rock nyc

The President Is Out To Get Her – The Groucho Marxists – New Brunswick inner circle band re-release their Manifesto! for a post-Obama world and it sounds muscular harder hitting and ready for a sequel – Grade: B+

With this new found skill I realized something. Jay Z sucks. He sounds like an old man, to polished and ever slang sounds strained.

But that doesn’t matter the way it might be if Taylor was singing about breaking up with Stephen or something. She is a big enough star in 2012 where her touch alone makes the loss, so private and so, yes, easy to empathize with, because also easy to ignore, something we can all share in.

The terrible and untimely death of their bassist Paul Gray is out of the headlines, It ends up just another rock and roll overdose like the hundreds before him and the millions to follow.

Bourhis has not only done the illustrations but also wrote the text, and the reviews of the albums! It works like a biography with a zine look, written by a fan and a very talented guy, and should be a must-have for any Beatles fan.

Amanda Palmer -now there’s a suitable case for treatment. her voice is ugly, her boobs are fine, she is a multi-everything end of the century time woman and she just made a coupla million bucks on Kickstarter, so, look, no way do we skip her at Webster Hall on Tuesday, even if the new single sucks and Who Killed is irritating

The Vaccines is vastly better then Two Door Down Cinema Club, and Mark Knopfler has a new release? I knew he was touring with Dylan but I didn’t realize there was some new product. Though the only shock is it hit the charts.

A good friend of mine swears Ne-Yo is the natural successor to Michael Jackson and he has the voice to at least be in the in the conversation. But his material is too middlebrow. If i have to spend the winter dodging Owl City I will not be happy.

. Groundhog Dog – Corin Tucker Band – According to this terrific little rocker, Corin took a break to have kids, came back, and found us all living the same day over and over. Apparently, women are still on their back and nothing changed. Except their are more women then men in college and in the workforce. The moral: great art trumps stupid politics – Grade: A

The boys go on holiday with grand intentions and in the interim hit numerous obstacles and freaks and typical ‘coming of age’ mishaps. If you are not a fan or unfamiliar with the series, I suggest you pass on the film

May be, unless the tune is a mixed rip-off of other famous bands and becomes like an attempt to gain as many fans as possible, from dubstep maniacs, to U2’s bombastic enthusiasts, to Queen’s nostalgics?

It is also a reminder that more than anything else, Jackson 5 were a collective hive of kids riding great songs up the charts with an effortless glee. And the rest is history

If she is doing it for publicity and attention, it obviously worked, but she now has to worry about her fans, who are strongly reacting: Minaj has even received death threats on Twitter and other social networks

Veganism means, no milk, cheese, eggs, no DAIRY, no meat, no fish, no honey NO NO NO and not just ‘chicken now and then but NEVER. There is no such thing as ‘mostly vegan or ‘mostly vegetarian. You are or you’re not

Whoopie Goldberg and the Dhali Lama. May as well stop reading right there or not, Syracuse University will host a love in of sorts being billed as “a historic celebration of peace, music and common ground”

I guess the new Van Morrison is the calling card for the month. He hasn’t released new material in maybe 4 years and that is very long time for the man, Van released an album a year right through the 1990s. Otherwise, the new Amanda.. she raised @$2M for it?

Beams – Matthew Dear – It is as if the minimalist electronic whiz kid re-wrote “I Zimbra” 11 times in a row, a pretty great idea in theory. In practice, it isn’t 1979 and the sound has built in monotony problems. At its best, “Fighting Is Futile” Dear is clearly an enormously gifted songwriter making a spooky and lovely soundscape. The rest of the time, he is like his hero Eno’s ambience without the ambience or David Byrne when he had a rock esthetic without the rock esthetic. An incomplete sound – Grade: B

Manhattan – Cat Power – The two note engine that moves this terrific song ever onwards also works as a hook. Translation: a very well crafted song from a very good album – Grade: A

Curious perverse nostalgic old guys with swastika tattoos ? Vasquez describes the music as ‘really low-fi, mono’, but he recognizes that ‘Manson’s nasal, bluesy folk music-like sound won’t appeal to everyone

Touche Amore released a new tune called "Whale Belly".  I haven't really listened to them much lately, so I was eager to hear this new release.  It's a part of

Despite all my efforts to try to find Paul Banks’ own musical identity, I couldn’t chase Interpol from my mind and that was his curse

hey it’s anniversary time for those crazy Irish boys and I simply cannot let the opportunity slide by un announced. C’mon now, my boy Joe Strummer was a Pogue and hell, everyone’s got a bit of Pogue in them- right?

Farrar was moving like a beaten down old man, he was squirming like a fish out of water, limping like a hurt man and bending over like someone with a terrible stomach ache

Remember she was cool when she was actually singing? That’s before her political garbage and grandstanding. Now I can hardly look at her without laughing. She is a living breathing cartoon and she’s on tour yet again.

I like Claire’s Diary a whole lot, and the guitar lick at the tail end is hotter than that, Bob Dylan I just know from streaming, maybe heard it twice but I am sure I am gonna be all over it next week. Muse? I’m in a state of shock, I swear…

One of Mayfield’s moments arrived from a world of pain near the end of his life, not just impossibly beautiful but Curtis was paralyzed from the neck down when he recorded this triumph. Hell, Aretha is just the cream on top. At the Grammy’s that year, Clapton said Mayfield should’ve have received it for best album. Next year he was gone – Grade: A+

A warm up tune sloppy and never meant for serious consideration. Its a bunch of guys having fun with a pop tune and its adorable and complete useless sound. Yet, one of my subjects felt the Vaccines were a better livery system than Taylor because it sounded more powerful. Huh?

it may be a must hear even if it is so solipsistic in its damaged sorrow, all you are getting is further insight into the strangeness that is Dylan. But it isn’t a classic because it sinks like the Titanic.

How much ‘unseen’ and ‘newly found material can there possibly be? Its not as if there was a vault for the movement, punk was DIY and dead, right? Apparently not cuz this box set is chock full of miracles.

Not only are these guys appealing to the 8 year olds we have legitimate 17 and 18 year olds falling over at their feet. I think its adorable that a band can span that age group, and I also think their shelf life is short.

I don’t quite see how Taylor is # 2, given she has sold over a million and a half downloads in three weeks. Since the Billboard 200 includes Digital downlaods, I have no clue why TS isn’t still at # 1

Christian rock beats horrorcore! What a disappointed, Slaughterhouse were saying we are thisclose to # 1, help us. I guess we didn’t heed their words and instead we get Jason Mraz of Godheads…

.Jejune Stars – Bright Eyes – I guess you’d have to be naive to tackle the fresh and earnestness of universal life and romance from the other side of 30. It finds Conor, getting deeper into his inner tick tock and sharing his otherness. Or maybe about the naming of pomegranates – Grade: A-

This Cat Power signing at Amoeba turned out to be an unexpected epic adventure. I first thought she was late but I don't know, as I am not sure when

Hearing it acoustic has rekindled my love for the song- I forgot just how incredible it was. Pierre’s voice is so quirky and has a quality that makes it stand out. No one else sings like him, and his vocal skill just gets better and better. Hearing him raw and not held back really reminded me of why MCS is brilliant