Zune Insider

Hola, Zune Nation!  Ready for another week of all that’s new and cool in the Marketplace?  Here we go…

MUSIC

Our Artist of the Week is Game with ‘The R.E.D. Album‘.  It includes collaborations with Justin Timberlake, Lil Wayne, Busta Rhymes, Nelly Furtado and others.  What do you think of it?

The Pistol Annies are a new project from Miranda Lambert, Angaleena Presley and Ashley Monroe – the group formed earlier this year during an Academy of Country Music special.  If you like female country singers with attitude, be sure to give ‘Hell on Heels‘ a listen!

Don’t forget to put that Zune Pass to good use and download the ‘Hot This Week‘ playlist – all the best in one click.

The Ready Set is actually just Jordan Witzigreuter – he chose the name because he wasn’t sure people would be able to pronounce his last name. Check out his new single, “Hollywood Dream“, off his upcoming EP that’s due out in October.

MTV’s ‘Unplugged’ has seen a lot of artists go acoustic over the years, and 30 Seconds to Mars recently joined that illustrious roster.  They’ve now released an EP of four songs from that performance, including a beautiful cover of “Where the Streets Have No Name” with backing vocals by a gospel choir.

We’ve got another FREE two-fer this week! First, get “That Fire” by  Black Tide, who can currently be seen on the Rockstar UPROAR tour.  Second, get “Stealing Sun Chips” from D. Gookin, who describes his sound as “upbeat electronic pop”. Enjoy!

Florence + the Machine are back with their latest single, “What the Water Gave Me“, the first song off their second album which will be released in November.  Are you looking forward to new album?

Even if you (or your kids) aren’t heading back to school, you should still have a look at our ‘Back to School‘ collection – we’ve got playlists, albums on sale and more!

‘Trending Up’ this week is Katy Perry as she ties the record held by Michael Jackson for the most number one singles from the same album – five from ‘Teenage Dream‘!  Jackson set the record with his album ‘Bad’ back in 1988, and Perry is now the only living artist to hold the record as well as the first woman.

‘You Are All I See‘ is the debut album from Active Child, otherwise known as Pat Grossi.  A former choir boy, he describes his musical genre as “hymntronic” – you’ll need to listen and see what that means!

In the Artist Spotlight this week is Lil Wayne – get excited for his new album that’s coming out next week with playlists, videos and albums!

Who doesn’t love The Muppets?  We know that Weezer, Haley Williams, OK Go, Amy Lee and more do, because they’re all performing classic Muppets songs on ‘Muppets: The Green Album‘.  If you enjoy that, be sure to catch OK Go performing with the Muppets on the Tonight Show on the 8/31.

The new single from Kaskade is called “Eyes” and you can catch him on tour with Identity Festival right now as he headlines their main stage.

Other new releases this week: ‘The Blackbird Diaries‘ by Dave Stewart; ‘What Matters Most‘ from Barbra Streisand; and Trevor Hall’s ‘Everything Everytime Everywhere‘.

VIDEO

Check out Kate Hudson, Ginnifer Goodwin and John Krasinski in ‘Something Borrowed‘, the romantic comedy based on the bestselling novel by Emily Giffin.

If you’re into cars, crazy stunts and epic road trips and you haven’t seen ‘Top Gear (UK)‘ yet, you’re missing out!  Season 17 just started, so you’ve got a lot to see.

‘Your Highness‘ stars Danny McBride, James Franco, Natalie Portman and Zooey Deschanel in a hilarious action-comedy about two princes and a warrior who go on a quest to free a princess from an evil wizard… but don’t expect your typical fairy tale here!

On sale right now is the series ‘Royal Pains‘ about a doctor who escapes NYC to the Hamptons with his younger brother and inadvertently finds himself the Hamptons’ newest on-call doctor.

Last but far from least – we’re well into season 5 of ‘The Guild‘, so we decided to give away a limited edition 120 GB ‘The Guild’ Zune to celebrate!  Be sure to enter before next Tuesday – and good luck!

Leave us a comment about your favorite new release this week!

Zune Insider Episode 129 dated August 19th, 2011 of the Zune Insider Audio Podcast is now live and is hosted by Matt Akers (skipdeez) and Jessica Zahn (jetherealz).

Full Show Notes: Jessica apologizes for missing last week and explains it’s all about consumer electronics products and holiday timeframes (0:00 – 3:52); Jessica’s son gets a Windows Phone – and an Android (3:53 – 10:00); We love Mango, and forgot what it was like before (10:01 – 11:40); Movie guy Ammon Gilbert reveals that Zune gets the exclusive digital premiere of Heathers and Children of the Corn (11:41 – 16:55); TV Meghan Rowlands proves she’s too young to know about Heathers and Jessica and Matt debate the definition of “black comedy” (16:56 – 18:44); Meghan recommends Top Gear and catch-up of summer reality shows (18:45 – 29:33); Podcast Rob Greenlee (@robgreenlee) brings the Top Gear Live official podcast, Wiretap from CBC Radio and The Todd Glass show (29:34 -35:40 );  Live inbox! (35:41 – end). 

Here is the Full Audio Stream from Episode 129 – 47 minutes:

The mp3 file is 32 MB and runs for a 47 minutes. Subscribe to the podcast in the FREE Zune Marketplace 4.7 Media Player software here. Download the audio file directly here – stream the audio from Zune.net

Welcome to another week of great new releases in the Marketplace!  Here we go…

MUSIC

Our Artist of the Week is the duo of Jay-Z and Kanye West with their team effort, ‘Watch the Throne‘.  There’s certainly been a lot of hype surrounding this album – does it live up to it?

