Auld Lang Syne – Performed by Eric Harm, Matt Miller, Carrie-Anne Murphy, Julian Veronesi (vocals) and Patrick Stickles (ostrich guitar and MXR Pitch Transposer) and the ringing in the new year sounds like a death knell
As for U2, they are going through the motions and letting the stage do their work for them and even so, when the song and the sound come together, tonight “I Will Follow”, “Sunday Bloody Sunday”, “Pride In The Name Of Love” and “Elevation”, they absolutely justify Tomas’ deep affection.
Alone Again (Naturally) – Gilbert O’Sullivan – His masterpiece of loneliness, suicide, heartbreak and the most devastating critique of god: “in my hour of need, why did he desert me?” The instrumental break, an acoustic guitar over a full orchestra, pulls you ever downwards, the flute that follows him the rest of the way will make you want to cry – A+
Given the choice between giving U2 the benefit of the doubt, and just about anybody else the benefit of the doubt, I would undoubtedly go with anybody else… which doesn’t mean I’m right. For the eight nights at Madison Garden, still in mid-residency, U2 did many things better than they have before but is it enough? Meanwhile, Young Fathers were enough.
It wasn’t a bad week, not great but some good stuff there, however, oddly, there weren’t many standout songsl a lot of fair stuff very little great stuff. “Shame” made an appreance because it killed live, but the heart of the week for new tracks was 50 Cents. Alice Glass and the Yogi and Skrilelx song. Otherwise, OK but yeah, most of em wouldn’t have made it on a great week.
Young Fathers know from money problems, “G” Hastings was raised in the Drylaw housing estate (part of paradise postponed), and the sound is both very dark and very heavy: to really mix metaphors, it isn’t like Marijuana, it is like a hammer in a knife fight.
More or less, sure, who cares about the (sadly and aptly named) Gin Blossoms without Doug Hopkins, and the band never should have screwed him over so badly, but how are you gonna hear the songs otherwise? Also, Marshall Crenshaw had nothing but good things to say about Jesse Venezuela, with whom he had a smash hit with”Til I Hear It From You”. So forgive, forget, and enjoy an old miserable experience at BB Kings on Tuesday
Summer Girls – LFO – “I’d take her if I had one wish…” A huge hit and a great song plus “Billy Shakespeare wrote a whole bunch of sonnets… ” I saw em live round this time (Jingle Ball) and thought they were fun and five years ago Rich died of cancer at the age of 36. And this song was LFO’s moment – A
Heather Salines, who slept with her daughter’s 15 year old boyfriend, must be out of her mind. 15, well it depends on the boy, but 15 is young (Heather: “When I looked at him, he did not act like a 15-year-old. He acted like a grown man.”) and your teen daughters boyfriend? That is very disturbing. You are destroying a central relationship.
Earlier this year I was watching Jimmy Fallon religiously and then one evening it suddenly dawned on me: he wasn’t very funny and he couldn’t interview, the dumbass games he was forcing poor, innocent celebrities to play were terrible, he had zero quality control, and the Roots suck. And he is still probably the best. Coco creeped me with all that Tonight stuff and everybody else is worse. So, yeah, Ashley Monroe, Tom Cruise AND Buddy Guy… Pick of the week.
What do Dave Grohl, Nick Oliveri of Queens of the Stone Age, Matt Skiba of Alkaline Trio, Corey Taylor of Slipknot, Reed Mullin of Corrosion of Conformity have in common? I mean despite them being bloated monsters of metal plod, so stop that. Think positive…
Stillbirth – Alice Glass – If this is hype, include me in. Her backstory is awesome -ran away from home at 14 years of age and joined a punk commune/band, and that’s just the beginning, and this her first solo single is a glass crashing, brain tingling, weird out electronic masterwork that lives up to every positive word you’ve heard and then some – A
Stepping Out – The Fall – One of Mark’s greatest moments, a scarily explicit hit job on truth and lies and media and what it means to be in a rock band but one of our greatest and lick to die for, never been a band like these guys plus he was a sweetheart when I interviewed him: that’s all – A
Apparently people don’t get out much in LA -not one but two riots occurred as fans tried to get into a free Future concert. Future?? “Reports said some 700 fans lined up outside the club, which has a capacity of 500, with the hopes of nabbing a wristband for free admittance into the show. Scores of fans spilled out into the street and blocked traffic, prompting L.A. sheriff’s to shut down a portion of the Sunset Strip at around 3 p.m. They moved it to the House Of Blues, and that was also cancelled. Wait a second… DS2 Future???
Lennon and Ono put silence to even better use than all of the above on their best experimental album, Unfinished Music No. 2: Life With the Lions. The track before was the heartbeat of their baby in the last five minutes before Ono miscarried John Lennon Ono II at Queen Charlotte’s Hospital in London. What followed was two minutes of silence
In the 1970s, the local charts weren’t as homogenized as they are now, what about this top ten shouts British to you? There is something so worldwide about these songs, they could be anywhere. Spain? US? Australia? It is completely homoginized, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer but the charts remain a consistent shade of off white. Everything is exactly the same everywhere.
