Seems like there has been a really long build up to this album, no? I’ve given 21st Century Breakdown one full listen and my first impressions are lukewarm. A number of songs immediately caught my ear, and bunch kind of floated by without much interest. I’m not ready to write it off as a failure just yet, I think it needs at least 2 more full listens until I can make my decision and I have a feeling I’ll be more positive after a more thorough absorption.
21st Century Breakdown, Green Day’s highly-anticipated eighth studio album, is being released worldwide today, Friday May 15th, by Reprise Records. The album is the follow-up to 2004’s two-time Grammy Award-winning punk-rock opera American Idiot, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard chart, spawned five hit singles, and went on to sell more than 12 million copies worldwide.
Produced by Butch Vig, 21st Century Breakdown has already earned rapturous reviews from top media outlets, such as Rolling Stone, which called it “even more ambitious than American Idiot” and “a record of die-hard punk ideals…tightly scripted, continually ascending classic-rock excitement,” and the New York Times, which noted in an Arts & Leisure cover story that in its drive to top themselves “Green Day has dared to offer something far denser and more demanding: a whirlwind of thoughts about activism, redemption, and destruction. The rage and sorrows of American Idiot are pushed even further in 21st Century Breakdown, in songs where idealism and the urge to annihilate are constantly grappling, never far apart.”
The album’s first single, “Know Your Enemy” is already capturing the imagination of listeners across the country. It has been No. 1 at Alternative radio for three weeks and is the band’s ninth No. 1 single at the format, making them the artist with the second most No. 1’s of all-time at Alternative.
Additionally, Green Day will set televisions ablaze with scheduled performances on: the season finale of Saturday Night Live on May 16th, The Colbert Report on May 21st, the first concert of Good Morning America’s 2009 Summer Concert Series from Rumsey Playfield in Central Park on May 22nd and The Late Show with David Letterman on May 22nd. On Sunday, May 24th, CBS Sunday Morning will air its first in depth interview with Green Day shot in Oakland last month.
Green Day, which is singer-guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, bassist Mike Dirnt, and drummer Tre Cool, are preparing to launch their first proper tour of the United States and Canada in more than three years. The tour begins July 3rd at Seattle’s Key Arena and will cross North America through the summer, including a July 27th stop at New York City’s Madison Square Garden, before finishing up with a show at the Forum in Los Angeles on August 25th. Please visit www.greenday.com for all cities, venues, and ticket on-sale dates.
Here we go once again… the season of “Best Of” lists! Here at SoundMojo I’ll throw my Top 20 Albums of 2008 into the never-ending pile of opinionated lists that inevitably feature a variation of the same 50 bands or so… Without further ado, here are the 20 albums that I enjoyed the most this year:
20. Metallica - Death Magnetic
It’s nowhere close to Metallica’s best album, but its Metallica back doing what they do best with long intro’s, long guitar solo’s and songs that are actually interesting! Finally.
19. Santogold -Santogold
Nothing this year sounded as varied as this album. Santogold had a bit of everything on this album and somehow it all sounds fantastic. An indie/new wave/rock/electro hybrid that does not disappoint. Check out LES Artistes.
18. Frightened Rabbit - The Midnight Organ Fight
Anthemic Scottish indie rock. Sad songs that make you want to raise your fists in the air. “The Modern Leper” is one of the best songs of the year.
17. Coldplay - Viva La Vida
I’ve had my complaints about Coldplay in the past… I was a fan of the first 2 albums, but things then took a turn for the worse… Chris Martin was in the spotlight as much as Bono and their music took a nose dive. Enter producer Brian Eno and whammy! the band has its creativity and inspiration back. Viva La Vida expanded their sound and still left it accessible to the masses… a great album from start to finish.
16. Raconteurs - Consolers of the Lonely
Alright I’ll say it. Jack White is my hero. Consolers of the Lonely is a solid album of rock, hard rock, folk rock and garage rock. The band is somewhat of a side project from the White Stripes, but based on this album the Raconteurs are a force to be reckoned with and Jack could probably front another two bands.
15. Wolf Parade - At Mount Zoomer
While not as immediately grabbing as their 2005 debut, Wold Parade have crafted another classic album in At Mount Zoomer. The album does seem more mature, but everything you loved about Apologies to the Queen Mary is still there, its just a little harder to dig into. Once you do dig in, everything makes sense.
