Annie's album sampler
Posted at
12:45 AM,
26 May 2008
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 Annie's official site is giving away a sampler of her new album Don't Stop. It lasts for almost 12 minutes and includes 10 songs. After you register on her mailing list you will receive a link on your e-mail box to download the sampler. It includes almost all of the Xenomania tracks. The sampler's tracklist looks like this:
1. I Know UR Girlfriend Hates Me
2. What Do You Want (Breakfast Song)
3. Loco (X)
4. Heaven & Hell (X)
5. Sweet (X)
6. Marie Cherie
7. My Love Is Better (X)
8. Bad Times (X)
9. Misery (with Frederik from Datarock)
10. Take U Home
Annie's new album will be released in September.Labels: Annie
Girls Aloud's 6th album
Posted at
12:31 AM,
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During their 16th May show from the Tangled Up Tour Girls Aloud told the audience to "forget the rumours" and announced that they are "in preparations" of making their 6th album. No news yet on whether Xenomania will be involved.Labels: Girls Aloud
New Pet Shop Boys album with Xenomania
Posted at
12:05 AM,
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Pet Shop Boys have revealed on their official site that they are working with Xenomania on their new album:
«Pet Shop Boys have been working on tracks for their new album with Xenomania, the legendary production/writing team who have produced and collaborated with artists as diverse as Girls Aloud, Sugababes, Saint Etienne, New Order and Franz Ferdinand.
The new PSB album is planned to be released early next year.» Labels: Pet Shop Boys
Girls Aloud removed from "My Love Is Better"
Posted at
11:25 PM,
25 May 2008
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Girls Aloud were reportedly unaware that their vocals were being used on Annie's "My Love Is Better". A source close to Girls Aloud told Teletext's Planet Sound: "The Girls can't believe Brian didn't let them know first. Brian often writes songs by stitching together parts from several other songs. But basing a song for another artist around the Girls' demo vocals is cheeky of him, to put it mildly."
Nevertheless, "My Love Is Better" will not be dropped from Annie's new album. The song is one of the six Xenomania-produced songs that will feature on Don't Stop. Labels: Annie, Brian Higgins, Girls Aloud, My Love Is Better
Brian Higgins on Ultra's debut
Posted at
11:10 PM,
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 The UK MC Ultra says on his MySpace that he is working with Brian Higgins on his debut album Ultrasound. Other writers/ producers include Sticky, Angela Hunt, Snowflake and Agent X, with whom Ultra worked on the track "Perfect Girl".
Ultra describes his music as "a fresh eclectic blend of genres (all type of music collide to build something fresh)". "I make music for the clubs pubs and radio what ever feels good I just go with it. I think it’s all about catching a vibe on a track people can feel and relate to, whilst still bringing that edge and knowledge from the underground."
Ultrasound is set for release in 2008.Labels: Ultra
Annie's new album (p)review
Posted at
11:05 PM,
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 Popjustice has written a preview of Annie's new album. Six songs have been produced and co-written by Xenomania. Popjustice described the album as "extraordinarily good" and as "a complete modern masterpiece".
"Most of it was recorded in the last twelve months with new recruits Xenomania joining established collaborators Timo and Richard X, and the result is a mix of styles which won't scare Annie's existing fans but might actually give her some proper hit singles.".
Here are some extracts from Popjustice's write up on some of the Xenomania songs:
My Love Is Better - «One of the future singles - probably the next one, after 'Girlfriend' (...) It's unmistakeably a Xenomania track - similar in feel to 'Long Hot Summer' or 'You Freak Me Out' - which features guitar work from Alex Kapranos. Its chorus is a call and response session with Girls Aloud along the lines of:
Annie: My love is better
Girls Aloud: Than your love
Annie: My lips are wetter
Girls Aloud: Than your lips
And so on.
Sweet - «One of the best songs on the album is another Xenomania track called 'Sweet' which has all the hallmarks of a summertime airplay smash.»
Loco - «'Loco' is a sort of Blondie-esque belter whose chorus trills "you're so loco, everybody says that you're a no-go" - a lyric which is probably the only misfire on the whole album. »
Heaven & Hell - «(...) a jaunty summery number which sounds a bit like Saint Etienne and contains one of our favourite lines from the album: "tell me, tell me what did I do wrong? Oh baby, I'm perfect".»
When The Night - «Annie describes 'When The Night' as her first power ballad (...)» Popjustice has also posted a tentative tracklisting written up by Annie:
1. Girlfriend
2. Loco
3. Sweet
4. My Love Is Better
5. Marie Cherie
6. Take You Home
7. When The Night
8. What Do You Want (Breakfast Song)
9. Bad Times
10. Heaven & Hell
12. Perfectly Honest
13. Songs Remind Me Of You
14. Misery Labels: Annie, Girls Aloud, My Love Is Better, Popjustice
Jessie Malakouti working with Xenomania
Posted at
11:02 PM,
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Jessie Malakouti has been writing on her MySpace blog about working on her first solo album. She's been to New York to meet up with Brian Higgins and Miranda Cooper and then she traveled to Xenomania's home in Kent to work with them.
Jessie Malakouti is a former member of Shut Up Stella. Last year the band was in the studio with Xenomania. Earlier this year they were dropped by their label and their album was never released.Labels: Jessie Malakouti, Shut Up Stella
The Differents
Posted at
11:02 PM,
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A new band (tentatively) titled the Differents have been working with Xenomania. One of the members, Jessica Martin, has recently said in an interview: "it's going really well, (...) currently we are recording an album and working with a fantastic team".
Here's Jessica in the Xenomania studio:
Alesha teams up with Brian Higgins
Posted at
11:00 PM,
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Alesha has posted a message on her MySpace blog revealing that she has been working with Xenomania's Brian Higgins for her new album. However, the post is no longer up.
The message read as following:
Blog update from Alesha on 22/March/08 -
Hi all, hope you're well. I attended the Capital Awards this week and presented an award to Westminster House for their amazing work for children in London. It was a great day with lots of people attending. I then went on to do The Friday Night Project which was hilarious! I love those guys. You can catch me on TThe Lily Allen show on the 1st April, I'm really looking forward to it. Studio with Brian Higgins is going fantastic and the album is shaping up really well, I can't wait for you to hear some tracks. I've started filming my documentary this week which is going great. It will air in June or July but I'll keep you posted. Thankyou once again to everyone for your continued support. Lots of love, see you soon xxx Happy Easter xxx Congratulations to Estelle on her chart triumph! I'm so proud of her xxx Alesha has previously released the Xenomania-produced "Knockdown" in 2006. Her debut solo album Fired Up was released last February only in Japan.Labels: Alesha, Brian Higgins
Franz Ferdinand scrap collaboration with Brian Higgins
Posted at
9:42 PM,
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 Brian Higgins won't be producing Franz Ferdinand's new album. The band has announced that they have parted ways with the producer and will now recruit Dan Carey (who's worked with artists such as Kylie, Sia, Lily Allen and Róisín Murphy).
"We spent a week or so with Brian and it was wonderfully stimulating. He's a real maverick. It was inspiring but it didn't work out completely in the end.", Alex Kapranos said. "We learned a little bit from his methods. We wrote with him for a while and initially we thought we'd work more with him but it didn't really work out. We just realised that we're not really a pop group. We're just a band that happens to cross over into the whole pop sphere.", Paul Thomson revealed.
Last year Xenomania produced Franz Ferdinand's cover version of David Bowie's "Sound and Vision" for a Radio 1 40th anniversary album (Radio 1: Established 1967) with Girls Aloud doing backing vocals.Labels: Brian Higgins, Franz Ferdinand
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Annie's official site is giving away a sampler of her new album Don't Stop. It lasts for almost 12 minutes and includes 10 songs. After you register on her mailing list you will receive a link on your e-mail box to download the sampler. It includes almost all of the Xenomania tracks. The sampler's tracklist looks like this:
