rock nyc

There sure was a heap of hoopla over that Led Zeppelin countdown.  The kids went crazy and the geezers started hand wringin’.  Could it be?  Led Zep back together and […]

I think Amanda has so little to add to it except an instrument, it is pointless. Except it is such a great song and she sings it so straight and so in her underwear, it is its own reward.

The Boys – Nicki Minaj and Cassie – Nicki’s best song since, well it is better than “Starship” if not “Super Bass”, has a lovely chorus by Cassie before Nicki trashes that other sex and really very well. Hey, talking of bests, her best rap since “Monster” – Grade: A

he is like a hurting wild animal nobody can control,… until he meets the Master, Lancaster Dodd, played by charismatic and debonnaire Philip Seymour Hoffman, the cult leader, who introduces himself with the humble and Hubbard-esque declaration ‘I am a writer, a doctor, a nuclear physicist, a theoretical philosopher, but above all I am a man, a hopelessly inquisitive man, just like you.’

Kickstarter is an online services that allows bands (or anyone) to fundraise for themselves to support a project. Highly successful with Amanda Palmer netting over a million and setting the bar pretty high with B level hardcore bands demanding nearly $350k to record. Someone needs a new car on that one.

Have you noticed that these goose bumps appear when the music is moving, melancholic, nostalgic, it is not really happening when you listen to happy music, which still trigger an emotion, a happy one. Goose bumps mostly occur when we have sad emotions, however, some people may prove this wrong

This video takes on that vibe brilliantly, in the beginning. Then something goes horribly wrong. That wasn’t good enough. We had amp up the hip factor by turning it in to a giant instagram video. Like a million others. As the video gains color the lines blur and we are smack dab in the center of hipster village and Joy Formidable is the mayor.

I am blowing off Bon Iver at Radio City Music Hall to catch the band at Local 269, where they will be part of the CAVESTOMP RECORDS presents evening of fun and rock and roll on Saturday, September 22nd. Also present are McGee faves the Lime’s and, in his opinion the purveyors of the album of the year, the Golden Boys

This is a great song in theory. The problem is the topic has grown up but the music has not. This is generic ‘pop punk’ and unfortunately not even evolved from early ATL offerings. If anything they sound a bit more boring and a bit less creative. How did this happen?

It has been a coupla of lifetimes since Nookie, and being a grown up doesn’t wear itself on Green Day. Like Blink 182, they don’t do adulthood well. Maybe they are too mewlingly adolescent for the roll of grown up.

Last time round I made our writers promise to really nail the Disco Biscuits story for us. Needless to add, that was a complete waste of time and energy. By the time the teenage writers left Camp Bisco, older but wiser, we were thankful for anything they provided.

This is like a list of must hears here. First and foremost Good Music, since “Clique” was so much better than anything Kanye has released all year. But really everything looks good here, the new Aimee Mann, Grizzly Bear… Richie Sambora?? And Kreay with a lot to prove. Color me impressed

Default – Atoms For Peace – This has been getting mixed reviews but I like it a lot more than Radio: it is a percolated ping pong beat with Thom’s discombobulated vocal and not much more. And that is plenty – Grade: B+

The totally indecipherable and buried-in-noise vocals were adding to the ambient nightmare, as the blasting sound was reaching saturation. On the subject of imagination, anything could have gone through my head while listening to the eviscerating metal-noise, like for example imaginary screaming damned voices falling into the entrails of hell!

While “Gun Shot”, off of Nicki Minaj’s Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded”, isn’t really designed to get everyone going nuts on the dance floor, Nicki and Beenie Man’s sound in this song is something really fantastic. With a chill vibe and lyrics almost entirely in Patois, you don’t get caught up in the stupidity that Nicki Minaj songs tend to be

He’s on a crazy journey climbing through the woods, stealing a moped, and nearly getting knocked out. The reason? He’s on his way to his wife, Tara. She’s waiting for him in the sunset and he comes to play her the song

Oh to be a Springsteen fan on the second leg of his US Tour. Finally, he has stopped flogging that dead horse known as Wrecking Ball (really,he dumps the newbie at this point of the tour every couple of years), gone from 40% of the set to 20% of the set and now, on any given night, he will delve deep into the vaults and pull out anything he wants to from any period of his career.

