The Civil Wars Debut at No. 1 on Billboard 200 Albums Chart

The Civil Wars Debut at No. 1 on Billboard 200 Albums Chart

Though the duo may be on a touring hiatus, the Civil Wars are celebrating their first No. 1 album this week. The act's new self-titled set debuts atop the Billboard 200 chart, selling 116,000 copies according to Nielsen SoundScan. LATEST FROM CIVIL WARS It's easily the best sales week for the pair (Joy Williams and John Paul White) who previously saw a one-week high after the Grammy Awards in 2012, when their full-length debut, "Barton Hollow," shifted 36,000. Its sales that week were buoyed by the duo's performance on the Awards, which shot the album from No. 41 to its peak of No. 10 on the chart. The Civil Wars has been on hiatus since last November, citing "internal discord and irreconcilable differences of ambition." While the act is not performing shows to promote the new album, Williams has been giving interviews to the press. White, however, has been keeping a low profile and has not spoke to the media. A sturdy 69% of "The Civil Wars'" first week sales came from digital retailers. Its download sales of 81,000 easily place it at No. 1 on the Digital Albums chart as well. Last week's No. 1, Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines," falls to No. 3 with 65,000 (down 63%). The runner-up title last week, Five Finger Death Punch's "The Wrong Side of Heaven and the Righteous Side of Hell, Volume 1," falls to No. 8 with 35,000 (down 69%). The new "Now 47" compilation arrives at No. 2 this week with 82,000 -- a figure slightly lower than the 91,000 that the "Now 46" set started with in May. All 47 of the regular, numbered, "Now" albums have reached the top 10, and all but the first debuted in the top 10. The Civil Wars: Track-By-Track Review Jay Z's "Magna Carta… Holy Grail" slides 3-4 with 48,000 (down 22%) and the "Teen Beach Movie" soundtrack holds at No. 6 with 38,000 (down 19%). Rock band Asking Alexandria nets its highest-charting album and best sales week yet, as "From Death to Destiny" debuts at No. 5 with 41,000. It surpasses the No. 9 debut and peak of its last release, 2011's "Reckless & Relentless," which moved 31,000 in its first week. Imagine Dragons' "Night Visions" profits from a $7.99 sale price in the iTunes Store, as the album vaults from No. 11 to No. 7 with 37,000 (up 46%). In terms of download sales, it rose by 87% for the week (climbing 10-3 on the Digital Albums chart). Gospel artist Tye Tribbett claims his first top 10 album, as his new "Greater Than" bows at No. 9 with a career-best sales frame of 30,000. He had previously gone as high as No. 16 with "Stand Out" (with his group G.A.). "Greater Than" also enter at No. 1 on the Gospel Albums chart -- Tribbett's fourth leader on that tally. Rounding out the top 10 on the Billboard 200 this week is Florida Georgia Line's "Here's to the Good Times," which is a non-mover at No. 10 with 26,000 (down 8%). THICKE HOLDS, JAY Z RISES ON DIGITAL SONGS CHART Over on the Digital Songs chart, Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines" (featuring Pharrell and T.I.) holds at No. 1 for a tenth non-consecutive week, selling another 346,000 downloads (down 14%). Jay Z's "Holy Grail" (featuring Justin Timberlake) rises 3-2 with 166,000 (up 2%), Miley Cyrus' "We Can't Stop" falls 2-3 with 158,000 (down 10%) and Imagine Dragons' "Radioactive" is steady at No. 4 with 132,000 (down 15%). Anna Kendrick's "Cups" is a non-mover at No. 5 (114,000; up 4%), Avicii's "Wake Me Up!" jets 9-6 (113,000; up 13%) and Daft Punk's "Get Lucky" (featuring Pharrell Williams) is stationary at No. 7 (just under 113,000; up 10%). Drake's "Hold On, We're Going Home" is the chart's highest debut, as it starts at No. 8 with 109,000. The track features Canadian duo Majid Jordan and the latest preview single from Drake's upcoming studio album, "Nothing Was the Same." Lana Del Rey's breakout single "Summertime Sadness" (with Cedric Gervais), zips into the top 10, rising 13-9 with 101,000 (up 24%). 64% of the song's overall sales this week come from the uptempo dance remix produced by Gervais. The song was originally recorded as a dreamy ballad for Del Rey's "Born to Die" album. The track concurrently rises 22-17 on the Pop Songs airplay chart (known as Mainstream Top 40 on Billboard.biz) with a 47% gain in audience on top 40 radio. Drake's OVO Fest Surprises With Kanye West, Lil Wayne Capital Cities' "Safe and Sound" closes the top 10, as it falls 8-10 with 99,000 (down 3%). Overall album sales in this past chart week (ending Aug. 11) totaled 4.71 million units, down 7% compared with the sum last week (5.08 million) and down 5% compared with the comparable sales week of 2012 (4.96 million). Year to date album sales stand at 171.01 million, down 6% compared to the same total at this point last year (182.24 million). Digital track sales this past week totaled 22.10 million downloads, down 3% compared with last week (22.76 million) and down 8% stacked next to the comparable week of 2012 (24.03 million). Year to date track sales are at 820.24 million, down 3% compared to the same total at this point last year (845.43 million). Next week's Billboard 200 competes with the same week in 2012 when: 2 Chainz's "Based on a T.R.U. Story" debuted at No. 1 with 147,000. The previous week's No. 1, the "Now 43" compilation, fell to No. 2 with 75,000 (down 32%).



