May 9, 2008
ATTN: 2008 Coney Island Siren Festival Just Announced!
Stephen Malkmus is the big daddy here, and a lot of bands I haven’t heard yet. It’s always worth the bike ride down with Paul, regardless of the over-crowdedness!
May 9, 2008
Blog Jammin’:Everybody’s Bloggin’ For the Weekend
Busy weekend ahead; Mets game, new guitar, 2 stories to write, new nephew to visit, Mayim Rabim, and Mother’s Day… but I’ma do a little blog jammin’ here before the big weekend rush starts. Cool?
Neil Young’s upcoming archival release on Blu-Ray DVD looks a-fuckin-mazing judging from this cool trailer. My only question…can I play Blu-Ray discs on my regular DVD player?!
Trey A. made a triumphant return to the stage at the Jammys
Speaking of Trey, do you need to add some shows to your collection? Well dig in, bro…
Check out this funny Mayer/Apatow video
Still not excited about a new Beck album really, even if it is Danger Mouse-produced and spur of the moment! The last couple albums left me a little empty, I must say.
Bob Lefsetz on stealing music. I’ve been digging this guy’s commentary.
Maybe Bloomberg was thinking it was the New York City Police he was celebrating.
Poor Winehouse. No link or anything. I’m just sayin’.
May 7, 2008
Sh*t L*sts: Play Count Style
Well it seems it’s sh*tty time and this one was inspired by Bob Lefsetz’s Lefsetz Letter blog. Bob recently gave us a breakdown of his 20 most-played songs in his iTunes with a little explanation of each. Many were lost on me, but I could totally get behind the case he made for Boston’s “Hitch A Ride”. It’s easy, and popular these days, to show disdain for Boston, but c’mon, they have some doozies…and “Hitch A Ride” is very much one of said doozies!
Well, since we’re not as bright a bunch, and we have jobs to work and people to see and noses to pick and walls to stare at, let’s just do the most-played top 10 of our iTunes or iPods instead of 20, k? Just sort either one in the iTunes window by Play Count and rattle off your most-played top ten below. It’s up to you if you feel like you have to justify them with comments or whatever. So read on below to see mine and to post yours!
May 6, 2008
I Just Became An Uncle Again!
Welcome to the world, Ryan Christian, a 9.5 lb boomer! Congratulations to Chris and Jackie!
May 6, 2008
Rock Trivia: Round 10, Question 20 - Beatles
What was the last song recorded by The Beatles?
May 5, 2008
Record Album Roundup: Grab This Sh*t Now!
Here’s some great albums around town you should grab whilst you can…
Rockrula’s got The Yardbirds’ Little Games
Head to Recessed Filter for The Best of Gregory Isaacs
Turn yourself on to the band If, over at Musicology
Massive UFO sighting at DUDU2doVINIL
Bootleg Paul McCartney tracks at MusicNews
Dig it and dig in!
May 5, 2008
Howlin’ Rain Touring With Crowes
Just wanted to give you some info about one of my favorite newer bands who knows how to bring it live, Howlin’ Rain. The Crowes and Howlin’ Rain sounds like an amazing ticket to me! Check ‘em out if you get a chance. Here’s the press release:
Greetings all,
Just a heads up that SF psych rockers Howlin Rain will be joining the Black Crowes for two legs of their fall 2008 tour this September and October (scroll down for complete dates) and have confirmed an appearance at Bonnaroo for Friday, June 13 @ 1:30AM (technically SAT, June 14). Featuring Comets on Fire co-founder and lead singer Ethan Miller and Drunk Horse’s Joel Robinow, the band has been touring for their acclaimed Birdman/American release, Magnificent Fiend, and will be hitting the UK and Europe in May for a series of dates and festivals, including All Tomorrows Parties. Check out Howlin Rain live here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikr8OovhsNs&feature=related or listen at www.myspace.com/howlinrain
RECENT UK PRESS FOR THE BAND:
“�an impeccably pitched, retro-rock joy.” - The Guardian 4 stars (out of 5)
“Freed from the side project straitjacket Miller has pushed Howlin Rain to the forefront of the West Coast cosmic rock pulpit, right alongside his former outfit.”