14. Constantines - Kensington Heights
This album seems to explode with the opening song of “Hard Feelings” and then steadily slow down with each progressing tune, but rest assured this is some of the steadiest songwriting the band has recorded. This band deserves to be much bigger than they are. “Trans Canada” is one of my favorite songs of the year.
13. Shearwater - Rook
Shearwater is made up of parts of Okervil River and Kingfisher, but based on this debut album the bands vision is unified and the creativity and potential seems huge. Dramatic and theatric vocals stand out, but the layered sound is equally as impressive.
12. The Verve - Forth
Another comeback album, this one was probably my most anticipated, and while not as spectacular is their older albums, Forth is pretty damn enjoyable. There was the obligatory single, “Love is Noise” which tried to recapture the mainstream glory of “Bittersweet Symphony”, and while the song was actually pretty good, it seemed a bit out of place on the album. More interesting were the psychadelic, spacey, guitar epics.
11. Blitzen Trapper - Furr
Americana music with great story telling. This album sounds like it was recorded in the mid 70’s and tracks like “Furr” and “God and Suicide” are some of my favorite songs of the year. Sometimes it doesn’t get much better than acoustic guitars and tall tales.
10. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
This was one of those albums that was buzzed about so much that I thought for sure I would hate it. Afro-pop infused indie rock from preppy college kids? Ya right… It turned out to be one of the most enjoyable albums of the year and probably one of the most unique debut albums in a while. Quirky songs and memorable vocals mixed with strong melodies, I guess the hype has to be right sometimes?
9. The War on Drugs - Wagonwheel Blues
For me this band came out of nowhere to be one of my most consistent listens all year long. With vocals that are a dead ringer for Dylan circa 1965 and melodies that will embed themselves in your head for days, I found this band incredibly interesting. With equal parts folk rock shuffle and shoegaze shimmer, I can’t wait to hear what these guys do next. Check out the song “Taking the Farm“.
8. Oasis - Dig Out Your Soul
Comeback album #4 on this list… Ok, Oasis never really went away, but it seems that every album since “(Whats the Story) Morning Glory” has been a comeback album, and Dig Out Your Soul finally delivers. Gone are the acoustic guitars and blatant rips of classic tunes, but back is the intesity and confidence of a band that knows how to deliver rock and roll. Oasis won’t convert any new fans with this album, but they’ve realised that and its now one of their greatest strengths. Its also nice to hear Noel writing consistently and also have the rest of the band contribute quality tunes.
7. The Stills - Oceans Will Rise
The Stills have been up and down over the last few years. Their debut was acclaimed, the follow up was different and thus confused fans, so they had decisions to make for album 3. They either regress back to their initial post-punk sound, continue in the rootsy sound of their second album, or combine everything and hope for the best. I’ve enjoyed everything the band has released and thankfully they chose option 3. With Oceans Will Rise they’ve crafted an expansive album of sounds and styles that flows together very nicely. Check out “Hands on Fire” and “Everything I Build” for an idea of the bands current sound.
6. Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
There is an interesting back story to this album that includes a secluded cabin in the woods, but I’ll let you look that up yourself. Whats important is that this is one of the prettiest albums of the year with falsetto vocals that should knock you flat. This is beautiful, melodic, acoustic-based music that you won’t soon forget. Listen to “Skinny Love” for an idea.
5. MGMT - Oracular Spectacular
Another album that rode the hype wave for a while before I finally listened to it. Another pleasant surprise. This one was hipster art students creating psychedelic electro indie-pop. Ya right again… wrong, awesome. The songs on this album are like an explosion of colour in your brain. Endlessly catchy, but at the same time interesting and layered this band is definitely on to something. “Time to Pretend” might be the song of the year.
4. Cut/Copy - In Ghost Colours
In Ghost Colours is an album that I slowly came to love over the year. One by one I would hear different songs on the album until I finally realized that all of them were fantastic. This is the best combination of Indie rock and Electro-dance music I’ve ever heard and fans of either genre would have no trouble getting into the album. Its like the band takes all the good parts of both genres and builds an exciting, creative and multi-dimensional style of their own. Check out “Feel the Love” or “So Haunted”.
3. The Black Keys - Attack and Release
God I love the Black Keys. Dirty, minimalist blues-rock from 2 dudes from Akron, Ohio that will make you wish you played guitar. Attack and Release sees the band fleshing out their sound with more texture and space as opposed to the blast of distortion that dominated their early music. Adding Gnarls Barkley mastermind Danger Mouse as the producer was a genius move and his hazy production elevates the Black Keys into new territory. A band that seemed so restricted by its 2 instrument delivery now seems like it has unlimited potential. Check out the song “I Got Mine“.
