Official Trailer of “Fight For Your Right-Revisited”, from the Beastie Boys’ long anticipated eighth album, HOT SAUCE COMMITTEE PART TWO.
Listen to the album’s opening track:
http://rapradar.com/2011/04/06/new-music-beastie-boys-make-some-noise/
Browsing Posts tagged Music
Think Spinal Tap meets Tenacious D meets 80’s hair metal parody….$7.99 on itunes….yeah, I totally just bought this album…
Alice Cooper
Beastie Boys
Bon Jovi
Chic
Neil Diamond
Donovan
Dr. John
J. Geils Band
LL Cool J
Darlene Love
Laura Nyro
Donna Summer
Joe Tex
Tom Waits
Chuck Willis
And here is a list of some that got snubbed:
Rush
T. Rex
The Smiths
Joan Jett
KISS
So what do you guy’s think?
Remember, Hip Hop is an attitude and lifestyle.
So in my morning net surfing and message board participation’s I came across this list of the top 15 albums from a random week in 1994
Take a quick peak at it and you’ll see what was hot back then. You have Mariah Carey, Janet Jackson, Salt N Pepper, New Kids on the Block, Bryan Adams, and a host of other items that just make me cringe.
That being said what really caught my attention was the amount of albums I like and their position:
1. Alice in Chains- Jar of Flies
3. Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers- Greatest Hits
6. Pearl Jam-Vs
12. Smashing Pumpkins- Siamese Dream
14. Counting Crows- August and Everything After
So right there you have one album that I’m sure would be in my top 10 of the decade and two more that I consider to be great (Siamese dream, vs, jar of flies respectively). Plus there are a lot of other very listenable albums on that list that maybe they are not my favs but the Gin Blossoms, Cranberries, and Philadelphia soundtrack all have their merits. Pretty damn good week in music if you ask me.
Now take a look at what is hot today
Pretty damn scary. Sure there is a Bruce Springsteen album in the top 25 (towards the back end), but i have no interest in owning it. The Coldplay album is on there but I don’t have a single coldplay album on my ipod so that does nothing for me. The Lamb of God album is at number two which is kind of cool for metal, but I have no interest in buying it. I have a couple older albums and I feel that they are a band that I don’t need that much of.
I don’t think i own a single album on that list. I’m scraping trying to find albums i even halfway respect. Taylor Swift, Nickleback, The Jonas Brothers, Beyonce, and Jamie Fox all in the top ten. I shudder to think of listening to most of those and what it would do to me.
I am not trying to sound like the old guy when i was 16 who all he could talk about was how good Led Zepplin, Pink Floyd, and the Who were and these new bands like Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Smashing Pumpkins, and Alice in chains are all redundant and watered down. I understand there are reasons for this. Obviously I know there is good music being made today. There are reasons for the lack of what i consider to be quality music on the charts. One of course is the bands I think are making the good music just seem to do so on a smaller level and don’t get as much publicity. Of course many of these bands have their music stolen on file sharing networks and blogs so the sales do not go into the system, and this is just one week out of the year there will be other weeks that will have better representation of the current music scene.
All that said i still got a kick out of the difference between that one week from 1994 and this week today. Makes me feel old and a little reminiscent of those days!
Ronald Jenkees makes some sick beats. When you hear him talk, you don’t expect much. But wait to you hear him.
Here are some more if you feel like jamming out…
No Age is a relatively new band (2005) and their latest record “Nouns” will most likely end up scattered on numerous end of the year list for best album of the year. The band is a two piece from Los Angeles consisting of guitarist Randy Randell and drummer/vocalist Dean Spunt.
No Age take their name from an all instrumental SST release from the 80’s. On “Nouns” their first release with indie darling label Sub Pop those SST influences shine through. With the album lasting only about 33 minutes they waste no time setting up the wall of sound. They are lo fi in that they don’t clean up their recordings much, but this hardly sounds like a Sebadoh album. The term noise rock with melody seems to be the most fitting. The first thing that jumps out at me is the wall of sound these two put together on this recording. Many other current two pieces like the White Stripes and Black Keys tend to openly embrace the space created by only having two instruments. No Age on Nouns sound like they can fill a room just as well as a five piece could.
The music comes off slightly abrasive at first. My first few listens i was ready to dismiss this album as a post modern noise rock album that is just not my style. Sticking with it though and a sense of melody starts to come to forefront. Under the rough outside you start to hear choruses and riffs that grab your attention and will surely be the most rewarding part of this album after future listens.
Songs like Ripped Knees, Things I did when I Was Dead, and Sleeper Hold jump out as the albums strongest offerings. The album jumps around from noise punk to noise folk but you always feel like they are doing something interesting. Too often now adays bands seem to sound uncreative and ultimately uninteresting. With “Nouns” No Age have given us something intriguing that demands your full attention. Those willing to dedicate that time are rewarded with a refreshing taste that quickly becomes addictive.
If you enjoy lo-fi noise rock melodic punk (say that five times fast!) then this album is one of the better offerings in quite some time for fans of that type of sound. I would hazard to say even if that is not typically your musical taste this album may just captivate you if you stick with it long enough.
