Archive: 2007

Here’s the way I see it: Various webcasts and television channels brought us a constant stream of top-drawer artists rocking crowds across continents and oceans. How on (live) Earth could Al Gore’s latest invention be anything but entertaining for the average viewer? Every time I turned back to it someone relatively cool straddled the stage. The artists may not have given their best performances to date (understatement of the year), yet I still enjoyed the day/night in toto.

That’s not to say I understood the point of this grandiose endeavor. Why would you fly hundreds of artists more than 220,000 miles around the world to make an old point everyone’s been hearing already for years? Will Lenny Kravitz and his directive of letting love rule really get me to take a shorter shower? Still, a global concert’s a global concert, and I ain’t complaining.

So read on after the jump for a slew of videos from yesterday’s intergalactic, 24-hour Live Earth concert, and check out what you may have missed. But before you do that, watch this backstage interview with the specially re-united Spinal Tap — did Rob Reiner just say Al Gore invented The Tap Reunion?

I thought of a great band name this weekend: Ethnic Cleanser. If you’re an aspiring band, go ahead and steal it. I’m totally cool with that. On a separate note, the 10KLF Ticket Giveaway is officially closed and the winners have been notified. We’d like to Special Olympics this contest and give everyone a pair […]

With the return of drummer Nick Jago to their lineup after a prolonged battle with drug and alcohol addiction, the Black Rebel Motorcycle Club’s latest album Baby 81 should be considered a return to their previous form in the likes of their first two albums: BRMC: Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and Take Them On, On Your Own.

New York band Phonograph is an adventurous lot if you were using the catchy, groove-tinged “In Your Mind” as a measuring stick. The song sounds like it could have been recorded during Wilco’s Summerteeth period but with an experimental side to it.

RANDOM STABBINGS & ARTLESS CRITIQUE – July 2007 Bitter Bitter Weeks, Peace is Burning Like a River (High Two Records)In his third full-length LP, Philadelphia’s Brian McTear condenses his keep-it-simple 80s-indie formula, obsessing less on lonely-spotlight unpluggedness and more on full-band, edge-of-the-world 4-chord fluff-pomp.  His voice is of trademark caliber now, tempering the antsiness of […]

As the Yankees and Angels get started on weekend beisbol, now’s the time to drop this week’s outro. This clip combines two of our favorite things: kids kicking ass and retro-rock stylings of The Bees, one of the cooler British bands cooking today. So we’ll conclude this patriotic week of holiday posting with this student-made […]

If the Live Earth or High Sierra webcasts aren’t enough to keep you busy, there is plenty of other cool shit on TV this weekend: Crowded House on Inside Track Friday (all times Eastern): Elvis Costello & The Imposters are the musical guest on the Late Show with David Letterman [CBS 11:35PM] Senior citizen band […]

After months of intense planning, Al Gore’s Live Earth invention is set to begin tonight at 9 pm Eastern. The Police, Dave Matthews Band, Roger Waters, and Smashing Pumpkins are slated to headline Live Earth New Jersey. If you can’t make it to one of the event sites, you won’t have a problem tuning in. […]

It’s Uncle Neddy’s mix tape time, so let’s all gather ’round the campfire and listen to what our main man has in store for us this week… We all have those seminal moments. July 10th, 1992 — 15 years ago next Tuesday — is a pretty good one for me. Here’s a little musical preview […]

It’s easy to overlook the dark heart at the core of Crisis Helpline, but don’t be fooled…under the tasty pieshell of some beautiful sounds lies a  deep, dark slice of life that Hoeffleur serves up so perfectly. 

