Childhood’s End – Majick Cloudz – I am catching em opening for one Lorde on Monday and so here is a taste of the Canadian electronic duo and I can’t say I am thrilled at the prospect: they sound like the Drums without the surf and with plenty of electronics and deep piddle paddle drums – B-
If you can’t use close circuit TV and you have no band, no nothing, with you, you better find some way to pull the audience forward and teaching us how to clap isn’t it, it is too amateur, it is too dowdy for what should be a sparkling rave up. A good light show can’t begin to substitute for a great presence.
One Direction should have been and gone. A manufactured boy band who hit it big and should have disappeared just as fast but are releasing their fourth album this year and if “Fireproof” -their best song since “Kiss You” is anything to go by, are not going to disappear any time soon either.
A lot of people are up in arms because they don’t like U2. I don’t have an opinion on the band itself, but I do think the method is a little bit in your face.’… ‘‘When you sign up to use an Apple product, you’re giving them your information, so this album is part and parcel of that. But that still doesn’t mean they need to use that information in such an invasive way.’
They came up with the funny name of ‘Jaggermeryx naiad’ which means ‘Jagger’s water nymph’! Scientists named an extinct animal, a cross between a skinny hippo and a leggy pig, after the famous Rolling Stones frontman… But why? Why doing this to Mick Jagger?
So what do we make of the setlist? Quite a bit from the new one, a handful of oldies, some obscurities, tons of stuff I want to hear but he won’t be playing. Tracks off that double that wasn’t a double with Cardinals. “Oh My Sweet Carolina” as close to a must play as there is. Personal fave “Crossed Out Name”.
If you were at the True Groove All Stars Blue Note gig this summer, you already know “Can’t Say No” and on the album it is surrounded by the title track on one side and “The New Day”, between the three it is one of the great album opening, it reminds me of the first side of My Aim Is True, you can’t believe your ears.
Time is always a valuable commodity but now it is an impossible commidy in the heart of a week with so much great music all around me that I don’t even know what to tell you. I can’t find the time to hear everything I want to, I do’t have enough ears to keep up with this week
There is an interconnection between everything that is going on stage and while it is only as good or bad as the music on stage, it is a mirror image of the songs concerns. If the music didn’t work, the conceits wouldn’t matter. But the music is wonderful and therefore everything work
Good Man – Lee Brice – A professional country good ol’ boy who can pour the songs out for the likes of Garth Brooks and here with a sturdy backbone on a nothing song – B-
during Apple’s global product launch on Tuesday, Apple premiered the video ‘Perspective’ and man does the concept look similar to the one in the OK Go original video! And according to Consequence of Sound, ‘not only did Apple hire 1stAveMachine as producers, it used the same exact director as OK Go’s video’.
She is quite young but there already is this songstress title behind this slow electronic R&B, filled with melancholia and mystery; the song is warm and cold at the same time, the sound is lush and it wraps you entirely while a dense forest populated of squeaky sounds and voices are echoing Banks’ emotional vocals.
There is something so good natured about this concept,though you can see where they are going with it neurofibromatosis refers to a number of inherited conditions that are clinically and genetically distinct and carry a high risk of tumor formation, particularly in the brain
Strangers in town Helen Bach and Mary Rudzis were writing about them constantly a coupla years ago . The Canadian Hardcore slash emo band go from a whisper to a scream forever and while it is true their finest moment remains a cover of “Runaway” that is easily the greatest Kanye cover of all time, they can maintain your interest album after album.
From far away Petty seems to be phoning in but up close it isn’t like that at all: he is almost physically aversed to the largest gestures, he keeps the band and himself in check and it simply doesn’t project. However, I am sure Margaret disagreed so hang loose for her full review
U Know – Prince – I haven’t been overwhelmed by Prince’s recordings for a couple of years (and the last time I saw him live he wasn’t on his game) but this is one of his better hot sizzle slow r&b jams – B+
‘To address the most obvious, inevitable question that I will be asked…this is not fake. Whether you think she’s the worst or this just makes her all the more “punk rock” is for you to decide. I’m merely presenting the facts as they are. Make of them what you will’
A few days ago, the news that Bruce Springsteen was writing a children book based on his song ‘Outlaw Pete’ made Iman choke on his lunch, but the boss is not the only rock star to give a try at the kid book story: Keith Richards is publishing ‘Gus & Me: The Story of My Granddad and My First Guitar’
Consider the new U2 album the Village Voice of rock. When I used to have to pay a coupla of bucks for VV I would read it cover to cover but once it became free, I treated it with indifference. If it didn’t cost anything, what exactly was its value to me?
