Morning Music Notes – Pouty Princess of Bel Air
New Nine Inch Nails Will Happen
Trent Reznor just had a baby with his lovely wife, Mariqueen Maandig, which is how you would think he would be spending his NIN “retirement.” Instead, he forms a band with her (How to Destroy Angels), composes Oscar winning scores, works with Beats by Dre, and basically won’t stop working. He has now told Rolling Stone that “all signs point to yes” for new music (via Pitchfork). Is he still obsessed with that Magic 8 Ball of his?
He also noted that “some things are in the works” and said they might even play live again “if it feels right.” The bonus of being in How to Destroy Angels is you can go home and sleep with the singer – a perk not found with Nine Inch Nails.
He continued, “Having a few years doing other things, I’ve enjoyed [them] and I’m enjoying doing How to destroy angels_, and there will be a place for stuff that falls in the Nine Inch Nails column of things. It’s a different kind of work.”
Sarcastic Surprise – Alt-J’s Sales Increase After Mercury Prize Victory
Alt-J won the Barclaycard Mercury Prize for Best British or Irish album last week. And like all awards shows (and deaths, for that matter), their album sales went up. Sales of An Awesome Wave increased 411% in the UK from the period of the nominations 8 weeks ago to the award last week (via NME). They have sold 46,000 copies of their album since the nominations in September 2012.
Fellow nominees (AND PeteHatesMusic interviewees) Django Django had their sales increase 221%, and Michael Kiwanuka’s album was up 125% as well. Now this is why seemingly pointless awards shows are vital to the music industry. That, and we all what to see what Lady Gaga will wear next. I’m hoping for a dress made entirely of fluffy kittens (still alive, mind you).
Frightened Rabbit to Release New Album in February
Although they just released an EP, State Hospital, Frightened Rabbit will drop a new album on February 5 called Pedestrian Verse (via Twenty Four Bit). The album will also include the track State Hospital, which was found on the EP. The album title is a lyric lifted from the State Hospital song, too. That’s one self-inspiring track.
Singer Scott Hutchison said “If you call your album ‘PEDESTRIAN VERSE,’ you can’t settle for any old lyric. It forced me to better myself. In fact, I think we all stepped up on this album and I believe that our producer Leo Abrahams had a major role in that step. He threw our music into areas we had not previously imagined.”
Naming the blog PeteHatesMusic didn’t force me to be better – it allowed me to be pedestrian (you can commend my brilliant word play in the comments).
Watch! Lana Del Rey – Bel Air
Sadly, Lana Del Rey’s tune Bel Air is in no way affiliated with the Fresh Prince, neither musically or lyrically. Instead, we get a string-back song that isn’t overly catchy, but the video has the typically pouty and sad Lana standing in smoke. Did I mention she was looking pouty and sad at the camera?
The video notes “‘TROPICO’ the film, coming next year.” So I guess we have 90 minutes of Lana potentially looking pouty and sad towards the camera, and somehow nabbing an Oscar nod over that Helen Mirren chick. Check out the track off of the re-released Born to Die: Paradise Edition.
Lana Del Rey – Bel Air
