An under rehearsed Arena rock show should be absolutely mindbendingly wonderful. Oh, and plus, the signing a contract to never tour again. Yeah, right, can’t wait for the “Contract Breaking World Tour -One Last Time”
It really is tough trying to figure out where to find new music but for all of youtube’s ability to make personal listening playlists, I don’t see how it works as a place to discover music. It seems more like a place to stream music once you have already discovered it.
Snappy action, sitcom comedy, an old timer action hero (Mark Wahlberg) and his hotter than July teenage daughter (Nicola Peltz) walk right out of “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” as a loser inventor and his daughter struggle with eviction and poverty (Hollywood style, of course) before Cade Yeager (Cade? Is that a name? Cade???) brings home not just any Transformer but Optimus Prime
Somewhere In My Car – Keith Urban – Thumps a little hard for country rock and pops a little too much for country or rock, this is the sound of country music running down the drain and as spectacularly bad a song as “American Kids” if not worse – D+
There are reasons why Michael Buble is the biggest cabaret star in the works: he wears a tux well,he pushes classic rock and soul with the same fervor as the American Songbook, he’s a funny charmer. But it soon becomes very clear that the man is a lightweight.
Moanin’ At Midnight: The Howlin’ Wolf Project – Tomas Doncker band – If you have last year’s This Is The Tomas Doncker’s Band Howlin’ Wolf EP, what do you need this for? Four more songs. If you don’t have the EP, this breakthrough album for the band is the best collection of Wolf covers you will ever hear – ALBUM OF THE WEEK – A
“Oh I know that she has made a fool of him” Costello sings in “No Dancing”, “Hey girl I wanna shake your hand, all I ever do is bow”, “I wanna get right through the way I feel for you”, “I can’t be wounded because I’ve got no heart”, “they told me everything was guaranteed, somebody somewhere must have lied to me”, “if I was a Saint with a silver cup…” , “I can hear you whispering as I crawl by your door”… it is like every line goes bing in the back of your pain valve.
This is unspeakable but it isn’t exactly songs. Songs have catchy melodies, and smart lyrics, and you can do something with them other than sneer. There is something shameful about this product. It abuses Christianity for a bob or two, and sure, Hillsong didn’t invent it but this goes a long way to perfecting.
Tokyo, Oklahoma – John Anderson – I’m a big fan so not sure how this song passed me by but Steve Crawford’s momento mori of Mack Vickery (you’ll find it at the top of today’s rock nyc), turned me on to it: a country blues work out stomps its way with so much smarts – A
Tickets for the October 27 & 28 Beacon Theatre shows go on sale to the public Friday, July 11 at 10AM ET and can be purchased at www.ticketmaster.com and www.beacontheatre.com and via charge by phone at 866-858-0008. American Express® Card Members can purchase tickets before the general public beginning Tuesday, July 8 at 10AM ET through Thursday, July 10 at 10PM ET
Unlike Ethiopian music, there is no r&b influence, the music sways but doesn’t stomp and Noura’s delivery is rock emphatic; it’s a declarative, rich and very inviting sound. Her hour long set mined the debut album, Tzenni, released in June
Stubhub for sold out gigs we know, but it is also a place where people unload tickets they don’t want or speculators go to dump the excess tickets in their world. Helen Bach is such an expert she will wait till the last minute and pick em up as the prices topple, I got burnt on Fiona Apple that way once so tend not to have the stomach for it but this is really the open market at its best.
Tim Howard is 35 years old and sports, soccer, is more or less a young man’s game, but the Manchester United goalie from New Jersey who carried the USA team past the UK for one and Italy for another, may prove capable of doing what Pele couldn’t 40 years ago, with that in mind, US ball clubs should through mountains of money at the man so he can singlehandedly turn the US onto, dare I call it, football.
If I had more time to offer it the Ed Sheeran might prove to have depths that are lost on me right this moment, maybe three good song doesn’t not an album make. 5 Seconds of Summer got held off the top spot by Ed, so I’m shocked.And David Grant? Didn’t realize he was that big and this is a good album that might be great if I had the time to offer it
The dog days of summer are coming and this is the new normal, DJs and singers and singers and DJs. It can be fun but it can get old, this is a little on the old side. I am surprised to see got another single on the charts, only one in the States so for. Little Nikki is a good singer, keep an eye on her.
No One To Run With – The Allman Brothers – Dicky Betts takes the rhythmic lick from a Stephen Stills and places it on top of a choo choo train, than rolls over country and rock on the way to pop – A
The last time I saw the pre-eminent purveyor of the Great American Songbook Michael Buble, he transformed a bunch of teen girls screaming for Katy Perry and Justin Bieber into very chuffed fans with only “Haven’t Met you Yet” to seduce them with back in 2010.
