MUSIC NEWS - Mahoosive Round-Up

Long time, no music! I'm sorry we haven't been keeping Crash Hub up to date over the past few weeks, we've been busy...being busy! But hey, we're back, and we're hoping to broaden Crash Hub out a bit and bring you a bit more exciting info, reviews and general opinions.
Anyways, music. Now for a blitz of everything I've missed over the donkey year we haven't been blogging...

Adele Does Bond
While writing this I'm listening to Adele's knew single Skyfall, which is to be the theme tune for the upcoming  Bond film of the same title. I'd say the best word to describe it is probably "fine". It's a pretty average Bond anthem, and does nothing new to try and be a bit more creative as Jack White and Alicia Key's Another Way To Die did for Quantum of Solace. However, it's very traditional, and is a welcome addition to the 007 playlist.

Let us know your thoughts in the comments!

Labrinth and Emili Sandé Duet
Labrinth's new single featuring Emili Sandé, Beneath Your Beautiful, has landed. And again, it is something radically different from what Lab has done before. I personally really like it, and the addition of Emili Sandé is an absolute treat. My only criticism would be that the video is pretty dull, but this doesn't hinder the music at all.

Brian May and Kerry Ellis Go Unplugged

Legendary Queen axe-man Brian May and West End star Kerry Ellis are embarking on another tour together this November. The duo will be performing 11 intimate, acoustic gigs across the country to raise money for the Born Free Foundation.

May and Ellis will also be releasing a cover of the classic song Born Free, the theme tune written by John Barry from the 1966 film of the same name.

For more on this story, click here.

Masses and Masses and Masses of Albums OUT NOW

While I was away, alot of new stuff has hit the shelves. The biggest one has probably been Muse's rather unpredictable The 2nd Law; but lots of other cool stuff has appeared including Ellie Goulding's Halcyon, Diana Krall's Glad Rag Doll, Van Morrison's Born To Sing: No Plan B, The Overtones' Higher,  Richie Sambora's Aftermath of the Lowdown, The Killers' Battle Born and Green Day's ¡Uno!.

Madness New Album Release Date

Madness' new album Oui Oui Si Si Ja Ja Da Da has now got a release date. The album, which features the single Death of a Rude Boy, will be released on the 29th October.

Ok, I think I've covered everything, even if it is all a bit a brief. If you feel I've missed something, let us know in the comments...

Tom :)

MUSIC REVIEW - Electronic Earth

Artist: Labrinth
Genre: R'n'B
Release Year: 2012
Label: Syco Music

Labrinth's been hovering around the edge of my interest radar for a little while now, but I hadn't plucked up the courage to risk my money on an R&B album until a few days ago. And I'm very glad I did.

Electronic Earth is a fusion masterpiece of computer and acoustic, not fighting each other but literally co-existing and complimenting each other. The album opens with the uplifting Climb On Board. It's a perfect opener for this album and sets the tone just right. And it has almost jazz-like chords in the bridge! Which works! Even though it's R&B!

Then we get the anthem Earthquake, a stonking great plate of bass and mash potato that brings the house down. Lab loses the acoustic side a bit here, but I'm willing to let him off though, just this once. However, I don't like Tinie Tempah's bit in this song. It doesn't really fit and stands out like a lion in an aquarium.

Last Time  has a slight retro feel to it, and reminds me of Jeff Wayne's Musical Version Of The War Of The Worlds. Treatment is a nice change as Lab turns his attention to rock and drops some of the synth sound on his voice. But the next big treat is Express Yourself, a childish mix of white noise and doo-waps which holds as much fun as a fan full of bubble-mix.

The other highlight of the album is Beneath Your Beautiful. This is as acoustic as the album goes and features a guest appearance from Emeli Sandé, who as always is sounding great.

Even though this isn't really part of the album, just thought I'd say that Lab's music videos are awesome! They feature some incredibly immature views of the world, and I mean that in a good way. They are really feel-good, and are just really entertaining. Want an example? If you haven't seen it, check out the video for Express Yourself.

Overall, very impressive. A very promising debut.

8/10

To buy Labrinth's Electronic Earth from amazon, click here.

What do you guys think of the album? Let us know in the comments. Kieron's got a round-up of all the TV news tomorrow, and I'm back on Thursday with a movie wrap-up and a review of last year's Limitless starring Bradley Cooper.
Tom :)

MUSIC NEWS - Labrinth, Madness and Ellie Goulding

I missed music news last week, so here's a round up of the last two...

New Labrinth Video
This week Labrinth released a new music video for his single Treatment. Treatment is from the album Electronic Earth which is out now.

Madness Talk New Album
Since 2011, Madness have been hinting at a new album. But this week the band announced via their online newsletter that they would released a track from the upcoming album, which will be available to download for free from the newsletter. So sign up now!
Madness have also added a new date to their tour. They will play at the London O2 on December 22nd.

Ellie Goulding Announces New Album And Single
Last week, the hugely successful Ellie Goulding announced her upcoming album Halcyon, which will be released on the 8th October. The album will feature Goulding's recent cover of Hanging On (below) and her upcoming single Anything Could Happen, which will be released on the 30th September.

And that's your fill for the last couple of weeks. No review to go with it, but will hopefully have something Doctor Who related for you soon. See you tomorrow for TV.

