Local talent, Azealia is the better of the two Azeals but she doesn’t have the commercial chops of Iggy, except this is a clear pop move and the only question is will it do the job? I can’t read the charts but I do think this is great. For sure, her rap is major here as she speaks sings on a terrific house music production – A-
“My blood is a flood of rubies, precious stones, it keeps my veins hot, the fires find a home in me”. A tough minded song of revenge, “I’m locking up everyone that ever laid a finger on me.” Lorde’s first new song since the breakthrough should put naysayers to bed,
Captain Clutch got old (er, cmon he’s 40 not 90) and hung it up and the great team I love from 1996 to 2000, the team I watched endlessly: Bernie Williams, Scott Brosius, Tino, Luis, Paul, Posada have all retired. They were the Beatles of sports. And now the last one has gone. Thanks, Cap’n.
Nothing too exciting here. Ryan Adams on Conan and Ellen, so I guess it might be interesting if they actually interview him and we can hear him, you know, be more than a crabby bastard or a Borscht Belt comedian. And then, just to make things really fun, Bryan Adams on Kelly and Michael. Hey maybe they can both sing “Summer Of 69”
Has “Bang Bang” just been released in the UK? Well, at least I can understand why it is at # , what I want to know is why will “Booty” (or as I know and love it: started from the bottom now we’re here) will be joining it in a coupla weeks.
More power to young alt-J but do you think Thom Yorke is gonna topple them next week? I can’t wait to check out the numbers behind Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes although I am not expecting much because just as Thom and Nigel thought, I think the Bittorrant will spook em and the album itself is difficult in ways alt-j certainly aren’t.
Say what you will about Skrillex, and I blame him for popularizing dub step, when he gets a good song in his sites, and “In For The Kill” is a great song, he does wonders of deconstruction, here he pierces the songs shell with stuttered blasts of synths and looped vocals. It sounds like scratches great Grand Child – A
This was the third “Global Citizen Festival” where 60K music fans and concerned citizens win tickets by completing tasks to aid the extreme poor and if at this time you are wondering when I’m gonna get to the music, you know how I felt, standing for six hours
Both of the songs “Desperado” and “California Dreaming” are useless. “California Dreaming”? it isn’t deep harmony why bother and Krall has zero, nothing, nada to add to “Desperado” if you’ve heard Linda Ronstadt’s version. Why is Gaga and Bennett singing “Cheek to Cheek”, by the way
This is real deal 2014 House, it is incredible, unique, freshly manufactured beats and they sound terrific in a world where I am getting pretty damn sick of beats all sounding themselves. Santa Crus’s Lorin Ahston is the DJ to beat and Saturday MSG is undoubtedly the place to be. I expect the rave of the year and I have tix to Skrillex NYE.
“Music mogul and longtime recording partner Clive Davis is at the helm of the project, said it was expected in stores on the 30th. Legendary producer and performer Babyface is working with OutKast member Andre 3000 behind the scenes on production and mixing the final tracks before the album ships out
Crazy Pills – Archie Powell And The Exports – From the same world that gave us Ted Leo, this guy is a heads down great power popper in the old fashioned sense. Playing CMJ in October, so make sure you’re there – A-
The performance was good and occasionally very good , her rap on “Beat Down”, though early, reminded you she was in it for the music, and the full on ballad “Rolex” was absolutely a lesson on how her future will play out.
I asked around and discovered the Wang Theatre was in the middle of nowhere, a big problem for a guy without a car and also, a four hour drive from New York, as opposed to a 90 minute ride to Philly so, I guess i saw no choice. I’d actually caught Stevens 20 minute set at Barclay Center earlier this year and had been very very impressed; it really is a must see.
Easily gotten by Western audiences, much easier than Juju is to this day, the songs are very Western pop in construction and performance. Malawi Mouse Boy’s current album, this years Dirt Is Good, is not really an acquired taste, your ears will appreciate the sweet sounds
Tyranny is a tyranny of sound and lowered expectations. It explodes and then it subsides, it is kinda like waves which roil and return. “This isn’t for everybody, this is for nobody”, Julian warns on the very first song, “The customer is obviously oblivious and wrong”.
