Siege the band has released their debut album after winning awards for the track titled Armaan.

Their hit single was recognised as the Best Song of the Year at the TMAs held in 2008 in Pakistan. However, the four-member band comprising Junaid Younus (lead vocals), Ahsan Parvaiz (lead guitars & backing vocals), Fahad Parvaiz (rhythm guitars) and Farhan Syed Mirza were out of the limelight for a year or so before they returned to the scene with the triple nominated number, Faaslay at the MTV Awards in 2009.
An analysis of Siege’s debut album, Police, showcases the presence of an amalgam of genres ranging from pop-rock to hip-hop, and from Sufi to hard rock. The pop rock element is eminent throughout the course. Junaid, who seems quite inspired by the legendary playback singer Mohammad Rafi, has fairly distributed the vocals in Punjabi and Urdu.

Strings Kay Sur with Dawn News’ host Sitwat Reza Khan in a one-to-one interview with the band.

Rap-Up was able to get the cover, latest video and tracklist for Lil Wayne's upcoming album/EP which will be dropping September 27th. Features include Drake, Nicki Minaj, Jay Sean, Tyga & more.

I Am Not a Human Being:

1. “Gonorrhea” feat. Drake
2. “Hold Up” feat. T-Streets
3. “With You” feat. Drake
4. “I Am Not a Human Being”
5. “I’m Single” feat. Drake
6. “What’s Wrong With Them” feat. Nicki Minaj
7. “Right Above It” feat. Drake
8. “Popular” feat. Lil Twist
9. “That Ain’t Me” feat. Jay Sean
10. “Bill Gates”
11. “YM Banger” feat. Jae Millz, Gudda Gudda, and Tyga
12. “YM Salute” feat. Lil Twist, Lil Chuckee, Gudda Gudda, Jae Millz, and Nicki Minaj

Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler will be sworn in as "American Idol" judges next week, according to new reports.

Idol bosses will reveal all about the big names involved in the new season of the TV talent contest during a much-anticipated press conference on Wednesday.

And Idol host Ryan Seacrest has taken to Twitter to tell fans, "Looks like I have some new plans on wed! I will be able to introduce the @AmericanIdol judges panel! We will send u a pic! Can't wait."

Reports suggest existing judge Randy Jackson will join Lopez and Tyler on the show and industry sources have linked music mogul Jimmy Iovine to the newly revamped series.

After going about on the web for years and keeping it as a primary source of news for Pakistani music it’s easy to say that there is a huge gap between the connection that should be between fans and Pakistani artists. The lack of proper web content, i.e interviews, professional recordings of concert performances lack totally. It is easy to find content for artists like Atif Aslam and come to think of it, only Atif Aslam.

Online video posting should be of a good quality as to establish the artist properly and popularize them in a manner they deserve. An example of mass publicizing is that when a certain Kumar Sanu is more popular than say an artist like Usman Shani and Kumar can’t even sing like Usman. There are two sides that need to be looked at, one being the artists and the other being the listening public.

The next Act:

Pact of Artists:

Pakistani artists, need to come up with official representations for themselves. Pages on Facebook, handles on twitter, YouTube channels, and yes all of them need to be official, official, official. Coke Studio was successful in the model and it’s JUGNI is the only Pakistani Music video on YouTube which has surpassed 1.4 million views and this is just because it is being viewed through an official channel. Its all a shame really because of all the great music that is being produced in Pakistan is going unnoticed by the masses. So when songs like Ab Khud Kuch Karna, Yeh Hum Naheen and Humain Kya Hua are made they fail to fulfill the purpose they are meant for as many people don’t get to hear them and is in fact a loss on part of the effort that artists put in producing songs like these. Proper online presence will bring in the results. This is also the very reason why someone of the highest caliber like Mekaal Hasan Band doesn’t have any views that competitively compares with any of the international artists. Updates by Pakistani artists on matters other than the flood (and that too now), have been non existent. Months and months of no updates, doesn’t keep many people holding on to the idea of connecting with the artists. Get official content rights for web content and get all the random user video uploads removed which shall lead to more views. If such proper channelizing is done, I don’t see any reason on why a new video wouldn’t get thousands of views in just one day. Atif’s management has done the job just right by moving all the fans from unofficial fan page to one page and the result? In a single month the page grew from 250k to 386k fans.

Coming back to the Usman Sanu comparison:

Now why would a certain Asim or Rabia (any resemblance to any person living or dead is purely coincidental and I am talking about 95% of all web accessing Pakistanis-oh wait, no longer is this fictional, is it?) like to watch a video with 1500 videos over a video which has 55,000 views? It’s all about channelizing properly.

