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.
"If the cops saw a busker playing music on the street they would make us go away or even beat us. Busking used to be seen as just a kind of begging. It was a low-class, haram thing to do. If you played music on the street people would assume you were very poor, maybe homeless..."
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.
If the Beatles were the spokesmen of their generation, then Imagine Dragons are fast becoming the voice of a new one. They are the front men to a new sound and style that hits you with its rhythm-driven edge, but their appeal and message goes deeper than that.
King Krule's latest is not an easy album by any measure; you can’t just throw it on and immediately be taken in, it’s meant to be sat with and slowly digested as its many idiosyncrasies slowly reveal themselves. But once I let go of my expectations of what an album is supposed to sound like, I couldn’t help but get pulled into his mad soundscapes of isolation, anxiety, and slightly out of tune instruments. It’s as much a work of art as it is an album, but for someone who loves the odd and experimental as much as I do, The OOZ was about as rich an album as I’ve heard all year.
A trippy techno vibe greets listeners like the flickering screen of a fractured computer monitor. This song is what it sounds like to straddle the threshold of an ancient Buddhist temple and the edge of The Matrix.
Maroon 5's latest is an extremely smooth, well polished, and professional sounding album that combined with Levine's now universal pop voice makes for a largely enjoyable listen. But it doesn't leave much of a mark either, incapable of evoking any genuine emotion.
Liam Gallagher's first solo outing is an album of really good moments that does it's best to approximate what he considers to be 'real' rock. But it leaves out much of his gruff real life persona, ultimately leading to a project of no real consequence or feeling of genuineness.
Wolf Alice is fiery, fierce, and absolutely captivating on 'Visions of a Life' and pulls it all off with nonchalant indifference that reminds me of the rock from yesteryear. It revels in an intense youthful catharsis full of big payoffs and it keeps me coming back for more.
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.
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.
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.
We examine the eccentric life of the cult legend, Captain Beefheart. His life was full of stories about his many idiosyncrasies and while many regard him as a musical genius, it was his paintings under his real name, Don Van Vliet that brought him wide success.
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.
Offering doesn't quite reach the heights of their debut and the music is noticeably brighter, shedding some of their darker undertones for a more generic pop album, but I'll be damned if it isn't catchy music all the same.
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.
Grunge, Generation X's flagship music genre, brought about widespread appreciation of alternative rock with its bare-bones vibe. The musical movement itself, however, was fully realized years before it was popular and it was all self-contained in Seattle.
Old school turns SOUL-school with a gospel groove. This is the style BJ Wilbanks is bringing back, and it’s in line with that of the genre’s greats.
As You Please is good, old fashioned (mid-90s) soft alternative rock that won't necessarily blow anyone away but still does more than enough to be noteworthy. It's hard not to find yourself bopping right along with the music.
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.
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.
Powerful, melodic and lonesome guitar solos and sections, as well as instrumentals and vocals to match, are pivotal to the band's sound, making The Begowatts’ Grand Charade an EP even picky, nostalgic rock lovers would find themselves tapping and playing air guitar to.
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.
The High Divers took the crowd at D.C.’s Hamilton Live by surprise and didn’t stop for their entire 60 minute set. Playing a mix of unreleased songs off their new album and favorites from their 2015 album Riverlust, their feel good rock vibes, infectious energy, and larger than life sound made a fan of this concert photographer.