To claim it is an aberration is sophistication, it happens all the time because children are vulnerable and people are unscrupulous. To claim children are in a state of grace denies the reality of the world around them. And to claim most people don’t feel attracted to children may well be true but that doesn’t change that millions upon millions of people are attracted to children.
Whatever your taste and wherever it may or may not coincide with the free for all 4Knots festival at the Southside Seaport, still, nobody can deny the garage rocking , country hawking Those Darlins, a band I’ve planned on catching yp with for a coupla years now. And did I mention it is free? Saturday, July 12th 1pm – 8pm
My feeling about Sia is something like, there isn’t an EDM track her tender, lush but very powerful voice can’t make better but without the dressing, her songs aren’t as strong as they need to be. But I could be wrong and so she gets the album of the week (round one). Industrial dance isn’t my scene but “Last Tangle In Paris” is the album title of the year.
The most misunderstood song of the 1980s but it isn’t the audiences fault, Bruce wrote a chorus which is about as huge an anthem as humanly possible: “Born in the USA, I’m a cool rocking daddy in the USA’ begs to become a national anthem and did. And his brother is still all gone – A+
Turbogoth are Sarah Gaugler (on lead vocals) and Paolo Peralta (on guitar/electronic sampler), an electronic power pop mood enhanced duo with a pretty good debut album 2011’s awesomely named Destroy Us All, which includes the, well maybe a little Goth-y, more ambient with a back beat “Bbm” .
As promised, an annotated jay Z and Beyonce setlist plus a Spotify (except for bey’s last album mostly). Impressive… to a degree and they do go deep enough, right? Here and there they trade off songs (“Hard Knock” followed by “Pretty Huts”) and sometimes they have little run of songs, but it isn’t two separate shows: they comingle freely.
Ah, yes, reality. Now that the script writers of reality shows are suing for royalties the question as to what is real becomes murkier though Lennon’s “nothing is real” probably comes closest. And this sense of nothing is real invaded the music world this week.
Here is Chris discussing with BBC Radio no longer a vegetarian: ” I’d only eat something that I think I could kill.” So I guess beef is out? Could he kill a cow? Maybe but a bull? NEVAAAAAH. Fish and chicken should be OK, the problem with chicken is probably less killing it and more catching it. I mean, those chicken can be fast on their feet.
So when after this weekend’s Glastonbury Festival, the usual complaints about her failure to actually, well, sing, this was her short and sweet reply to the UK tabloid The Sun: “My boobs are fake, my hair’s fake, but what is real is my voice and my heart. Her Rep said: “She sings live. Some people don’t know an amazing singer when they hear one.”
I’ve been bemoaning the state of hip hop all year, but two really good Black Hippy albums, plus a fair to middle EP from Cam’ron is making me feel much better about the world at large. Especially the Ab Soul album, I don’t deny Control System was a great album but for some reason it took the new one for me to really hear it.
Na Na – Trey Songz – Very catchy sex song by a guy I once saw open for Mariah Marey, he sucked but man, the women in the audience could care. This is better than usual, a tricked out beat and a cute metaphor – B
Ab Soul has the skills of an old time rapper with the sensibility of a modern day spitter. He isn’t an Earl Sweatshirt, he isn’t new r&b but he isn’t old school either; rather, he is like an hallucinogenic sound merchant , with such tremendous flow as a rapper (he mentions Twista as an influence)
The song is great of course. Unfortunately, I couldn’t figure out how to put the soundcloud recorded version up so here is a live one. And I added “Fatal Flaw” -another new one that sounds pretty good. Meanwhile, I can’t wait to catch em opening for the Buzzcocks on September 6th at Webster Hall.
Leave Your Lover – Sam Smith – Smith’s absolute and final and timeless masterpiece of thwarted romantic desire, plays like a gorgeous nightmare in the back of your head while Sam’s falsetto reaches forward in desire and sadness. one of the great songs of our time
Elvis Costello – Carnegie Hall – June 25th, 2014 – The second of a two night stand but this is the one to have watched. A solo performance, started with half of My Aim Is True, ended with a brand new song, a good one, and “Peace Love And Understanding” and in between he spend two and half hours wandering round his future history with unvarying, unwavering and very thrilling results
Do You – Spoon – Here is a song even Spoon agnostics but unequivocally approve of, a sticky, handclapping, nonsense syllabicating masterstroke, which I noticed when I caught em at Governors Ball and am now insane about – A
What I got was the sophomore effort, the delightfully titled High Tea though I won’t be getting the tour I don’t think. The Britannicas are the Dr. Luke of rock, they build songs through file sharing, Herb in the US, singer Joe Algeri in Australia, and guitarist Magnus Karlsson and drummer Stefan Johansson from Sweden
I’ve seen three (Nude Beach, Speedy Ortiz and Dinosaur Jr) amd have heard two others (Mac deMarco and Those Darlins, plus heard of one more (Viet Cong – though less to do with hip underground bands, more to do with hip underground soldiers) and two of them (Radkey and Re-Tros) are a complete mystery to me.