Five years is a long break for any band, but Evanescence is finally back with “What You Want“, the first song off their upcoming self-titled album.  Is it getting you more excited for October and the new album?

Don’t forget to grab the ‘Hot This Week‘ playlist with your Zune Pass. One download gets you the best of the week!

This week Breaking Benjamin is ‘Trending Up’ with their ‘Best Of’ album titled ‘Shallow Bay‘. If you live outside the US and Canada and want to see the band live, you’ll need to be the one who travels – lead singer Benjamin Burnley has a huge fear of flying. What’s your favorite of their songs?

Originally an acoustic duo, Eli Young Band has grown since the first two members - Mike Eli and James Young – met in college. Check out their latest album, ‘Life at Best‘.

What’s better than one FREE song in a week? Two, of course! We’ve got an older song from UGK – “Like Yesterday“, and a new song, “Wonderland“, from Natalia Kills off her just-released album, ‘Perfectionist’.

Please consider buying “High Tide or Low Tide” by Bob Marley – all proceeds from this single go to Save the Children’s East Africa Fund. Working together, we can make a difference! Thank you, Zune Nation.

Lil Wayne is joined by Drake on his latest single, “She Will“. They’ve confirmed that they’re working on an album together – just as Jay-Z and Kanye have done.  Thoughts?

Jeff Bridges may be best known for acting (although he did mix both in ‘Crazy Heart’), but he’s been playing music since high school! Listen to his self-titled album and see what you think of his style.

Inspired by Eminem, Peter Gabriel, Johnny Cash, Pink Floyd, Quincy Jones, Kurt Cobain and more, Blue October returns with their 6th album, ‘Any Man in America‘.

Other releases to check out this week: ‘The Fall‘ by Public Jones and ‘Slave Ambient‘ from The War on Drugs.

VIDEO

Paul Bettany, Karl Urban, Lily Collins and Stephen Moyer star in ‘Priest‘, a sci-fi thriller set in an alternate world where the war between men and vampires has been raging for centuries.

Back with season three, ‘Warehouse 13‘ stars Joanne Kelly and Eddie McClintock as Secret Service agents who are ‘promoted’ to handling a secret storage facility.  It houses mysterious relics and supernatural souvenirs collected by the US government – and the agents also have to investigate reports of new objects.

If you and your family enjoy animated films, check out ‘Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil‘! The sequel catches up with our heroine, Little Red, who’s been training with a covert group called the Sisters of the Hood. Find out what happens when she’s sent on her first mission!

‘Combat Hospital‘ is a medical drama set in 2006 at the only military hospital providing advanced surgical care in all of Southern Afghanistan. The ensemble cast includes Deborah Kara Unger, Michelle Borth, Luke Mably, and Mpho Koaho – most recently seen in ‘Falling Skies‘. Check out this intense new series that focuses on the people working in a war zone military hospital.

What was your favorite new release this week?  Let us know in the comments!

The Weekly Download Episode 56 dated August 16th, 2011 is now live and is hosted by Jessica Zahn (jetherealz).

Show notes:
The Weekly Download podcast features audio samples from the hottest podcasts in the Zune Podcast Marketplace and is hosted by Jessica Zahn. Let us know about a hot new podcast that you may have found and send us an email about it to: askzune at microsoft.com, we might feature it and give you a shout-out.

Listen to the full episode below:

FEATURED PODCASTS SHOW NOTES: Slate’s Spoiler Specials Podcast – 30 min Audio Show – Every Two Weeks on Random Days  (:40 – 3:16); ESPNSoccernet Podcast – 50 min Audio Show – Every Weds (3:17 – 4:45);  Earwolf Presents Podcast – 60 min Audio Show – Weekly on Sundays (4:46 – 7:36);  Slate’s Political Gabfest – 30 min Audio Show – Weekly on Thurs or Friday (7:37 – 9:14);  How Sound Podcast – 15 min Audio Show – Every Two Weeks on Tues or Weds  (9:15 – 10:49);  Music: Earth by Ceps. 

The mp3 file is 8 MB and runs for a 12 minutes. Subscribe to the podcast in the FREE Zune Marketplace 4.7 Media Player software here. Download the audio file directly here – stream it

Zune Insider Episode 128 dated August 12th, 2011 of the Zune Insider Audio Podcast is now live and is hosted by Matt Akers (skipdeez) and Dave McLauchlan (davemacms)

Full Show Notes: Dave is in the podcast co-host saddle this week and saves the day on short notice! (0:00 – 2:00);  How Dave hits the big red app release button… remotely! (2:01 – 4:00); Dave and Matt chat about his awesome WP7 app Skirmish! (4:01 – 7:00);  Meghan Rowlands brings TV treachery like a free episode of Most Eligible Dallas, 50% off sale on the past episodes of the Deadliest Warrior, and Scared Straight! (7:01 – 13:50);  Ammon Gilbert drops a genre spanning Venn diagram-like selection of movies like Priest, Hoodwink 2, and Something Borrowed! (13:55 – 17:40);  Music John Randolph from The Cops fame drops a hip-hop fueled selection of music from Kanye and Jay-Z, Gucci Mane and Waka Flocka, and a free track from Royce Da 5’9”! (17:45 – 23:50);  Rob Greenlee (@robgreenlee) drops the podcast knowledge in a bowling shirt with a smattering of podcasts from the Slate Magazine! (24:00 – end).

Here is the Full Audio Stream from Episode 128 – 40 minutes.

The mp3 file is 19 MB and runs for a 28 minutes. Subscribe to the podcast in the FREE Zune Marketplace 4.7 Media Player software here. Download the audio file directly here – stream the audio from Zune.net