What they did to sell their souls to Justin Beiber is a whole ‘nother bag of crap. But really when all is said and done- its pretty amusing that they ended up on a Macys float.
Someday (You’ll Want Me To Want You) – Patsy Cline – In the1980s I wrote a novel about an alcoholic guy, just out of the armed forces, and blocked on a bio he was writing about Patsy. Yup, that’s how great she was -she inspired novels.
What do you do? “Make it your own’? Risky to say the least. You’ll get some tool purist saying, ‘how dare you’ or something similar.
the Santa Ana winds blew up to 80-100 mph, trees fell down (one was across the street when I drove to work this morning), power went down in some parts of the city, and schools closed down for the day! Here are a few songs about the wind.
He Called Me Baby – Patsy Cline And The Jordainaires – The surprise here is that when you think of Presley’s backing band, you think of country boys helping invent rock and roll. But what you get here is country boys helping invent countrypolitan.
It is not simply that this, a lost love lament written by Charlie Fink to former bandmate Laura Marling, is the best song on the album of the same not. Or even the best song Charlie has written before or since. Or better than anything Laura has ever written. Or as good as anything but the best by Ryan Adams. It is the naked emotions that flood this is song
I had quite hoped that Versa Emerge’s rendition of this classic would make a fan out of me but sadly, it failed.
A lovely hardened classic that has guitar pitch that goes just a smidge too high, enough to shatter a bulb or two. It does tame for verse (which is lovely by the way) but what is most disappointing?
The single will be released on December 11th and all proceeds will go to Product (RED) to fight AIDS in Africa.
After a year of writing this column, I figured I’d try something different. I would explain why I was listening to the songs instead of what they sound like…
groupies stay on their grind” was too smart a line to written by anything but a pro! The “gr” iteration is nasty as such and the verse may well be meaner than anything on the original
Sleeping Beauty: Waltz – Tchaikovsky – And here was I thinking Walt Disney wrote it, a gorgeous waltz and the lyric when Disney got round to it, was “I know you, I danced with you once upon a dream”.
The lyrics conjure images of shrugging the devils of your past off your back and this, combined with Florence Welch’s soulful crooning, makes the song memorable.
Ka Kakani Ka’illi Aloha – Gabby Pahinui – What’s with the “ka” in Hawaiian ? It means “the” which makes Gabby ka greatest in my books. This is a lilting folk ballad playing over the titles to “The Descendants” it implies a sort of descent into the real world.
First of all, it isn’t super cheesy with any jingle bells or ridiculously cliche lyrics, which is nice. Patrick’s voice is the perfect mix of soft and sweet and sincere, as always.
1. Snowflake – Kate Bush – As poets go, she is no Emily Bronte, “Wuthering Heights” notwithstanding, and on cold paper, her artistry, all horses walking thru snowdrifts, is a naturalists Patti Smith. But when she sings em they feel like they are revelealing the place where heat is cold.
Leave it to Fearless Records for assigning this beauty to Silverstein.a Canadian post hardcore band whos been screaming since 2000. I have to stop a moment for some Silverstein appreciation? Shane Told has a beautiful voice
He was SHOCKINGLY shy and it became clear he had on air jitters. he pretty much locked himself in the promotion office – alone – to tune and practice. he was super nice, but very sullen and soft spoken.
Sharon Van Etten will release her new album ‘Tramp’ on February 7th 2012, following her last year Epic LP. The album is produced by The National’s Aaron Dessner
Ghosts – Laura Marling – For the most part, I find Marling’s charms real but limited. I wish the songs were, how you say, catchier. Except this one, With its galloping hooves drums and hooky “ghosts” repitions, it is an economic revelation of romantic disappointment
This song is fantastic. There is every cool element, shout back lyrics, air guitar solo, Fagans nasal cavity and of course that electronic twitter so retro cool I could scream
Someday Soon – Judy Collins – In the late 70s I used to work in a bar on East 39th and we had a folk singer who played for tips and this song always got a ton of money. As much a teen fantasy as anything Swift has ever come up with and a reminder of a time less innocent
The song, unfortunately incomplete, was a warm-up during a 1997 live session that had been forgotten in the vaults of the college radio station WMUC.
The beat is fun, the electronic twitter has a fabulous retro sound and best of all? A completely distinct tambourine. There is NOTHING more fun than a tambourine, and there it is in full glory.
“Fifty Words For Snow” a cute Eskimo themed ditty if youre so inclined to abstract. Head over to NPR, those highbrows are toasting it with Perrier and wearing sweatervests about it. Me? A bit to ethereal a little too ‘hipper than you’
Runaway – Silverstein – No they don’t speed or punk Kanye West’s masterpiece. They re-arrange it for guitar and change it from a rap song to a pop song of the first order.
