But the main attraction was their frontman, Adam Brooks, a thin and agile guy on vocals and sax – an original addition for a punk/post-punk band – who was climbing everywhere, using at his advantage the small space the store was providing, while taking the best hardcore-punk pauses ever.
Meanwhile, except for “New Americana”, Halsey is way too manufactured to be taken seriously, but there is a huge difference between a manufactured popstar who is ignored and one who is a huge hit. Half white, half black, hip hop production on Americana songs and attitude with a soupcon of Lorde and a little more than that of Lana Del Rey… hey, apparently it worked, with 115,000 units (of which 97,000 are pure album sales), any other week it would be # 1.
Crown – Jay Z – Years later, and I am beginning to think maybe I am underestimated Holy Grail. The problem with the album is it came out around the time of Yeezus and felt a little whatever in its shadow, but this song, with Travis Scott’s excellent hook, is actually pretty darn out there – B+
Is this the year New York returns to grace after only the Rangers did any dame last year? It could be both the Mets and the Yanks get past the first round of the playoffs, maybe, just maybe we will be shocked by the Jets and the Giants, and finally I predict the Knicks have to improve over last year, But forget all that, the New York Liberty are in the playoffs!!! Isiah Thomas, possibly the most hated man in MSG history not named Dolan, baffles New York yet again.
The Kanye West find you first met on Yeezus (it is Scott who originally coined the phrase “New Slave”) and then cemented his reputation when he added his voice to Hova’s “Crown”. Now, a mixtape or two later, here comes the limelight. Travi$ debut album, the excellent Rodeo, was released on Friday and the Monday through Wednesday stand will stand as a CD release party at the tiny Gramercy Theatreseconds as a CD release party at the tiny Gramercy Theatre. The next time you see him in the city, Scott will be opening for The Weeknd at MSG, so get close when you can.
This painting has a metallic spray paint background. I think I was trying to give him one of those Polaroid SX70’s type of look but with a cartoonish vibe…much like if he had a weekly Saturday morning cartoon show that kids would enjoy…like if the producers of Fat Albert distributed this
In these days where certain artists self proclaim themselves to be the best thing since sliced bread there’s something about
People were disappointed he wasn’t performing at the FYF fest, now they are turning angry with tweets like, ‘Remember when we thought frank ocean was gonna put out another album?’… ‘The greatest trick frank ocean ever pulled was convincing the world he exists’,… Ouch! But well deserved in a way.
This ended up being the summer of neo-soul, the triumph of three artists: The Weeknd, Miguel and Travi$ Scott, and despite the help of Max Martin with the Weeknd, all three artists sound entirely unique. I can’t wait to hear the new Darlene Love next Friday.
You get the point after five minutes but you’re stuck there touching walls for fifteen minutes and why? Because they are trying to justify $25 for a museum that a medium paced New Yorker could finish in twenty minutes.
You have to know that the Modesto band hasn’t recorded anything for over a decade and despite a brief tour reunion in 2012, there was little hope to hear anything new from the indie band, which became so famous of the 90’s they even caught David Bowie’s attention.
Maggie I’ve Been Searching For Our Son – Craig Finn – Once every seven attempts, Finn nails it, this isn’t a masterpiece but it is a good song, nice riff he works well and a good lyric, better than most of the last Hold Steady and some of his first solo album – B+
Here For You – Kygo – Featuring UK X Factor finalist Ella Henderson, and while the beats meets soul in England genre might well be played out, and Kygo one of the most annoying young DJs around, this has a smart hook and a gorgeous lead vocal on a not bad track – B+
In sports, like rock and roll and unlike the blues, it gets late early, and so off goes Rafael Nadal who seemed like a man who could never lose at the US Open home early “3-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 by 32nd-seeded Fabio Fognini of Italy in the third round of the U.S. Open on Friday night”. It just happens and happens and it is one of the things about watching sports because unlike rock and roll, when you can’t do it any more you get fired.
Prince, who was great on GMA earlier this week, is a Tidal exclusive and while I certainly might pay ten bucks to own his new one, I won’t pay ten bucks to rent it for a month by subscribing (the real question is: will Hov and Bey make their next albums exclusives. I’d claim it is between Craig Finn and The Libertines, I was streaming some of the Finn album and it sounds like his last solo without the flat out masterpiece “Honolulu Blues”. So I guess I’ll go with the Popdose’s Ken Shane recommended The Libertines.
Wait a second, Stephen Colbert is introducing his highly anticipated replacement of David Letterman’s iconic Late Show with guests Jeb Bush and George Clooney? On his first night? Shouldn’t there be something a little more exciting than Jeb Bush? Remember Fallon’s premiere episode of The Tonight Show?