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'I thought Blur was all over': Alex James talks the band and headlining Big Day Out

'I thought Blur was all over': Alex James talks the band and headlining Big

Big Day Out headliner Blur are thrilled about joining next year's line-up, but bass player Alex James says the Britpop four-piece plan to not only deliver great shows, but also dominate when it comes to backstage table tennis. ''We're the table tennis champions, no one will take us; Damon (singer/keyboardist Damon Albarn) is our star player,'' James told Fairfax Media ahead of the band's upcoming shows in Dublin, Rome and Milan. It's a new audience and a lot of them can't have been born when Blur first started ... splitting up was the best thing we ever did, probably. Blur, Seattle rock band Pearl Jam and Grammy Award-winning Canadian group Arcade Fire are joint headliners for next year's travelling festival, with Snoop Dogg (aka Snoop Lion), Tame Impala, hip-hop/mash up act Major Lazer and New Zealand's post-punk band The Naked And Famous among other main stage performers. Blur will be performing at the Big Day Out. Blur frontman Alex James, second right, says breaking the band up was probably a wise move ... now they're headlining the Big Day Out. Photo: Linda Brownlee The Big Day Out (BDO) comes to Melbourne's Flemington Racecourse on January 24 and makes two stops at the Sydney Showgrounds on January 26 and 27. Pearl Jam, who along with Blur makes their Big Day Out debut, will play different sets at each Sydney show. Blur will close the festival each night. Advertisement ''It's hugely exciting and there's something for everybody there,'' James said. "It's a while since we've played festivals, but everything about festivals has got better ... the only thing you can't guarantee is the weather. ''We had a great time in Australia last time (in 1997), so I think it's going to be crazy. I'm having my mind blown by travelling all over the world again with the band, it's fantastic, and we're playing better than we ever have before. Pearl Jam is performing at Big Day Out. 'Gangbuster show' ... Pearl Jam is performing at Big Day Out, with Blur and Arcade Fire. Photo: Danny Clinch ''I thought Blur was all over, but we had an amazing year last year – we were given a Brit [Award], released a couple of new songs, did a big show to mark the end of the Olympics in Hyde Park and we thought 'let's get to some places we haven't been to for a while' to say thank you to everyone for their patience and support.'' James said he, Albarn, guitarist Graham Coxon and drummer Dave Rowntree, who together have released seven albums including 1994's Parklife, were enjoying live shows and touring more than ever. ''You start off playing to 200 people and then you're playing to 2000, and we never really had any sense of how special what we had was,'' the 44-year-old said. ''It's really wonderful the shows we've been doing, it's a new audience and a lot of them can't have been born when Blur first started ... splitting up was the best thing we ever did, probably.'' Thirty-two acts have been revealed in the first of the BDO announcement, with Grammy nominated folk/rock group The Lumineers, indie-pop darlings Grouplove, Portland rockers Portugal. The Man, local band Kingswood and Loon Lake among the acts. BDO founder Ken West said he would make the festival ''pretty magical'' for fans, the musicians and support staff on tour. More acts will be announced in the coming months. ''We're pumped about how many good people are coming ... great acts with such a great body of work,'' West said. ''The timing of when you get acts is really important too, particularly if they've got a big catalogue.'' Snoop Dogg is one of the main stage performers that West was thrilled to attract to the BDO for the first time. ''You want to make sure the audience is entertained, but you want as much depth as you can get and what I particularly liked about this year's process was that it's been very interactive with the main acts,'' he said. ''You've got Major Lazer with a track on Snoop's album, you've got Blur with Damon, who did the Gorillaz album that Snoops' got a track on, then you've got Mudhoney (who feature in the new Cosmic Psychos documentary Blokes You Can Trust) and the Cosmic Psychos. Mudhoney was brought up by Eddy (Vedder) and then we went: 'Well, we need the Psychos as well.' ''We're trying to make sure we've got a show that works for the people that's also a great exercise in building some on-road camaraderie, and they're the sort of artists that are open to that kind of thing.'' House veteran Steve Angello (Swedish House Mafia) and Sydney's 21-year-old beatmaker Flume (Harley Streten) will be among the main attractions in the Boiler Room, while Pittsburgh's rising hip-hop star Mac Miller, Chicago's Flosstradamus and 23-year-old Toro Y Moi have all signed up for this year's BDO adventure. ''The line up is strong ... you wouldn't be able to get these three (headline acts) on the one day anywhere else in the world,'' West said. ''We had an opportunity to put a gangbuster show together, we've got that and we're going to make sure it's the best experience.'' Alex James, meanwhile, also plans to indulge his love of cheese while travelling around the country. ''We'll see you over there in January, big smiles on our faces,'' he said. ''Excellent.'' The Big Day Out launches in Auckland, New Zealand, January 17 and travels to a new site on the Gold Coast before arriving in Melbourne. Following the Sydney shows, the festival travels to Adelaide and Perth. Tickets for Melbourne's Big Day Out go on sale August 9 and both Sydney shows go on sale August 8. Artists who are currently listed as performing: THE 1975 THE ALGORITHM ARCADE FIRE BEN MORRIS BIG GIGANTIC BLUR BO NINGEN COSMIC PSYCHOS DIIV DILLON FRANCIS DZ DEATHRAYS FLOSSTRADAMUS FLUME GHOST GROUPLOVE KINGSWOOD LOON LAKE MAC MILLER MAJOR LAZER MUDHONEY THE LUMINEERS THE NAKED AND FAMOUS NORTHLANE PEARL JAM PEKING DUK PEZ PORTUGAL. THE MAN RÜFÜS SNOOP DOGG STEVE ANGELLO TAME IMPALA TORO Y MOI


