10 Songs, Saturday, May 10th, 2014
Fancy – Iggy Azalea – Addictive edm rap mash up with a strong rap and the always charming Charli XCX, when you’re hot your hot – A-
The Eurovision Song Contest 2014: Are You Having Any Fun?
Somebody in the cafe where I do my outreach work said it was all political and that certain countries would only vote for each other. This started a rather heated debate by all sat round the table; the lady in charge kept shooting me looks for starting a riot in an otherwise quiet place.
Moz in LA: I wasn’t there but the Twitter was
This was, of course, the first night. But isn’t that your adrenaline fueled power play show? Let’s put it this way… the stage crashers infamous for hopping on stage for a hug at encore were so over zealous that Moz simply left.
1970 – The A+ List
This record gets the Best Supporting Cast award for 1970. Motown legends Holland/Dozier/Holland wrote the tune under a lawsuit avoiding pseudonym and The Funk Brothers played on the track. Ray Parker, Jr., who was still attending classes at Detroit’s Northwestern High School, played lead guitar.
Make Music Pasadena Announces Its Line-Up
How could you see so many in a day anyway? I always end up seeing the most popular ones, because as everyone else, I stay with what I already know. And that’s a shame because shouldn’t a free festival make me discover new bands?
Mary Poppins Vs Frozen, Grudge Match?
I might not always much care for mainstream pop hits but on the other hand, I might. I am certainly not
surprised by them. But I am surprised by how these terrible songs can have entered the consciousness
of pre-teen America
Is Meet & Greet The New Revenue For Pop-Rock Stars?
What? Avril Lavigne makes her fans pay to take pictures with her? I want my nickel back! even wrote someone,.. haha, funny one, I found this very lame too, but the Guardian is totally right.
Free Food! Taco Bells Feed The Beat Roster
“$500 in Taco Bell is a lot of food. I remember from back in the day,” he continued. “We trained ourselves when we first started this band. You can get full at Taco Bell for $2. That’s a lot of meals.”
rock nyc Top 10 Songs Week Of April 28th, 2014
I haven’t seen Iggy on stage but I have seen Ariane and she was the pits. It’s the Lana Del Rey syndrome, a production creation that can not translate on to stage. But so what? Don’t see her live. Both “Problem” and “Fancy are great songs. That’s all.
Sarah McLachlan's "Shine On" reviewed
I can’t take more than ten minutes combined of the album but I don’t like her at all, if I was a fan I’d be quite pleased and even as a person who has done his entire life but poke fun at her… it is the best I could’ve hoped for.
10 Songs, May 9th, 2014
I haven’t seen Iggy on stage but I have seen Ariane and she was the pits. It’s the Lana Del
Rey syndrome, a production creation that can not translate on to stage. But so what?
A Punky Cinco Party with The El Vez Punk Rock Revue At The Echoplex, Monday May 5th 2014
El Vez may have a few more grey hairs since last time I saw him, but the guy does more costume changes than Beyoncé and can still kick his foot higher than his head. Did I mention how talkative he was, and how nice he behaved with women?
Arcade Fire's "Radio Free Europe", Reviewed
Win Butlers vocals have never met a note it could match so it always becomes this sort of straining whine. Is it deep emotion or too much ego that pinches his chords and causes such pain?
Peter Stampfel And The Brooklyn And Lower Manhattan Banjo Squadron's "Better Than Expected" Reviewed
the dfifference between this album and Bottle cap albums like 2004’s The Jig Is Up, is not the banjos as such but that this is even wollier, coolier, friskier and friendlier. It is the strangest of albums, a series of jams in various keys which adds itself to a vision of a world that doesn’t exist now
Beatles and Motley Crue ,‘A Hard Girls Night’ Reviewed
Seeing the live performances of these guys basically show the extreme contrast in ‘now and then’ stage shows and fan behavior. It’s hard to imagine girls just sat in their seats and screamed seeing the Beatles and rip off their clothes and throw themselves on the stage for Crue
Jack White Explains His Ultra LP
First of all, Jack White looks so stiff and pissed off at the beginning of the video, and the yellow-tied guy is handling the LP with so much precaution that this set the tone for the rest: White’s LP are some rare religious antiquities and should be venerated as such.
Why I Missed Tune-Yards At Rough Trade
Why wouldn’t I. Rough Trade is a tiny club and Tune-Yards is pretty good live, and I haven’t seen her in a couple of years, and, as an added plus, Dirty Projector’s Olga Bell was opening. I had a ticket, I go to a lot of shows and so really why not?
Rock Stars As Comic Book Heroes
Marvel came first and then DC, but also Archie, Harvey, Mad Magazine and from their I graduated to an appetite for all things sci fi. So to connect the two was obvious though I have been beaten to it as the drawing illustrating this story attests in no uncertain terms.