Wow, some week right? U2 alone would be enough to keep the rock world on its toes, but if you add just about every major musician from Justin to Julian and back it makes for one of the more remarkable week s of rock and roll known to man. I am not sure when and if the U2 will cloick with me but so far not that much…
Another terrific list and while I love “Bass” my jam is “Title” which they should pull off the EP right now, I’m waiting. As for Tay, she has hit the milie mark and she could be back at # 1 if she’d let the streaming service have access to it. Otherwise, there is nothing I dislike here and lots I love.
OK, let me simplify this for you pop pickers: What is the admittedly magnificent Legend doing back on the charts again… Well apparently the Google Play Store discounted it to a dollar the holla and so the 30 year old standard bearer for all Greatest Hits albums managed to move 41K units. And the moral is self-evident, if you make the price of albums love enough they will in fact self. Even albums everyody should have by now. The reason the MP3 is losing the war is because they are too damn expensive. What part of there is no distribution and manufacturing costs are people not getting.
Sun Down – Tricky – With a fine young singer named Tirzah, on a song that sounds as much Portishead as Tricky or Massive Attack, the echoed beat is invaluable and the mood so completely 2014 it is as if r&b caught up with him – B+
Horizon was a terrible album and Songs of Innocence isn’t. There is something disquieting and a little disturbed about it. U2s stories of innocence isn’t giving them much pleasure. It isn’t a happy album. Perhaps because when it gets past punk and surf, it finds a dead mother, priest pedophiles and bloody Sundays.
Does it mean Ryan Adams made a classic rock album? I am sorry to say I am not overly excited about the idea although I may change my mind with repeated listenings… Why making a Petty album when you are Adams?
If you feel like it, you can now listen to another track of Julian Casablancas + the Voidz’s upcoming album ‘Tyranny’, and after ‘Human Sadness’, the 11-minute epic number that Julian released on YouTube about a week ago, here is ‘Where No Eagles Fly’, which debuted on BBC Radio 6 on Monday morning.
Here is a little clue for all you pop pickers. If a buncha tier ones get together to do a tribute album and if they haven’t named some charity organization for whom it is in aid of, the charity is the tributing partner. In this case Paul McCartney, who might need many things, for one thing he could be with being 25 years old again, but he sure don’t need money and that’s all there is to it.
Giving the album for free on ITunes? Now that is pure genius. U2’s, Bono’s, biggest fear was the album not charting, maybe going gold and then disappearing and god bless the little Irish get, he forestalled the bands decline and fall as a recording artist by giving the sucker away
Rock And Roll will never die, is unkillable, is infinite, is in fact a question of the basis of our humanity and our freedom, it is whatever it says it is, ut merges with everything and when the pop music becomes more than entertainment but a matter of spirit
“Analog maximalism, made possible by the plinky, translucent synths of Selected Ambient Works, AFX’s restless 303 sequences, Caustic Window’s brawny drum machines, vocal abstractions à la Richard D. James album…”
Why does all his solo stuff sound like Led Zep covering rockabilly? I mean, I thought the whole point was he didn’t wanna sound like Led Zep, and I guess I am thinking more Plant-Page than even Zep, still, we have been here before and his refusal to work with Page seems like dissemblance – B
Single Mothers – Justin Towne Earles – Consider slight because it holds its depth close to its vest, this is a perfect album on every single level, in less than half an hour and no more than 10 songs, JTE nails every single song with flawless every single thing – ALBUM OF THE WEEK – A
people have noticed that many musicians have a long ring finger, and hand casts of Anton Rubinstein, Beethoven and Franz Listz have effectively revealed a long ring finger in both hands. This has been studied by professor John Manning of the Liverpool University, who compared the index finger (second one) to the ring finge
I stole a picture from the website, a ‘sculpture’ or a mask made of white tiny bears with multicolor hair and this is at least as random as anything I see at any modern art exhibit…. I am not saying I like it, but you probably get what I mean….
