I have a friend who despises Madonna, hates her with every fiber of her being. She believes that any artistic success Madge has had is due, for the most part, to attaching herself to a successful hot producer and sucking the producer’s young artistic blood, then moving on, like a horrifying Cruella DeVille-like mosquito (to mix the hell out of a metaphor). Patrick Leonard, William Orbit, Nellee Hooper, etc, in my friend’s view, most of Madonna’s success has been linked in varying degrees of success to whomever is “hot” at the moment. And to her credit (and artistic damnation), she’s been pretty great at this sonic cannibalization.

I would contend that Madonna choosing producers that make her “come alive again” artistically is quite a self-reflective and brave talent, akin to male bands picking Rick Rubin to work with. Willfully choosing someone that challenges you is no small feat, choosing to spend time with someone who will knock you off your comfortable pedestal and keep you gloriously uncomfortable.

Which is why artists pick Rick Rubin (and maybe why Madonna should herself one day): he’s a brilliant, back-to-basics producer who somehow has figured out the formula, which seems to be:

1. Have creatively bankrupt band and/or singer rent a house to record in.
2. Have said band and/or singer bring already written songs and play together in a room.
3. Mix said band and/or singer in a way that is a throwback to their original, basic sound.

Which got me thinking. Who are some artists that should be working with certain producers to really shock them into a transcendent album? I humbly submit:

Prince Produced by Jack White

There’s a great intro to the documentary “It Might Get Loud” where Jack White is inexplicable nailing shit to a board on some rural porch. One by one, he attaches two nails, some thick wire, sets an old Coke bottle to pull the wire taught, nails an old, buzzy pickup beneath the nail, plugs that into a cheap little amp, and proceeds to shred a nice little blues lick with a slide. He then looks off camera and says, just like a punk: “Who says you even need a guitar?”

It’s a great moment, and it underlines that Jack White needs to play music. He’s an goddamn artist, and he’d dig up bones if they had an unmatched tonal quality. So here’s the plan:

Give Prince a duffel-bag full of two pairs of pants, a couple of t-shirts, Chuck Taylor high tops, no make-up, and about a dozen do-rags. He and Jack White sequester themselves in a cabin in Northern Minnesota or Michigan’s Upper Peninsula (either one is great), just the two of them. They are given the following instruments and equipment:

• The Jack White assembled guitar from It Might Get Loud (or they make a new one).
• An ancient stand-up bass.
• A plinkly stand-up piano, preferably ripped-off from the local high school (‘cause those things are always wicked out-of-tune).
• A beat-up resonator guitar with a grumpy little vintage amp, like a Pignose.
• One steel drum.
• An old Slingerland jazz kit, with a piccolo snare.
• Any and all Harry Partch instruments they are able to procure.
• A cello.
• One slide.
• A reel-to-reel recorder.

Three months, a wood stove, bonfire pit, groceries, that’s it. No one gets a cell phone. White legal pads. No engineer. Two musicians, one cabin. No Prince “yes-men”. Here’s the final rule: after three months is up, the masters go to Jack. He decides what stays and goes. Prince has to give up control on the final product. He has to let go.

I GUARANTEE YOU this would yield one of Prince’s greatest albums (if he and Jack didn’t kill each other first, which is highly probable), perhaps one of the greatest albums of all time. A Love Supreme-good, Sketches of Spain-good. Hell, Sign O’The Times-good. Then, Prince does a tour where it’s just him onstage with any of the above instruments. He could use Jon Brion-type looping, but it would just be him, onstage, alone with his unmatchable talent and soul.

Just a suggestion. More wacky artistic pairings to come!

(BTW, Jack, I want a co-producer credit when this works. Even if I only fetch propane and bring you guys up S’mores.)

Wow, a CD released not only this decade, but this year!!  Lucky my missus stills buys CDs occasionally.

This is one of them supergroup efforts, bringing together the ubiquitous Jack White, the frontwoman from The Kills, a Queen of the Stone Age and some other bloke.

It aint the same as The White Stripes, if nothing else because of the predominance of female vocals, but also for the full band lineup, and White’s shift off strings to the drum stool.

Despite all that, it sounds pretty familiar.  If you’ve heard White’s James Bond theme, you’ve got a pretty good feel for this.  It’s all very soaring and melodramatic. 

Alison Mosshart has a very strong, full voice and does a decent Polly Harvey impression.  The riffing and basslines are strong.  This doesn’t sound like a little jam session between some friends.  The production levels are right up there. In fact, they might be almost too good, leaving it all little too slick.

There ain’t any true standout singles on here, but So Far from Your Weapon and Rocking Horse stick better than most.

I’m not saying these guys are better than the sum of their parts.  But they don’t embarrass themselves either.

File under: Not quite Best of Breed

The Hold Steady Almost Killed The Sokol Underground

But it is.  Good God, it’s almost 2010.

*Side note:  It truly is incredible to consider for myself the difference in my life from the year 2000 to today.  I was a junior in college in Lincoln, having a grand old time, and just started dating someone.  I know am a homeowner in Omaha with said “someone” and have a beautiful daughter with her.  And it seems like 2000 was approximately 2 days ago.  Incredible.

So you’re starting to see the inevitable “Best of the ’00’s” articles and blog posts.  I typically am only interested in the music version of these lists.  The one I saw is from–for my money–the most reputable music site out there anymore, The Onion’s AV Club.