Believe it or not, she had already released a trailer for the add a month earlier, because she is Gaga, the queen of the fake build-up, the diva of the big suspense that bursts like a bubble full of stinking air

He is not a comedian but he is uproariously funny. He is not a motivational speaker, but he gets you off your ass. He is not a politician or a shaman but he makes you think he gets you armed with information and he send you on your way. I admire his intelligence.

The owner of Bridgetown Records, Kevin Greenspon finally brings his lo-fi sound modulations to the East Coast for one of the most eagerly anticipated gigs of the year at a friends house in Brooklyn on Tuesday

17 year old X-Factor UK style (where they are actually paying attention) Amelia shows what a a pair of teeth and a dye job can get you, a number two hit on a nothing great electro dance track. Is that a new Flo Rida track I see? Is “Whistle” finally suffering from dry mouth???

One song does not an album make, but if one song did make an album, that song would be the XX’s “Angels”. The Script beat, one of the worst bands on the planet beat out Dylan and PSB (which doesn’t) and Ora is the sole hip hop rep if you don’t include the Will I AM collab with the Script -and I don’t.

Pon T Loca – Damn Yankee – In the Reggaeton genre, I always went with Don Omar, the better vocalist. But DY’s current album hands him the crown, as he raps well but builds beats a whole lot better – Grade: A-

I like the way he makes the distinction between emotion and feeling, because this is exactly the same distinction used by neurobiologists: an emotion is an experience of the moment, an immediate reaction to what you are listening to, whereas a feeling is the memory of this moment left in your brain and that you are dying to re-experience…

Now if a pathetic old punk could booty pop or werrrrrrrk I’d do it to this tune but instead, I will just blast it really loud and try to sing the Spanish parts,though I don’t speak Spanish. I don’t know who TJR is but he should be pretty psyched to sing with Mr 305

After the mid 90s, the tone of the Bond movies changed: Before they had all the standards, the Gladys Knight, Tom Jones and Shirley Bassey of the music business, then it was all about a younger crowd, with Sheryl Crow, Garbage, Chris Cornell and even Jack White and Alicia Keys

They’re now receiving tribute and my love of ‘cover’ tunes causes my interest to perk up at the word of tribute. There is something about hearing another bands interpretation of a classic that just makes it allot he more casual and light hearted.

I also wonder whether it is the beginning of a new trend, are these activists going to glue stickers on Ike Turner, Bobby Brown, Yanni, and Axl Rose’s albums? And this is just to name a few wife/girlfriend beaters… And what about all albums produced by girlfriend-killer Phil Spector?

Away From The World – Dave Matthews Band – From James Brown rave ups to sonic freakouts to Willie Nelson quotes to songs called “The Riff” that can’t even live up to its name, and all with that reedy, horrible voice on top. The most overrated band in the world suck again – Grade: D

Isolation – Harry Nilsson – I saw Ian Hunter perform a lovely version of this song a couple of days ago, and Nilsson uses his mid-range effect and then plays up and down his range. The result is devastating – Grade: A

Steve Crawford continues to learn us in how completely weird it was 90 years ago: “We finish the 1920s with tuberculosis, racist lyrics, Al Capone, and slave instruments. Give me a beer. And a pigfoot.”

“Everyone knows someone whose life has been affected by breast cancer,” Bananarama’s Sara Dallin said. “So when Hard Rock offered us the opportunity to take part in Pinktober and support a great cause in a fun way, we jumped at the chance.”

Youth were for the college kids with big lawns who wanted to rebel while shopping at Benneton. Such a stereotype. Its funny I missed out on allot of really cool music because of the images bands had. Husker Du, Sonic Youth, even The Replacements were all bands we ‘real’ punks would rather have died than listen too.

Yeah, Muse sound like U2 but they sound like GREAT U2. If U2 had written it I’d be raving about Bono’s return to form. Otherwise, the world belongs Amanda in a week where Taylor signifies but doesn’t qualify.

Anyway, with $600 million, Bono could really put an end to AIDS, if he invested in research and not in Facebook, right? But is this really big money? I would say it becomes all relative when compared to Walmart heiress, Ann Walton Kroenke’s $3.9 billion

It’s just plain fun and Fearless puts together some amazing covers. In our time doing interviews we discovered most bands have at least one pop tune on their iPod and aren’t afraid to belt it out at whim. Pop songs are pop cuz they’re popular and sometime for the sheer cheesiness of the tune.

The Once And Future Carpenter – The Avett Brothers – I bet they suck live, but on record, well, the newbie crosses over to indie land, a sweetly undisturbed folkie indie harmony country type indie – Grade: B+