Iman Lababedi

Founding Editor of Rock NYC. Iman Lababedi was a freelance rock critic in the 1980s, took a break of 20 years, and has been writing and editing the music blog rocknyc.live since 2009. He considers this to be in many ways a golden age for pop music and hopes you are enjoying it too.

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Do The Tuesday Morning Rock!

It was a busy Tuesday morning by anybody’s standards. 16 new releases, all some degree of major, all important for your music fan to have an idea about. And if he it wasn’t for Spotify, very very expensive.

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US Top 10 Singles, February 16th, 2013

I like the two newbies, #9 and #10 a whole lot, and congrats to Calvin for breaking US without Rihanna! Also, my niece mentioned that she never liked Justin till “Beauty And A Beat” so I guess it did its job and broke him out of teen idol category.

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Hear Ye: What rock nyc Is Listening To 2-7-13

Toast To Love – Avant – 90s soul man hasn’t lost a beat on his newest album, all old time r&b potboilers. The voice is the usual though he seldom goes up too high, and the production is new school but the song itself evoke the 1980s and the 1990s – Grade: B+

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Beyonce To Barclay Center August 3rd, 2013

Beyonce is becoming the Queen Bee of Bad Vibes. There is something kinda nasty about the first couple of pop, condescending, a little on the Marie Antionette side of all of this and while I will be happy to refine my thoughts if 5 is as great as 4 was.

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Hear Ye: What rock nyc Is Listening To 2-6-13

Sneak Out The Back Door – Ron Sexsmith – No, it isn’t the extended sarcasm of “Get In Life” and there is no line as gasp worthy as the “spilt milk” reference. But it is the next best thing and with its hint of suicide, it is a stirring piece of songwriting – Grade: A

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The Great Gary Wilson Is Back!

People seem to think Gary is an acquired taste and I just don’t hear it. This is a mainstream pop song that twists a little of center but it still sounds wonderful. A really wonderful love song.

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Lost In Blue Hawaii

The tedium and the pressure of work palls after decades of it, there has to be more somewhere in 1960 and I will be Chad and my problems? Join the family canning business, no Dad, I wanna go my own way, I wanna charter planes

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rock nyc Top 10 Songs Week Of January 28th, 2013

This might well be Trixie’s week but Kris’ song of imminent mortality is sure giving her youthful angst a run for its money. -or maybe because I am much closer to Kris’s age than Trixie’s. Neither the Wayne nor the Kingsbury are out yet but you can stream KB here.

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Sneak Peaks: New Album Releases, February 5th, 2013

Wow, a new Silverstein, Sexsmith Jim James (and a goodie by the sounds of it) and Eels (which I’ve been streaming with nothing but pleasure all week). But the week belongs to Chris Stamey, Stamey’s solo stuff is consistently better than his dB’s material and his dB’s material is pretty awesome in its own rights. Word is this was influenced by his work on the Alex Chilton tribute…

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Hear Ye: What rock nyc Is Listening To 2-5-13

she found now – My Bloody Valentine – This is the shoegaze to beat all shoegazers, a introspective self-absorbed swirl of sonic guitar wallpaper par excellence. This will launch another dozen bands trying to recreate this feeling of a space drift – Grade: A

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My Bloody Valentine's "mbv" reviewed

A disturbed genius not a million miles away from a Brian Wilson or a Phil Spector: he derives meaning from orchestrated sound that seems to bury itself into your subconscious. And the truth is, though it took 22 years of manipulation, it sounds easy: it has the easy of someone doing something only they can.

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Active Viewin':Concert Picks Week Of February 4th, 2013

On a night that finds Marissa Paternoster back from illness to lead Screaming Females once more again, I have to give the nod to David Bronson and the Long Lost at Fontana’s Saturday night at 10pm. My peers, who claim “today’s music don’t have the same soul, should try Bronson’s whose voyage of discovery (part two!) Story was the prog folk 70s modern rock opera to beat last year. And he doesn’t play live nearly enough. I’ve never seen him in person and I can’t resist it. An absolute must see.

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UK Top 10 Albums, February 9th, 2013

I have only heard one song off Opposites and it is alright. unlike Andrea Bocelli’s dreaded opera lite. I’ve heard nothing off Jools Holland latest but I did interview back in the day when he was with Squeeze. Otherwise it is back to Rihanna for my pop kicks, I guess.

