Er, I love U2 live even if I can’t much take em on record but really… to evoke his childhood this way is to provoke nausea in most people. I get it though, it is like Smallville and wee little Bono is the Superboy dreaming of saving the world.
She is too strange, too flighty, she is too bizarre to be fun to watch, opening her arm wide and basking in the spotlight like it was the sun, there is strangeness in her performance that won’t let you give into it. It’s a little similar to the way you can’t quite enjoy Brian Wilson: she isn’t playing with a full deck. You’re not sure if she is on drugs, but if she is on drugs, it is harder than weed.
The great thing about death is it is the reset button in everybody’s brain. King is no longer the elderly man who couldn’t stop touring, he is the vibrant 30 year old electric guitarist changing the blues in the 1950s, and then the breakthrough star in his mid-40s, the hero of the 1960s UK blues movement, and the elder statesman. All those things at once.
I don’t know if they will ever make up,’ continued McCartney. ‘It would be good because I think everyone likes brothers to like each other — and make up. It’s a pity because they are very good together. Like many brothers, they are crazy. But it would be nice if they got together.”
When we look at this great moment in pop, I think we will see it as an equivalent to the summer of 1982: the pieces are on the chessboard but the moves haven’t been made yet. The moment in pop, when videos became central to pop and rock, hadn’t quite happened. In January 1983, Michael Jackson would drop “Beat It” and MTV and videos would become the story of music
From roasts to toast, Bieber is rebuilding a career that hasn’t tanked. Did you hear his Jack U song with Diplo and Skrillex, earlier this month, “Where Are U Now”? To my mind, the best the duo have managed and a fine vocal.So, in conclusion, let me quote from the book of Marx: Hey, you big bully. What’s the idea of hitting that little bully?
An oddly complex song, part soap opera, part funk workout, part vocal gymnastic, grown up romantic disasters in the pending file and good to have Lael baring her burdens again.
Rap is not responsible for the decline of Christianity, on the contrary they push the God agenda all the time… but O’Reilly is a simple guy with huge blinders on each side of his big head… A decline of Christianity? I see that as a good thing, may be the product of more science in school curriculum?
“I’m just a rhythm guitar player in this band, but Taylor makes me sing once in a while.” So says Dave Grohl, goof off guitarist with Foo Fighters’ drummer Taylor Hawkins and his side project, Chevy Meta. Saturday Chevy Neta were performing at Conejo Valley Days in Thousand Oaks in Cali when Grohl and Foo lead guitarist Chris Shiflett for a 19 song all covers set.
I realize Azealia dates from 2014, which goes against the grain of the entire best songs of the last week or so concept, but it was a real revelation on Monday at Irving Plaza, and though the recorded version undersells the hook, it is pretty good. “Jules” is so good, I wondered if I had undersold the album, but, actually, this was the only killer, its “No Baby I”, “There’s happiness and then there’s this, whatever this may be” is good but it’s not “you’ve got them tears, they fall like pearls, blame it on gravity, blame it on being a girl”.
No Baby I – Old 97’s – This is my fave Rhett song, and there are a lot of songs ready to undertake the task. It musical terms, it is absolute perfection, a typical Rhett break up song is more because of one of the greatest images ever, blaming tears on gravity – A+
Million – Tink – An Aaliyah for another age, if Tink has her say and this nod to the one in a million suggest she will, but Tink doesn’t quite have the personality for it. Talented, no doubt, and this hits me as a major slice of r&b but she lacks star power. So far – B
How can I hate such a sweet remembrance of Paul Walker? If they couldn’t get Sam Smith, surely Charlie Puth is the next best thing and it is a sweetly sad melody and Wiz brings a certain tenderness to his rap. But I don’t believe it, it’s like Sam Smith for morons, a by committee heart tugger about a man who died an extremely stupid death. It is too manipulatively, I can’t buy in.
Say what you will, and I don’t much like the album myself, still as # 1’s go, Mumford And Sons 231,000 units sold is impressive in a field that has been averaging around the 75K range for a first week top of the charts. Yeah, I’m impressed but bemused. I have zero doubt, if it was their first album nobody would’ve noticed much.
I say it here and I’ve said it often, when it comes to big musical stars you lose nothing when you tell the truth. If you didn’t write that Surfer Blood’s Python was a bummer, what could I say about 1000 Palms, for you to trust me that it is a goodie. I’ve seen McCartney a couple of times since this show, but this one was the masterpiece
Who knows what anybody is really really like? So take these snapshot deep character studies as semi-fictional impressionistic cliches but with some truth thrown in here and there for taste. Much like TMZ, it is gossip by other means… But there is enough info out on these folks where it isn’t SCIENCE FICTION.
