Swedish popstar Robyn is tackling quite a feat by having three releases in 2010 with the third effort, Body Talk, due out on Nov. 22. The 15-track album will have five new songs, and the remainder will be pulled from the first installments of the Body Talk series.
The solemn electro number "Dancing on My Own" ranks among the best songs of the year. She does not miss a beat with her latest single, a reworking of "Indestructible." "In My Eyes" is oh-so-similar to Cyndi Lauper's cover of Prince's "When U Were Mine." The platinum blonde singer comes across as Beth Ditto from Gossip on "Love Kills." "We Dance to the Beat" is pure robotic genius, as she chants "We dance to the beat" paired with distorted monotone vocals. Robyn has a sold-out concert at The Metro, 3730 N. Clark, on Saturday, Nov. 13, with Maluca and Natalia Kills opening.
The Ting Tings burst onto the music scene stateside after wowing the crowd at Lollapalooza with a retro vibe on hits like "That's Not My Name" and "Shut up and Let Me Go." After a recording session in Berlin, the pair returns with the one-off single "Hands," an anthem for the overworked. With the handsome Jules de Martino on the drums, Katie White is armed with a keytar and sings, "Clap your hands if you're working too hard and the beat's so hard, you're working, working."
While a follow-up full-length album is still distant in the horizon, remixes to "Hands" are now available. Chicago's Ralphi Rosario provides the best mix of the lot. Here, he keeps just enough of the original version, but adds moving rhythms to transform "Hands" into a masterpiece. Keep an eye out for Rosario's remix of Rihanna's "Only Girl ( in the World ) " and his new track with Abel Aguilera and TaMara Wallace "C'mon Get Funky."
On his latest, Sell Out, Kyle Puccia offers a great mix of covers and new material. The Los Angeles-based singer tackles the torturous complexities often found in relationships on "Save Me." "Broken People" is a rocking duet with Diana Meyer of Diana Gone Wrong. This reminds me of a mature, modern day version of Kip Winger and Fiona's underappreciated aerosol hairspray-overdosing collaboration "Everything You Do." With its enticing and prevalent piano, the opener "Message" easily could be a missing Coldplay cut. Puccia delivers a superb rendition of "Hallelujah" and a lively take on John Waite's 1984 chart topper "Missing You." Sell Out is available now.
Puccia also has co-founded Open Artists with Open Arms, which is an organization that produces benefits for Lifeworks, which is dedicated to helping LGBT youth.
Missing the golden oldies? A four-DVD collector's set of Michael Feinstein's American Songbook is out now. The openly gay artist's passion here can "fly me over the moon." The likes of Broadway hunk Cheyenne Jackson and David Hyde Pierce ( both out ) join Feinstein to discuss icons of yesteryear including Judy Garland, Nat "King" Cole, Lena Horne, Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby. These favorites have had an immeasurable influence on later generations, as heard in work by Rufus Wainwright, Harry Connick Jr., Michael Bublé and Diana Krall, not to mention the popular tribute albums by Bette Midler and Rod Stewart.
Accompanying the three-hour-long episodes is a performance by Feinstein recounting eleven of these treasured songs. Also not to miss is rare footage of Garland singing "Somewhere over the Rainbow" to World War II soldiers in a military radio broadcast. The material from this PBS series is insightful, intriguing and foremost entertaining.
Shakespeare need not ask "what's in a name," as Scarlet, 3320 N. Halsted, hosts Dominic's Big Gay Cabaret on Saturday, Nov. 6. With a booming voice that makes the earth tremble, the Chicago-based crooner will salute the divas of the Great White Way. The evening is guaranteed to be filled with laughs and first class roof-raising singing. Like Cher, Madonna and Liberace, Dominic does not need a last name—his deep, rich, powerful voice is that distinctive. Having seen him perform previously, you do not want to miss his personalized renditions of "Don't Rain on My Parade" and "When You're Good to Mama." The show is scheduled to start at 5 pm with no cover.
Chicago was the only date where Martina Topley-Bird opened for Massive Attack on its 2010 tour. Accompanied only by her instruments and looping device, Topley-Bird entranced the audience with material from her latest Some Place Simple like "Poison" and "Too Tough," as well as the new track "Mermaids."
During the rest of the night, the avant-garde artist joined Massive Attack on stage as a guest vocalist and stole the spotlight from the electronic pioneers by wearing a stunning gold dress. The former Tricky collaborator sang tracks like "Babel" and a mesmerizing new rearrangement of "Teardrop."
Massive Attack offered a thought-provoking set with alarming quotes, headlines and statistics appearing on the backdrop. Even the fact that Gwen Stefani's husband Gavin Rossdale confessed to an affair with the drag personality Marilyn in the '80s was mentioned here. Massive Attack's setlist included my favorites "Safe from Harm," "Angel" and "Unfinished Sympathy." Topley-Bird's latest Some Place Simple and Massive Attack's Heligoland are out now.