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Hear Ye: What rock nyc is Listening To 2-4-13

Hurt – Johnny Cash – Cash takes Trent Reznors ode to self-immolation and turns it into a back door vision of death stranded in his quickly decaying body. Cash sounds very very old, he seems to be knocking on heavens door and heavens door is getting ready to let him in and the result is a cover that belongs more to Cash than Reznor – Grade: A+

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Singles Going Steady: New Albums Review Week Of January 28th, 2013

Believe Acoustic – Justin Bieber – Partying like it’s 3020 ain’t what it used to be on this dreary six string version of the pretty crappy to start with original album plus three songs,. Those three include the completely asinine farewell to Selena the piano based “Nothing Like Us”, a pretty good reason alone for Selena to dump the cretin. Forget the terrible, generic lyric, the melody is just… actually I don’t think there is. As always, “Boyfriend” is the exception – Grade: D

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Best Concerts Through January 31st, 2013

At the time it seemed overlong and a little winded, and while it won on points, and it won on its best moments of which there were quite a few, there were stretches that didn’t take off. But now, it seems like a flawed masterpiece where the lenth of the show let it not build but flow in intensity.

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Winner And Loser: The Who And Tyler The Creator

Whatever problems you might have with the Who as music, the Who as philanthropists appears to be beyond reproach. Along with some four local gigs since December, the Who performed the 12-12-12 benefit for Hurricane Sandy victims which was sweet albeit longwinded. But better? On February 28th they will be joined by Elvis Costello for a different benefit, this time to aid cancer victims and the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.

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Hear Ye: What rock nyc Is Listening To -2-2-13

We The Common – Thao And The Get Down Stay Down – Playful stuff from a firm indie fave with a cross folkie flavor and a song that seems built to cross pop in a world where a hey ho hook is king. Thao claims Lilith Fair as an influence so I docked her a notch- Grade: B-

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Trixie Whitley At Le Poisson Rouge, Thursday, January 31st, 2013

This is what they’d been lead to believe, and it answered her question as to why the place had been quiet: it was the difference between admiration, we all admire her emotionalism and also her lack of pretension, her ability to be deadly serious without taking herself deadly serious, and love. You could see Le Poisson Rouge fall in love with her.

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Best Songs Through January 31st, 2013

This year I plan to do a better job of figuring out what I love most by doing less of a job on what I like best. The top ten songs are in order of preference, the rest of the songs are order in which I added (more or less!)

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US Top 10 Singles, February 9th, 2013

Hey ho, ho hum. Gary Allan isn’t BAAAAAD, or even bad, he is just the latest in a growing list of country boys with biceps and a soft side. You can’t throw a brick without hitting one and while with the exception of an Eric Church here and there I am not a fan though I don’t want them burnt at the stake either. On any given album there is a song or two that will break pop and a lot of country by the numbers.

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US Top 10 Singles, February 9th, 2013

I really can’t hear why “Thrift Shop” hit so big, it isn’t really all that hot as even novelty. Except for that kid, who sounds weirdly like Ke$ha saying “I like your beard”. This is such a boring top ten, wake me up next week…

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Hear Ye: What rock nyc Is Listening To 2-1-13

I Believe Love’s A Prima Donna – Steve Harley And Cockney Rebel – Ah yes, whenever men are intuiting by the sigh in a woman’s eye, you know it’s gonna be a bumpy ride. And, this, a 1976 single that should have been huge in the UK but peaked at # 28 because man is it over blown. But ina greatw ay, with a stand out instrumental break and a gorgeous melody… Steve wasn’t done… yet – Grade: A

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Hear Ye: What rock nyc Is Listening to 1-30-13

Yellow Raincoat – Justin Bieber – Yeah kid, growing up is tough, you’re right. And I am glad you feel like writing an earnest acoustic blues song. I just wish it was a lot better than this one, I mean really? Does bieber think apeing Ben Harper any good at all? – Grade: C

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That Lip Syncing Feeling

Beyonce’s refusal to make a statement seems like either fear or indifference. She should have said: “Because of the cold weather I used taped vocals. This is standard practice but now I wish it had been made clear.” She’s even acting like she was caught cheating on her SATs

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