Sonic River

Better Days - A new Pearl Jam song

2010-06-09T08:45:00.000-07:00

Its not really clear where this song came from (blogs say it was posted on behalf of Pearl Jam's manager), but who cares! here is the new PJ song "Better Days":

Pearl Jam on SNL

2010-03-27T13:48:00.000-07:00

Pearl Jam performing Unthought Known and Just Breath on Saturday Night Live:

PJ Christmas Singles 08

2009-12-16T07:54:00.000-08:00

Since lots of you are looking for the new Pearl Jam Christmas singles, here are the songs from last year's single cause it might be a while till you get the new one...
Santa Cruz

The Golden State

The Fixer

2009-09-06T11:30:00.000-07:00

Check out the first single our of Pearl-Jam's new album Backspacer, The Fixer:

Get Some!

2009-03-27T08:26:00.000-07:00

Check out Pearl Jam performing Got Some on Conan:

that bitch ain't a part of me

2009-03-14T07:20:00.000-07:00

Chris Cornell has made a parody on hip-hop/r'n'b videos called "Part of Me".
Cornell who got a lot of flack on his collaboration with Timbaland has decided to retaliate with humor with a song that has the line "that bitch ain't a part of me" in its chorus, just hysterically funny! (the only thing missing is Chris breaking out some moves on the dance floor) take a look:

Oh wait, turns out this video is for real! My god I guess all I have to wait for is the duet with Justin (move over Madonna there's a new old guy in town)or I'll just keep it off my wave.

YYYs - It's Blitz!

2009-03-08T13:35:00.000-07:00

The new Yeah Yeah Yeahs album It's Blitz! is finally out next month. Its the third studio album from the NY trio and sound a bit different from their usual - using lots synths and electronic sounds in their songs, but still keeping the YYYs vibe.
It took me a couple of songs to get into it. Although Zero is not a bad opener, the electronic/synth attack of the first songs just doesn't feel right - its not a Goldfrapp album but its starting to sound like one...
But then come Skeletons, Dull Life and Shame and Fortune so I give in to this album. Skeletons is just a beautiful slowly building song , Dull Life and Shame and Fortune get the YYYs punkier sound back (did someone say early P.J.Harvey).
The album ends with two beautiful songs Hysteric (also one of my favorites so far) and Little Shadow so don't quit in the middle of this album.

Tour dates are also available, starting with the Coachella festival and coming back to Europe:

Apr 19 2009

8:00P

Coachella

Indio, California

Apr 22 2009

8:00P

Academy - SOLD OUT!!!

Manchester

Apr 25 2009

8:00P

Shepherds Bush Empire - SOLD OUT!!!

London

Apr 26 2009

8:00P

Shepherds Bush Empire - SOLD OUT!!!

London

Apr 29 2009

8:00P

Paradiso

Amsterdam

Apr 30 2009

8:00P

Bataclan

Paris

May 2 2009

8:00P

Polsslag Festival

Hasselt

May 3 2009

8:00P

Live Music Hall

Cologne

May 4 2009

8:00P

Magazzini Generali

Milan

May 6 2009

8:00P

Columbiahalle

Berlin

May 8 2009

8:00P

Debaser Medis

Stockholm

May 10 2009

8:00P

Ramat Gan National Stadium

Tel Aviv

May 23 2009

8:00P

Sasquatch Festival

QUINCY, Washington

Jun 12 2009

8:00P

Bonnaroo

Manchester, Tennessee

Jul 10 2009

8:00P

T In The Park

Kinross, Scotland

Jul 11 2009

8:00P

Oxegen Festival

Punchestown, Dublin

The Eternal

2009-03-03T11:57:00.000-08:00

Sonic Youth are getting ready to release their 16th album ! titled "The Eternal".
The official release is in June but Matador records (their new record company) have an early bird release available April 28 (a day after my b-day).
They have also released a mashed up or montage preview of the record, which kind of sucks cause you can't really get into the songs before they cut and move to the next. Anyways the trademark guitar sound is their and Thurston promised some dark stuff on this album so it's all good.
Got to close this post with Teenage Riot (my favorite).

Where did Primus go?

