First of all, I gotta say, “Amen, Chuck!” I’m totally with you. The advent of West Coast rap in the late 80s/early 90s brought about a much more laid back style and while it seemed cool for awhile, the long term effects are abundantly evident now that the same tired R&B and funk samples have been rehashed over and over… Read more »
I love Kimya Dawson. I know, in a technical sense, she has almost no talent. She’s a simple songwriter and a terrible singer. But she’s charming. And she’s honest. She doesn’t try to be too deep or too serious, but she achieves a level of seriousness even through silliness. She taps something with her amateurish little songs that often escapes… Read more »
The day before yesterday, I listened to the new Judas Priest album, Angel of Retribution. As far as reunion albums go, it’s okay. It’s clearly a Priest album, but it doesn’t break new ground and it pales in comparison to their output between Hell Bent for Leather and Defenders of the Faith (to be sure, I stopped in the middle… Read more »
The recent Academy Awards made me think about the Grammys and that made me think about how ridiculous awards shows for artstic endeavors are. I haven’t paid attention to the Grammys in years (I think they happened fairly recently, didn’t they?), because the judging always seems flawed. They snub a band one year in favor of some token artist and… Read more »
I found this article from the Guardian at the Burned by the Sun blog. Wow, that’s some amzing technology, huh? But, just as in the rest of life, “amazing technology” doesn’t always spell “progress” and “good.” The fundamental problem with Hit Song Science is that music isn’t a science at all (or at least it shouldn’t be). HSS accomplishes two… Read more »
A note for note rehashing of a song is pretty much never interesting (see Great White’s version of “Babe I’m Gonna Leave You” from Unplugged). Of course, that doesn’t mean that a cover where the artist makes the song his/her own is a wonderful thing either. Sometimes it is like when Jane’s Addiction did “Sympathy” or when Voi Vod did… Read more »
I think perhaps that Mars Volta is the new Pink Floyd. Not Wall-era Floyd or even Dark Side-era Floyd, but Meddle-era, Live at Pompeii-era Floyd. They’re like Floyd when they were pushing the limits, not once they had perfected the craft (Dark Side) or fallen into decline (The Wall). The question then is this: Will the Mars Volta take the… Read more »
No Idea Records is the coolest label out there right now if you like vinyl. Their biggest thing is Hot Water Music, but they have a stable of interesting and innovative punk and indie bands that stand head and shoulders above the sad facsimile that so much of punk is today. As if the music isn’t reason enought to love… Read more »
I was watching the movie Ray with my wife the other night (by the way, Jamie Foxx is Ray Charles, it’s amazing) and there’s a scene where Ahmet Ertegun gives Ray Charles his song, “Mess Around.” It’s in G, he says and Ray starts to play in G. Ahmet says, “No. More Pete Johnson” and Ray starts playing boogie woogie… Read more »
Maybe I spoke too soon…it’s…gulp….growing on me…maybe I should turn it off… Avoid “Give Your Body Up to the Music” on that Larry Levan CD unless you want to admit there is…uhhh…(whispering) good disco…