At rock nyc we are fans of the Los Angeles cinematic-explosive band Saint Motel, as we have written about them numerous times. And A/J Jackson was nice enough to send us their new song!
Any Old Iron – Peter Sellers – The best of Goons? Hard to say when the competion is Spike Milligan and Harry Secombe. The most famous? Absolutely. Here Sellers is playing low class/upper class to very amusing effect on a Brit Dance Hall perenial.
The remnants of British vaudeville in the early 1960s were represented by this sweet tempered pianist and expert one woman party. Mrs. Mills banged out British (and Yankee) favorite and everybody sang along -and she didn’t dilly dally on the way.
Moonlight Becomes You – Bing Crosby – In the middle of “On The Road To Morrocco,” da Bing sings this ballad to Dorothy Lamour and steals her from under Bob Hope’s, er, nose
My Love Is Your Love – Whitney Houston – I ‘ve seen Whitney precisely once and she kinda sucked, but I have a friend who saw her at Radio City in her prime and she never stops rubbing my nose in it. This is the birth of hip hop production values in r&b -without this, no Beyonce
The original “Worker Bee” had gotten redundant and slowly fell off my playlist in the past few months. However, this acoustic version has reminded me of the pure and excessive talent the band has
The Belgian-Australian multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter, whose real name is Wouter De Backer, has already released three studio albums independently, has won an ARIA Award and received a nomination for an MTV EMA for Best Asia and Pacific Act.
The instruments don’t offer much at all. They sound like they put truly no effort into writing an at least somewhat original or interesting song. They’ve been done before a thousand times, even by The Maine themselves. There isn’t a good second of musicianship.
No Spare Parts – The Rolling Stones – I can see why this didn’t make it on to Some Girls, they only wanted one country song and “Faraway Eyes” was better. Why it didn’t make it onto Emotional Rescus is another question entirely.
Even if it’s just another version of one that already existed, the way that it was altered makes it revamped and cooler and more fun that ever. It really seems like nearly every corner of the music world has incorporated dubstep into something
Joan Jett is a woman who has done it all and landed on her feet. An icon a hero a force to be reckoned with. A woman in rock who never compromised, never sold out and kept her head up high. So what the hell is she doing on stage with these goons?
Price Tag – Jessie J – I am soooo bumming over the great Jessie J injuring her foot and getting replaced by Ellie Goulding. Ellie Goulding? Say it ain’t so, Katy.
it captures so well the melody and adds something else at the same time, a certain mellowness, laziness, like a long summer afternoon under the sun. They have totally reworked the song into a long electronica-synth jam with infectious dance beats and dreamy, almost sedated, vocals.
William Beckett made the girls swoon with his previous band The Academy Is…, as he ventures off solo he offers up a new song. Sounding more mature and strangely vulnerable I believe he will recapture his old fans and maybe score a few new ones.
one moment who is getting rushed to hospital,, next he is giving Veganism a bad name, then he is suing NME for libel. It gets hard to remember why we give a damn. Here’s ten reasons
Jim Morrison finds his inner Lizard King. and if you dont look its sorta ooky at times. To impersonate The Doors is no new event but for a comedian to do it so well with such a ridiculous song and make it worth hearing? Thats a pro
Love Thine Enemy – Cassie McCombs – The culty sing-songwriter has been around awhile now and his latest is more of the same which means it is very smart and powerful modern melancholia
Taylor Momsen is drop dead gorgeous with mile long legs. Her blessing of beauty is our auditory curse as she pretends to be a rock and roll Godess with her band Pretty Reckless. I suggest a name change to Pretty Pathetic but hell everyone needs a good poster girl to look at and its nice to see garters just the same.
Take Paul Simonon and Damon Albers add a dreadlocked mastervoice and you have proof positive that everyone should carry a video camera. In one personell change a song that was coming over as a sappy mess turned in to a sexy tune worth hearing.
1 The Greatness – Pac Div – West coasts ride a killer sample all the way to the end and while the rap is standard issue it isn’t as simple as it sounds
1. Swim Good – Frank Ocean – No “She” but no “No Church In The Wild” either; the song is light but deep, airy but it holds on.
The song really really reminds me of the artist “Nickasaur!”. The similarities are absolutely parallel. Even down to the tone of his voice, it could easily be mistaken. I’m a bit thrown off.
It takes balls to take on Bowie. Last thing this world needs is a band of egotistical little boys pretending to be able to hold a candle to a genius. Then again, UK based band The Horrors managed to not only cover a legendary song, but modernize and personlize it. I am sincerely impressed.
1. Que Sera Sera – Pink Martini – This what She & Him are attempting and failing: a calliope of sound that swirls and waltzes through the Doris Day chestnut.
