Bieber can do whatever he wants, smokes all the pot he wants, takes all the drugs he likes, he can have a career, damage his career, dump all his girlfriends but he can’t have a pet monkey! I hope PETA is going to jump at his throat for this one. This is the most irresponsible thing he has ever done.
There were bands with big talent and small fan bases and now it seems Honda has done a 180. Big crowds small talent- and naked Levine. Another sell out event and I don’t mean tickets.
As part of a “Golden Age Of The Album” series, the listeners voted on the best albums of all time and what the hell Coldplay’s relentlessly mediocre second album is doing on the # 1 spot is beyond me. Not one album would’ve made my top ten (though several might have made my top 20)
Essentially, Jigga uses his star power to attract the talent, and the Baseball wing of Creative artists management manage em
30% of this is a reflection of Wednesday’s gig, including the # 1, a talented girl singer songwriter whose currency is misery, 40% reflects upcoming concerts, including Alyson faves Cold War Kids (who have yet to improve on “Coffee Spoon”) “Curios” I was curious bout and Kurt Vile s a triumphant nine minutes of guitar.
it was a large crowd for a stadium-sized sound, as the quintet did sound big and confident on the small stage, with singer Nathan Willet’s powerhouse falsetto vocals leading the game during their eight-song set. They started with two new songs off their brand new ‘Dear Miss Lonelyhearts’, first, ‘Loner Phase’, which had an interesting combination of dance-y beats and sweeping-bombastic synth wrapped by a sort of Depeche-More-meets-the Killers sound
When I thought about composing the songs I didn’t think it was possible to do it with only the cello, but when I stated writing I realized it was. I began to create loops and layers with only the cello, and arrived at a really layered sound and my own little orchestra
There is a danger and a stupidity to what the press is doing to Justin Bieber. He doesn’t have to be a nice guy, he doesn’t have to be humble, if the worst you’ve got is Justin smoking a joint, go away and leave him alone. Go pick on someone your own size.
Another weirdness is the release of this video for ‘Ashes in the Air’, a song they did about a year ago with Bon Iver for their ‘The Flaming Lips And Heady Fwends’ all-star collaboration, whereas they are about to release another album on April 16th. But may be this is announcing the real Terror to come.
Distributed by Eagle Vision Entertainment the info is not even official. Instead it was discovered by Morrissey stalkers and put up on his ‘True To You” site. For the record truetoyou.com isn’t even an ‘official’ Morrissey site but for some reason he periodically will post there. So they do have legitimacy!!
Yes, folks, it is that time of the year again, the bi-annual tradition. Pitchfork post their list of Spring and Summer releases and we repost while slamming the arrogant , boring music website for being po-faced, self-important know it alls… did I mention poorly written?
I seriously can’t get over how good the new Fall Out Boy stuff is. They recently released the video for their tune “The Phoenix”. I have so much to say,
In the year of Our Lord 2013, we my never agree on anything again as well as we agree upon how completely awful the Lil Wayne album is. It has taken over five years of a downward spiral of cough medicine, lousy songs and worst lyrics to reach this place. The bottomless pit of lousiness that is Weezy.
This band, Imagine Dragons, they are the death of rock and roll, this is where rock and roll is worst than the worse dance, country (except for Tim MCGraw, of course), hip hop, anything. I am certain they are lovely people, but this time of lugubrious rock is an affront to everything I believe in.
I went to see Modern Hut last night and that explains why two of their songs are here, as for Alkaline Trio -I was shocked out how good these guys are, they had never made the slightest impression. As for Rilo Kiley, this song is the exception not the rule. Plus, why are there liner notes and a cleaning out their closet?
Over the years, they sure have built a loyal follow-up, and the Henry Fonda theater seemed quite packed on Saturday night, filled with fans eager to see a band which just played one-off reunion show in 2006, but had basically turned down other offers,… until 2013. A few months ago, they headlined two shows in New York and Chicago to celebrate the 25th anniversary of their label
So what’s a club owner to do to make sure he’s not going to go out of business on a violation? Enter Boulder Colorado’s Aggie Theater. You’ll be greeted by bouncers withe breathalyzers as they try the latest idea in keeping the tipsy teens off property. Oh and you’re getting a pat down as well.
”Freddie told her we were going to the Royal Vauxhall Tavern, a notorious gay bar in London. Diana said she had never heard of it and said she’d like to come. ”Now this was not a good idea. ‘It’s not for you,’ said Kenny, ‘It’s full of hairy gay men. Sometimes there are fights outside.’ This didn’t put her off in the slightest.”
