Arcade Fire's Will Butler Releases A Christmas Song
Will Butler, Win’s little brother, is starting to have a sort of solo career, as he will release his own album in 2015, followed by a tour to support it, and he […]
Hear, My Friends: 12-27-14, Jeff Beck
Jeff Beck once killed a man in Reno just to watch him die. No, really… well. no not really. But the big guy is a German American from Arkansas and a lover of food (I bet -his description of a Ham he cooked makes your mouth water!) and of music
Most Overrated 2014: D'Angelo
In a world where not one of these fools even reviewed Big Apple Blues, we have to put up with this act of mass felatio for a decidedly “B+” album. 95% approval rating on Metacritic. A whole mess of love for a frankly pretty darn good album. This consensus stupidity is just what you expect in 2014
Best Albums Of 2014 # 6: Mike Hudson And The Pagans' "Hollywood High"
It seems buried in time and a barely controlled anger, ready to flip you or the rest of the world. “Something’s not right…” is a carrion call, a sort of dread continuum to the Pogues early spirit:a s though your each back and back and find nothing is where you placed it
10 Songs: Saturday, December 26th, 2014
Feelin’ Alright – Joe Cocker – This is from before the time Cocker became John Belushi, a Dave Mason cover growled with authority but not yet yet the epileptic shakes. Good? Sure. Great… maybe not – B+
A Bloody Spectacular XMAS Eve Eve At The Echo, Tuesday December 23rd 2014
I even saw a girl with a fake Kardashian-derriere and another one with a unibrow, a half-shaved head and long blonde pubic hair in front of her blue dress! Was all this real? A joyous nightmare before Christmas
Steve Crawford's Top 30 Songs Of 2014
rock nyc writer Steve Crawford has spent much of the year working on a book of the greatest songs in the 1980s, but still followed the latest releases close enough to include Old 97’s encapsulated history of life in a rock band, Lydia’s ode to being told to give oral stimulation and long time faves DBT. A mix of Americana and the occasional curve ball for 2014.
Irving Azoff Causing Worlds Of Trouble For Youtube
There is no Ertegun or Gordy: whenever you write in support of one of them, a Daniel Ek, you need a shower immediately after. Neil Bogart may have been a scumbag but he was a MUSICAL SCUMBAG, a showman, one of the boys. These bunch of hedge fund thieves in pinstripe suits should be thrown out of the business.
Eminem Is Coming Out In The Interview
‘The Interview’, Sony Pictures’ Christmas big release which wasn’t released in fear of a North Korea’s cyber attack, finally got a limited release, but history will tell if this was
Most Shazamed of 2014
So what do we learn for this years most Shazamed songs? Nobody knows who Clean Bandits is. Oh, and dance is even more anonymous than we gave it credit for.
Best Albums Of 2014 # 7: Justin Townes Earle's "Single Mothers"
Justin Townes Earle might not be the greatest songwriter in the world but he is certainly the most consistently excellent songwriter in 2014. From 2012 to 2014, Earle has written, recorded and released 20 perfect songs. Absolutely flawless jewels.
rock nyc Top 10 Songs week of 12-22-14
Welcome to the silicone valley flow (to quote YG), another year over and another list written. Only one of the Madonna songs? I could have included “Unapologetic Bitch” I guess… but didn’t. I’m going to post two best songs, one with everything and one with just the cream of the crop and I plan to include “Seeds” high up on the latter.