When I first saw this link, I couldn’t immediately think of anything really.  But wow–once I started reading through this list, I realized how good of a decade it has been for music.  Perhaps that’s a personal preference, but there are some all-timer’s in there.  For me, age 21-30 was far more influential for my musical tastes than, say, my high school/early college years because it has been the past 10 years where I really branched out and started discovering more genres and getting into a diverse array of music.  But I digress.

Check out the AV Club’s “Best of the Decade” story. Here is their Top 6:

(Why Top 6?  Because #6 is awesome, and I wanted to include it.)

#6:  The Hold Steady, “Separation Sunday”

#5:  Wilco, “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot”

#4:  Outkast, “Stankonia”

#3:  Radiohead, “Kid A”

#2:  Kanye West, “The College Dropout”

#1:  The White Stripes, “White Blood Cells”

I think that Top 6 is pretty stout, and you could really interchange any of them (although I think the White Stripes are pretty overrated for my taste).  I’m glad that Kanye is where he should be; that album is incredible.  I think due to his increasing douchebaggery has overshadowed just how good of music he puts out there (particularly his first three albums).  Wilco is Wilco, and Yankee is probably their best album.  Stankonia is as influential an album as will be produced in our lifetimes, let alone that decade.  And Separation Sunday is probably my favorite album by the finest rock and roll band in America right now.  Here are some other highlights for me from the list:

#50 – Broken Social Scene, “You Forgot It In People;” #37 – Justin Timberlake, “Justified” (yeah, I said it, but it’s undeniably a great pop record); #34 – Clipse, “Lord Willin’;” #33 – Death Cab for Cutie, “Transatlanticism;” #30 – Sufjan Stevens, “Illinois;” #28 – Ghostface Killah, “Supreme Clientele;” #26 – Amy Winehouse, “Back To Black;” #25 – Madvillian, “Madvilliany;” #9 – Jay-Z, “The Blueprint.”

Biggest Omission:  D’Angelo, “Voodoo.”  For my money, one of the best soul albums ever made, and a Top 5 album of all-time for me personally.  It is borderline criminal it’s not on here.

Other omissions:  Common, “BE;” Coldplay, “A Rush of Blood To The Head;” Arctic Monkeys, “Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not;” Vampire Weekend, “Vampire Weekend;” Kanye West, “Late Registration;” Gnarls Barkley, “St. Elsewhere;”  Al Green, “Lay It Down;” Jay-Z, “Unplugged;” Ryan Adams, “Gold;” The Roots, “Phrenology;” Q-Tip, “The Abstract;” J Dilla, “The Shining”

So where are you at?  What are your top albums of the past 10 years?  What are your glaring omissions?  Leave ‘em in the comments.

Artist: The White Stripes
Album: Icky Thump
Release Date: June 15, 2007

This was the first complete White Stripes album I heard, mostly on the grounds that it was the first one that had two fairly straightforward rock singles I could get behind. It was also the first time I felt like Jack White stopped being pretentious long enough to make a strong batch of songs. I’ve since realized that I was wrong because a) White will never stop being a bit of a pretentious jerk, and b) OK, Elephant was pretty damn sweet, too. Anyway, Icky Thump dropped the sort-of gimmick of making kickass rock music with as little as possible and went for broke, employing brass, strings, and bagpipes to fill out some tracks. But the best songs are still the ones where Jack White shreds and feedbacks his way through Meg White’s impenetrable backbone beats. Fans of “old” White Stripes will probably call this album a sellout or any number of other things to lessen the value of its accessibility, but good music is good music, and Icky Thump is a damn fine piece of music.

The White Stripes – You Don’t Know What Love Is (You Just Do As You’re Told) [iTunes] (YSI)

==TJ==

I can’t get enough of this song, amazing cover and in my opinion the best performance ever by The White Stripes!

The Supremes are one of the many influential Motown acts to come out of the Motor City

City Sounds goes to the Motor City this week to listen to some of it’s native sounds.

Detroit is known mainly for it’s automobile industry, but a close second would be Motown.  As the birthplace of Motown Records, Detroit provided the world with one of the most important musical genres of all time. An influence to almost every other musical genre following it’s dominance, Motown and it’s notoriety still stand as the ideal for popular music.

Artists like Smokey Robinson, The Supremes, and Stevie Wonder topped the charts with hit after hit after hit, and it set a new standard for pop.  Motown reigned supreme (some pun intended) through the ’60s and into part of the ’80s. Even though the hits have dwindled in quantity, the quality of music is still heard around the world.

Motown put Detroit on the map, but it wasn’t the only source of great music.  Detroit also had it’s moments during the garage rock revival in the early 2000s with bands like The White Stripes, The Von Bondies and Electric Six.  It also presented the world with arguably one of the most influential rappers of all time, Eminem.

There’s plenty of great music from Detroit that will all be covered on Monday, November 23, from 11pm-1am on WERW. Tune in and listen up!

– Kyle Kuchta

Jeg var for nogle uger siden, inde til galla præmieren på den nye dokumentar, Under Great Northern White Lights om The White Stripes. Som mange af jer sikkert ved, var det specielle ved denne galla, at filmens instruktør, Emmett Malloy og ikke mindst selveste Jack White kom ind og præsenterede den inden lyset blev slukket. The White Stripes er ét af de der bands jeg rådyrkede som teenager, men som pludselig røg på hylden. Og da jeg i sommers fik lyst til at genoplive dem ved at sætte live DVD’en Under Blackpool Lights på, kunne jeg overraskende nok slet ikke høre hvorfor i alverden jeg havde dyrket det her band så meget engang…for han kan jo slet ikke synge ham Jack!?

