Somewhere deep into his sold out 90 minute set at Denver's Ogden Theatre, Prince declared to his fans "Aint no party like a purple party 'cause the purple party don't stop!" This is a mantra Prince and his fans have always seemed to live by, and at this rare intimate theater show, they all definitely lived up to that mantra in full.
Signed since 2011 to the Kings of Leon helmed imprint, Serpents & Snakes, The Features have returned with their latest LP, an eleven track self-titled walk through their kaleidoscopic soundscape, offering both steady favorites and some new, interesting wrinkles.
The recent revelation from Sonic Youth bassist and ex-wife Kim Gordon in the May issue of Elle that Moore had a little side action going on during the recent years of their marriage might come as a surprise to some. But in listening to songs like the Roky Erickson homage "Empires of Time", "Frank O'Hara Hit"–which refers to the Dune Buggy death of the acclaimed mid-60s poet–and the relentlessly scrub-core closing cut "Communist Eyes", there's something fueling Thurston's thirst for throwback chaos.
Machine Gun Kelly began his incredibly personal set with “Save Me” a hit off his Lace Up album. The performance seemed to rile the crowd to the point where a member of the audience climbed up on the rafters and was then promptly ejected by an overzealous security guard. Kelly continued with “What I Do,” featuring Dub-O and Bun B, and held the somber energy throughout the entire song. With lyrics like, “This shit’s too real for ya’ll cause almost everybody rapping isn’t real at all. Sometimes I forget I got a deal cause’ I’m busy thinking about when I couldn’t get a meal at all,” he depicted the struggle he faced before his “come up.”
After six years, Griffin returns with a masterclass in folk she’s dubbed American Kid, a record which explores life and death in a way that shows considerable candor and heartfelt honesty.
As the Grateful Dead organization entered its transition from an independent business entity to its full-fledged collaboration with Rhino Records in the middle of the last decade, the titles in the ‘Dick’s Pick’s’ archive series became available only sporadically. Beginning in 2011, however, Real Gone Music began the regular reissue of the titles. Dick’s Picks #24, recorded March 1974 at the venerable Cow Palace, is testament to a high level of inspiration in the band’s playing, no doubt elevated even further as it takes place on the group's home turf in San Francisco. Even more notably, this concert represents the first use of the hallowed ‘Wall of Sound’ in its entirety.
MS MR’s full-length debut Secondhand Rapture (out now on Columbia Records) features a rich, consistent and at times addicting sound that reveals the band’s tremendous potential across twelve tracks.
To pin the R&B label on Land of CanAan would miss what Marques Toliver’s first album captures: a junction of soul and classical sensibility, where a violinist with a killer vocal shakes up both genres.
In interviews regarding her new album Love and Forgiveness, Courtney Jaye has been quoted as saying “I’ve always wanted to find a way to not be afraid of pop. I’m done apologizing for writing big songs.” Jaye (with a helping hand from producer Mike Wrucke) has certainly done that here as fans of 70’s folk-pop will instantly enjoy their surroundings.
The Waterboys' An Appointment with Mr. Yeats actually predates the concept of the Billy Bragg/Wilco Mermaid Avenue project as well as New Multitudes' more recent homage to Woody Guthrie. Nurtured by bandleader Mike Scott over a period of two decades, the album's exalting music, roiling ("The Hosting of the Shee") and reflective ("Song of Wandering Aengus), has its inspiration in the verse of the genius Irish poet William Butler Yeats.
