James Brown was a giant, and in my opinion one of the four of five pillars of modern sound. One cannot imagine contemporary popular music without the influence of the Hardest Working Man in Show Business.
Friday night The Family Band crammed the Roseland Ballroom with all kinds of fans as they say on their new album Colorblind, “Red Yellow Black or White/We all getting down tonight” and get down they did, as the New Jersey natives had a “Homecoming”.
ar from a sellout of the huge arena (complete sections were empty) those in attendance caught a master still on top of his game and with the encore of two of the greatest modern songs ever written – Like a Rolling Stone” and “All Along the Watchtower -few left unsatisfied.
One needs to know before listening that Wolf Eyes' Human Animal isn’t remotely close to your leather clad teased hair metal from days of lore, this is the psychopathic soundscape that hides in the heads of serial killers spilled out onto CD. A director could take this disk, and literally use the whole thing in order as a musical score to create a cringe inducing fright fest.
When Primus played, they were tight, if not as powerful or spacious as in past outings, but with the ambivalence or possible anger being displayed from one of the quirkiest front men in the business, I think it is safe too say that it was an off night for the group who ironically usually just Sucks!
CMJ (NYC’s annual music fest) came in like a lion, roared like a lion and left like – yup, you got it – a lion. The whirlwind of fantastic jams set the foundation for the Wednesday night show at Bowery Ballroom. Chock Full O’ Bands that are in various stages of their journey on a streetcar named fame, there was a bevy of talent packing the house for seven hours of music. While tag wearing hipsters skedaddled about the city, your faithful narrator got a spot on the ballroom floor and has a review of each of these acts presented here, because all are worthy of praise and your attention:
He is a legend, he is Scratch and he is The Upsetter. But he's also self-indulgent to a fault on his latest offering.
These Raconteurs have a story to tell; they are one of the most exciting, tightest bands playing today, and put on one of the best shows of the year.
If Golem! would have let their raven hair down and stomped around the studio a bit more, Fresh Off Boat could have risen above kitsch.
While some in the audience soaked it up as simple giddy fun, others were clearly annoyed by Jet's lack of showmanship and overall mediocre playing. All classic rock clichés came out, as did a few lighters during “Look What You’ve Done.”
