Thirty Seconds To Mars unveiled "Do Or Die"

Thirty Seconds To Mars have unveiled a brand-new worldwide tour live video for their new single, "Do Or Die," the second single from American stadium emo-rockers' recent fourth studio album, "Love, Lust, Faith + Dreams," released in stores last May via Virgin Records and Universal. And just as you've come to expect from the trio, "Do Or Die," which clocks in at a whopping seven minutes, is basically a love letter to a fanbase, complete with testimonials, behind-the-scenes clips and some massive crowd shots with frontman Jared Leto in full messianic mode.
The concept album revolves around four themes after which the album is named. It is recognized by four colors, with the color Red stands for Love, Green for Lust, Yellow for Faith and Blue/Purple for Dreams. Written and produced by Leto, "Do Or Die," is an anthemic rock song with a real message behind. According to Leto, this propulsive rocker is "about standing up and living out your dreams." The track chronicles the band's backstage and onstage antics as they work to break a world record for the number of live shows performed during a single album cycle. This new clip is a love letter to the Echelon, and the explosive exchange of energy that takes place whenever they perform for them.
Shot during the band's 2013 tour in Europe, and directed as usual by Leto's "Bartholomew Cubbins" pseudonym, the seven-minute clip, is mostly a performance video featuring a lot concert footage, backstage footage, fan commentary, and random scenes, including their performance in Soho Square this summer when they performed a surprise busking set and self-shot studio footage and offers fans an insight into the band behind the scenes. It is vibrant and fans from all over the world are showcased in discussing how much Thirty Seconds To Mars means to them.
The emotional clip opens on a young man describing the pain of his father's unexpected death, how he dealt with the loss, how he continues to do so, and the role that music has played throughout the entire grieving process. Throughout cancer scares, divorce, job loss, death, and nearly anything else you could think of, music has helped these individuals persevere and continue to enjoy life. More confessionals are added to the mix, claiming that music is everything from a drug to the reason why they're even alive. Then, the video cuts to high-quality live performance footage, only occasionally swapping in scenes of the band helming a gigantic sailing ship.

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Mumford & Sons poke fun in 'Hopeless Wanderer'

Mumford & Sons has unveiled the music video for their track "Hopeless Wanderer," the most recent single off of Mumford & Son' Grammy winning sophomore album "Babel," but fans won't get to see any of the band members in it. Instead, they will be treated to the funny antics of four comedians from former "Saturday Night Live" cast members Jason Sudeikis, Jason Bateman, Will Forte and Ed Helms as stand-ins for the band members, and in the process proves the British folk rockers have a great sense of humor. The result is by far the best Mumford & Son video yet, and it quickly went viral.
"Hopeless Wanderer" finds frontman Marcus Mumford longing for loved ones left behind whilst on the road. The track originated with a piano part created by the band's Ben Lovett when the group was staying in a small house in Nashville, Tennessee in early 2011. "My bedroom was right next to the living room, where we had a little setup," recalled Mumford to American Songwriter of overhearing Lovett tinkering the ivories. "I was in bed, hungover, and I thought, 'F**k, I need to get in that room, because that sounds amazing.' We wrote the song that day."
The clip all opens calmly enough, with the sun's glare and a muted color palette obscuring who might actually be performing. It's totally plausible that Mumford & Son would be the stars of this show. Until the one-minute mark, when it's revealed that lip-syncing along to the words from the song, is the aforementioned comedic quartet, satirizes the band members, from their outfits to even the necessary facial hair and old-timey clothes to pull off the routine. From their respective stringed instruments down to the way the band performs their heart out, the funny men give on the dot impressions.
The four do a convincing enough job of pretending to play things such as the piano, guitar, banjo, stand-up bass, and accordion. Not that there isn't a decent amount of foolery; Sudeikis, as Marcus, struggles to play guitar while carrying a bass drum on his back; the four also squeeze into a tiny boat while playing in the middle of a pond. The emotion of it all starts to peak as tears are shed and kisses are exchanged. But there are still beers to to cheer and instruments to bust up in a barn-burning finale highlighted by Bateman's banjo picking and Forte's bass. They do give a new meaning to the hook, "Hold me fast/ Hold me fast/ Cause I'm a hopeless wanderer."

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Sick Puppies unveils "There’s No Going Back"