10 Songs: Friday, December 26th, 2014
White Water – Angel Olsen – Another haunting masterwork by the solemn sodded big time indie wench of 2014, with natty little one liners like “she wants to be naked and elegant”, and a hefty rhymic hook to take it home and haunted Siren vocals. Nifty – B+
IAN, Media Jeweler, Johnathan Rice (w/Jenny Lewis) And Girlpool At The Echo, Monday December 22nd 2014
I realized at that moment that the girl duo was a real phenomenon, despite having only released an EP. And I totally got it, there was plenty of personality (nice and feisty) and attitude (feminism) there, served by a very efficient minimalism of evocative guitar-bass combo and sweet-harmonies galore
Super Group Teenage Time Killers, Featuring Every Metal-Hardcore Band That Exists, To Release Album Soon
From what I get, this sounds like a sort of live aid for metal-hardcore veterans without the aid, and of course the songs were recorded at Grohl’s studio 606 in the Los Angeles valley, on the famous Sound City mixing board, according to Kerrang
Best Albums Of 2014 # 8: Sam Smith's "In The Lonely Hour"
A modern In The Wee Small Hours Of The Morning by a guy with an immaculate voice, a sweet falsetto that hits every note with the ease of youth and lingers on it, to further the heartbreak. And the difference between Sam and Adele? Sam has much better songs
The Twelve Days Of rock nyc Christmas, 2014
Yes, folks it’s a tradition and not a particularly inspired one either but here is the rock nyc 12 days of Christmas. The gone but not forgotten person is Donna McElroy who died of cancer January 23, 2014. The launch of a new improved rock nyc isn’t a joke, we figure January 16, 2015…
US Top 10 Albums 1-3-15
With one week left before the end of the year, 1989 is now 100,000 units away from beating Frozen for biggest selling album of the year. This is pretty damn impressive and I don’t see how it can fail -she must win. Hell, I’d buy em myself if I could afford it!
US Top 10 Singles 1-3-15
I’ve always felt “Love Story” was the one, the song where Taylor became a superstar, back in 2008. I remember hearing it early and turning to my friend and saying “this is it”, it’s over. But even as I was saying that she was remaining a teen girl phenomenon -she was huge but huge within genre. With the release of “Blank Space” she belonged to the world. People who I’d argued about Swift with for years gave up. The song is simply undeniable. With “Blank Space” Taylor became as big as you can be.
10 Songs: Christmas Day 2014 Special!
Santa Bring My Baby (Back To Me) – Elvis Presley – One of the all time greatest, this is Presley as popstar, it is like “You’re Right, I’m Left, She’s Gone” or “Teddy Bear” –a delirious hook filled hubba which channels Bing Crosby’s “bababba” going away – A+
"Matilda" At The Schubert Theatre, Tuesday, December 23rd, 2014, reviewed
The entire show revolves around the great song “Naughty” and I asked my companion, my twelve year old Great Niece Juliet, who seemed to find the proceedings as bland as I did (her Mom took a nap), what she could hear of the song, replied “Something about being little”
Justice For Elliott Smith Has Now More Than 500 Members!
Thanks to (in no particular order) Alaska Monaco, Juanita Ignacio, Lisa Tyson Dunham, Esajoli D. Jones, Ellie Lowthere , Ro Smith, Local Stigmatic, Heidi Bridget Knight, Brian Cobehr, Yrlic Music-IIc, Hannah Everage, Crystal Jeffrey, William Holbrook, Luiz Felipe Marinho, Grace Moore, Kali Eli, Jade Wood, Amber Smith, Matt Clairmont, Emily Sipiora, Johnny Dalle, Sarah Norden, Damasca Lovecraft, Antony Stevo, Mahmoud Fawzy Khalil, Michele Dena, Micelle Moore, An Mir, Taylor Thomas Barnett, Holly Fields Sesco, Deb Croghan, Alex Rafael Rose, Dave James, James Delahunty, Emily Harp, Emily Smith, John Stanley, Ben Sherwood, Kyle McGill, Mil Reyna
Do Music Critics Even Matter?
