Kylie’s back and could she add a new action twist?

Kylie Minogue’s new single Better Than Today is out on December 6th. There is added interest and attention to the release because Kylie directed the promotional video herself.

Elsewhere, Kylie has been short listed for Festival At Large 2010. She is shortlisted for one of the roles for a Female Lead and is up against Duffy, Christina Aguilera, Pat Benatar and Hilary Duff.

We all know Kylie can re-invent herself every new decade, and successfully. Check out the new Kylie video for some Mash-Up inspiration for your own action thriller sequence with Kylie as a main performer!

Modern Progressive Rock AND Gothic Metal – go listen!

Benighted Soul are currently recording their first full album, following a couple of years of powerful performances at various rock and metal festivals around Europe.

Jay is an expressive and, at times, thrilling vocalist, combining theatrical movements and soaring vocals in many of the band’s songs. She stands out as a creative and passionate front-woman and it’s no surprise the band have been a success at Metal Ladies Fest and H’elles On Stage (for example).

Jay’s operatic style is emphasised during the frequent duets with five-string-bass player Djang, his deep vocals and growls providing contrast and depth. The music is further lifted by one of the most energetic drummers, Niko, and his solid combination of rock and metal styles.

As you can see and hear from their posts on YouTube, Benighted Soul drive forward with plenty of nods to progressive rock – is Jay the new Peter Gabriel and guitarist Jeyms the new Townsend?

Symphonic Metal, Gothic Metal, Female-Fronted Metal – all are perfect descriptions for this band and I hope they gain a huge following with their new album. This is powerful, intelligent and thrilling music, appealing to heart, mind and feet!

YouTube track Ticking Time Bomb is a perfect example of their style

MySpace http://www.myspace.com/benightedsoul

Was 2008 the high point for the music of Katy Perry?

Despite having a heavy cold, probably courtesy of Britain’s worst winter in 20 years, Katy Perry scooped up the award for Best International Female in London a couple of years ago.

Other good news was Katy’s album One Of The Boys went platinum. So the Brit Award was icing on the cake for a very successful 2008 for Katy. Other highlights include Best New Act at the MTV Europe Music Awards, Favorite Pop Song at the People’s Choice Awards for I Kissed a Girl and International Album of the Year at the NRJ Music Awards.

Some other awards nominations show the impact of Katy’s clever and quirky style, including Most Addictive Track and a long list of Video categories: Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Female Video and Best New Artist.

But at the end of 2010 we ask, what about the music? Yes Katy has been very high profile with cleavage and various dress-to-shock “style statements”. And her relationship with Russell Brand can be summed up with his comment in September 2009 at the MTV Video Music Awards: “Katy Perry didn’t win an award and she’s staying at the same hotel as me, so she’s gonna need a shoulder to cry on. So in a way, I’m the real winner tonight.”

Celeb Life 1. Ongoing Music Career 0.

Girl Power wins through

All during the season there are plenty of photo opportunities – and pretend-scandal opportunities – for top rating shows like Gossip Girl. This year, however, the “off season” has provided fantastic stories and images.

Hot on the heels of Taylor Momsen is, perhaps in some ways a surprise, Blake Lively. Appearances at awards shows, fashion catwalks and just walking down the street have been newsworthy and, to many fans, most welcome.

However, as with many tv and movie stars, it can sometimes take a great magazine and great photographer to raise the standard and really please and surprise us.

The photoshoot of Blake Lively for the September issue of Interview magazine is a stunning example. Craig McDean held the cameras as the popular young star “performed” to the styling requests of Karl Templer.

As you can see from just the few examples of the cover feature for the magazine, the character she plays is in trouble with the law. Fortunately all is well as Blake covers all the angles in a terrific selection of ensembles from star names like Balenciaga, Fendi and Burberry.

Great job Blake, and Interview.

Fashion Update – and testing from Ping

We admit to being waylaid by Twitter – a lot – recently. So here’s a quick update and, purely in the interests of science, we’re testing Ping.

If this all works we should be able to update blogs and Twitter and all sorts – easily – and, we hope, more regularly.

Taylor Momsen started acting alongside Jim Carrey in The Grinch (as baby-faced Cindy-Lou Who). At 14 she joined the modelling agency that represents Kate Moss and Gisele Bundchen.

Now, in addition to starring in Gossip Girl, Taylor also fronts a rock band, The Pretty Reckless.

Now all we need to do is work out how to post a pic too.

UPDATE: We needed to go back to WordPress to add the pic and the Tags and the Categories. Guess Ping is not quite there yet.

Winds of Plague aka Winds of Change

Just when you thought you knew the line-up of Wings of Plague, whoops there goes another player. Winds of Change could serve them well as a new band name if the need arises.

