Slideshow

Opinion, Slideshow

The Warm Cosy World Of Cover Songs

These versions are presented in a more pop manufactured way and thus songs that are originally raw and rather un-polished are presented in a more comfortable way and so I’m back in my comfort zone again. Somehow my conscious is appeased and I am lulled back to a warm cosy world of pop rather then unvarnished rock as its orginal form was

Slideshow, Video Review

Manhattan Murder Mystery Has A Video And It Is Bloody Fantastic

The plot of the story is as somber as these bathing suits are shiny: Drug dealers stealing from each other? An escape on a boat piloted by a sort of poor’s Daft Punk? An unlucky fallen hero? A drug mogul (or is he a Nigerian Prince? A harem guard?) chopping hands as if he was auditioning for a part in the next Bible movie? I had no idea this could come alive in a parking lot.

Live, Slideshow

Best Concerts Through September 30th, 2014

The Replacements – Forest Hills Stadium – September 19th, 2014 – The return of the biggest alt rock band of all time becomes a gigantic singalong as 16,000 40 somethings get to hear them at the very top of their game for 90 minutes of hits. The Replacements you always dreamt of.

Slideshow, US Top 10 Singles

US Top 10 Singles 10-11-14

I’ve had Clean Bandits in my sites just about since the beginning on the year, when it started showing up on the UK charts and remained their for months. That shows how long it can take, nearly a year, between a song being released and a song breaking pop big time. That violin hook is money in the back, it just takes awhile

Slideshow, US Top 10 Albums

US Top 10 Albums 10- 11-14

Gaga and Bennett in at #1 on the album charts? 131K units moved. I am now officially the worst prognosticator since that dead ringer groundhog deBlas dropped… Otherwise, the charts no longer tell you whether music is god or bad, anything released in any given week that sells over 50K will be on the charts. Essentially, it is ten albums that have been released recently

Slideshow

10 Songs: Thursday, October 2nd, 2014

If “Fireproof” had the chance of being a fluke, this second song off the upcoming album Four, is a coming of age for the hottest pop band on earth. with every single modern hook imaginable, from handclaps to guitar licks, to voices raised on elongated choruses and another great tune to boot, this makes em two for two and a classic rock band for a different world – A

Slideshow

Magnolia Memoir's New Album 'Pale Fire' Reviewed

While the title song burns its own fire, ‘Peeling Paint’ rocks as hard as some vintage 70’ number while keeping a poppy heart, and ‘Resurrected’, the last song of the album, tells the whole story: frontwoman Mela Lee was involved in a terrible car accident in April 2014

Lists, Slideshow

15 Essential Soft Soul Songs from the Early ‘70s

In the early 1970s, it was a custom for African-American men to sport large Afros, wear polyester suits, and sing in falsettos that made wine glasses tremble. Here are 15 groovy soft songs of love and heartbreak from 1970 to 1972. The line below lists the songwriters and the peak position on the pop charts. I know you can dig it, baby

Album Reviews, Slideshow

John Mellencamp’s “Plain Spoken” Reviewed

This is a truth Mellencamp seems to instinctively understand, these songs are about people with a different sort of understanding of life, a different type of connection to the land: that’s why he plays Farm Aid. Plain spoken, from the earth to the earth, American homeland, Mellencamp plain spokenly speaks for it and us on a fine, folk rocker album

Slideshow

Best Songs Through September 30th, 2014

Nothing as excited as last month, here they are mostly album tracks, plus songs off albums that didn’t make it onto the best of they year list. Three from Julian Casablancas but put that down to contrariness, and the only reason I only put three of the four Trainor tracks here is I was afraid of overkill.

Album Reviews, Slideshow

Best Albums Through September 30th, 2014

Popular Problems – Leonard Cohen – He is melodic the way a bassoon is melodic, or maybe the way the memory of a teenage love is melodic, the contours remain there even if the details are lost forever and the two first songs are among the best he has ever written and everything else is damn near perfect as well.

Slideshow

Chanel Is Releasing $5,000 Headphones

The company used to make headphones for Beats by Dre before an acrimonious split sent both companies in different directions. Monster has concentrated on high-profile collaborations with fashion and sporting brands, so a set of Chanel headphones doesn’t come as a huge surprise.’

Slideshow

Phil Spector Lost The Ability To Speak

He deserves to be jailed, he was a woman beating asshole of huge proportions (as David Mamet recently had Spector say in his movie: “why was Jesus Christ killed? He got too big for his britches”) and even so, I like there to be choices in life and this is just a dreadful story with no choice whatsoever

Slideshow, Upcoming Releases

Direct Currents UpComing Releases Through November 25th, 2014

I am really psyched for The Art Of McCartney, an elbow live (they were so great at Webster Hall earlier this year), really interested to see if Devon Allman can step into the family business, Bob Dylan’s complete “The Basement Tapes”, Neil Diamond back t his pop roots, Brian Wilson, TV On The Radio were great earlier this year but not sure about the album, and, er, Jerry Lee Lewis!!!

