rock nyc

Musically, it is a stand off, but what the music signifies? No contest. The version of “Young Hearts Run Free” with Mercutio singing is worth the entire Jay-Z soundtrack.

I figured I would write a random series of Costello single reviews. You know, just a couple of words and a grade, like the old days, before rock nyc took itself so seriously.

All released yesterday, and only Megadeth and Portugal portend the possibility of something special. PTM is a real surprise to me: a band I’ve never held in all that high an estimation have released an ice cool indie rocker, produced by Dangermouse no less

Music is free on the internet, there is almost no value to a MP3, a total paradox for people which value music. And this may be a reason why we don’t hesitate to spend a fortune on concert tickets. Furthermore, we are social animals and we crave for these social interactions that the digital age has erased, and the dematerialization of music has brought us back to the pre-historic start when we were listening to a singer around a fire, technology has brought us back to live performances.

Mariah Carey come out to perform “#beautiful” but more amazingly given last years debacle where she refused to play, Nicki Minaj performed two songs with 2 Chainz. And finally, Rick Ross and Lil Wayne came out to perform “Pop It” with French Montana

Not much of a Queens Of The Stone Age fan myself so them being the pick of the litter has more to do with the many runts. Otherwise: Dave Davies, Kelly Rowland, Megadeth though I’m not sold on em. Haven’t heard from Rogue Wave in a long while… Nothing really going on.

“i hope the day will be a lotta highways…” so sang Elton on the title song of this weird 1970s movie about two teens who run away, she gets preganant and he goes to work in the wheat fields of France. At the time it was a pretty cool daydream but I have no idea how I would feel about it now. The live version of the Phillips track? he has to release it.

I last saw him in some movie- he looked like Jagger in a platinum wig, I felt embarrassed for him and haven’t done more than the Twitter follow since. Can’t do it, and technically I wish I could burn the image from my memory

Officially, she died from an heroin overdose and her friend Paul Erickson found her dead, on June 16th 1994, locked in her bathroom with some drug paraphernalia on the floor. The last person who saw her alive was Hole guitarist and boyfriend Eric Erlandson, who visited her the evening before

I wonder how Ellie found herself back in the charts. The UK isn’t like the US, an appearance on a talk show could pop her back in. London girl group Stooshe, who I like lots for their soul pop, rode a hit single to the top five of the charts.

The new Robin Thicke is a sweet beat lovers rocker that should be real big Stateside as well once it hits, and Jessie J is enormously average. Jessie J is a talented woman, no doubt. But I am hard pressed to prove it on product like this… still, Dizzee’s rap is rap is really good.

Vin gets them out of retirement to foil a master criminals plan to make a techno weapon which can blind a country to oncoming attacks for 24 hours. And that’s much more back story than I should have had to write.

Five of these songs come from the same Tuesday night, Phillips own “Paris” plus NKG and Short cover and the two Laura Marling songs. The Italian band at # 4 sound like psycehdelic Beatles meets Big Star (if that isn’t a redundancy). The Peaches remix is first rate and the Nationals? I am going to see em on Wednesday.

I can’t get enough of “Old And All Alone”. It’s super catchy and has your typical pop-punk feel, but once again, the vocals give me goosebumps. The harmonies and deep guitars lead up to the stadium-worthy chorus; what I like about this is how the song goes from 1 to 10 without it being awkward

Laura and VW are both pretty new albums and both are taking up more of my time than I can spare. Three strong women, Fantasia (well, she comes across strong) Laura and Natalie have been taking up more time than I can manage, and two country excursions , one real (Darius) and one imaginary (Natalie) have been taking up more time than I can spare.

A liver transplant? How the hell did they keep this one so hush hush? Reed who is 71-year was admitted to the Mayo Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio after rejecting New York hospitals because he claimed were ‘dysfunctional’. What a spitfire, ay?

Last year I promised not to go back to Governor’s Ball ever again, so what did I do? I spent $500 on VIP tickets this year and I will at Randall’s Island June 7th – June 9th and ESPECIALLY June 9th for the Kanye West gig. West killed me dead at 12-12-12 last year and I couldn’t be more excited to see him. Now will I dump Saturday altogether? I am seriously considering it and I am definitely leaving early! So no GNR for me, but plenty of KoL and Kweezy

Stelling is a victim of geography, always jumping trains on the way to Brooklyn. The result is a certain incongruity between what he is, a blue collar worker pushing hard and what he sounds like, an ancestor of Richie Havens with a chip on his shoulder. But then, like Dylan before him, he steamrolls right through it. So while he may never go quite as deep as last years “Mourning Train To Memphis”, a song like “Every Last Extremist” doesn’t need a backstory. ALBUM OF THE WEEK – A-

The Tricky and Stelling are real keepers, best songs on their respective albums but also better in a bigger pop moment. The Superchunk demo is one of the great songs of their career. They should try an acoustic album soon. As for Gary, Tomas Doncker thinks he is overrated but Tomas hasn’t seen him live.

Laura Marling – Roulette – May 28th, 2013 – Laura didn’t bring along a guitar technician, “I don’t mind,” she explained as she tuned two guitars in six keys, “but I didn’t pay for a ticket”.

When I was An Eagle – Laura Marla – Jungian archetypes meet boy-gods and all are punished to a melody you can sing in the shower

Finger Back – Vampire Weekend – My favorite song off the current album is also the most VW off the new album and the bit in UWS fallafel shop with a poster of jerusalem is worthy of Paul Simon.

After last years first rate exercise in modern Cabaret sounds Cafe Nights In New York, Phillips got to work on a blues record which should be out later this year and also formed a band to perform his exquisite standards and the great American songbook at Don’t Tell Mama’s last Tuesday.

I was just working on my best of 2013 through the end of May, which explains the top six . I am so ambivalent over Vampire Weekend that it might take the live concert for me to reach a final conclusion. Perhaps the proof of how important the live show is it changed the Paramore album from good to great.

‘I put an ad on Craigslist that said, ‘Band in the style of Hole looking for bassist in the style of Melissa Auf der Maur

Spotify radio is a pain in the ass and the repetition is absurd. So when it comes to mindless music, Pandora got me 40 free hours a month. I can’t see paying for two services, I’m just not that into it.

Aww, Mick you know I dig ya but this whole box set deal screams your name. Turning rebellion in to money 2013. $290.00 for this package of fun.

they have moved away from this light melody-driven sound. Their last album, ‘The Terror’, is nothing like ‘Your Face Can tell The Future’ which is featured on ‘True Blood: Music From The HBO Original Series Volume 4’ just released on May 28th via ATO Records