Katy and uber-producer Dr. Luke simply ruled and three years later the Katy Perry reign continued. And while sure, it wasn’t much, a mix of fair pop hits and iffy dance slams while Katy moved away from her Dorothy in Candyland 2011 persona to still embrace her inner 13 year old but through the eyes of a blasé 29 year old writing a self-help manual, it pleased those it was meant to please
Frontman Brandon Robert had this super low baritone voice, and he efficiently used it, singing on a very monotonous-monochord tone, which accentuated even more the goth imagery. The ambiance, like the light, was dark and dim, but it didn’t mean everything was only about shoegazing and new wavy soundscapes.
So .. is that why we get Jay Z? The ol’ standby guy is back headlining the Global Citizen Festival along with the amazing Gwen Stefani and No Doubt. Personally I would reverse the bill making Gwen the headliner but hey it aint my gig
They may have invented a new genre, self-described as killwave/Cholo goth, Prayers find their territory where the new-wave/goth scene meets hip hop culture and it totally works! ‘This song goes to the motherfuckers that imitate us’ declared frontman Rafael Reyes… he was saying this with a menacing tone and enough swagger to make Kanye West die of jealousy, and it was certainly funny
Some things do return and like it or not- you have to contend with it. Such is the case with the silly titled tour Retro Futura. I must first state this name is really pretty pathetic and the line up… well…. follows suit.
What are you doing today? Me, I am heading over to Metlife to check out Jay Z and Beyonce and then heading out early to get to the Bluenote by 1230am and catch the Tomas Doncker Band for a Howlin’ at Midnight gig, TDB release party for their best blues album of the year Moanin’ At Midnight
“For a long part of the year, Thom Zimny and I have been talking about shooting a short film for Hunter Of Invisible Game. We’ve finally got the job done, and we think it’s one of our best. Thanks Thom for the hard work and brotherly collaboration. You and your crew bring it all. And to all of you out there in E St. Nation (fan club), we hope you enjoy.”
So why go to catch him at Highline Ballroom? Simple: I can’t resist the tiny environment. How often do I get the chance to see Keith in a club where everybody you see there just because it is so damn small. I’ve seen both Blondie and Brian Wilson kill it there, and thisclose to the show as well.
Lo these many years later though the question is, is Billboard, is album an single sales, irrelevant and the answer is, if viewed in a vacuum maybe so but as part of the streaming, youtube, etc etc Itunes, so on universe they are valuable. And I bet if you compared this list of most popular Spotify tracks and Billboard sales, they would be knocking on identical
Anarchy In The UK – Motley Crue – Do I buy into this being a lousy cover? Absolutely. And every attempt to switch from the UK to the US was a complete disaster. But so what? Who else is singing Sex Pistols songs in 2014? – B
Corners is a band that I had the pleasure to see a few times before, I saw them first during a Monday residency in April, then at Lolipalooza, and I had immediately noticed their invigorating sound, a sound which was so familiar and new at the same time. So, I was not surprised to learn that the quartet had a July residency at the Echo, and I may actually go to a few of them
“I don’t feel that animals should be kept in zoos. I don’t feel that animals should be kept in inhumane conditions. I feel that every sentient creature has a right to not suffer unnecessarily.”
There are many ways to announce the release of a new album these days, some artists don’t even announce it anywhere and drop it overnight on iTunes, but the Twitter method was not Pink Floyd’s management’s first choice as they were not thrilled about the way she broke the news.
Honest to god why these old timers want to ruin their cool images but hitting the stage again is beyond me. You cannot be the band you were at 20 when you’re 60 but this Peter Pan ideal is hanging tough. Just like ‘super’ models rock bands have a shelf life. I don’t know about you but i don’t want a “Whole Lot of Love” from those guys
Chester looks like Freddy Krueger dressed up for a meeting with the judge on his pre trial for murder, “It wasn’t me , your honor” and the Judge would take one luck at Chester and this is going to trial poste haste. Guilty of lousy rock and roll albums in the 1st degree, murdering both rock and rap.
Streaming and buying are mirror images of each others. On Spotify, “Blurred Lines” was streamed 174 Million times, Thicke’s latest song “Get her Back” 2 million times. This is eactly mirrors the UK charts break down, Thicke lost over 98% of his audience in a year and the reason is not just because he sucks
Hell, this is so weird, things take forever to move on the Singles charts, and for the second week there is precisely one new song and two changes in position with “Happy” dropping out and “Maps” dropping in and i have admitted in public before that I like Adam Levine, and this is as good a Police update as you’ll hear. But the dye job, Ada? It has to go.
