Page Sixis reporting that Christina Aguilera dumped her husband because he was “holding her back” and that he was the reason that her latest album didn’t sell well.

Uh what? I honestly don’t think that Jordan Bratman was the reason the album didn’t sell well. I’m going to go with the fact that she channeled Madonna circa 1992 for her album promotion which really creeped us out, along with the fact that the album sucks.

So, if Christina Aguilera is splitting from Bratman because he was “bad for album sales” that pretty much confirms our previous theory that she’s doing it all for publicity.

Stacey: Mahahaha….ahahahaha….ahaha.  That is totally awesome.

(Thanks to the faboulous Mr White for the photo)

“We struggled super hard trying to come up with an album title, trying to find some kind of phrase that summed up the whole aesthetic behind the album: ‘Heavy Mental,’ ‘Smaller Than Life,’” Cuomo says. “I was coming up with all kinds of stuff, but ultimately, we just went with some random word that doesn’t really have anything to do with anything. I just loved this photo of Jorge Garcia — it just had this amazing vibe. We didn’t want to do a fourth self-titled record and we knew people would refer to it as ‘the Hurley record’ even if left it without that title, so we just called it ‘Hurley.’ No words are on the cover because all we wanted was his amazing face.”

Stacey: As weird as it is, I totally totally love it.  How awesome is that?  I feel love from that quote. 

(source: Spinner.ca)

Some people with too much time on their hands got together and made the entire Twilight series into a music video. It’s kinda funny, but it’s kinda awkward too. Is it worth the time? Well, it’s 3:50 on Wednesday afternoon so you’re probably not working anyway, so why not?

Rolling Stone has released their list of the Top 100 Albums of the last decade. Here’s the top 10:

1. Radiohead: Kid A
2. The Strokes: Is This It
3. Wilco: Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
4. Jay-Z: The Blueprint
5. The White Stripes: Elephant
6. Arcade Fire: Funeral
7. Eminem: The Marshal Mathers LP
8. Bob Dylan: Modern Times
9. M.I.A.: Kala
10. Kanye West: The College Dropout

And from the Top 100 Song of the decade here are the top 10:

1. Gnarls Barkley — “Crazy”
2. Jay-Z — “99 Problems”
3. Beyoncé — “Crazy in Love”
4. Outkast — “Hey Ya!”
5. M.I.A. — “Paper Planes”
6. The White Stripes — “Seven Nation Army”
7. Yeah Yeah Yeahs — “Maps”
8. Amy Winehouse — “Rehab”
9. U2 — “Beautiful Day”
10. Eminem — “Stan”

Thoughts on the lists:

Albums: When Kid A came out I listened to it non-stop for a year. It went from my CD player in my room to my discman and back to my CD player. I only stopped listening to it on a daily basis when Amnesiac came out the next year and it got put into heavy rotation.

8/10 of those albums are really, really awesome. I own those 8 and will listen to almost all of them on a somewhat regular basis. The exceptions are Arcade Fire (which I haven’t heard but now want to), Bob Dylan (which I have heard and think it should not be in the top 10 top anything), and The Marshall Mathers LP (I own it and loved it at the time but don’t listen to it much now; but it should still be on the list.

Overall I have to say I was really surprised that I agree with much of this list. Bob Dylan got more love than he should have and Tool got the shaft but I guess we can’t all win. Except for U2 who I think got every album they released in the last 10 years on the list. They weren’t all that great people.

Songs: “Crazy” is a good song but not the best of the decade. “Maps” might only be famous because of RockBand. “Stan” is a good song, but Eminem had better and other people had better too. As for the rest – no complaints

And Stacey – they tell us their methodology! Basically the editors of Rolling Stone picked their favourite bands and then they all (editors and the band members) listed their top 25 favourite albums of the decade. It might just be a coincidence but many of the artists picked to do the voting have albums on the list. I’d totally vote for my own album too!

