Blog: IckMusic

Friday Five : \'frī-(,)dā,-dē 'fīv\ : On the sixth day of every week, I hit the shuffle button on my iTunes, then share the first five tracks and thought for each track. Sometimes there is a playlist involved, occasionally we'll have a guest, but most of the time it's just me. The rest is up to you, our friends and readers! Fire up your media player of choice and share the first five random track of your shuffle in the comments. The Five: " N.T., Parts 1 & 2 " by [...]

Hi. It's 2012, and I've yet to put finger to keyboard to whip up a post on this, my site, my IckMusic. No, music hasn't taken a back seat to anything. It's still at the forefront, ever accompanying me on this journey I'm on. I am, however, focusing on thinking differently, and trying to undo some of the mistakes I've made up to this point, this fifth decade of my Life on Earth. I came across an Albert Einstein quote a couple weeks ago (at least that's who it was credited to). It reads: [...]

Friday Five : \'frī-(,)dā,-dē 'fīv\ : On the sixth day of every week, I hit the shuffle button on my iTunes, then share the first five tracks and thought for each track. Sometimes there is a playlist involved, occasionally we'll have a guest, but most of the time it's just me. The rest is up to you, our friends and readers! Fire up your media player of choice and share the first five random track of your shuffle in the comments. The Five: "Like a Virgin" by Madonna (from [...]

Friday Five : \'frī-(,)dā,-dē 'fīv\ : On the sixth day of every week, I hit the shuffle button on my iTunes, then share the first five tracks and thought for each track. Sometimes there is a playlist involved, occasionally we'll have a guest, but most of the time it's just me. The rest is up to you, our friends and readers! Fire up your media player of choice and share the first five random track of your shuffle in the comments. The Five: "A-Punk" by Vampire Weekend (from [...]

Friday Five : \'frī-(,)dā,-dē 'fīv\ : On the sixth day of every week, I hit the shuffle button on my iTunes, then share the first five tracks and thought for each track. Sometimes there is a playlist involved, occasionally we'll have a guest, but most of the time it's just me. The rest is up to you, our friends and readers! Fire up your media player of choice and share the first five random track of your shuffle in the comments. The Five: "Stay" by Erykah Badu (from [...]

Friday Five : \'frī-(,)dā,-dē 'fīv\ : On the sixth day of every week, I hit the shuffle button on my iTunes, then share the first five tracks and thought for each track. Sometimes there is a playlist involved, occasionally we'll have a guest, but most of the time it's just me. The rest is up to you, our friends and readers! Fire up your media player of choice and share the first five random track of your shuffle in the comments. The Five: " Nothin' Comes Close " by Journey [...]

Friday Five : \'frī-(,)dā,-dē 'fīv\ : On the sixth day of every week, I hit the shuffle button on my iTunes, then share the first five tracks and thought for each track. Sometimes there is a playlist involved, occasionally we'll have a guest, but most of the time it's just me. The rest is up to you, our friends and readers! Fire up your media player of choice and share the first five random track of your shuffle in the comments. The Five: " Dreams " by Van Halen [...]

Friday Five : \'frī-(,)dā,-dē 'fīv\ : On the sixth day of every week, I hit the shuffle button on my iTunes, then share the first five tracks and thought for each track. Sometimes there is a playlist involved, occasionally we'll have a guest, but most of the time it's just me. The rest is up to you, our friends and readers! Fire up your media player of choice and share the first five random track of your shuffle in the comments. The Five: How about we take a shuffle through 2011? [...]

2011 was truly a blessed year for music. Many of my favorite groups released new records and, as always thanks to NME, I found some fab new ones to geek out over. Without further adieu, here are my Top Ten Albums and Top Ten Tracks of 2011. (Click on the album or track to purhase) Albums 10. Unknown Mortal Orchestra-Unknown Mortal Orchestra This Portland, Oregon band have a a combo lo-fi, groovy throwback sound that makes me smile. "Thought Ballune" is a must download. [...]

2011 was another year of musical discovery for me. Clocking in highest on the discovery meter were San Francisco's Girls ; but right up there with Girls were two bands that can't technically qualify for my best of 2011 album list: Delta Spirit and Titus Andronicus . Their latest albums - History from Below and The Monitor (respectively) - were both released in 2010, but I didn't hear them until this year. Overall, when I think of 2011, these three [...]