2. Plants and Animals - Parc Avenue
Is it possible for Montreal to continue producing such great bands at such a consistent rate? I was skeptical at first, but after one listen I was sold. Parc Avenue is a shambolic indie masterpiece of an album that takes cues from classic rock and progressive rock, folk and roots. Where this band goes next? I have no idea… but I’m looking forward to it. Check out songs like “Faerie Dance” and”Feedback in the Field” for an idea of the range on this album.
1. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
What is there to say about this band. If you haven’t listened to them then you have no idea what your in for. The song “White Winter Hymnal” stopped me in my tracks. Upon hearing it I had to immediately had to stop everything and find out more about this band. With nothing but an earlier ‘08 EP, the band is brand new. The music sounds like its from another era and the vocal harmonies are so rich and beautiful it will blow your mind. The band is drawing from a multitude of Folk and Rock influences, but its takes a fresh and direct vocal approach that fills the album with such grandeur that its hard to believe this is a debut album. Like I said, what is there really to say… listen to “White Winter Hymnal” and you should get it.
Thats it! On to 2009. Some notable bands releasing albums next year include:
- Midlake
- Arctic Monkeys
- Superdrag
- Phoenix
- Muse
- Grizzly Bear
- Beirut
- The Strokes
Maybes: Arcade Fire, Wilco, Daft Punk???
4 stars? Really? I don’t know, I’m gonna have to wait and listen to this one for myself before I believe RS. It just seems a little too insane, even for them. Anyways, here’s the review:
Let’s get right to it: The first Guns n’ Roses album of new, original songs since the first Bush administration is a great, audacious, unhinged and uncompromising hard-rock record. In other words, it sounds a lot like the Guns n’ Roses you know. At times, it’s the clenched-fist five that made 1987’s perfect storm, Appetite for Destruction; more often, it’s the one sprawled across the maxed-out CDs of 1991’s Use Your Illusion I and II, but here compressed into a convulsive single disc of supershred guitars, orchestral fanfares, hip-hop electronics, metallic tabernacle choirs and Axl Rose’s still-virile, rusted-siren singing.
If Rose ever had a moment’s doubt or repentance over what Chinese Democracy has cost him in time (13 years), money (14 studios are listed in the credits) and body count — including the exit of every other founding member of the band — he left no room for it in these 14 songs. “I bet you think I’m doin’ this all for my health,” Rose cracks through the saturation-bombing guitars in “I.R.S.,” one of several glancing references on the album to what he knows a lot of people think of him: that Rose, now 46, has spent the last third of his life running off the rails, in half-light. But when he snaps, “All things are possible/I am unstoppable,” in the thumper “Scraped,” that’s not loony hubris — just a good old rock & roll “fuck you,” the kind that made him and the old band hot and famous in the first place.
Something else Rose broadcasts over and over on Chinese Democracy: Restraint is for suckers. There is plenty of familiar guitar firepower — the stabbing-dagger lick that opens the first track, “Chinese Democracy,” the sand-devil fuzz in “Riad N’ the Bedouins” and the looping squeals over the grand anguish of “Street of Dreams.” But what Slash and Izzy Stradlin used to do with two guitars now takes a wall of ‘em. On some tracks, Rose has up to five guys — Robin Finck, Buckethead, Paul Tobias, Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal and Richard Fortus — riffing and soloing in broad, saw-toothed blurs. And that’s no drag. I still think the wild, superstuffed “Oh My God” — the early Chinese Democracy track wasted on the 1999 End of Days soundtrack — beats everything on Guns n’ Roses’ 1993 covers album, The Spaghetti Incident?
Most of these songs also go through multiple U-turns in personality, as if Rose kept trying new approaches to a hook or a bridge and then decided, “What the hell, they’re all cool.” “Better” starts with what sounds like hip-hop voicemail — severely pinched guitar, drum machine and a near-falsetto Rose (”No one ever told me when/I was alone/They just thought I’d know better”) — before blowing up into vintage Sunset Strip wallop. “If the World” has Buckethead plucking acoustic Spanish guitar over a blaxploitation-film groove, while Rose shows that he still holds a long-breath vowel — part torture victim, part screaming jet — like no other rock singer.
