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Recorded, Slideshow

10 Songs: Tuesday, August 4th, 2015

Listening To Singing – Iris Dement – While I have heard mixed things about this album, dropping on Friday, this first song is absolutely lovely, with a wonderful hook, and a lovely lyric based upon the same named poem by Anna Akhmatova, comparing a woman’s voice to a ladder to heaven. Pretty excellent, actually – A

News, Slideshow, These Days

These Days: Tuesday, August 4th, 2015

No Doubt’s Gwen Stefani and Bush’s lead singer Gavin Rossdale called it a marriage and filed for divorce in Los Angeles. They’ve been together for 20 years and married 13 of them, they have three sons Kingston Rossdale, 9, Zuma Rossdale, 6, and Apollo Rossdale, 17 months. Apparently Gwen will be providing spousal support and they will be sharing custody. That’s a real shame.

News, Slideshow

Van Helden Responds To Noel Gallagher’s Comment About EDM

‘With the chemistry going on, that’s just a magical moment. With a DJ or the EDM thing, they don’t get it. It’s a completely different thing – the youth is always supposed to piss off the elders. The youth will always find a way to make sure that their parents don’t like their music. To me, EDM, dance music and DJ culture is just following in this path that we’ve been in forever.’

News, Slideshow

RADD Partners With CBS Radio At Outside Lands And Jam In The Van To Promote Responsible Drinking and Road Safety

Jam in the Van will feature ‘The RADD Zone,’ an interactive lounge designed to engage with artists and guests in promoting road safety & responsible drinking at Lennon Studios. Artists will support RADD’s message of responsible drinking with on-camera shout outs and via social media, and according to their Facebook page, there will be performances by The Soft White Sixties, Midnight North, Valley Queen, Love and the Zealous and more!

News, Slideshow

So, Really, How Bad Is Terminal 5?

It is infuriating to show up at 730pm for a band hitting the stage at 9pm and still see nothing whatsoever. It is disastrous to pay $50 for a ticket for nothing but to be moved, harassed, get your sitelines blocked, have fucked up security hastle you and wander around three floors of absolutely nothing.

Recorded, Slideshow

10 Songs: Tuesday, August 4th, 2015

Rescue Me – Amy Helm – If you are wondering whether Amy is the real deal, the lead single off her debut album is the essential components of Americana -a hint of country, a hint of jam, a spiritual component, a fine piano, and soulful singing. A very good song – B+

Slideshow

US Top 10 Singles 8-15-15

Very little movement whatsoever, the top five are exactly the same as last week, and only “Lean On”‘s minimal movement shows any shake up on the bottom five. It is strange days we live in, the album charts erupt every week and the single charts snooze. Go figure

Charts, Slideshow

US Top 10 Albums 8-15-15

The Jill Scott album sucks big time, and in real sales? 58K units move so lets all agree, it’s over man. Mean, I am damned if anybody understands how Billboard crush the numbers. Nothing personal but it sure feels like BS to me. For instance, Lamb Of God have 50K equivalence unites but with pure album sales equal 47,000. Meaning… what? That there numbers were only upped by 3K due to streaming? So, metal fans don’t stream. Like I said, difficult to believe.

News, Slideshow

Rockstars and Astrology

‘‘I’d be biased to think that the community of Geminis is the most consistently in tune with what their spirit is telling them to do or why they have breath in their lungs. But I do think that creative Geminis—Tupac, Biggie, Prince, Miles Davis, all being Geminis—have, throughout history, been really in tune with those things.’

Live, Slideshow

The Jayhawks At Pershing Square, Saturday August 1st 2015

The Jayhawks write giant hooks that intertwine with your memory cells forever. Take some of their most famous anthems that they played yesterday night, songs like ‘Blue’ or ‘Save It For A Rainy Day’, the vocal harmonies are to die for, and the melodies reveal a deep pop sensibility and sound as the love children of Neil Young, The Byrds and Elton John. The Jayhawks’ sound seems much older than the band really is, and this is a good thing in my book… But you have to wonder, how could they have been making this kind of music mid-90s when grunge was all the rage?

News, Slideshow, These Days

These Days: Sunday, August 1st, 2015

When I saw Morrissey at Radio City, he included her in the videos he used to open the show. If you want to give Cilla a listen, a sort of Dionne Warwick in a UK 60s scene singer for David-Bacharach type songs, try “You’re My World” and “Anyone Who Had a Heart.” She died yesterday at the age of 72.

