The Major Lazer album looks like fun but who is kidding who? This is Nick Cave’s week and the Bad Seeds is one of the biggest of, at least, the season. I was listening to Dig Lazarus Dig earlier today and I simply prefer Bad Seeds to Grinderman and I’ve listened to the new one a few times and it is gonna be a biggie.
Young Adult Friction – The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart – Shoegaze? I dunno, the vocals are way way up and the jingle jangle is resembles Belle And Sebastian circa “Seeing Other People”. Maybe the band didn’t want this, but that’s a shame because this was the sound they should’ve pursued – Grade: A
This is all lucid momentum and the band seldom slow the pace or lower the volume and by the three quarters mark they reel off “Harder To Breathe” , “Wake Up Call” and “One More Night” in succession. One from each album and genius setlist programming.
It’s like buying a hamburger for lunch and the waiter giving you a Quiche Lorraine. The quiche might be fine, and Lulu was in great voice, but it wasn’t what you bought.
The Foals album isn’t very good… . indeed, most of this list is not very good, Mumford is OK, and I haven’t heard Biffy, but everything else is whatever.
One killer song here, the new Avicii is really hot and smart house pop (if you see what I mean) and gives Calvin Harris a run for his money. And Alpin’s singer songwriter song is pretty catchy stuff. Emili has ANOTHER hit off her album?
Sixteen – Buzzcocks – Best ending of a song ever, an on the dime conclusion as Shelley begs for silence, also holds an axiomatic concept: everything you do remains the same but is less fun as you grow older – Grade: A+
I can’t think of a better lesson to teach our children, a better reminder as to why rock and roll matters more than life itself than to represent to the world the joy of being free and roaring our freedom, embracing our freedom, where the battle on the field and the battle on the streets come together in play.
Yes, I did have a ticket to the Lady Gaga concert at MSG next Friday, and yes, I was very disappointed at her cancelling (the third time she has cancelled a gig on me pop pickers) but more alarmed at the reason for her cancelling her ENTIRE TOUR, for a hip replacement. At the age of 26 years old, for a singer who does so much dancing to have hip replacement surgery? That isn’t a positive sign. Though, glass half full Stef?, nothing else would have slowed her down after years of touring and, it is not as though she lost her voice
Nearly two decades later, it holds up very strong as possibly his most consistent piece of work to date. New R&B shoul;d be sampoling it night and day.
Songs For Imaginative People – Darwin Deez – Brooklyn indie band lead by wildcat Darwin Smith, they are much better than the tag approaches. The first three songs on the album mixes indie pop with quirky rhythms, wonky vocals, and great great songs. Then it heads South for a coupla tracks. But much better than you might think – Grade: B+
I haven’t seen Tomas Doncker on stage since last summer but I have heard the rough mixes of Power Of The Trinitty… A Slight Return, a powerful consolidation of his Global Soul and am very excited to have the opportunity to catch him opening for Teddy Afro -an Ethiopian superstar, who doesn’t sound like you think he might,, but rather he plays out with jams and repetitions. Tomas hits the stage at 1115pm. so get to BB Kings early (or is that late?) Friday night.
Good Times – Matt Costa – A hand clapping, sax swinging, folkie singalong giving new meaning to the happy songs about sad things ruse. One of the most fun and apocalyptic songs you’ll ever hear – Grade: A
The songs have a cling factor to them and his voice is impressive to the degree it is declarative. He is so small and the stage is so large, you get the feeling Este Haim could beat him in an arm wrestling contest.
I am stlll waiting for Tyler to perform a real solo set, I am still waiting for him to dip deep into Goblin and really give a serious, all out show
The Normal Living did themselves nothing but favors with a terrific show at Fontana last week, Modern Hut don’t have a release date for their long awaited album so “History”, as important as Regina’s “Ink Stains”, will have to wait to be heard, Tomas’ “Rise Above” is completed and the album should be out soon.
Daylight – Maroon 5 – Sure, I’m psyched to be seeing em tonight. Wouldn’t you be? And this is their third off the latest album, and to my mind just about in the midle between the others. It is also a song where you can hear the song making by committe at work, that’s what all the oh hoos at the end are about – Grade: B+
A thoroughly entertaining set by country pros introducing a very good album and having a lot of fun doing it, with a small but magical band to help them along.
Haim is the Bangles of the 21st Century, three cute Jewish girls and a drummer from the Valley with better beats and worse songs than the Bangles
Heaven’s Just A Sin Away – Kelly Willis – The Kendalls, a father and daughter duo had a hit with this, so, as Bruce Robison put it wednesday night, “Country right?” Early 1990s Kelly version doesn’t have the edge to her tone she does now but it is pretty awesome in an early Rosanne Cash way – Grade: A-
There was an easy going feel to the set, nothing felt forced and nothing felt unimportant, for all my doubts bbout their songs, they sold them very very well.
At your very bottom you will understand more clearly what you are capable of, the person you are under the person you are. “Love has No Pride” is masochistic, love as self-abuse, love as the horror where life is completely closed in
Don’t talk to me about classical music, I am the guy who reviewed a six hour opera for you last December. But Josh is beyond the pale, Josh makes Andrea look good. This is high culture for lowbrows. It is rank.
Bruno is in twice, count em, with that boring album as him. And who wrote about “Locked Out Of Heaven” sounding like the Police, eh? Me, that’s who
Retrograde – James Blake – Children grow up so fast these days? This electronic soul song is a leap forward after the sameyness of the debut album. Plus, Blake’s falsetto sounds great and meaningful,and the beats like handclaps are fun – Grade: A-
In many ways I see this as a golden age but only musically, culturally it is irrelevant. If you don’t agree, if you think the music doesn’t matter because the music is no good, than obviously you won’t connect it to the vapidness of its surroundings
Llet’s look at 2014. Let’s look not at David Byrne but Talking Heads. Since Byrne flat out refuses to reform the band and since he only plays an occasional song in concert, we are gagging to hear these songs live. And since you need bucks to go to Carnegie Hall and catch one of these tributes, and since older New Yorkers are more likely to have money
I don’t think this is speculation, I think Wilson will be back on tour with the “fired” members of the Beach Boys by 2014 and I will be there one more time, hoping and praying they play Summer Days (And Summer Nights).
