Tag Archives: new york

Bloc Party unveil album details | Music News

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Less than a year ago there was doubt over Bloc Party producing another record again. This week they’ve announced the release of their fourth album, ‘FOUR’, set for release on 20th August via Frenchkiss Records.

Following an extended hiatus after 2008’s critically acclaimed ‘Intimacy’, the four piece of Kele Okereke, Russell Lissack, Gordon Moakes and Matt Tong reunited in New York in the winter of 2011, prompted by a creative impetus inspired by a dramatic year in world events, as well as a shared desire to rekindle their singular musical kinship.

Teaming up with producer Alex Newport (Death Cab For Cutie, The Mars Volta, At The Drive-In), the band, in Kele’s words, “wanted to challenge ourselves by not relying on the invisible grid that seems to be mapping out all of popular music these days” and goes on to say that it “is the sound of four people in a room, loving what they do and doing it to the best of their ability. It is the sound that only the four of us could make, and I am prouder of it than any record we have ever made”.

‘FOUR’ is released August 20th via Frenchkiss Records.

Tracklist:

01. So He Begins To Lie
02. 3×3
03. Octopus
04. Real Talk
05. Kettling
06. Day Four
07. Coliseum
08. V.A.L.I.S.
09. Team A
10. Truth
11. The Healing
12. We’re Not Good People

Free Gatekeeper download ahead of new album | Music News

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New York electro due Gatekeeper have unveiled a free download, ahead of their forthcoming record ‘Exo’, which will be available worldwide July 17th, 2012 on Hippos In Tanks. Have a listen and download below:

 

External Links:

Hippos In Tanks website

Gatekeeper Facebook page

 

 

 


Hatcham Social – About Girls | Music Review

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I like About Girls. It’s a record that reminds me of the time when I first got into music, in the late 1990’s, and went to shows. It was a time when Britpop was dying and the last of the scene was coming through. The likes of the Warm Jets and Gay Dad. It’s a time that most people look back on with regret and perhaps a little bit of a snigger. Nobody’s going to describe being there in the same way they do as San Francisco in the 60’s or New York in 1977 but, d’you know what – it’s my Hacienda and I rather like it.

About Girls captures the post-Britpop sound brilliantly. It’s a better effort than their debut,You Dig The Tunnel, I’ll Hide The Soil, released in 2009 which tried to hard and had too much going on. About Girls is a less complicated and straightforward album. Less try-hard. Nobody likes a try-hard. The album works best when played as a complete album in the order it was intended. I’ve listened to this album a dozen or so times and it sounds best when you turn shuffle off on your mp3 player and play it from 1-13 with each song telling the next chapter of the story.

It begins with NY Girl, the archetypal tale of lost love, which could be Olympian-era Gene and with its driving bassline it begins with a confidence and swagger, which dissipates as the song goes on and it becomes clear this won’t end well. Nicola Tells Me is a slice of Shed Seven-esque jangly pop, Lois Lane is built entirely around a beautiful swooning bass. Little Savage appears to have borrowed heavily from the Johnny Borrell songbook but setting that aside is two and a half minutes of nice catchy hooky pop. Escape From London is that moment, committed to tape, where once in a while you need to escape the business of living in the big city and run to the hills.

About Girls isn’t just a record that’s borrowed heavily from the dying days of Britpop, it’s a record that’s the soundtrack to your emotions. Every emotion. It’s about growing up, something the band have clearly done on this record. It’s about life. It’s about love. It’s about loss. It’s about whatever emotion you want it to be, it’s got everything on here. Buy it and enjoy it and whatever you do don’t put it on shuffle!

 

About Girls is released on 2nd April 2012 by Fierce Panda Records

 

 

 

 

 

Justin Bieber's perfume rakes in over 3 million

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Justin Bieber’s debut perfume looks set to become the top-selling perfume of 2011.

The 17-year-old singer’s women’s scent, Someday, generated more than $3 million in retail sales at Macy’s in New York in under three weeks and experts are already hailing its debut on June 23 as the most successful celebrity fragrance launch in history.

Karen Grant, vice president and senior global industry analyst of the NPD Group Inc., said: “If it sustains this momentum, it will become the number-one-selling fragrance of 2011. We haven’t seen anything like it since [Jennifer Lopez’s] Glow and [Britney Spears’] Curious.”

To launch the fragrance, Justin made a personal appearance at Macy’s, where the first 325 fans who purchased the $135 Someday gift set had their pictures taken with the ‘Baby’ hitmaker and the store believe the star’s presence propelled the fragrance’s high sales.

Terry Lundgren, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Macy’s Inc., told WWD: “Justin Bieber’s Someday fragrance, propelled by Justin’s incredible personal appearance at Macy’s Herald Square, has resonated with our customers, and has now become the biggest celebrity fragrance launch on record.”

Following’s its success in Macy’s, other US stores – including Dillard’s, Boscov’s, Belk, Nordstrom, Lord & Taylor, Sephora and Ulta – are now stocking the fragrance, while it will also be sold overseas, including in the UK, Australia, Germany and New Zealand.