About everyone was there, from Madonna to Marilyn Manson, from Brad Pitt to U2, REM, Oasis, Blur, the Beastie Boys, Eddie Vedder, Dave Matthews, even Courtney Love showed up apparently! In fact was there a non-celebrity in the crowd?
The difference is that DJSsand producers, even the biggest of em, even the David Guettas and Calvin Harris, lack definition wheras the professional wrestlers are ALL definition. Wrestlers can be viewed at a glance while after an astounding 90 minute set by New World Punx on Saturday I am not bigger a fan.
USA today reports that the show (in the works) is based upon the 2010 merch line featuring the Hello Kitty motif. The show will feature “four Kiss x Hello Kitty characters living their rock ‘n’ roll dreams and bringing pink anarchy to every situation they are in.”
Phil Ramone produced Clay Aiken, Burt Bacharach, The Band, Bono, Laura Branigan, Ray Charles, Karen Carpenter, Chicago, Peter Cincotti, Natalie Cole, Bob Dylan, Sheena Easton, Melissa Errico, Gloria Estefan, Aretha Franklin, Billy Joel, Elton John, Quincy Jones, Patricia Kaas, B. B. King, Julian Lennon, Shelby Lynne, Madonna…
I remember the bar and I remember the pinball machine where I spent my life playing flippers through some of the greatest bands to ever grace the stage and a whole lot of the worst. The real question is, what will Jahn Xavier make of it?
30% of these songs reflect the BBC Radio 2 best albums of all time list, 10% is a reminder that Rilo Kiley weren’t all miniskirt and hype amd 60% are new releases of which Tyler, The Creator and Erykah Badu together should never work this well but does and 60s Soul and Gospel live up to Crawford’s high opinion.
I find the material distressing ordinary and much much better on covers of Jimi “He taught us 50% of everything we know” Hendrix than on simply mediocre stuff like “Flashback”.
Their set was quite animated, there was a sort of Ariel-Pink-look going on with Alex Coxen’s bleached hair and shorts over tights, but he was producing some visceral open-throated vocals, and a nervous but triumphant feeling was coming from all that loud distortion, squalling and shredding. Dinosaur Jr.? Sure, but there was certainly more than this in their booming guitar solos
fans were seen giving Nazi salutes at their shows, the guitarist wears a tattoo of the logo of Death in June, a band really into hate speech and white nationalism, and their band logo bears a strange resemblance with the German symbol called algiz rune, which was widely used within the Nazi Party and Nazi Germany.
Islam has spoken on the White House lawn, on talk shows such as Stephen Colbert and is well informed and well spoken on the politics of life, equality, peace and his religion. A wonderful soft spoken yet powerful man his speeches are inspiring and though provoking, and you don’t have to like “Peace Train” to appreciate it
The latest in a line that goes back at least to Marvin Gaye and maybe more like Chuck Berry and Louis Armstrong, black boys damaged by the USa and breeding in into eccentric far reaching art.
A quarter of the year through 2013 and it is a bit of a loser. Music has been on a slow but constant trickle down ward since Black Eyed Peas failed to change EDM with The END. So many big bands have brought out bad albums over the past two years and if bad is too strong, just say whatever albums, let downs, nothing you will remember in three months from now. Some of them (Hi Justin Timberlake!) may well be on this very list.
Absolutely zero doubt that Tyler The Creator is the man to beat this week, his new album Wolf is already among the best of 2013. And I am not certain Rio Kiley are the band for an odds and sods compilation, certainly “Let Me Back In” was pretty lousy and if you are waiting for a new “With Arms Outstretched” you better hurry they won’t wait, they also won’t provide it.
1975 are a Manchester band four EPs into their synth rock pop career, they hadn’t left much of an impression earlier this year but seem to have started clicking now. “Not Coming Down” was the best moment of an excellent set on Saturday.
On stage, Modern Hut has a sort of surly self-deprecating sense of self. As if Joseph is somewhere between please and irritated to be on stage. I love it, it plays with the fourth wall very effectively and the songs? The songs are fabulous plain and simple.
It gets draggy fast, and she didn’t bother with my fave, “Ask”, but it isn’t the disastrous pokiness of her albums and she did herself no harm. And there is the voice, a beautiful instrument and a devastating calm in a sea of emotional visions.