Public Pact:

I know that you love Pakistani Music and you want to promote it in every possible way by putting it up on your channels but you know what kind of an affect that is having? It’s shifting away viewership from the official channel and hence leading to lesser artist recognition. What I was surprised to see was that for Coke Studio uploads some videos had more than 20K+ views. So you are urged that instead of putting it up on your channels direct the traffic to the proper source. If you are Pakistani you need to put Pakistani artists up first, and keep all other artists secondary. Now, this doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t listen to foreign artists, yes, listen to them but keep them for yourselves. Posting of a single video of naming a certain song by a person who have lots of online contacts can create mountains of differences, our artists are in need of such recognition. When our artists are globally recognized then you may go back to posting of videos belonging to music industries of other countries. Remember these are the only people that bring any positivity to the image on Pakistanis on a daily basis and it is our individual duty to help Pakistan get recognized the right way.

Shall you comprehend what was just said and make us all happy? please feel free to drop your comments.

Desi Dark Child has released the video for his single "Teri Chanjar."  Desi Dark Child has worked with internationally recognized producer Panjabi MC and claims to blend sounds from 80s hip-hop with Western dance vibes and Punjabi lyrics. Desi Dark Child has quite an impressive resume and has already collaborated with Mahon Mastana, Surinder Shinda, Kuldip Manak, and Taz from Stereo Nation, just to name a few.

The single "Teri Chanjar" is the first track off his album Captured. The video shows an audience at a mela enjoying Desi Dark Child's tunes.

Check out the video for "Teri Chanjar" and let us know if you are impressed with this video.

Ultrasone has debuted the open-backed PRO 2900 headphones with an option to upgrade to a balanced, double cable version.

While standard, single cable headphones are commonplace in most pro audio and audiophile applications, a balanced headphone coupled with a balanced amplifier offers unique advantages over the former such as increased audio performance due to a doubling the slew rate and voltage swing power, while reducing distortion components and eliminating crosstalk. Ultrasone claims the end result is decreased distortion and ultimately superior audio performance. To achieve this paragon of headphone fidelity, balanced headphones must be paired with a balanced amplifier (4-channel amp with 2 inverted positive channels) that instead of using a common ground, uses two wires per side to deliver positive and negative audio signals to each side of the headphone.Ultrasone’s PRO 2900s boast a classic black design, velvet covered black ear pads and a diamond-cut logo insignia on the ear cup. The PRO 2900 features a 40mm titanium-plated driver and a soft USC-Cable that is paired with Neutrik connectors. Ultrasone’s newest headphones contain MU-Metal shielding (ULE technology) that reduce the amount of radiation directed to the listener by up to 98%, as compared to conventional headphones. The PRO 2900s also contain Ultrasone’s patented S-Logic Plus technology for reduced sound pressure on the ear drum and improved tonal perception. This gives users the advantage of wearing Ultrasone headphones for many hours without their ears hurting. Ultrasone’s PRO 2900 comes in a hard-sided carrying case along with two removable cables (one spiral and one straight) and spare speed-switch ear pads.

Features:
» S-Logic Natural Surround Sound Plus
» Dynamic principle, open
» Frequency range 6-42.000 Hz
» Impedance 40 Ohm
» Sound pressure level 96 dB
» MU Metal buffer board, reduced field emissions in accordance with ULE (=Ultra Low Emission) standard
» Driver 40 mm titanium-plated
» Weight 295 g (without cord)

Ultrasone’s PRO 2900 headphones are available now and cost $549; the Balanced PRO 2900 version will set you back $799. More information on the Ultrasone PRO 2900 headphones.

Look whose climbing up the charts once again! "2012" - featuring Nicki Minaj  has Jay Sean back at the top of iTunes' charts! The catchy song is currently at #8 on iTunes' Pop Chart and #20 on iTunes overall chart.

After Jay Sean's success when he first hit the Billboard 100s with his debut American single "Down," there was still buzz from the public and haters questioning if the R&B sensation's fame would continue to rise.

We saw the artist collaborate with some of the industry's best, including the Queen of Soul Mary J Blige. And now it looks like Jay Sean is in the American market to stay, at least for a long time!

This marks the fourth consecutive song by/or featuring Cash Money superstar Jay Sean that has cracked the Top 20 on iTunes. The other tracks include "Down" at #1, "Do You Remember" at #9, "I Made It" at #11 and now "2012" at #17.

Beyond the music Jay Sean is growing in the U.S. market via brand endorsements. The singer's track "Do You Remember" is featured on the ads for American department store Macy's 'back to school' commercial.  There is also buzz about Jay being involved in other campaigns that the public will see in the next few months. Not surprising given his celebrity status!

Jay Sean has been living it up since he joined the Cash Money family, hanging out with the who's who of the music industry and getting shout-outs from top artist such as Taylor Swift on Twitter and on the red carpet at star-studded events.

Well deserved for a man who worked very hard to develop a strong European fan base before coming to America to build his career in the States. Hopefully Jay Sean's good track record will continue with the release of his next album, Freeze Time.

Ali Zafar‘s Painting have been displayed from at Alhamra Arts Centre. Highest bidder takes it. Bidding starts at $3000. All proceeds will go to the flood relief. Your input would be highly appreciated. If you want to make a bid you can e-mail also at ammara@alizafar.net with your details. This is for a serious cause so kindly don’t make any false pledges.