Avicii and Calvin Harris are the old face of new dance, but boy are they old faces. This MOR beats stuff has grown beyond tedious and if this was 1989, these two would be the first at the guillotine as privileged pampered arbittors of manufactured crap.
Trickn Every Car I get – Trae Tha Truth – At first listen I coulda sworn Rose was on here somewhere, it sounds like a “Bugatti” cop. But Rick isn’t here and “Bugatti” is one of his best anyway, so I’d be happy to hear it again – B+
He got fired for a private conversation made public by thieves. For God’s sake, “I am a racist up to a point” is the truest thing a white man has said about black America in decades. Get a goddam grip, innocent black women are getting jailed for failing to indicate they are changing lanes and ending up dead (musta done it herself, apparently -there is a lot of it going around) and you wonder if white America is ‘racist up to a point”? Let me ask you this: if Hulk Hogan thought it, and there was a machine that could read his mind, would he be fired as well? The guy isn’t running for President, he is a wrestler for God’s sake. If Hulk Hogan hates black people, it is nobodies business as long as he doesn’t make racist comments in public and he does nothing whatsoever about it.
#And See That’s The Thing – Djf Loaf – On the flawless side of things, this rapper, hook singer from Detroit is completely great on her five track EP debut. Dej’s Tae The Truth track was apparently no fluke, though she works closer to the same side of the street as Drake… with a difference: when she raps, she raps so close to the melody she seems to glide over it as opposed to solely play off the rhythm. She is also a great lyricist (though Big Sean sullies one song, Future comes off better). This is something of a masterpiece – ALBUM (well, EP) OF THE WEEK – A
“The way I rationalize it, to have the address you’ll have to listen to the album to the very end. Second, to even consider coming to my house you have to be a kind of a superfan. And thirdly, it’s in such a weird part of New York that if they actually get there, they deserve a cup of coffee.”
Sandra Bland died in a jail cell and why? because of changing lanes without using her indicator. According to Reuters: “Bland was pulled over on July 10 near Prairie View, Texas, northwest of Houston, for failing to signal a lane change. After the incident escalated into an altercation between her and the trooper, Bland was taken into custody and charged with assaulting an officer. She was found hanging in her jail cell on July 13 with a plastic trash bag around her neck.” There is something so dulling about this, it is like “here we go again”.
Everybody Loves To Cha Cha Cha – Sam Cooke – A classic dance song, Sam takes his sweetie out but can’t get her on to the floor till he teaches her the moves that are sweeping everything before it. Sam at his popstar best – A
It is such a disappointing, dreary song three times in and I want to do something else with my life. It singlehandedly justifies Patrick Stickles entire existent. A long term romance goes kaput and personally, I don’t blame her.
On we go,and though we are only on the fourth song, it sure feels like there is a lot of throat clearing going on. I guess if you’re going deep into the consciousness of a manic depressive you might as well keep into on the down low
Like I Never Left – Future – Diddy, Drake, Pharrell, Pusha, Ludacris sounding really drugged out of their minds and saying nothing of any interest to anybody FOREVER… well: for 25 minutes but it feels like forever – F
So to some extent this is a non story, nobody write their own stuff any more, everybody is rhymin’ and stealin’ in 2015. Meanwhile, not for nothing but from Madonna to Nicki, does no one have any quality control on whom Drake diddles?
I have no idea what these guys thought they were doing with this, intermittently amusing, movie Amy has managed to become a big star and stop being a big star in the same breadth. Movies don’t have to be realistic but they have to keep true to their world: you can say everybody on earth has to wear weighted boots because gravity isn’t working but once you show somebody not wearing weighted boots, that’s when you become unbelievable
Let me see if I get it right: the fate of Western (actually all) civilization, rest on the bony shoulders of the Senior Senator from New York, Chuck Schumer. If Chuck votes for the Iran Nuclear deal, it goes through, if he doesn’t the undecided follow Schumer and Obama can’t override with a veto. Translation: this world gets more ridiculous by the second. Let me see if I get it right: the fate of Western (actually all) civilization, rest on the bony shoulders of the Senior Senator from New York, Chuck Schumer. If Chuck votes for the Iran Nuclear deal, it goes through, if he doesn’t the undecided follow Schumer and Obama can’t override with a veto. Translation: this world gets more ridiculous by the second
Shrug – Chrissie Grimmie – “The Voice” third runner up last year got herself sign and dropped by Island Records, though this pure pop EDM track, whistle a major hook, is an annoyance, except the middle eight is an excellent deconstructed piece of weirdness. It could break her – B
“Patrick knows exactly what he wants. He’ll have a spoken word piece to be edited in down to the second and he tells me exactly what it wants it to sound like. When XL (the British indie) came around to make suggestions he completely ignored them.”