Tom :)

MUSIC NEWS - Labrinth Single Pre-order, Elbow Announce B-Sides Collection, Queen Announce Concert Movie

Labrinth's New Single Treatment Is Available For Pre-Order
Treatment, the new single from hip-hop musician Labrinth is now available to pre-order from iTunes before it's release on August 26th. The single is taken from his album Electronic Earth.
Click here to pre-order.

Elbow Announce B-Sides Album
Last Wednesday, Elbow announced that they would release a collection of B-Sides on an album titled Dead In The Boot. The collection features songs from the early years such as 2000's None One (from the Newborn EP) as well as some more recent songs like 2008's Every Bit The Little Girl (from the One Day Like This EP). Alot of these songs haven't featured on the albums.
To pre-order Dead In The Boot from iTunes, click here.

Queen Announce Hungarian Rhapsody For The Big Screen
Queen's legendary gig at Budapest in 1986 is set to be released in cinemas around the globe. The remastered concert movie, Hungarian Rhapsody, will be released on the silver screen on 20th September.

MUSIC NEWS - The Fratellis Reunite, Labrinth and Noel Gallagher New Singles, Green Day Album Trailer and Isle Of Wight Festival

Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds New Single
Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds are set to release their new single Everybody's On The Run on August 6th. The song is the epic rock-orchestral opener from last year's album Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds.

Green Day ¡Dos! Album Trailer
On Friday, Green Day released the trailer and album art for the second album ¡Dos! from their upcoming trilogy. ¡Dos! will be released on the 13th November, following ¡Uno! which will be released on the 25th September.

For more information on the first album in the trilogy, ¡Uno!, click here.

Isle Of Wight Festival

With no Glastonbury to contend with, Isle Of Wight was big this year. My favourite acts were Elbow and Bruce Springsteen. For highlights of the weekend, click here.

Labrinth Announces New Single

Labrinth announced that Treatment from his debut album Electronic Earth would be his new single. The music video has been filmed and will be on the web very soon (so will probably feature in next weeks news).  Labrinth also appeared in BBC's Project Hackney documentary alongside Plan B and Leona Lewis.


The Fratellis Reunited
This story is actually a bit old now, but it's all news to me. The Fratellis were a cheeky rock band who were most famous for their album Costello Music which the famous track Chelsea Dagger came from. The band reformed for a charity gig earlier this month, and they will be doing more gigs, dates for which are gradually being released. Yesterday, the band announced a gig in Glasgow on the 26th September.
For more on this story, click here.


Happy Birthday!
Best wishes to guitarist Jeff Beck who turned 68 yesterday.


And that's all for this week. Let us know what you think, especially your favourite acts at IoW, in the comments.
Tom :)

MUSIC NEWS - Labrinth On Tour, New Flo Rida Single

It's Monday again, which means more music...

Labrinth Announces UK Tour
On Tuesday the hip-hop artist Labrinth announced dates for a tour of the UK in October with his hit show "Electronic Earth". The tour will visit Bristol, Bournemouth, London, Norwich, Birmingham, Glasgow, Manchester, Sheffield and Newcastle.
For the full story, including tour dates, click here.

Flo Rida Releases New Single "Whistle"
On Wednesday, Atlantic Records announced that Flo Rida's new single "Whistle" had been released, two weeks earlier than scheduled, "due to popular demand". If you were one of the people "demanding" this song, feel ashamed. It's boring. Yawn.

Yellow Submarine On Blu-ray
In March, Apple Corps Ltd. announced that the Beatles film Yellow Submarine had been digitally restored and would be released on Blu-ray and DVD. Since Monday, the classic rock film has been available to buy.

Trailer For New Muse Album and Tour Announced
Move over Flo Rida, this is real music news! For a long time now, hints have circulated about an upcoming Muse album. But a trailer released on Wednesday made it official; a new Muse album, titled The 2nd Law will be released September this year. The album follows a three year wait after The Resistance, which was released in 2009. Judging by the trailer, it appears that the new album will revolve around the theme of depleting energy resources and, like The Resistance, will continue the use of orchestral sound with synthesized overdrive of Origins of Symmetry.

Following this trailer, Muse announced on Friday a UK and Europe tour later this year. For tour dates and tickets, click here.

The Killers Album Trailer

The boys from Teignmouth weren't the only ones to release an album trailer this week, The Killers put this teaser out on the net on Friday. The music sounds alot like the rest of The Killer's work, so I'm hoping we'll see a return to the standard of Hot Fuss, and not another disappointment like Day and Age.

Virtual Elvis Presley

The classic rock 'n' roll singer is to be resurrected using a virtual likeness created by Digital Domain Media Group. The likeness will be used at live shows, on TV and online.

For more on this story, click here. 

Trombone Shorty Featured On Upcoming Zac Brown Band Album

Trombone Shorty, as well as Orleans Avenue's Dan Oestreicher and Tim McFatter are featured on the upcoming album by Zac Brown Band, Uncaged. They are performing on the track "Overnight". The album will be released on the 10th July.

For more on this story, click here.

That's all the news for this week. If you've got anything to say on the above stories, or if there's anything we've missed, let us know in the comments.

Tom :)