Heather Phares
No wonder Paula Abdul thought Jason Castro had already sung two times after the first round of performances on last night’s American Idol: the show was so dull and disappointing that it felt at least twice as long as it was. This had to be the weakest episode yet — you know you’re in trouble when Paula’s extreme befuddlement and shots of The Girls Next Door’s Bridget and Kendra in the audience are more exciting than the performances. Though he was hindered by some very scripted “witty” banter with Ryan Seacrest and a questionable new ‘do, David Cook proved again that it’s his competition to lose, turning in solid versions of lesser-known Neil Diamond songs that sounded like they could be on the radio — or, at least, commercials on the radio. David Archuleta was as squeaky-clean as ever with two of Neil’s schlockier numbers, “Sweet Caroline” and “Coming to America” (chosen in memory of Kristy Lee Cook, no doubt), and Brooke was her usual uneven self, turning in a dreadful “I’m a Believer” in head-to-toe sparkly denim but redeeming herself on one of the ultimate singer/songwriter songs, “I Am I Said.” And even though Paula’s comments for Jason Castro were premature, they weren’t inaccurate (since they were probably based on the dress rehearsal): Jason fared better on the hippie-dippy pop of “Forever in Blue Jeans” than he did on “September Morn,” which was only slightly less schmaltzy — but less affecting — than his whispery version of “Memory” from last week. Finally, Syesha continued to be the most polished and most forgettable contestant with “Hello,” and then remembered that she was supposed to be having fun like last week with “Thank the Lord for the Nighttime.” Both performances were fine, but her understated professionalism just might be her undoing this week.

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Thom Yorke says Radiohead won’t repeat In Rainbows‘ “pay what you want” release. VH1 will also air a complete live performance of the album by the band this Saturday, and they’ve also donated a track to MTV’s EXIT human rights campaign. [NME.com, Rollingstone, ateaseweb.com]

Britney Spears is back on How I Met Your Mother as “bubbly secretary Abby” on the show’s May 12 episode. [Billboard.com]

“It was more like pulled pork now,” said the woman who found the inflatable pig Roger Waters lost at Coachella while on her morning jog (in a Pink Floyd t-shirt!). [EW.com]

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Fredo Viola’s music could be described in a number of ways — delicate, ethereal, soothing, even otherworldly — but “staid” will never make the list. The vocalist, composer and multi-instrumentalist is quickly becoming known not only for his haunting voice, but also for his willingness to play with and explore sounds in much the same way a visual artist works with color and texture.

Born in Europe, Viola and his family moved between England and Rome before settling in the United States. Though he performed music as a child, Viola attended the Tisch School of the Arts and started his professional career as a video editor and animator after studying to be a film director. His experience in these disciplines continues to inform his music not only through his layered sounds and vivid lyrics, but also through the music videos he produces to accompany his pieces. Though his most famous work to date is “The Sad Song” (which attracted the attention of everyone from Massive Attack to fantasy author Neil Gaiman), all of Viola’s music is notable for both its intricacies and whimsy. The Sad Song EP was released on the French label Because Music in February, but if his MySpace page is any indication, he’s far from finished with his musical aspirations. Head there to hear more, or click here to see (and hear) his music video for “Silent Night”.

The Country Music Hall of Fame welcomed Emmylou Harris and stringband pioneer Ernest “Pop” Stoneman into its fold. [CountryStandardTime.com]

Scott Weiland was sentenced to serve eight days in jail for his misdemeanor DUI arrest last November. [VH1.com]

This year’s Glastonbury Festival lineup has been announced. [NME.com]

Coldplay is temporarily offering a free download of “Violet Hill,” a track from the band’s upcoming album. Download it here.

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Dallas Frazier is known as a songwriter whose tunes were recorded by George Jones, Charlie Rich, the Oak Ridge Boys, and the Hollywood Argyles, who gave Frazier his first success by turning “Alley Oop” into a hit in the early ’60s. He also had a recording career, which is where he debuted perhaps his best-known song “Elvira,” later cherry-picked by Rodney Crowell for his debut album and then turned into a smash country crossover in the early ’80s by the Oak Ridge Boys. His songs — not just this pair, but “Mohair Sam,” “There Goes My Everything,” “Son of Hickory Holler’s Tramp,” and “True Love Travels on a Gravel Road,” among others — were well-known, but his own records weren’t, and they remained unheard until Raven issued Frazier’s two albums for Capitol, 1966’s Elvira and its 1967 follow-up Tell It Like It Is!, as a two-fer in February, adding three singles (”Tennessee Sue,” “King of the Jungle,” “Make Believe You’re Here with Me”) to fill out the CD. This is a major reissue as it offers a case that Frazier was as distinctive a musician as he was a writer, cutting albums that hold their own with Charlie Rich’s funky country-soul for Smash and Epic, as well as Elvis’ 1968 comeback.

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We’re certainly living in the age of crossover, with artists of almost every background venturing outside their own area of expertise to explore and sometimes try to create a common ground between two (or more) disparate musical traditions. This is a sampling of some of the more eccentric combinations that have turned up recently. With no value judgments about the artistic success of the outcomes, we humbly present this assortment of crossover pieces for your perusal.
 
 
1. Italian grand opera + traditional Aboriginal music + lite rock

Aboriginal digeridoo player and producer David Hudson has made a single-track CD-length version of Nessun Dorma, the popular tenor aria from Puccini’s faux-Chinese opera, Turandot, arranged for voice, digeridoo, and soft rock ensemble. With Australia, China and Europe represented, he’s got the northern hemisphere covered and the eastern half of the south — if he’d included a west African djembe, or Peruvian panpipes, he would have had a truly global combination.

David Hudson & Friends - Nessun Dorma:

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Robert Forster - The Evangelist
Robert Forster’s first solo offering in over a decade, The Evangelist, is also his first record since the death of his partner in the Go-Betweens, Grant McLennan, and it features the last three songs that Forster and McLennan worked on together. It also features backing from fellow Go-Betweens bassist Adele Pickvance and drummer Glenn Thompson with production by long-time cohort Mark Wallis. Throughout The Evangelist, Forster’s writing is very different from his previous solo offerings; it’s elegant, but less concerned with literary allusion, metaphor and third person narrative. Instead, it’s nakedly honest and vulnerable, while giving up none of the elegant craft of his finest work.

Madonna - Hard Candy
On Hard Candy, her final album for Warner, Madonna has enlisted the Neptunes, Timbaland and Justin Timberlake as producers to help her make a cold, hard dance record. Hard Candy certainly sounds like recent productions by these two teams but instead of sounding ahead of the curve, Madonna sounds like she’s dressed in Nelly Furtado’s hand-me-downs — and she also doesn’t sound all that into her makeover, either.

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