Slideshow

10 Songs: Tuesday, September 30th, 2014

Local talent, Azealia is the better of the two Azeals but she doesn’t have the commercial chops of Iggy, except this is a clear pop move and the only question is will it do the job? I can’t read the charts but I do think this is great. For sure, her rap is major here as she speaks sings on a terrific house music production – A-

Not With The Band, Slideshow

Not With The Band: Stage Or Not Stage Diving?

I don’t participate to this sort of behavior – of course! – but I would never imagine a law against stage diving, as a matter of fact, if I see a sign ‘No stage diving’, like in some unnamed clubs on the strip, I have a tendency to think the place sucks… yes I got really scared a few times, like in the pit of the Bad Brains at the Sunset Junction fair, at a Trash Talk show at the El Rey where bodies were flying over my hea

Medium Cool, Slideshow

Medium Cool: The Week In Talk Show Guests

Nothing too exciting here. Ryan Adams on Conan and Ellen, so I guess it might be interesting if they actually interview him and we can hear him, you know, be more than a crabby bastard or a Borscht Belt comedian. And then, just to make things really fun, Bryan Adams on Kelly and Michael. Hey maybe they can both sing “Summer Of 69”

Slideshow, UK Top 10 Singles

UK Top 10 Singles 10-4-14

Has “Bang Bang” just been released in the UK? Well, at least I can understand why it is at # , what I want to know is why will “Booty” (or as I know and love it: started from the bottom now we’re here) will be joining it in a coupla weeks.

Slideshow, UK Top 10 Albums

UK Top 10 Albums 10-4-14

More power to young alt-J but do you think Thom Yorke is gonna topple them next week? I can’t wait to check out the numbers behind Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes although I am not expecting much because just as Thom and Nigel thought, I think the Bittorrant will spook em and the album itself is difficult in ways alt-j certainly aren’t.

Slideshow

10 Songs: Monday, September 29th, 2014

Say what you will about Skrillex, and I blame him for popularizing dub step, when he gets a good song in his sites, and “In For The Kill” is a great song, he does wonders of deconstruction, here he pierces the songs shell with stuttered blasts of synths and looped vocals. It sounds like scratches great Grand Child – A

Opinion, Slideshow

The Wonder Years And Life After College

A band like The Wonder Years puts so much passion into their music that they should be that band, they refuse to give up, and make it known through their music, and when a band is that hard working, they should be playing huge arenas and touring the world

Slideshow

Stephin Merritt's Book Tour For '101 Two-Letter Words'

“My mother is a former English teacher who always expected me to write the Great American Novel, thunderous and profound, so she was not impressed to learn that my first book is going to be amusing light verse. But now that I’ve got her hooked on Words With Friends, she sees the immense value of remembering the two-letter words”

Slideshow

Let's Active: rock nyc Concert Picks Week of September 29th, 2014

This is real deal 2014 House, it is incredible, unique, freshly manufactured beats and they sound terrific in a world where I am getting pretty damn sick of beats all sounding themselves. Santa Crus’s Lorin Ahston is the DJ to beat and Saturday MSG is undoubtedly the place to be. I expect the rave of the year and I have tix to Skrillex NYE.

Lists, Slideshow, Upcoming Concerts

So, I Got A Cat Stevens Tix To Philadelphia After All That And Here is A Spotified Setlist From 2013

I asked around and discovered the Wang Theatre was in the middle of nowhere, a big problem for a guy without a car and also, a four hour drive from New York, as opposed to a 90 minute ride to Philly so, I guess i saw no choice. I’d actually caught Stevens 20 minute set at Barclay Center earlier this year and had been very very impressed; it really is a must see.

Slideshow

10 Songs: Saturday, September 27th, 2014

Do we have Lee Ann wrong? I thought she was a sorta country popster and also rans but this terrific Neil Young cover is a revelation, all winding violins and country slide and a purring perfect vocal, especially when she looks up from his big brass bed – A-

controversy, Slideshow

Slut Slamming Brody Dalle

“How are the lyrics “give him what he asks for “ empowering to women? How? How is spreading your bottom apart and singing “give him what he asks for ” empowering at all? JLo and Iggy may feel empowered by their bodies and that’s fine, their bodies ARE powerful, beautiful and life giving. But they are so much more than just their bodies”

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