Iman Lababedi

Frampton is coming alive at the Beacon, Atoms For Peace at Barclay Center, Vampire Weekend wore off me a little, Low is a major disappointment (blame Jeff Tweedy?) and I am on a Frank Zappa kick.

What else? Who broke out of Austin this year? Nobody. That’s who,

Chief Keef is really great on the Kweezy track from last year and Alice SMith conitnues to impress mightily, #10 is one of three songs on her new album that has wowed me. Other than that, not much going on, deep album tracks and the Rascals about sums it up.

I’ve been to so many, not just, but essentially a lot more, since 2009, concerts, I find it hard to be surprised (I love music enough hereby the lack of surprise doesn’t ruin it for me). And I’ve seen a lot of things happen at concerts. Hell, I’ve seen a man die of a heart attack at a Patti Lupone show.

Yeah, yeah Bon Jovi and Bowie, neither superstar sold that much. I mean, BJ sold 90% less than Taylor Swift did during the first week of Red. I think the shocker is Eric Clapton. Not only did he hit the charts with a (crappy) album called Old Sock, he did it with the greatest of ease.

We had a word for this sort of chart when I was growing up: not much. There is a world of mediocrity here, of songs you will never hear again and never remember in a year, that you won’t look back at as a golden age. It is so bland.

Josh Rouse was almost the Conor Oberst of the 1990s but he couldn’t quite sustain. However, he remains a talented fellow as does M. Ward. I said Lana sucks live, I didn’t say Lana sucks on record. On record she is pretty good. #4 and # 8 are part of remix EPs and pretty good ones. Suede are back but you already knew that. And Alice SMith is a revelation.

Yet again Fall Out Boy think they signify more than they ever actually do. As a band, Fall Out Boy’s problem was a failure to connect song to content with the strength they seemed impelled to do so.

# 1 to # 3 are all new releases, none off Spotify, The problem with Will I Am isn’t that he is good or bad but that he sounds old and this sound needs to be brand spanking new to signify.. The Timberlake song stands head and shoulders above the rest of the album, and I actually prefereed “Step” to the excellent rockabilly VW “Diane Young”. Which suggests the new album will be a goodie.

The great thing about this consistently entertaining album is how it is forward and backward looking at the same time. The song are first and foremost modern pop but they are also long soundscapes, they are ambitious but only within the confines of their chilling esthetics

I’ve heard only one song off the new Billy Bragg and it is OK, not great, but I’ll take it. Love the title of the new Marnie Stern, worth getting just for that, and as for the Black Crowes? If they had kept their sense of proportion they could have been the Allman Brother’s for a different generation, much the way Phish are for the Dead. Instead? Here, take a live hits and scram.

# 6 through # 10 are reflections of the Dr. John gig last Saturday, # 1 and # 5 are because I got a tix to the BB King gig late April, and #2 and # 4 are part of the joys of editing Jon Pennington’s excellent Most Influential Posts Of The 1960s… if you aren’t reading it you should be.

Bowie is on its way to being the best selling album of the year so far and Bon Jovi’s dire new album is in at # 2. Incidentally, why was Jon on Katie Couric discussing his daughters OD? To sell the new album, of course. Repulsive.

The pussycat gal is bland but poppy. Actually this entire top 10 is bland and poppy and it is still better than the US. The truth is, the single is a somewhat useless piece of product in 2013. Nobody knows what to do with it and the concept of a great single outside the realm of an album, which should be huge and was about to break huge before streaming happened, is disappearing.

40% of this is because of the Dr. John gig Saturday night. 10% of this is because I got a tix to see Sylvain Sylvain ar City Winery. 1% is the strangest Presley impressionist around. And the rest just general weirdness.

The Marling song is on a whole other planet. one of the biggest songs of the year. Bilal is shockingly great, a real surprise for me since I hated him at the Prince Tribute last week. Sweatshirt? I hope Tyler is this good next week. And Palma Violets live up to their best Brit rock band crown.

This is a 7pm show at Sidewalk Cafe (Avenue A) so my plan is to rush their Friday night, catch the great rocka nd roll voice Eric Contractor perform, I haven’t seen him in years, than rush over to MSG for Pink. I recommend you do the same thing but if you can only do one, this man has the voice of a young Orbison and looks like a young Clark Kent. Do your very best to represent for the big guy.