‘He’s forcing a lot of things out into the open, so they can’t control this, whatever that control is. It’s like the music business: Everybody gets controlled, and somebody comes along that fucks it all up.’
Most of their songs were at the verge of explosion before the eventual disaster was cut short, finishing into the lament of Duzsik’s vocals. Since I could not see any setlist around the stage, I am not sure what they played, very probably many songs of their new album ‘Death Magic’, like ‘Stonefist’, one of their poppiest tunes, which sounds much quieter on record, almost like an industrial track of Depeche Mode or Nine Inch Nails, but revealed itself much more ferocious in its live form. And that was the case for all the songs.
The plagiaristic born Richard,who stole off blues for decades with impunity, had the audacity to say: “Nobody steals from the Stones”. Yeah, I mean, the gall. Look, have you heard his new stuff: it is absolutely atrocious. The man can not sing a note. Shut up and sit down.
Summer Wind – Frank Sinatra – This is a perfect end of summer, it feels like the sun going down in the sky and the moonlight shining much earlier than you could possibly want it to and the end of another season, less death and more aging -life passing irrevocably by – A+
The relentless hype surrounding Halsey is beginning to work against her, how long can Apple Play ram her down our throats (two weeks among new releases, why?) , and how long before her lack of traction becomes a problem. Or will she break? A story of modern pop.
The definition of homogenized. Remember 1978 when the UK and the US charts couldn’t have been more different? That isn’t happening any more. This is as characterless as any chart on the planet, it is the aural equivalent of the the global economy, bereft of individuals of any sort, it just sits there.
Rodeo – Travi$ Scott – Yup, it’s too long and goes a little slack in the middle, and yes, the autotune vocals are too much, but show me an album with songs as great as “Piss On My Grave” and “Pray For Love” and I’ll show you the new the Weeknd –ALBUM OF THE WEEK – A-
If this eagerly anticipated collaboration with Steve Van Zandt sucked from one end to another, it would still have Darlene Love singing rock songs. And it doesn’t suck in the slightest- A-
‘I found myself being surprisingly angry,’ she told Yahoo Music. ‘don’t put your heroes on pedestals’…. ‘But I don’t want to cast a stone at Chrissie Hynde — just at that one particular statement. Because it’s a really dangerous message.’
They cancelled the Sunday performance, but if they move the great Marvin Sapp from Sunday to Saturday then your headliners will be Cece Winans and Marvin Sapp and while you are missing a handful of big names (CeCe’s brother for one), if you have any interest at all in Gospel this is a big gig.
That’s some line up this year, I only caught the last couple of songs of Future at Governors Ball earlier this year, but it was the one set I am sorry I couldn’t catch from the start, Meek Mill has a surprisingly strong album newly released, Jidenna is the guy with “Classic man” –the remix featuring Kendrick Lamar is killer as well.
I Walk The Line – Halsey – The hype surrounding this woman is just that as this hideous re-interpretations of a Johnny Cash classic proves, why bother covering the song if you have no interest in playing it? – D-
Taylor Swift released this mini movie/big production for ‘Wildest Dreams’ on Sunday, and it looks like a Karen Blixen remix with her song for soundtrack. Nothing in the song suggests Africa, but this is nevertheless where the video was shot, because Taylor probably thought she would look good in colonial outfit or Scheherazade veils in front of lions and exotic animals.
Sure, I hate Tom Brady. Maybe I wouldn’t if he wasn’t the best QB in the business, and a smug dick to boot, but he is and he is and all he does his win. Last year, for instance. But when you’re a winner there is no need to be a cheater and doesn’t anybody believe for an instant the Patriots didn’t spy on other teams and steal their signals? And does anydody in the world believe Tom “Nobody touches my balls” Brady? Well, actually Judge Richard M. Berman just ruled that the NFL and bumbling dullard Roger Goodell had zero proof Brady had anything to do with the Deflategate and rescinded his four game suspension.
Hollywood Divorce – Outkast – Weezy is superb on the rap and the song is a jazzy beauty like the Outkast’s were the white Steely Dan: God Save Apple Play which came up with an excellent playlist: “Lil Wayne In The ’00s”… I wish I could share it – A
The Vamps – “Somebody To You” broke em, but they are still at the selling out 3000 seaters level. Formed in 2012 and signed to Mercury, they look it , act it and sound it, and given the right push now for the next year, given the right songs, this Brit Band hit me as serious contenders for the next big thing.
