About the only reason why I still bother to watch awards shows is to catch the sequence of people who have died since the last show (and of late successive shows have contrived to fuck that up by going for "artistic" camera angles which don't hep the TV viewer in identifying dead people). Here is my In Memoriam section, with mix-tapes, for 2009, including only musicians, in three parts . The second will run next week, and the third early in the new year to accommodate late entries. so please don't shout at me for having failed to pick [...]
Okay, this is yet another self-indulgent childhood story, but I hope you'll stick with me even though I've told a version of it before. Trust me -- there's a couple of audio kickers at the end that will make it worth your while. So, as I've mentioned on a previous occasion or two, I was one of the gazillion kids back in the mid-Sixties who took a gawk at The Beatles on TV and thought, hey, that looks like fun. Unlike most of them, however, I was lucky enough to be in a garage band (we were called [...]
December is almost over. Across all forms of media, the next week will be filled with cloying fits of nostalgia, hindsight-enriched wistfulness, and even some good-old-fashioned navel-gazing. Each Friday this month Swan Fungus has concluded the week with a new year-end list. Last week was The Top Negative Reader Comments, and before that was Top Ten Top Ten Lists of 2009. Next week: The Top 100 Albums of 2008. Stay tuned! I thought last year was an insane year for deaths. I mean, seriously, almost my entire top ten list died before the month of March ended. That [...]
Music, Writing & LOST With Paul Levinson Ahoy! Some well-respected, devilishly handsome blogger who uses the handle Swan Fungus posted an amazing interview with Paul Levinson today on WFMU's Beware of The Blog. Rather than critique his performance (which would be impossible, as he is surely flawless in all aspects of his life), I will simply quote the entire article for you. When I was back east for the WFMU Record Fair earlier this month, I had the extreme pleasure of sitting down for a friendly chat [...]
I was lost in the Imperial Sand Dunes last week when lo-and-behold I stumbled across an amazing find... When I was back east for the WFMU Record Fair earlier this month, I had the extreme pleasure of sitting down for a friendly chat with Professor Paul Levinson of Fordham University. Of course, this was no academic discussion, we were there to discuss Paul's music career as well as his accomplishments as a science fiction novelist. We convened at City Diner on a comfortable autumn afternoon. After a brief introduction, our waiter arrived to take our orders. [...]
Corin Ashley (bass player for The Pills) made this album a few years ago, and I'm surprised it fell under my radar at the time. Opening with the Lennon inspired "Theme from The Brill Bedroom" it makes a big splash with "Gin and Panic," one of the best George Harrison songs that George never wrote. "File Me Under Regret" is good Let It Be -era Beatlesque song that is performed with conviction and attention to detail. The lighter acoustic tracks like "Foolproof" and "Being Twelve" has a tinkling banjo that mirror the type of chord changes and pop [...]
The Beatles Any song accompanied by a piano and violin The chord progression of George Michael's " Praying for Time " "Come On Eileen" Key changes Mike Viola The Edge's guitar playing Phil Spector's Wall of Sound The British Invasion of the 80s " Isn't it a Pity " by George Harrison (both versions) The 7/4 signature of Peter Gabriel's "Solsbury Hill" Handclaps Aimee Mann's angst [...]
AN AUTUMN SYMPOSIUM: TFC LIVE AT PIANOS TOMORROW NIGHT One last reminder that we're playing the first in a two show series tomorrow night at Pianos. If you go, you'll see a band that includes Marc Dalio on drums, Rich Stein on percussion, Rob Jost on bass, Matt Ray on keys, Noah Lebenzon on guitbox, Flavio Gaete on viola, Katie Scheele on woodwinds, Stan Harrison on sax and flute, [...]
I have never been to Cleveland, and probably would never have wanted to go until I heard that THE ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME was going to set up there back in the late Eighties. Sounded like a great idea; enshrining my favorite artists like The Beatles, and giving others their perhaps long overdue credit. How exciting!!! But boy oh boy. These days the Nominating Committee at The Rock an Roll Hall of Fame are starting to scrape the bottom of the barrel, surely they could have dredged up the names of some more deserving artists than [...]
NEIL DIAMOND IS FOREVER: THE ILLUSTRATED STORY OF THE MAN AND HIS MUSIC By Jon Bream EXCITING NEW BOOK with EXCLUSIVE PHOTOS AND INTERVIEWS TELLS POP ICON's COMPLETE "ILLUSTRATED HISTORY" MINNEAPOLIS ? Voyageur Press has joined forces with renowned music journalist Jon Bream (Minneapolis Star Tribune) for NEIL DIAMOND IS FOREVER: The Illustrated Story of the Man and His Music. This beautifully packaged book, a perfect balance of photos and text, arrives Oct. 15, 2009, and retraces the history of this massively popular and influential singer/songwriter and performer, who has been putting on spell-binding shows for more than [...]
