Minaj in the role of Hitler sitting on a throne in front of armies of soldiers wearing armbands with a logo very similar to the infamous swastika, and according to Consequence of Sound, ‘Brown [Chris] is represented as a military general, Wayne [Lil] as a head of business, and Drake as a Pope,’ Pope Pius XII, who eventually refused to take position when facing the horrors done by the Nazis
He starts off doing drunken covers, raids the cupboard from some gone and little remembered country and folk contemporaries, and ends up with a handful of originals which are basically blues workouts.
Grade: B+
Figure It Out (feat Devonte Hynes And The Force MDs) – Theophilus London – What? Dev and Theo produced by Kanye West? Somebody over at Pitchfork is thumbing their thesaurus hard. It isn’t bad, nice funk rhythm – B+
Sleaford Mods give the term scatalogical whole new vistas of meeting, from the piss that smells like bacon introduction all the way and all sides it is livable shit indeed, but the thing is, this is hardcore, on edge, aggro political agitprop and it all works great.
Take Me Home, Country Roads – John Denver – this is one of the songs you think you know better than you do, a heartfelt country diddle anthem that comes into its own on the bridge, which is better than the chorus – A-
No Dice Tapes is Callum Kirkpatrick of Leeds in England, a one man record label not unlike our old pals at Bridgetown Records in Cali, and he has put together his favorite musicians from all over bedsitland and college campuses to produce this consistently entertaining piece of work
The movie is this celebration of the city of angels in all its 1970 glory, but for the rest of the story, it’s exactly like the picture of Joaquin Phoenix I took while he was hurrying up to get inside the theater, it is very fuzzy!
I am gonna say something a bit mean to Dave, don’t you think it is a bit pompous to hijack this day, because this one has already a big meaning right? Sure the Foo Fighters’ first album came out a 4th of July, but please…
In roughly chronological order, the first thing you might notice is 16 of these songs are covers. The second is it is footed in country much more than folk. Third? It is awesome.
Nothing life changing, not even Stevie, but some pretty decent music. meanwhile, I passed on the country music festival at Randall’s Island The artist list just couldn’t justify the expense.
Nowadays there isn’t elevator music, Muzak, the way there was in my day, high brow low brow mushed up classical instrumentals that played calmly in the background while you were stuck in an elevator for two hours. Don’t know what I mean? Listen to Andre Rieu.
I never much liked Girls Aloud or Cheryl Cole as a solo act but “I Don’t Care” is a pop masterstroke. How Is this possible? It was co-written by Bonnie McKee. who is Bonnie? She had a hand in “California Gurls,” “Teenage Dream,” “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.),” “Part of Me,” “Wide Awake,” and “Roar” . Any questions? Class dismissed.
1. Rush Hour – Jane Wiedlin – The former GoGo’s hit from 1988, is a synth piano very 80s pink pop hit and it stands up, well, not that great
It reminds me conceptually of the Joni Mitchell who wrote “California”. she is sexual but no nonsense, on stage she exudes a sensuality lithe and slithery and wet without being exploitative of herself. It’s a neat trick and will take her far.
The young girl on my left may have contributed a lot to my future tinnitus with all these heartfelt screamed ‘I love you Julian’, and her boyfriend got to participate too!
‘When people pick on Spotify: Spotify are giving up 70 percent of all their revenues to rights owners. It’s just that people don’t know where the money is because the record labels haven’t been transparent.
Now comes word that Geldof is remaking it and so far One Direction have definitely signed on and Adele, Alt-J and Florence +The Machine are in the wings, but could they please just choose another song? Apparently it is to help Ebola which doesn’t seem to need any help in my honest opinion.
I’m going with Eric Idle on Craig Ferguson, I am not sure what he is plugging, he just did that Monty Python farewell at 02, and the Handel gig at Carnegie Hall, but what is new??? Maybe Eric is just saying goodbye. wait and see.
I expect Röyksopp and Ne Yo to be good, I expect …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead and Big K.R.I.T. to be good, and I know Marianne Faithful will be excellent because I’ve been listening to it on NPR First Listen. But I anticipate the new Pink Floyd. As for the Foo Fighters? This is a no loser situation, good or (much much more likely) lousy, I highly anticipate some big chuckles.
I forgot to buy a ticket for Saturday’s gig at BB King’s, the last show ever by the terrific Irish American then Irish again political Irish jig hard rocking band named after a famine. My loss, guys. I am sure we will be hearing more from all the members of the band… the sooner the better
I’ll Think Of A Reason Later – Lee Ann Womack – The most human of songs, Lee Ann despises her exes fiancee based on a pic in the social pages, not really fair but that’s country for you: a story so precisely written it is Chekovian with a handful of words – A
I have never seen him perform any better or any worse than he did Thursday night, he is just about perfection and think of this for a minute: Stevie forgot the words to “Village Ghetto Land” and the importance of that is, since Stevie is blind he has no prompter, no sheet music, nothing
‘Can I tell a director of photography how to frame a shot? No. But my biggest job as a director is to just sort of excite and cheerlead a group of people to find that one common goal or vision. I can convince people. I can convince people to do lots of things.
Of course if he was on meth it could explain a lot. Meth, out of all the drugs that exist! How a guy who has made millions can go for this low-life-white-trash drug??
I would love it if Billy performs years of one night concerts, it is such a great idea, he is so good and as we speak I am thinking I’m gonna try and catch him on… THE SECOND SATURDAY IN 2015…
I will be going to both Jingle Ball and Metlife, I mean of course, since her one chance, the chance I mentioned in 2010, to tour theatre size rooms performing acoustic sets are just about over now, is completed. Indeed, even the Tay I was friends with on Facebook has disappeared. In 2010 she is way too big, that’s all.
