Iman Lababedi

Curtis Mayfield wrote the music and Aretha Franklon starred in the first “Sparkle”, journey r&b guy Harvey Mason Jr wrote and Whitney Houston didn’t even begin to stretch her voice in her back up role to… Jordin Sparks for fucks sake. – Grade: B

I am not surprised by its success and I would like to official crown the track the best American Idol song since Adam Lambert nailed “A Change Is Gonna Come”, a couple of years ago.

How can a non-actor (cmon, not seriously) like Andre hope to quiet his hyper active funkdom? Little Richards, yes. Jimi Hendrix? Not so fast…

2. What We Saw from the Cheapseats – Regina Spektor – Peaks so incredibly high that we can forgive the lack of a center.

What was Rhett Miller thinking of? Did he go, “well, my career ain’t going nowhere any way so I might as well record a newbie and bury it deep on one of the biggest release dates of the year?” What was Saddlecreek thinking of?

Off his great Right About Now, the Hill in question is Lauryn and the tell is “We used to kick it in our salad days” before the denounement “where she look like she don’t know me nowadays”. A putdown? No, though there is some pain there. A tribute. Grade: A

The Absence – Melanie Gardot – If you get past the backstory (hit by car, months of rehab, hypersentive to light and noise), you can enjoy a stirringly beautiful pop chanteuse who moves in the jazzy realm of mid-period Joni Mitchell without the folk trappings – Grade: A-

Alyson saw Lana Del Rey months ago and quite liked her. Me? I even liked her SNL appearance. So assume rock nyc is biased and check Lana out at Irving Plaza on Sunday. At the very worst, the songs are gonna kill you and you know the album so well, you can singalong!

Gary Barlow, Robbie Williams foil, is more of a UK phenom than any one this side of Cliff. It isn’t that Take That, or even solo, were all that bad given the genre. Essentially they are exactly what you think they are. It’s that Bieber hadn’t softened the terrain for them, the way he has for One Direction.

Lawson are a boy band, Rudimental ballad tech, and “RIP”? When are they gonna release it Stateside? It is the best song on this top ten. And, finally, Adele is OFF THE CHARTS!!

New Year’s Eve At The Gates Of Hell – Ray Wylie Hubbard, George Reiff – You want insight? God outsources to the devil. You want proof? Hubbard must have sold his soul to someone for this mindblowing Southern country rocker. The album is almost as good – Grade: A

It fits together uncomfortably and when I think of the album as a whole it seems to be very good not great but when I concentrate on specific moments in the whole it feels like the album of year.

I am hoping for big things from Patti Smith, but then I’m an optimist. The db’s I have higher hopes for. And Fiona Apple… I can’t read that one but the majority of people seemed to enjoy that godwawful single

Wild Flag blew em off stage at Radio City last year (Wild Flag blew Bright Eyes off stage at radio City) but this song is a straight up classic rocker with enigmatic lyrics which bring an oil rig accident and a late night party tcrashing together in ways Craig Finn hasn’t yet! – Grade: A+

How – Regina Spektor – Her best song since “Ink Stain” is similar in a sense: the desperate anti-Semitism of the latter is mirror’d in the desperate heartbreak of “How”, And both chill on the idiosyncrasies.

No Surprises – Radiohead – OK Computer was the album that turned me off Radiohead, that and a coupla crappy concerts. This song has a simple poetic that turns the sound and fury of life sideways and onto its stomach – Grade: A

Regina Spektor at United Palace, played 50% new material in a cavernous room and still killed even in the cheap seats on May 21st, 2012.

Think you’ve seen this chart before? You habe, except for the American Idol at # 10, who sold 300K digital copies by the way, it is exactly the same as last week. Translation: hip hop ain’t charting the way it used to.

That Mayer? Not a fluke, it sold 300K units and considering he is not touring and hasn’t done that much press, the word got out. Also, I think I underestimated it myself. In the battle of the boy bands, One Direction are playing NSynch to The Wanter’s Back Street Boys.

There is a future Spektor, and it isn’t that far away, where all her gypsy affectations are completely absored and her songs stand alone. Such as this devastating look at anti-Semitism which seems to rattle the doors of hatred even as it jumps right in. Grade: A+

When Will first reaches 1969 “2000 Light Years From Home” is playing. “Pictures Of Matchstick Men” figures prominently at a party Andy Warhol holds at the Factory. Lots of country and western whenever K is driving around whether it is 1969 or 2012. And Pitbull!!!

Jayne county is headlining a Max’s Kansas City alumni night on Bowery Electric on Thursday June 6th, a five band extravaganza for $20. And the cherry on top, a better headliner than the entire overdone CBGB’s festival, is the terrific woman and her band the Electric Chairs.

Pretty good rap,nice rasp at the end of her voice (not unlike Nicki), African tom toms in the bank and smooth jazz sample. The next big thing ain’t all bad – Grade: B+

I really love Joey’s voice and while the music added after the fact is all well and good, and the songs are obviously drafts and not really for released, still I am happy to hear that punk height voice of his again

This music reminds me of the underground heavy metal scene that spawned Metallica in the 1980s. There is a similar mutation on a mainstream sound being taken somewhere else entirely and of a secret handshake of sound. The difference is it is hard to imagine it going mainstream.

Not a bad week at all. Scissor Sister is very good and may get better, Regina may be the album of the year, the Azelia Banks is eagerly awaited. The Reunion EP is remixes but ths is cool, one is byu Dale Earnhardt Jr Jr

Possible the song of the year is a straightforward break up ballad, no quirk, no wainking, no implicit irony: just a pure, stunning love song. It’s not that she is growing up but rather that she is becooming less guarded… purer – Grade: A

On Memorial Day Weekend, September 1st and 2nd, at Fairmont Park (incidentally, the same time as Rock The Bells is at PNC) the show will come on and the line up is on the impressive side. What catches my eye is D’Angelo, and I am hoping this is a prelude to an nyc gig around that time. I haven’t seen the top soul man in over ten years and unless he has lost his skills, it is enough to make me wonder whether it is

That’s the bad news, the good news is that when Toyota or Chrystler picks up the single, Best Coast will bang right back up.

Richland Woman’s Blues – Mississippi John Hurt – Recorded in 1928, a strummed guitar, a finger picked guitar and an easy going vocal as Hurt channels his inner woman. Grade: A+

I haven’t seen Radiohead on stage since (gasp!) the Kid A tour… where they sucked. Prior to that, I saw them every time they hit town. So this Friday at Prudential Center is a homecoming for a band I love to hate…. and who I’ve been warming to over the years.

So Emilie finally makes it to the top. I’m not much of a fan myself but at least it’s not Adele… who is at # 3. Pretty insane, right? I agree with the Washington Post critic who compared Adele with Beth Ditton (Ditto won)