January 4, 2010

Jam Cruise Journal: Day One

Scott Bernstein January 4, 2010 12 Comments

Within about ten minutes of boarding the MSC Poesia, I knew I’d be in for the experience of a lifetime. I’m on Jam Cruise 8 with about three thousand like-minded music fans who couldn’t be happier to be where they are. Outside of my favorite five bands, my music tastes are fairly eclectic and ADD. Jam Cruise gives you the opportunity to bounce around to any of the six stages in comfort allowing you to take in a little of each band easily.

DPV_5591_Sail_Away

[All photos by Dave Vann]

The day started around noon when the Poesia opened its gates. Embarkation couldn’t have been easier and I was having a frozen drink on the Pool Deck by 1. The look on fellow Jam Cruise Virgins’ faces was priceless as they took their first stroll around this humongous boat. We had plenty of time to settle in; the music didn’t start until 7PM. I took this opportunity to grab some grub. I had heard the food was awful, but that just isn’t the case.

Around 6:45, JC Cruise Director Julie McCoy took to the stage for a celebratory toast. Trombone Shorty & Orleans Ave. kicked things off playing their first notes as the ship left the dock. There were people getting down on every crevice of the Pool Deck, yet there was plenty of space and if you wanted to watch from the rail you could. Trombone Shorty has a much harder sound than I had imagined performing a solid mix of funk and hard rock. TS took control of the crowd early on and having a band with a animated front man open the festivities was a terrific call.

READ ON for more from Scotty about Jam Cruise 8…

New Year’s Eve Report: Gov’t Mule

DaveO January 4, 2010 5 Comments

All week we’re going to be taking a quick look at some of HT’s favorite bands and just what they had up their sleeve this past New Year’s Eve. In this era of High Speed Internet and ever-evolving digital camera technology, the media available on YouTube, bt.etree.org, and the Live Music Archive really makes this job quite easy.

Gov’t Mule recruited the vocal stylings of Dana Fuchs as well as a three-piece horn section to work their way through a whole bunch of first-time-covers from the likes of Santana, Big Brother & The Holding Company, Sly & The Family Stone, and Crosby Stills & Nash to name just a few of the artists, many of which performed at the original Woodstock Festival.

Click here to download the audience recording courtesy of Freddie G.

READ ON for the full setlist and more videos.

HT 25 Best Albums of 2009: Numbers 21-25

Hidden Track Staff January 4, 2010 5 Comments

This year at Hidden Track, we concocted a little experiment for our year-end Best Albums of 2009 list. Instead of picking the old fashioned way – subjectively – we opted for something a little different: a collaborative, collective list that incorporates the opinions of everybody here at HT.

To begin, we devised an all-encompassing list of around 100 nominees and populated it in a Google spreadsheet – essentially anything that anybody who writes for Hidden Track liked at all, made the list. Then we invited our crew of writers to independently vote on the whole list (omitting anything unfamiliar) on a scale of 1 to 20 (20 = five stars). We ended up with 33 voters with varying degrees of familiarity with the nominees; some folks voted on just about everything, while some just a few. From there, we eliminated anything that did not receive at least three votes, calculated the average scores, and sorted it. We took the top 25 scores and presto: the Hidden Track 25 Best Albums of 2009. No bullshit, no big opinions; just the results.

Let’s kick things off with numbers 25 through 21…

25) M. Ward – Hold Time

Key Tracks: Stars Of Leo, Rave On, Never Had Nobody Like You

Sounds Like: An old antique photo

Skinny: In 2008 M. Ward seemed to take a backseat to doe-eyed actress Zooey Deschanel as the Him in vintage indie-pop act She & Him, but he was back in 2009 with his latest solo release, Hold Time. The album is full of everything we’ve come to expect from Matt over the years – modern indie-rock that is completely bathed in the patina of the last fifty-plus years of pop music. Combining his sepia-drenched vocals and open tuning guitar work with guest appearances from the aforementioned Deschanel, Lucinda Williams and Grandaddy’s Jason Lytle.

READ ON for the next four albums in our countdown…

Wilco Adds US Dates to 2010 Slate

Luke Sacks January 4, 2010 3 Comments

Wilco had those of us on the east coast worried we wouldn’t get any love this year when they announced some random midwest dates, a full-blown tour of Canada and

Stormy Mondays: A Peak at ’10

Dan Alford January 4, 2010 1 Comment

We’ll kick off the new year at Stormy Mondays with a quick listen to a few bands you should watch in the coming months. First is Surprise Me, Mr. Davis

Televised Tune: On the Tube This Week

Luke Sacks January 4, 2010 1 Comment

Elvis Costello does an outstanding job with his weekly Sundance show Spectacle. But this week, the tables will turn on the host when actress Mary-Louise Parker (Weeds, The West Wing)

The Flaming Lips – Wayne Coyne Tells All

Travis Atria January 4, 2010 No Comments

Of course, the 48-year-old singer of the Flaming Lips doesn’t feel very comfortable discussing art. In fact, every time he uses the word, he makes sure you know that he knows that it’s all just a bunch of bullshit. But, the fact remains: Coyne and the Lips are responsible for elevating pop music to the status of art – whether it be an album that requires the listener to play four discs on four stereos at the same time (Zaireeka), or one of the greatest musical creations of the 20th century (The Soft Bulletin).

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