Three really good albums and boatloads of whatever with at least two serious dogs in the mix. Take it or leave it, I don’t care, I mean yeah Trey is # 1 but he only sold 105K so oh well whatever, right. I wonder how many of these albums will go, forget platinum, gold.
Playing with Fire – Chelsea Grin – The problem with metalcore is it lives and dies with the lead singer and however great the rest of he band is, if the lead singer sucks, the band sucks. And Alex Koehler doesn’t suck – B+
The strength of the evening… actually, it was just a great set. Crenshaw was in fine voice, the band sounded terrific, the song selections very strong, and the wooliness of the set up allowed Crenshaw to go off on tangents. Mishearing a song request, he decided to play Five Man Electrical Band’s 1971 “Signs”.
Six bands total, CTers from all around the state flocked down to the Pulaski to pay homage to the guys who’ve made us all think that maybe our state isn’t too lame. Though incredibly bittersweet, there was too much good going on for it to have been anything less than the best night of the summer.
‘Music is art, and art is important and rare. Important, rare things are valuable. Valuable things should be paid for. It’s my opinion that music should not be free, and my prediction is that individual artists and their labels will someday decide what an album’s price point is.’
It’s fun and feels indie, genuinely underground and DIY. I never expected Iero to go in that direction considering he could create some seriously well-produced crisp clean generic music if he wanted to. However, he’s chosen to sound raw and it was one of the best decisions he’s ever made.
The upcoming Zach Braff’s movie, ‘Wish I Was Here’, keeps releasing new songs off its soundtrack, and after a very Shins (but kind of uninspired) song, a Bon Iver tune – that I didn’t even listen to, because I wasn’t ready for more Bon Iver in my life – NPR is now streaming a new and unexpected collaboration between Cat Power and Coldplay.
An under rehearsed Arena rock show should be absolutely mindbendingly wonderful. Oh, and plus, the signing a contract to never tour again. Yeah, right, can’t wait for the “Contract Breaking World Tour -One Last Time”
It really is tough trying to figure out where to find new music but for all of youtube’s ability to make personal listening playlists, I don’t see how it works as a place to discover music. It seems more like a place to stream music once you have already discovered it.
Snappy action, sitcom comedy, an old timer action hero (Mark Wahlberg) and his hotter than July teenage daughter (Nicola Peltz) walk right out of “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” as a loser inventor and his daughter struggle with eviction and poverty (Hollywood style, of course) before Cade Yeager (Cade? Is that a name? Cade???) brings home not just any Transformer but Optimus Prime
Somewhere In My Car – Keith Urban – Thumps a little hard for country rock and pops a little too much for country or rock, this is the sound of country music running down the drain and as spectacularly bad a song as “American Kids” if not worse – D+
There are reasons why Michael Buble is the biggest cabaret star in the works: he wears a tux well,he pushes classic rock and soul with the same fervor as the American Songbook, he’s a funny charmer. But it soon becomes very clear that the man is a lightweight.
Moanin’ At Midnight: The Howlin’ Wolf Project – Tomas Doncker band – If you have last year’s This Is The Tomas Doncker’s Band Howlin’ Wolf EP, what do you need this for? Four more songs. If you don’t have the EP, this breakthrough album for the band is the best collection of Wolf covers you will ever hear – ALBUM OF THE WEEK – A
Rolling Stone magazine has their latest Playlist in their newest issue, seven songs they’ve recommended to us jackjills for our perusal. Not as strong this time I’m afraid, and one song, Tweedy’s (a collaboration between Jeff Tweedy and his 18-year old son) “I’ll Sing It” isn’t on YouTube and the sound has been removed on other sources, so I can’t comment on it, but here be the other six :
I am convinced I will wait. My theory being once July 15th came it would be uneventful. Similar to children peeking at their Christmas gifts and having to feign excitement on the holiday morning- it takes away the magic of it all. I can tell you that in the Morrissey, camp I am the minority.
This is not the first time that Mary Lou Lord posts stories about Courtney Love’s terrible accusations against her on her Facebook page, and this is not the first time this attracts the attention of music blogs. This time, Mary Lou Lord stumbled on some old Courtney Love’s interview – in which, Courtney being Courtney, talks about her prowess, meaning the time she beat MLL’s ass after a Hole show at the Palladium
“Oh I know that she has made a fool of him” Costello sings in “No Dancing”, “Hey girl I wanna shake your hand, all I ever do is bow”, “I wanna get right through the way I feel for you”, “I can’t be wounded because I’ve got no heart”, “they told me everything was guaranteed, somebody somewhere must have lied to me”, “if I was a Saint with a silver cup…” , “I can hear you whispering as I crawl by your door”… it is like every line goes bing in the back of your pain valve.
