BLACK REBEL MOTORCYCLE CLUB- Spread Your Love
Radiohead- The Kings of Limbs
In just 5 days welcome the new Radiohead album, The King of Limbs. Everytime they release an album it makes music headlines all over the internet.
Radiohead will digitally release The King of Limbs this Saturday, Feb. 19. According to their website, the band will also release a version of The King of Limbs that will stand as “perhaps” the “world’s first Newspaper Album,” containing “two clear 10” vinyl records in a purpose-built record sleeve, a compact disc, many large sheets of artwork, 625 tiny pieces of artwork and a full-colour piece of oxo-degradeable plastic to hold it all together.”
The Kings of Limbs will be Radiohead eighth album following the perfect In Rainbows.You can order pre-order the album at TheKingOfLimbs.com.
Arcade Fire Win Album of the Year!
“What the hell?” I’m as shocked as they looked. Arcade Fire- The Suburbs won album of the year beating out Eminem, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Lady Antebellum.
(My pick for album of the year: Delta Spirit- History from Below).
Although the Grammy’s are considerably not important. I can’t help but feel a spark of hope for the music industry. With it’s lack of originality and lack of real instruments from competitors, Arcade Fire’s victory is even sweeter.
I love that a band on a small indie label can win the award for album of the year. Incorporate more of this! Give people more options music industry, stir things up, you’ve been feeding people the same crap for about ten years.
Arcade Fire are a breath of fresh air. Although I don’t believe the Suburbs is their best work (Funeral), it is deserving. It’s compelling, addicting, and interesting. It’s conceptual and it makes you think.
“We’re going to go play another song because we like music,” lead singer Win Butler said. That’s the passion of Arcade Fire. They love playing and making music and it’s a beautiful thing, it’s art in it’s truest form.
Arcade Fire, won album of the year but couldn’t win in a lesser category (best alternative album) for The Suburbs, which the Black Keys, claimed with Brothers. Brothers was not found worthy enough for an album-of-the-year nomination by the Recording Academy of Arts and Sciences. Wtf?
Now let me get to some other things, performances. I thought the Avett Brothers were amazing (favorite of the night), Mumford & Sons equally as good. Bob Dylan, whom I love, sounded like crap to be honest. I’m sure he didn’t care though (drunk). Mick Jagger sounded great and looked good, that song went too long. Why is this the first Grammy performance for Dylan and Jagger (wow the Grammy’s really are not important). Cee-Lo and the puppets were very good, Gweneth Paltrow was not good at all. Did you forgive Christina Aguilera for botching the National Anthem? The Aretha Franklin tribute was sweet.
How the hell did muse beat out Jeff Beck, Neil Young, Tom Petty, and Pearl Jam? The Resistance is the lamest album I’ve heard since Chris Cornell’s Scream.
“This was a band that desperately wants to be Queen, without the self-aware humor.”- Greg Kot (about Muse)
Neil Young won his first ever Grammy (again Grammy’s must not be important) for best rock song, “Angry World”. Mavis Staples won her first ever Grammy Award for best Americana album, “You Are Not Alone”, produced by Jeff Tweedy of Wilco.
Lastly I would like to say congratulations again to Arcade Fire! That is amazing!
Music is for Listening!
I went to a concert on Friday. I’ve ranted about this before.
I don’t understand why people talk during shows. And by that I mean why do they talk during the WHOLE show! Why the hell are you there!
I live in Chicago and I goto 90% of my shows in Chicago. I’ve been to shows in Wisconsin before and the crowds are much more respectful.
I want to know what you think. Tell me your stories…
This brings me to my next point though which is even crazier, record collectors. Vinyl, I love it. I think it is the best. It sounds good but I enjoy putting the record on, sitting down, flipping it, it’s fun. I own an mp3 player but I rather listen to vinyl and I listen to music more in that format than mp3.
I actually buy nearly all of my vinyl online, usually Amazon (they have great deals, I hope i get money for saying that). Nowadays you can buy the vinyl which is just as much as the CD and the vinyl also comes with the mp3 download (very cool).
But some people are nuts! I also try to find some steals on ebay. I navigate there if I want to see if there is a better price. This week I found this- The Dead Weather “Hang You From The Heavens” 7 inch (let me know if the link stops working). Regardless this single (2 songs) went for $3,150. That’s not a typo. Who the hell in their right mind pays that much for 2 songs!
That my friend was not purchased by a music fan. A record collector bought that rare single, an insane person. Will they ever play that record, nope, then tell me what is the point. Music is meant to be listened to. That’s the whole point!
If anyone should be really mad, it’s Jack White. I’m pretty sure they gave those away free at their first show (I’m not positive but they didn’t cost $3,150, I know that!) You know who else is mad, me. I can tell you about 100 things I can do with $3,150. That person threw their money away. Give the money to charity if you have that much money to spare. People need money to survive and this guy is buying two songs. Makes me sick.
This is why we can’t have nice things. What a mad mad mad mad mad world. Thanks crazy people!
The White Stripes Retire
I’ve come out of retirement to talk about the retirement of one of my favorite bands, The White Stripes.
The White Stripes have officially called it quits. According toThird Man Records and The White Stripes Official website, they offered a statement.
In the statement they say they will no longer record or perform live. ”The reason is not due to artistic differences or lack of wanting to continue, nor any health issues as both Meg and Jack are feeling fine and in good health. It is for a myriad of reasons, but mostly to preserve what is beautiful and special about the band and have it stay that way.”