The problem with Partners, and this may well really really be an age thing, these are songs we’ve heard over and over again, they can’t be listened to any more ever. They have no meaning eft to be dripped out of them, all these guys can do is do what has been done before.
Do we have Lee Ann wrong? I thought she was a sorta country popster and also rans but this terrific Neil Young cover is a revelation, all winding violins and country slide and a purring perfect vocal, especially when she looks up from his big brass bed – A-
If the dark ages were over so long ago, why dos it feel like they are back and why does it feel like this is the music England was listening to in 1066. “Pink Section” sounds like the wind that blew from Agincort to Flanders Field to Kirkuk and Al Quaim. It sounds like a horror moving through history
“How are the lyrics “give him what he asks for “ empowering to women? How? How is spreading your bottom apart and singing “give him what he asks for ” empowering at all? JLo and Iggy may feel empowered by their bodies and that’s fine, their bodies ARE powerful, beautiful and life giving. But they are so much more than just their bodies”
If you love Strait you had to be effected by the late “Troubadour” and closing “The Cowboy Rides Away”. What the album has going for it is it is a literal, all of a piece, live document, of one of the great Red Staters, a country giant saying goodbye. Is it enough? Sure, if your exes live in Texas.
Not a bad line up but not the 30th Anniversary gig either, where both Lou Reed and George Harrison played among many others.The story floating around that George was furious at Dylan because he had assumed it was a charity gig but it was, of course, for profit. george’s last live performance as well.
Not only is she an extremely funny, powerful and witty woman, but at the age of 20, she has one indie (I mean really indie) album Only 17 (her BASSment tapes!), which I completely missed the first time around but right now stands as one of the most memorable works of the decade, beaten out by her debut EP Title.
It sure does sound like Mayfield, who sang in from a wheelchair paralyzed from the neck down, was saying goodbye, just reminding us if he could come back from the devastating accident that nearly, and eventually would, kill him so could we: the trick to life is living it. Not only is it a glorious melody it is also a glorious sentiment and a benediction.
Gaga does not have the voice for this, it’s not that she has a bad voice but it is completely off: she is a declarative when the song calls for contemplation. Not crazy about Bennett either. I’d like to take that flute and stick it up their noses –if I weanted to hear Kenny G, I’d listen to Kenny G – D+
The trick with CMJ is to scout out the smaller gigs and to spend all day saturday on Ludlow Street. Having said that, I am a long time fan of Lily & The Parlour Tricks, just heard Lia Ices new album for the first time, loved Ratking at Governors Ball earlier this year and Ry x provided “Berlin” to Sam Smith.
Both “Queen” and “Slow” are razor sharp self portraits that among the top 20, maybe not Top 10, songs of the year. “Human Sadness” is ten minutes long and if it can work, anything can work –by the middle you’ll be surprised how beautiful it is. And “Intro” is a perfect overture.
After you get past the first two songs, the rest of this is OK but relatively ordinary. But the first two? Absolutely first rate, completely original modern pop songs. Swift we already know but Meghan has been a real revelation and I am still waiting for “Title” and “Future Husband” to storm the charts: all three leave the rest of the world in its dust.
Barbara and One Republic had something in common, both albums were heavily discounted; Ine Republic down to a dollar a holla, Babs at $7.99: the moral? I am sick of repeating the damn moral here: LOVER THE PRICES OF MP3s and people prefer em to streaming.
“Sometimes it’s god, sometimes it’s not”? How about “I hear the ancient footsteps like the motion of the sea, sometimes I turn, there’s someone there, other times it’s only me.” And yeah I know the Wiliam Blake poem, but that’s pure Dylan. And Mellencamp sounds like a chump – B
“Unfortunately I will not be performing in NYC this time around but I am looking forward to playing for fans in Philadelphia on December 4 and hope to return to NYC at a future date. My fans will understand and I thank them for informing me about the extortionate tickets prices already being listed on some websites”
ABBA’s Gold: Greatest Hits from 1992 is the second greatest greatest hits of all time, only Bob Dylan Greatest Hits Volume Two is better. And there are two differences, Dylan isn’t a single artist and Dylan had a handful of new songs on his. Oh, and Abba sold 28 million copies
But the real problem here isn’t that people of good faith disagree but that Rolling Stone have no good faith worth disagreeing about. Their taste is suspect not because they have bad ears (or not solely because they have bad ears) but because they are liars.
