Archive: 2008

Robert Plan and Alison Krauss have announced plans to embark on a US tour this spring. The Led Zeppelin frontman and the country chanteuse will begin their jaunt April 20 in Louisville, Kentucky. The duo will also stop in Knoxville, Tennessee, on April 22, Chattanooga, Tennessee, on April 23 and Birmingham, Alabama on April 26, […]

They don’t have a record deal or release date for their album yet, and their name still isn’t even a 100% firm, but a new "supergroup" featuring members of the Heartbreakers, Elvis Costello’s Imposters, Toad the Wet Sprocket and others has taken shape in Los Angeles and will likely be heard from this year. Tentatively […]

The debut EP CB Radio by Chris Burns is an energetic acoustic album with enough hooks to carry any full-length release. The metaphor-rich lyrics and soft, boy-next-door vocals punctuate the songs, but it’s Burns’ compositions that stand out.

For his latest album, 12, Keller Williams employs a fairly straightforward concept: 12 songs, one from each of his 11 albums and one previously unreleased track. It’s a neat twist on the “greatest hits” concept, a unique approach that should be no surprise to fans of the eccentric musician.

With his latest album, Some Mad Hope, Matt Nathanson wants your attention.  But there’s also part of him that wants to be known for writing songs you love.  In other words, he’s not Adam Sandler’s long lost cousin.

It’s a big day for football fans, with two Sunday Specials occupying the afternoon and evening airwaves. So pick up some Tostitos and the corresponding Pace Picante, call your friends and cram five people on a four-person couch, hire a midget stripper to serve everyone Gimlets and prepare yourself for some old-fashioned slobberknockers. I think […]

Jake and Elwood Blues put their R&B band back together in an effort to save the orphanage where they grew up in 1980’s Blues Brothers movie. The film’s clearly hilarious, but it also features a slew of good music. Ray Charles, James Brown and Aretha Franklin all make memorable cameos, while always-underrated aces Donald “Duck” […]

I’m dropping down a guarantee right here and now. I am Broadway Joe in a long fur coat on the eve of Super Bowl III. I am Mark Messier before a do-or-die Game 6 in New Jersey. I am George Foreman and you are searching for a low-cost muffler. And here’s my guarantee: You will […]

Tea Leaf Green is the jamband scene’s Radiohead. Before you fume with anger at that analogy, we’re only talking about their ability to regularly provide fans with awesome simulcasts of their performances. Now the band is working with iClips to offer three live broadcasts from TLG’s upcoming tour. Check out iClips on February 2nd, 3rd […]

Jamie Lidell’s second album, Multiply caught people off-guard in 2005. Few expected the restless sonic scientist to make an uplifting soul record, but he did; and audiences and critics were captivated by the fusion of his influences with deeply felt song writing, meticulous production skills, and most of all, that amazing voice. According to the […]

The Floydian Slips are no mere cover band, and the cannon that they focus on is quite deep to say the least. This Oregon based eight piece ensemble recreates a Pink Floyd experience with tremendous accuracy and intensity.

Record company executives and the RIAA for far too long have turned a blind eye to the pandemic that’s been tearing apart the integrity of the music industry. Album sales have dwindled and increasing ticket prices have seen many live performances scantily attended, leaving many musicians to secretly take matters into their own hands. You […]

Giants Stadium held rock concerts all the time when I was growing up. And whether you’re talking about Pink Floyd, Michael Jackson or Van Halen, there were plenty of acts big enough to fill the enormous football stadiums around the country. But over the past 20 years, the number of performers who can sell out stadiums, or even want to play places that big, has decreased significantly.

While the RIAA might try to find some way to blame file-sharing for the dramatic decline of stadium shows, we think one of the major factors surrounds all of the hassles involved with these humongous shows. Who wants pay hundreds of dollars to deal with all of the traffic, exorbitant prices for food and drinks and poor sightlines? Where’s the freakin’ intimacy?

Yet there are a few acts who could fill stadiums in the biggest of markets. So for this week’s B List, we’ll take a look at 10 bands that almost need to play stadiums to meet the heavy demand for tickets. We broke ’em down into three categories, so read on after the jump for my thoughts and weigh in with your own…

Our Thursday dog-walkers Rupert & Stan are back, and they’re gettin’ dirty…

Since we started throwing around a few ideas for bachelor parties last week, it seems like a good time to talk about one of the great attributes of many a song, particularly the jamband kind: the happy ending. Whether you are a fan of the “costs an extra twenty bucks” kind or the “she finds out it was a bet, gets angry, never wants to see him again, but he really does like her now, and they eventually make up and kiss” kind, everybody loves a happy ending.

Numerous bands have used this technique in their song structures, whereby the songs typically progress through a series of varied sections, often with some strictly composed parts, building tension throughout, and ultimately releasing into a climactic conclusion. These earlier sections are often brilliant and more musically complex than the “happy ending,” but it’s the finale that really brings the wide reaching grins, woohoos, fist pumps, and high fives.

These are songs that end with a release via towering jams or other special treats. We’d be lying if we didn’t admit that we’ve been known to fast forward straight to these happy endings from time to time. In fact, most weeknights you can probably find one of our fat asses listening to one of these while romping along on some poor treadmill.

So without further ado, read on after the jump for some of our favorites, including some Imeemage for your listening enjoyment as we go along…

Some kindly folks have alerted us to some fantastic videos over the past 24 hours, and they’re definitely worth your time. Check ’em after the jump…

The Disco Biscuits just released a new podcast featuring highlights from the band’s well-regarded New Year’s run. Now you can check out the Run Like Hell from NYE, as well as five other tracks including the Crickets from Hammerstein Ballroom. If you’re not familiar with the jam-trance stylings of Bisco, check out this free podcast […]

An independent Miami label says it plans to release never-before-heard Beatles live recordings made in 1962 at the Star Club in Hamburg, Germany. Fuego Entertainment, which distributes music through Koch, has entered into a joint venture, Echo-Fuego, with British producer/promoter Jeffrey Collins to put out his catalog holdings. They say those include a live Beatles […]

If you thought it extremely unlikely to see Grateful Dead merch being hawked during a public television fundraising campaign, as has happened in recent years, you probably never imagined something called “An Orchestral Tribute to The Music of The Grateful Dead.” But lo and behold here it is, in the form of Dead Symphony.

Radiohead performed their first gig of 2008 tonight (January 16) in London, playing recent album ‘In Rainbows’ in its entirety. Having surprised fans by only announcing the free “instore” gig at the Rough Trade East shop in Brick Lane only this morning, the band found themselves as surprised as the crowd when the show had […]

Kevin Smith has cast former porn star Traci Lords and The Office star Craig Robinson in his new project, Zack & Miri Make a Porno. The duo joins Seth Rogen, Elizabeth Banks, and Jason Mewes in the movie, which is about two lifelong pals who get their friends together to make a porno so they […]