I was thinking of a few of my NYC pals Kevin & Cindy, who spearhead an '80s cover band called The Fades that played a gig at LES' Fontanas on Thursday. It got me to remembering mainstream 80s music, much of which I have not listened to in a while (exception Billy Idol - never out of style on my record player). In the mid 80s, I was mostly listening to American indie/alt/college rock (REM, dBs, Replacements, Husker Du, Soul Asylum, Talking Heads) or British wave (Bauhaus, New Order, Cure, Smiths, U2, Echo & the [...]
It makes sense that Mist and Mast's lead contributor describes his album as piecemeal when his reviews garner comparisons to bands from REM to ELO. Former metal band leader, Jason Lakis has taken his solo project's new album to the streets in what he describes as the first time he could hear all the parts as he was writing it. Upon listening, you will hear a full band on about half the tracks, as
MM is based in rural Oxfordshire, which gives us a slightly odd musical heritage. While the area is no Liverpool or Manchester it does probably punch above its weight musically. We have Radiohead, possibly the biggest band in the world and unlike other bands bestowed with such a title (U2, REM etc.) yet to show any signs of turning into total and utter garbage. We have Supergrass, and one of the

i'm not exactly sure where this year has gone, but im not too amused that thanksgiving is next week. i dont about the rest of you, but this year has really been a big blur for me. from getting settled in in new orleans, to my wife now working fulltime, to raising these god damn kids, to everything else life has thrown at me, its been the best of times, and well the worst of times. worst is a bit of overstatement but still there have been a few days.... still dont have the most awesome of [...]
Michael Stipe takes us on a brief studio tour to watch he and R.E.M. work on their forthcoming album with Jacknife Lee. The clips are short, but they give a sense of the sound. (The 31 second mark of clip #2 might also give you a heart attack.) Enter REM HQ .
Euclid Records 1. Sting - If On A Winter's Night... 2. Beatles - Revolver 3. Monsters Of Folk - Monsters Of Folk 4. Nirvana - Live At Reading 5. REM - Live At The Olympia ... Continue reading "Top Sellers at Area Record Stores: Week of November 9-15" >

The Pantones are a Lansing, Michigan based band that ably mixes americana with power pop. I'm up for checking out any band that styles it's music after both the Byrds and REM. On the new record Inside The Sun's Wild Flame they combine pedal steel and violin with trumpet and keyboard. On the song "Circus Freaks" the first line "Paul used to call us circus freaks in our army jackets and vintage shoes, just part-time thesbians and quizbo geeks, positive we had something to prove" certainly brings me back to my [...]
After a marathon REM CD-A-Thon last weekend (aka many hours working in the garden w/my iPod boom box) The song "I Believe" from Lifes Rich Pageant jumped to the front of the pack. (I never considered this song one of their best or one of my favorites until now.) I especially like the line "I believe in coyotes and time as an abstract" and later ... "I believe my throat hurts" So my Last Man Standing Challenge is: Songs with "I Believe" in the title or [...]

Kevn Kinney's an easygoing, disarmingly funny kind of guy, but when he gets down to brass tacks - singing and wailing away on guitar, that is - he packs quite a wallop of soul, R&B, power pop, rock, folk, country, blues and more than a little grit. That's long been the secret sauce for the music he's made with Drivin' n' Cryin' and solo: easy to get into, often lighthearted and even funny, but let it get to you, and you realize it's loaded with heartbreak, wrenching drama and deep soul. [...]

The third free album from Cyan Music is Rem Phase by Smooth Genestar, Marco Koeller's downbeat project. Released alongside Entrance and Horizon , this album features a diverse arrangement of downtempo, ambient, chill out, and lounge music composed between 1999 and 2009. Deep melancholic moods and dark atmospheres intermingle with uplifting vibes on this meandering journey through space and time. www.ektoplazm.com/free-music/s mooth-genestar-rem-phase/ Posted in Ambient, Audio, Chillout, Downtempo, Lounge

Bobby Birdman - New Moods D. Boon - D. Boon and Friends Brazos - Phosphorescent Blues Dragon Turtle - Almanac MP3: Dragon Turtle - "Causality" Stream: Dragon Turtle - Almanac via Listen@MBV [...]

R.E.M. - Live At The Olympia Without a word of a lie, one of my biggest concert going regrets is not ever having seen R.E.M. play live. Granted, when I seriously into this band (from about the time of Life's Rich Pageant up to Automatic For The People ), they either: a) weren't playing anywhere near where I lived, or b) had stopped touring completely (1989-1995). But now of course, all of that has changed, I live in the live music capital [...]

NOW IN STORES - R.E.M. Live At The Olympia is a two-CD set featuring 39 songs from the band's acclaimed 2007 sessions in Dublin. These songs sound great and make me hopeful that this is REM's return to their glorious past. (I am thinking old school.) Live At The Olympia gives fans an opportunity to hear those songs at their earliest stages of development. In addition to the new material, the band also served up twenty-nine other songs, spanning their entire career, all of which can be found on this album. [...]

A excelente banda electro punk alemã Das Bierbeben fez uma música em que a vocalista canta sobre como ela gostaria de estar lá quando os muros da Alemanha caírem e o poder for despedaçado. Tá certo que quando eles fizeram essa música os muros já tinham caído há muito tempo, mas cada um canta no tempo verbal que quer, não é mesmo? Das Bierbeben - Deutschlands Mauern Fallen [...]

The Feelies: Crazy Rhythms If Domino continues to invest its Arctic Monkeys millions in remastered re-releases like this pair, I'll have no complaints. Looking at my much-cherished vinyl copies I've always thought that these should be released in additional formats and my prayers to the god of pop have finally been answered. Hailing from suburban New Jersey, the Feelies are clearly inspired by the Velvet Underground, Modern Lovers and Television. [...]

"In This Light And In This Evening", terzo album degli Editors , non è una raccolta di inni da stadio come alcuni potevano aspettarsi, dopo il più estroso -rispetto all'esordio a tinte noir "The Back Room"- "An End Has A Start". I quattro a questo giro hanno deciso di volersi inabissare nelle viscere oscure di una Londra notturna e glaciale, in fuga dalle luci accecanti delle arene rock e alla ricerca di reconditi luoghi introspettivi, lì dove potrebbero palesarsi claustrofobici incubi metropolitani, a pochi passi da un baratro darkwave dentro il quale in realtà non si scivola mai. [...]

Who likey the R.E.M.? Me do! If you want a free copy of R.E.M.'s double live album, R.E.M. Live At The Olympia , all you gotta do is read this post and figure out the magic secret! The two-CD set, produced by Jacknife Lee , features 39 songs that capture the best moments from the band's 2007 working rehearsals at Dublin ¹s fabled Olympia club, where singer Michael Stipe , guitarist Peter Buck, and bassist Mike Mills tested out new songs for R.E.M.'s 2008 studio album Accelerate. [...]

"Masters of War" is the truth. Bob Dylan's 1963 screed against Johnson's military-industrial complex closes with (I'd argue) the most powerful eight lines in popular music: "And I hope that you die/and your death will come soon/and I'll follow your casket/by the pale afternoon/and I'll watch while you're lowered/down to your deathbed/and I'll stand over your grave/'till I'm sure that you're dead." It's an obvious anti-war song and one of our best. (long aside: Although the man himself has said that it's not an anti-war song per se, but a pacifistic statement against war, I think that what [...]