This was out of the blue. Everyone’s favorite rhaspy voiced, bohemian demi-god Joss Stone is the newest Bond Girl. But not in the glamourized, hollywood movie version, but rather in a videogame version. A virtual model will stand as Stone in the game, will her voice acting will be featured along with Daniel Craig as James Bond who is reprising his movie role for the game. In addition to being a virtual model and voice acting, Joss is also providing a song for the game called “i’ll take It All.” The game isn’t set to release until 2012, in which all hopes 007 has already saved the Earth from it’s fate.

All you Taylor Swift fans can stop your tear drops on your guitar because on October 25th, Taylor Swift will release her third studio album, titled ‘Speak Now.’ The album will have fourteen tracks all which were written by Swift herself. With the news coming straight from the pop-country singer herself via a live Ustream chat, Swift also shared that the album’s first single, ‘Mine,’ will be released in the middle of August. According to Taylor, ’she’s been working on this album since Fearless came out’. Hopefully it won’t disappoint Swift fans around the world.

When I was a wee lass of the ripe ol’ age of fifteen I had an obsession with a band called Play Radio Play! (please, don’t judge me. okay, fine… judge me) Anyway, when the pop outfit broke up a few years later I was DEVASTATED, until Analog Rebellion formed- same dude, new band. This morning, the frontman posted some items on EBAY that he is selling… seems like any other musician right? The catch? 15% of all proceeds for everything sold is going to Children International. (http://www.children.org) The non-profit organization helps out children raised in high poverty environments and the bidding just started today!

Help out a good cause and buy some incredible gear!
you can find the items up for grabs, here: http://shop.ebay.com/analogrebellion/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=

Brandon Flowers, most known for being the lead singer of ‘The Killers’, has announced a solo tour for his upcoming debut solo album, ‘Flamingo.’ Instead of waiting to tour until his album is released, Flowers has already set a slew of dates to give fans a preview from what to expect from the album. The small tour starts in Las Vegas and hits up Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, and wraps up in New York at the end of August. Perhaps this is a practice round for a more extensive tour? I guess we’ll have to wait and see while we question if we’re human or dancers.

http://www.musicrooms.net/alternative/11525-Brandon-Flowers-Announces-Solo-Tour.html

(Christopher Smith, RedEye)

This weekends Pitchfork Festival was a huge success, but did anyone notice Pitchfork wasn’t filmed? Apparently a certain member of the band isn’t completely thrilled with the online zine because of past articles written about the band. However, Pitchfork humbly and politely responded with the following: “We were thrilled to be able to showcase so many of the performances throughout the weekend on the festival webcast, but ultimately, we were focused on every one of these great acts playing their best show possible for the festival’s attendees. For those acts that chose not to participate in the webcast, we were of course disappointed that its viewers did not have the opportunity to watch their set. That said, we very much respect the wishes and decisions of all the acts that play our festival.”

Us AEMMPers were at Pitchfork and the big screens were one of the best parts of the festival! Hopefully, some kind soul grabbed their camera and you can find the videos on youtube!

In an interview overseas, 50 Cent admitted he may scrap production on his 5th studio album entitled “Black Magic.”  The rapper was on tour in the UK and other parts of the world and has been recording while on tour.  According to 50, he has been experimenting with rock and dance music while touring.  His time overseas is what he said gave him the inspiration to explore different genres of music.  However, when he arrived back in the US, he was given more conventional music to rap to which altered the sound of “Black Magic”.  For this reason, he felt that the music he had created did not fit the experimental concept of the album which may lead to him re-writing it entirely.

Here is the link to the interview http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5itpA_uZJHY&feature=player_embedded

Sorry Gagaloo, but you just got shown up by everyone’s favorite sixteen year old Canadian, Justin Bieber. Justin’s music video for “Baby” is the most watched video EVER on Youtube ranking in at 246 million views. When the record occured on Friday, Gaga and Bieber fans dueled it out causing Gaga’s video to regain #1 position for a bit, but by afternoon Bieber once again surpassed Gaga by more than 600,000 views. Maybe Gaga should pick up her telephone and be one less lonely girl!

Big Science and AEMMP Records have been featured in Columbia College Chicago’s magazine, DEMO, in its summer 2010 edition.  The article highlights major shifts in sales in the music industry and how labels and artists are finding ways to stay profitable in this environment.  The article then takes a look at how AEMMP Records offers students a real world experience and helps them see the inner workings of a record label.  With AEMMP records’ releasing Big Science’s EP, “Skyscraper Sound,” Pet Lions’ 7 inch vinyl and working on its first hip hop project, the article takes a look at the challenges indie labels face and how AEMMP students are learning to overcome these challenges.

Aemmp records will have its own booth at Pitchfork Festival during this weekend. The Label’s booth will be selling merchandise from all Aemmp’s artists and it will also be giving away super cool sunglasses in case you forgot your shades at home. Come check out the amazing new EP from Big Science “Skycraper’s Sound,” that will be available at the booth for a very special Price! We hope to see you all there!

The legendary Ska/Reggae/Punk band Sublime is planning a new album. Since original vocalist Bradley Nowell died from an accidental overdose in 1996, the band has not released any new material. Recently the remaining members of the band, started touring with Rome Ramirez as their new frontman, and have announced that they are probably going to hit the studio right after the current tour is over. For Sublime fans it will be hard to listen to a new record without Bradley, but at least they will have the oporunity to listen something new after 14 years of waiting.