Started From The Bottom – Drake – Drake is really unique, he can take what would be dreary by anybody else and spin gold. This is the most depressing song ever written about the joys of success. It can’t seem to drag itself out of the nightclub – Grade: B+
The band is tight without being slick, the rhythm section a good one and the sound as memorable as the songs they sing. Imagine if Ronnie Spector covered “She’s The One” -there’s the vibe. That good? I have to admit it, the Normal Living is that good.
Rock music is not movies and a Grammy is not an Oscar. It is an irrelevance when your job is changing lives a generation at a time (at least in theory). If I was a teenager in 2013 I would consider rock and roll to almost beyond redemption
Who could it be? fun. are too big, Shinobi Ninja too small. And neither represent a movement…
Your Painted Smile – Bryan Ferry – I was really surprised to discover Ferry’s 1996 masterpiece Mamouna is not available on digital. Indeed, a chunk of his best albums are not around on digital. I saw Ferry in concert pushing this album and I have never seen him better and I have seen him a great deal. This is a glamorous thing of haunted beauty (and it is digitalized on the More Than This hits album) – Grade: A
Lovesick Blues – Chris Stamey – Eleven slices of Stamey stamped power pop, from the at the very least difficult dB. Three of them, including the title track with a near perfect strings drenched coda and one with Andy Partridge arranging the strings, are as good as it gets when it comes to still Big Star still influenced pop music. And the rest? A little boring – Grade: B
I know you probably think the Courteeners are the sort of English rock band who pun on an obscure English car, and you are right of course, but they are probable the best band from Manchester around right this minute and Manchester being Manchester, that actually means something. I’ve streamed the album and on First listen Anna is the real thing, at least till the two thirds mark.
The week belongs to Grime King Dizzee Rascal, and I gotta tell you, “Bassline Junkie” is absolutely great. It is about as funky and as bass heavy and as flat out funny as you thought it might be if you really thought about it. The video is fun as well. Hmm, Fall Out Boy and Tinie Tempah are here as well…
Kelly Willis is always excellent so I am thrilled she has a newbie, and Bryan Ferry? Still recycling his catalog but why not? But I am not the only one who has been waiting since November for the release of the new Pissed Jeans albums. I’ve only heard two tracks, one is a masterpiece and the other one isn’t.
Apple Scruffs – George Harrison – Imagine this, Harrison was THE WEAK LINK IN THE BEATLES. A wonderful ode to the Beatle super fans, who waited outside the Apple HQ, day after day, year after year. The harp just rules this track – Grade: A+
On stage Bronson is a complete pro. He manages his band and and his audience with a gentle smartness. Despite the makeshift nature of the set, after Superstorm Nemo stranded a couple of members of the band despite the lack of rehearsal time or God knows a soundcheck, and despite the shortness of the set, Bronson triumphed
In the latest rock band to play the suspense -surprise axis, the popular in the 2000s emo band Fall Out Boy reformed after a four year hiatus. released a, frankly, lousy single and sold out a huge US tour, just about instantaneously
MBV have one of the great songs of the year here, as does Gary Wilson and Scott Krokoff (Krokoff late 2012) and while I don’t much care for what Fall Out Boys I never really did and I don’t hear much rust on em. Absolutepunk loved them in L.A. a coupla days ago.
Actually, I have tix for Lulu at BB Kings and Maroon 5 at MSG, so I plan to stay with Lulu till around 915 and then dash like hell to MSG and miss the first half hour or so of Maroon 5. M5 are awesome live and Lulu is a legend and I just have to see the Shout-er whose personal life alone reads like a who-whos of 70s rock. Being married to Maurice Gibb is one thing, dating David Bowie something else entirely. And managing both in one life time… Any way, Saturday night. M5 is sold out so if you don’t have a tix choose Lulu.
The Right Chemistry – Goldenboy – Alyson Camus faves bury the vocals so low they are like shoegaze meets lo-fi so-cal and a bridge that goes from brown to blue and a pretty good back up singer adding ooohs and ahhhs. All it needs is a synth and darker lighting! – Grade: A-
“Don’t” is what popular rock and roll used to be, easy to sing along, a contracted guitar break, and a feel good (and self referring) message, “don’t ever quit or you’ll never know”.
Video Star is a sign of a future arriving where technology is dirt cheap and everybody is a star if they have the ability and creativity of Miriam and Rosie. The future is here.
Jim James has had one of the above for the past through years, good for moving a couple 100K of albums (half of that for the solo stuff) but no way to run a recording career.
Wide Lovely Eyes – Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds – We’ve been waiting for Push The Sky Away for year and upon year and to be honest, gaving streamed it maybe twice, I would dub it midseason Cave. Not bad, sure, but a little dowdy maybe. Except for this full bloodied piano ballad which is so beautiful it kinda stops your breathe. Prettiest song I’ve heard since Regina’s “How” – Grade: A
Go here right this second and get a ticket to Atoms For Peace 11pm show March 14th, 2013. They went on sale at 1030am so HURRY!
Make It With You – Bread – David Gates could sure write a terrific melody and this mainstream beauty of wimp rock stands as a seduction so sweet, he means both make it thru life and make out, it remains a memory of a kindre gentler world – Grade: A+
Mastercard only and the presalecode is Masterbey