So Matlock played (even wrote) during the Sex Pistols greatest year and a half and Sylvain was an original Doll. At twenty bucks for the best seats, fifteen bucks for the cheap ones, no joke: go see em.

A Love Surreal – Bilal – This is neo-soul? The D’Angelo of post-soul 21st century soul music throws down his furst album in 9 years and it lives up to it Coltrane nod in its title -or almost. There are moments of free floating beauty, “Slipping Away” amd moments of Princely funk “The Flow”/ and jazz with the masterly pianist Robert Glasper on “Butterfly”. There isn’t a mistake in the lost ALBUM OF THE WEEK – A

“They’re soppin’ ‘n’ boppin’ ‘n’ moppin’ with Little Melvin and the Invaders” -that’s Bruce. “I have cursed, bled and sworn, jumped bail and landed up in jail. Life has often tried to stretch me but the rope always was slack.,” that’s Shane. And the moral of this story is lyric matters

The Murphs kicked this hard at T5 and on reading up on the band I saw where they covered the Springsteen song on stage with the Boss a coupla years ago. I blew off Atoms for Peace (1am for a DJ set? I think I’ll pass) but I made up with Dr. John and Allen Toussaint at Town Hall tonight. Savages at Bowery Ballroom on Monday. The Who? I’ve reached Lifehouse in the Townshend memoir.

That is pre 21st century type numbers and given neither “Suit And tie” nor “Mirrors” are not all that hot, it is clear what people love is Justin Timberlake

Austin might well be a great place to conduct business if you know who you are going to conduct business with but if you don’t, what do you do there but get ignored

Have you been following the Jon Pennington most influential songs off the 1960s here? It is superb and if you haven’t we’ve tagged it so get caught up. Coltrane’s “My Favorite Things” is there somewhere. The rest of the list are album tracks fromnew releases I, for the most part, don’t much like.

Let me start this review by stating that Suzanne looks great, sounds great, acts well and the video for the title track is a soap opera music video and really really good

Before you get too excited over Jimi Hendrix’s best showing on Billboard’s Hot 100 in 44 years, keep in mind that it sold 20,000 less copies than Valley Of Neptune did in 2010. Plus given the probable age of Jimi’s core audience, it is fair to say that streaming had little or nothing to do with it. Suggests to me, the higher placing has everything to do with less sales at the top in 2013.

Macklemore and Lewis are the Carly Rae Jepsen of 2013, no one has the slightest idea how they can possibly follow up “Thrift Shop” and so they probably won’t follow it up ever. And as for Baauer? He isn’t quite a one hit wonder, more like a phenom gone wild and never to be repeated, by him any way

I was discussing the Go Gos early years with a friend who knew em pretty well (went to school with Belinda) and thus i gave em a listen, plus Kathy Valentine just quit plus I am seconds away of getting a tix to see em at Roseland. I went to droplick Murphys yesterday. What else? # 6 to # 9, will probably be around a couple more days…

#1 – # 3 are all very very good, I really love Earl Sweatshirt ever since seeing him at Gramercy a coupla months ago. The Bowie is the best song on the album , definitely third tier Bowie (meaning pretty damn great) and along with Modern Hut’s “History”, Marling’s song may be the best single of the year.

Which is a long way round for us to share this picture of Bowie, wife and model Iman, and daughter 12 year old Alexi on our streets… just like real people and not like the aliens from outer space they so obviously are

Sure, I get get it, a new David Bowie album… but then what? The Bon Jovi single was fabulous but it would hardly be the first time VJ have only written one good song on an album and the reviews have been deadly. What else? The Clapton song was lousy. Devandra is very very very boring. ANd I’ve had enough Mindless Behavior for one life time.

araabmusik track is off a new album I’ve just noticed and one of the best electronic sample seance I’ve heard all year, Blank Realm is from Brisbane but don’t hold that against em, this song is pretty magical lick on a loop, and “Senorita”? just in case you thinj I’m being being too hard on the Kkd (whoops, kid no more), here is a reminder of what he actually used to do