Stacey: Ok, I can buy Kid A as the best album of the decade.  To be honest, I can’t judge either of these lists very well because I have bought a handful of albums mentioned on this list.  The majority of the albums I bought weren’t commercial hits.  But I am ok with that cause most music now adays is total crap.  I was happy to see Fiona Apple get some love on there.  She is great.

Another truth.  I don’t “get” MIA.  I don’t.  So for Paper Planes to be one of the best songs of the decade…I just don’t know.  But glas to see they have some sort of methodolgy.  Even if I don’t agree with it.  Us here at I Smell Smut have devised an excellent grading system that I feel more magazines should employ

(Pic: api.ning.com)

Since Steven Tyler fell off the stage a few months ago I haven’t heard hyde nor hair of Aerosmith. COuld it be because the singer has left the band?  That is certainly what it sounds like.

Recently when asked about Tyler, Joe Perry had this to say:

“I don’t know any more than you do about it. I got off the plane two nights ago. I saw online that Steven said that he was going to leave the band. I don’t know for how long, indefinitely or whatever. Other than that, I don’t know.”

“Frankly, the last few months I’ve been wanting not to rock the boat. I don’t want him cancelling any more gigs.  We just kind of didn’t want to call him out or anything and get him anymore pissed off, for whatever reason. So we just let things lie.”

Also, apprently he mentioned that they are also looking for a new lead singer, but not to replace Tyler, simply to “move the Aerosmith… vibe up a notch.”

Hmmmm, move the vibe?  I love Aerosmith and everything and Joe rocks and all but Aerosmith without Steven Tyler?  That’s not Aerosmith man.

But Tyler should be straight up with his band mates (ex?) if he has left so that they can move on to.

I am sad about his one.  Aerosmith is in my top all time fav bands.

Tanya: At this point they should probably all move on, but if just Tyler wants too then why can’t the rest of the boys still rock out? They should change their name though. It’s not Aerosmith without Steven Tyler.

Chromeo - P-Thugg (Patrick Gemayel) & Dave 1 (David Macklovitch)

Last night Megan, the husband & I headed down to Tantra Nightclub in Calgary to check out Chromeo. FANTASTIC!

Before hand we were speculating as to what their set would be. They only have 2 albums and a handful of hits so we weren’t sure if they’d have a SUPER short set or if the set would be mostly them mixing other artists’ work.

When Chromeo hit the stage at midnight they made sure to play their hits like Tenderoni and Fancy Footwork, but also mixed some of the best electro-pop & top 40 out there. We were treated with some A-Trak (who also happens to be David Macklovitch’s little bro), Justice, Kanye, Jay-Z, Daft Punk, Basement Jaxx, MGMT, and of course a little MJ to round out the evening. They played a 3 hour set that was solid, high energy, and probably the best DJ show I’ve been to.

We were also treated to a song off the new album at the end of the set

If you get a chance to check out Chromeo – do it!

Here’s some vids:

Stacey: These guys seem like they would be a good time.  Love a good show.

Tenderoni

Fancy Footwork

Some bands are consistently awesome and put out great album after great album, but then they get that big stinker. That one album that you think “maybe another listen will make this better” but it doesn’t. Perhaps you’ve even stopped the disc, pulled it out and double checked to make sure you have the right CD in the player.

Well, this came up in conversation the other day (re: Eminem’s new album) and I thought it would be fun to post it here and see what other artists/albums we can come up with. Our criteria: To be a “good artist” you have to have a high number of consistently good albums. These great albums raise our expectations which makes the bad albums suck more.