2009-02-14T10:11:00.000-08:00

I saw the movie "Zack and Miri do a porno" last week, not much I have to say about the movie but the opening scene has "Wynona's Big Brown Beaver" by Primus playing in the background...
I haven't heard that song or anything from Primus in ages (not including the Southpark theme).
Their songs might be silly but they sure can play - as the opener for their debut album Frizzle Fry they play a few seconds of Rush's Yyz stating I guess we might not take our lyrics seriously but we are serious about our music.
I stopped following them after Antipop where they tried too much to sound like all the nu-metal bands around that time (most of them were actually influenced by Primus) and I actually thought they split for good since then.
So I was really surprised to learn that they have since reunited (with their original drummer - Herb) and have put out a DVD Animal Should Not Try To Act Like People and are touring from time to time.
At the time when I was into Primus there was no YouTube so now its really fun too check out some of their live shows. Man these guys can play - Les is just a wiz on the bass (the man's name actually sounds like a guitar model !), Herb/Brain give the power on the drums and Larry decorates it well with his crazy riffs.
The famous penguin suites on David Letterman:

Tommy The Cat with an amazing bass and drums jam in the middle (Les looks like Edward Norton's evil twin here):

The Phantom Band

2009-02-10T00:22:00.000-08:00

Checkmate Savage is the new album from The Phantom Band, ooohh very mysterious...
These Scottish guys put out a solid "rock with a twist" album. I say rock with a twist cause the songs sound have a basic beat + rock riff and probably if they had an American rock producer they would have wound up sounding like Staind.
Fortunately each songs has some experimental twist that gives it an edge.
The opener song The Howling where the lead singer sounds a lot like Serj Tankian (just less operatic) has a looping beat that gives it an electro-pop twist and makes it more fun - The Howling.
Throwing Bones is another great rock song, fitting easily on the indie rock charts - Throwing Bones.
The album as a whole holds up nicely with some more gems along the way (like Islands) moving form folk to metal and a bit of goth , definitely worth a listen.

Second Best Charity Album Of The Year?

2009-02-01T12:46:00.000-08:00

Well it seems there's going to be another charity album released this February... This time it's War Child's Heroes, a more flashy (but less interesting) lineup (compered to Dark Was The Night) of artists doing covers. The twist is that the covering artists were chosen by the original song's creators.
The lineup is less cohesive than DWTN and I can't feel it being a great album although it might have some great and interesting covers one it.

The title track is David Bowie's Heroes covered by TV On The Radio (sounds more like a remix than a cover):

Elbow which put out a great album last year (The Seldom Seen Kid) cover U2's Running to Stand Still (sound a lot like the original):

Other interesting tracks from Beck (doing Dylan), Yeah Yeah Yeahs (covering The Ramones - Sheena is a Punk Rocker) and more...

Dark Was The Night

2009-01-30T03:47:00.000-08:00

Dark Was the Night is the new compilation from the Red Hot charity (for fighting AIDS), it's going to be a double album and the track list is really f**ikng incredible !!! just from listening to some of the tracks they've put on their web site like Bon Iver, The Books & Jose Gonzales and The National (check out the side bar for some of the songs) it's easily going to be the best album in the near future.

DARK WAS THE NIGHT

THIS DISC
1 Knotty Pine – Dirty Projectors + David Byrne
2 Cello Song (Nick Drake) – The Books featuring Jose Gonzalez
3 Train Song (Vashti Bunyan recorded, written by Alasdair Clayre) – Feist + Ben Gibbard
4 Brackett, WI – Bon Iver
5 Deep Blue Sea – Grizzly Bear
6 So Far Around the Bend – The National (arrangement by Nico Muhly)
7 Tightrope – Yeasayer
8 Feeling Good (popularized by Nina Simone) – My Brightest Diamond
9 Dark Was the Night (Blind Willie Johnson) – Kronos Quartet
10 I Was Young When I Left Home (Bob Dylan) – Antony + Bryce Dessner
11 Big Red Machine – Justin Vernon + Aaron Dessner
12 Sleepless – The Decemberists
13 Stolen Houses (Die) – Iron and Wine
14 Service Bell – Grizzly Bear + Feist
15 You Are The Blood – Sufjan Stevens

THAT DISC
1 Well-Alright – Spoon
2 Lenin – Arcade Fire
3 Mimizan – Beirut
4 El Caporal – My Morning Jacket
5 Inspiration Information (Shuggie Otis) – Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings
6 With A Girl Like You (The Troggs) – Dave Sitek
7 Blood Pt 2 (based on original song “You are the Blood” by the Castanets) – Buck 65 Remix (featuring Sufjan Stevens and Serengeti)
8 Hey, Snow White (Destroyer) – The New Pornographers
9 Gentle Hour (Snapper) – Yo La Tengo
10 Another Saturday (traditional song) – Stuart Murdoch
11 Happiness – Riceboy Sleeps
12 Amazing Grace (traditional song) – Cat Power and Dirty Delta Blues
13 The Giant Of Illinois (Handsome Family) – Andrew Bird
14 Lua – Conor Oberst + Gillian Welch
15 When the Road Runs Out – Blonde Redhead + Devastations
16 Love vs. Porn – Kevin Drew

It's out on February 16th.