Kristen Randall (photo left) had been in the band two years and a constant feature in just about every metal magazine that boasted a calendar. Kristen is also well-known in tattoo magazines and is soon to be seen on LA Ink with Kat von D.

But after a big “thank you” to the Winds, Kristen is off to pursue her own musical direction, plus exposure of and in websites and magazines concerning ink. The LA Ink episode is scheduled for next month (February).

In a press release Kristen said: “The experiences we shared have been such a huge part of my life the past couple years and I will cherish that forever. As for myself, music is my deepest passion.”

The next new keyboard player for the Winds was Lisa Marx (photo right), also a model at times like Kristen. Lisa had previousy played with Kittie and Day of Contempt and was invited to join Winds on the California Love tour which also included Stick To Your Guns, Sleeping Giant, Oceano and Circle of Contempt .

Latest news is that former The Breathing Process keyboardist Alana Potocnik (photo left) has replaced Lisa on a fulltime basis.

And, you guessed it, Alana has also had a ModelMayhem profile. Guess the guys in Winds have great talent at using Google to find their new band members – lol.

Femme Metal Fashion

Update from Goth Style: Modern Amazons – Metal Maidens- Femme Metal – http://ping.fm/qktgN

Best Gothic Metal / Best Symphonic Metal / The Social Media Decade #1

Because there’s a hefty list below, we’ll not comment on every song. Social Media with a music focus (MySpace, Pandora, Last.FM) has been of enormous importance in the past 10 years. As well as being platforms and tools that have liberated music, they’ve become gatherings of fans and lists by the millions.

Web 2.0 allows us to bookmark, collate and re-process information in a wonderful variety of ways. We use Last.FM extensively, not least because we live most of the year outside the US of A (see footnote regarding Pandora). The list below has been gathered from “loved” tracks in people’s playlists.

Rather than say there is one winner or a ranking based on votes for a particular song, we’ve awarded Gold medals to 17 bands/projects. We’ve taken the view that, like the Olympics, it can be difficult to precisely judge styles of music. Is a gold in a marathon of more “value” than the long jump?

The 54 tracks below are the best we’ve heard and noted over the past few years, representing many albums and changes in line-ups of the various groups of musicians over the past 10 years. They are, we say, among the Best of the Decade for:

• Femme metal
• Gothic Metal
• Symphonic Metal

or whatever other descriptive term you’d like to use. And yes, you’re very welcome to tell us how right or wrong we are!

After Forever – Energise Me
After Forever – Face Your Demons
After Forever – Imperfect Tenses
After Forever – Life’s Vortex
After Forever – My Choice
After Forever – The Evil That Men Do

Darkwell – Nothingness
Darkwell – The Machine

Delain – The Gathering
Delain – Stay Forever

Draconian – Bloodflower
Draconian – Serenade of Sorrow
Draconian – Silent Winter
Draconian – The Gothic Embrace

Elis – Der letzte Tag
Elis – Devil Inside You
Elis – Heart in Chains

Epica – Mother of Light (A New Age Dawns, Part 2)
Epica – Never Enough
Epica – Quietus
Epica – Solitary Ground
Epica – Unleashed

Evanescence – Lose Control
Evanescence – Tourniquet

Lacuna Coil – Heaven’s a Lie
Lacuna Coil – Honeymoon Suite
Lacuna Coil – Senzafine
Lacuna Coil – Spellbound

Leaves’ Eyes – For Amelie
Leaves’ Eyes – Njord

Lunatica – Emocean
Lunatica – Hymn

Nightwish – Feel For You
Nightwish – Planet Hell
Nightwish – Sleeping Sun
Nightwish – Swanheart

Sirenia – Lithium and a Lover
Sirenia – The Other Side

The Gathering – In Motion
The Gathering – Nighttime Birds
The Gathering – Rollercoaster

Trail of Tears – Empty Room
Trail of Tears – Poisonous Tongues

Visions of Atlantis – At the Back of Beyond
Visions of Atlantis – Pharaoh’s Repentance

Within Temptation – Angels
Within Temptation – Ice Queen
Within Temptation – Memories
Within Temptation And The Metropole Orchestra – Jillian (I’d Give My Heart)
Within Temptation And The Metropole Orchestra – Stand My Ground
Within Temptation And The Metropole Orchestra – The Promise
Within Temptation And The Metropole Orchestra – What Have You Done (Featuring Keith Caputo)

Xandria – Calyx Virago
Xandria – Ginger

You can also send tweets to http://Twitter.com/NuGoth

Footnote: We also love Pandora but it cannot be used globally due to the archaic licensing cartels that still control so much of music.

