UK Pop Chart - 22 October 2008

This week's top ten is dominated by female artists - Rihanna, Gabriella Cilmi, Sara Barielles, Duffy and...Jordin Sparks?

Yeah, it seems like there's still life in Miss Sparks' career after all.

Better yet, we have the return of Ne-Yo and his more youthful counterpart, …

Natasha Bedingfield opening for New Kids Reunion Tour

Further proof (if you need it) of Natasha Bedingfield's conquering of America comes in the news that she's been chosen as the opening act for the New Kids On The Block reunion tour this autumn.

The tour will run for just over two months, beginning on 18 September and …

Amerie signs with Def Jam - career prospects improve dramatically...

It's always been a mystery why Amerie hasn't been more successful. With tunes like One Thing, Gotta Work, and Take Control, she's an R&B artist who should be swimming in record sales right now.

Good times might be on the horizon though - after splitting with her …

'Death Magnetic' is the new Metallica album

Can you feel the fervour building up around the new Metallica album? The band has just announced the title of its ninth studio album, Death Magnetic.

As you can see from the picture, the album cover is expected to be stark white with the album title and the 'M' from …

Lily Allen responds to Perez Hilton's bullying

Big fat celebrity pundit Perez Hilton has been taking swipes at Lily Allen lately. However, he's obviously picked on the wrong gal, as our Lily has a direct line to the public via her MySpace page.

Lily blogged today about being upset by Perez's latest blog post in …

Alice Cooper's new album 'Along Came A Spider' to be released in July

I've not bought an Alice Cooper album since Hey Stoopid, but the king of getting killed onstage is obviously still working in between rounds of golf, because Alice has a new album coming out in July!

Playing heavily to the old 'shock rock' image, the track listing has …

Recommended: Auto Defiance

I got a shout earlier today from a musician called Bradley Boyer, the guy behind a brilliant band called Auto Defiance. I'd all but stopped writing about unsigned bands because of the pitiful quality of acts that emailed me, but Auto Defiance are worth writing about!

Radio versus Recording Industry

Idolator ran this little nugget today about an ongoing battle between the RIAA (boo) and the NAB (er...yay). Basically, the RIAA are trying to squeeze the radio broadcasters for more royalties for playing their records. And yes, the common sense response is "But doesn't …

Pendulum - Propane Nightmares - Single Review

Pendulum return with Propane Nightmares, the second single from their In Silico album.

Fully justifying all the hype, the Aussie drum n bass masters have created an epic song that - for our money - fuses their penchant for dance and rock music beautifully. Not everyone …

Gabriella Cilmi - Sweet About Me - Single Review

So, Gabriella Cilmi is the latest in a long line of female artists seemingly exploiting the old jazz/blues/soul genres. Sweet About Me is reminiscent of Norah Jones and Katie Melua at their absolute best, cool and subtly flirtatious (well, Melua in that …

Fall Out Boy ft John Mayer - Beat It - Single Review

It's a known fact that rock bands love to cover Michael Jackson songs, which is why we're not surprised to learn the mascara-loving members of Fall Out Boy are covering Jackson's classic, Beat It.

On this track, they've teamed up with celebrity …

Rock: Skid Row - Slave To The Grind

Slave To The Grind was the second single off Skid Row's second album of the same name.

Why am I telling you this? Well, given the absence of decent music recently, I've delved into my old albums and have been listening to the Slave To The Grind album non-stop. I …

Who the Hell are Vampire Weekend?

Vampire Weekend are hot property at the moment. Any serious music publication is talking about them - but who are they and are they any good? This guide will tell you (mostly) everything you need to know about the band, who are not real vampires by the way. Shame, …

R.E.M. - Hollow Man - Single Review

R.E.M. release the second single from their Accelerate album, Hollow Man on 2 June 2008. In keeping with the R.E.M. renaissance vibe, Hollow Man is a very straightforward, immediate tune.

As Eric Zimmermann writes:

I think it speaks of being Middle Aged.  I think that …

Sara Bareilles - Love Song - Single Review

Fresh from chart success in her native America, Sara Bareilles is launching an assault on the British charts with a love song called Love Song...

Anyway, wasn't it The Beautiful South who started this trend of writing songs about writing songs? Jennifer, Alison, …

Love In This Club

It's about time we talked about Usher's latest single, Love In This Club. Long terms readers of this blog will know my thoughts on Usher and how much I resent his existence in the pop charts.

However, no-one can deny the greatness of this track. Not only is this a …

The Zutons - Always Right Behind You

We've always been right behind The Zutons. Their first album was a masterpiece of riff-laden retro rock, and their second spawned one of the biggest hits of this decade.

However, we're left slightly disappointed by Always Right Behind You, a slip into glam-era …

Panic At The Disco - That Green Gentleman (Things Have Changed)

Panic release their second single from Pretty.Odd, That Green Gentleman. Oh, and it's the song that features the album title in the lyrics - we love spotting those ones!

The surrealism of previous Panic At The Disco songs remains, but this acoustic tune is far more …

Rumours abound: Pink Floyd may reunite?

If hints dropped by Floyd's Dave Gilmour recently are anything to go by, the band's brief Live 8 reunion might not be the last time the Pink Floyd OAPs club performs on stage.

Only joking about the OAPs thing, serious fans - we love Pink Floyd here!

Apparently Gilmour …