So I guess these are the songs of the summer, Jess Glynne didn’t make it so I guess I called that wrong, also I didn’t think much of the Max Martin production (much prefer “The Hills” so I didn’t get that one right either. Oh, and please, that “FFight Song” song -no, just no
So not the longest story ever told by any stretch of the imagination and what is strange is the man is a gasbag and so you’d expect him to tell the story long and hard. I remember seeing him at the “Spectacle” gig years ago and he kept on stepping all over his guests line…
Ducktails are the Real Estate buddies and quite pleasant if you like that kind of thing, sorta dreamy psychedelia, Jill Scott is really good when she has the right song; she has the voice but not the material. Ashley Monroe started young but now at 28 is an old school country singer, and really very pleasant. I’ll go with her
I’ve Got You Babe – Sonny And Cher – has anybody not sung this to their sweetie pie at some time in their life? An ode to togetherness and sharing that has reached far past being a cliché, or camp or even funny: it is the “Happy Birthday To You” of romance…. babe – A+
Josh Greenberg. the 28 year old part owner of music streaming service Grooveshark, which closed suddenly this years with lawsuits up the ying yang on its tail, died in his sleep yesterday. Everybody is completely baffled as to how he died. Condolesnces to his family, what a shame: at its height Grooveshawk had 40 Million visitors a day.
It sounds great but it sounds too much, it overloads you and not in a great way (though certainly in a good way). But I may be wrong, the move between the two parts of the album, from “More Perfect Unions” extended instrumental coda to “Sun Salutations” a capella and then the classic rock thump of “(S)HE SAID/(S)HE SAID” is kinda major stuff… Nobody else can do it.
I’m On Fire – AWOL Nation – I totally missed this, off the 50 Shades of Gray soundtrack, but it is really lovely and it is also a little on the quiet side, it is like they don’t want to hard sell you with everything all around, Bruce is all edge, and here there is just a huge sense of distress – B+
I wonder, if like cars and fridges and laugh as a whole, today’s music isn’t built to disappear, if the most important thing about this volatile pop moment is that it can and will be left behind in an instant, it should be commended on not asking us for more.
White Reaper’s debut album is a stealth attack, a hard hitting poppy explosion of old school rock and roll -let’s hope it gets some traction. Also, Jeff Tweedy has released the first album of half way decent music in a decade or so. It starts off a little iffy, but steadies itself to the closing bell.
I would like to congratulate Billboard in completely baffling me as to when their charts come out and what week (week? ha that’s a joke). This was published on Saturday as a post which I missed and it is definitely ending 7-25 because I check the 7-25 and it is the one I posted last week, so this must be for the one that they will put up on Tuesday… right? There is no singles alternative anywhere. What chaotic stupidity, there one true job on earth and they can’t do it… PS the Tyrese album is a complete dog: Earth to r&b: WRITE SONGS.
Ben Ratliff in the New York Times claimed “Bono delivered speeches, interior dialogues and eventually pitches for his anti-poverty and AIDS prevention organizations, ONE and (RED). But the concert was an achievement, integrated and sure-footed”
I know Tomas won’t do any of them, and given our respective track records, I tend to think he is probably making the right decision. In the meanwhile, The Mess We Made, with its Beatles and Hendrix references, its rubabdub dubs, its Mayfield falsetto and simmering when not exploding anger, should be with us soon.
When Mary Rudzis was a wee babes in arm we covered the Warped tour religiously, and before she was born, when it was at Randall’s Island on a Saturday afternoon, I’d visit it myself every year. Now, the kid is too old and it is at PNC Banks Art Center -so, you know.Plus, Kosha Dilz is the real deal for sure, the trilingual rapper rocker is a goodie but… he hasn’t released a new album in two years.
U Mad – Vic Mensa – With Kanye West, on this terrific piece of rap genius, Kanye’s verse is a good low key rhymin’ but Vic hits it out of the park: “All praise to Allah, not Ramadan but these bitches fast…” Sure, it’s the usual shit but very well done – B+
A very good week is completed with a very very good list of new songs for the week. All three hip hop songs are about sound not lyric, the samples that fuel Vic and Young Thug are exemplary (Skrillex is behind Vic, better than anything with Diplo) and the clashing swords on “Swords” is a terrific sound, as is the guitar on the Wilco track.
The problem with Apple Play is it makes navigation a little too difficult. The service is a little counter-intuitive. But, the more I use it the easier I find it: just click “New”, use the search, double click “New to start the process again. Save to “My Music” if you want to download it and add to your music, when the merge works it will merge with your own downloaded songs.
Between novels, I am quietly circling “Go Set A Watchman” -all I’m hearing is making me undecided whether I can stomach a racist Atticus Finch or why I would want to. Reading it must be like meeting a close friend from High School on Facebook and discovering he is now the chairman of the local chapter of the NRA.
David – Laura Marling – A new one off her Director’s Cut version of Short Movie, a lovely song: completely perfect Laura territory, I’ve heard her play this live (on youtube) and she performs it in a different key here -not a great idea – B+
Robin Williams – Cee Lo – The angry little man who could, can’t on this so bad it’s good sort of you kinda stop and watch it in a state of suspended horror Why would he recommend a suicide comic to tell us to laugh the pain away? Isn’t Robin the poster boy for NOT laughing the pain away. -what on earth was he thinking of? “Robin, can you hear me?” he asks at the end -don’t, just don’t. Has to be heard to be believed. The worst song since “Beer With Jesus” – F