News, Not With The Band, Slideshow

Not With The Band: Why We Should Be Allowed To See Kurt Cobain’s Death Scene Photos

Contrarily to common belief, if you read informed reports about Cobain, the shotgun blast had resulted in very little visible damage, there was no blood or tissue splatter which are typical in most shotgun blasts to the head, there was curiously no exit wound, and if you have seen Cobain’s death scene pictures circulating on the internet in the past, they were false. Cobain was fingerprinted for identification as a matter of procedure, not for necessity, as it was falsely reported in the press. People who saw the body recognized him immediately and the lack of damage is one of the numerous aberrations of the case

Live, Slideshow

Let’s Active: rock nyc Concert Picks Week Of August 3rd, 2015

With one of the best albums of the year to his name, Before This World, you might be hoping for hits plus the newbie from Taylor, who sure knows how to shower the people with love and singalongs. But the setlist has been going deeper than usual with lost gems from Gorilla, Walking Man, October Road and That’s Why I’m Here, alongside “How Sweet It Is” and “You’ve Got A Friend”. I know what you’re thinking but you missed the word “gems”. The restroom break will be “Angels Of Fenway” at Forest Hills Stadium on Tuesday.

Charts, Slideshow

The Best Of 2015: Concerts Through July 31st, 2015

Young Fathers – Central Park SummerStage – July 25th – They were sweating from the heat and seemed disappointed in the size of the audience, and daylight doesn’t appear to three piece rap and alt’s natural habitat: and they were still magnificent. That version of “Shame”? That was worth it.

Medium Cool, News, Slideshow

Medium Cool: Best Talk Show Guests, Week Of August 3rd, 2015

passed on a taping of Ice T and Coco which expresses more than words ever can my feelings about reality shows. So that leaves me with Laura Marling, whom it looks like I am gonna miss for the second time because I’m going to the “Beautiful” in concert at SummerStage on Monday, Milky Chance on James Corden and Christopher Cross on Fallon. I’m going with Fallon because, you know, maybe he’ll do a medley of all his hits: “Sailing” and “Arthur’s Theme”.

Best Of 2015, Charts, Slideshow

The Best Of 2015: Songs Through July 31st, 2015

A better month for songs than I thought when you consider two of the weeks were more or less wash outs. Two absolute revelations, Alice Glass and Dej Loaf, who have nothing in common except extreme originality. I have heard nothing quite like them and I like Dej now the way I liked Nicki Minaj circa “Monster ergo very very much. One more name: Daniel Romanov: he sounds like other people, but in a very good way.

News, Slideshow, These Days

These Days: Saturday, August 1st, 2015

Warren Beatty was a better actor and a better director and had more famous skirt but Leo DiCaprio owns the swimsuit model field, apparently getting on the cover of SI includes a date with Leo. Also: Leo is 40 years old, so in theory he could keep on nailing supermodels, this year’s model is the ridiculously attractive 25 year Kelly Rohrbach, for another ten years and still spend half his life a married man (like Warren).

Recorded, Slideshow

10 Songs: Saturday, August 1st, 2015

The Hook (All My Love) (Rough Mix) – Led Zeppelin – From the Zep’s last, pussy, album, this is all very Robert Plant’s Americana version of Zep, and very pretty, the brass solo is especially lovely and Jimmy is much more than brute force here, almost, dare we say it, delicate – B+

Live, Slideshow

JD McPherson At Twilight Concert Series On Thursday July 30th 2015

Little Richard’s influence is certainly there during ‘It Shook Me Up’ or ‘Everybody’s Talking ‘Bout The All-American’ for example, with some excited pounding keys, a droning bass and McPherson’s bright howl, but there is much more than influences, he sees his brand of rockabilly as a new punk form, it’s aggressive and fast, he jumps all over the place as he jumps all over decades of music history and this new-old sound becomes truly his.

Live, rock nyc, Slideshow

Sarah Gayle Meech At Twilight Concert Series, Thursday July 30th 2015

And she reminded us that she wrote, released, and produced her album ‘because I am an independent artist’ she announced, with a don’t-mess-with-Texas attitude, although she is a Nashville girl! And in a few seconds, she gave us the essence of any good western country song, which is always about heartbreaks, taking too many pills, and cheating… ‘all the good things in life!’ she added.

Charts, Slideshow

UK Top 10 Singles: 7-31-15 – 8-6-15

Another nothing special week crashes to a close, Ella has a great voice and she is fabulous live, she is the go to gal for modern EDM soulfulness -not very significant here, but I guess she is just a gun for hire. That whole scene is as good as its best songs. Whether it is Emile, Sam, Ella, Jesse or anyone else.