At the end DeRogatis’s review is just this, a review, an opinion from a single guy. Why does it matter so much to Ryan Adams that a fat guy sitting behind his computer doesn’t like him? DeRogatis is just writing some blurb for some dark corner of the internet
The Replacements' Jazz Jam "Poke In My Cage" Reviewed (Stream It Here)
It isn’t bad, obviously the Replacements left the tape running while they noodled, and equally obviously if it is going somewhere I can’t see where, but still there are moments where the guitar seems to have escaped from “Telstar” and other times where it rings like the bells of Rhymney
The A+ List: 12-24-14
The thing is, Womack uses the background singers as though they re an instrumental and he is singing over them, around them, in the holes they leave: instead of singing directly to the beat (rap was still in its nascent state), he is singing on the room left by back up singers.
Last Call: Final Songs Off New Album releases week Of 12-15-14
Making Love – Kevin Gates – This is off an album easy to underestimate but this has the sharp flow and speedy dexterity of the best in the business. It feels like make believe even though the rapping is sure real – B+
Best Albums Of 2014 #9: TV On The Radio's "Seeds"
On their fifth album, songs as good as “Quartz”, “Careful You”, “Cound You” and the title track “Seeds” should have been enough, I mean, one of them should have, propelled the band up the charts. It would be a real pity if this ecellent soul album is considered a flop and not a return to power.
10 Songs: Wednesday, December 24th, 2014
Chimes Of Freedom – Bob Dylan – Speaking of secular hymns, this was is as inclusive as a hymn can get, more so, every hung-up person in the whole wide universe even includes ETs!!! – A+
Be Here Now: First Reviews Of New Releases 12-23-14
Silent Type EP – Hannah Lou Clark – UK singer songwriter who plays it straight on this flawless three song EP, just voice and guitar at first with every addition, back up wooohs here, acoustic bass there like putting sugar on a fire cracker. There’s a feeling of barely concealed dread, of a worried out emotional discord being put to rest – RELEASE OF THE WEEK – A-
Kill My Coquette At The Three Clubs, Saturday December 20th 2014
If you needed more proof that Sperl is more than a pretty girl, she actually wrote and arranged the songs of their upcoming EP – that the band recorded at Evelyn Martin Recordings in Los Angeles with Tom Waits and Social Distortion’s producer, Danny McGough. So wait for Kill My Coquette’s EP set to be released on January 20th
Ronnie Fauss' "Built To Break" Reviewed
This isn’t a perfect record, but does display all the qualities we want from singer/songwriters – honesty, wisdom, insight, maturity. It’s not a world of happy endings and resolved conflicts. Really, is anyone’s?
When Asking Questions About Elliott Smith’s Case Gets Me In Trouble
Another person said ‘due to how much information can be ascertained I suspect there is enough evidence to suggest it wasn’t suicide but not enough information to charge or prosecute any possible suspect. That leaves them with an open case.’
Best Albums Of 2014 #10: Elbow's "The Take Off And Landing Of Everything"
A big hit in the UK, it is an almost perfect album within its own secret world, a haunting and beautify and, yes, big sound that can move you to tears of joy or boredom with equal ease. But it gets you here and as Guy notes on “My Sad Captain”, what a perfect waste of time.
That Was The Week That Was: December 15th, 2014
The rush release of D’Angelo’s long awaited album Black Messiah and the leak of the 2015 Madonna album Rebel Heart, both good neither great, are the stories of week 51. I am not precisely disappointed in either of them, and Madonna peaks sky high with “Living For Love”
Best Albums Of 2014 # 11: Peter Stampfel's "Better Than Expected"
What do you get if you put together walls of banjos and one of the great figures in left wing pseudo proto-Yippie, pseudo-Beatnik, psychedelic weirdo brilliant figures in modern pop? You get Better Than Expected, a brilliant mix of improv and song as community singalong… with the promise of giving us the same thing in 2015 for fiddles.
