rock nyc

rock nyc

Listen Up: 11-14-12

The Boxer – Mumford And Sons – Not a bad version, the back up harmonies are an original idea and the banjo break very pretty but still, fundamentally redundant – Grade: B

rock nyc

Say Anything To Release Three CDs

All My Friends Are Enemies: The Early Rarities, it’ll be out on January 22nd. “This release is over ten years in the making and something I’ve been dying to share with kids,” Bemis says.

rock nyc

Not With The Band: Who Are The Real Songwriters?

If you look at the current pop princesses, Rihanna, Taylor Swift, Adele, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Shakira, Beyonce and current pop heartthrobs, Justin Bieber, Bruno Mars, Chris Brown, the One Direction kids… how many really deserve the title of artists? Probably none.

rock nyc

Eating Out, "Burn", Video Review

So I hit the play button all ready to hate these guys and really use this as a sounding board for just bitching in general. Then something awkward happened, once the song opened up I couldn’t help but be completely engaged

rock nyc

Top 10 Albums Of 2012 By Musicians Over 50 Years Old!

if you didn’t catch Van Halen on tour this year, you might question why they are so high on my list. Same goes for Paul Weller and Ian Hunter. As for the Beach Boys, Madonna and Bruce Springsteen, if you did catch them live you may understand one reason they aren’t here. The Dylan was 60% great, but “Duquesne Whistle” does not a great album make… Lambchop is that old!!

rock nyc

Joni Mitchell First Ten Albums As Box Set!

“Rhino will release a Joni Mitchell box set on 29 October 2012. The Studio Albums 1968-1979 gathers together Joni’s ten albums from that period, including all the classics such as 1971′s Blue and the acclaimed The Hissing Of Summer Lawns from 1975”

rock nyc

Kings Of Leon Back In 2013

KoL have spent their time plotting (I guess!) and right now they are in the studio working on album # 6, their first since 2010 and already have some concert dates set for the UK in the summer of 2013, can the US be far behind???

rock nyc

Rolf Harris: Officer Of the Order Of Australia

In 1957 Rolf wrote “Tie Me Kangaroo Down”, the story of a dying man in the Australian outback, telling his friends how to take care of the animals he leaves behind. The rhymes are really clever and for a depressing concept, the rhymes come at you with a smile that lessons the bite. In 1963 he covered “Stairway To Heaven” and it became a hit in the UK!

rock nyc

ZZ Ward At Bowery Ballroom, Monday, November 5th, 2012

ZZ has been doing this awhile, her dad is a blues guitarist, and she takes the packed out nightclub completely in stride, chatting carelessly, pushing her album Till The Casket Drops and pushing her voice only when it makes sense. The songs are bruised break up songs, all written for the same guy and all played with an intense smartness back by a very good band.

rock nyc

Must See: Mumford And Sons In Brooklyn In February, 2013

The first single “I Will Wait” of the current smash hit album Babel, was inauthentic in a good way, it was pop-folk but pop-folk that sounded like an English equivalent of Paul Simon. The cover of “The Boxer” cemented to the concept. And Marcus Mumford’s barely concealed contempt for bedwetters Coldplay was a Bruce Springsteen hugging Chris Christi moment between us.

rock nyc

Sneak Peaks: New Releases Week Of November 12th, 2013

The story is the Brian Eno ambient album, I have heard it and repays close attention with nothing much but as background music it is a lovely thing. The new One Direction will be very very big. And that is a true prediction! Soundgarden might be good, or it might be old, and just what the world needed, another Stones Greatest hits.

rock nyc

Listen Up: 11-13-12

Kiss Me Honey – Shirley Bassey – Ah yes, the early 1960s, before Shirley Bassey was a Dame, and before she was the voice to beat all Bond voices, here she took an earlier generations Rami Yacoub, Michael Julien, too the top of the UK charts. Bassey doesn’t belt it, she is all clear eyed seduction – Grade: A

rock nyc

One Direction's "Take Me Home" Reviewed

The album is filled with potential hits and minimal filler, all electro pop, ballads and tween bopping faux-rock. But 1D is not the star of the album, Rami Yacoub is. He produces half of the album and is now officially the name to drop.

rock nyc

Hot Topic and The Rocker Underneath It All

Justin Beiber? Hold up. How did it go from The Clash to Beib in 15 years? Cash. They needed money and the you give the people what they want. Oh you can still go in and buy a $50. pair of zebra Tripps but you can also get a Taylor Swift t-shir

rock nyc

"Skyfall" Reviewed (More Or Less)

Watching the terrifyingly morbid coming attractions for “Iron Man 3”, I couldn’t help but wonder, when did action movies stop being fun? There are more thrills in the Switzerland scenes with Blofeld in “Majesty” then in “Quantum Of Solace” and the latest Bond movie “Skyfall” combined.

