Urgent. Infectious. Energised. That’s how Ben Harper & Relentless7’s live performance has been characterised… If you didn’t have the chance to check them out at last years Bluesfest or with Pearl Jam and Liam Finn, or if you did and loved them, check this out:

They are releasing a CD/DVD, out April 2, filmed during the Montreal International Jazz Festival in 2009 performing songs from their album White Lies For Dark Times.

• Good Times, Bad Times – Led Zeppelin cover
• Red House – Jimi Hendrix cover
• Another Lonely Day – from Ben Harper’s album Fight For Your Mind
• Under Pressure – Queen & David Bowie cover
• Serve Your Soul – from Ben Harper’s album Both Sides of The Gun

If you have been near a radio of TV this week you would have heard Erika out and about promoting her new single Kingdom and everyone falling in love with her…

Last week she appeared on the 7PM Project:

And she’s given us listen a new track which appears on her iTunes EP called Mind Games. It’s different to Kingdom – we like to think of it as Erika’s chill out sessions track! Click here to listen:

Mind Games by theinsound

If you want to keep updated on all things Erika you should become a fan at facebook.com/erikaheynatz

Last week we were fortunate enough to take David Guetta around Sydney, introducing him the Sunrise crew and one giant egg… but eventually David had to head out on the town for himself – and how!

This Saturday, David appeared at two of the world’s biggest parties: the official Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras party and Sydney’s Future Music Festival – and still had enough energy to pop down to Bondi Beach for lunch. If you were anywhere on the East Coast this weekend, you must have felt the thumping bass and seen the colourful costumes pouring out of both parties, but the few below earned our respect:

After sending 30,000 Future Music punters apes*it (overhearing Future Music-goers’ hyped conversations in Central Stn that morning, Guetta’s set was THE set they were desperate not to miss), David swiftly headed over to the Entertainment Quarter for the Mardi Gras party.

Get a load of this – When Loves Takes Over featuring Kelly Rowland, weddings, an Archbishop (wonder which?),  beautiful boys and girls, some teeny-tiny Greek tunics, and a whole load of glitter confetti!

PS, I’M STILL DAVID GUETTA, BITCH!

Jamie T takes home NME’s Best Solo Artist for the 2nd time for his Kings & Queens album which features Triple J hits Sticks n’ Stones and Chaka Demus.

Jamie’s brilliant performance at Falls Festival is on Live At The Wireless tonight at 8pm EST on triple j. Tune in or stream it online  at www.abc.net.au/triplej/

We’re based in Sydney Australia, and although we cherish the beaches, sun, and the beloved Annandale Hotel, sometimes it’s frustrating to know that some of the best gigs are happening over the other side of the world.

That’s where the interwebz comes into play. This weekend, the magical Bird And The Bee will perform songs from their forthcoming album Interpreting the Masters Volume 1: A Tribute to Daryl Hall and John Oates, live at the El Rey in Los Angeles… people in Cali are busting their guts for tickets to this gig, whilst we can watch it online, live and for free. Tune in on Saturday March 6, at 3pm (AEST) to watch the Friday night L.A. performance.

The Bird & The Bee’s Hall & Oates tribute album will be released by Blue Note Records on March 1 in Australia, but the show this Saturday will be the only chance to see the band perform these songs live. Watch at www.livestream.com/thebirdandthebee to chat and discuss via twitter and facebook, or for the simpler experience, watch it on the player below:

A few of us here at EMI have had the absolute pleasure of working with David Guetta this week.  Not only is he a superstar DJ who has played to millions of party-goers, sold millions of albums (over 4 records), worked with stars like AKON, Kelly Rowland, Black Eyed Peas, Kid Cudi and Queen of Pop Madonna (new single apparently on the way – eeeep!), won a Grammy….he is just an all round good bloke!  Ever the gentleman and always polite, we’ve had a great time showing him round our neck of the woods!

This morning he appearead on Sunrise with guest vocalist and good friend Kelly Rowland.  If you missed the high-energy performance of their hit When Love Takes Over check it out HERE.

On the way out of the Sunrise studios, we came across a life-size egg, who was allegedly giving money away on the show.  Unfortunately we did not nab any of his cash but I did nab this priceless photo:

Weird?  Definitely.  But it made me think of this past hit by David Guetta Vs The Egg!

David is playing Future Music Festival around the nation and has released a tour edition of One Love exclusive to Australia to celebrate!  Make sure you get along to a show and say ‘Bonjour!’ (or G’day?) to our favourite Frenchie!

FULL PLASTIC BEACH ALBUM STREAM HERE!
Let us know what you think…

The album is in stores tomorrow but beat the rest of them and pre-ordered now on iTunes:

• Special Edition from iTunes.
• Standard Edition from iTunes.

I do love an expensive Hype Williams-directed Kanye West video. It’s pretty awesome in Katy Perry’s Walking Up in Vegas that they closed down the Vegas strip for a cruise in the yellow Ferrari.

And, hello, Gorillaz just drove off a cliff after a desert drag race with Bruce Willis! Epic.

But, I think this week the nerds might have won in the video stakes. OK Go’s (2nd video) for ‘This Too Shall Pass’ has premiered and it is sheer genius, pure fun, and brilliantly inventive.

The band, along with the Synth Labs collective (scarily smart technologists, engineers and scientists – see the team’s video cameo below), collaborated over a series of months to create their very own Rube Goldberg machine.

Frontman Damian Kulash Jr. explained, “We wanted to make a video where we have essentially a giant machine that we dance with.” This was an all hands on deck project, with Damian Sr. pitching in. Full story and all for episodes of the Making Of This To Shall Pass over at Wired.

New album Of The Blue Colour Of Sky is on iTunes.

Between The Aussie BBQ, Miami Horror / Phoenix, and Prodigy / Does It Offend You, Yeah? our whole office is on gig overload this week… and it’s only Wedenesday!

All reports claim the Miami / Phoenix show last night set the the Hordern Pavillion on fire, but I’m actually super excited about the local lads supporting Phoenix tonight… Papa v Pretty are currently working on a six track EP with Mr Paul Dempsey at Sydney’s Alberts Studios, and are playing with both Dempsey and You Am I on their upcoming respective national tours!

The band of Tom R, Tom M, and Gus are entirely too talented for their just-post-HSC age, are part of an incredibly prolific artistic student enclave (check out the student film music video for Citizen #1), and truly know how to rip it up on the geeetar, bass and drums.

For proof, tune in to Ballad (it’s really not a ballad) and Sleep (Again) on myspace.com/papavspretty.

Last week, the honey-voiced Angus and Julia Stone performed a beautiful acoustic version of And The Boys in the Nova Melbourne studios.

It’s called an acoustic version, but honestly this track doesn’t come much more stripped back than on the album. It’s deliciously simple:

The brother & sister duo also chatted to Nova’s Merrick, Dools & Ricki-Lee about sharing a sibling’s headspace, finishing eachother’s sentences… and sacrificing goats. Listen to the interview here and check out the photo gallery  of their visit here.