Danny Boyle goes to the Oscars

2009-01-25T13:21:00.000-08:00

Slumdog Millionaire is one of my favorite movies this year so its really cool to see that it's nominated for lots of Oscars! Watching this movie made me think about all those kids in India which always bugged me when being there... well anyway Boyle's movies usually have cool soundtracks and Slumdog is no different.
It's not the Trainspotting soundtrack but it has a really cool Indian vibe all through the film.
M.I.A.'s Paper Plans is the big hit right now and it really works great in the film as well (in the train sequence).
Danny Boyle has made some great movies since Trainspotting, it's seems that it doesn't matter what the story or genre is: if science fiction with Sunshine or Horror with 28 Days Later (it's just amazing how they took this great film and made it into crap with I am Legend) they always transpire the genre.
So here's a taste from Boyle's soundtracks:
MIA - Paper Planes
John Murphy - Surface of the Sun (from Sunshine)
John Murphy - 28 Days Later theme
Underworld - Born Slippy (from... of course)

Get On Your Boots

2009-01-19T11:10:00.000-08:00

U2 are back with their upcomming album "No Line On The Horizon" after taking a long break for politics, making money and such...
I hope the new album is a step back to making music which is a bit interesting and not aimed at making them "The Best Band In the World" or any othet titles Bono likes. I think the last album I realy liked was Zooropa but since then is was just music I couldn't realy relate to as it sounded un-genuine and aimed at the main stream of music (All That You Can't Leave Behind, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb) or at what was the ruling music fashion of the time (Pop).
The first single "Get On Your Boots" is now available on the web. It sounds not bad, a realy fun track with a nice groove.

Rolling Stone magazine posted a break down of all the songs on the album but untill you hear it you can never tell if its more sugar-coated crap or a new Achtung Baby...

Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion

2009-01-07T12:16:00.000-08:00

First album of 2009 I'm reviewing and it's a nice start for this year with Animal Collective's 9th album (keeping an average of almost an album a year!). Known for their experimental music this one isn't much different so fans of Animal Collective will surly love it, if you never heard them you might get hooked on this.
With carpets of repetitive sounds, beats and vocals you just find yourself humming them like mantras in a trans.
Lots of synths, electronic loops and sweat lyrics it sounds more like a summer album but the optimism and happiness of the songs on the album project is just right for a new year's soundtrack.
My Girl
Summertime Clothes
Bluish
Brother Sport
If your lucky enough you can check them on tour:

Jan 12 2009

8:00P

Koko

London

Jan 13 2009

8:00P

Glasgow School of Arts

Glasgow

Jan 14 2009

8:00P

Club Academy

Manchester

Jan 15 2009

8:00P

Concorde 2

Brighton

Jan 16 2009

8:00P

Bataclan Music Hall

Paris

Jan 17 2009

8:00P

Stuk Kunstencentrum

Leueven

Jan 18 2009

8:00P

Postbanhof

Berlin

Jan 20 2009

8:00P

Grand Ballroom

New York, New York

Jan 21 2009

8:00P

Bowery Ballroom

New York, New York

Jan 22 2009

8:00P

Metro

Chicago, Illinois

Jan 23 2009

8:00P

Henry Fonda Theatre

Los Angeles, California

Jan 24 2009

8:00P

Troubador

Los Angeles, California

To prepare you can download full shows here.

Fireman - Paul McCartney

2009-01-03T08:01:00.000-08:00

Nothing Too Much Just Out Of Sight

Wow, that's Paul McCarthney not the Black Keys! proving he can still rock in the new Fireman album Electric Arguments.
The Fireman is actually McCarthney produced by Youth, and it is getting pretty good reviews.
From listening to the whole album and not being so big on McCarthney I was a bit surprised with some of the songs especially with the rock'n'roll opening and the catchy and cool sounding "Sing The Changes".
But as the album continues it stays pretty "safe" and mainstream even though it goes more electronic.
Some of the more electronic songs are just boring, like the ambient "Lovers In A Dream" which is just not what you want from a former Beatle.
You can check out the whole album here.

Happy New Year !

2008-12-31T12:54:00.000-08:00

U2 -New Year's Day

Regina Spektor - My Dear Acquaintance(A Happy New Year)

The Walkman - In The New Year

Death Cab For Cutie - the New Year

Punk Attack

2008-12-27T06:16:00.000-08:00

Lately I got familiar with two great punk acts that just blew me away - Marnie Stern (especially) and Los Campesinos! (the exclamation mark is part of the name).

I'll start with Marnie Stern, wow I was just amazed when first listening to her latest This Is It And I Am It... this is just crazy hyper fast punk and I expected the usual pop-punk you hear today. The sound is somewhere between the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Primus just faster! and with a more joyful happy feel.

I have to say this New-York punk chick is a kick-ass guitar player (and a cute one), playing AC/DC like metal riffs like nothing.

Check out Transformer off her latest

Now Los Campesinos! are a more "usual" indie pop-punk band, but if the music is good then its just good.
These seven! piece band released their debut album "Hold on Now, Youngster..." and their second one "We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed" both this year! and both are good, the second is no "left overs" album.
So if your looking for some fun pop-punk music Los Campesinos! are the way to go (the name by the way means "The Peasants" in Spanish.

