Iman Lababedi

Mozart, and apparently it’s quite sexy. I wouldn’t know from that, not quite, but the violin/piano interplay has a lot of tension. They seem to interprete each other before going their own way. Leionard is the violinist and it feel like she is keeping the piano in check, he keeps on building and then she stops him and he recedes again. Grade: A-

In L.A. it would be considered A GOOD WEEK, in Cleveland a good month. Over here it is a quandary, a world filled with sound and vision!!! And we can only go to one. And nyc is the capital of live music. London can’t claim this sort of night.

You might think this has something to say about hiomosexuality, but it doesn’t. If you need to be told it was safer for homosexuals to remain closeted in the 1950s, you haven’t been paying intention. And if they have made MacGregor a bigot, anti-gay, you might have had an interesting conflict. But Ewan loves gay, and his dad, and his Mom. What is the nivelling shits problem?

Ah yes, editing a music blog. 5 years I knew two of the songs on the February and except for Justin, not all that well. 2012, I know all of them and the albums they came off as well!

Why the hell is an Irish boy band getting a big push from ITunes? Because their record company is paying for it, that’s why. Otherwise, wow, nothing major going on here. Miike Snow, I guess.

Girls Like You – The Naked And The Famous – An infectious rethinking of glam rock for the post-electronic age but a couple out of Auckland, New Zealand, many miles from home, and dealing with a harsh reality. Beauty is skin deep. Grade: B+

Bruce could write, “My business manager is investing in gold and Euro Dollars but I don’t wanna know…” that would be brutally honest. Or get to the bottom of the rift between him and his audience, how “he walks this world in wealth” and yet feels pain and empathy for people he must be wondering about. I mean, do they even exist? They sure can’t afford tickets to his shows

On Tuesday at Carnegie Hall there is a Rolling Stone tribute with everybody from Carolina Chocolate Drops to Rosanne Cash playing hits from the bands golden age 1964 – 1971. If Steve Earle does “Dead Flowers” I will personally flip out.

Forget # 1, but # 2? It is like a reality TV show about army wives singing. Since The UK is not at war and doesn’t have conscription, so quite what they’re winging about Hey, wait a second, Lionel Richie has a new album? And Springsteen in at number one.

Every time I see Gotye at the top of the charts, I wonder if I got it wrong and listen to him again. And every time I wish I hadn’t bothered with the boring bastard.

Elitist, wiseacres, rhythmically jumpy, ontense, insulated, New York centric, it’s a big country and you can kep it, David Byrne claims. And the band slithers through the snideness like a beacon for funk still to come.

I don’t know what Mercer’s problem is. With his Kevin Spacey blankness and unmoveable action figure pose, his tidy beard and tidier songs, there is something so dreary about the man and it is reflected in his music. It is sort a long Mid-West tall glass of water thing.

Four years after “American Boy”, the English r&b star is back with an album about relationships replete with sketches between some of the tracks. Romance is fine and while I find the constant a little obvious, this is a well sustained and detailed series of provocations on the art of love. Grade: B+

Knocking on a century later, what did we learn from WW1? That men in their millions were expendable. That Europe could kill off a generation of their youth and 20 years later do it again. When I hear English war songs, I am moved to new heights of cynicism, and, since my Gradfather died in a nameless faceless war for no reason, I have a right. This English sister act from the 1950s jollyfy an already jolly act. The question isn’t whether there are things worth dying for. The question is what they are and who is making the decision. Grade: B

After dismissing the album out of hand as gloomy soundscapes, I noticed the album was in at an astounding # 3 on the Hot 100. It still sounds like doomy soundscapes but doomy sounscapes off a hit album are always going to be more interesting. Grade: B

I’ve been worrying on the new Bruce Springsteen album and how despite the best intentions, the stench of hypocrisy is overwhelming.hich lead me to Pulp’s “Common People” from the 1990s.

This is a great singles list, best of the year. Only Adele and the Wanted are out and out dogs and how often is a pop overnight success an exciting, not to mention fun., story!!

I found it very difficult to appreciate the dense album and it left a weak impression on me. Three Houstons, two Adeles, and two perennial hip hop albums are the story AGAIN.

New York Dolls went looking for a kiss, and this girls, equally lousy spellers, sure found one. Absolutely classic

Prudential? Nice comfy arena, beer and dogs, all American experience with the all English computer boys? Caribou are the opening act but you can always go there late if two computer generated drags are one too much.

– I like the beats a lot, maybe more than ever song I’ve heard this year. But the raps, while very strange, don’t quite gel

Her first single since 2009 is a masterpiece. It is instanataneously the song to beat. A piano (surprise!!) based track with echoey drums and maybe a little bit overproduced. But it is a magnificently strange thing

On the the hand, Pissed Jeans were much better when I caught Ceremony headlining earlier this year, on the other hand it is exceedingly difficult this loud, drums heavy slice of punk. Yeah punk, not hardcore.

As the iconic in his own write photographer recently noted to rock nyc: “Mick Rock might have shot the ’70s but I had it covered after that!

James Brown was always an erratic performer by this stage of his career. He was pretty good and he was undoubtedly James Brown. And Rosemary Clooney was undoubledly Rosemary Clooney and there was a lot of her! She fell soon pretty soon after this.

“I called up my buddy Steve Diamond and asked him his take on the new Madonna single. “It’s pretty good, much better than the first. Good beat, works on the dancefloor, typically so so lyrics. I’ve heard some really good remixes”.

Bruce lead off with his two weakest songs, but on first listen this is his best album since at least The Rising. What does that mean? A B+ is my feeling..

If some of the old Motown hits seem tied to their era (it’s the shuffling bass), this Smokey Robinson song slips through time periods as it mixes in a jazz aesthetic with a disco (long before of course) rhythm section. Some people claim the lead singer is the best singer of all time.