Every time a 0 is involved with the turning year, people tend to go crazy over “the best _____ of the decade”. Lists come out about music and movies and tv shows and whatever. Well, I decided to do that. Because I’m a dork. What I ended up doing is a list of things for every year since the year 2000. I will talk about some of them and leave links to others that I think are fantastical and that I belive you (whoever you are) might enjoy. So. Here we go. Expect to see some bands that repeat, and some that you know I like, if you like me:

2000
Does anyone remember how fantastically catchy ‘Bohemian Like You’ was? The silly video with the karaoke-thing, etcetera? There was a lot of decent music coming out around this time, and I remember being consistently barraged by good albums. This wouldn’t continue through the rest of the decade. Californication would be the last time I would enjoy RHCP as a band.

Dandy Warhols (song – Bohemian Like You); Red Hot Chili Peppers (album – Californication); Smashing Pumpkins/Foo Fighters/A Perfect Circle(show – Summersault – Winnipeg Stadium); Nine Inch Nails (video – Into the Void)

2001
In 2001 I succumbed to sexy pop for a favorite song. Seriously. That song is awesome. Frusciante’s album was magical, and I think my video of the year is really the only choice.

Kylie Minogue (song – Can’t get you out of my head); John Frusciante (album – To Record only Water for Ten Days); Tragically Hip (show – Winnipeg Arena); Fatboy Slim (video – Weapon of Choice)

2002
Dave Grohl makes the list twice as a drummer in this year, and probably would have taken the album too, but from out of nowhere came what would change my mind about Canadian music in that I ended up following almost every project that Broken Social Scene had outside of it’s main band after hearing the album and seeing them live.

Queens Of The Stone Age (song – Go With the Flow); Broken Social Scene (album – You Forgot it in people); Broken Social Scene – (show – Pyramid Cabaret); Tenacious D (video – Tribute)

2003
I remember the moment I fell in love with Sit down Stand up. It was on the eve of the album coming out, and Radiohead played a live show that was broadcasted to Silver City theatres in Canada. When that song reached the crescendo into the fast ‘raindrops’ part, I was almost on the edge of my seat. Which I could also say about the Metric show. They were second on a bill of three that featured Hot Hot Heat as the main act, and were still relatively new, but downright sexy and exciting to watch. I’ve since seen them six more times.

Radiohead (song – Sit Down, Stand Up); Mars Volta (album – De-Loused in the Comatorium); Metric (show – Pyramid Cabaret); Buck 65 (video – Wicked and Weird)

2004
The second time a John Frusciante album makes my favorite albums. This album is widely regarded as his most ‘mainstream’ and is a fantastic, great-amazing thing, just like the Bowie concert, which was the last concert I ever saw at the ol’ Winnipeg arena.

Secret Machines (song – Nowhere Again); John Frusciante (album – Shadows Collide with People); David Bowie (show – Winnipeg Arena); DFA 1979 (video – Black History Month)

2005
I’ll never forget how many phone calls I got when Nine Inch Nails annouced that they’d be coming here. It was the first time I was going to see them, after being a fan since 1994. My phone rang off the hook, and for one song during that show, so did my emotions. I kinda quietly, completely lost it, and felt like a dummy. Ha! By the way, that Esthero video’s freakin’ hot, and I agree with every sentiment in it.

Sufjan Stevens (song – Come On! Feel the Illinoise!); Fantomas (album – Suspended Animation); Nine Inch Nails (show – MTS Centre) Esthero (video – We R in Need of a Musical Revolution)

2006
I saw Wintersleep by myself in front of about 30 people, and skipped work to get there. When I talked to the singer about this, he dedicated a song to me. How nice. As far as Nausea goes, I don’t know what it is about that song, but something in it drives me nuts. It’s way too good and it doesn’t even realize it.

Beck (song – Nausea); Regina Spektor (album – Begin To Hope); Wintersleep (show – The Collective); Eagles of Death Metal (video – Boy’s Bad News)

2007
National Anthem of Nowhere has become my most listened to track on last.fm, and I think the Wintersleep album has since become one of my most listened to albums. They will both continue to rise in numbers. If I did a song by song and album by album breakdown, these two would make somewhere within the top three. And it’s pretty cool that I got to see Mike Patton in any of his 34i83902439024 bands, but Peeping Tom blew me away.