“You can see how friendly it was, and there was, and no ego. It was four equal guys,” according to drummer John Densmore. “We tied it together as much as we could and are putting it out as pure as possible, but with really good visual and sound quality.”
This year we get “Calvin And Hobbes” as the story of a boy and his penguin! With Tom Odell, who I can take in very short doses, singing Lennon’s not quite completed “Real Love”.
JFK – Azealia Banks, Theophilus London – One is the worst tempered rapper named Azealia in the business, the other a close buddy of Kanye, together this is so hip it would make your teeth grind if the sample wasn’t so spritely and the raps so incisive. I am sick to death of the RZA school of ambient sample, this is just a terrific change – A-
The legacy of Songs in the Key of Life is well-established. How exceptional that its live performance could highlight how relevant the songs still are, and the world-class caliber of Stevie Wonder on the opening night of his historical tour. I feel privileged to have been there.
Everything in Wet Dress screams DIY, indie rock, small label and Riot Grrrl,…, but they have this girlie moniker and a ‘feminist queer’ etiquette attached to their Facebook, so I am allowed to say so
Kobalt’s writers ‘earned 13% more from Spotify streams in Europe during the first quarter of 2014 than they did from iTunes downloads on the continent’… and this is a new trend as it was not the case during the third quarter of 2013 when writers still earned 32% more from European iTunes sales than from Spotify royalties
No alcoholic is remotely like Vincent, nobody recovers from a stroke the way Vincent does, and when he has no way out of a situation guess what? His problem drops dead
A lot of interesting stuff here, Dylan doing standards, the return of Sleater Kinney, Belle And sebastian, TV On The Radio, Trey Anastacio tends to be pretty good solo, AC/DC should be pure murder. But I am really excited over the Thompson family’s Family.
Which leads me to Capital FM –it used to be the old Clash stomping ground and now is an indie Z-100, affiliated with ten other stations nationwide and they have stolen our Taylor and a pretty cool list of other stars for a two day Jingle Bell Ball
This is a great list of songs, Pell, Young Fathers (I just got a tix for their April gig at MHOW), Ella, the best country song I’ve heard since “Platinum” and Gwen who, now I come to think of it, owes a lot to Chrissie Hynde in her singing.
Let’s Love – Peggy Lee – The version on the deluxe Venus And Mars sounds like McCartney, this doesn’t, it sounds like a half remembered bluesy torch song – A-
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining about her singing, the woman has terrific pipes, I’m complaining about the stodgy playing, about the slow pacing, about the bereft of Pretender friendly material. I’m complaining about the lack of razzamatazz and the lack of badass.
a real liberation in this music, a sort of middle-age I-couldn’t-care-less-of-what-you-think,… despite her health problems, Hanna seemed to feel better than ever, and she exulted charm and confidence, throwing a dance party, alternatively bringing some splash of punk, 80s electro-new Wave, with her girlie voice in the middle, bringing memories of her 20-year musical career
The actual music sounds even better, the band are tight as hell, Allen Toussaint is all over it, and the arrangements are less fussy and more incisive than Band On The Run. Paul is in great voice, he caresses everything he sings, even the rockers.
The Never (Featuring LV Baby) – Pell – From new Orleans, 21 year old Pell has made a sound called Dream rap whhere he ads rap to singalong New Orleans sing songs and it is absolute terrific… this is the real deal and once the new album comes out this guy should chart. catchy as hell, terrific as can be – A
two New York icons together at a New York landmark for a show that in 20 years (I’ll be… 77!!) will be a legend… hard to deny. I remember seeing Mel Torme and Peggy Lee at Carnegie Hall in the 90s and today it feels like it happened to someone else, it is so beyond the realm of possibilities… and I feel that way about Bennett all the time now
Another way to look at it: of the top selling albums on the Billboard 200 chart for the week, 1989 sold more than Nos. 2-107 combined.”
Sorry, but it is indeed Taylor’s world and we indeed only live in it at her leisure. Meanwhile, this is still a pretty good chart listing. Nothing here I don’t like and I love the top three which is why I am putting up Tove Lo’s picture
Africa – Sly Stone – From 1970, seven minutes of percolating bass and a riff that goes on and aon and on as though it is an everlasting loop and there is a keyboard that seems to pinging you to a wall and it goes on and on – A-
Taking us from session musician work as a sixteen year old, through the Yardbirds to overnight success, literally three months between recording LZ1 and touring the States to sold out Arenas, the interview had the length but not the depth. .
Halloween is over but Flying Lotus’ new video is there to stay and will probably give us nightmares for the rest of our life, or at least the rest of this year… God is this animation horrible, creepy, gore, disgusting, gross…?
Lionel Bart wound up broke, having sold the rights to “Oliver!” and lost a fortune, dogged by alcoholism and closeted in a world that would jail you for being gay, he never had another hit. Anywhere. Just kept on financing his own disastrous musicals till he died. Maybe he didn’t have some more, but what he had lives on.
Then he brings in the best selling first week of all times, NSYNC’s 2.4M from 1996, and closes it by sneering that selling 1M in a nation of 300N is nothing. Incidentally, Lefsetz’s beloved Spotify has only 3M subscribers in the US. And at least Taylor’s numbers are from sales.
It is at The Beluga Bar on 75 Murray Street. The place looks terrific, sleek and cool (and maybe expensive) and the music will go from High Society to less high society and should be a blast, ask for “The Old Grey Hat”.