Wow, except for “Rude” and “Problem” flipping places it is as though last week never happened. So it is s till a pretty good list and I still wish Legend wasn’t on it but at least it won’t be the song of the summer. PS: I don’t think an awful lot of that Iggy’s album. Except for “Work” of course.
Not bad right? Two years ago I was watching Ed Sheeran at the Mercury Lounge and now, holding tight to Taylor Swifts coattails, here we are. Sam smith was probably still a virgin two years ago and as for G. Easy? Man, he must have deep pockets, I bet it cost a coupla million on advertising to get him here. iIt must break down to $20 per sold CD!!!
Easy To Love – Maxi Priest – He should have joined UB40 for good but since he didn’t this will have to do and the title track of his first album in eight years holds up as a lively little Reggae love song. And you can dance do it – B+
Yes, the US lost against Germany in the World Cup, but they still made the next round and considering the Germans had control of the ball an astonishing 70% of the time and only managed one goal, this is something in the nature of a miracle and the miracle has a name: Tim Howard., US Goalie. By the time you read this, they may be out but it doesn’t matter any way, Tim did well.
Touchin, Lovin – Trey Songz – Autotuned by the number like T.Pain with his melody jones on stand by and if you think Minaj adds much to the situation, you haven’t been paying attention; about as sexy as a toothache and since that’s what it is all about, who would you blame for the lack of fireworks? – C-
These Days – Ab-Soul – An incredible 90 minutes by the last man to break out of Black Hippy, this is a stupendous album, brainy, beautiful, tons of guest stars, all of his former band, deep grooves, smart rhymes; miles away from Gangsta. This is the best rap album of the year and to sustain it for 90 minutes is mind binding – ALBUM OF THE WEEK – A
Songs the Stones and the Who covered before Jahn, mix it up with the Temptations, Edwin Starr, Chuck Berry and the Coasters. I for one would pay cash money to have heard the Bowerytones wailing on “Young Blod”. Jahn is a big Who fan but I feel that the Bowerytones were channelling early Stones. That mix of rock and soul, very early 1960s.
Noise Vs Beauty – Bassnectar – The House album of the year lives up to its name as one of the best DJs Lorin Ashton, the Santa Cruz party album who added metal to a taste for bass. This is a step forward, a hard pressed masterpiece of beats and sound effects.
380 songs make up my best of 2014 so far, but if I hear a better song than “Leave Your Love” this year it wil be a miracle, a torchy swoony dream of adoration and disassembled love which makes much more sense when now Smith has come out as a homosexual.
Saturday – Norma Jean Wright – The call of the weekend has never been more enticing than on this Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers composed ode to the middle of the weekend, part of an album where the Chic stalwarts decided to use just one singer, to varying degrees of success, though this one is very good – B+
I’ve called em indie pop and I’ve called em emo and folk, but essentially they are just a rock band with a lead singer who taps into a sense of a dream which has become a part of American youth at least since the 1990s, maybe since the late 1960s, of a dream, both personally and politically diminished
Of all the ways to serve gay pride, this was a great one. Last year Summerstage did a similar thing for the 35th anniversary of the birth of hip hop -they just have the connects and the vision to put such wide and free ranging shows together. As the song goes, “I’m happy, I’m carefree and I’m gay”, and long may you be who you are.
Here we go, Independence day weekend, the worst week of new releases this side of New year, has nothing much going on. I like the new Robin Thicke album I guess but naming his album for his ex-wife? It is all kinda nauseating (though maybe good business?) . Seether? Trey Songz? Magic!? On to the next week.
Has Ezra not broken Stateside yet? You would think “Budapest” would be huge (26M streams on Spotify), “Gecko” is the sort of straight up no chaser that doesn’t do well on the US chats. Example is Calvin Harris’s buddy.
No one shocked to see this list, though I wonder if Ed Sheeran can maintain. He is a huge star in the UK, and this is the best selling first week of the year so far, but there is only one “Thinking Out Loud Here”, and I wonder if it will be enough.