Apostle of Hustle (song – National Anthem of nowhere); Wintersleep (album – Welcome to the Night Sky); Peeping Tom (show – Trocadero); Feist (video – 1234)

2008
God, In Rainbows is great. And Secret Machines live, that’s something so completely underrated, I don’t even know how to describe it to you. The power that they have to get an audience going, is a sight to behold and yet there were so few people there that I was kind of disappointed in the turnout. Oh, and yes, I realize that Feist gets the video 2 years running for the same album, but they’re both great videos.

Kaki King (song – Montreal); Radiohead (album – In Rainbows); Secret Machines (show – Pyramid); Feist (video – I feel it all)

2009
I know, it hasn’t been that long, but Them Crooked Vultures was exactly the album I wanted it to be. So there.  And as far as Spookey’s song goes, this is the second time I’ve talked about it in my blog. Previously appeared in my “songs you won’t see in Guitar Hero or Rock band“, and it’s just something to behold. Metric’s video was perfect, it was the video that I wanted them to have. Something sweet and cute instead of overtly dorky like all of their other videos. As far as Leonard Cohen’s concert goes, I hadn’t been a huge fan beforehand, but was introduced, and BECAME a large fan because of how amazing that concert was. Everything he did was perfect. The singing, the sounds, the engagement with the audience was fantastic. Top five concerts in my life, that one.

Spookey Ruben (song – Mechanical Royalty); Them Crooked Vultures (album – Them Crooked Vultures); Leonard Cohen (show – MTS Centre); Metric (video – Gimme Sympathy)

Jodå. Finalen kommer förmodligen att gå någon gång under december, och sista chansen att ta sig dit (till finalen alltså, inte december) är att göra väl ifrån sig i dagens MusikGiss som broder Tinka i vanlig ordning totat ihop. Lycka till!

Idag släpper Gamnackarna också sitt debutalbum! Men eftersom Boa, Olof, Tobbe och Mia är lite busy med att skriva frågor till PopGiss 2010 har herrarna Dave Grohl, John Paul Jones och Josh Homme fått hoppa in så länge:

Them Crooked Vultures!

I got a bit of boring admin-type stuff with my assignments done today but what I really want to talk about is Them Crooked Vultures.

I was in London last summer when I first heard about the super-group Them Crooked Vultures. There was talk of them playing a surprise set at Reading festival. (They ended up playing two).

Now. Why get excited about Them Crooked Vultures? What makes them a “super-group”? Well, Them Crooked Vultures is a band consisting of:

Dave Grohl; Foo Fighters, Nirvana

Josh Homme; Queens of the Stone Age

John Paul Jones; Led Zeppelin

Pull it back there a second, Led Zeppelin? LED ZEPPELIN?! LED “ROCK-THE-WORLD” ZEPPELIN?

Excited yet? I know I was. This was a band born of the hype machine, playing surprise sets and secret gigs between Chicago and London via The Netherlands!

The best part? Their whole debut album is now available by streaming from YouTube. So I listened, and I liked. The bass-driven, heavy blues-rock delivers exactly what the teasers promised. The songs aren’t all pitch perfect, but they emanate the raw energy, talent and enthusiasm of these three phenomenal artists.

Dave, Josh and John Paul have created a sound that captures, amazingly, the essence and individuality of the three major bands that they hail from. If you’re not a fan of the Foos, QOTSA or Zeppelin, then Them Crooked Vultures won’t be for you. For fans of one or all three: the album is set to debut on the 16th in the UK and the 17th in the US.

On a side note; if you don’t like any of these bands, what is wrong with you?!

And yes, Led Zeppelin is my favourite band.

Para conhecer supergrupo Them Crooked Vultures, formado por Josh Homme, Dave Grohl e John Paul Jones:

Podiam fazer uns shows pra cá hein….

Enquanto isso a volta do Led Zeppelin fica bem longe de acontecer …
… e o Foo Fighters já anunciou férias.

O Supergrupo Them Crooked Vultures preparam-se para lançar o seu álbum homónimo de estreia já no próximo dia 16 de novembro, mas as músicas já podem ser ouvidas no youtube.

Them Crooked Vultures é o tipo a Liga da Justiça do Hard rock. É formada por John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin/Lanterna Verde), Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age e Kyuss/Batman) e Dave Grohl (Nirvana e Foo Fighters/Superman).