‘When I was giving a lecture at Oxford, I brought up this school because when I went on that mission to create in other spaces, apparel, film, performance, it would have been easier if I could have said that I had a degree at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.’
Three Dog Night Joy To The World – These guys had 21 hit songs in succession including this one, which sounds a little forced in 2015, a little unsteady in its attack (yes attack), as it sneers or smiles. Written by Hoyt Axton – B
The world is messy, my house, my room, my desk are messy, I constantly fight against the entropy of the world around me and each day I am losing the battle… but am I right? Should I even fight it?
The acting is very very sharp, Alicia Vikander is tremendous, she reminds me of Jeff Bridges in “Starman”, there is something both the same and other. The four are all hidden agendas and playfulness that isn’t really playful at all. And in this remote supersonic prison cum laboratory the most deadly thing is not always who it appears to be.
Banks energy was astounding, it was hot and you could see her sweating and hard, but she never stopped, never gave it up. Her flow was flawless as well, the songs are great any way but she pounced on them and spit them out with both power and feeling, she rapped them in saliva and style, her tone, her spacing, and her dancing, it was a straight joy to watch her.
It’s Scorpions lead guitar, then into meaningless Euro-thrash metal and yodeling that was ridiculous 20 years ago. Except now the yodeling is by perfectly uniformed little girls in red chiffon instead of big unkempt German guys in denim.
‘It is not inconceivable that there are similarities between the two songs. It’s also not inconceivable that there may be vaguely legs in something,’ he explained. ‘It’s also not inconceivable that when they came out they were quite open in interviews that they liked a lot of Australian bands.’
1000 Palms – Surfer Blood – I actively disliked their last album but this is more like it, indie mood pop with hooks aplenty and sweet sounds all over the place. The giveaway is the yelp on “Island” but all of this gets through and how. A major reboot for a band who really impressed me the only time I saw em live. ALBUM OF THE WEEK – B+
With the field to themselves, they should have advertised Spotify everywhere till it became part of the landscape, till the commercial was being spoofed on SNL, and they should have gone after paid subscribers day and night, instead they sat back and waited and while they were waiting, Apple woke up.
Concrete And Clay – Unit 4 + 2 – they can thank the late great UK DJ Kenny Everett for this hit, a gay pixie (closeted at the time, of course, though how we didn’t see it I have no idea), Bob Crewe produced the same song by a different band, but this is the one – A
We want a high spirit very musical romp, not this downcasted miserable look at lives wasted. It is, in fact, a big time bummer. As star vehicles go, why are we watching “The Threepenny Opera”. Sure, it is better than every musical since “Passion” but it is still a downer experience. Did they really drag all these octogenarians out of their beds to tell them this?
California never became a reality because while Lou, Nico, Cale, these people were seeped in the anti-Disneyland on the verge of bankruptcy New York mean streets, at least New York was not dreaming and in the end better the filthiest of realities to the sweetest of dreams, right
‘No one ever questions the disorder behind her tarantula LA glamour — sociopathy, narcissism — because it’s good rock and roll, good entertainment! I have a low tolerance for manipulative, egomaniacal behavior, and usually have to remind myself that the person might be mentally ill.’
Hirami – Rose Windows – Americana, a little dozy but not as bad as their group picture might have you believe.. In has the dreamy tiredness of tasteful Americana, too tasteful, so middleclass and so make of it what you choose – B-
Not all the songs are hits, actually Merritt doesn’t have any hits, but he dug into more obscure material, playing ‘This Little Ukulele’, or ‘The Ugly Little Duck’ (from his Hans Christian Andersen musical) but all the songs were sung with lots of nuances and emotions, emphasizing his amazing low-plunging baritone especially during ‘Josephine’ or the bluesy ‘Xylophone track’
I used Los Angeles Lakers colors because Watt is a huge homer for the local hoops squad. I dressed him in his customary flannel, he was wearing flannel before the Northwest peeps took that look over and claimed it as their own, and threw his outdoor jacket on him.
In an act somewhere between hubris and stupidity, ingenue singer Natalie Prass cancelled her Bowery Ballroom gig an hour before she was meant to go on stage, leaving management to send a manager to unceremoniously give us the boot with “we don’t know why she is sick but you have to get out of here now”. Her explanation on Facebook (she had a sore throat) was fulsome but too late. Amateurs.
Creeque Alley – The Mamas And The Papas – I was complaining about the lack of great songs, really it is all texture, so here is a mediocre band, great harmonies, and big at the time but in no way major. This song is a piece of mythological sound from the history of Cali – A
If Trance has won the battle for the singles charts, the album charts are very volatile, it is a world where the cult band can make its presence felt… if only for a week. Blur at # 2 and Mumford at # 1, the revenge of rock? Yeah, but not really, because who knows how long it will last\. Meanwhile, Sheeran and Swift are still hanging on. Sheeran? one month short of a year in the top ten
This is the sound of modern pop music and it sounds like electronic dance beats plus melody, in other words, it sounds a helluva lot like trance, doesn’t it? Blonde is r&b trance, Bieber adds soul to EDM for the post-party heavy duty druggies.
