A good week all round, not least because one of my great adages was proven true: you can strip a song bare or you can whistle and toot it but if it is good, it will stand up. That’s what Us The Duo did with Taylor and it paid off big big big time.
Viv Peyrat sounds to these ears like a classic rocker with a modern hook bent! Here are his answers to five question posed to him with his suitable for streaming debut EP The Introduction. Here Viv answers five questions.
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
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.
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.
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
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
Slow – Leonard Cohen – His Greatest self portrait ever finds the man defining the race not being close to the swift but to he who reaches the end slowest, whether it be sex or life or God knows the blues. A work only those of us growing old faster than us will understand completely
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
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
This was a promising night, the final concert of the Hollywood Bowl’s season, a sold-out-18,000-people night, but a weird night too, with an eclectic line-up: Cat Power, Gogol Bordello and the Pixies! Who would ever think these three bands would fit one day on the same bill?
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
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
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.
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.
Action Cat – Gerald Way – This sounded impressive when he leaked it last month and as the leader on the fine new album it is a fuzzball of garage rock and proto-emo guitars – B+
rock nyc is beyond excited for what looks to be a hard rocking loud soft evening of cool young bands…
One more chance to hear that wonderful falsetto on a terrific and beautiful pop album. On “Don’t Cry Alone” he sounds operatic and glorious and if the tempo is a little too slow too often, he wrote it right after Maurice died and everything will get to you. Hold on for the Bee Gees cover – ALBUM OF THE WEEK – A-
Through our friendship with Roger And Cowan, rock nyc was invited to be a strategic promo partner at the Cake Shop Acoustic Anarchy Gig on Octber 9th. Having hung out just about every night from 1979 to 1980, when I finally got a job and couldn’t spend all my time there, there is nothing I understand much better than the spirit of CBGBs
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.’
He seems so passionate when he sings it, but there is a certain dullness in all this and I can’t be interested enough to want to know more about the song. Although it comes with a mini movie directed by Bill Fishman, that tells a lot about the band’s cinematic ambitions
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
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!!!
I’ll Never Know – Tweedy – Slow albums always seem to have the urge to slow things down even further and here they are slowed to a completely croak. Still, not bad as many a lullaby – B
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-
“My blood is a flood of rubies, precious stones, it keeps my veins hot, the fires find a home in me”. A tough minded song of revenge, “I’m locking up everyone that ever laid a finger on me.” Lorde’s first new song since the breakthrough should put naysayers to bed,
“Thematically my work always draws upon personal experiences, whether that’s the saturation of media in our lives, our fascination with celebrity and stardom or more singular experiences such as the loss of loved ones. I’m fascinated by, love, loss and the immortalization of celebrities, those that burn bright and die young.”
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
Captain Clutch got old (er, cmon he’s 40 not 90) and hung it up and the great team I love from 1996 to 2000, the team I watched endlessly: Bernie Williams, Scott Brosius, Tino, Luis, Paul, Posada have all retired. They were the Beatles of sports. And now the last one has gone. Thanks, Cap’n.
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”
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.
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.
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
This was the third “Global Citizen Festival” where 60K music fans and concerned citizens win tickets by completing tasks to aid the extreme poor and if at this time you are wondering when I’m gonna get to the music, you know how I felt, standing for six hours
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
“The way major labels just throw all their music on Spotify, they’ve given up on selling people music. We hope to prove with this and our work with other artists – we’ve worked with Madonna, Linkin Park as well as lots of rising names – that there’s another way.’
“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”
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.
“Music mogul and longtime recording partner Clive Davis is at the helm of the project, said it was expected in stores on the 30th. Legendary producer and performer Babyface is working with OutKast member Andre 3000 behind the scenes on production and mixing the final tracks before the album ships out
Crazy Pills – Archie Powell And The Exports – From the same world that gave us Ted Leo, this guy is a heads down great power popper in the old fashioned sense. Playing CMJ in October, so make sure you’re there – A-
The performance was good and occasionally very good , her rap on “Beat Down”, though early, reminded you she was in it for the music, and the full on ballad “Rolex” was absolutely a lesson on how her future will play out.
‘A&R is a work in progress’, added Blake, clarifying that the winning anthem’s artist will not necessarily be signed to the label, ‘Right now it’s all about forming relationships and understanding how this all works. We’re focused on distributing through the platform and digital sales’
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.
Easily gotten by Western audiences, much easier than Juju is to this day, the songs are very Western pop in construction and performance. Malawi Mouse Boy’s current album, this years Dirt Is Good, is not really an acquired taste, your ears will appreciate the sweet sounds
Tyranny is a tyranny of sound and lowered expectations. It explodes and then it subsides, it is kinda like waves which roil and return. “This isn’t for everybody, this is for nobody”, Julian warns on the very first song, “The customer is obviously oblivious and wrong”.
The problem with Partners, and this may well really really be an age thing, these are songs we’ve heard over and over again, they can’t be listened to any more ever. They have no meaning eft to be dripped out of them, all these guys can do is do what has been done before.
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-
If the dark ages were over so long ago, why dos it feel like they are back and why does it feel like this is the music England was listening to in 1066. “Pink Section” sounds like the wind that blew from Agincort to Flanders Field to Kirkuk and Al Quaim. It sounds like a horror moving through history
“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”
If you love Strait you had to be effected by the late “Troubadour” and closing “The Cowboy Rides Away”. What the album has going for it is it is a literal, all of a piece, live document, of one of the great Red Staters, a country giant saying goodbye. Is it enough? Sure, if your exes live in Texas.