The fragrance was created through Give Back Brands – a company designed for entertainers to use to raise money for good causes – and the proceeds will go to several charities, including the Make-A-Wish Foundation and Pencils of Promise, an initiative which builds schools.

Robert Hollander, president of Give Back Brands, said: “Justin Bieber Someday has launched to numbers that are nothing short of astounding, making this the industry’s single most successful celebrity fragrance launch. Our retail partners simply cannot keep it in stock. Justin has truly made his mark on the fragrance industry, and we could not be more proud of this partnership.”

Kourtney Kardashian verbally abused by a drunken fan.

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The 32-year-old socialite was spending the July 4 holiday in New York’s exclusive Hamptons district with her 18-month-old son Mason when a passer-by screamed “bitch” at her.

Writing on her twitter page, Kourtney explained: “I love how I was walking nicely w my son in the Hamptons and a drunk w***e yelled BITCH because I waved at her instead of saying hi. #classy (sic)”

Up until then, the ‘Keeping Up With the Kardashians’ star had been enjoying a cruise with son Mason and boyfriend Scott Disick.

She tweeted: “Happy 4th of July babies! Nothing like a Hamptons cruise with my family. (sic)”

However, Kourtney isn’t the only member of the Kardashian clan to have encountered problems with members of the public.

Last year, her sister Kim had a drink thrown over her while filming scenes for her reality show ‘Kim and Kourtney Take New York’.

Kim said: “I want to address this because everyone has been asking me if I’m OK after the bar fight last night. I’m totally fine, guys.

“Last night, Kourtney, Scott, Khloe and I went out to a bar to have a fun night on Khloe’s last night in New York. A drunk male fan came up to me and asked to take a picture, and I obliged, but his girlfriend, who was also drunk, got a little out of hand.”

Brigitte Bardot Voted Most Stylish Woman Ever

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– ALMOST A THIRD OF BRITS VOTED BRIGITTE BARDOT MOST STYLISH WOMAN OF ALL TIME – BEATING VICTORIA BECKHAM & CHERYL COLE TO TOP SPOT
– 62% POLLED ADMIT FRENCH WOMEN ARE MOST STYLISH OF ALL TIME
– PARIS VOTED WORLD’S MOST STYLISH CITY, CLOSELY FOLLOWED BY MILAN

French actress Brigitte Bardot has been voted the most stylish woman of all time in a new UK-wide poll.

The 1960’s film star outscored a bevy of beauties, including a number of dazzling British female style icons, to land the crown as the world’s most stylish woman.

She polled almost three out of every 10 votes cast (29.5%) in the nationwide poll of 3,000 Brits across the UK by iconic orange soft drink Orangina.

Legendary English rose and Hollywood icon, Elizabeth Taylor, who sadly died this year, came a very close second, with just a few percentage points between her and Bardot.

Bardot, the former fashion model, actress and singer, is now aged 76 and is a world-renowned animal rights activist. But in her 1960’s heyday she was lauded across the world as the epitome of glamorous French style, with her dress sense and iconic hairstyle copied in shops, fashion houses and hair salons in across the globe.

The poll results also illustrate that the English can’t help but admire the French for their cutting-edge style.

A massive 62% of those polled said that France was quite rightly renowned as the home of the most stylish women throughout history.

Famous French women such as fashion queen Coco Chanel, actresses such as Juliette Binoche, Catherine Deneuve and Emmanuelle Béart, and former model now president’s wife Carla Bruni, have helped establish French femmes as the leading lights in the global style stakes, according to those polled in the national study.

Paris also won the vote for the world’s most stylish city too, beating Milan into second place, New York into third and London into fourth.

Orangina spokesman, Steven Simpson, said: “The British and the French may have had their differences historically, but it is clear the French sense of style hasn’t been lost on the British.

“Brigitte Bardot is the epitome of classic French styling and despite being out of the limelight for all these years, she is still held up as a style icon.

“She was the pin-up girl for a golden age and has never been forgotten in France and, it seems, in Britain. The fact that she still ranks higher in style terms than some of Britain’s won modern style queens says it all.”

The top ten most stylish women of all time are-

Brigitte Bardot
Elizabeth Taylor
Victoria Beckham
Cheryl Cole
Joan Collins
Audrey Hepburn
Grace Kelly
Sophia Loren
Marilyn Monroe
Princess Diana

New York World's Top Destination; New York Stats

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Britain’s ‘crucial’ New York link is world’s most popular route – meaning you could wait longer for a pizza than a flight to the Big Apple

More than 3.6 million passengers have flown from Heathrow to New York over the last year as it continues to be the world’s most popular transcontinental route, figures out today show.

Flights between the two cities are so frequent that you would often wait longer for a pizza, a train or maybe even a cab. March saw an average of one departure an hour during the day and one every 15 minutes during peak evening hours.

Waiting times across the airport are also down. Heathrow passengers get through security in under five minutes 99 percent of the time and last month’s average time for returning bags fell to just 30 minutes from the last one being unloaded off the plane.