News, Slideshow

Grimes Talks about Sexism In The Record Industry, But Not To Us

‘I get threats constantly—all female musicians do. People want to, like, rape and kill you. It’s, like, part of the job. One time I was backstage at a show, and there was this random guy in my dressing room, and he just grabbed me and started making out with me, and I was like, Ah!, and pushed him off. Then he went, ‘Ha! I kiss-raped you’ and left.’

Recorded, Slideshow

10 Songs: Friday, July 31st, 2015

Come And Get It – Badfinger – If we can please get past the backstory, this is the best song the Beatles never bothered with, a McCartney smash and also the theme of the Ringo Starr-Peter Sellers piece of weirdness “The Magic Christian”, sooonny – A

News, Slideshow, These Days

These Days: Friday, July 31st, 2015

Rolling Stone: So, while I haven’t seen his books, I would sure guess that Jann Wenner is in some trouble at Rolling Stone. Sure the Will Dana quitting had to do with a serious editing lapse of judgment, that wasn’t true of David Fricke (has he written anything recently? I don’t think so) and absolutely the downsizing of movie critic Peter Travers from Senior Editor to contributing writer. Apparently this one got nasty with Travers furious at Jann pinching his pocket. Of course, it’s a buyers market in the writing world and apparently somebody has awaken the sleeping skinflint.

Be Here Now, Recorded, Slideshow

Be Here Now: New Album Reviews 7-31-15 – 8-6-15

Two sexual adjectives and a vicious verb, invites you into Samuel’s bitter brittle state of the USA , intro-ing with a song that would have been a hit for Nine Inch Nails 20 years ago, and a body blow to the American dream, and continuing with “The Lion And The Lamb”, an acoustic Neil Young in protest mode and about a gay kid thrown out by his parents but without the whining vocal, “Hurt” you know and it is here to stake Samuel’s claim to experimental hard rocks disappeared high ground, and by the final track, a trip hop meets Marilyn Manson meets Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry (or at least Adrian Sherwood) mash up, Claiborne’s debut stakes its claim to be the most original agitprop of the year if not the decade – ALBUM OF THE WEEK – A-

Recorded, Slideshow

Drake’s “Charged Up” And “Back To Back” Disses Meek Mill

Still, Drake’s response to Meek’s claim that Drake didn’t write his own raps seems a little overdone. Meek really isn’t in Drake’s league so the sneer seems a little stuck on Drake’s face, like his smiling but very very stiffly, not at all amused, you know. Why so glum, kid? You know the first rule of fight club, never punch down, why are you punching down??

Recorded, Slideshow

Michna’s Electronic Number For Rocks

The track is an electronic ride through geology with a female whisper… it could be a dance number performed at festivals — although it is quite smooth and dreamy and too abstract to be totally dance oriented — but the DJ had another idea. He teamed up with Christopher Thockler for ‘Solid Gold’ a video featuring 60 rocks from 15 different countries around the world.

News, Slideshow, These Days

These Days: Thursday, July 30th, 2015

So, about this lion deal. Here are a coupla thoughts. I agree with the vegans that an omnivore has some nerve taking the moral umbrage when it comes to mass murderer the dentist -the lion may look worse but many many many many more animals are slaughtered to feed us. However, that notwithstanding, surely any animal rights activism is better than none if you care so much about animals? Who do the morally outraged vegans think they are helping? I mean, besides their smug love of self, of course?

Slideshow

10 Songs: Thursday, July 30th, 2015

Rescue Me – Amy Helm – Rock royalty, Amy is Levon Helm’s daughter, and opening for Dr. John at SummerStage on Saturday AND, a new album just released, plus this is a fine and soulful piece of country rock aka Americana – B+

Live, Slideshow

Henry Wolfe At Harvard And Stone On Tuesday July 28th 2015 Review

He may be a New York transplant, but his great sensibility fits very well with Los Angeles landscapes. With songs such as ‘Encino’, ‘Miracle Mile’, his work is obviously imbued with the city of angels, that he described in an interview as ‘a garden surrounded by mountains on one side and ocean on the other’… ‘a mind-numbing, flat suburban wasteland where the weather never changes and time stands still’.

Slideshow

10 Songs: Wednesday, July 29th, 2015

The Heart Is A Bomb – Samuel Claiborne – With Bill Laswell producing , the beats are a drummy pulse like a trip hopnightmare and Samuel has a gritty spoken word edge to it, like he is escaping from New York or something… then there is the guitar solo of course – B+

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