And there is so much going on in “There Was a Time” — strings and Mellotron, a full-strength choir and Rose’s overdubbed sour-growl harmonies, wah-wah guitar and a false ending (more choir) — that it’s easy to believe Rose spent most of the past decade on that arrangement alone. But it is never a mess, more like a loud mass of bad memories and hard lessons. In the first lines, Rose goes back to a beginning much like his own — “Broken glass and cigarettes/ Writin’ on the wall/It was a bargain for the summer/An’ I thought I had it all” — then piles on the wreckage along with the orchestra and guitars. By the end, it’s one big melt of missing and kiss-off (”If I could go back in time . . . But I don’t want to know it now”). If this is the Guns n’ Roses that Rose kept hearing in his head all this time, it is obvious why two guitars, bass and drums were never going to be enough.
It is plain, too, that he thinks this Guns n’ Roses is a band, as much as the one that recorded “Welcome to the Jungle,” “Sweet Child O’ Mine,” “Used to Love Her” and “Civil War.” The voluminous credits that come with Chinese Democracy certainly give detailed credit where it is due. My favorite: “Initial arrangement suggestions: Youth on ‘Madagascar.” Rose takes the big one — “Lyrics N’ Melodies by Axl Rose” — but shares full-song bylines with other players on all but one track. Bassist Tommy Stinson plays on nearly every song, and keyboardist Dizzy Reed, the only survivor from the Illusion lineup, does the Elton John-style piano honors on “Street of Dreams.”
But Rose still sings a lot about the power of sheer, solitary will even when he throws himself into a bigger fight, like “Chinese Democracy.” In “Madagascar,” which Rose has played live for several years now, he samples both Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech and dialogue from Cool Hand Luke. And at the end of the album, on the bluntly titled “Prostitute,” Rose veers from an almost conversational tenor, over a ticking-bomb shuffle, to five-guitar barrage, orchestral lightning and righteous howl: “Ask yourself/Why I would choose/To prostitute myself/To live with fortune and shame.” To him, the long march to Chinese Democracy was not about paranoia and control. It was about saying “I won’t” when everyone else insisted, “You must.” You may debate whether any rock record is worth that extreme self-indulgence. Actually, the most rock & roll thing about Chinese Democracy is he doesn’t care if you do.
Here’s a great look at the new Oasis album from Luke Turner of The Quietus. I agree with him on almost every point. Its great to hear Oasis back sounding fresh.
1. “Bag It Up”
This opening salvo isn’t a cover of the Geri Halliwell song or a “No Diggity”-esque chorus, but something to do with tea: the first two lines of this, Oasis’ seventh album, contain a reference to pouring yourself a cup of lady grey, which all seems a little la-di-da for a band you’d imagine are more at home with a brew of PG that you could stand a spoon up in. Anyway, it’s a solid start that’ll do nothing to scare the Oasis faithful, sturdy blasts of chest-out noise, the bros G in duet on vocals, and ringing Noel Gallagher guitar lines that end in a suitably bombastic crescendo. So far, so expected.2. “The Turning”
The first signs of a more adventurous Oasis appear here. The track opens with a drumbeat and a melody that, I jest not, isn’t a million miles from a speeded up take on Radiohead’s “Everything In Its Right Place.” Perhaps the normally crackers Ryan Adams had a bit of point about the album sounding like Kid A? Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, though. Liam’s vocal begins and a whopping chorus drops in — so it’s not the eureka moment when God’s white beard appears on the computer screens of the Large Hadron Collider boffins, but in Oasis terms it’s something of a progression. There’s a fair amount of religious imagery present in the lyrics, the rapture and angels all putting in an appearance before the track fades into the sound of sea and sirens.3. “Waiting for the Rapture”
Lyrically again, this has Big Themes, though they’re doing that dangerous thing of the God/Love equation that Jason Pierce always gets in a muddle about. It’s a pugnacious stomper, with a cracking chorus to boot, this time with Noel Gallagher at the vocal helm. Liam’s voice might sound a lot better than his Brit Awards live bellow, (the five AM jogging sessions on Primrose Hill clearly getting some quality pre-rush hour London air into his lungs), but getting his older brother to do these higher parts on this one was certainly a wise move. Again, it does seem to represent a little more thought and breadth than Oasis’ recent albums seem to have had — this all makes for a rather promising start.4. “The Shock of the Lightning”
Dive bomber sounds give way to a sharp rat-at-ating from whoever fills the drum stool on these recordings (it seems unclear), before one of those battles between blugeoning guitars and Liam Gallagher’s voice that marked Oasis’ 1990s arrival begins. It’s the sound of the band going back to where they began, bombastic and aspirational — “love is a time machine / up on the silver screen” — with a Beatles tic thrown in for good measure. There’s a good keyboard breakdown before a fill you’d never have got from Tony McCarroll or Alan White, and we’re clobbered with the full force of the track’s core yet again. This sounds like it could have fitted in on Definitely Maybe or (What’s the Story) Morning Glory?, an assured, ballsy stodge for men in raincoats to swagger down the road to. Actually, it is quite a lot like “Rock & Roll Star.”5. “I’m Outta Time”
