Monthly Archives: November 2010

In a recent NYT times article, Jon Caramanica wrote, “Mr. West speaks until he is done, and only then does someone ask another question.” Nothing speaks more to that point than his fifth album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. Just look at the length of the songs: 6:38, 7:50, 9:08? When Kanye West is cornered, pressured, interrupted, or drunk he says some pretty stupid and embarrassing shit. But if you give him space and time, he’ll be careful. Most of the time we’re frustrated and bored by nuance and carefulness, but West’s self-conception will inflate to fill the space of its container, and the more it grows the more we’re willing to listen.

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Once upon a time, there were these two dudes who just really liked drinking and making songs and shit. Then, one day, they decided to make music together. The result? The Fresh and Onlys. This San Francisco group (the city seems to be spawning rock-and-roll bands these days) is a conglomeration of guys in their thirties who know the music business inside and out (one of the founders, Shayde Sartin, still works for Amoeba records, while all the other members have all been in various bands over the years). Yet, in spite of the experienced group that makes up the band, their music still has an invitingly young quality to it. This is probably due to the fact that, although this is their third album, Fresh and Onlys have only been together for about three years. Read More »

The Russian Futurists produce an interesting blend of pop and hip-hop beats in their new album entitled The Weight’s On The Wheels. The end result is a collection of songs that will make you bop your head, but leave you shaking your head in disappointment. The Weight’s On The Wheels seems to be a good version of a rough draft, but is nowhere near a pop music masterpiece.

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Bruce Springsteen’s 1975 Born to Run catapulted him to fame with its tales of youthful hope; it also sent him into a nearly 3 year legal battle, which prevented him from releasing another album until 1978’s classic Darkness on the Edge of Town. During the interim, he wrote and recorded over 70 songs, only 10 of which would ultimately make it onto Darkness on the Edge of Town.   It therefore comes as no surprise that he still had unreleased material to release over 30 years later, even after using some of these songs on 1980’s The River and multiple outtakes collections. His new release, The Promise, is a product of those sessions. Far from a set of tracks that feels like the bottom of the barrel, the release features two discs of songs that display the depth of Springsteen’s songwriting abilities from his 1970s heyday.

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Beatlemania never died. No, the girls don’t yell quite enough anymore (er…), and yes, moptop epidemics are likely to remain dormant (er…), but I’ll never deny my love for Beatles tribute bands. We pretend we don’t see John’s wig slip off, laugh along when Ringo slips into his Midwestern drawl by accident, and give George the benefit of the doubt when he takes the solo to “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” slightly over the top. Unlike most acts, their catalogue is endlessly coverable. Where for most songs a cover does the most justice when it offers some new spin, when it comes to Beatles covers, the more authentic the better. But only a handful actually stand apart as songs worth listening to outside of a tribute show in the park.

All of us in The Beatles’ wake aren’t the only ones guilty of plagiarism though. In fact those good boys from Liverpool were the guiltiest culprits in the early 60s. While ripping open Western culture to the earliest rock and roll and R&B, their first five albums are heavy with covers spanning a wide territory that shows off the ingredients that went into the early Beatles sound. I now give you the best of covers by The Beatles and the best of covers of The Beatles.

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Smoke swirls. A blurry forest of softly lit trees gleams on the backdrop. The lights dim. A reverent hush and eerie stillness falls over the sold-out 9:30 Club. A strangely dressed, shadowy figure crosses the stage to the center mike like a mythical creature, feathery. A lone falsetto, pure and natural, slices through the suspension, wavering ever so slightly, gaining strength till it rings out. An acoustic guitar joins in harmony. Together they echo off the walls and envelop the room.

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When I think about the musical golden ages that I was unfairly cheated out of by being born in 1991, very rarely do I wish I’d been alive for the 80′s—the decade to me conjures up images of hair metal, Ronald Regan, and shoulder pads. But for all of its setbacks, the 80′s did make a few major musical breakthroughs, with one of the most resounding being the advent of funk-influenced techno. These days, Chad Valley, the bliss-pop side project of Jonquil‘s Hugo Manuel, is resurrecting the 80′s sound with a contemporary, lo-fi twist, making for four tracks of bass-heavy electronic heaven.

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