• Greg Brown - Where Are You Going When You're Gone

Friday Five : \'frī-(,)dā,-dē 'fīv\ : On the sixth day of every week, I hit the shuffle button on my iTunes, then share the first five tracks and thought for each track. Sometimes there is a playlist involved, occasionally we'll have a guest, but most of the time it's just me. The rest is up to you, our friends and readers! Fire up your media player of choice and share the first five random track of your shuffle in the comments. The Five: "Santa Claus" by Throwing Muses (from, [...]

Man, I can get behind The War on Drugs . Their latest, Slave Ambient , is fantastic - one of those albums that instantly draws you in. It's a rock & roll framework, but the album title doesn't lie - there's an ambient undertone to the whole album. The keyboard / synth sounds add that dreamscape layer that makes this whole record a really cool journey. Here's just one example: "Your Love Is Calling My Name"... Slave Ambient is only [...]

For the past several weeks, I have tried to get myself to the point where I could tell all of you that the new album by Coldplay , Mylo Xyloto , is a must for your Christmas stocking this year. Sadly, I have to report that I am not at that point and likely never will be. The London Lads' 5th release is mediocre at best. Certainly, Mylo Xyloto has some Parachutes-like moments but they don't arrive until the middle of the album. "Us Against The World" is [...]

Friday Five : \'frī-(,)dā,-dē 'fīv\ : On the sixth day of every week, I hit the shuffle button on my iTunes, then share the first five tracks and thought for each track. Sometimes there is a playlist involved, occasionally we'll have a guest, but most of the time it's just me. The rest is up to you, our friends and readers! Fire up your media player of choice and share the first five random track of your shuffle in the comments. The Five: " I'll Be Home for Christmas (If Only [...]

Before it had even arrived in the mail my mind was made up. There was no way in hell that the new Subways album, Money and Celebrity , was going to be as good as their last one. All or Nothing is one of the greatest rock and roll albums of all time. Seriously. I listed it here as the 2nd best album of the last decade because it defines the very essence of the mixed up love affair I have with women and music. So, the very [...]

Friday Five : \'frī-(,)dā,-dē 'fīv\ : On the sixth day of every week, I hit the shuffle button on my iTunes, then share the first five tracks and thought for each track. Sometimes there is a playlist involved, occasionally we'll have a guest, but most of the time it's just me. The rest is up to you, our friends and readers! Fire up your media player of choice and share the first five random track of your shuffle in the comments. The Five: " Winter Wonderland " by Peggy Lee [...]

(Beady Eye, Live in the Main Room, First Avenue, 5 December 2011) Liam Gallagher is doing just fine without Oasis. Well, actually, he took most of Oasis with him and formed a new band called Beady Eye so he's not really suffering. Last night, this new outfit descended on First Avenue and put on a corker of a show. Part of it had to do with the venue, of course, as I hadn't seen Liam in such a small setting for quiet some time [...]

If there's one thing that's true about Deer Tick frontman John McCauley, it's "what you see is what you get." The man is completely unfiltered and open, which is quite evident in Deer Tick's brand new "uncensored" video for "Main Street," their first single off Divine Providence . I see the term "uncensored," and I'm immediately on booby alert. But ah, the joke's on me, because what I found instead was the peein' pecker of Mr. John. Amid a cacophony of exploding fireworks, a select few of the giant DEER TICK letters in the background fall away [...]

I'm knee deep in another great TV series courtesy of Netflix's streaming. A couple months ago, I fell into Breaking Bad , and it was without question the best damn TV show I'd ever seen in my 40 plus years. I still believe that - but not far behind has to be FX's Sons of Anarchy . The series about a northern California motorcycle gang features the great Charlie Hunnam as Jackson "Jax" Teller, the VP of the Sons of Anarchy. I wasn't [...]

Earlier this year, Beady Eye (AKA the rest of Oasis fronted by Liam) released their first full length album, Different Gear, Still Speeding . As I noted here , it was and is quite good. In fact, I will be seeing them live in 2 short days (review coming soon, natch) in the Main Room at First Avenue. The pilgrim will walk to one of the prophets... Most of us Brit geeks have been waiting for the elder Gallagher to put his stamp on 2011 and boy has [...]