- Uncut 4 stars (out of 5)
Their sun-baked, lyrically feverish chooglin’ is more textured and melodic on these addictive new jams�”- Mojo 4 stars (out of 5)
Click on through for tour dates with and without the Crowes…
May 2, 2008
Vinyl Comeback? I’d Like To Think So
I found this recent article about the current resurgence of vinyl, relatively speaking, as we watch CD sales decline drastically year after year. As I’ve said before, CD’s just aren’t sexy…at all. Have you ever gone to a used CD store and had an enjoyable experience? No, CD’s just aren’t fun to flip through and look at. When CDs first came out, they were tauted as the indestructible medium of the future, but we’ve all found that a CD skip can just about render a CD unplayable. As a guy with tens of thousands of mp3’s, hundreds of CD’s, and hundreds of vinyl albums, I can objectively say that the CD is the weak link. You’ve heard me say it before… record companies: start selling records again with a code for the digital files to redeem online. There is no need for a CD any longer! Some record companies are hearing me and I even have an album by a new band called Pride Tiger (EMI) sitting here in my work studio with the digital files code inside AND a silk-screened poster created by the band. Now that’s what I’m talkin’ about!
Here’s the recent WIRED article on vinyl’s resurgence.
What do you think? Are you tied to CD’s? Do you have a turntable? Am I a geek?
May 2, 2008
Rock Trivia: Round 10, Question 18 - Rock General
What group was banned in Britain in 1980 due to violence in their act?
April 30, 2008
Rock Trivia: Round 10, Question 16 - Heavy Metal
Who recorded Animal Magnetism in 1981?
April 29, 2008
NewmStradamus’ Prog Prediction Coming To Fruition
Ummm, this is pretty wild, but I just found that hip Brooklyn blog-rag, Brooklyn Vegan, is reporting (in multiple posts) about unhip iconic progressive rock band, Yes, in a non-ironic or negative way! The posts are regarding Yes’ 40th Anniversary tour starting this June. Of course half of the comments are negative and as simple and creative in their negativity as ‘NO!’
Check out the Yes posts here and here.
*awesome pic courtesy of Natalie Dee
And in a related story, you absolutely need to hear this new band that’s rockin’ with a progressive bent. They’re Bryan Scary and the Shredding Tears and their new Flight of the Knife album is amazing! Here’s a vid for you…
And as a bonus, here’s a song from that Flight of the Knife album called “Imitation of the Sky” which will disappear very soon (so listen now…and then support the band and your own good listening habits by picking up the album at Amazon!) Don’t be turned off by the fact that Perez Hilton endorses this band!
Related stories: Positive ELP Review, African Prog
April 29, 2008
Rock Trivia: Round 10, Question 15 - Album Titles
This one is tough, ya’ll…
Shades of Deep Purple [1968]
April 28, 2008
ATTN: Please Visit Me at St. Elsewhere
So I’ve had one of my Best Band features published elsewhere on this here web which extends the whole world wide. The site is called Blog Critics and I’ll be regularly writing pieces for them, but for now I just have one lonely little unpopular piece about a band that the general public doesn’t know sitting over there wishing it would get some clicks. So do it (and me) a favor and click on over there and give ‘er a read and better still, leave some glowing comments!
April 25, 2008
Blog Jammin’: Warmin’ Up to Radiohead in My Sleep
Well, here’s news that I’m sure will delight all… I’ve had a couple breakthrough moments concerning Radiohead in the last couple days. ‘So what!’ you may scoff, but never do I get any stranger looks on peoples’ faces as when I inform them kindly that I don’t really listen to Radiohead. I think the popular assumption is that everyone does, so that would especially include me. But I’ve never really caught on to their brand of magic, although it certainly must be there (here’s where I’ll avoid saying ‘millions of people can’t be wrong’). I think the biggest factor was that when they were really blowing up after Kid A, it was a time right after I had discovered Krautrock, so when I heard Kid A, it didn’t floor me the way that it floored everyone else the first time they heard it. I had already been listening to way trippy electronica mixed with droning rock guitars. That said, I just kind of missed the wave when it was at it’s crest.