This is unspeakable but it isn’t exactly songs. Songs have catchy melodies, and smart lyrics, and you can do something with them other than sneer. There is something shameful about this product. It abuses Christianity for a bob or two, and sure, Hillsong didn’t invent it but this goes a long way to perfecting.
Apparently the performance will be visible, but inaudible to spectators. Which is silly, because isn’t the point to hear them play? Unfathomable Ruination commented, saying, “According to the medical professionals who read The Independent, we’re all going to die… Challenge Accepted.”
Tokyo, Oklahoma – John Anderson – I’m a big fan so not sure how this song passed me by but Steve Crawford’s momento mori of Mack Vickery (you’ll find it at the top of today’s rock nyc), turned me on to it: a country blues work out stomps its way with so much smarts – A
Tickets for the October 27 & 28 Beacon Theatre shows go on sale to the public Friday, July 11 at 10AM ET and can be purchased at www.ticketmaster.com and www.beacontheatre.com and via charge by phone at 866-858-0008. American Express® Card Members can purchase tickets before the general public beginning Tuesday, July 8 at 10AM ET through Thursday, July 10 at 10PM ET
While his name isn’t widely known among music fans, the list of artists that recorded his material would make any writer proud. George Jones, Johnny Cash, George Strait, Willie Nelson, Lefty Frizzell, Jerry Lee Lewis, Waylon Jennings, and John Anderson all sang Vickery compositions
Unlike Ethiopian music, there is no r&b influence, the music sways but doesn’t stomp and Noura’s delivery is rock emphatic; it’s a declarative, rich and very inviting sound. Her hour long set mined the debut album, Tzenni, released in June
At the Bootleg on the 4th, an all-evening-long psych fest, bringing a dozen of psychedelic bands on two different stages. Since I don’t really like following traditions, I went to the Warlocks’ Smokeout, and spent more than 5 hours inside the darkest club in LA, while having a great time
In these excerpts form his interview it is evident that Bob is still in very deep mourning. If you recall Peaches mother Paula Yates also died of a heroin overdose. Tremendous hit to have two losses from the same cause.
The Latin artist will be the last hurrah of the World Cup Soccer Tournament in Brazil on July 13th. The disappointments have been huge this year with both England and America bombing out too early. Shit happens, life goes on but for a few weeks seemed that this was the number one topic at the water cooler.
Tim Howard is 35 years old and sports, soccer, is more or less a young man’s game, but the Manchester United goalie from New Jersey who carried the USA team past the UK for one and Italy for another, may prove capable of doing what Pele couldn’t 40 years ago, with that in mind, US ball clubs should through mountains of money at the man so he can singlehandedly turn the US onto, dare I call it, football.
If I had more time to offer it the Ed Sheeran might prove to have depths that are lost on me right this moment, maybe three good song doesn’t not an album make. 5 Seconds of Summer got held off the top spot by Ed, so I’m shocked.And David Grant? Didn’t realize he was that big and this is a good album that might be great if I had the time to offer it
The dog days of summer are coming and this is the new normal, DJs and singers and singers and DJs. It can be fun but it can get old, this is a little on the old side. I am surprised to see got another single on the charts, only one in the States so for. Little Nikki is a good singer, keep an eye on her.
No One To Run With – The Allman Brothers – Dicky Betts takes the rhythmic lick from a Stephen Stills and places it on top of a choo choo train, than rolls over country and rock on the way to pop – A
Since the band was done and Watkins ended up in the clink there the question remained… now what? Well it didn’t take long to find out what. Wisely rising up from the diaper mess is a new band called No Devotion. A fresh start so to speak and a band who would be getting zero attention if not for their uncomfortable past.
At the top of the usual shows at Amoeba (always free), at the Echo, Echoplex, Satellite, Bootleg, Silverlake Lounge, El Rey, Henry Fonda to name just a few clubs and theaters where I go the most, there are a series of free outdoor shows all over the city, and choices are gonna be difficult again this season!
The last time I saw the pre-eminent purveyor of the Great American Songbook Michael Buble, he transformed a bunch of teen girls screaming for Katy Perry and Justin Bieber into very chuffed fans with only “Haven’t Met you Yet” to seduce them with back in 2010.