And then, oh dear, a ballad. By Liam. Dedicated to John Lennon. This has been produced to within an inch of its life, the musical equivalent at that shockingly airbrushed NME cover of last week. Not really much to say more than that, except that it keeps trying to become “A Day in the Life” and the overall effect is that of Jeff Lynne’s re-imagining of the Beatles. Oasis can do two ballads — the sort for blokes to hug to after a they’ve had a skinful, and the sort that said blokes use to apologise to their missus the morning after, and this fits neither. It’s telling that this is the track that Liam penned in tribute to his hero John Lennon, a man more than capable of mawkish platitudes and balladeering insincerity.6. “(Get Off Your) High Horse Lady”
Yet another shocking title (what’s it about, those who criticised Noel’s Best Groups Ever list for its lack of female artists?) for a track that sees Oasis strip things down to a rattle and a-handclap and slamming draws, a flick of bluesy guitar and Noel singing through effects… so he sounds like Liam. You get the impression Oasis probably think that this is their take on Tom Waits. It isn’t, of course, it sounds like Phil Collins’ “That’s All,” which is an interesting way to innovate, for sure.7. “Falling Down”
Fucking hell, this one starts off sounding like Ride. Part of the great shame of Andy Bell spoiling late period Ride by turning them into an audition tape for Oasis was the instant demotion of the natural guitarist to bass as soon as he joined the ranks of the Mancs. He’s not credited as a songwriter here, but still, it’s even got some proper shoegazing lyrics, “catch the wind that breaks the butterflies,” things like that. Noel calls this “krautpop” and says it’s the song that he’s been wanting to write for years. Why didn’t you then, Parker? It displays Oasis’ canny knack for hiding a good chorus amidst the skittish drums and strings, far better used here than the usual Oasis trick of bunging them on as an “emotive” afterthought.8. “To Be Where There’s Life”
Gem Archer (formerly of Heavy Stereo) channels George Harrison’s patchouli ghoul via the sitar for this slow-burner. An Oasis track without guitars? What’s the world coming to! The result is actually a lot less hackneyed than you might expect, creating the kind of burbling under-the-surface epic atmospherics that The Verve used to manage before they, er, tried to be Oasis. To be where there’s life? For once, it can be found in a new Oasis album.9. “Ain’t Got Nothin’”
Another humdinger of a title with that double negative, and a fairly standard Who-influenced rocker penned by Liam. There’s some harmonica and furious bluster here and there, while the melody takes a bit of a strange wander. There’s also the problem that rhyming “fuse” and “lose,” “groove” and “prove” always provokes a cringe when delivered in Liam’s taut whine.10. “The Nature of Reality”
Oasis get philosophical, though the music hardly aspires to intellectual heights. It starts with shaken maracas before settling into a bit of a blues plod, one-two drums and a vaguely glammy riff as Liam muses that “the nature of reality / is pure subjective fantasy.” Someone on an Oasis messageboard isn’t happy about this, though; “the one thing great about Oasis is that they aren’t poetic saps like Bono or Chris Martin, and keep things simple and write songs that people can easily relate to,” thunders one Notorious L4E. Could this be a problem for Oasis in Dig Out Your Soul? While their attempts to push their envelope might tickle the ears of a few post 1997 defectors, one imagines they’re unlikely to win any new converts. Moreover, does the distinct lack of beery rockers or lighter wavers on this album risk alienating the more dunderheaded elements of their fanbase?11. “Soldier On”
Don’t be put off by the fact that The Coral found this on a hard drive at a studio used by Oasis, and none of the band could remember writing it until Andy Bell found it on his iPod. “Soldier On” is a sinuous and languid affair with melodica and multi-tracked echoing vocals, a pleasing counterpoint to the bluster of “Bag It Up” and a neat finish to a surprisingly good album.I had expected, if truth be told, that getting through Dig Out Your Soul enough times to review it might have required the perseverance of a porridge taster. There’s no shock of the new, of course, more a shock that Oasis have managed to climb up the wall at the end of their cul-de-sac to see what interesting pastures might lie beyond. Even if you can’t help but wish they’d done this ten years ago after Morning Glory, credit where credit is due: by and large, Dig Out Your Soul, is a refreshing listen, both the sound of Oasis rediscovering some of the spirit that made them great, and attempting — finally — something different.