Best Gothic Metal / Best Symphonic Metal / The Social Media Decade #2

This companion piece to The Social Media Decade #1 is our award of Silver medals to bands/projects. Any list of Best Of is subject to discussion (and dispute) and we welcome your comments.

The 30 tracks below grabbed our ears more than once but, for some reason, other songs by the artists failed to impress as much. For example, other Tristania tracks didn’t get added to many lists, while Elis (on our Gold list) received numerous mentions for their 3 tracks.

We reckon a Silver medal is still fantastic when weighted against the tens of thousands of other tracks out there. Listen and enjoy.

Aesma Daeva – Disdain
Amberian Dawn – Sunrise
Arch Enemy – Saints and Sinners
Astarte – Deviate
Ayria – Pink Dress
Aythis – Aythis
Beseech – Everytime I Die
Bloodflowerz – Season of Love
Crucified Barbara – Feels Like Death
Delight – In Too Deep
Doro – Unholy Love
Exilia – Destroy My Eyes
Flowing Tears – Undying
Holy Moses – End of Time
Kittie – Into the Darkness
L’Âme Immortelle – Fallen Angel
Lumsk – Fagran fljotan folen
Luna Obscura – Dance of Forsaken Souls
Lycia – Silver Sliver
Midnattsol – Enlightenment
My Dying Bride – She Is the Dark
Otep – The Lord Is My Weapon
Paramore – Decode
Penumbra – A Torrent of Fears
Season’s End – Innocence
Stream of Passion – Deceiver
The Agonist – Rise and Fall
The Project Hate MCMXCIX – Loveless, Godless, Flawless
Tristania – Midwintertears
Where Angels Fall – Path of Sorrow

You can also send tweets to http://Twitter.com/NuGoth

Floor Jansen and ReVamp update

ReVamp, the new project of gothic metal vocalist Floor Jansen is coming together and signs of new music are starting to emerge.

In releasing a sample Floor explains: “We know you have waiting with great patience for some music! Hereby a short part of our song Head Up High!!! Do realize this is pre-production material, you hear a drum computer and home recorded bass, guitar, keyboards and vocals. We did mix it so it sounds OK enough, but it’s not the quality the album will have!”

ReVamp Head Up High

Rage Against The Machine win the race for the No.1 slot on the UK Christmas chart

Initial reports say the Rage Against The Machine song won the race by 50,000 sales for the Number One slot on the UK Christmas chart. Some commentators say the weak version of The Climb by Joe McElderry may have been HELPED by the Killing In The Name campaign.

Decline of Simon Cowell and X Factor

One outstanding feature of the #RATM campaign was the remarkable speed of response that was possible due to social media. The combination of Facebook and Twitter, plus many blogs and websites, allowed everyone to check in and find out the details.

Quick update:

• Rage Against The Machine campaign raised £72,000 in one week for charity
• Killing In The Name achieved the biggest first week download sales ever
• Killing In The Name is first ever No.1 based on download sales only
• 900,000 Facebook supporters helped achieve 502,000 sales
• 17 million alleged X Factor viewers slumped to 450,000 sales
• #RATM and #ratm4xmas became trending topics on Twitter

More details at http://clik4music.com/

Rage Against The Machine aka Rage Against the Method of X Factor

There are two sides to the “rage” about the X Factor competition for the Christmas Number 1 in the UK. Some people are anti-Simon Cowell it seems, but there are other issues too. Not least being the question of musical talent.

Miley Cyrus, singer of The Climb, in Elle magazine

As seen on American Idol and now X Factor, Simon Cowell is in a deep anti-girl phase. So X Factor 2009 has been all about eliminating the girls and favouring the pretty boys. It has not mattered that the girls, especially Lucie Jones, had the best voices. Simon Cowell and his employees (sorry, the other judges) have chosen boys with little or no singing talent to get through the rounds.

The creators of the competitions against the X Factor single are talking more about music than money. Yes Simon Cowell will probably benefit whatever happens – but only in terms of money. X Factor 2009 has far greater ramifications:

• zero musical integrity left for Simon Cowell
• proof that Cheryl Cole is jealous of anyone with a good singing voice
• proof that Dannii Minogue knows little about music

So if your vote is for musical talent, go buy Rage Against The Machine or one of the other suggestions for Christmas No.1. Anything but the limp and weak X Factor version of The Climb. Or you can buy the Miley Cyrus (photo) original of The Climb – a passionate and excellent vocal version of the song.

More proof of girl power if you need it – Top 10 Digital Downloads of 2009

Lady GaGa rocks live

Girls are doing it for themselves in so many ways, not least in the music business. The whole industry has changed and it’s great to see the girls are on top with the new digital streams.

