magic’, they’ll play Crown Theatre in Perth on July 24, Hamer Hall in Melbourne on July 26, ICC Theatre in Sydney on July 28, The Events Centre in Caloundra on July 29, the WIN Entertainment Centre in Wollongong on August 02 and Canberra’s Royal Theatre on August 03. Tickets are on sale from 10am local time on Tuesday March 14.
• Live Nation has announced that $uicideboy$ will be in Australia for the first time in May for three shows on the East Coast. The hip hop duo will play Manning Bar in Sydney on May 04, The Brightside in Brisbane on May 05 and Max Watts in Melbourne on May 06. Tickets are on sale this Thursday from midday local time.
• And The Wombats have added a Brisbane show to their upcoming tour. Both shows at the Sydney Opera House have now sold out, while the Melbourne and Perth shows are selling fast. Now there’s a Brisbane show to get Queenslanders excited; at Riverstage on Monday May 01. Milky Chance and The Jungle Giants will also be in attendance and tickets are on sale now.
• You’ll be seeing a lot more of what’s happened on this week’s UK chart in the future thanks to the rise of streaming and its inclusion in the official charts… The release of Ed Sheeran’s new album ‘÷’ means that he totally dominates the UK top ten. As in only one other artist (The Chainsmokers featuring Coldplay) are in the UK top ten this week (their single ‘Something Just Like This’ falling from No.2 to No.7). Otherwise it’s a sea of Sheeran. At No.1 for a ninth successive week is Ed’s single ‘Shape Of You’, but behind that is a stream of tracks from Ed’s new album all swarming not only the top ten, but most of the top 20 to boot. ‘Galway Girl’ new at No.2, ‘Castle On The Hill’ steady at No.3, ‘Perfect’ new at No.4, ‘New Man’ new at No.5, ‘Happier’ new at No.6, ‘Dive’ new at No.8, ‘Supermarket Flowers’ new at No.9 and ‘What Do I Know’ new at No.10. But it doesn’t stop there… there’s also ‘How Would You Feel (Paean)’ at No.11, ‘Barcelona’ new at No.12, ‘Nancy Mulligan’ new at No.13, ‘Eraser’ new at No.14, ‘Hearts Don’t Break Around Here’ new at No.15, ‘Bibia Be Ye Ye’ new at No.18 and ‘Save Myself’ new at No.19. So yes, Ed Sheeran has 16 places out of the entire UK top 20 this week as his own.
• Naturally all the success on the UK singles chart is down to one little album, called ‘÷’ (Divide). Ed’s new album slams heavily into the No.1 spot in Britain and, much like on the singles chart, Ed’s dominating the top five, with his previous albums ‘x’ and ‘+’ also back into the upper reaches of the chart (at Nos.4 and 5 respectively). No-one else really stood a chance for No.1 this week, though Alison Krauss debuts at No.6 with ‘Windy City’ and Collabro score a new entry at No.7 with ‘Home’.
• Ed Sheeran is still wedged in that No.1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in the US this week. ‘Shape Of You’ maintains its position for a fifth straight week, while the rest of the top four remains unchanged. Into the No.5 spot with a bullet, however, is the new collaboration between The Chainsmokers and Coldplay, ‘Something Just Like This’, up from No.56. Kodak Black’s ‘Tunnel Vision’ also bullets into the US top ten this week, albeit not quite as spectacularly (No.27 to No.8). Justin Timberlake’s ‘Can’t Stop The Feeling’ bullets from No.29 to No.13 due to his performance of the track in the opener for the Academy Awards. Zedd and Alessia Cara’s ‘Stay’ debuts at No.28. Calvin Harris’s ‘Slide’ is new at No.34.
• The Future’s still bright at No.1 on the Billboard 200 album chart, but it’s his new album ‘HNDRXX’ that’s shining bright in the top spot on debut, replacing his previous self-titled piece which debuted at No.1 last week. So Future has the No.1 and No.2 albums in the US this week, with Bruno Mars’ ’24K Magic’ down from No.2 to No.3. Little Big Town’s ‘The Breaker’ is a new entry at No.4, the ‘Moana’ soundtrack is up from No.16 to No.8 and we’ve got another new entry at No.10; ‘Vaquero’ by Aaron Watson. John Mayer’s ‘The Search For Everything : Wave Two (EP)’ premieres at No.13.
• And that’s it for your Saturday morning edition of The Purge. We’ll be back tonight at 6pm on the East Coast for ARIA Chart Watch, our weekly wrap of the ARIA top 100s, complete with new entries, new certifications, all the Ed Sheeran news and more.
TICKETS PLEASE
TUESDAY MARCH 14 : America (Nationally)
TUESDAY MARCH 14 : Elton John (Cairns, Mackay, Wollongong, Hobart)
WEDNESDAY MARCH 15 : Dan Sultan (Nationally)
THURSDAY MARCH 16 : $uicideBoy$ (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane)
Australia's first stop for pop!