Papa Mali has announced his debut European Tour, as well as several North American Festivals including High Sierra Music Festival, Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest, Dogstock, Guitar Town, FunkFest and the Legendary Rhythm and Blues Cruise. Papa Mali, born Malcolm Helm Welbourne spent most of his childhood years in Shreveport, Louisiana.  Shreveport was only a short distance […]

The Disco Biscuits have announced Camp Bisco 6 – the sixth year of the band’s always-anticipated annual music festival.  Reputed for each year offering music’s most cutting edge and experimental innovators, Camp Bisco 6 will host three nights of music and camping at the Indian Lookout Country Club in upstate New York. Camp Bisco 6 welcomes […]

A preview of this year's All Good festival

Bob Dylan is one of the most covered artists in rock history. It almost seems as if a band hasn’t “earned their stripes” until they cover Bobby D. Dylan is the king of simple but effective tunes that are ripe for interpretation. One of those tunes is You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere, a beautiful little ditty that was actually released by The Byrds before Dylan got his version out.

You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere was first recorded by Dylan and The Band in 1967 during the legendary Basement Sessions. The Basement Sessions weren’t released to the public until 1975, but bootleg copies made the rounds among artists. The Byrds recorded their own version of the song for Sweetheart of the Rodeo in 1968, starting a trend of bands covering You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere. This week the B List compiles 20 great versions of one of our favorite Dylan tunes.

Read on for You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere covers by the Counting Crows, Phish, New Monsoon and 16 other acts….

The good people at Destructoid are offering us the first view of Rock Band [via Gamespot], the new Guitar Hero game from Harmonix, MTV and Electronic Arts that’s sure to revolutionize the way gamer nerds stay pale in the summer. And based on the following video, I’d be shocked if this thing don’t sell like […]

We hope you are enjoying the day we told England to fuck themselves as much as we are. On the off chance you are stuck at a desk, we’ve got your back with some linkage to get you through the day: Sly Stone brings crazy to a whole new level Widespread Panic’s David Schools talks […]

Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds’ April 22 concert at New York’s Radio City Music Hall will be released on CD and DVD just in time for the end of the summer. The aptly named "Live at Radio City" is due Aug. 14 as a two-CD or two-DVD set via RCA, while a Blu-Ray edition will […]

All realms of Wilco's shape-shifting self were on display recently on a rainy night at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, MD, as Wilco played one of their longest shows of the year; a 26 song monster that even included a Tweedy led rendition of “Happy Birthday” for multi-instrumentalist Pat Sansone.

Our good friend Neddy likes good music, and he wants you good folks to like good music as well. So listen to him when he preachifies about The Bad Plus.

I’ve run out of fingers counting the number of times I’ve seen The Bad Plus in the last few years, and I don’t have enough toes to count the ways in which they continue to diverge from the prototypical jazz trio. What’s left to say? And yet, each viewing brings new wrinkles and reaffirmations: They’re just really, really good.

This time around, the first twist was that they’d left the Village Vanguard and the other jazz clubs of Manhattan behind and took their act to a rock club, the Highline Ballroom, which got all dressed up like a big ol’ jazz hall. I’ve never been to the room before Saturday night and was impressed with the combination of coziness and comfort, the sight-lines and just about everything else besides the drink prices. Even though they had tables set up from front to back and forced a drink minimum on everyone, it still felt more like a rock club and one to which I’m looking forward to returning.

The Bad Plus came out nearly right on the dot of the scheduled start time of 8 pm and wasted no time getting their Bad-Plussiness on. The first tune, later identified as the new Blue Candy, felt almost like a warm-up than a typical TBP composition. It started out mercilessly slow and languid, without too much melodic form or anything else to grab onto; it almost felt like pure improv, actually.

A minute later, it zigged then zagged and all of the sudden it was too fast, like a roller coaster cresting over the initial ascent. I should have known it was a Dave King tune, the drummer whose compositions increasingly experiment with rhythmic structure — experiments whose goal seems to be the experimentation itself, like a warped kid discovering how many different ways they can kill bugs.

Read on for more of Neddy’s fanboy review of the Bad Plus at Highline…

The imcomparable and unintelligible Dr. John boasts a long list of impressive live collaborations, adding his patented brand of voodoo hoodoo to the likes of Eric Claption, The Band, The Meters and hundreds more. But one duet that escaped mine eyes for far too long has surfaced, and I’m lovin’ it (like mid-2000s McDonald’s): Dr. […]