You will read a lot of Joy Division comparisons in critics, and it is understandable based on the pessimistic ambiance they installed during their short set, it would certainly be difficult to top it, but I don’t know if I totally buy the whole Hamlet in hell, I-am-the-new-Ian-Curtis nihilistic approach. May be they don’t want to be compared to the 70s English band
New World Punx were excellent at proving the tools for swift, loud, LED inspired release. The duo are very, very busy, there will be no Youtube of them having a cigarette while prerecorded tapes air, this was two master DJ working at a feverish pitch while being listened to by a huge following , 6.5 million people, worldwide.
Cmon this guy has been around forever and has made more loot from bad eyeliner than anyone ever will. Granted this is not a musical endeavour but can he really not find an investor for his latest effort? OH, wait, guess what the project is…. A comic book series.
The song starts with guitars in full-assault, Josh Homme’s commanding and blasting vocals, and some terrific drumming by their new drummer Jon Theodore from The Mars Volta. It’s as badass and empowering as anything they have done before, with an interesting mood change toward the end of the song.
Has it been four years since I called Leonard Cohen boring at Radio City Music Hall and got savaged by his many, many fans. Yes, it sure has. I was savaged not least because I wrote that he was a tenor when he is, of course, a bass. I saw Cohen again later in 2009 at MSG and still wasn’t convince. And though I quite like Old Ideas, and I am thoroughly enjoying Sylvie Simmons biography “I’m Your Man”, I wonder how I will like him this time around? Saturday, April 6th at Radio City Music Hall.
So here is the big boys of 2013 battling it out, Depeche Mode, Justin, Bowie, the Strokes -wow, it could be 1994, all rock modernists all the time but is the world at large any better for it? I’d just as soon listen to BPMs as most of this stuff.
So nothing of much interest right? We’ve been watching these songs flip about the top ten all year except… what the hell is a 1994 pop rap track doing at #1?? Well, apparently the rapping duo are now MCs of a TV variety show and were convinced to roll out the track after all these years, only to instantly sell 70,000 copies. Only in the UK, pop pickers.
Is there a more international music than dance? It cuts right across from Miami to Ibiza and beyond and in the case of Zedd, a 23 year old DJ, Russia, and Mark Schultz and Ferry Cortsen (aka New World Punx) Germany. Zedd wasn’t their but NWP were extremely impressive at a sold out Madison Square Garden Trance show Saturday night. Better than Moving Sidewalks at BB Kings earlier that very same evening.
On a tour that Alyson Camus called ” the sort of rare performance that gives you chills along the spine for close to 2 hours” when she reviewed it in L.A. earlier this year, Nick was an agitated rock and roller who failed to signify.
The coolest thing about Adam Ant was that it was the first musician that my mom and I agreed on. That poor woman saw more shaved and booted rockers come through her home and woke to many a floor full of unconscious punks.
Where Can I Go – Laura Marling – This magnificent song puts Laura on the trjectory for a Joni Mitchell type career, a career that defines the apex of singer-songwriter artistry.
Taylor Swift – Prudential Center – March 27th, 2013 – Her third tour, fourth album and post-High School if not College, Red finds the woman in complete control of everything but her heart and more than able to present it in a devastating rock concert.
She was dressed all in white, with a tape across her mouth with the words ‘Silenced by fear’ written on it, and she strummed her guitar while seated on the ground, in front of a few sentences she had written on pieces of paper pinned to a wall. She had even sent a few tweets earlier, inviting people to pick up a sharpie and write on her
The track is a seductive piece of action, mixing Karen O’s unique sexy-animal vocals emerging from a tunnel of weird echoing synths and groovy bass. It’s a bit funky, dance-y, super catchy and intriguing at the same time. ‘No fun for a night on the town’, she meows while you see her walking around the stage with her long legs
Winner – Taylor Swift – The tabs raved uncontrollably over Taylor’s performance at the Prudential center last week, so did I. But my review was significantly better than the big boys, especially the Times who followed the worst hook in the world with the simply wrong comment that the Red tour had bigger production values than Speak Now. Speak Now was a bigger show though not better. Still, Swift shut all detractors up and rock nyc was there first and better.
United Tenors – Fred Hammond – The Gospel stars singing Tenor here include Dave Hollister and Fred Hammond, the latter’s secular God, Love, Romance from last year was chock filled with great songs. Which can’t be said for this album floundering, not on singing or production, both of which are very good, but on lousy songs of worship – B