My Year in Lists -

We are Beautiful, We are Doomed -

McCready does Hendrix

2008-12-18T23:59:00.000-08:00

Pearl Jam's Mike McCready has been performing with Shadow '86 as a Jimi Hendrix tribute band for a while now.
Shadow '86 was McCready's band before he joined Pearl Jam and in this round they seems to be playing just for the love of playing and having fun.
They got great reviews on their live shows but I could never find a good quality video or audio of them 'til this one of "Voodoo Child".
They sound great and McCready is handling the vocals pretty well while playing the guitar behind his back!

I've seen Pearl Jam this summer doing "All Along the Watchtower" and McCready also played the "Star Spangled Banner" at the end of the second show I saw, it seems like he can do Hendrix blind folded and with one arm... and of course not forgetting all his amazing solos in almost every PJ song, just a great guitar player.

Team Love Library

2008-12-17T11:31:00.000-08:00

The Team Love site has opened up a free mp3 album library!
They have taken the latest web albums "pay as much as you like" trend a step further and are just giving free download of whole albums for free! god bless them.
I've started with Jenny Lewis with the Watson Twins - Rabbit Fur Coat.
I knew Jenny Lewis of her Rilo Kiley stuff, this album turned out to be a worm and very mellow country album and Lewis' voice just seems to fit perfectly to country music.
This seems to be a good excuse to put here the very cool "The Moneymaker" of Rilo Kiley's last album

OceanSize It!

2008-12-15T12:57:00.000-08:00

Oceansize make Big music - this is what they state, don't know if it's a good or bad statement but it is big music (and long).
This prog-indie-metal and what not band from Manchester first caught on me with "Catalyst" of their first album, Effloresce. It sounded like a melt down between Radiohead and Faith No More, and listening to that album it sounds like what would have happened if Radiohead have turned to metal after Ok Computer instead of going electronic.
The songs are sometimes too long (it's progressive-rock after all) and it takes a while to get to the part I like (like the bass line at the last part of "Long Forgotten") , but most songs are just exhilarating with great guitars and drum beats.
Everyone Into Position their second album is a more coherent album and doesn't fall short of their first effort and maybe is even better as they sound less less like a mixture of other bands.
Everyone Into Position also brought more commercial success with "Music for a Nurse" taken for a commercial.
Their latest album Frames comes after some personnel changes as their bass player left but they re-grouped and put out another strong one.

Kurt Cobain: About A Son

2008-12-10T11:26:00.000-08:00

About A Son is a documentary about the life of Kurt Cobain. It's based on interviews between Cobain and journalist Michael Azerrad done for the book Come As You Are: The Story of Nirvana.
The film is set of beautiful cinematography of Kurt's surroundings through out his life and voiced by the series of interviews he gave Azerrad.
The result is haunting and seems like Kurt is narrating a national geographic film about his life, from childhood 'till the end...
The film focuses more on trying to get into Cobain the man and less on the music but it has a pretty good soundtrack with songs from The Melvins, REM, Mudhoney and many more...
I saw this film on TV but now I found that it's also available on YouTube so I compiled a play list of the entire film, check it out:

Favorite Albums of 2008

2008-12-06T10:15:00.000-08:00

Like all other music blogs around I'm listing my favorite albums of this year.
There are so many lists out there now that The thinking man posted the Ten Commandments for making Best-of lists...

Kings of Leon - Only by the Night: "they sold out", "they want to be U2"... just my favorite album of this year.
Closer
The Gutter Twins - Saturnalia: Greg Dulli & Mark Lanegan just sing from the gut. Dark, painful and beautiful.
The Stations
MGMT - Oracular Spectacular: from the first time I heard "time to Pretend" I just knew this is going to be a good one.
Kids
M83 - Saturdays = Youth: the sound isn't as dark as before but there is still that "feel" underneath the popy tunes.
Kin & Jessie
Bloc Party - Intimacy: I was a bit disappointed at first, expecting some progression from the previous one but more of the same is also OK.
One Month Off
Radiohead - In Rainbows: This one got more attention for the way it was released then for the songs. Maybe to many songs to digest at once but still another solid one from maybe the best band around.
Reckoner Remix
TV on the Radio - Dear Science: This one got so many praises I don't think I can match them here.Check out the whole album on MySpace.
Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid: The album has this slow and patient feel to it, along with some rockier tunes it's one my favorites.
Grounds for Divorce
The Raconteurs - Consolers of the Lonely: Rock'n'Roll + Jack White , I don't need to add more.
Old Enough
Brendan Canning - Something for All of Us: Continuing the Broken Social Scene sound this albums doesn't disappoint the fans (like me).
Churches Under the Stairs

Nirvana's Krist Novoselic Reminisces

2008-11-25T10:34:00.000-08:00

In the 1992 MTV video music awards Nirvana gave a memorable performance mainly because Krist their bass player threw his bass in the air and it landed right on his head!