Being in and out this summer meant missing several opportunities to pay tribute to the fallen. Today, we remedy the situation. The biggest blow to the folkworld in recent weeks was the loss of Mike Seeger , who made his mark on folk music as a multi-talented folk instrumentalist and producer, and as an avid ethnomusicologist , forging a bridge between the old and the new through paths as varied as his co-discovery of his own housekeeper Elizabeth Cotten, his [...]
It's been only a few short weeks since I've discovered the charming and whimsical music of The Paper Raincoat , an inventive duo consisting of Brooklyn artists Amber Rubarth and Alex Wong . Moments after their myspace page loaded in my browser, the catchy song "Sympathetic Vibrations" started filling my room with a unique sense of hope and curiosity. I found myself intrigued in a way that I haven't experience in a long time. It's really quite wonderful to discover a promising new act only to find that [...]
Utah native Lamar Holley emerges like a bolt out of the blue, and it's clear he has a love of Broadway, Brill Building era songwriting style and dramatic power pop (Beach Boys, Beatles, Jellyfish, Queen, XTC). Confessions.. is like the soundtrack to an uber-nerd musical, on par with Paul Steel's "April & I," only at a higher grade level. The listener follows Lamar's ups and downs during infatuation, rejection, and retrospect. Musically it concentrates on keyboards and perfect harmonies that plays a bit like Ben Folds without the bitterness. After a slick overture, the hooks [...]
The Tallest Man on Earth @ Bowery Ballroom in April ( more by Fresh Bread ) tonight in NYC * DANCE * THIS WEEK IN INDIE * FRIDAY AT NORTHSIDE * Helado Negro @ Sycamore * Prince Paul @ Union Pool * Baby Gramps @ Terra Blues * Lucero, Roadside Graves @ Maxwell's * [...]
Recommended Show: FRIDAY, JUNE 12, 2009 THESE ARE POWERS @ NORTHSIDE FESTIVAL DEATH BY AUDIO 49 S 2nd St Brooklyn, NY 11211 $10, midnight A full list of Northside Festival shows are listed after the jump; you can also get a photo rundown of my first night here . Tonight, the show to see is definitely going to be These Are Powers at Death By Audio, and let's just hope things go smoother the rest of the weekend as the festival kicks into full gear. -The Recovery, The Fear and Trembling, [...]
I am back from my mini-break staycation thingy. That photo above is from happier times [Friday morning], looking at my tea and newspaper. Hot stuff. I got massive amounts of shizz done, including the magical erasing of all the grey in my hair - at least for 6 weeks. So sexy, but not as sexy as... I find it seriously exploitative that the Jonas Bros are expected to speak about purity rings, much less wear them. People (inadvertently?) treat teens with such disrespect. [...]
![The Flying Change: Pain Is A Reliable Signal [Album Review]](http://cache.elbo.ws/posts/1734438_lg.jpg)
Think of your favorite "heart felt" movie and remember the music in contained. Whether is is a "running for a reason" scene, or a "someone thinks about the past" scene, The Flying Change will probably remind you of said film. Sam Jacobs' wonderful moniker is an asthmatic friendly thrill ride in his album Pain Is A Reliable Signal . Jacobs and his charismatic producer, Paul Brill, hoped to develop what they consider "landscape pop" on this refreshingly new album. And they score bigger than ever on the short and spunk [...]
The Holy Roman Army will launch their debut album this Friday May 15th with a gig in Crawdaddy with support from Tenaka and Storkboy Choons/Colours Move. This should be a fine gig for anyone who enjoys their electronic music song-driven and finely wrought. The Holys (also known as Laura and Chris Coffey) were invented by Donal Dineen in a secret lab in Kerry and come equipped with a sack of rich and languid sounding songs that sit somewhere between Low and Portishead. Tenaka recorded a nifty free EP of bedroom electro-pop [...]
Rumor has it that LES spot Rockwood Music Hall (196 Allen Street, NY, NY) will be expanding its current, limited-capacity venue. Have you heard that? The intimate venue, is known for being a great place to see a live show and for hosting surprise/secret performances by well-known artists like Ryan Adams and Norah Jones (under the guise of side-bands like The Sloppy Joannes and Puss n Boots ). In fact, Puss n Boots is scheduled [...]
Billy Elliot: The Musical Today the Tony nominations were announced and Billy Elliot: The Musical garnered 15 nominations, tieing the record set by The Producers in 2001. Here are all of the 2009 Tony nominees in the "top categories": Best Musical Billy Elliot, The Musical Next to Normal Rock of Ages Shrek The Musical Best Book of a Musical Billy [...]
New Releases V2.9
2010 Bonnaroo Artists Unveiled
Yeasayer – Odd Blood (Review)