Så det var med en vis skepsis at min veninde havde fået mig lokket med ind til det her arrangement. Men når det så er sagt, så må jeg da indrømme at mit indre White Stripes hjerte bankede en smule, da Jack White en smule akkavet lister ind i salen lige i hælene på instruktøren, og forsøger at bløde lidt op på situationen ved at vende sig om med ryggen imod publkum og liste langs lærredet på en halvkomisk måde. Det må da også være underligt at skulle stå og præsentere en film om sig selv, som man samtidig ikke må fortælle alt for meget om. Men én af de ting han sagde, som jeg særligt bandt mig ved, var:

In this documentary you’ll see things you’ve never ever experienced in any music documentary before!

Så selvfølgelig sad jeg hele filmen igennem og prøvede på at finde ud af om det var rigtigt. Men syntes ikke rigtig at jeg kunne finde noget jeg ikke har set før, andet end at meget af konceptet mindede mig rigtig meget om den første musik dokumentar der nogensinde er lavet, nemlig Don’t Look Back fra 1967, hvor man følger Bob Dylan på sin Englandstour i 1965.

Når det så er sagt, så var filmen faktisk okay, og jeg måtte flere gange tage mig selv i at sidde og mime med på rigtig mange af de sange de spiller i livescenerne i løbet af filmen. Der var også nogle rigtig underholdende scener hist og pist, og det faktum at den er skudt i sort/hvid størstedelen af tiden, tiltalte også mit blødende sort/hvid hjerte vældig meget. MEN den manglede et klimaks og jeg tror generelt at filmen mest er noget guf for den ægte White Stripes fan.

I got a comment on one of my posts this week from a guy in Texas. It made me realize I need to be comfortable with strangers reading about my life. But then it dawned on me, that’s the whole point of what I’m doing: telling strangers about my life.

I clicked on his name, which took me to his site. He described himself as a Christian grad-student with an interest in Charles Bukowski. I was surprised, I liked what he wrote. I never thought I’d enjoy a poem that dramatizes a scene from the Bible, but I did.

Still, having contact with people on the Internet spooks me. I am Internet Shy. I don’t know why, because the only relationship I’ve had on the Internet was really good. I traded several handwritten letters and mix tapes with a guy from Liverpool for 10 years. It wasn’t love, but a common interest in The Fall.

He said he mailed a photo of himself to The White Stripes, and they actually wrote back. He had been to the beach and passed out drunk in the sun, and the rolls of his fat left white stripes across his stomach. I guess the underside of the rolls were protected by the sun, so it created a pattern of white stripes against the red. He thought they could use it for the next album cover.

The thing about sharing your life with strangers is to remember, they only want to know something about you that means something to them.

More than once this week I’ve had people say they’re done with Facebook because they’re tired of hearing the same story about a friend who’s just returned from a walk with the dog. Strangers need more. Friends do, too.

I THINK I AM GOING TO PUKE ALL OVER MY CPU SCREEN~ I AM SO DISGUSTED WITH WHAT THE BIGGEST MUSIC SITES HAVE BECOME. THEY USED TO ALL ACTUALLY TELL IT LIKE IT WAS AND GAVE THEIR OPINIONS WITHOUT WORRYING ABOUT WHAT THE OTHERS WERE GOING TO DO OR WHAT WAS “HIP” OR “COOL” ~ IT’S NOT EVEN ABOUT THE MUSIC ANYMORE, IT’S LIKE THE DAMN MUSIC INDUSTRY (ESPECIALLY THE SUCCESSFUL INDIE CROWD) IS A HIGH SCHOOL PROM AND NOBODY’S SOULS OR HEARTS MATTER, JUST THEIR DRESSES AND WHO THEY ARE BRING WITH THEM TO THE BIG DANCE AND HOW THEY ARE GETTING THERE. I’M GOING TO DO EVERYTHING IN MY POWER TO GET THIS BLOG ONTO THE RIGHT PEOPLE’S COMPUTER SCREENS IN THEIR HOUSES OR APARTMENTS! THERE HAS TO BE PEOPLE WHO FEEL THE WAY THAT I DO. WE MUST RISE AND CREATE A NEW GENRE OF MUSIC IN ALL FACETS OF THE THEORY! IT WON’T BE INDIE, IT WON’T BE ALTERNATIVE, IT WILL HAVE TO BE CALLED “OTHER(TWICE)”

I WROTE THIS ON STEREOGUM AFTER READING THE 4TH LIST FROM PITCHFORK WHICH WAS ONLY 20 INSTEAD OF 50 AND THEY WERE BY FAR THE BEST, THEY GOT MORE GOOD ALBUMS IN 20 PICKS THAN THE OTHERS DID IN 50!!!

HERE IS MY RANT: What if the greatest album ever created comes out next month?! Anyways, Out of all the 4 lists from the Top Guns, Pitchfork got more right in 20 than any of the others did in 50!!!!!!!  They are the only ones to include a Modest Mouse Album, I know everyone thinks that Lonesome Crowded West was their Holy Grail & then they sold out, but as a Musician or even a massive fan of music, I think that what Isaac Brock did on The Moon & Antarctica (3 People), Good News For People Who Love Bad News & Even The Johnny Marr Included We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank  <— All 3 of them would be in My Top 50 Along With Ugly Cassanova! Silverchair – Diorama One Billion Percent Belongs In Every List~ It just infuriates me that all of these main music sites have to make sure they are still hip in their decision~ I mean, M.I.A is Beyond Amazing, But I don’t think that Arular is even half the album that Kala is and of course that is because she brought in Big Time Producers and all that, but M.I.A as a Singer/Rapper/Producer/Programmer <— She learned and got better at all of those things over the years in between those albums, but NOT ONE LIST HAD KALA, Just Arular Because It Is Cooler & More Hip To Say So & I Think Modest Mouse Made No Lists Because Of The Same Thing.. It’s Just Ridiculous. I am going to start a Music Blog & I am going to put the time, dedication and money behind it to get it into peoples heads and I will not bow down to what others think I should think. It is really getting pathetic at this point. HE DREAMS AWAKE Better Be In The Top 10 Of The Next Decade’s Lists~ If they want weird, unique, completely different in shape/sound/structure – That is where HDAWAKE Prevails by Landslides~