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Portland, Oregon boast Conscious Musicians The Story of Laura Berman

 Portland, Oregon boast Conscious Musicians  The Story of Laura Berman

Portland, Oregon boast Conscious Musicians The Story of Laura Berman Added by Stasia Bliss on May 25, 2013. Saved under Entertainment, Family, Headlines, Oregon, Stasia Bliss Laura Berman Conscious music is on the rise, especially in Portland, Oregon. Musicians like Laura Berman choose lyrics that inspire the soul and lift the spirit. Instead of co-dependent love songs and painful break-up messages, Laura sings about reconnecting to the truth of who we are and how to approach life with a positive attitude. Originally from New York City, Laura Berman moved to Portland and found home. It began in New York City, when Laura would go to Manhattan and watch shows on Broadway as a kid. ”I would feel like I walked a little higher afterwards“, she said “yes, there is definitely a Broadway show in me“. She wanted to study music in college, but attending the University of Massachusetts she felt all the requirements she needed to complete prevented her from doing that, so she joined a jazz ensemble and majored in art and psychology. She was very interested in black and gospel music back then; playing her guitar, she began songwriting to make it through what she called ‘her dark times’. Her first song was “I found my own”, an inspirational song that spoke to her healing journey. Laura struggle a lot with confidence issues and eating disorders in her earlier years. She wants other girls to know that a negative body image, though promoted in this society, is not a healthy way to live or fulfill your dreams. It’s taken her a lot of years to get over the negative way she viewed her body, but today is standing strong in self-acceptance and allowing her dreams to manifest. By 2004, Laura had achieved a significant level of success on her own, before meeting her soon to be guitarist and later husband, Craig Benelli. Laura had performed back up to Grammy Award-winning Enya, on the David Letterman show as well as releasing her first debut CD “Love Will“. Laura needed a guitar player for her band and hired Craig Benelli, who later she married and started a band called ’4 Stories High’ with; their story is history from there. Laura toured with 4 Stories High and played for Spiritual centers as well as opening for top-selling authors, like Neale Donald Walsch, all over the nation including performing at Agape International Spiritual Center in Los Angeles. Their first CD Detour came as a result of their first tour together. In 2011, 4 Stories High received a Positive-Music Award for their hit ‘Right here all along‘ by the Empower Music association. In 2012, their song ‘Changing lives‘ became the theme song for medical show ‘Top Docs’ out of Texas. Laura says her biggest dream is having her music in a movie, and perform at the Oscars. Here is a video of Laura performing with her husband Craig and 4 Stories High at Tidings Cafe in Ashland, Oregon.



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