Turn It Up: Jordis Unga - Best Of Collection

This post should really go in the "What's On?" category of my blog as it is sort of a post about Season 2 of The Voice that I am enjoying, but one of the reasons I'm enjoying it so much is because of the lovely and gifted Jordis Unga, so I'm dedicating a post to her. Jordis, whom many recognize as a former competitor on the show Rock Star INXS, sang her way onto Blake Shelton's team through the blind auditions of the show (as seen above) and after battling her way into the live shows, she sang this soaring rendition of Heart's classic hit "Alone"!

So, even though her recording of this song was the only one to go to number one on the i-tunes rock charts (and subsequently put Heart back on the charts as well), she was still in the bottom 3 and nearly got kicked off the show which is totally leotarded considering the fact that America seemed to think that this girl gave a better performance.

Ummm...REALLY?!?!?!? Anyway, she managed to save herself from elimination by performing "White Horses" as her last chance performance.

Now we're all caught up and I hope she kills it from here on in. I want to see her with a record deal at the end of this. So, as an added bonus, I'm adding her first performance from Rock Star INXS.... tough, I want to!

Turn It Up: Madonna - Girl Gone Wild

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Turn It Up!: Martika - Flow With The Go

It's been quite a wait for the new Martika video to be presented to the fans (about 20 years or so to be precise, but who's counting?) but I'm so thrilled that the day has finally come and I get to present it to the 3 people who actually read this blog lol.

What can I say about the video other than, Look At How Much FUN She Is Having!!!! The style, the wardrobe and the simple concept of the video are a perfect match for the lighthearted, cheeky and funny lyrics within the song. If Martika wanted the listener/viewer to take a minute out of their day to truly let loose and just have a good time (Flow With The Go as it were), then mission accomplished!

I'm loving the whole glowing microphone, romping around outside, sassily rolling around in a bed while also dancing her ass off like a Latina version of Sailor Moon! She has a real sense of play and of not taking herself too seriously, which is so much fun to watch and has me anticipating the release of her new album The Mirror Ball and the impending tour that will accompany it.

I was going to address the fact that many fans have been split about their feelings toward the new endeavor, but the only thing I really have to say about that is that you are fully allowed your opinion and I respect the fact that it may not be your cup of tea, but in my own humble opinion this is a wonderful track to have returned with because it's representative of the happy-go-lucky attitude of early 90's pop music which is where Martika got her start.

This Toy Soldier is very pleased! Colored Kisses Everyone & Welcome Back Martika!!!

Picture This: New Fiona Apple Album Cover

I'm so excited for this! It's been 7 years since the release of Fiona's last studio album "Extraordinary Machine", and now we finally have cover art, a track listing and a release date for her much anticipated 4th studio album "The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than The Driver Of The Screw And Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do" (or simply "The Idler Wheel..." for short.)

The album will be comprised of the following 10 tracks,

1) Every Single Night
2) Daredevil
3) Valentine
4) Jonathan
5) Left Alone
6) Werewolf
7) Periphery
8) Regret
9) Anything We Want
10) Hot Knife

The Idler Wheel... will be released on June 26th.

Turn It Up: Jay Brannan - Beautifully

This has to be a very quick post, otherwise I'll be late for work, but I wanted to post a video by Jay Brannan, one because he's probably one of my favorite male artists of today (as you may have suspected by my previous posts, my music library is about 80% female artists), I'm also adding this video because I'm very excited to be seeing him in concert tonight (for the 5th time) at Lee's Palace in Toronto.

It should be a great show. His new album "Rob Me Blind" is available for pre-order on Amazon and i-Tunes and will be released March 27th. Already have my copy on order!!!! Enjoy the video!!!

Liven It Up: Madonna - The Super Bowl Medley

Two Madonna posts in a row?!?! That's madness!!!! Well, not really, considering I had two Martika posts in a row. So, I was actually at rehearsals for a play that I'm going to be in in March, and was unable to watch this when it aired live, but that's why we have PVR and I watched it the minute I got home.

Now, the post about the new music video below wasn't very flattering (I realize), but I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed this performance on the whole, the only thing constructive I can say is that I didn't feel that Like A Prayer fit into the performance. I would have much prefered a song like Holiday or Into The Groove instead, and (as my friend Nicole observed), I thought Madonna was too cool to use a pom pom as a prop. Other than that, I was quite pleased. I didn't even mind the cameo from LMFAO (whom I usually find annoying). It seemed to work.