I MAY BE INSANE, BUT IT IS A BEAUTIFUL & BRILLIANT INSANITY.. AT LEAST THAT’S WHAT I TELL MYSELF WHEN I’M TRYING TO FALL ASLEEP ;P

HERE IS THE PITCHFORK TOP 20 OF THE LAST DECADE

Top Album Of The Decade

PASTE’S 50 BEST ALBUMS OF THE DECADE

NME’S 50 GREATEST OF THE LAST 10 YEARS

UNCUT’S TOP 20 ALBUMS OF THE ’00s

I HAD ACTUALLY LET UNCUT SLIP PAST ME & THEIR TOP 20 IS BETTER THAN HORRIBLE~ I WOULD TAKE THE TWO TOP 20’s OVER BOTH TOP 50 LISTS COMBINED TO A DESERTED ISLAND FOR THE REST OF MY OWN ETERNITY, NOT SAYING THAT WOULD BE EVEN DECENT, BUT IT WOULD DEFINITELY BE…… BETTER THAN NOTHING (i think)~

LET’S HOPE NOSTRADAMUS WAS WRONG ABOUT 2012 ALONG WITH THAT GROUP OF HARDCORE CHRISTIANS!!

ONE LAST THING.. ONE BIG ASS QUESTION: WHERE THE F#@K IS ELLIOTT SMITH’S FROM A BASEMENT ON A HILL??!!!!!!!!!  IT DIDN’T MAKE ONE SINGLE LIST AND IT HAS A FEW OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL SONGS EVER WRITTEN AND HE IS TALKING ABOUT PURE PAIN AND FRUSTRATION BECAUSE HE STUCK A F#@KING KNIFE IN HIS HEART BEFORE HE EVEN RELEASED IT. IT WAS A DOUBLE ALBUM AND IT BELONGS ON ALL 4 OF THOSE LISTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WHAT THE F#CK EVER~

…are these five albums:

1) Disc Two Nick Cave and Warren Ellis’ “White Lunar”

2) DJ Shadow’s “The Outsider″

3) Nirvana’s “Sliver: The Best of the Box”

4) Prodigy’s “The Fat of the Land”

5) The White Stripes’ “De Stijl”

And you?

Rocking it,

-Shady

With the early 00’s closing out in just two months, it felt like reason to go back over the last nine years of music and select what The Media Crunch feels are several of the decades best albums. The LP’s that were chosen were based on the potential to be classics or not, their perceived longevity and the influence and impact their sound had on the music scene.

THE FIVE

the Strokes: Is This It?

Amidst the 2001 garage rock revival scene the Strokes came out of a relative nowhere to deliver this 35 minute, lighting in a bottle album. Frontman Julian Casablancas wrote 11 songs that perfectly captured the hipster youth’s attention and delivered it with a swagger matched only by Nick Valensi’s and Albert Hammond Jr.’s guitar playing. the Strokes didn’t even sound like they were making an album, they were just having a good time and you were along for the ride.

The White Stripes: Elephant

Eminem: The Marshall Mathers LP

Kanye West: Late Registration

Say what you will about the man and his ego but when he promised to deliver big on his follow-up the multiplatinum College Dropout, he did. Kanye’s sampling ability mixed with Jon Brion’s arrangements made for one hell of an album. With hits like “Golddigger” “Touch the Sky” and the slow burning “Gone”, he upped his game while retaining what his fans (and music critics) liked him for. With orchestral chords, Adam Levine from Maroon 5 guesting and Jamie Foxx in his Ray Charles schtick, Kanye crafted a near perfect flowing pop/soul/hip-hop album. He clamoured for those pop hooks and in that regard he exceeded expectations. Time will tell if his other releases will hold up as well as this one (or if any will for that matter) but for now, he changed the way Hip-Hop was presented.

Amy Winehouse: Back to Black

Channelling her inner Ronnie Spector, Amy Winehouse followed up her mostly unknown first release Frank with an album that brought back a sixties soul revival. Producer Mark Ronson’s clever combination of a classic soul vibe intertwined with a modern day sound presented Amy as a towering vocal force that had to be reckoned with. At first the novelty of Rehab grabs your attention, but it isn’t until you dig deeper into cuts like You Know I’m No Good, Some Unholy War and the Marvin Gaye tinged Tears Dry On Their Own that you realize her anguish about losing her Blake is all real…and entertaining at the same time. Standing out above her peers, Ms. Winehouse managed to carve out her own sound while showcasing everything that inspired her.

Written By: Kyle Bulai

The Swagger Sticks LIVE At the Bootleg Theater.

Past Saturday, Nov 14th, The Swagger Sticks played a show at the infamous Bootleg Theater in Silverlake. Icky’s Ego was there to support our buddies, and we’ve got to tell you: we were all happy we did not miss this.

Seeing this band truly is an experience. The front man, Aron Gibson, is a charismatic entertainer whose hilariously funny demeanor on stage makes his shows THE MUST see in town.