Esta ‘coisa’ de nome esquisito, impronunciável e intraduzível é, na verdade, uma Super Banda. Super bandas aparecem da junção (natural ou não) de artistas consagrados e parece que ninguém gosta mais da brincadeira do que Dave Grohl, vocalista do Foo Fighters e eterno ex-baterista do Nirvana.

Não satisfeito com a fama, dinheiro, prestígio e reconhecimento exacerbadamente comprovados devido a toda sua genialidade já demonstrada, o cara ainda continua se envolvendo de corpo e alma em grandes projetos. Depois de tocar bateria no disco do Queens Of The Stone Age e manifestar publicamente o seu desejo de assumir o lugar de John Bonham na reunião do Led Zeppelin (além de outros projetos que não lembro…) a bola da vez é o aguardado trabalho de estréia do Them Crooked Vultures, banda formada por Josh Holmme (QOTSA), Dave Grohl e (jogada de mestre!) John Paul Jones (um Zeppelin vivo e preservado em corpo físico).

Após meses de mistério e novidades liberadas a conta gotas, finalmente o disco foi lançado e está disponível para audição no YouTube, e já nas primeiras audições eu arriscaria um ‘fantástico‘!

O que seria do mundo sem o Dave Grohl?

My back up husband...excpet for that "straight" thing

Even though the combined awesomeness of Dave Grohl, Josh “Someday I’ll Marry Marc Moder” Homme, and Led Zepplin’s John Paul Jones doesn’t need my help to sell a billion CDs of their supergroup Them Crooked Vultures, I had to share that one of the most anticipated and secretive albums this year is up online for all to hear on their Youtube page:

I do have to admire their moxy for doing this. While it may be a great way to get the buzz going its OH SO EASY to download the flash files and convert to MP3. This album will be leaked everywhere by Tuesday. No matter to me though, I’ll still by it. As long as those shirtless Josh Homme pics I was promised are in the liner notes. A boy can dream!

Há poucos dias o  Them Crooked Vultures lançou a primeira música de trabalho, New Fang. Agora, mais uma música cai na web: Mind Eraser (No Chaser).

Dá pra ouvir ali embaixo.

E o grande baixista John Paul Jones disse que a volta do Led é bem improvável, já que a nova banda é fodástica:

“O Them Crooked Vultures apareceu e, pra ser honesto, eu estou muito feliz”.

Aí o cara ainda puxou o saco do Dave Grohl:

“Eu imediatamente reconheci que ele é um baterista muito bom, tem ritmo, e é ouvido. Todas essas coisas bacanas que um baixista gosta de encontrar em um baterista”.

Dave Grohl, lead singer of Foo Fighters, along with Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age) and John Paul Jones  (Led Effing Zeppelin!) have started a super group called Them Crooked Vultures.  They rock all kinds of houses.  This is New Fang:

Their album is out on 16th November.  I want it bad.

In the meantime, iTunes have a free track available for download called Mind Eraser, No Chaser.  We tried to get tickets to their one of their gigs in December but the site crashed with all the eager rock dudes and dudettes.  And after the whole Green Day Ticket Debacle of 2009, it is probably just as well.  It’s a shame I hate Ticketmaster since it severely hinders getting tickets when you decide to boycott the largest ticket supplier in the world!

Es wird Zeit für eine neue Supergroup. Das, was sich jetzt anbahnt, übersteigt so manch eine Erwartung eines Rock-Liebhabers: an den Drums ist Dave Grohl, der Mann von Nirvana. An die Gitarre und Mikrofon macht sich der Frontmann von den Queens of the Stone Age ran – Josh Homme. Den Bass liefert John Paul Jones, das Sound-Genie von Led Zeppelin. Spreeblick hat schon berichtet, als erst ein Teaser raus war, was ich den Machern hoch anrechne. Jetzt gibt es einen ganzen Song auf YouTube zum “Probehören”. Video nach dem Klick.

Them Crooked Vultures, a banda que já nasceu gigantesca, por se tratar da união dos monstros do rock mundial Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters), Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age) e John Paul Johnes (Led Zeppelin), acaba de lançar na rede a primeira música de trabalho, New Fang.

Confira abaixo, junto com a setlist do álbum, que chega às lojas na gringa dia 17 de novembro.

