rock nyc

You know all those weeks on the charts? Adele still hasn’t gone Diamond. So what does that mean when the most popular album in years and years can’t move 10M units? It means album sales are dead.

Swedish House Mafia come across all old school dance syle with a soaring synth that is like a tidal wave foaming up and spashing down. But the song is a little weak kneed and the mainman a bit disinvested – Grade: B+

After driving from Virginia through Tennessee…crossing the Mississippi over into Arkansas…then stand-still traffic for a solid 3 hours somewhere outside of Little Rock…turned into an outrageous traffic jam party complete with Tweed rolling and bubble blowing…finally we rolled into Waka somewhere around 1 am.

The song itself seems a bit repetitive – almost like it’s the same chorus repeated over and over again – yet if you listen to both the lyrics and the intricate layering of each instrumental sound, it all starts to make sense musically

Yup, a professional demolition crew has painstakingly dismantled the loo and its filthy contents as well as former owner Hilly Krystals desk and the cash register…how fun! Now these artifacts will play center stage in this oh so pathetic film

No, he ain’t Babyface. But ask yourself this: who is? And while we are agreeing that he is not ready to claim the greatest living r&b songwriter crown from whoever owns it, also ask yourself this: who the hell owns it?

Devo? Blondie? I mean seriously if you were a good length away and weren’t faced with the brutality of aging this could be the best 80s tour of all time.

the Cougar country didn’t thrill me and if we are going to have two Neil Young parodies, why wasn’t one of them with Bruce Springsteen on “Sexy And I know It”. Plus, they could have easily released all three history of rap with Justin Timberlake

From the retro bubblegum ska girl to the elegant woman (with abs of concrete) Stefani has become it is chronicled by the longevity of her band.

The Queers and Agent Orange aboard the cruise ship The Jewel for $25 bucks on August 18th. Neato huh? A punk rock show on a boat? That alone is news worthy.

If ever a band was too cool for their own good, this is that.The Toronto eletcronic rock band have been knocking around for over a decade and getting a hit here and there. I hope this terrific slow burn that starts Goth and then detours to atmospheric dance, is one of them – Grade: B+

the Misfits mad man ‘ran to the side of the stage pointing and screaming before approaching security and then proceeded to run all the way past the side stage, almost into the crowd to walk among us’

hits me as to just how deep and wide the album is… I think the term is a Costello type album: it sprawls as both indie rock, hip hop, singersongwriter

From Manchester’s “Electric Circus” to “CBGB;’s” , great clubs spearheaded great movements in a Tolstoy like mix of history, a meme that caught fire with almost no pre-condition. It just happens because it just happens and it grabs people, all of us, and steamrolls history, the past

The not so shabby band City and Color took on the classic “You Are Like a Hurricane” and took the nasal twangy 70s classic and made it…better.

It starts terrific, “Every Single Night” -which I hated as a single and love as a leadoff song and “Daredevil” which is pretty excellent getting fucked in the middle of the night song, and then gets weirder.

Should Morello thank him for the compliment? Ventura may share some ideas with the left, but he is also running this Conspiracy Theory wacky show, which pretends for example that 911 was a cover up by the government,… what kind of political credibility does he exactly have?

From the opening scattershot explosions to the thunderous cracker barrel conclusion, this is 35 minutes of the real thing that three minutes you against the door with some mighty fine punk pop classics

Not unfunny but a little too typical Fallon has big star sing a silly song (even though, why would a guy be ashamed on getting laid?). Still the “got another guys pants on is funny enough – Grade: B

Recently, there was a void and a new haircut, which made One Direction’s American success possible. It’s the same story for anything else, natural selection is pretty harsh for bands, and the competition is ferocious. They have to come at the right time, with the right song and the right outfit to find their US niche

From ’89 on I’ve had people tell me who I am. And they pick my personality as if it’s a one or two-dimensional thing, and I’m more like a tetrahedron. I can’t think of any people outside of Weird Al Yankovic who have both embraced and pissed on Rock more than I have.

This upcoming October between the 11th and 13th is the 7th annual Harvest Music Festival, again back at the wonderfully splendid Mulberry Mountain in the Ozarks. Not only does the fall weather and surrounding scenery make for an epic trip with a guaranteed connection into nature, but the lineup compliments the atmosphere almost too perfectly.

As musically wonderful it is, there’s no way you can sit still and appreciate the instruments because you’re too busy jumping around and dancing and smiling.

How could he not partake? He is as British as Big Ben and well if I were running this show I would have the ‘legends’ open the ceremonies and the newer bands close it. Why? Cuz it shows hope for the future- Paul is the ghost of rock and roll past.

Ocean proves himself not in the bigger moments, but in this perfectly formed modern soul also ran, with a flipped out auto tuned middle, and treated keyboard backing track. Ocean doesn’t have the voive he needs but he has the one he has, and here he uses a good simile and a fine melody, clever beat and strong backing for a minor but pleasurable song – Grade: B+

Just between these three-ish acts, Lettuce, Soulive, and Break Science all reppin The Royal Family, and all integrated into each others acts, it really is a big old musically inclined family; a family that stood out more than any at day two of Wakarusa.

It is always weird and awesome to be among such a crowd of artists and art-music lovers, as I feel like a foreigner in another land, asking myself what do I know about post moral retardist? And in what subculture have I landed? But at the same time, I always feel at home surrounded by so much inventive quirkiness and mysterious unconventionality.

See, Bryces voice has little definition- he literally sounds like every other white male American. It is the facial expressions and movement that turn this song from talent show goo to an actually interesting song.

So now that all these 40+ year old metal guys have hit their midlife (cuz in their business 45 is middle age) they all think they have ‘it’. Here is a whining dream world video in which the heartfelt lyrics of idiocy are belted out in a tired pathetic manner.