~ Luke Turner
LL Cool J’s ‘Exit 13′ hit stores this week.
Nearly 25 years since he first burst onto the scene, LL Cool J continues his vibrant, trailblazing career with the release of EXIT 13, his appropriately titled 13th album for the only label he has called home - Def Jam Recordings.
‘Exit 13′ feaures collaborators as diverse as 50 Cent, Wyclef Jean, Richie Sambora and The Dream, and producers such as Suits, DJ Scratch, Ilfonics and Raw Uncut
What the good folks are saying about EXIT 13
“LL Cool J is back and smashing the game”
“PEOPLE NEED TO GIVE LL COOL J THE RESPECT BECAUSE HES MADE DEF JAM WHAT IT IS.”
“He’s hip hop. LL cool J, along with other pioneers are over looked this album propels him back into the spotlight.”
Check out the first video/single:
For Academy Award nominated actor Danny Aiello’s second CD he was inspired by Atlantic City, Sinatras old stomping ground. It was the place where old blue eyes performed his final public
US concert while Danny Aiello watched from the audience. “My wife Sandy and I got a call from my agent inviting us down to
Atlantic City to see the show and meet Frank. I loved Sinatra and jumped at the chance not knowing what to expect. He was everything and more and the Copa Room, well, it was the perfect setting.”
Ten years later Aiello recorded his debut CD. Five days after the release, Danny Aiello made his Billboard Chart debut! His first album I Just Wanted To Hear The Words hit the Billboard Traditional Jazz Chart at #4, the highest new entry that week, just behind Harry Connick Jr., Winton Marsalis and Diana Krall.
And so it is fitting when a friend suggests in 2005 that he record one of those Atlantic City shows, preferably from The Sands so he and his band could preserve a little history for themselves, Aiello agrees, “Given Sinatra’s history on that stage and my memories of seeing him there, the Sands really captured the spirit of the resort’s history among the excitement of a new Atlantic City. For me, it made perfect sense.”
Check out the live streams for Pennies from Heaven and All Of Me.
Carlos, Chris, Emmanuel, José and Monti came together on the MTV & MTV Tr3s reality series Making Menudo. Viewers watched every week as the guys went through a demanding “boy-band boot camp” designed by legendary pop impresario Johnny Wright (*NSYNC, Britney Spears). The task of becoming part of the new MENUDO required the chosen five members to take part in a rigorous process of musical, choreographic, and professional education. Although each member specializes in a particular type of music, the guys do it all and love the fact that the new MENUDO’s music crosses over several genres.
MENUDO have recorded more than 50 new songs for their first album due out September 9th and are already veterans after working with a wide variety of contemporary producers and writers including Danja (Nelly Furtado, Justin Timberlake), J.R. Rotem (Usher, Destiny’s Child), and Akon. When asked about the album, José calls it “urban pop, R & B, ballads, Latin flavors, a little bit of electronic.” Monti adds, “Everybody can relate to it. We put a lot of emotion into our songs, so we want to touch lives, we want to touch people.”
Check out Menudo’s myspace here
The Darkness. Wow. I loved these guys, and it might be because they were so isolated in my music memory, and that’s why I think of them so fondly, but there’s no denying they were entertaining. I don’t think any song in their (2 album) catalog better exemplifies their sound than their first single, “I Believe in a Thing Called Love”… guitar solos piled on top of each other and the most ridiculous falsetto chorus lines you’ve ever heard all sandwiched between hard driving power chords. The video for this song made things even more unbelievable… seeing what the band looked like only made things seem more confusing. Are these guys for real? Is this a parody band? The video had space ships, monsters, lightning shooting out of guitars and everything in between, but somehow it all worked.
