Hidden Track

Back in the late ’70s a new style of music called 2 Tone originated in England. 2 Tone music combines groovy reggae beats and catchy pop melodies with a whopping dose of punk snarl. No one played 2 Tone quite like The Specials. The Specials took what some of their contemporaries were doing to the […]

Recording rock concerts can be a hit or miss proposition. Sometimes the elements are just right for a taper to pull a perfect recording. Other times various factors lead to a tinny tape that just isn’t worth the trouble. Often new sources of a show turn up that puts what you have in your collection to shame.

This week’s Grousing The Aisles looks at a couple of recordings that are huge upgrades over the sources that previously circulated. One of the shows took place last month, while we recently celebrated the 10th anniversary of the other concert. Let’s jump in…

Phish 12/30/1997 FOB DAUD [FLAC, MP3 Pt.1 Pt.2]

December 30 was always a special day for a Phish show, but the concert the band played on that date in 1997 was some next level shit. The band blew past the union deadline by nearly an hour, during which they staged the best encore they ever played. Up until now mediocre sounding audience recordings were the only way to hear the madness that ensued that evening. Just this week an incredible version of this concert finally surfaced over at bt.etree offering a listening experience that put me right back in the world’s greatest arena. Read on for more about this show, a Mars Volta bootleg and links to five terrific soundboards…

If you didn’t get to see The Police last year during either of their U.S. tours, you’ll get one more chance before they call it quits. Billboard reports that Sting, Stewart and Andy will return to North America on May 1 for 30-odd dates in May and July, with a 15 show run in Europe […]

Just when we thought that promoters realized the marketplace for festivals was saturated as fuck, another one was announced today. The Rothbury Festival will take place July 3-6 at the Double JJ Ranch in Rothbury, Michigan. We were ready to bash the promoters (AEG and Madison House), but we’re kinda taken with the lineup and the lodging options they’ve offered up.

The headliners that appeal to us are Phil Lesh and Friends, Widespread Panic, Snoop Dogg and Primus. We can’t wait to see Snoop D-O-double G finally get his groove on at a hippie jam festival. John Mayer and Dave Matthews are also playing, so there should be plenty of women at this event. Other noteworthy acts scheduled to play Rothbury are Gomez, Zappa Plays Zappa and Modest Mouse. The former members of Phish have been noticeably absent from the festival lineups announced thus far in 2008, until now. Both Mike Gordon and Jon Fishman will be heading to Michigan. Gordon presumably with his solo band, and Fishman as a special guest of Yonder Mountain. We missed those guys!

As we mentioned earlier the promoters of Rothbury have offered a number of interesting lodging options. You can choose from log cabins, log homes, RV packages or the intriguing bunkhouse “party room” option. We’re not big on the camping aspect of festies anymore; so the ability to take a shower, charge our cellphones and be able to escape the wook factor makes us want to head to the shores of Lake Michigan. Early-bird tickets go on sale February 27th via the festie’s official website. Read on for the full lineup, and information about how the promoters plan to draw attention to climate change and clean energy alternatives…

We’re finally dealing with winter around here. And while I’ll probably be sick of seeing the snow the minute I step into one of those murky mystery puddles (if you live in New York, you know what I’m talking about). I was feeling a bit inspired by the weather for this inaugural edition of Mixology. […]

If you missed Sunday’s Grammy Awards ceremony – or just turned it off in disgust like I did – you can still watch the two or three good moments via YouTube. One of those who turned off the ceremony was Sleater-Kinney’s Carrie Brownstein. She explains her reasons for flipping to The Wire at Monitor Mix.

We miss the good ol’ days when we use to talk about the massive snubs each year. Luckily Cracked lists the 7 best snubs, because we totally forgot about the lame version of Layla beating out Smells Like Teen Spirit for Best Rock Song back in ’92. Too bad Kurt Cobain didn’t pull a Kanye.

Now let’s all forget about the Grammys until 2009, and partake in some linkage:

• Does anyone care that the Stone Temple Pilots are back?
• Art Decade looks at a few covers of the Stones’ Paint It Black
• The Who’s Pete Townshend reveals what’s next for the band
• Pop Quiz: How well do you know your axes?
• Popdose offers the Complete Idiots Guide to Tom Waits
• The Mighty Mighty Bosstones will headline Bamboozle
• Gene Ween shares some intimate videos with us
• Yoko says O-No to an artist named Lennon
• Malnourish Your Dog: Trey spotting in NYC

Did anyone see two of our favorite critics, Greg Kot and Jim DeRogatis, appearance on Late Night with Conan O’ Brien from Monday night? Kot tells the inside story of his seven minutes in heaven over at Turn It Up. If you missed the Chicagoans appearance we’ve got you covered after the jump…

In our relentless pursuit of giving you the goods we figured we’d check in and see what some other people have going on… IGN rattles off the Top 10 Albums That Every Music Snob Name Checks Stereogum waxes poetic on the influence of Neutral Milk Hotel’s seminal 10-year-old album In The Aeroplane Over The Sea […]

We’ve finally got some confirmed dates for the first leg of Radiohead’s upcoming North American tour, as well as a list of cities they will hit on the second leg. The most anticipated tour of 2008 starts with a two-week Amphitheater run in West Palm Beach on May 5. Thom Yorke and the boys return […]

Scanning through the endless list of super groups, jam bands, hip hop acts and comedians slated to perform at this summer’s Bonnaroo, one act jumped off the page for me: the Bluegrass All Stars (Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas, Bela Fleck, Edgar Meyer, Luke Bulla, and Bryan Sutton). Upon first glance, it’s probably easy to overlook this as this group as a highlight given that they join forces in so many shapes and sizes every summer.

The thing is though, this is a complete performance of the best and brightest musicians, and they have a whole show to play together. The bluegrass fest thing is usually snippets of collaboration involving standards and covers, but rarely do we see a cohesive setlist. With this show, we’re getting a more organized affair that might just go down history with Strength in Numbers or the New Grass Revival…

Instead of just sitting here slobbering, I’d rather just highlight some of the endless flexibility that is joining forces here. Read on for a diverse concoction of the collaborations to which the different members of the Bluegrass All Stars have contributed…

If you obsessively watched MTV anytime during the mid ‘90s there is a good chance you were familiar with Nada Surf and their quirky, spoken word-esque tome to dating and high school life: Popular.

You know, the one that kind of sounded like Weezer’s Sweater Song. Ringing a bell now? Well it was the kind of song that had many thinking they’d just be another one-hit wonder destined to be featured as the punch line on countless VH1 retro shows. Heck their own label even thought that, and dropped them because they didn’t think their follow-up album had another hit song like Popular.

End of story, right? Well not exactly. Nada Surf might have fallen off the collective mainstream music radar for a few years, but they were still hard at work crafting a new sound and recording. It was one of those records – 2003’s critically acclaimed Let Go – that my old roommate insisted I listen to. I instantly latched onto its lush, dreamy indie-pop, and it became the number one album I pushed on friends to make sure they heard too. Keep reading so I can convert you into a fan as well…