Well a long time has past and Krist just wrote a great post in the Seattle Weekly on the experience.
After reading Krist's post check this funny interview with Dave Grohl talking about the incident from his point of view.

No More Bush

2008-11-24T10:22:00.000-08:00

Now that the U.S. elections are done with and everyone is hopeful about the coming Obama years, how will this effect musicians?
Already I hear comedians that say they will miss the Bush administrations as it just gave them tons of martial to make fun of.
I don't think the Bush era was good for musicians, at least not for those who wrote about it (I won't get into the list of crappy "war on terror" movie Hollywood made...).
Unlike some past musicians that were build on their interpretation of the "times" or are even one of the first that come to mind when you think of an era, like Bob Dylan.
I don't see any artist whom I can think of which would represent the Bush era.
I can't even think of songs that can represent it... if in the past we had Neil Young with "Rockin in the Free World"

or Springsteen with "Born in the USA" (acoustic version)

what do we have from the Bush years? probably covers of those songs.
It's not that no artist was effected, Pearl Jam's last two records are heavily influenced by the Bush era, but I can't say it got the best out of them.
All the "Rock against Bush" albums during the bush/Kerry elections weren't much good and didn't achieve much... maybe A Perfect Circle's eMOTIVeis an exception with the beautifully "Whats going on" cover

The only Band I can think of that got some more appreciation is Green Day, which transformed from a cute Punk-Pop band to political artists with American Idiot.
Well I hope the Obama years will get those artists off the "No more war" road and we'll get better albums.

The Sucking Pumpkins?

2008-11-21T07:03:00.000-08:00

What da hell is going on with the Smashing Pumpkins tour?!? the music blogs are buzzing with bad reviews and YouTube videos of Billy Corgan feuding with the crowd.
Take a look at this video from a NY show where Corgan invites a heckler to speak his mind on stage (I think Axl Rose would have killed that guy...):

You would think that the Pumpkins will get their act together as their "20th Anniversary Tour" goes on, well not really...
Viewing the video from the Chicago show (at the end of this post) Corgan just seems bitter and has no communication (good one I mean) and feel of his audience.
I feel bad for him but I can understand the crowd displeased with the set lists and just bad performance by the band. They can't act like they aren't a reunion band because they are! they were inactive for years, then after not so much success with different bands Corgan decides to release an album under the Smashing Pumpkins name (with only the drummer left of the original band).
Well the album wasn't a success (simply because it wasn't good) even though he had the right name on it.
The crowd isn't coming for the new stuff they are coming to hear a reunion tour of the band that gave them Siamese Dream
and Gish.

Eddie Vedder & Corin Tucker do John Doe

2008-11-14T08:15:00.000-08:00

Eddie Vedder & Corin Tucker (of Sleater-Kinney) have collaborated covering John Due's "the Golden State". The previous time these two collaborated was on "Hard Sun" from Vedder's "Into the Wild" album which left me wanting more. The collaboration of Ed's voice with a female voice (especially Corin Tucker's sweet voice) is just great and you can't find that listening to Pearl Jam.

The collaboration is of an EP that includes several versions of the song, you can get it from Easy Street Records.

Covers All Around

2008-11-11T12:06:00.000-08:00

Ryan Adams did a live session at BBC studios to promote his new Cardinology album and left us with a beautiful cover of the Foo Fighters "Times Like These"

The Foos' in their turn last year did a surprising cover of Arcade Fire (didn't see that coming) "Keep the car Running"

Now here is Arcade Fire covering the Yeah Yeah Yeahs "Maps" (my favorite Yeahs song)

I think I should end this cover cycle here...

Well then how about some cool Mash Ups, check this collection of Mashed songs from 2007.
This one is a mash of Band Of Horses vs. Guns N' Roses vs. 2 Live Crew:

Berlin - Live

2008-11-06T08:33:00.000-08:00

Lou Reed has released a CD and DVD of his 2006 5 nights straight Berlin concerts, where he plays the entire album (plus some extras, like Sweet Jane).
I'm more excited about seeing the concert DVD which is directed by Julian Schnabel who's last film was The Diving Bell and The Butterfly. So I hope the film will have his "artsy" added value.

You can order the CD from Matador Record for a good deal + a free poster.

Download Matador's Intended Play, A sampler of their new stuff (including Lou Reed, Mogwai, Belle and Sebastian...).

Pearl Jam: Vote For Change? 2004

2008-11-01T06:20:00.000-07:00

As the 2008 elections are just a couple of days away Pearl Jam had put on their web site the vote for change 2004 tour documentary.
It's going to be available until election day so check it out till then (if not for the politics then just for the music).