Different music genres affect individuals in different ways. During consultations I have noticed, for example, that most cats like classical music, particularly George Handel compositions, and become more calm, confident and tolerant throughout the clinical evaluation.
He told them that we were promoting him to “lame, hair metal” mags (or maybe he called us lame, metal publicists?) and that’s not what Nirvana was about. He couldn’t handle being that popular with just about everyone, it made it fake somehow to him. I know I was devastated that I wasn’t going to be working with them anymore, but I was tired too. Working for a “phenom” can wear you out, even at 24.
you know how how in poor societies, the denizens eat every part of an animal, my dad, who was raised poverty stricken, would eat the brains, the marrow in the bones, and the eyes of sheep. Well, Leonard Cohen has been doing the same thing with his music ever since he discovered all his money was embezzled. Two live albums, and now oddball covers from his concert soundchecks Can’t Forget: A Souvenir Of The Grand Tour. I’m not complaining at all, the one thing I’ve heard is a goodie. And while the Paul Weller, Surfer Blood, Buffy Sainte-Marie, and JD Souther, all have my attention., most anticipated remains Leonard Cohen.
Not only Tyler is re-appropriating the white power symbol, but he has put a rainbow twist on it to make it more… gay. He left a long explanation on his Tumblr under the picture of him holding hands with a white guy and wearing the new shirt
Sure, I had a crush on Susannah Hoffs. I actually had a good friend named Stacey Ghindi, a Syrian Jewish girl, who looked very like her. And I got in trouble by Creem Editor Dave Dimartino because they wanted me to interview Vicki and I wanted Susannah, but I got both so I won. 1985 and the band had just hit big.
Grown Up – Danny Brown – “Remember when my first meal was a school lunch, now I spit sixteen straight with no punch…” One of the best rappers to date takes on one of the great hip hop subjects, being raised in poverty. His voice his really great, it isn’t thug, there seems something just beneath the surface of it seeped in sadness whatever he is saying – A-
There is nothing I don’t like about this song,Eryn sounds great, Prince is spectacular, he plays everything here but it is voice that pulls you short, he doesn’t use his falsetto often, but “at least a little better” is so slight, but it is very lovely. This is an anthem without the browbeating. Well done, Prince, a good song does more for peace than words or gestures, or even money, ever will.
Rockwoods wasn’t a great fit earlier this year, Joe’s Pub is a better venue, with a larger stage and a better vibe for this soulful folk man, or do I mean this folkie soulman, it will give him the room he needs to perform (the Brooklyn Bowl gig was better because the stage was larger), and Joe’s Pub is for adults, it is part of the Public Theatre, it is pop as art venue.
Did you see what I see? While it is true Tom Waits did the talk show rounds back in 2012, even so, Waits on Letterman is gonna be as big as it gets. This will be Waits tenth appearance with Dave since 1983, and it will include an interview which should be as heartbreaking as everything else we’ve seen over the past month.
On Saturday night at Avenue A’s Sidewalk Cafe is an unbeatable and completely unique line up, and one I can’t imagine us getting ever again. At 8pm the high heeled new Baby Jane herself, an intense performer with a voice you must hear Cheri Dahl, at 9pm the rock and roll bad ass Susan Said whose Big Life from last year will knock you for a loop, and topping it off, with The American Dream just released, post-punk blues avatar Phil Gammage’s new band Adventures In Bluesland. It is free, it is great, and if you are planning a night out, don’t even think about it twice, go.
I was never a risk taker. While other kids were smoking dope, popping pills, discovering the pleasure points of the human body, sniffing gas, and skipping school, I was doing homework assignments and making sure the living room furniture didn’t feel neglected.
Over heard at Amoeba during the signing of ‘The Waterfall’, the new album of the band My Morning Jacket on Friday night: ‘my favorite artists are My Morning Jacket, Bob Dylan, and Björk’… Really? I thought, in this order? Whatever works for you!
Ebony Eyes – The Everly Brothers – On Flight 1203, his fiancee takes a plane but never quite makes it, the spoken word portion is so painful it chokes you back, especially as he watches the ebony eyes of ebony skies until there is nothing left to see but a plane never going to arrive – B+
According to the brand they will be The Magic Whip flavour is “a dairy vanilla custard ice cream rippled with raspberry sauce.” The brand have also promised a unique Blur download with each ice cream sold.