rock nyc

News Of Hilly Eye's Eagerly Anticipated Debut Album Announced

Amy Klein of Hilly Eye has been a fave of mine since her Titus Andronicus days and this, Amy andthe other half of Hilly Eye, Catherine Tung’s first album, is very very exciting stuff. For one thing, it is on our favorite record label, Don Giovanni, and for another, last year’s EP was one of our faves of 2011

rock nyc

Ronnie Wood: Playing Music Like Taking Drugs

Rockers, Ron Wood, go on stage and between the music and the audiences reaction, are transmitted on to another level, away from the lives of quiet desperation that inflicts most people. The problem, once he gets off the stage, he is Ron Wood again

rock nyc

UK Top 10 Albums, November 17th, 2012

Oh, now I get it. 18 Months is a warehouse for a lot of the stuff Harris has been putting out with other people. Not bad,… I guess. Matt Cardle is another X Factor guy and Emeli is this years Adele but not in the States.

rock nyc

UK Top 10 Singles, November 17th, 2012

I have only one question here folks, why is “Candy” not released in the States yet? What the hell is Robbie waiting for. Wait, another question, why didn’t he hang loose and try and release it fin time to be their 2012 Christmas single?

rock nyc

Listen Up: 11-12-12

Boom Boom – John Lee Hooker – How big is the song? That riff has fueled so many songs, if all the people who used it paid Hooker he would have been buried in a gold casket on a gold mountain.- Grade: A+

rock nyc

Iman and Hel Do SNL Rihanna

Iman has run off to see this tart live numerous times and has enjoyed it. I would rather stick forks in my gums than endure any more than is absolutely necessary for the life of this column

rock nyc

Cat Power At The Palladium, Thursday November 8th 2012, Reviewed

A young and cute girl with a pink dress came on stage to sing Iggy Pop’s part during ‘Nothing But Time’, and despite the fact that Chan didn’t introduce her, there is a rumor it was her ex-boyfriend’s daughter, Lucia Ribisi, and looking at the hug they gave to each other at the end of the song, I would say that the rumor is true.

rock nyc

Rihanna “Diamonds” Video, Reviewed

At one point there is a horse running through a desert and then it’s rearing back on its hind legs, then it’s laying on the ground, then it finds it’s horse soul mate I guess and they run off into the sun set

rock nyc

Best Albums By Artists Over 50 In 2012? Here Is a List To Choose From

Sure, Chuck D got it wrong and the US reelected Obama, but otherwise Most Of My Heroes Still Don’t Appear On No Stamps is write on. I wil write up my best albums by musicians over 50 in 2012 one of these days, till then here is a list rock’s backpages suggested I crib from to make my choice and it should come as no shocker to anybody who reads rock nyc that Public Enemy will be number one in that chart.

rock nyc

Singles Going Steady: New Album Reviews Week Of November 5th, 2012

History Mob Music And Function – E-40 and Too Short – The Versed called these West Coasts journeymen “upbeat but laid back” and that explains the dynamic pretty damn well. Too $horts been a semi-underground rapper since 1988, E-40 since the 1990s, including years on Lil Jon’s Atlanta label . Together they are prolific, the tracks are really interesting, and they rap together very well. Stuff like “One Foot” is funny and pretty well done. But lyrically, neither of these guys have much to say – Grade: B-

rock nyc

Listen Up: 11-11-12

Stupid Liar – BIGBANG – Their best if not their biggest song, is a plain out love pop song gussied up with a rap and internal movements and conflicting voices, one of who howls, and always returning to an undeniable hook, “I’m so stupid liar liar liar”. A highlight on Thursday night sounds pretty good days later – Grade: B+

rock nyc

METZ At The Echo, Wednesday November 7th 2012

Alex Edkins, Hayden Menzies and Chris Slorach were only three on stage but they built a brutally furious sound, as if they were an army, they were a force playing at unison with heavy bass and super loud drumming, building a tremendous sonic furnace

rock nyc

Top 10 Truths Of The Music Biz? According To Hypebot

According to Future of Music co-authors David Kusek and Gerd Leonhard, who I guess know this kinda stuff, here are the top ten truths of the music biz. After running a blog for nearly four years, all I have to add isI am fucking exhuasted… However, here is the top ten and here is my opinion of them

rock nyc

At 38 Is Robbie Williams Too Old To Play Pop Music?

To add insult to injury, Robbie quotes his own record label, who have made a fortune off the man, complaining to Robbie that he might want to try something a little more suited to his age… Robbie didn’t appreciate the suggestion and they were, of course, supremely wrong

rock nyc

Active Viewin: Concert Picks Week of November 12th, 2012

The folks from MellowHype and the folks from Trash Talk are throwing a party at one of the best clubs in the city, Gramercy Theater on Saturday night and it should be a hugely enjoyable show. Trash Talk will be loud and rigous, Mellow Hype the child of Kid Cudi we can find on the new album and a wonderful time will be had by all

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