10 Songs: Tuesday, December 23rd, 2014
The Crying Game – Nicki Minaj – I get it, I get it, Nicki has a soul, she feels, she hurts, she abuses in the relationship but she is trying really she is trying… A good song no doubt. But it is like Alfafa doing a stripogram, off center somehow. Still such a good song – B+
David Fincher To Direct A HBO Series On The 80's Exploding Music Video Industry
The story will focus on Bobby who has just dropped out of college and arrives in Hollywood the head full of dreams – he wants to direct an epic science-fiction movie – but ends up working for a company making music videos. The series will be focusing on the ‘then-exploding music video industry
U2 Causes Disruption In The Streets Of Belfast While Shooting New Video
The band was filming the upcoming clip in Belfast last Wednesday and Thursday, and the residents have already labeled it as ‘disruptive’ and in ‘poor taste’… The Belfast telegraph reports that the filming was causing a lot of trouble
Best Albums Of 2014 # 12: Phil Gammage's "Adventures In Bluesland"
I haven’t listened to it in months and so for this review the album was fresh again and it sounds better than I remember it, Gammages voice? A gorgeous Isaak blues and rockabilly thing, the tempo putting the laid into laid back, and the playing a concise evocation of punk discipline (not sound) and Chicago blues (not Southern) momentum.
Medium Cool: Best Talk Show Guests Week Of December 22nd, 2014
Everybody is on Christmas break except Ellen is working on the 22nd and Fallon is working on the 22nd and the 23rd and on the 23rd? The greatest boy band in the world joins Jimmy to bring in Christmas Eve, 2014.
UK Top 10 Albums 12-27-14
Ed Sheeran is the poster boy for over achievement. I saw him three years ago at the Peppermint Lounge, now he owns the world. He sold over 200K albums last week alone which means (one, carry the one) every person in England now owns a copy
UK Top 10 Singles 12-27-14
“The Wealdstone Raider, real name Gordon Hill, has found a cult following since a video emerged of him mocking a rival football team. He’s since had six million views on Youtube.”
10 Songs: December 22nd, 2014
So try and be nice and to do what’s right cuz there will come a day when you’re faced with your maker and no one here can save you no matter what they say, and be glad that you were good cuz some don’t do so well and
when their lives are over and they’ve done what they’ve done… They’re the people that are going to hell
UK # 1 Christmas Single For 2014 Is Ben Haenow… Who?
The X Factor winner Ben Haenow may have never hurt any one and since he is a former truck driver may be you can go further and say it is a better daydream than Billy, but I just wish the song was better. It is truly terrible, not the verses, but the chorus, which is like being lifted up by a crane against your will
Madonna Releases Six Songs From Her 2015 Album "Rebel Heart"
Six songs from Madonna and to be honest I approached reviewing them with a little bit of nervousness. In 2012 I seriously overestimated MDNA. Still, this sounds better; less poppy more adult dance for mainstream Madonna fans. A solid “B+” of an effort
Watch Marilyn Manson's New Video For ‘Deep Six'
the animation is totally not working for me: it’s not even scary or confusing enough or perverse as a Manson video should be! This CGI tube swallowing a woman as an anaconda or a slinky toy would do, may be his new idea of sexual threat
Hologram USA Announces Liberace's World Tour
‘With our partners at the Liberace Foundation we’ll be able to stage a show so lifelike — the room will be filled with all of the great singer’s charm and charisma.”
Best Albums Of 2014 #13: "Caroline Kole"
There is a lot going on here, one sweet natured song after another and on top? “Money To Me” shares the “heeeeey” hook with “Blank Space” except Caroline wrote hers a year before Taylor. And Caroline has those kind of songs, songs you want to hear over and over again
Let's Active: rock nyc Concert PICK(no s!) Week Of December 22nd, 2014
Here is the new Darlene Love album, It’s Christmas, Of Course… kinda interesting, there’s a “2000 Miles” and there’s a “Happy Xmas (War Is Over)” and who can complain about that? There is nothing at all wrong with the album and I’ve all but decided to go on the Saturday… Grade? B
Sneak Peaks? New Album Releases, December 23rd, 2014? Uh Oh
Hey wait a second, the Rigor Mortis was released in October and the Daft Punk was released in 2007 and so there is nothing. You heard of Seinfeld’s show about nothing, well, this is a post about nothing