Winter Music

2008-10-28T13:24:00.000-07:00

It's raining outside so its time to pull out some winter music you can listen to when you're rained in.

Do Make Say Think - Winter Hymn Country Hymn Secret Hymn
a beautiful instrumental album from this Toronto based band.
The tracks (I don't think you can call them songs) are structured in such detail and thought, starting in a quiet melancholic way and crashing into dens guitars, horns and electronic sounds.
Just an album that demands you listen to it as a whole, so dive into the atmosphere and take the whole journey.
Fredericia

Horns of a Rabbit

Four Tet - Rounds
This is my favorite album by Four Tet (which is actually a dude called Kieran Hebden, probably more known for doing Remixes of other's songs). Trip-Hop, electronic and folk all mashed up together to produce an excellent soundtrack (especially the slower tracks) for a winters day.

Hands

My Angel Rock Back and Forth

Broken Social Scene - You Forgot It in People
My favorite Canadian band with their best album.
With great catchy melodies, guitars ranging from dens Sonic Youth sound to acoustic folk.
All with the "Canadian Indie" trade mark low-fi production this album just explodes with talent, just listen to "cause = time" and you should be hooked.
Cause = Time

Stars and Sons

Anthem for a Seventeen Year-old Girl

New James Bond Theme Song

2008-10-24T05:35:00.000-07:00

The new 007 movie "Quantum of Solace" is coming out soon, and the theme song is already out.
Another Way To Die by Jack White and Alicia Keys sounds like a typical Jack White production. vocals, drums and guitar sound just like a White Stripes song.
Its hard to imagine it fitting in the opening titles of a James Bond movie...

The Simpsons Rock

2008-10-21T10:40:00.000-07:00

The Simpsons have a great tradition of having musicians and bands guest stars.
The list is pretty amazing - Spinal Tap, Red hot Chili Peppers, The Who, the stones...
Most do a small cameo but there are some very cool episodes build all around music like Homerpalooza (Smashing Pumpkins, Sonic Youth, Cyprus Hill...) and the Camp Rock episode (The Rolling Stones, Tom Petty, Lenny Kravitz...).
So Here are some cool cameos of your favorite rock stars:

The White Stripes

REM
Lustige Videos – Gratis Fun Video – Deine funny Videos bei Clipfish

U2

The Ramones

Metallica

Blink 182
Lustige Videos – Gratis Fun Video – Deine funny Videos bei Clipfish

Finally The Simpsons theme versions by Green Day and Sonic youth:

The Director's Cut - Fantomas

2008-10-20T14:18:00.000-07:00

Fantomas is one of Mike Patton's many bands since the legendary Faith No More (Tomahawk, Mr. Bungle, Peeping Tom... the guy is busy, he also did the voices for the creatures in the Will Smith film “I Am Legend” !!!).
Together with guys from Slayer, The Melvins and Mr. Bungle the potential for insane metal is pretty big...
In The Director's Cut these guys give their own crazy, disturbing and funny versions to various Film scores and songs. From classics like the Godfather and Rosemary's Baby to more obscure films like Henry; Portrait of a Serial Killer. The versions can get really twisted, switching in a second from screaming death-metal to quite bossa-nova.
The music and the selection definitely deliver a spooky-scary atmosphere which makes you want to check out these films.

I threw in there Faith No More's Midnight Cowboy, seems to fit pretty well...
You can check out Fantomas and other crazy acts like that in Ipecac Recordings ("making people sick since 1999") .

Intimacy - New Bloc Party Album

2008-10-17T06:49:00.000-07:00

I was waiting for a new one from Bloc Party since "A Weekend in the City", which I think is one of the best albums of that year.
"Intimacy" continues in the same direction of the last one, which is more experimental and electronic than their earlier days of pretty ordinary Indie-Rock.
Although "Intimacy" is getting better reviews than "Weekend in the City" has, it seems to me that the reviewers are just aligning with Bloc Party after they where caught by surprise with the previews one and not because the new one is better.
Don't get me wrong it's a good album. It starts with a bang - "Ares" (which sounds like the Chemical Brothers "Setting Sun"), "Mercury" and "Halo" are fast and load.
"Mercury" video:

After this first assault "Biko" lets you mellow down a bit, but not for long cause here comes "Trojan Horse" - maybe the only "classic" Indie guitar song on the album.
The album continues with a mix of slow and fast songs, I have to say the slower ones are my favorites in this album ("Signs", "Zephyrus", "Better Than Heaven" and "Ion Square").

It took me more than a couple of listens to catch-on to "Weekend in the City" so maybe "Intimacy" will be the same cause there sure are some good songs on it.

Holy F*ck

2008-10-13T07:54:00.000-07:00

If you want to check out some cool, fun weird music then check out Battles and Holy fuck (what a cool name for a band).
These guys basically sound like instrumental bands from outer-space...
Both bands seem to have a rock base which gives the songs their basic drive and the electronic sounds gives the twist.
Battles are tagged in some places as "math-rock", I guess because they are instrumental and don't play 4/4 bits all the time... but their music is much more fun than the usual "math-rock".