But a couple nights ago, I fell asleep near the beginning of Conan and awoke near the beginning of the musical guests’ live simulcast from England. It was Radiohead (who was the very first musical guest Conan had on Late Night when the show launched in ‘93). I was captivated. It sounded beautiful. I must say I didn’t even know the name of the song, but I was in a sleepy trance. Well, I’ve got the full performance for you below. I missed all the stuff at the beginning with the ‘carbon emmissions’ and ‘dedicated to the **** who walked away from the Kyoto agreement’ and was happy to see it all on YouTube.
And before I play the projection for you, the other thing that put Radiohead in a nicer light for me was today when I was reading in Rolling Stone that Radiohead performs (or will perform) a different set list every time they play, so each show is different. I dig that. Anyway, come 2010, I may be headed for becoming a big Radiohead fan ten years after Kid A was released. That would be sort of typical for me… always dabbling in the old sounds!
Dig this…
And I’ve got a few more links to throw at you at the start of your weekend, links that will shape your world…
- You must hear and see the new Animal Collective song and video, ‘Water Curses’, which will be the name of the upcoming EP release.
- New Eno/Byrne album and tour coming soon, although I would unpopularly say that My Life In the Bush of Ghosts was not a favorite of mine. The show will be fantastic though, I’m sure!
- Do you have time/interest to read a lot about African music and why white people should be outlawed from playing it? It’s a very well-written and informative piece with lots of great mp3 examples, but I do think Heart on a Stick is missing one very valid point.
- Van Halen is back at it!
- Cool video from the new John Varvatos at CBGB… now that’s punk rock. Or something.
- The 2008 Celebrate Brooklyn schedule is up.
- Daryl Hall in action at Live From Daryl’s House
What else is up?
April 24, 2008
The Best Band You’ve Never Heard In Your Life - Blodwyn Pig
The band, Blodwyn Pig (blawd-win) is definitely one of the Best Bands You’ve Never Heard In Your Life. The band formed after original Jethro Tull guitarist, Mick Abrahams left Tull in 1968. It is said that Abrahams and Ian Anderson did not agree on the musical direction of the band, Abrahams preferring the hard blues-rock style and Anderson starting to write in a more progressive rock style. (Who won that feud, would you say?) Blodwyn Pig released two albums, one in 1969 and one in 1970, and this song is from the second album, titled Getting To This. It’s one of the Best Bands You’ve Never Heard In Your Life, Blodwyn Pig with “See My Way”…
And here’s a bonus for ya…
April 24, 2008
Rock Trivia: Round 10, Question 13 - Rock General
What Texas band pretended that they were British in 1965?
April 22, 2008
All We Are Saying Is Give Beef(heart) a Chance…
So Trout Mask Replica had you as confounded as it had me when I first checked it out from the library in high school? As is the case with most bands, it seems like the most critically heavily-lauded album is usually not my favorite. It’s even the case with the Beatles…I’d rather have the White Album on a desert island than Sgt. Pepper’s (not to take anything away from Pepper’s, though!) What other examples can you think of?
Anyway, I put together this nice Muxtape to share with you the glory of Beefheart’s bluesier, more psychedelic debut album Safe As Milk from 1967. I feel like there’s almost no way to not love this album. If ya dig, the next logical step in my mind would be Spotlight Kid and/or Clear Spot.
So here’s Safe As Milk for your listening pleasure…nice and listenable! Hope this helps all you Star Room folks give Beefheart another chance. Cheers!
Anybody else have any similar examples of critically-acclaimed albums that are not your favorite?
April 22, 2008
Rock Trivia: Round 10, Question 11 - Beatles
What was the first production credited to Apple Films?
April 18, 2008
Rock Trivia: Round 10, Question 10 - Rock General
What group is (was) Steve Perry a member of?