3.25 out of 5 Stars
Click here to buy “No Age: Nouns” NOW
my space
Here is a live video of their song Sleeper Hold. The vocals don’t come through well but it gives you an idea of their sound:
The future of music is heading towards its past. With digital downloads gaining in popularity every year, more and more people purchase fewer albums and purchase more single songs on the internet. There are many debates over this subject that revolve around the “what came first the chicken or the egg”. Did musicians as a whole stop making great albums which ultimately led people to only want the two or three songs that were good, or did people’s short-attention span stop giving albums enough of a listen to really get the other non-accessible songs? I believe it is a combination of both, but regardless the full length album will eventually take the way of the dinosaurs.
When musicians first started recording music for distribution they would record 2-3 songs and send them to a radio station, i.e. Elvis and etc. Two of my favorite bands, The Smashing Pumpkins and Muse, have recently announced they will no longer release albums but release 2-3 songs at a time on the internet. It is where the past meets the future and very interesting how things tend to go in cycles.
This is bitter sweet for me since I believe my favorite albums are great because they captured a theme or a general feeling of a moment in time. These 2-3 songs released will in no way have the same impact as a full length album, but it will ultimately result in more releases through out a 2 year period. Generally a band will release one album every two years and would probably release 2-3 song blocks every couple of months, which is typically a net gain in songs.
So at the end of the day we lose some and gain some. Ultimately, I want more great music and I am excited about what the future will bring as the music industry continues to evolve.
Raise your hand if you think the RIAA is a good institution?
Bueller? Bueller?
That is what i thought.
Apparently someone in the music industry is actually “starting” to think the same thing.
Check out this article at pcmag.com talking about EMI (one of the 4 big record companies; they own Virgin & the venerable Capitol Records) considering substantially cutting their funding for the RIAA. EMI recently acquired by Terra Firma and it seems in layman’s terms Terra Firma decided they are throwing away money at the RIAA.
Now I’m not an expert on the subject matter and i won’t pretend to be, but evidently the big record companies poor millions of dollars to the RIAA so they can “protect” their product. AKA sue the shit out of us the customers.
I’ll get excited when one of the companies cuts them off completely and the others start to follow suit, but i guess when you are dealing with an institution that thinks it is a good business practice to sue its own customers you have to take baby steps……
It is that time of the year. Every December lazy music writers/critics can count on putting out their very own “best of” list. That’s right just throw it out there and let people come and rip you apart because you forgot the old rock dinosaur’s new album or the newest pitchfork darlings “it” band. I won’t lie i love reading over them and seeing what folks are drooling over.
One of the first ones that has caught my attention is Paste Magazine’s year end 2007 List Be sure to check out their editors individual list as well. This list obviously caters to their readers which tend to be a bit “folky” or “indie”.
I actually like most of the albums in their top ten (well the half of them i have heard at least). Not sure if i would rank them like that though. Here is their top ten:
1. The National – Boxer
2. Arcade Fire – Neon Bible
3. Bruce Springsteen – Magic
4. The White Stripes – Icky Thump
5. Feist – The Reminder
6. M.I.A. – Kala
7. Wilco – Sky Blue Sky
8. Modest Mouse – We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank
9. Band of Horses – Cease to Begin
10. Iron & Wine – The Shepherd’s Dog
full list
In a similar vein Harp Magazine dropped their list recently. Similar indie/folky style but different results.
Again I have about 50% of these but i don’t think many of these would make a top ten for me. For instance I love neil young but his new album is far from good and even farther from the best of the year.
The first list i saw came out months ago from Stylus. Quite an odd list. Here is their top ten:
01. LCD Soundsystem – Sound of Silver
02. Miranda Lambert – Crazy ExGirlfriend
03. Panda Bear Person Pitch
04. Lil Wayne – Da Drought 3
05. The National – The Boxer
06. Kanye West – Graduation
07. Spoon – Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
08. M.I.A. – Kala
09. The Field – From Here We Go Sublime
10. Radiohead – In Rainbows
Now if those list don’t get your testosterone flowing take a peak at Decibel’s year end list (in stores now) Here is the top ten according to the metal mega magazine:
10 – A Life Once Lost – iron gag
09 – High on Fire – death is this communion
08 – Portal – outre
07 – Witchcraft – the alchemist
06 – Neurosis – given to the rising
05 – Baroness – the red album
04 – Jesu – conqueror
03 – The Dillinger Escape Plan – ire works
02 – Watain – sworn to the dark
01 – Pig Destroyer – phantom limb
I actually only own 2 albums on this one so i can’t say much. The Baroness album is worth the hype though (think mastodon meets isis) & the High on Fire album comes with all the fury one could expect from the metal masters. I do want to check out the new Pig Destroyer. It is on my Christmas list for Santa to bring to me.
Anyone else seen any other good list? Any surprises on these? What albums did you love that have been “looked over” this year so far by the critics. Most importantly curious minds want to know what albums melvin has been listening to this year?