D.L. F – Sean Price – With Foul Monday, Rim & Royal Flush – The late great Price a Dope Loop Finder if ever there ones, brings together some friends, Royal Flush are particularly hot at the moment, and freestyles for three minutes, somewhat awesome stuff – A-
“We Are Your Friends” knows about as much about EDM as “Trainwreck” knows about being a freelance write. Nothing. And while some of the protools manipulation scenes are fun, and from time to time it gets at the pleasures of the bass, particular the behind Zac’s shot from behind DJ set at them it isn’t enough to sustain
In particular their song ‘Hero’ was used in the critically acclaimed movie ‘Boyhood’ by Richard Linklater. How could you escape this one? Even if you haven’t seen ‘Boyhood’, you probably caught the trailer also featuring the song, and the single peaked at #12 on the Billboard Alternative songs Chart, and #1 on the Triple A Top 30 Radio Chart and Top 15 at Alternative Radio!
The Essential (2015) – The first CD is more or less very obvious, but the second CD unearths some real gems. keep your ear out for “Wonderful Remark” and “Precious Time” to name two- A-
Tell Your Friends – The Weeknd – I love the intro, it kinda shudders in and than Abel does broad and swift and small and minor brushstrokes in a self portrait that sounds like two parts deduction with a chorus that doesn’t soar it more likes shakes on the beat.
While we don’t know how the world will to react to the Beatles 100 or 300 years from now, it is a fair bet the perception of their entire oeuvre will change from pop to classical. Like the greatest of the greatest classical composers, like Beethoven, Mozart, and Tchaikovsky, and maybe Schubert, they will be performed in recital, analyzed, discussed and studied.
Nobody believes that Ben Carson, the neurosurgeon Republican running for President has much in the nature of a chance of getting the GOP nomination, so consider this his reward for dissing Obama to his face at the National Prayer Breakfast over 30 months ago. Currently in a dead heat with Trump in Iowa, he doesn’t have a prayer.
‘The decision to not have Drake participate in the Tidal stream has nothing to do with Apple or Drake’s deal, said Drake’s manager Future the Prince to BuzzFeed. ‘Point blank, 100 percent. I made a business decision. Apple doesn’t have the power to stop us from being part of a live stream. The only people that have the power to do that are Cash Money and Universal, and they’re our partners.’
Watching the VMAs or any other awards focusing on their own navel, Americans may be under the delusion that they are the center of the world and at the top of this brand of provocative/pop/dance/EDM business. Move over Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift, Nicky Minaj and Beyonce, here is Bleona, coming straight from Eastern Europe where she has already sold 1.5 million copies… They still buy albums over there, don’t they?
Mireya Alejandra Lopez, 22, drowned her twin two year old sons because, according to AP “she didn’t want them to live with the difficulties she faces (…) Lopez offered several reasons for the attacks, including that her kids were bullied and that her stepbrother rarely ate and was anti-social. She also said she and her twins weren’t loved, investigators said in court records.”
Sure, it gains depth from Chinx’s murder (at the age of 31) earlier this year, and the hook is beyond prescience, but the last words to his children are so real and heartbreaking it takes the track to levels most people don’t ever reach if they live to be 91: “I pray I be OK when I grow up a little bigger, if I don’t tell my babies daddy was a real nigga” – A
I arrived at Nikon Theater around 5pm and was enamored by all the people wearing eat a peach shirts. I’m a big fan of the peach. The warm smell of colitas was very much present, being the Laid Back Festival and all it seemed fitting
Comfortable but amped up, wearing gray leggings, a black sports bra and a Flaming Lips hoodie, and cursing as though she were in a Tarantino movie, Ms. Cyrus alternated between green juice and green joints as she explained the personal evolution, including death and love like she’d never known
When he talked to Gay Star News two days ago, Sir Ian McKellen had this to say about the famous pop star when he was asked if he was part of Taylor Swift’s famous squad:
‘I’m not. When I was living in Peter Jackson’s apartment in New York, Taylor Swift bought it while I was there and I was thrown out before I wanted to leave! That hardly puts me in Taylor Swift’s team, does it? You look shocked.’
R. City? Fair to middling brother songwriters, who’ve cooked up mid-album stuff for the likes of Miley, and top 10 hits for Sean Kingston and the Pussycat Dolls? I am not crazy about the “Do That To Me One More Time” rip, so just tip your hat to Dr. Luke signing up Adam Levine and walk on by.
Around 20% of this is really good and 20% is complete crap and 60% is whatever. It has an ebb and flow, starts off strong, slows to a halt, picks up speed and bows out. Miley needed an editor, and she needed a producer, and instead she got a flaming enabler.
Imaginary Life – Worriers – Indie rockers who have managed an album brimming with tunes and hooks and smarts and shenanigans; just past her first decade in the business, Lauren Denitzio has emerged as a major songwriter
Sitting behind his pedal steel connected to lots of electronics, he was facing Rocco Deluca also on a lap guitar, they were constantly looking at each other and their respective sliding sounds were responding to each other in a very soothing and melancholic way.