The first time I caught on to Battles is when I first heard "Atlas" from their second album "Mirrored". This songs is just fun with the crazy vocals and the addictive bit:

"Tonto" is their second video from the album. It has a more rockier feel to it and the vocals sound like an Indian chant (native American not India...).
This video is very cool visually, it was shot in an abandoned mine in England.

As for Holy Fuck, "Lovely Allen" is my favorite track of their "LP" album:

These guys are currently touring the UK and they are supposed to kick ass live, so check them out if you have the possibility.

Screaming Tree

2008-10-09T15:21:00.000-07:00

After the disappointment from hearing some of Chris Cornell's new songs I decided to do this post on another rock dinosaur... but one that didn't sell out - Mark Lanegan.
From the early 90's with the Screaming Trees as part of the Seattle grunge scene (I think Chris Cornell even produced one of their albums) to his solo albums and the many collaborations he has done, it is always good stuff.
Though the music styles vary from the more quiet acoustic work with Isobel Campbell, the rockier
Queens Of The Stone Age to more electronic music with the Soulsavers - it's always about the voice.

Soulsavers - Revival [from It's Not How Far You Fall, It's the Way You Land]

Mark Lanegan Band – When Your Number Isn't Up [From Bubblegum]

Mark Lanegan Band – One Hundred Days [From Bubblegum]

Queens of the Stone Age – In The Fade [From Rated R]

Queens of the Stone Age - Hangin' Tree [from Songs for the Deaf]

The Gutter Twins - The Stations [from Saturnalia]

The Horror !!!

2008-10-07T01:19:00.000-07:00

Well I knew it was coming... the rumors where circling for a year, but I never thought it would be this bad.
The new Chris Cornell album "Scream" produced by Timbaland seems to be near release, with tour dates published (they are even performing together !!! I wonder if Chris will be dancing on stage like Justin Timberlake) and some first songs out.

The songs sound much worse than I ever imagined... judge for yourself:

Scream

Ground Zero

his previous album was bad but this is really some shitty stuff.

Anyway here are the tour date (hope he does more oldies):

Chris & Timbaland Perform Together:
Oct. 17 Denver, CO Ogden Theater
Oct. 18 Salt Lake City, UT The Avalon Theater
Oct. 19 Tempe, AZ Marquee
Oct. 24 Las Vegas, NV The Joint
Oct. 25 Los Angeles, CA House of Blues
Oct. 26 San Diego, CA House of Blues
Oct. 31 San Francisco, CA The Fillmore
Nov. 2 Seattle, WA Showbox

Chris Cornell Solo Dates:
Oct. 21 Tucson, Arizona Fox Tucson Theater
Oct. 22 Ventura, CA Ventura Theater
Oct. 28 Anaheim, CA House of Blues
Oct. 29 Santa Cruz, CA The Catalyst
Nov. 1 Portland, OR Roseland Theater

Interpol, Editors, The National - How can you tell them apart?

2008-10-05T12:31:00.000-07:00

There are a lot of bands which sound alike, first time I heard Coldplay I thought it was a new Radiohead song for a second (now they sound like U2).
But with the three bands above it was really hard...
I first heard Interpol with their excellent "Turn on the bright lights" album.
Interpol - Obstacle 1

Interpol - PDA

A year or two later I heard this song

and I was sure it was a new Interpol song (and a good one)... well it turned out to be "Bullets" by Editors.
Again times goes by and I hear this track

so this one has to be Interpol.
Well wrong again, it's "Mistaken for strangers" by The National...

I guess all three are influenced by 80's New-Wave dramatic dark sound and their lead singers vocals are so similar its hard to tell them apart at first, but if you liked the songs here you should definitely check them out.

José González will be playing at the Barby next Saturday

2008-10-03T07:13:00.000-07:00

José González will be performing at the Barby in Tel-Aviv on the 11th (after shows in Beirut and Dubai !!).

González makes beautiful quiet folk songs, almost purely acoustic guitar and vocals (With his bearded look and vocals he resembles Cat Stevens).
Here is a taste of his music:
Down The Line (from In Our Nature)

Love Will Tear Us Apart (Joy Division cover)

Teardrop video (Massive Attack cover)

Acoustic shows can get a bit boring, hope this one won't...

The Ultimate Pearl Jam Punk Setlist

2008-10-01T00:04:00.000-07:00

Pearl Jam's punk tunes are one of my favorites ever since Vitalogy.
So how cool would it be to have PJ do an all punk set list...