Conclusion: Not the greatest performance in the world, but certainly entertaining and well paced. 4 out of 5 stars. I think I will go see her in concert again (yah, like that's a surprise).

Turn It Up: Madonna - Give Me All Your Luvin' Feat. M.I.A. & Nicki Minaj

What to say about the first single from Madonna's forthcoming 12th studio album? While I find the song a much better sounding fit for her than anything off of her last album, 2008's Hard Candy (which was just painful to listen to on the whole), I'm still not overly thrilled with it.

Maybe it's just me but I find Nicki Minaj and M.I.A to be a strange fit when I think of the Queen of Pop. I know she wants to stay current as she gets older, but it's almost embarassing how hard she's trying. I must say that she does look stunning in the video (53 never looked so good) and I can appreciate the football theme given that she's performing at the superbowl tomorrow (however overdone it may feel), but this song with it's juvenile pep rally cheer (which is very Gwen Stefani of her) is gonna take some time to grow on me.

It's catchy but some of the aspects aren't working for me. I'm still looking forward to hearing the album (being the eternal fan that I am) and I must say that the cover art for the record is sickeningly gorgeous!!!!

Picture This: Martika "Flow With The Go" Single Cover

There has been much speculation about the release of Martika's new single "Flow With The Go". It was announced that the single was meant to be released for purchase on many worldwide music purchasing portals on January 12th of this year but two weeks (nearly 3) after this date, the song has not yet materialised for purchase. This has brought up discussions about whether Martika has been lying to her fans or whether the music websites have stalled the release due to their policies.

Now, I don't know Martika personally, but from what I can tell from interviews and the few tweets that she has sent to me in response to mine on twitter, I truly do believe that she has the very best of intentions regarding her music and her fan base. The music business is a lot more in depth than we like to think it is, and there are many setbacks that can happen in the course of releasing new material (especially on an independent label) and release dates are constantly being pushed back, which leads me to the conclusion that Martika herself did not foresee these complications and certainly had intended for the release date she announced to be accurate.

Short of walking to all of her fans homes and delivering a personally signed copy of the single with an apology note stuck to the front on a heart shaped post-it, Martika has done all she can via her Twitter account and Facebook fan page, to make sure the fans remain undeterred by this setback, keeping us constantly up to date with details regarding the release, giving us a look at the cover image for the single (above), delivering a full length video with the lo-fi version of the song, and constant words of apology and gratitude. Sadly, this has been met with some of the usual hostility found on the Internet and fans that seem to have no sense of patience, even though they have waited for about 21 years for new material, a few more weeks is apparently unacceptable in their eyes.

I find it sad that this generation of people (I'm 29 so I know what I'm talking about) needs everything spoon fed to them in 12 seconds flat, otherwise they lose interest. I will happily wait for this project to be released in it's entirety so that it can be at the level of satisfaction that the artist is comfortable with. I won't get bogged down if the album takes another month or so to be released, just the fact that there will be another album from Martika (or anyone for that matter) is good enough for me.

Patience is a virtue my friends. The single is a little late, but it's coming and we know it's coming. I'll be a Toy Soldier forever!

Turn It Up (Flashback): Martika - Toy Soldiers + News

This is a bit of a two for one sale. Not only do you get the stunning music video above for Martika's 1989 hit Toy Soldiers, but I also bring you new album and single news from the Lady herself.

For those of you who don't know much about Martika (born Marta Marrero), her career in show business really got it's start in the early 80's when, after a small role as one of the orphan's in the 1982 film version of the musical Annie, she was cast as Gloria in the long running kids show "Kids Incorporated" (which has turned out stars like Jennifer Love Hewitt, Mario Lopez, and Stacey "Fergie" Ferguson). The show featured it's young cast in a variety of musical numbers in between the storylines, and it wasn't long before Martika was signed to Columbia Records and released her self-titled debut album in the fall of 1988. Her first album spawned the hits "Toy Soldiers" (seen above), "More Than You Know", and her cover of Carole King's "I Feel The Earth Move".

Her second album, 1991's "Martika's Kitchen", was produced in part by Prince but did not break into the US Billboard 100 chart and after three single releases Martika pretty much disappeared from the limelight.

In the subsequent years, Martika teamed up with her husband, musician Michael Mozart, to form the band "Oppera" who independently released two rock inspired latin pop records, 2004's "Violince" and 2005's "Oppera", and also starred in and co-produced the web-based television program "J8ded" under the moniker "Vida Edit".