Heathrow’s most popular route is essential for international business and tourism, linking the world’s two financial capitals. But as the UK’s only hub airport, Heathrow is the premier stop-off point for Americans flying on to Europe, India and the Middle East just as it is for Brits living across the UK.

The key distinction between a hub airport like Heathrow and point-to-point airports like Stansted is that long haul flights are sustained through ‘feeder’ planes that bring in passengers from around the globe. This makes Heathrow’s 180 destinations economically viable, since seats would not be full if used just by Londoners.

While travellers come to Heathrow from across the UK, domestic flights from Heathrow have declined due to capacity constraints, with carriers choosing more profitable routes.

But as one of the most competitive and profitable around, six major airlines operate flights to New York every day from London – American Airlines, British Airways, Continental and United Airlines (now merged), Delta, Kuwait Airlines and Virgin Atlantic.

Improving business confidence is reflected in business travel between the two financial centres. A total of 758,000 business passengers travelled the route during 2010. The latest figures from MergerMarket suggest that a total of 4,107 cross border M&A deals were announced in 2010, up approximately 34% on 2009

But whether it’s a shopping trip to Macy’s or Bloomingdales or a stroll through Central Park (which is bigger than Monaco), New York is also popular with leisure travellers. Around 9.7 million of the 48.7 million people who visited New York last year were international visitors and of a good proportion of those are British. Around 80 percent of flyers between London and New York are leisure travellers.

With the upcoming royal wedding, however, the tables are set to turn as London gets ready for an American invasion with thousands of US tourists expected to fly into London.

Sir Richard Branson, president of Virgin Atlantic, said:

“The London to New York route is a very special one for Virgin Atlantic, as the airline was launched with our very first commercial flight to Newark back in 1984. As a business route it has been crucial in connecting two of the world’s most important business hubs, and as a leisure route it has enabled British and American holidaymakers alike to enjoy the culture and excitement of the respective cities.

“Twenty-seven years on this remains our strongest route, with five flights to ‘the Big Apple’ a day operating out of Heathrow. We look forward to welcoming many thousands more passengers onboard in the coming years and to helping business and tourism flourish.”

Andrew Crawley, British Airways’ commercial director, said:

“New York has long been a vital destination for us and it’s no surprise that it has become the most popular long-haul route in the world from our home hub of Heathrow. From a BA perspective, it’s benefiting from our joint business with American Airlines and Iberia. Customers now have more options to suit their schedule or budget and the ability to mix and match prices and flights. With fourteen flights a day we effectively offer a transatlantic shuttle service on the route. It’s a winning combination and proving extremely popular with our customers.”

Frank Jahangir, Delta’s vice president of sales, said:

“The London Heathrow and New York route is the leading business route on the transatlantic and was actually the first flight that Delta operated from Heathrow following the EU-US Open Skies agreement in 2008. Access to Heathrow is a key priority for Delta and the popularity of the route means that after just three years we now fly three times daily with lie flat beds in our business cabin between the two great financial centres of the world.”

Colin Matthews, chief executive of BAA, Heathrow’s owners, said:

“New York is Heathrow’s top route. Family ties and friendship, trade and tourism link our two great cities. London is also a staging post for many Americans travelling to Europe and the Far East and it’s our goal to ensure Heathrow is the preferred hub against stiff competition from Europe and the Middle East. Passenger surveys show that investment in Heathrow is paying off in improved service and we look forward to welcoming visitors over Easter and the royal wedding.”

Colin Stanbridge, chief executive of London Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) said:

“The importance to the UK of trade with the United States cannot be underestimated. They are our largest global trading partners and we are their biggest investors. LCCI issued ATA Carnets – passports for goods – for use in America with a total document value of over £800m between April 2010 and March 2011. Trade with the United States is a vital facet of the UK economy.”

Danny Lopez, Interim CEO, London & Partners said’:

‘The London – New York connection is extremely important to the capital as the USA remains the largest investor and inbound visitor market for the city. London is already the world’s most visited international destination, and as we look forward to the exciting events of the next two years, including the Royal Wedding, the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and the Games in 2012, we expect to see even more visitors coming from the USA whether it be for work, study or pleasure.’

NEW YORK TRIVIA

New York City was the U.S. capital from 1789 to 1790

More than 47 percent of New York City’s residents over the age of 5 speak a language other than English at home

According to Crain’s New York Business, the average sale price of an apartment in Manhattan during the Q4 of 2007 was a $1.49 million.

The Federal Reserve Bank on New York’s Wall Street contains vaults that are located 80 feet beneath the bank and hold about 25 percent of the world’s gold bullion.

Some Yellow Cab stats (source: Time Out New York)
Yellow Cabs are yellow because John Hertz, the company’s founder, learned from a study that yellow was the easiest color for the eye to spot. This is also why signs at Heathrow have black text on a yellow background.

Average trip: 2.74 miles
Number of trips per hour: 2.69
Average net income per hour: $20
Number of licensed drivers: 48,220
Total trips per day citywide: 503,969
Total fare-box yield per day citywide: $5,555,741.00