01 Last Exit

02 Save You

03 Green Disease

04 Comatose

05 Kick Out the Jams

06 Sheena's a Punk Rocker

07 I Believe in Miracles

08 Sonic Reducer

09 All Night

10 Lukin

11 Whipping

12 Brain of J

13 Spin the Black Circle

Triumph the insulte comic dog Vs. Bon Jovi

2008-09-29T14:20:00.000-07:00

This is an old bit but I just saw it again and it still kills.
Triumph goes to a Bon Jovi show and just rips on them and their fans, hats down though for Bon Jovi for playing along with this.

The Kings of Rock ! - new album from Kings of Leon

2008-09-29T04:59:00.000-07:00

Kings of Leon are back with their fourth studio album "Only By The Night", maybe the best rock album I've heard this year ! these guys just keep getting better each album.

The new album continues the sound of their previous album "Because of the Times" , which is darker and heaver (reminding me of The Pixies) then their early albums.
The sweat melodies are still there inside the straight forward rock and roll songs, and Caleb's broken voice is still killer. But if in the early days it was hard to set them apart from good rock bands like the Strokes and The White Stripes, with this and the previous album they have definitely took the lead.

The new album starts with the ambient sounding "Closer" followed by the sonic rock of "Crawl".
The third song "Sex on Fire" is the first single of the album and a classic Kings of Leon song (seems like the guys gave up their "hippie cowboy" looks, except the drummer which looks like the young Chris Cornell in the video).
This albums just doesn't let down for a second, each song can be a single...

"Use Somebody" live:

So go get this album !

Pearl Jam Christmas Singles

2008-09-29T00:43:00.000-07:00

Hi, I just had to share this link to the "Fuelfriends" blog, where you can get almost all of PJ's Christmas singles !

Plenty of other goodies you can find in this very cool blog (not just PJ stuff)...

The "Official Bootleg Program" - Pearl Jam live at the Garden 2008

2008-09-26T05:29:00.000-07:00

Great live rock shows are amazing experiences (and quite rare if you live in a country where this summer's shows where made of Deep Purple and Paul McCartney, in their before the grave tours...).
You do your best to try and saver the energy and atmosphere of the show.

But the memory fades as time goes. Not much you can do about that, right?

Well Pearl Jam fans don't have this problem as for the last few years the band releases CDs of all their live shows !
"The Official Bootleg program" its called. Funny - official and bootleg usually don't go together, its like health and McDonald's (but that also seems to work for some people).

Pearl Jam are still one of the top bands in my opinion (they say what you listen to when you're in high school sticks for ever).
Although their last albums aren't as good as their earlier ones , when they go live they are number one!

I just got the CDs of the two shows I saw at the Madison square Garden this June and I have to say it takes you back to those amazing experiences...

First show , June 24. I get to the Garden and I have to scalp one ticket, a few minutes of fear (where everyone looks like an undercover NYPD cop) and I sell it for face value ( so no bad karma).
Waiting for the show to start I talk to some guys who came from Italy for the shows (though for them it's not their first PJ show) . After taunting them on Italy's football (soccer for you Americans) team poor performance in the Euro the ushers kick us to our real seats...

The show starts with "Hard to imagine" as PJ prefer quite starters as though to ease the crowd (and maybe themselves) into the show.
The show continues with "save you" ,"why go" and "all night" where Eddie calls up a backup vocals trio to help, which gives the song an even more rock'n'rollish fill. They will come back for couple of more songs during the shows.
The energy in the Garden is amazing and for those of you who saw PJ's live in NY DVD from a couple of years ago you might remember Eddie saying they felt the stage rocking and it scared the hell out them. well it moved again... and again (I felt it the most in the second show where I set right behind the stage), its an amazing feeling when you feel the whole building move as you jump around.

Madison square garden proves it self again as a great venue and the atmosphere is great, I never thought such a big place can be filled with "pot" smoke but apparently it can! it even got to the guys on stage as Eddie changed a line in "given to fly" from "had a smoke under a tree" to "had a joint under a tree".

Eddie Vedder and Mike McCready continue to wow the crowd, Ed with his amazing vocals and Mike with his amazing guitar solo (In the first show he plays the whole "even flow" solo with the guitar behind his head!) .
PJ's set lists are amazing and the band puts a lot of thought into each set list.
Its astonishing how much the set lists vary in each show, they played around 30+ songs in each of those two shows and you can match only about 10 songs between them!
The shows go on with old, new, fast, slow, classics, b-sides and covers (The shows also feature CJ Ramone on the Ramone's "I believe in miracles" and Ace Frehley of Kiss on "Black Diamond").

I read some people complain on the bootlegs sound, well it isn't as good as "live at the Gorge".
But I have no complaints, I could finally understand all of Eddie Vedder's mumbling between the songs (and boy does he talk a lot!).

All in all kick ass shows! and the bootlegs take me back to them each time I listen to them.

MSG June 25th, performing "last kiss" for the backstage guys (where I sat at that show) and then going into "why go":