“The White Stripes do not belong to Meg and Jack anymore. The White Stripes belong to you now and you can do with it whatever you want. The beauty of art and music is that it can last forever if people want it to. Thank you for sharing this experience. Your involvement will never be lost on us and we are truly grateful.”
They go out with their last album, Icky Thump and the live compilation Under Great White Northern Lights and the beautiful documentary. They performed for the last time on The Late Show with Conan O’ Brien.
The White Stripes’ music is near and dear to my heart. They are the reason I started playing guitar. Through the White Stripes I discovered nearly every band I listen to today, they are a gateway band. But above all I just LOVE their music. I can listen to it regardless of mood, and at any time of the day. To me it’s perfect music.
Thank You Jack and Meg!
The White Stripes will go down as one of the most important bands of the 2000′s. There are soooo many bands in the world. Yet this 2 piece garage band from Detriot Michigan came from nowhere. The White Stripes put out 2 amazing albums before they hit the mainstream with White Blood Cells and the single, “Fell In Love with a Girl”. The White Stripes became a sensation with the “Garage rock revival”. Then came Elephant an album so good it will stand the test of time. It’s one of the best of the decade and perfect. After four records that virtually stuck to the same formula and all equally amazing. They made Get Behind me Satan, which was a departure from their sound. It was darker and it barely contained guitar yet still great. Then in 2007 came Icky Thump (also great) and the Candian Tour. And esstentially thats the end of the band. It is so difficult to make a name for yourself in this day and age and as all the other garage rock bands have faded the White Stripes remained strong. They never made a bad album in fact, you could easily make the argument that all their albums are must owns. They made a song, that everyone knows.
Retirement is not the end of The White Stripes because of what they did for music, The White Stripes will remain forever.
Beatles on ITunes
Today the entire Beatles catalog was released on Itunes. I hope they break every record possible.
How anti-climatic is this. They could’ve released in on Itunes the same day that the box sets came out last year but why. They could’ve released their music on Itunes when it came out.
At this point I’m going to assume the only people who don’t own The Beatles music are people who hate The Beatles (real sick people).
I hope you already own the Beatles catalog. Since you do, here are some recommendations that came out today for you to buy:
Delta Spirit- The Waits Room
Hello=Fire
and just for good measure, pick up some Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, anything.
Billy Corgan Thinks are Pavement “Sell Outs”
I don’t want to take sides in this bad blood feud…. but that Billy Corgan.
Billy Corgan has a twitter and he can’t resist from bashing something. Corgan explained that he recently found out the Pumpkins and Pavement would be sharing the bill together at Brazil’s Planeta Terra Festival later this month (November 20).
“It’s gonna be one of those New Orleans-type funerals,” he wrote, adding: “I say that because they represent the death of the alternative dream, and we follow with the affirmation of life part.”
Referring to the spat which started in 1994, when Pavement mocked the band on their song “Range Life”, Corgan wrote: ”funny how those who pointed the big finger of ‘sell out’ are the biggest offenders now… yawn. They have no love.”
He added: “By the way, we’ll be the band up there playing NEW songs because we have the love.”
http://www.nme.com/news/smashing-pumpkins/53861
Billy, no more please. Your old songs were great. Please don’t brag about playing new material because frankly it is not good.
Who are you to call Pavement sell-outs. I don’t even like Pavement. They played Pitchfork music festival and didn’t want to broadcast it live because they don’t like Pitchfork, so their fans couldn’t watch the performance online. That’s stupid and careless for your fans, who cares about Pitchfork.
So you could call Pavement jerks. I would think a jerk is someone that comes to play his home town and when a fan yells, “Chicago loves you” you respond with “That’s not what the record sales say.”
So first define what you consider a sell-out and then hold yourself to the same standard, because Billy Corgan is a sell-out and a jerk.
Rock Band Isn’t Real
“A New York Times reviewer says the newest version of the video game Rock Band — which features new instruments including a 25-key wireless keyboard and a guitar with six real strummable strings — can “actually begin to teach you to play guitar, bass and keyboards.”
Alright, this is so so stupid. Just play a real instrument. Ok a 25-key keyboard cannot be too different from a real keyboard, I can’t imagine how else you could make the game work.
Now the guitars are going to come with six strings. Here’s my suggestion, buy a real guitar or bass. They have those beginners packages at Guitar Center and places like Target, where it comes with a cheap guitar, instruction book, maybe an instructional DVD, picks, strap, mini amp, everything you need. Plus it’s probably cheaper or the same price as Rock band.
On one side at least people are getting into music. Music with instruments, not just computer generated noises.
The downside is that it is how fake it is. “The drums on Rock band” are just like real life.” Well good, so play real drums then.
Learn a real instrument. You can be sloppy, that’s real, its raw.
Rock band is a game. What’s stopping you from starting a band in real life?
Justin Bieber, He Feels Like Cobain
I don’t really know much more than most sane people about Justin Bieber. He’s some teenager that apparently sings songs that become huge hits.
My blog has always been targeted to avoid this crap but often mainstream music gets me so ticked off I write about it. This is one of those situations.
“I feel like the Kurt Cobain of my generation, but people just don’t understand me.”- Justin Bieber
I want your comments. What do you think about this?
The Black “Eyed” Keys
The Black Keys, have gotten a lot of attention from their latest album Brothers. They even won an MTV Video Music Award for their video “Tighten Up”
They finally recieved their award!