April 18, 2008
ATTN: Saturday is…
So Saturday is Record Store Day and I guess the reason we’re starting to celebrate it is because of the death of the music industry as we know it. I gotta say I look back on the record store days as pretty sweet. Me and my sister used to go to the local record store (at the Shoppes) and see all these cool records which we weren’t yet familiar, when I was around 9-10 years old. I always remember a Dirty Deeds poster and wondering why all the peoples’ eyes were blacked-out, and a life-size Ringo Starr cardboard cutout in a police uniform. But at that age we were mainly going there to get to the arcade in the back of the store, where I honed my Donkey Kong skills as often as I could.
Fast forward a year or two after Back In Black opened my eyes to rock ‘n roll, and I’m going to the Record Bar at the mall almost religiously and ordering records from the record club…getting 10-12 records at a time in a cardboard box in the mail is about as cool as life gets.
Then a few years later in high school, how many trips did I make to Clifton from the burbs of Cincinnati to visit Wizzards Records to load up on cheap used albums? Then there’s all the stores I’ve loved before… Everybody’s Records, Mole’s, Used Kids, Recycle, and a couple I’ve visited where I live now… Academy Annex in Williamsburg and that joint on Bleecker Street. I’ve gotten the best deals most recently though at NYC street fairs and the last WFMU Record Fair.
So get out there Saturday and find your local record store and grab yourself some tasty vinyl. Or if you don’t have a turntable, seek a cheap one out. Shit, you could even get one of those USB Ion tables, if you don’t have a proper receiver. Anyway, here’s a couple other things…
- Listen to a killer vinyl rip (via Muxtape) , of Neil Young’s Time Fades Away, and then find yourself a vinyl copy of it at your local shop
- Get your free download of the new Gnarls Barkley! The catch…it’s backwards.
- More talk about classic rock live albums at Hidden Track
- Can you think of any other bands that peaked too soon? I’m thinking The Specials.
- You absolutely have to see and hear David Byrne doing his rendition of Paul Simon’s I Know What I Know, which he just performed at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (where I was married) for the recent Paul Simon Graceland tribute, Under African Skies.
- Central Park Summerstage’s calendar is up.
April 17, 2008
Blog Jammin’: Rock of Lunch
Yeah, I’ve got a ton of cool shit to share with you today, the first being the news that this here NewmRadio cyber-rag, received its most visits ever on Wednesday, April 16th! Pretty cool. Let’s just say there were a LOT of folks searching for mucho Rock of Love stuff, since it’s Sunday finale. What an ending, huh? Ambre is now Bret Michael’s ‘Rock’. Whatever that means. Maybe it’s like common-law or something.
- Is there going to be a new Cross/Odenkirk joint? Which will shoot a pilot on May 9th?
- You’ve got to see and hear this Swedish prog rock band, Ungdomskulen!
- Check out the trailer for I Need That Record
- I know what my niece will be getting this Christmas
- Pitchfork again shows it shallowness by exposing that sacred Indie band, Fiery Furnaces, will play with a jam-band keyboardist! I’m sure they will encourage a boycott or stoning at the shows.
- Can I just say that I hate the band name Tapes ‘N Tapes? I will never like this band just because of the name (speaking of shallow). Any band names buggin’ you?
- This album looks like it’d be very cool
- Take RS’s Almost Impossible Rock Trivia quiz… and let’s see your score below!
- Happy Passover, fellow Jews!
April 17, 2008
Rock Trivia: Round 10, Question 9 - Heavy Metal
Before going solo, what group did Sammy Hagar sing for?
April 15, 2008
Dig This! : For Your Wednesday Listening Pleasure
I just found this cool new way to share mix “tapes” with friends, called Muxtape. You upload the songs (which is quick), order the tracks, and it reads the titles and diplays them, and plays the songs back for your favorite cats. So go ahead, listen to this, it’s fun and easy, and it removes excess body fat!
And one more thing, God Bless America! Grace Potter is a cool rock chick.
Anyone else gonna share a Muxtape with us?
April 15, 2008
Rock Trivia: Round 10, Question 8 - Roots of Rock
True of False - Duane & Gregg Allman formed a group called the Allman Joys