The Darkness became insanely popular, mostly because they actually backed themselves up with decent songs, but also because they stuck to their guns and had an image that recalled everything goofy about the 80’s hair metal scene and made it semi-cool again. That’s pretty impressive. Watch the video and remember:
Legendary Rock and Roll Icon Joan Jett Makes History as First Female with a Gibson Electric Signature Model
Gibson Guitar, the world’s premier musical instrument manufacturer and leader in music technology, has announced the launch of the Joan Jett Signature Melody Maker guitar, designed and produced in close cooperation with the rock legend herself. The model pays tribute to the iconic Melody Maker Jett played on hits like “I Love Rock N’ Roll,” and “Do You Wanna Touch Me” and, true to her trailblazer status, marks the first Gibson electric signature model designed in conjunction with a female artist.
“This is my guitar. Gibson was successfully able to replicate my custom velvet hammer pick ups which have not been available for twenty years. It’s perfect for gigs as well as recording,” says Jett. “For those of you performing live, you may understand the value of being able to shave off those split seconds between playing and interacting with the audience, especially if you use your hands to communicate. I can move between the killswitch, which mutes the guitar, and playing, and then back again without a lot of in-between motion. With its no frills basic set up, it’s a perfect guitar for either an experienced player or someone just learning.”
Gibson’s Joan Jett Signature Melody Maker features a lightweight, slab mahogany body with a White Worn finish. Handcrafted to the same specs as Jett’s original guitar, the slim-tapered neck profile is similar to the Les Pauls and SGs of the mid to late 1960s. The fingerboard of the Melody Maker is constructed from the highest grade of ebony on the planet, Jett’s personal choice for her signature Melody Maker, and the headstock features Gibson’s classic, silk-screened logo.
The classic, snarling growl of Jett’s original Melody Maker is accurately captured by a single Gibson Burstbucker 3 zebra humbucker, slightly overwound with asymmetrical coils, unpolished Alnico II magnets, and all the punch and power of an original Gibson PAF pickup. The tuners are mini-Grovers with authentic “witch hat” knobs, exactly as they are on Jett’s guitar. A “kill” switch replaces the normal Gibson toggle switch, and the body is outfitted with a period-correct black vinyl pickguard. The guitar also includes such typical Melody Maker features as 24-inch scale length and the standard Gibson Tune-o-matic and stopbar tailpiece.
“Joan Jett is a true icon of rock and roll. Since the beginning she has been a groundbreaking artist and a trailblazer for women in the genre,” said Henry Juszkiewicz, Chairman and CEO of Gibson Guitar. “Gibson is proud to be working with such an influential guitar player.”
Joan Jett has been a force in the world of music since the age of 15 when she co-founded the all-girl punk quintet The Runaways. After being rejected by multiple labels for a record contract after the Runaways, she formed Blackheart Records, making her the first major female artist to own her own record label. With hits such as “I Love Rock n’ Roll,” “Bad Reputation” and “Crimson and Clover,” she has scored nine Top 40 hits and eight Platinum and Gold albums. Joan Jett and The Blackhearts continue to win over fans both new and old with their live shows, including a main stage headliner spot on the 2006 Vans Warped Tour. Jett also currently hosts her own show, “Joan Jett’s Radio Revolution,” on Sirius’ Faction (Channel 28).
http://www.joanjett.com
http://www.myspace.com/joanjettntheblackhearts
This album is really growing on me. Nice of the lads in the band to break things down for each track off of Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends. Stream the album here if you haven’t heard it yet, below you’ll find the breakdowns, via MTV:
“Life in Technicolor”
Guy Berryman (bass): We always had it in mind that we were going to start the record with that instrumental melody. And what’s interesting about the song is that there’s actually a full-song version with singing on it, and when we came to putting the album together, it didn’t really work in the sequence of songs, but we felt strongly that it should start with this piece of music. So that’s why we ended up using the first part of it, because that’s how we always intended it to be.
Chris Martin (vocals/piano): You’ll hear [the full-song version] at the end of our next record. The reason we wanted to start this record with an instrumental is to: A) do a good ringtone, which is what that song is, and B) not have to have too much singing everywhere. By your fourth album, people are sort of bored with the singer’s voice, you know?
Will Champion (drums): Jon Hopkins [who is credited as a co-writer] was a friend of Brian Eno’s, and he has this uncanny knack of being able to play any song. You can play him a bit of classical music once, and he’ll be able to play it back to you perfectly, from memory. He’s an incredibly talented guy, and Brian brought him in because I think he wanted to free up Chris from playing keyboards too much, so he could do other stuff.
Martin: What we’ve managed, cleverly, to do on this album is work with people who are much more talented than we are, and pass it off as our own.