Here’s some of the ones from our collection:

• Eminem – Relapse
• Missy Elliot – The Cookbook
• DJ Shadow – The Outsider
• Led Zeppelin – Presence
• Guns ‘n Roses – The Spaghetti Incident
• Brazilian Girls – Talk to La Bomb
• Common – Electric Circus
• Nas – Street Desciple
• Outkast – Idlewild
• Air – Pocket Symphony
• Method Man – Tical 2000 Judgement Day
• Mos Def – New Danger
• Cat Power – Jukebox
• UNKLE – War Stories
• Weezer – Make Believe & Red Album
• Madonna – American Life & Hard Candy
• Wilco – A Ghost is Born

Have some to add? Agree? Disagree? Comment. “Good” & “Bad” music is extremely subjective, so it’ll make for a good debate

I changed my Facebook status to say I was going to see Chromeo and two people have already asked: WTF is Chromeo?

According to Wikipedia: Chromeo is a Montreal based electrofunk duo whose music is described as “a shameless return to the glistening, sex-saturated synth-pop which ruled the eighties.”

According to Tanya: Chromeo is awesome.

Bands you might know who are similar: MSTRKRFT, Crystal Castles, A-Trak, (better known: Daft Punk & Basement Jaxx).

Here’s the video for their single Fancy Footwork. If you likey, check them out in Calgary July 6 at Tantra.

"Canada, you suck."

Billy Bob Thornton and his band no one remembers the name of have been boooed out of Canada. That’s how we roll here. No guns, just boos. That’s where the politeness line ends. Once you move into obscenities, hand gestures, or throwing bottles on stage you become American. True story.

If you missed the radio interview with BBT and his band on Q (CBC radio) with Jian Ghomeshi you can check it out herebut the basic story is this: BBT acted like a asstard because he was introduced as an award winning actor and producer because it was agreed on that his acting would not be the focus of the interview. Jian kept his questions focused on the music (“when did the band form?”) and BBT didn’t cooperate (“I don’t understand what you’re talking about”). He also didn’t bring his drums to the studio and made his bandmates play without him. Watch the video.

BBT refered to us as “mashed potatoes without the gravy” which is really quite hurtfull because we are all about the gravy (poutine!) and he said we are a boring audience. I’ve been to lots of shows and the audience is usually only boring if they are not being entertained. The giant FAIL of this situation is not on us BBT, it’s you. Now instead of being taken as a serious musician you’re not going to be taken seriously at all, and I can only assume that your band members now hate you for making them look like idiots.

Stacey: Boo on you Billy Bob.  Tisk tisk.  talk about biting the hand that feeds.  Too bad, I was always a BBT fan.  Thought he was sexy in a quirky, odd ball kind of way and he is a really talented actor.   However, I will now judge him not on his talent but by how he behaves, so he is officially in my crap list (which is long and distinguished). 

Canadians rock!  And if you couldn’t figure that out, then we don’t want you anyways…and for the record, you aren’t even mashed potatoes; you are a big, lumpy, dirty REGULAR potatoe!

Joe Jonas, Snoop Dogg & Miley Cyrus at the 2011 MTV Music Awards

Snoop Dogg was talking to the Sunyesterday and said he’d like to collaborate with Miley Cyrus and the Jonas Brothers to make a little “gansta pop”. Did he come up with this during his Wake ‘N Bake show?

Well Snoop, I think you’ll have to wait a few years for that. Parents wouldn’t like it which means Disney won’t go for it. The tween gravy train is pushing forward in full force and Disney would be idiots to try and change the route now. I’m a Snoop fan, but my 3 yr old niece is a huge Miley fan and sings her songs non-stop. The thought of her saying “It’s mutha f*ckin’ Miley, bitch” makes me cringe.

So let us save this unusual pairing for a few years. Miley will start to grow up (and hopefully stop sleeping in her parents’ bed), Disney will drop Hannah Montana, and girl is gonna need some money because daddy spent it all on highlights and motorbikes. Then this might happen.

Stacey: Tanya, you got mad photoshopping skills!  Joe Jonas has got a great rack!

Love the pic…love the idea more.  Snoop would scare the crap outta those Mickey Mousers…well, he scares me anyways.  I think its how tall and spindly he is…and the eyes…*shiver*.