Which brings us to the present day. Dropping the moniker Vida Edit and returning to her original stage name, Martika is ready to take the music world by storm again with the release of her new album "The Mirror Ball" which will be released on February 12th of this year, and the first single "Flow With The Go", being released next week, on January 12th. I'm very excited for this release and the tour that is promised by the woman herself to come with it, and with that news in place I decided to add her world announcement video so we can all hear it from her own lips. What a great start to a new year. If you want to keep up with all things Martika, visit her official website www.martikamartika.com or join her official facebook page or follow her on twitter @MartikaTunes.

Talk To Me: Marlee Matlin on The Hour (2009)

The thing that I enjoy about the show "The Hour" with George Stroumbolopoulos, is that I really don't have to write much of a description about the video because it's all right there before the interview starts.

I'll just say that I adore Marlee Matlin (I've wanted to learn sign language for years because of her, and maybe even become an interpreter for the deaf someday) and I am dying to read her memoir "I'll Scream Later". If you haven't seen "Children Of A Lesser God", I suggest you rent or download it. Fantastic film.

PS. I feel a bit strange labelling this post Talk To Me, because...well...y'know...she can't. Meh!

Talk To Me: Drew Barrymore on Letterman (1995)

The infamous David Letterman interview where Drew flashes her breasts as a sort of birthday gift to Dave. I'm not sure what she was even on the show to promote (other than her tits) it could have been her playboy spread or the film "Boys On The Side" which was out around the same time.

Anyway, she's adorable so it doesn't even matter.

Talk To Me: Courtney Love - Barbara Walters Interview (1995)

I've always had a fondness for Courtney Love, even in her worst moments. From all the things that I know about her, I'm not surprised by her personal struggles with drugs and such, but I am very impressed at how she keeps picking herself back up again. We all know that she relapsed into her old behaviour a few years ago, but I'm so glad that she's worked through it and that we have a new Hole album, which I love.

This interview from 1995 is the most vulnerable I have ever seen Courtney, discussing the death of her husband, Nirvana frontman, Kurt Cobain. It was filmed after the success of Hole's "Live Through This" album and as she was about to hit it big in the film industry with her portrayal of Althea Leasure in "The People Vs. Larry Flynt".

Turn It Up: Dia Frampton - The Broken Ones

Some people know Dia Frampton from her band Meg & Dia (with her sister Meg Frampton), some people know her as the runner up from the first season of the NBC competition show "The Voice" (appearing on Blake Shelton's team and coming in second to contestant Javier Colon), and some people have never heard of her at all.

I, like a large percentage of the population, fall into column B. I'm not really big on singing competition shows but I liked the idea of "The Voice" and the panel of judges, so I invested my time and attention in it and was rewarded in the form of Dia (as well as a few other contestants).

Cee-Lo Green described Dia as being "so cozy". An appropriate description for the 24 year old author of childrens stories. Dia has just released her first full length solo album "Red" today and I certainly hope there will be more to come if it gifts us with songs like these. I'll be downloading the album tomorrow, and I'm sure it will be delightful.

Give it a go.

"I can't help it I love the broken ones
the ones who need the most patching up
the ones who never been loved
never been loved
never been loved enough

Maybe I see a part of me in them
The missing piece always trying to fit in
the shattered heart hungry for a home
no you're not alone
I love the broken ones."

Turn It Up: Kate Bush - Snowflake

All I really know about Kate Bush is that she's from Bexleyheath, Kent, England, she's inspired the likes of Tori Amos and Charlotte Martin and her music is incredible (and really that's all I need to know).

Her new EP "50 Words For Snow" is no exception, all of the songs are dark and deeply haunting (perfect for the holiday season lol), and feature collaborations with the likes of Elton John, Stephen Fry and others. The song Snowflake is the first track (of seven) and features Kate's son Albert (or Bertie) on additional vocals.

The song is described as " a song expressing the hope of a noisy world soon being hushed by snowfall." Good enough description.

There's no music video for this song so I'm just adding this fan made video that I found, which at one point has the scene from Edward Scissorhands where Winona Ryder is dancing in the snow, in the background, and...well...we already know how much I love her.

Enjoy!!!!

Turn It Up: Lady Gaga - Marry The Night

My favorite song from Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" album, now has a fucked up little video to go with it (and by little, I of course mean 13 minutes long).

There's really nothing to say about it except I think she would do well in film if she ever went that route (aside from the utterly pretentious dialogue she sometimes spews). The video is like Black Swan and Girl Interrupted meet Fame.

"You may say I lost everything, but I still had my Bedazzler!"