1. No One Loves Me & Neither Do I
2. Mind Eraser, No Chaser
3. New Fang
4. Dead End Friends
5. Elephants
6. Scumbag Blues
7. Bandoliers
8. Reptiles
9. Interlude with Ludes
10. Warsaw or the first Breath You Take After You Give Up
11. Caligulove
12. Gunman
13. Spinning in Daffodils

Here’s the first single, titled “New Fang”, from Them Crooked Vultures’ eponymous debut album.

Them Crooked Vultures – Josh Homme (QOTSA, Desert Sessions, Kyuss), Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters, Probot, Nirvana) & John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin) – have confirmed November 17, 2009 as the release date for the album.

Here’s the track list:

1. No One Loves Me & Neither Do I
2. Mind Eraser, No Chaser
3. New Fang
4. Dead End Friends
5. Elephants
6. Scumbag Blues
7. Bandoliers
8. Reptiles
9. Interlude With Ludes
10. Warsaw or The First Breath You Take After You Give Up
11. Caligulove
12. Gunman
13. Spinning In Daffodils

Es ist der feuchte Traum eines jeden Musikliebhabers.

Josh Homme(Kyuss, Queens of the Stone Age, Eagles of Death Metal), Dave Grohl(Nirvana, Foo Fighters) und John Paul Jones(Led Zeppelin) gründen eine Band.

Nach sporadischen Tweets, YouTube Schnipseln und sporadischen Live Shows gibt es jetzt ein Datum: 17. November 2009.

An diesem Datum wird Musikgeschichte geschrieben, das selbstbetitelte Album wird veröffentlicht.

Von meiner Seite wird es bestimmt ein Review geben, also stay tuned.

Foo Fighters, Led Zep, and QOTSA...Them Crooked Vultures can't help but rock!

Got a chance to see one of the latest supergroups out there, Them Crooked Vultures. They didn’t disappoint.

For those of you who don’t know, Them Crooked Vultures are Josh Homme the main man from one of my favourite rock bands of the past few years, Queens of the Stone Age. On drums ex-Nirvana and current Foo Fighter leader Dave Grohl. Now just those two would be pretty good but then, for good measure, on bass, the legendary John Paul Jones of Led-freakin’-Zeppelin!

There’s no recorded material available yet from the group. Just a few 30-second teaser snippets posted on Youtube from the band, and now, seeing that they’ve been playing for a month or so, there’s videos of live performances on Youtube including the show I saw now being one of those clips.

What can I say. They were really great but…

It almost seemed to me like it was another line-up of QOTSA that just refused to play any of their older material. I guess I was hearing Homme’s influence in the tunes the most. That is not a bad thing by any means. I think that guy is amazing. And to be fair, Dave Grohl’s drumming is pretty killer.

Who knows, maybe when I hear the full album I’ll hear more of the other player’s influence, or maybe they’ll release more than one album and they’ll continue to grow. One thing’s for sure. I’m getting the CD when its released and I’m over the moon that I got a chance to see them.

Queens Of The Stone Age - Songs for the deaf

one of the best albums ever, from one of the best bands ever, this is (next to Rated R) Queens Of The Stone Age’s best album. it works as a radio station streaming and blowing your windows off with heavy bass lines, incredible drum sets and mind blowing energy.

the album opens like this. i can still remember getting into the car and driving downtown Chicago

Queens Of The Stone Age – No one knows

The music blogosphere has been rumbling about it since July, and interestingly most indication of what Them Crooked Vultures is about has come through their web 2.0 marketing rather than any physical offering. Comprising of Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age), Dave Grohl (Nirvana/Foo Fighters) and John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin), a group that was undoubtedly going to be hugely successful from the off has had an interesting entry into rock circles.

Announced on music website Antiquiet, followed by much hype on Pitchfork and Rolling Stone in early August, the new capital S Supergroup exploded into the world in an unnamed but deliberately leaked first gig at Chicago venue Metro.

But for fans who didn’t make it to that first gig, ie every fan bar one of a lucky couple of hundred, they have been given scant regard since. Releasing a content-less band website just for the purposes of spruiking merch shows their marketeers are not beyond treating their ‘market’ with contempt.

Perhaps this is all about building interest but maintaining mystique, 2009 style. Twitter and Facebook feeds have featured an X with coordinates on a Google map, locating pending shows such as those played at Pukkelpop and Reading Festivals. Who needs one of those outdated music products to tour on the back of, what were they called – ‘albums’?