We had a talk with bassist Matt Morales after the show, who told us that he is a stand up comedian. No kidding!! I think EVERYONE in the band is, including drummer Simon Hancock. Aron had the audience in stitches when he accepted the Heineken someone handed him on stage with a serious look on his face and declared: ” I just finished my bottle of Jack Daniels back stage but THIS (pointing at his Heineken) is just for show”.

The crowd totally went berserk when only minutes later, right before starting their first song, he sheepishly announced : “Sorry we forgot to bring our extended light show and the hologram projections”.

Besides being very entertaining and funny, The Sticks (as their fans endearingly call the band) were really tight, energetic, powerful and punchy in their performance of the songs. They played the whole album, and concluded with a smoking version of the Kiss classic “Detroit Rock City”.

The Swagger Sticks seem to be building a strong following in LA really fast, cause they had an amazing turnout on this show. After all: this was really only their 3rd or 4th performance since they released their debut album.

Stick it!, the debut from The Swagger Sticks, was released in August 2009 and draws on class of ‘77 punk and a wide range of power pop and indie rock influences from bands like The White Stripes, Foo Fighters, Killers, Green Day and Material Issue.

I was glad to see Jeff join The Sticks on trumpet to perform “Worldwide Pop Star” with the band on this show. It was one of the many highlights of the show.

You HAVE to check this band out, and you won’t have to wait too long to do so cause Icky’s Ego has FAN-TASSS-TIC news for you:

Vreny will be joining The Sticks on bass on Saturday the 28th Nov in The TRip in Santa Monica AND… He will be taking over bass duties with The Swagger Sticks for THAT show ONLY. (The Sticks bassist will be performing stand up comedy shows in Vegas that weekend).

YES… you read that correctly:

Icky’s Ego bassist performing LIVE with the Sticks. BE THERE OR BE SQUARE.

Saturday Nov 28th at 10pm

THE TRIP

2101 Lincoln Blvd, Santa Monica, CA 90405

This is going to be an amazingly fun show. Icky’s Ego will be there to rock out with The Sticks and our bassist.

Come join us and The Swagger Sticks for what is going to be a great musical experience by a solid band that knows how to have fun and rock your socks off.

This video came up on chat after Finley, Amber and I were discussing an inappropriate photoshooooooooooot. Gotta love random chat associations. <3

Sim, viva a arte do stop motion! Para quem não sabe, stop motion é a soma de pequenos tapes que geram um filme.

Por isso nós elegemos os clipes mais interessantes em Stop Motion.

3º lugar – The White Stripes, não bastava inovar musicalmente, eles queriam mais, eles queriam arte …

2º lugar – Cake, afinal de contas até aulas de violão podem ser legais!

1º lugar – Lasse Gjertsen, clique e e veja o porque está em primeiro lugar…

10.  Britney Spears – Look. Everyone (but the Australians) know Brit’s not singing when she’s onstage but her shows are highly entertaining. It’s like going to a Vegas show that happens to feature Britney Spears.

9.  Blink 182 – Although they’re not the best singers, Mark & Tom’s bathroom related banter is freakin’ hilarious. Plus, Travis Barker’s drumming ain’t bad either.

8.  Weezer – Saying you didn’t have fun at a Weezer show is like saying you don’t like puppies.

7.  U2 – They easily have the best stage show in rock.

6. Paramore – Hayley Williams and crew bring so much energy to the stage. Hayley is the ultimate performer with the voice of an angel.  Plus, what other bassist (Jeremy Davis) do you know that does back flips off the guitarist (Josh Farro)?

5.  Jay Z/Kanye West/Eminem – Most rappers suck live. These guys don’t.

4.  No Doubt – Gwen Stefani has got to be one of the greatest performers of all time and her abs are amazing. The guys do such a great job that you’ll keep you dancing through out their whole performance.

3.  The White Stripes – You wouldn’t believe how much one man (Jack White) can rock and command the stage until you see him live.  And it doesn’t hurt that Meg White has nice big boobs!

2.  Muse – Matt Bellamy has some of the craziest guitars I’ve ever seen. One of them has a laser that shoots out of it.  In addition, they’re all musical geniuses!

1.  Rage Against the Machine – I shouldn’t even have to tell you why. If Tom Morello’s face melting guitar playing isn’t enough, then Zack De La Rocha’s bouncing afro should do it for ya.

Hola estimados seguidores, que seguramente son muy pocos, pero en fin los estamos invitando para que nos ayuden a poder hacer la lista de los mejores 100 discos de esta década. Y pues estoy seguro que muchos tienen sus favoritos así que pues por medio de votación iremos sacando los discos. Así que esperamos nos den 10 opciones en los comentarios de esta entrada y pues yo pondré mi lista, ya se que 10 discos es muy poco, pero si pueden poner mas adelante,  traten de pensar en esos discos que creen cambio la manera de hacer música y formaron ó son parte importante en sus vidas.

Calling all mathematicians. What are the odds of amongst 1300+ album reviews that two different bands from the tiny nation of NZ would appear within three reviews? Seems as unlikely as being sick on a Saturday.

I have struggled in the past to distinguish the Datsuns from D4. I had bundled them both them into the garage rock pigeonhole. A few listens of this eponymous effort makes the distinction clearer.

While D4 mined a DIY punk vein, the Datsuns relish a bigger, better equipped multi-car garage with room for a smoke machine, a large Zeppelin drumkit, and perhaps a some fireworks. This is much closer to stadium rock… but a stadium with bikies and stoners.

