While Django Django's previous efforts felt a bit more artsy in intention, the experimentation on Marble Skies feels done with the sole purpose of creating something fun. And it is fun, it's a lighthearted, head nodding romp full of brilliant melodies and earworm hooks. It's almost impossible not to be pulled into their joyous orbit.
Historically speaking, music has had a tendency to follow the binary model of low art/high art. However, more and more artists are moving between these two realms, and sometimes fusing them both within a single work. Take, for example, Adia Victoria. She makes intelligent music that still exists within a structure that will play to the footstompers. It has the danceability of a surf-rock release, but it also has the brains of a Jeunet. She makes smart work for smart people that can be listened to and enjoyed by everyone.
Sonically, Who Built the Moon? is vastly more extensive than his past couple of projects and he sounds like he's got much more of a pep to his step. Noel Gallagher's latest feels refreshingly retro yet inventive and new and in turn makes for a much more interesting listen as a whole. This might just be the second wind he's really needed.
U2 have clearly had their ears to the 'streets' and have found inspiration from a number of different sources. The fact that they were able to lean on all of these influences without it sounding contrived is maybe their greatest accomplishment. And as someone who's not a die hard U2 fan, I thoroughly enjoyed their modern sound - it felt relevant yet still very much true to who U2 are. Songs of Experience feels like a true return to form for the legendary band and a worthy (and voluntary) addition to my music library.
[dropcap size=big]T[/dropcap]here is power in a band’s genuine relationship with their fans. A tangible connection that is somehow greater than...
What happens when lifelong rock fans get old? They spread memes. I can’t imagine anything less rock ’n’ roll than complaining on Facebook about the musical tastes of kids these days.
There are a number of great movies in which rock, and other musical genres, play an integral part in the larger social messages they are attempting to convey, and here's a list of some essential ones that do that better than most.
From a child prodigy, to rock producer, to leader of the first truly integrated rock/soul/funk band, and author of some of the best modern music and two of the best rock/soul/funk albums around, Sly Stone's life and musical story is a sadly unfinished one full of 'what-ifs.'
The amount of good films about rock and its culture is quite vast, but here's a list of some essential ones concentrating ‘mostly’ on the music first and foremost.
The Go-Betweens produced some of the most mutant, evocative intellectual pop, that never succeeded at the time it was made, but lingers on til this day.
Ty Segall pulls out the full arsenal on Freedom's Goblin delivering a 19-track ride that goes all over the place. In lesser hands it might feel disjointed or convoluted but with him it just shows how truly gifted he is and just how in tune he is with the craft of rock. He clearly marches to the sound of his own beat and it's incredibly exhilarating. Freedom's Goblin is one hell of a ride and further proof that he may just be a mad musical genius.
Most of the big names like Greil Marcus, Robert Christgau, and Simon Frith are still around; somewhere in columns in established cultural magazines, books, and even academia. But it seems that their style of integrated cultural, musical and sociological analysis that at the same time deconstructs and reconstructs certain musical work is less and less visible. What has happened?
The Philadelphia radio station drew major national attention with its countdown of the top 2,020 songs of all time, which was dominated by classic rock and saw "Thunder Road" come in at #1.
The recent auction of 127 of David Gilmour's guitars went for a $21.5 million, with all the proceeds being donated to combat climate change.
In cooperation with the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art is organizing the first ever exhibition of rock and roll instruments, titled “Play It Loud: The Instruments of Rock & Roll.”
Smile was to be the title of the 12th Beach Boys album that was to be released anywhere between January and June 1967. It was to be their masterpiece. Actually, it was supposed to be THE rock and roll masterpiece, better than anything The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix or Bob Dylan came up with. But then...it never came out.
If anybody in modern music is taken as a stereotype of the genius/weirdness combination it is late Roger Keith “Syd” Barrett, a founder and brief mailman of Pink Floyd, solo artist, painter, and recluse - often most of these things at the same time.
We talk about the possible demise of Rolling Stone as it's going up for sale for the first time since it's start in 1967. We talk about how we think they've lost their true identity as the counterculture bible and how they could possibly get it back. We finish things by talking about new albums we've been listening to like Jhené Aiko, Rapsody, Queens of the Stone Age, and the Foo Fighters.
Cannabis is as influential to the sub-genre as the desert itself. 'Desert rock,' though used interchangeably with 'stoner rock,' is not necessarily the same thing. Desert rock was a localized phenomenon; stoner rock a psychedelic one. The birthplace of the two, however, is the same.
Does an artist really have to suffer to make great art? This common theory has developed over time due to the sheer number of tortured artists that the music industry in particular, has to answer for. But upon closer examination, that perception can be deceiving.
In my experiences, just mentioning Red Hot Chili Peppers is often enough to spark a full-on debate. I think this speaks to the fact that they're just one of those bands that you either love or hate. So, like any millennial would, I posted a status on Facebook asking my friends to tell me how they feel about them, and they sure came through.
How do you go from a #1 hit and being one of the most successful so-called blue-eyed soul artists and considered the progenitor of power pop by ecstatic critics, to never really making a success story out of it, to a patchy solo career and odd-jobs, then back to being a producer and musical encyclopedia of rock and roll, to almost fully rehabilitating your career by the end? Well, you would have to ask Alex Chilton, the man from Memphis who went through all of that - that is, if he were still with us.
On it's surface, MASSEDUCTION sounds like a straight up pop album but once you dig a little deeper you'll find something much more delightfully deep and subversive. Everything about MASSEDUCTION feels effortless and I couldn't help but get strong Bowie vibes from her, from everything from the music to the project's aesthetics, and I can't think of any higher praise to give someone who's so clearly all about the true 'art' of music.
Wolf Alice’s sound is all about hidden sharp edges. Deep dangerous things lurking just beneath the surface until they come exploding out in an all-out barrage. A stage presence that is driven by their music, they visibly feed off the energy of the crowd creating a feedback loop through the ebb and flow of their set. Another band that recordings just don’t do justice to, especially the subtle power of Ellie’s voice. Check out our full gallery of shots and be sure to catch them on tour.