JONATHAN JOHANSSON COVERS "TEARS FOR FEARS":




Sweden's Jonathan Johansson has just released a new album titled "En hand i himlen". On it he covers the Tears For Fears (who are touring the West Coast of America this July, dates here) classic "Everybody Wants To Rule The World". Sung in Swedish it is titled "Alla Vill Ha Hela Världen" and is available here to download for one week.

SLEEPY REBELS "UNBELIEVABLE" FROM JCPENNEY ADS - FREE DOWNLOAD:


If you were watching the Academy Awards last night on ABC you will no doubt have seen the JCPenney Affordable Designer Brands ads. I really liked the song featured in one of the ads by New York based band "Sleepy Rebels", it's called Unbelievable (I Am Jen Remix). And today the band added a link for a free download of the song on their MySpace site, so go download it for free while you can. You can buy their cd titled "World Record" here.

VARIOUS BRITS AND PIECES:















Music lovers in Canada will have to opportunity to watch "The Brit Awards 2009" next Thursday (February 26th) on Much Music at 6pm and 9pm EST. I'm looking forward to seeing the show after reading about the awards (although I was disappointed to see Duffy win so many awards and the far superior Adele go home empty handed). The Pet Shop Boys performance looks interesting, I have been playing their new single "Love Etc." a lot these days, the best thing they've done in quite a long time.

Finally there is news of season 2 of the ABC series "October Road" being released on DVD, it is due out in the U.S. on May 5th (pre-order it here). And the good news is that it will contain the specially shot 15 minute series finale (called "Road's End: The Final Chapter") with most of the cast that should answer many of the questions fans still had about the characters lives when the series was cancelled.

In a related note, ABC has greenlighted a two-hour pilot for the series "Happy Town" , written by "October Road" creators Josh Appelbaum, Andre Nemec and Scott Rosenberg. In the vein of ABC's cult drama "Twin Peaks," "Happy Town" is a mystery set in the hamlet of Happy Town, which had enjoyed a seven-year peace after a series of kidnappings until it is hit by another crime.
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ANOTHER MUSICAL DISCOVERY FROM A TELEVISION SHOW:





















I always enjoying discovering a new band or artist, sometimes this happens from hearing their music for the first time on a television show. In fact I think a job I would love is to be the musical supervisor on a TV show, I wonder how one gets into that line of work?

Last night on N.B.C.'s "Chuck" they ended the show with the song "Freeze And Explode" by "Cassettes Won't Listen". The song reminds me a bit vocally (and somewhat musically) of the Canadian band "Stars" with Torquil Campbell. Cassettes Won't Listen is actually one guy, New York based Jason Drake and he released a cd back in March of 2008 titled "Small-Time Machine" (order it here) and is working on a full album that should be released this year. He has also done an interesting cover of INXS's "Need You Tonight" on the Guilt By Association Vol. 2 release (you can listen to the cover at his MySpace). I found the MP3 of "Freeze And Explode" at this blog, check it out if you can.
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THE RETURN OF BEN LEE:




















Ben Lee has just released his new album titled "The Rebirth Of Venus" (out on Feb. 10th in North America - there is a 2 cd limited edition version also) and it is a fantastic collection of pop songs (order it here). I remember him performing the songs "Surrender" and "I Love Pop Music" the last time I saw him live in Vancouver just over a year ago. Stand out tracks from the album are "Boy With A Barbie", "Families Cheating At Boardgames", "What's So Bad (About Feelin' Good)?" and the gentle "Rise Up". Up for a week is the song "Boy With A Barbie".

On December 29th Ben married girlfriend Ione Skye at a ceremony in India "under the divine gaze of Shakti Narayani Amma." Ben is busy with lots of projects and will hopefully have a large tour to promote the new cd.

Tonight (February 7th, 2009) Ben performs the song "Yoko Ono" on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (I wonder what word he will substitute F*#k with in the lyrics?)
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NEW ARTIST ALERT - "GARY GO" FROM LONDON:














Thanks to XO for introducing me to the music of young twenty-something Londoner Gary Go and his addictive new single "Wonderful". Gary has performed with The Feeling and is currently opening for The Script on their U.K. and European tour.

His album is due out on May 11th in the U.K. on Decca (Pre-Order Now) and has been engineered by Kevin Killen (U2, Elvis Costello, Tori Amos) and mixed by Chris Lord-Alge (U2, Green Day, the Kooks). "Wonderful" gets it's official single release on February 16th and was the single of the week on Greg James show on BBC Radio 1 recently.

I just finished listening to the 5 track album sampler CD and it sounds okay, "Wonderful" is the stand out track (listen to his songs on his MySpace page). It will be interesting to see what direction his career goes, "Wonderful" should be a Top 10 single, time will tell.