If you are a Republican, a Democrat or an Independent you’re gonna love the Beatles most. Plus, if you have a kid under 18 you are gonna love Bruno Mars and if you don’t have a kid under 18, you’re gonna love -ta-dah the Beatles. Decades and decades after they disbanded, they are still the biggest band in the world.
It was in 2008 I saw the band at MSG and I have been a fan ever since. You can’t claim M5 sold out,the five year break between the first iteration of the band, Kara’s Flowers and the current pop dance ensemble, proved they didnt want to be a rock band. They wanted to be pop stars.
I have no idea why Niles wouldn’t pursue this opportunity to really bring Chic back again, all three women look and sound terrific and this is a real opportunity but who knows? Perhaps he doesn’t want to pay the money, though how much can it be? It would be kind, generous and a reaching back.
I have every intention of going to see him at the Hammerstein Ballroom on Saturday November 22nd, because he was so good at Newport, because he has his new band behind him and because, well, because he owes me one. A hundred bucks a pop by the way.
Suspicious Minds – Elvis Presley – The first single post 68 Special was also one of the biggest hits of his career, re-arranged from the original that change of tempo during the bridge was money in the bank and this six minute version from the Vefas 70 show is more dramatic than that – A
“There’s someone whose entire job it is to figure out things that I don’t want the world to see. They look at your career, they look at what you prioritize, and they try to figure out what would be the most revealing or hurtful.” If we lose Taylor to L.A. we have only ourselves to blame.
For better or worse, I’ve started on a book about 1970s popular music. I plan is to write about 10 entries a day, which means I should have the first draft done sometime in December. I’ve divided each year into pop, rock, soul, and country. Here’s my first 12 rock entries from 1970.
A menu inspired by foods the band loves in LA or in the road. LAist got a sample of the menu, which will include: rice fritters with pear, paste and honey; pork spare ribs with crispy sweet potato; ginger panna cotta with jasmine granita and frozen grapes; and maple flatbreads
‘When I decided it was time to ‘go digital’ I didn’t find an existing way that really fit how I wanted to do it,’ declared Brooks to Newsok, ‘I shared my dream with some amazing minds and together have created something really special – GhostTunes.com. This is a site that treats music with the utmost respect,
J-E-T-S Jets Jets. Yes, folks that’s the way to start the season. Despite it being at home, despite it being against marshmallow Oakland Raiders with a rookie QB, despite all those errors and lost yards, despite everything you care to say, a win is a win and the way to start the proceedings.
Sam Smith back at the top and congrats to him of course, it’s a great album, but over at # 7 is Pierces excellent new album, not out here yet but it might break big once it is. They look the role and they sound it. Kate Bush all over the place…
A coupla biggies but mostly a whatever collection of EDM pop moves, the mainstreaming of everything if you like. Taylor and Sam tower over it but otherwise there is nothing to excite and you and some stuff, The Script for instance, to simply annoy you.
My Eating Disorder – Titus Andronicus – Better live than on record, it is a strange unruly thing on record, an eight minute whirligig of tempo switches and self diagnosis central to the last album yet essentially flawed, so close to perfection and yet so far away – B
Patrick Stickles of Titus Andronicus paid his respect as well, “a great honor and privilege to be here in support of the Buzzcocks” he claimed, and Patrick doesn’t say what he doesn’t mean, then he launched into “Upon Viewing Brueghel’s ‘Landscape With The Fall Of Icarus'”.
They have everything to accomplish such thing, songs as catchy as hell, earworm anthems (just listen to ‘Say Yes’), a symphonic feeling mixed with a pop-bombast embedded in multi-voice harmonies, which even include that of an operatic singer
EDM can be hit or miss live but with New Orleans Big Freedia opening my guess is the Canadian duo is gonna be way on their game at Rumsey Playfield’s sold out gig with one final no nonsense push on their excellent current album White Women. So, yeah this is the gig Chromeo fans on a Friday evening during the last days of summer 2014.