US Top 10 Single, May, 17th 2014
While simply because of his work at last years “Sinatra In The Park”, Legend has a lot of brownie points in my world, as a songwriter he puts me to sleep. But here, he has a 0.09% beat on Pharrell. I don’t seem I am exaggerating when I call John’s Love In The Future rancid.
US Top 10 Albums, May 17th, 2014
“Only five albums have racked exactly 13 weeks at No. 1. In addition to “Frozen,” they are: the original Broadway cast recording of “Hair” (in 1969), the Monkees’ self-titled debut (1966), Judy Garland’s “Judy at Carnegie Hall” (1961) and Enoch Light/Terry Snyder and the All-Stars’ “Persuasive Percussion” (1960).”
10 Songs, Thursday, May 8th, 2014
La La La – Naughty Boy, Sam Smith – Two of the biggest names in UK neo-Northern Soul meets electro get together to define the sound that has owned the UK charts since Emile ruled the charts two years ago. The song is only ok, but Smith’s vocals are superb – A-
Celestial Shore The Space Hamden, CT Thursday May 1st, 2014
Ego mutinied against my supposed sovereign role as the reviewer to explore the parallels between the ethereal dreamscape conjured by the band’s choice of title and their performance. At times the performance was gracefully delicate, but the apparent burden of tension in the limbs of the band members informed the audience that the halcyon daze would not last.
Warped Tour Stage Assignments!
Nothing was worse than having the band up first! You then had to figure out where that stage was located and actually get there withing 10 min. Now months ahead of the tour we at least have a jump on things. The holy graile… the stage assignments.
Songs Are Ghosts Out Of Time
That’s what Mark E. Smith was getting at in “Psykick Dancehall” –that the voices are like ghosts from the past calling to us, but also, psychically like the chains of time on sound we respond through yours, eras lifetimes, where time and style can’t step on sound. Where nothing matters but the song
Ever Been Curious About The Most Popular Words In Songs Of The Past 50 Years?
A few worlds or groups of words, such as Baby, Body, Boys, Foul, Girls, Happy, Heart, Home, I love You, Kiss, Lonely, Love, Money, Rain, Sad, Sex, Sexy, Smile, We Us, Weed, often used in songs, were analyzed over five decades.
The Replacements To New York: Drop Dead
The Replacements placed themselves as edgy post punks who could write a melody. And that’s fine except then what? Paul and the boys got caught on the then whats and now, on the same Festival Circuit Outkasts are using they still are caught on the then whats.
Kurt Cobain Memorial Benches Up For Sale!
How much would you pay for a pair of old moldy-rusty benches covered by graffiti? No less than 10 bucks right? The bid on two like the one above has
Led Zeppelin Release Trailer for "Led Zeppelin II" Reissue
t hearing news of Led Zeppelin releasing their first three LP’s again and this teaser video just reinforce the fact that yes, they were sexy beasts and yeah that was 40 years ago. But the patchouli wearing wanna be’s rejoice and you old timers can live in days past.
Justin Beiber And Floyd Mayweather: Meet The Champs
Beiber is one of the boys for sure but only while surrounded by bodyguards. The last time I saw him, at MSG, he was pulling muscle from the shell, and claiming he was the strongest guy on the stage. His band seemed to be agreeing between gritted teeth though at least in one sense Bieber was right: the man who signs the check is always the strongest guy on stage. So I guess that’s what Beiber was doing with the champ.
"Heaven Is For Real" Reviewed
The Christian Randall Wallace (he also made Secretariat) makes a case for a world of goodness and hope and I will buy in as far as I can. It isn’t my life, and it isn’t a life I would particularly want, but it has the charm of a daydream of life and life everlasting.
10 Songs, Wednesday, May 7th, 2014
Good Kisser – Usher – excellent beat heavy, rhythm unsteady, major league return by Usher with a huge dancefloor appeal. It should be big – A
Be Here Now: Snapshot Reviews Of New Album Releases, May 6th, 2014
We’ve been waiting for something to get excited about this week and here it is: Emili Sande’s producer with a handful of excellent soul dance UK syle. The Ella Eyre song is terrific, the (six) Emili tracks all fine, Ed Sheeran over emotes but what can you expect? Hey, there’s Professor Green! And altogether this feels like a state of the art superstar UK soul album – ALBUM OF THE WEEK – A-
The Flamin’ Groovies, The Kessler Theater, Dallas, Texas, May 4th, 2014, Reviewed
It was an abbreviated set – approximately 45 minutes long (or, one minute for each member of the audience). Jordan even apologized for the weak performance prior to the encore
Meet Lulu S., Daughter of Paul Simon And Edie Brickell
‘January’ is a melancholic piano ballad, the confessional type, with a great hook and a sweet voice at the top of this, a bit like her mother’s. The happy ‘Pluto’ is a glorious little tune performed with an acoustic guitar and Lulu’s strong childish vocals. She has quite a tuneful organ, and this one reminds me of some great classic
Brendon Urie Sues Former Roommate For Stealing Nearly $130k
He gave his roommate access to his personal bank account to “pay shared living expenses.” Something’s fishy there. I understand trusting your roommate but that’s a stupid move and I really don’t think he’s that stupid.