This is throwback metal of the ilk that The Makeup and The White Stripes occasionally deliver, and which AC/DC delivered when they had a decent vocalist (i.e.Scott, B.). It is burdened with a certain pomposity, but also a warranted confidence. The falsetto of lead singer Dolf (now that’s a good rock moniker) soars alongside some great riffs.

I enjoy the energy and persistence of this album. Play it very, very load and scare someone’s parents.

File under: Another reason for Nissan to regret giving up a great marque

Por CCA

Que un grupo no solo entra por los oídos sino también por los ojos, es algo que debería estar universalmente asumido,  “no se puede” ir de grupo de estudiantes modélicos que pasan las  noches de los fines de semana resolviendo ecuaciones o jugando al Magic® o como coño se llame.

Soso estilismo

Tampoco se puede intentar pasar desapercibido vistiendo y teniendo una actitud de nerd, vale que grandes héroes de la literatura como el inmenso Ignatius Reilly o el más reciente Oscar Wao han sido pringados de tomo y lomo más cercanos a ser víctimas de la sociedad que de la moda.

No puedo, pero es que no puedo con el simplismo de por ejemplo Klaus and Kinski, les abofetearía metafóricamente incluso con el Telva o el AR, ¡coño! Un poco de amor propio, simplemente con que adoptaran una actitud de espaldas erguidas ya ganarían respeto, no se puede ir desgarbado y sacando chepa en plan hijas de mandatario “aliancero de civilizaciones”. En fin, 5 estilismos de los 00s que me han encantado:

1. The Horrors: Son lo puto más (LPM), eso es imagen, me da igual que te vistas de mamarracha o de Dior, pero joder ten estilo, aunque sea propio (¿no decían eso Chico y Chica al principio de la década en “lo que tienes que hacer”?),
   

   Nos va la laca

   los chicos de los Horrors son lo mejor que le ha pasado al revisionismo fashionero en la década, esos looks neo góticos-románticos-eduardotijerianos-postpunkeros-…, son fascinantes. Cada uno de ellos debería tener su muñequito de Mattel para regalarlo estas navidades. El negro siempre ha favorecido un montón.

2. The White Stripes: Tremendos, ellos son una tendencia en sí mismos, Jack y Meg, dieron otro sentido al concepto “binario”, ya no se habla de ceros y unos, se habla de rojos y blancos. Nunca con tan poco se había conseguido tanto, tanto a nivel estilismo como estilístico. Su concierto bajo la lluvia hace unos años en el Primavera Sound fue fantástico, me ganaron por siempre jamás.
3. Morrissey: Vale, controvertido, lo se, hay alguna lagarta que no le perdona los kilitos de más, ni el hecho de que se quite las camisas ante el respetable sin pudor, pero las fotos de sesión para promocionar sus discos esta década son lo más elegante que se ha paseado por el pop internacional
   

   Practicando el no-metrosexualismo

   . Y cualquiera que haya tenido la suerte de verle en acción sobre un escenario sabrá de lo que hablo.Es la elegancia personalizada, un animal de la escena, su sola presencia llena un jodido escenario gigante, de ego y de elegancia (dos de las 3 “e”s que guían mi vida, a parte de la esquizofrenia). Sus trajes, camisas y corbatas deberían ser un “must” para todo cuarentañero, y su flequillo más. ¿Soy el único que le compararía encima de un escenario a Elvis?

4. Vampire Weekend: los dos últimos estilismos son las dos caras de la misma moneda, los pijos de Nueva York se ponen a hacer música. En el caso de Vampire Weekend adoptan la versión “soy pijo ¿y qué?”, sus estilismos Upper East Side me encantan, ¡coño si vas a la Columbia que se note, ¿no?!, basta ya de ir de falsapiltrafa, siempre he mantenido que el hábito no hace al monje, y ellos son el máximo ejemplo de ello, después de mi, claro.
5. The Strokes: versión “soy pijo pero que nadie lo sepa, eh!”, es decir, van de revolucionarios progresistas, de rockeros duritos y curtidos en la calle, de los que se han hecho así mismos, (recordemos que se conocieron en “las calles” de un colegio privado suizo, por cierto allí mandaría a mis hijas para que me las devolviesen a los 18 criadas, educadas y con un novio rico). Sus chupitas de cuero y jeans desgastados son tremendamente cool.

Bueno, perdón a todos los que se hayan sentido ofendidos, pero la frivolidad es un plato que se sirve frío y precisamente hoy parece que ha llegado por fin la cara más cruda (y dura) del otoño.

Blood Red Shoes – You Bring Me Down
Brighton duo Blood Red Shoes can make a hell of a lot of noise for two people. Their ‘bang – bang – sing – dance – shout’ quality means that they balance the board somewhere between The Kills and Sonic Youth.

Despite being loud and balshy there is still a danceable quality to their sound along with bags of enthusiasm, energy and a child like playfulness. You Bring Me Down sees the pair at their best. Their earliest single – shows a rawness to their sound with spidery guitar hooks, pounding drum beats and a few “whoa-oh ohs” for good measure.