Despite the frustration of a marketing campaign announcing bugger all else but t-shirts and gigs for a lucky few, if you are a fan of some of the bands that Grohl and Homme have played in (I’d say it might not be up the alley of every Zeppelin loving Boomer) you are likely to find the music awesome.

Since everyone else is doing it, here’s the song that’s on my mind this Sunday.

Great imagery.

The new album was officially out on Monday, and I’d been greatly enjoying it for a week or two previous to that due to a leak. But having properly bought it by now and listening to it on a proper CD player, a new sound for the Arctic Monkeys was becoming apparent to my ears.

Official owners of the crown ‘fastest-selling debut album in British music history’, this is the bit where I tell you that their success was all down to a “DIY marketing campaign”, and that they were an “Internet phenomenon” speaking for “the youth of 2005.” What it ultimately comes down to is whether they can say something, whilst also sounding good to my ears.

Before I get on to assessing how they got on last night I must briefly mention the support act. As any gig-goer will assure you, the warm up/opening/support/special guest act is never something to be excited about. If you’re lucky you’ll get an exciting promising new band, or with the bigger gigs a good 6 out of 10 type outfit. However this was not the case last night. Support came from a new super band known as ‘Them Crooked Vultures’.

They consisted of…

him:

Josh Homme

off of them:

and him:

John Paul Jones

off of them:

oh and him:

off of them:

Foo Fighters

as well as:

I think you’ll agree they do definitely fit the requirements for a super band.

So apart from the awesomeness of seeing Dave Grohl smack those drums like there’s no tomorrow and watching Josh Homme slur with effortlessness and seeing John Paul Jones and thinking… that guy recorded Stairway To Heaven! Were they any good?

My immediate reaction as they played through new songs such as, Elephant and Gunman was – this is heavy. This was a hard rock masterclass, a similar sound to what Velvet Revolver are going for, but with a bit less of the obvious riffs. There didn’t seem to be anything particularly fresh here, they just rocked hard and harder.

Things got slightly more interesting when they played Caligula, and John Paul Jones switched from bass to keys.

Overall first impressions were reassurance that these guys really can play. As well as noticing that their experience and enjoyment was very evident.

However, I think they were just too heavy for anyone to gain any sort of true impression as to what they were like. Homme’s vocals were drowned out by the rest of the instruments and Grohl’s phenomenal mental muppets’ Animal style drumming was not enough to redeem the band’s live performance.

I suspect that when given the chance to listen to some studio recordings from the band, more can be deciphered from this potentially promising super duper crew.

After a far too long wait, the Monkeys eventually wandered on, aided by a torch to get them through the thick dry ice that coated the psychedelically lit stage. They opened with sure-fire next single My Propellor. A song which is topped by some catchy backing vocals. This sound was still hard, just like the previous act, but the lyrics could actually be heard and the band seemed less intent on making a racket and in gear to play some good tunes.

Next came an unusual choice of song, in the form of a Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds cover, Red Right Hand.

This nicely gives me the opportunity to add to my rant about the duty of a live touring band. Now touring is not essential for success, Kate Bush for example has famously only ever toured once, and that’s fair enough. But I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, if you’re a popular band and you’re gigging, you have a requirement to play the songs that made you famous. This was something that first got to me with Radiohead, when they omitted Paranoid Android & Creep amongst other accepted classics. Punters have paid good money to see their much beloved band play all their favourite tracks, and don’t care if you’re bored of the songs which were your hits; we paid good money! We don’t want to hear covers or B-sides! We want hits & classics!

The Arctic Monkeys played a great set. Some of the best moments came in the form of Brianstorm, I Bet That You Look Good On The Dancefloor and View From The Afternoon. Guys, I understand your hesitation, I’m just as bored of those songs as you Monkeys are, I skip them when they come up on shuffle too! But you knew best to play them, because when you see a song live, it gives it a whole new angle, and you’re fans like you for those very songs, plus they paid money.

So that’s where they fell short, there was no Fake Tales of San Fransisco, or Mardy Bum, or Scummy Man, or Leave Before the Lights Come On. Come on lads.

Other than that oversight it was a great gig. Familiar tracks from the second two albums were appreciated and Still Take You Home was adored.

Music is a wonderful thing, I’d recommend it to anyone, so would Oliver Wendell Holmes as it happens;

“Take a music bath once or twice a week for a few seasons. You will find it is to the soul what a water bath is to the body.“

I haven’t had a water bath for a while though. What does that mean?