Not With The Band: The Problem With Bands' Names
Choosing a moniker for your band is a hard thing to do, there are already so many out there that it is unavoidable some good ones are going be reused or even stolen? Is it ever acceptable to steal a name? If the band was an obscure music act that everybody has forgotten, why not? Although it is ethically questionable, hey they got the idea first, right? If it was successful band, forget about it, there’s no way you re gonna do better.
Lily Allen's "Sheezus" Reviewed
Lily has put herself up in battle with her peers and while that may well be a little silly, if you take it at face value it is a fight she has absolute won. Sheezus is a damn good album whatever Lily might think to the contrary.
Lorde And Iggy: Rock Writers Are Hypocrits
“The media will beg for free tickets to your show just so they can write about how much they hate it. I wish you could all see it. The whole things actually pretty funny.” Er, free tickets? Wow, that’s a little harsh? Writers are professionals, they go to shows to review them, it isn’t entertainment. Tickets are the tools of their trade.
"The Amazing Spiderman Part 2" Reviewed
What they fail completely to capture is the subtext of Spidey: it’s the story of teenage solipsism. Nothing has ever really caught that though Sam Raimi and Tobey Maguire came a lot closer than Marc Webb has done on his two attempts. Webb is a 20 something phenom (“500 Days Of Summer” anyone) he gets first job out of college not High School ennui.
10 Songs, Tuesday, May 6th, 2014
Sneaky Freak – Imelda May – No nonsense rockabilly via Ireland and it makes you wonder why the UK are, and always have been, bigger rockabilly sneak freaks than the US. This is no nonsense stuff – B+
CT's Fauxchella, Saturday May 3rd, 2014
The only bummer of the show is the fact that the staff was a bit out of control, pulling people out of the “pit” left and right. It was disappointing and totally not justified because no one was getting hurt, but I guess they’d never dealt with an event of this magnatude before
Ghost (B.C.), House of Blues, Dallas, Texas, May 3rd, 2014
Following the pre-taped introduction, the band hit the stage like a tornado – using wireless equipment gives the guitarists the freedom to stomp around the stage like rabid pachyderms. There’s plenty of flash, crunch, and bombast typical of a heavy metal show
'Moz Goes to Hollywood: Morrissey/The Smiths' New Exhibit By Kevin Cummings
I stopped by the gallery on Saturday afternoon to take a look at these intimate portraits of Morrissey, and I saw him closing his eyes with delight, hugging fans after a show, singing with passion, literally trashing the stage, enjoying nature with bandmates or looking at his reflection on water.
My Love/Annoyance Relationship with Dawes
The first time I heard many of their songs, I was so enchanted by the sweet and clever lyrics, but after hearing the song multiple times, I started to feel like I really didn’t like it as much as I’d originally thought.
Television Lite: May 5th – May 9th, 2014
All we can do is hope its better than the past few which have sucked at levels never before known to man. Summer is coming right? Cuz it’s been 40 degrees and raining in the NorthEast and if it doest change soon there will be hell to pa.
That Was The Week Of April 28th, 2014 That Was
At 88 years of age, the great seven string guitar wiz Bucky Pizzarelli and three guitar slingers came to the Cutting Room, dubbed themselves the Fab Four and then proved it with 70 minutes of finger picked, strummed and otherwise bedeviled swing for the ages.
UK Top 10 Singles 5-10-14
Nice little chart they’ve got going for em here. Take out Legend and there isn’t a dog in the lot and Calvin Harris newbie might well be a summer hit this year. Fabulous House triumph on every level and an all round great song.
UK Top 10 Singles 5-10-14
Embrace, a post Britpop band in the 1990s, may be better than I think but the blurb calling em out as a latter day Oasis is very silly, now a latter day Travis maybe. And wait, quick head count, seven of these acts could be, nominally at least , be called rock and roll. Those English are crazy.
10 Songs, Monday, May 5th, 2014
Forget – Ben Watt – Another strong ballad off Ben’s new album, the Joe’s Pub gig is the same day as Mr. and Mrs. Carter and I am seriously considering passing on Jigga for him – A-
Toy And The Horrors At The First Unitarian Church, Thursday May 1st 2014
The Horrors took the stage after 11 pm and I got immediately this strong 80s gothic new wave vibe, combined with frontman Faris Badwan’s foggy and monotonous vocals. Haven’t we heard this before? Sure, the deadpan delivery à la Ian Curtis mixed with some Morrissey’s lament chilling the atmosphere