Yet another in a long line of movies trying to fill the “Twilight” void, kiddie sci-fi for YAs who deserve better. And it isnt bad, though remarkably unconvincing. The acting is good, and the storyline has its moments, but it boils down to teen exploitation with quite a few deaths and a deeply unsatisfying ending
Burnin’ Up – Jessie J, 2 Chainz – This is an average bop with a fair to middling 2 Chainz, the definition of average circa 2014 and those beats… where did they manufacture them? A real come down after “Bang Bang” – C
Nara – alt-j – Aha, here is the Atl-J I can’t take, I knew there were out there somewhere: a dreary Radiohead-y track saved by a cranky piano though hardly saved enough – C+
The sophomore album by the Radiohead via Coldplay Public School boys and is better than the first because it has a few more songs where they let go and a few more where their better living by science hits you deeper, show me an album with a song as great as “every Other Freckle” and I won’t sure you “Magic” – ALBUM OF THE WEEK -A-
Now it is the UK’s turn to learn their lesson. A twitterer wrote: “Dear God of RNB singers, I ask that in your mercy, you speak to Lauryn Hill’s heart and make her perform ONE song normally”.
CNN, I didn’t say new Bowie album ‘soon’. I quoted THE MAN who said ‘More Music Soon’ on Bowienet. That music is Sue.” Ergo, the new song we already know about. I am guessing Bowie is so rich he is happy not hitting the road and as Tony noted, he didn’t lift a finger to promote The Next Day.
Having all the music in the world for a set fee, I hope one day it works and benefits the artist as much as I think it should. I think that’s what all those services are hopefully trying to work towards, but at the moment it’s difficult and there is so, so little money in music. I’ve never made any money from record sales, and we sold nearly 8 million records if you count all the single
It is the dub portion that really blows your mind, “Bato Bese” sounds like dub goes to broadway, it is a strange and beautiful thing and even with that the album reaches its zenith with the large and transgressive the Mighty Diamond’s cover “Why Me Black Brother Why” – Lee “Scratch” Perry would be proud to put his name on
Another week, another column. Here we are going to listen to the last track of ten albums released the previous week, to see how it closes up and to say goodbye to albums we probably wont have the chance to listen to again till the end of the month.
Yellow And Blue – Megan Washington – Indie pop, the dreamy sort which buzzes you sweetly so filled with emotion and feeling and all that other good stuff but a little unfulfilling once you dig in – B
I stole this off Popdust here so if you wanna see the original go there but if you wanna stay here, I’ve simplified it and sneered at all the right places just for you. Plus, in my world young Tay tay can do no wrong so, guess what? It’s all everyone elses fault. Oh and I graded em because that’s what we do.
the exciting young Australian rapper who ruled the summer with two smash songs, “Fancy” and “Problems” and then “Black Widow” bringing up the rear. Meanwhile her debut album The New Classic might not be the revelation her debut EP, 2011’s excellent Ignorant Art, hey she will be playing songs from both on Friday.
I haven’t been to Las Vegas since 1975 so maybe next year I should do it. I wanna see the Beatles “Love”, Britney’s solo show and this the second Michael Jackson-Cirque De Soliel collaboration. I skipped the first show when it played MSG and I kinda regret it. On Letterman on Thursday I can take a a look at # 2.
Bass and drums, bass and drums, certainly you cant throw a brick without hitting bass and drums. The first four tracks are interchangeable, EDM plus pro vocals. Now that the UK hasn’t broken up, maybe they should start on making their charts work.
Yuck. The Script is awful and their album cover is worse, Babs is just as bad, Catfish & The Bottlemen are predictable UK rockers, and only Chris Brown is both new and good and, well, he is Chris Brown. You need a shower after listening to him.
Love Me Tender – Barbra Streisand, Elvis Presley – Awful act of necromancy, almost astounding in its lack of chemistry and sexiness and cool and warmth, uncool to an extent not knowable to the average person. Worst song ever – F
John Mellencamp hasn’t been around for a long time and Jennifer Hudson is a true soul singer. It is a toss up between Leonard Cohen and Aphex twins, and I am gonna go with Aphex Twin because I am not anticipating Cohen, I’ve listened to it non stop all week.