Listen if you like: The Kills, The White Strips, Sonic Youth, PJ Harvey
Also Listen To: ADHD, It’s Getting Boring By The Sea

R: Tema del día: súper grupos. No es que volvamos a dar por saco con las (cuatro mil) bandas que nos parecen “súper”, no. Más bien hacemos un pequeño gran recorrido por la definición del término, empezando por los padres (Crosby, Still, Nash & Young…), siguiendo por los hijos (Electronic y demás) y centrándonos en las súper formaciones de los últimos tiempos (Monsters of Folk, The Dead Weather… ¿Soulsavers?). Pero esto es sólo la parte central de nuestra sección en No són hores (que podéis escuchar también en Onda Cero)… Esta semana dedicamos las noticias a The White Stripes y a pinchar lo nuevo de Róisín Murphy. Y, sobre todo, tenemos una completísima agenda hablando del Tanned Tin vs Primavera Sound y de dos conciertos que revolucionarán esta noche de lunes: Camera Obscura y The xx (¿he escuchado por ahí que alguien dice “concierto de la temporada”? Pues será que sí).

So last week, my Editor sorta told me that GlamTings are doing an erm… ‘25 fav things’ type special editorial… I dunno… 2 commiserate us being 25? I dunno lol! Anyway so she asks me to do a top-25 songs list or something like that & in my head, I go ‘Pardon Me’, the exact same way Rob Gordon replied when the reporter asked him what his all-time top 5 records were, in the movie ‘High Fidelity’… & so in this movie High Fidelity, the reporter asks again ‘Your desert-island top 5?’, to which Rob replies ‘Oh Boy… in the club OR at home?’ and the reporter ignorantly asks if there’s a difference… Ofcourse there’s a difference & you guys can back me up on this BUT ‘Top 25 Songs?’… What? Love Songs? Gospel songs? Songs to make love to (as Distinctly different from love songs! Understand!), Easy Breazy Sunday Morning Songs? Angry Songs? Songs for the car? Songs for the bus? LIKE what are you tryna do to me out here???

Anyway so Rob eventually mentions 5 of his all-time desert-island favorite records & the reporter ventures to continue interviewing him BUT she CANNOT & you wanna know why? Because he keeps interrupting her to chop & change his all-time top 5 records… It’s near enough an impossible task for the likes of Rob & I… He ends up offering to make the reporter a tape… And… And… He calls the reporter the next week to change, yet again, his all-time top 5 records list!!! ‘WHERE AM I GOING WITH THIS?’ do I hear you ask? Oh figure it OUT, will ya? And oh top 5? top 25? Equally as impossible ok!

BUT this is what I say to my Editor… ‘Ok Cool x’! OK COOL? Somebody shoot me now! Please!

Alright so expect this to be a long & painful process, it might actually take US a long while to arrive at any comprehensive top 25 list on any level so you have duly been warned lol! & that’s why we’ll be dividing this mammoth exercise into PARTS… Jheez!

PART ONE… Because this is my favorite genre of Music at the moment… Top 25 Hip-Hop Records!?!?????? Ah ahn.. Ah Ahn! Nah I can’t! Let’s start off with something easier, we’ll ease in to the tougher lists (in a couple months maybe lol).

OK let’s do that again…

PART ONE… Top 25 Albums of the 21st Century!!! **I Keep digging a GRAVE for myself, don’t I?**

One thing I will say about this list is… The first draft had 70 records on it & I was thinking of changing this ‘top 25′ list to a ‘top 50′ list because it’d be so much easier & OMG I have had to cut out some of my all time favorite albums from the final list BUT alas, the show must GO ON… SO Without further adieu!!!

Slightly MISSING OUT however ARE…

Georgia Anne Muldrow – Olesi: Fragments of an Earth (2006)

Now most of you will probably NOT have heard this album… It’s your LOSS to be honest BUT what I will say though is, THIS is one of the very few R&B albums this decade that made this list because let’s be honest R&B in the 2000s lost its way… Fragments of an Earth is progressive music 4 your soul and I like it so there!

&

Blur – Think Tank (2003)

F**K what you heard alright, Damon Albarn is a MUSICAL GENIUS & this album proves it… This was Blur’s forray away from BritPop into more experimental sounds such as Dub, Jazz, Hip-Hop & World Music BUT still laced with gorgeous melodic sounds of their epic ‘ParkLife’ album… I find it interesting how most of the musical backdrop of this album is led by the BASS sounds as against the strings of a lead-guitar (YES Coxon the lead guitarist left the band around the time of recording BUT I think it’s more than that)… On a different week, this would be in my top 25 easily… That’s how much I love this album & how fickle this top 25 list can be!!!

Other Notable mentions from my original top 70 list include BUT are not exhausted to Ledisi’s ‘Lost & Found’, Little Brother’s ‘The Listening’, Common’s ‘Like Water for Chocolate’, The Clipse’s ‘Hell Hath No Fury’, Amel Larriex’s ‘Brave Bird’, Scarface’s ‘The Fix’, El-P’s ‘Fantastic Damage’, Blu & Exile’s ‘Below the Heavens’, Outkast’s ‘Stankonia’, Queens of the Stone Age’s ‘Songs for the Deaf’, Ryan Adam’s ‘Heartbreaker’, Johnny Cash’s ‘American IV: The Man Comes Around’, Portishead’s ‘Third’… OK! I should stop! We will have another conversation about these albums on a later date!!!

OK NOW to the Nitty Gritty…

25. Femi Kuti – Fight to Win (2001)

It took me a long minute to decide which Femi Kuti LP to include in this list… ‘Shoki Shoki’ or Fight to Win because let’s face it, the man made two CLASSIC albums this century (He seats comfortably in the same box as Radiohead? Jay-Z? M.I.A? Kanye West? in that respect)… Some will argue that without a ‘Shoki Shoki’, there would never have been a ‘Fight to Win’ so ‘Shoki Shoki’ should make the list BUT ‘Fight to Win’ is a near-perfect record! John Armstrong (BBC) calls it an excellent showcase of 21st Century Afrobeat & we cannot argue with that.