Just as digital has come of age in 2009 so the opportunity for music-lovers to choose their own listening preferences has upset the charts.

Now, for the first time, we see what people want to listen to, not what radio stations or tv channels try to force on us.

Not only did girls lead the Top 10 Downloads of 2009 chart with 4 entries, Lady GaGa (photo) claimed two slots to be the overall winner for digital downloads:

2. Lady Gaga feat. Colby ODonis – Just Dance (4,690,000)
7. Lady Gaga – Poker Face (4,200,000)

Yep, that’s a total of 8.9 million downloads, showing music-lovers are happy to put their money where their ears are. Girls rock!!

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo preview from the Swedish movie

Lisbeth Salander played by Noomi Rapace

The first novel by Swedish author Stieg Larsson was a best-seller around the world. The second and third volumes of the trilogy have increased the author’s reputation, made even sadder as the books were published after Larsson’s early death from heart failure.

The Millennium thriller series feature Mikael Blomkvist, an investigative business journalist, and Lisbeth Salander, a goth-culture independent plus hacker and real star of the stories.

Here is a link to the preview from the first movie, in Swedish with subtitles:

Movie clip and interview with the director

There are already plans for a TV series spin-off, and a possible American-produced version of the film(s).

Judges and Producers on X Factor become anti-girl

The signs have been there the whole season – the judges and producers on X Factor have a real problem with girls, especially any girls with talent. Although it was obvious to predict it is still a huge shame that Lucie Jones has been kicked off X Factor 2009 by the shocking actions of the judges and the producers.

Lucie Jones on X Factor 2009

Let’s look at some of the reasons:

• Judges spending more time sniping at each other than supporting their competitors
• Cheryl Cole’s look of envy and nasty comments against the girls
• Dannii Minogue’s complete inability to choose appropriate songs
• Dannii Minogue’s complete inability to speak with any knowledge or passion
• the Producers continual favouritism for the boys, especially Jedward

All of which means Lucie Jones (photo) had little chance of winning X Factor 2009 but for her to be dumped so early is a sham. A huge percentage of comments on Twitter say this was unfair, even corrupt, and that many will not watch the show. They believe X Factor is a joke and has nothing to do with singing any more.

Introducing Delain with the rousing track Stay Forever

If you’ve missed our tweets about Delain, here’s a great introduction. The track Stay Forever includes so many great moments – the band at full force, Charlotte’s soaring vocals, gentle symphonic passages, huge and thunderous choruses – whew:

Reminder about Floor Jansen and After Forever

Just in case any of you have missed the thrilling vocals and powerful metal that was such a huge influence a few years ago, here’s the magnificent Energise Me which has been a constant favourite – and on our playlist always:

Floor Jansen to join Delain for a guest appearance

Delain’s special show on October 31st will feature two special guests – Nightwish singer/bass player Marco Hietala and back-in-the-headlines Floor Jansen.

Although the show is sold out you can also find plenty of great information about Delain and their stirring metal music at: www.delain.nl

We have been mentioning Delain on Twitter for a while but the links between Twitter and WordPress are still very basic. You can follow Delain via @DelainInt and we think you should!

Metal Rools!

HUGE news – Floor Jansen returns with new group, ReVamp

There is already a fresh new website for ReVamp and Floor explains the history of the new chapter in her music career.

Floor joined forces with two additional songwriters to first compose, then record an album. A live band is soon to be formed, which will get her back on stage where she belongs!

The first composer to join this new collaboration is Waldemar Sorychta (Grip Inc, Enemy Of The Sun, ao). He contacted her to inquire about current activities and potential future cooperation. “Being a fan of Grip Inc, this idea of working with Waldemar was a big honor and a first step in creating a sound!”

Waldemar’s unique style combined with his experience as songwriter/producer is helping to make Floor’s dream come closer to reality.

The second composer is After Forever colleague Joost van den Broek. “Asking Joost to join seemed logical because of his great keyboards and arrangements, and therefore his potentially valuable contribution. Despite his busy schedule, he wanted to join and get started immediately.”

The website says: “The ReVamp sound will become a unique blend of the personal style we recognize from these musicians. Combining these individual sounds in one album promises to result in heavy and very metal!”

Songs are currently being written and some short samples will be uploaded. Also, Floor made a short video to introduce the band, Welcome to ReVamp:

The ReVamp website is: http://www.revampmusic.com/

For all our stories on Floor Jansen, click here: Floor Jansen

Thrilling new EPICA album

Soaring vocals! Orchestral mayhem! Thunderous rhythm section! Thrilling video! It must be gothic & metal brilliance, this time from EPICA. Just listen to Unleashed from their new album, Design Your Universe (on Nuclear Blast) for a Must-Buy-That-Album-Now moment: