Alanis Morissette loses millions in burglary: report

LOS ANGELES | Burglars made off with $2 million in jewelry from singer Alanis Morissette’s home in the upscale Los Angeles neighborhood of Brentwood, U.S. media reported Tuesday.

The Canadian-born alternative rock giant was not at home when the thieves struck on Thursday, celebrity news website TMZ said, although police were not immediately able to confirm the report.

The break-in comes less than two weeks after Morissette’s former business manager, who worked for other entertainment and sports figures, admitted embezzling more than $6.5 million from his clients.

Jonathan Schwartz, 48, entered his plea to federal wire and tax fraud charges for failing to disclose the embezzled funds to the Internal Revenue Service.

He is due to be sentenced on May 3, and faces a prison term between four and six years.

He acknowledged that between May 2010 and January 2014, he withdrew about $4.8 million belonging to Morissette without her knowledge or authorization.

Morissette said in a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles last year that she fired Schwartz after growing suspicious when he could not provide timely information on her finances.

The singer was the voice behind a string of energetic rock anthems in the mid-1990s including “You Oughta Know,” “Hand in My Pocket” and “You Learn.”

Her 1995 album “Jagged Little Pill” won the Grammy for Album of the Year, making the then 21-year-old Morissette the youngest winner of the prestigious award until Taylor Swift.

source: interaksyon.com

Red Hot Chili Peppers ready with first album in five years

NEW YORK | Red Hot Chili Peppers on Thursday announced their first album in five years, with the rockers switching producers but keeping their signature funky touches.

The Los Angeles band, among leading figures in the alternative rock boom of the 1990s, said that its 11th studio album, “The Getaway,” would come out on June 17.

The Chili Peppers immediately put out a single from the album, “Dark Necessities,” which opens with a solo by bassist Flea before building over five minutes.

In classic Chili Pepper style, the rock style is infused with a subtle funky beat and the lyrics take a dark turn, with frontman Anthony Kiedis singing from the perspective of an addict needing a fix.

The album is the first by the Chili Peppers since 2011′s “I’m With You,” which brought in guitarist Josh Klinghoffer, who is a generation younger than his bandmates.

In a departure, the band did not work with veteran producer Rick Rubin, who has guided each of the band’s albums since 1991′s mainstream breakthrough “Blood Sugar Sex Magik.”

Instead of Rubin, a prolific producer of rock and rap known for his hard-edged sound, Red Hot Chili Peppers tapped Danger Mouse, another diverse producer whose background lies in hip-hop but notably worked on Adele’s blockbuster latest album “25.”

The Chili Peppers plan to promote “The Getaway” with a string of appearances at major festivals including Japan’s Fuji Rock, Roskilde in Denmark, Reading and Leeds in England and the 25th anniversary of Lollapalooza, which started as an alternative rock extravaganza that traveled the United States and now is held every summer in Chicago.

The Chili Peppers on Thursday announced additional dates, with the tour now scheduled to end October 16 at the Bercy arena in Paris.

source: interaksyon.com

Maroon 5, Adam Levine get ‘Overexposed’ on new album

LOS ANGELES – Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine may have charmed TV viewers as a judge on NBC’s hit singing competition “The Voice”, but music critics have given mixed reviews to the band’s latest album “Overexposed”, out on Tuesday.

The album is the fourth studio effort from the Los Angeles quintet led by Levine, who shot to fame in 2002 with singles “This Love” and “She Will Be Loved”, from their debut album “Songs About Jane.”

“Overexposed” sees the band moving away from the alternative rock that influenced their previous records, and embracing pop music wholeheartedly.

The set has already spawned a hit with the angst-driven lead single “Payphone” featuring rapper Wiz Khalifa, and the band is following up with reggae-infused second single “One More Night.”

“Payphone” has had 2.7 million digital song sales in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

But reviews for “Overexposed” are mixed, with the album earning a score of 51 out of 100 on review aggregator site Metacritic.com.

Entertainment Weekly’s Adam Markovitz criticized the album’s lyrics, saying “verses alternate between horndog rhapsodies … and bratty put-downs of some Everygirl who always disappoints.” He said the “strongest wordcraft” was in the album title.

Levine, who co-wrote each track on the album, stuck to the themes that Maroon 5 is best known for — love and heartache, with playful innuendos.

The singer also conjures up the troublesome femme fatale throughout the album in tracks such as “Lucky Strike” and “Tickets”, where Levine sings of his female subject being “perfect on the outside, but nothing at the core.”

In “Ladykiller,” Levine pays a subtle homage to the late Michael Jackson with his falsetto in the chorus singing “she’s in it just to win it, don’t trust her for a minute.”

The band revive ’80s disco sounds in tracks such as “Tickets” and “Doin Dirt”, and club-friendly beats in “Lucky Strike” and “Love Somebody”, — the two tracks on which One Republic’s hit-maker Ryan Tedder makes his mark on lyrics and production.

The move towards pop comes after the band scored its biggest hit with the single “Moves Like Jagger,” featuring Christina Aguilera, which has sold 5.2 million copies in the U.S. since June 2011 according to Nielsen SoundScan.

The song’s success was fueled by Levine and Aguilera’s roles as judges on “The Voice”, which has seen their popularity soar in the last year.

But Maroon 5 also makes sure on the new album to feature its acoustic roots from 10 years ago, showcasing Levine’s voice against a guitar-driven melody on “Beautiful Goodbye,” and in the anthemic “Daylight.” Levine gives his rawest performance in “Sad,” a piano ballad of heartbreak and personal anguish.

Rob Sheffield at Rolling Stone called “Overexposed” the band’s “best yet,” giving it three and a half stars out of five and praising Levine, who “cops to the slick Hollywood sex-panther role he’s perfected on TV, wheedling and pitching woo to every lady within earshot.”

Caroline Sullivan at British newspaper The Guardian said the album’s “hooklines and characteristic high-shine production are there,” but didn’t replicate the “blue-sky charm” of “Moves Like Jagger,” giving the record three out of five stars.

article source: interaksyon.com