Critics have been raving about Fiona Apple‘s recent performances at South by Southwest and in a few select East Coast cities, amping up the anticipation for her long-awaited fourth album. Now, finally, those of us who weren’t able to score tickets to any of her sold-out shows get our first taste of The Idler Wheel. “Every Single Night”, the first new song Apple has released in seven years, hit the Web today. It’s a surprisingly understated choice for a first single, especially from such a highly anticipated release. Apple’s powerful voice croons over a delicate, jazzy melody, shifting into a kind of Native American-sounding refrain. It’s a distant cousin to her chart-topping “Criminal,” but “Night” is a brilliant example of Apple’s quirky songwriting virtuosity, just the kind of thing we’ve come to expect of her over the last 16 years.
NEXT: Nelly Furtado is back with “Big Hoops”
http://youtu.be/jNbLcLlnNc0
Ready for some Nelly Furtado? Good, cause—Boom!—here it is. The lead single from her upcoming album, The Spirit Indestructible, has landed. It’s always interesting to try to predict what Furtado’s gonna do next: She’s done soul-searching on Folklore and courted mass popularity with blatant sexual imagery and mega-producer Timbaland on Loose. So what’s in store on Indestructible? It’s hard to say. The title sounds expansive and personal, but she’s not exactly bearing her soul on the first single, “Big Hoops.” It sounds like Furtado’s sticking with the hip-hop sound she established on Loose—”Hoops” song sounds like it could be a Rihanna B-side. Sure it’s fun, but I can’t say I think it’ll be as big as “Promiscuous Girl.”
NEXT: Dive in with The Swimming Pools
The Swimming Pools’ new video for “Looking for Love in the Dark” finds the New York electro duo trapped in some kind of gleaming mylar prison. The song has all the chilly thrills of the best of ’80s New Wave—the video itself even kind of puts you in the mind of Dead or Alive’s “You Spin Me Round.”
NEXT: Great Scott Emili Sandé pops up on the boob tube
Scottish soul singer Emeli Sandé just made her American-television debut on Conan, performing “Next To Me,” the first single off her upcoming debut album Our Version Of Events, which drops June 5 on Capitol Records.
NEXT: Feist delivers a double treat
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http://youtu.be/tN5gsLP5YII
Heavy-metal band Mastodon has teamed up with Feist to release a split 7″ (yep. an honest-to-God real record) in honor of last weekend’s National Record Store Day. The double A-side, “Feistodon,” features Mastodon covering Feist’s “A Commotion” on one side. But it’s Feist’s cover of Mastodon’s “Black Tongue” on the flip side that has got us thinking about our favorite metal songs that have been covered by pretty-ladies.
NEXT: Melissa Auf der Maur is the “Devil’s Plaything”
http://youtu.be/_-LIMHf5J84
Speaking of pretty ladies covering metal tracks, former Hole and Smashing Pumpkins bassist Melissa Auf der Maur has been known to perform Danzig’s “Devil’s Plaything” at her live shows. But this intimate acoustic cover with supermodel-turned-musician Karen Elson quietly blows those other performances away.
NEXT: Tori does Slayer
http://youtu.be/lCpOAXIgF9U
What is it about redheads and metal covers? Tori Amos’ cover of Slayer’s “Raining Blood” from her 2001 covers album, Strange Little Girls, re-imagines the song from the point of view of a woman in the French Resistance during World War II. We also remember reading somewhere that Amos imagined a giant vagina in the sky, raining blood over war-torn nations. Seriously.
JON
I don’t care much for Nelly Furtado’s new song ‘Big Hoops’.
Weak lyrics and more technology than music.
I’ve heard her do a lot better in the past.
She is very talented and should put out music of higher quality that will stand the test of time. It’s more a ‘flavor-of-the-month’.
marcus
dying for fiona’s new album!
Aedan
Fiona Apple’s song? Brilliant. Absolutely lovely and it really excites me for her upcoming album. It’s been far too long.
Nelly Furtado’s song? Passable. I was not a fan of her first album- but her second album blew me away. It was unique, fun, powerful and felt like something completely her own. Her third album had a few songs that stood out for me but I was saddened by the apparent homogenized route she was taking. Even more sad is the fact that this newest release proves that it wasn’t a one-off deal like her second remarkable album. She seems to be going even further into generic hip-hop/dance-club music. And while it’s definitely catchy and enjoyed it there wasn’t much to distinguish it from a thousand and one other songs that have recently flooded the clubs.
adam
What I like about Fiona Apple is that she has never been one to follow the trend or the gimmick. I remember when Britney was big in the early 2000’s but Fiona went on stage at an awards show and gave what I thought was a veiled dismissal of Britney and all the other AutoTuned female clones. Fiona basically said to think for yourself, don’t let yourself be influenced by marketing, stick by your principles etc etc etc.
It really increased my respect for her.
Tommy
I”m a big Fiona Apple fan, but I don’t care for this particular song. Hopefully there will be better songs on the album.
DouggSeven
I like it. Not sure how it’ll do commercially, but I don’t think she or her record label are anticipating Adele type numbers.
DouggSeven
@DouggSeven: Oh, I was talking about the Fiona track, I can’t be bothered to listen to the others.