Niki N. Phaser

                Avril Lavigne premiered her new song, Alice, that will feature on the soundtrack of Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland. Movie and soundtrack, Almost Alice, will be out this March. There is also a video for Lavigne’s song, that we’ll get to see these following weeks. This is the first single off of the soundtrack.

                The song, written especially for the movie, reveals a more Alanis Morissette side of the Canadian pop-punk princess, as it is, vocally, based on that strong female type of screaming, uttering lyrics like “I’ll get by, I’ll survive”. The marching beat really sets the song as some kind of anthem and there are plenty of atmospheric synths to suggest the surreal of the story. “This is such a cool project to be a part of”, said the singer-songwriter in a short video also posted on her official website. That’s also the place where you can listen to:

ALICE

                  Smashing Pumpkins have premiered a new single, Widow Wake My Mind, through MySpace. The song is the second installment in Billy Corgan & co.’s 44 tracks project, entitled Teargarden by Kaleidyscope. It’s quite a different kind of tune than first single, A Song For a Son, which was made available as a free download last month. Maybe it’s just the infectious hopeful sound of this new track, but this diversity promises an interesting project. It is not set yet, but if this will be a one-by-month kind of venture, Smashing Pumpkins might become a favorited show, though waiting 30 days for a new episode is a bit frustrating. Anyway, it’s nice to always have a little pleasure to look forward to. Like the rest of the tracks which Teargarden by Kaleidyscope is comprised of, Widow Wake My Mind is a free download.

LISTEN TO THE WIDOW

              HIM premiered their new video, Heartkiller, on MySpace this Friday, where it quickly became the most watched video for the day. This is the Love-Metallers first single off of their highly anticipated new album, Screamworks: Love in Theory and Practice, which will be released next month. Embracing a more poppy sound, Heartkiller might just do the trick Ville Valo has hoped for every first single in the past: it gives a taste of the new direction, while still comforting worried fans. A definite departure from the ‘dirty’ sound of Venus Doom, this new material features a resurrection of the more synthy nuances of Dark Light and Razorblade Romance, as Valo himself admits.

The James Copeman (Razorlight, Mystery Jets) directed video features the band in a dark setting, with some flashes of their taxidermied power animals overlapping from time to time. Of course, this is also a chance for Valo to ‘premiere’ his new tattoos, of Maya Deren and Klaus Kinski. Overall, Heartkiller is a decent song, not more, but it does the job: it states that HIM are up and running once again.

HEARTKILLER