Australian hard-rock trio Sick Puppies have released the music video for "There's No Going Back" the lead single from the threesome's latest bona fide fourth studio album, "Connect," in stores now on Capitol Records, and it debuted at No.17 on the Billboard Album Chart upon its release last month – much to the delight of singer-guitarist Shim Moore, bassist Emma Anzai and drummer Mark Goodwin after 16 years of toiling in the music industry trenches.
Four albums into their career, it is time for Sick Puppies to buckle down and grow up. Sick Puppies thrives on tight-roping between two genres: hard-rock and radio-friendly rock n' roll. Usually, the stabs at lyrical profundity come up a bit short, but Sick Puppies' maturation from neo-grunge to neo-post-grunge means that "Connect" offers a richer musical experience than the group's previous records. They're still hampered a bit by their desperate desire to be taken seriously. "Connect" begins with some wick guitar melodies, before lead single "There's No Going Back" shows the softer side, with acoustic guitars and a softer approach, yet still retaining that rock touch, typical of Sick Puppies.
"There's No Going Back," was co-authored by legendary songwriter Desmond Child, who crafted career-defining tunes for Bon Jovi, KISS and Aerosmith. "He made us step up our game," Moore said. "He was the enemy of 'good.' Everything we came up with had to be 'great,' not 'good.'" The song is about past mistakes and regret, putting those things behind you and moving forward, making the most out of what your life is now. "There's No Going Back" is a tepid affair that screams "please play me on the radio," complete with an inoffensive and boring lead guitar riff and the same "whoa oh oh" backing vocals that plague every other mainstream rock release.
In the clip, the trio find themselves in the desert, when all of a sudden they start seeing ghosts of their own selves. So, their ghostly selves are letting them know that no matter's what's happened in the past, it remains in the past and it's time to move forward. While the trio stranded in a seemingly desert setting beginning to figure out there's something different about their surroundings, they begins to poke at the ground with their umbrellas and soon take the plunge by diving into the sand-covered oasis. In the end, the three Sick Puppies members escape their stagnant stage to rock out and take their next steps toward the future.

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Krewella unplugs for party in "Live for the Night"

The Chicago-based EDM troublemakers Krewella is back in action and throw an atomic-powered rave in their new Zombie-infested clip for their latest summer hit single, "Live For The Night," the ultimate synth-pumped,  high-energy drumstep, bass-thumping ode to go-wing-hard, will be the lead single from the electronic dance music group's upcoming debut full-length studio album, "Get Wet," which hits shelves on September 24th via Columbia Records.
Krewella had a huge commercial breakthrough earlier this year with gold-certified "Alive," the radio-friendly club anthem and has become a true crossover success story. Now the darlings of American EDM are set to build on that momentum with "Live For The Night." Chicago sisters Jahan and Yasmine Yousaf, along with their producer Rain Man kind of freaking slay, put their lovably rowdy spin on a big night out, and make big-top EDM cut with dubstep skronk and moombahton groove while singing about whiskey, bitches, and doing it like rock stars.
Their dub-heavy electro pop outputs, "Live For The Night" again taps into that catchy, big room sound for which the trio have become synonymous. The synths, bass and melodies are so much more beefy then anything they have previously released creating a heavier more aggressive sound. You've seen it before, dance music fans texting, tweeting and instagramming their experiences away at every show you attend, Krewella seeks to change that. The troublesome trio brings new light to the night of a dreary, small town, forcing entire town to unplug from their media saturated life by cutting the power and hosting a rave party of 'nuclear' proportions, their own party in the sheltered suburbia.
That no-holds-barred approach to nightlife is reflected in the wild video. Directed by the Grammy-winning video squad Aggressive, the Invasion Of The Body Snatchers meets '90s rave themed visual opens on a world where everyone has been transformed into a screen zombie, every pair of glazed-over eyes glued to a smartphone or computer monitor. To save the day, Krewella breaks into a local nuclear power plant, and cuts all power to the town, forcing the slumbering post-apocalyptic masses to all meet up for a revitalizing crazy wild dance party with some suspicious cops trailing the crew the whole time, and go out with a bang.

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John Legend unveils sensual "Made To Love"

John Legend gets artistic and up close and personal in his another ultra sexy stripped-down new video for the new pounding ballad, "Made To Love," the second single from the 34-year-old soulful crooner's upcoming fourth studio album, "Love in the Future," due in stores September 3rd. The minimalistic visuals definitely align with the album title and perfectly captures the tune's sensuality, as they portray the R&B singer and other subjects in a very futuristic, computer-generated manner.
"Made To Love" is a futuristic, yet tender R&B mid-tempo, was produced by Legend's long-term collaborators Kanye West and Dave Tozer, along with Da Internz, and Nana Kwabena. Legend is a stickler when it comes to creating captivating visuals, and things become a lot more colorful as the emotional tune draws closer to the climax. A big lovefest, that's the best way to describe Legend's new video for "Made To Love," which was directed by acclaimed fashion photographer Daniel Sannwald, and the concept came from Yoann Lemoine, who directed Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream," Lana Del Rey's "Born To Die," and Drake and Rihanna's "Take Care."
The simple and straightforward approach of the generally black-and-white-themed steamy visuals fits the mid-tempo R&B ballad in the sense that it features down-to-earth lyrics with just a repetitive hook that rings of the song's title. But the tune is brought to life by Legend's soulful rendition further accentuated by New Zealand recording artist Kimbra, who provides the haunting backup vocals and scatting on this song. The New Zealand singer-songwriter is best known for her contribution to Gotye's hit tune "Somebody That I Used To Know."
Although the sexually-charged video features nude bodies, the treatment is quite artistic, using paint splash and distorted screen effects to ward off any possible indecent exposure. The visuals complement the track in more ways than you might think at first blush, and is an artistic rendition of nude bodies making love to his new R&B tune. It's very artistic, sexy and easily one of Legend's braver clips to date and incredibly vibrant and intimate, providing lovely imagery for the song's lyrics. There are black and white scenes of Legend singing the ballad, but most of the video is filled with scenes of people making love while being completed naked or covered in paint. Again, it’s a striking visual for a soulful song that has a bit more dynamics than his usual fare.

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Avicii takes on the country in "Wake Me Up"

The disk jockey Tim Bergling, aka Avicii partners with Ralph Lauren for an All-American adventure in the new clip in support of his latest single, "Wake Me Up" the lead single off Swedish DJ and producer's upcoming folk-inspired debut studio album, "#TRUE," arrive in September 17. The track is a different take on the DJ's usual pounding electronic tunes, featuring a soulful vocal performance from Aloe Blacc and guitar riffs from Incubus' Mike Einziger. The two lost souls find themselves through music in "Wake Me Up" video which mixes the then and the now, is like the song itself, which features folky, lived-in vocals and of-the-minute beatsmithing.
Pick-up trucks and horses might not be the first images that come to mind when you think of Avicii. The 23-year-old Swedish progressive house superstar is more associated with massive outdoor festival stages than a country road. Avicii made the choice with "Wake Me Up" to step out of his EDM comfort zone and produce something noticeably different from his other cuts, as the DJ describing it a "complete change in style," features bluegrass-inspired guitar riffs coupled with Avicii's trademark sweeping house music chords to dive headfirst into uptempo folk.

"Wake Me Up" has scored the fastest selling single of 2013 so far, is a collaboration track with glam-pop artist Adam Lambert and musician Nile Rodgers. The disco song, which he has previously played at various music festivals in recent weeks, is a feel-good tune that showcases the "American Idol" alum's powerful vocals. As chart-friendly EDM continues to reach the furthest corners of the globe, staying ahead of the pack can prove a tricky task, especially when more and more acts arrive on the scene turning out mixes with identikit build-ups, tired lyrics and uninspired breakdowns that newcomers to the arena lap up with excitement.
The arguably Oz-esque narrative-driven video, directed by renowned fashion and celebrity photographer Mark Seliger, is an escapist fantasy in multiple ways. It feature two sisters, a little girl and a young lady who ventures out and finds a way out of a boring, hostile past into a party-laden big city and they celebrate finding their rightful place, they join a rave party similar to Avicii's massive outdoor festival performances. As she arrives on a horse, she comes into hordes of other soul-searching folks bearing the same Avicii logo as hers and her younger sibling, whom the big sister goes back for and fetches, having found the place where they belong.

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Kacey Musgraves wasn’t just "Blowin' Smoke"

Kacey Musgraves performed her current single, "Blowin’ Smoke" on 'The Tonight Show With Jay Leno' last Friday. The second single from the fast-rising singer-songwriter's debut album, "Same Trailer Different Park," describes a group of waitresses talking trash while on a smoke break from work. It is the follow-up to her career-launching hit "Merry Go Round," which helped propel the 24-year-old's debut album into the No.1 spot on Billboard Top Country Albums chart upon its release in March. It's just extremely hard to break out on a major label with a record that sounds gleefully as independent.
"Blowin’ Smoke," is an interesting story about how we all say we're gonna do things and change our lives but we end up not doing it. It's honest, real and effective in its portrayal of a life waiting tables, unlike so much of Today's music. Musgraves penned this portrait of the dead end life of a small town waitresses with big dreams and big mouths with top Nashville songwriters Shane McAnally and Luke Laird. "We were just sitting there trying to picture these waitresses just sitting around talking about people and smoking and waiting on customers to come in," she told Radio.com.
Musgraves added that she is not poking fun at anyone in particular, but the protagonist Brenda is a character from her imagination. "We always like to put characters in the song like Brenda, ol' Brenda," she explained with a smile. "Well, Brenda she's given up smokes, but now she's eating cake a lot." The rhythmic Country-Blues track credits Waffle House for diner noise. Musgraves told Radio.com that they wanted what the listener is hearing to lineup with the greasy spoon diner she's singing about. The country newcomer sings with more than a hint of her character's jealous contempt, and she plays the part of a bored diner waitress, trapped in a mundane job in her slice-of-life "Blowin' Smoke" video.
Directed by Honey, and filmed in Los Angeles at a local diner, the clip sees Musgraves and her fellow waitresses appear to break out of their boring, low tipping gig in this smoky, side-of-the-road restaurant, coming to life in a scene that feels like a fantasy. She passes the time smoking out back with her equally disgruntled co-workers, in between delivering blue plate specials to patrons and refilling coffee mugs and scrubbing tables. They want to change their life for the better, but all of her aspirations are only "blowin' smoke." They are working hard for a few tips while making plans on which they'll never follow through.

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