“Cemeteries of London”
Martin: [This song] features our first use of handclaps on an album. But not the only time on this album.
Champion: The Spanish flamenco clapping is incredible when you hear it done properly, although ours is a very crude and English version of it. It’s like more of a golf clap — “Good par!” — or some seals.
“Lost!”
Berryman: This was one of the first songs we worked on for the record. … We were listening to a song called “Sing” by Blur, and I think we were in America somewhere —
Martin: Detroit.
Berryman: — in Detroit, and we were listening to that song in our dressing room. And we went on stage to do a soundcheck, and we were trying to write a song like that. And it’s sort of evolved in various ways and has lots of different versions of itself.
Martin: That’s often how we write, is we listen to something and we think it’s incredible, and we feel stupid for not having anything as good as that, so we go and try to play it. And then, of course, because we don’t know how to do that, we often come up with something new.
“42″
Martin: [Explaining the lyrics] Well, the whole record is — if it were a Notorious B.I.G. record, it’d be called Life and Death, it’s just that … maybe because we’ve had some people close to us who we’ve lost, but some miracles — we’ve got kids. So, life has been very extreme recently, and so both death and life pop up quite often. It’s called “42″ because it’s my favorite number. And I think it’s probably in Will’s top three favorite numbers too.
Champion: Yeah, 17 and 11 and then 42.
“Lovers in Japan” and “Reign of Love”
Martin: Guy and Will made the piano you hear on there.
Jonny Buckland: Wait, I did too!
Champion: We were in a studio in New York, this place called the Magic Shop, and it had this thing called a tack piano there, which sounds like an old honky-tonk piano, where you put little tacks in the hammers, so it sounds like more of a harpsichord almost. And so we wanted to use that kind of sound, but we didn’t have a tack piano, so rather than sample it, we went and bought an old piano from the shop up the road from our studio, and we bought a load of tacks, and me and Guy and Jon spent a couple of hours pushing tacks into the piano hammers.
Martin: The only thing is, now we don’t have anything to pin notes up with, so we have a lot of pieces of paper on the floor, and a beautiful piano.
“Yes” and “Chinese Sleep Chant”
Martin: Everyone was complaining to us about people not buying albums, so we thought maybe the reason people don’t want to buy music is because there’s not enough value for money. So we tried to add a bit of value [with the hidden track, “Chinese Sleep Chant”]. It’s as simple as that. It comes from the supermarket.
Champion: One of the main things we tried to focus on with this record is changing vocal identities, because Chris has a very recognizable voice. Just the idea that you can totally change the sound of a song and the sound of a band, just by treating the vocals a different way. So in a song like “Yes,” Chris is singing in a lot lower register, and then in “Chinese Sleep Chant,” it’s drowned in reverb, and he’s trapped behind all these guitars.
“Viva la Vida”
Martin: I think everything we’re trying to do at the moment is about not starting again so much as breaking down what we’ve built up before and trying to build something different and hopefully better, or worse in a good way. And this song is one of our favorites, because none of us are doing anything on it that we’ve ever done before. But we really enjoy playing it. The longer you go on as a band, the harder it is to surprise yourself.
“Violet Hill”
Berryman: It was one of the older songs we had been working on, and we had sort of moved it to one side from the list of songs that were going to be on the record. And there’s this secret fifth member of the group, [manager] Phil Harvey, and he really championed it, as well as a few other people, so quite rightfully so, we dragged it back into the short list. And we had great fun making the video for that song in Sicily, on top of Mount Etna.
Martin: We made two videos for that song; the other one’s on the Internet, which is our favorite video we’ve ever made. We just thought it was funny that in the run-up to elections, everybody dances. … And we thought, “Wouldn’t it be great to make a video of just politicians dancing?” So we did.
“Strawberry Swing”
Champion: Those are actually Brian [Eno’s] handclaps at the beginning of that song, and —
Martin: If you listen very closely, you can hear him complaining about the tempo at the beginning of that song.
Champion: That’s mostly what he does, complain about tempos.
Martin: [In a booming Brian Eno voice] “Oh, that’s much too fast.”
“Death and All His Friends” and “The Escapist”
Martin: Well, this is supposed to be the theme of the album, really. We’re aware of all the bad stuff in life, you know — i.e. Death and all his friends — but that doesn’t mean you should ever give in to it, you know? So we all sing that bit together really loudly, as kind of a message to ourselves: never giving up and never focusing on the bad stuff too much.
PLAY