24. The White Stripes – White Blood Cells (2001)

I will come out and say it NOW! I’ve cheated by putting this album so far down this list… It’s Rock & Roll music at its very purest form & at its best! Even if you’re NOT into that kinda garage rock music, this album gets you. its 40 odd minutes and I dare you to want to skip any of the 16 songs on this… I just DARE you!

23. Jamie Lidell – Multiply (2005)

And now for some controversy…

Otis Redding? Stevie Wonder? Sam Cooke? Al Green? Willie Mitchell? Prince? You hear them ALL on this album & you have to ask, how does an Electronica producer all of a sudden turn into this rarity of a Soul Singer creating these amazing soul records. Never mind that he’s White, that just makes it more unreal… This album is Amazing & that is putting it very lightly.

22. Dizzee Rascal – Boy in Da Corner (2003)

GRIME never & possibly will never sound this GOOD & you can quote me on that one! Dizzee’s 2003 debut is still the only grime LP that I can play from start to finish without wanting to skip a track… Say what you will about the Londoner BUT at 18, he made one of the best records to come out of the UK period! It Certainly isn’t NO ‘Sgt. Pepper’ but it is Iconic in its own right! & for the last time, it’s NOT hip-hop, its GRIME & its GRIME at its very BEST, heights of which the genre will not reach again.

21. Flying Lotus – Los Angeles (2008)

Experimental Hip-Hop? Electronica? Indie Hip-Hop? Psychedelic? Whatever you wanna call it, FlyLo has got it mastered to a tee on ‘Los Angeles’! Now many people will question this inclusion to the list BUT if you’ve heard this LP, if you’ve actually listened to it, you’d understand that the (somewhat premature) comparisons to such greats as Cannibal Ox & El-P stem from this one album & you’d understand why… Just listen to ‘Golden Diva’ & come back to talk to me!!!

20. Erykah Badu – Mama’s Gun (2000)

On this one, I really couldn’t decide between this album & last year’s ‘New Amerykah Part One: 4th World War’, I’m sorry! I’m more leaning towards Mama’s Gun to be honest, it’s been with me for longer & it hasn’t LOST it’s GOODNESS… Who know what ‘New Amerykah’ will sound like in 2017 so based off of that longevity and impact continuously over 9 years, ‘Mama’s Gun’ takes the cake. Its beautiful music that’s effortless & what else would you expect from Ms. Badu working with such minds as Questlove, D’Angelo, Jay Dilla & Common… certainly nothing less!

19. Eminem – The Marshall Mathers LP (2000)

One of the all-time BEST Emcees at his all-time BEST is what ‘The Marshall Mathers LP’ is. It’s nothing short of an epic work of art. Mr. Mather’s lyrical genuis & explicit narratives on this album match up with the best that Hip-Hop has ever had to offer & Dr. Dre is on hand to offer the musical back-drop for the lyrical onslaught… It’s a match made in heaven and the ‘Marshall Mathers LP’ is the miracle baby! SNM!!!

18. The Avalanches – Since I left You (2000)

I kinda have a feeling… let’s call it a theory… that any conversation about the best albums of this decade will be grossly incomplete without mentioning this Album & please quote me on that! It is what DJ Shadow’s ‘Endtroducing’ was to the 90’s and a STRAIGHT MASTERCLASS in the art of sampling. If you’re a producer & you sample (which is everybody lol) & you don’t own this record (actually if you don’t own this record & DJ Shadow’s ‘ENDtroducing’)… & you haven’t studied this record THEN you’re for all intents & purposes, well & truly LOST! It’s a travesty in itself that I’ve placed it so low as Number 18!!!

17. The Streets – A Grand Don’t Come for Free (2004)

Would it be so BOLD for me to say that this album is the best urban UK album… YES it’s NOT technically Hip-Hop or Grime & it’s NOT Garage-infused like Mike Skinner’s debut LP ‘Original Pirate Material’, it’s JUST an amazingly put-together body of work… Where ‘O.P.M’ was daring & groundbreaking & revolutionary (dare I say), ‘A Grand Don’t Come for Free’ is just simply better… It was a concept album before concept albums became ‘cool’ again in Hip-Hop & it’s 11 tracks of pure genius, witty vivid lyrics, near perfect narratives & an amazing musical backdrop that takes you right into the scene of this ‘movie’… #NuffSaid

16. The Roots – Game Theory (2006)

We always knew that The Roots were somewhat of a phenomena (well to the back-packers they are near enough gods!)… I mean, what else would you get by mixing Questlove, who in my opinion, is one of the greatest musical minds there are & Black Thought, the most slept-on & underrated emcee in the game & arguably one of the greatest all-time emcees… But The Roots had never quite delivered on any of their previous LPs (except for ‘Illadelph Halflife’ & marginally on 1999’s ‘Things Fall Apart’) in my humble opinion… ‘Game Theory’ was the album for me when The Roots became all they could be… It was dark, it was gritty, but it oozed life… it swayed from angry to depressing quite effortlessly & it was The Roots at their most cohesive. Simply put… Amazing music.

**AND BREATHE**

Alright Ladies & Gentlemen, that’s all you get from me for this week… Join me next week and we’ll go through the top 15 albums of this decade!!! OH P.S LET the RIOTING begin…

Until the Next Time

Triple A

I hate guitar magazines.

I hate almost everything about them. I hate the cover shots of guitarists holding their “axes” like weapons, the same stupid pose every issue. I hate shameless songs the reader can learn to play in every issue (one of which is, inevitably, a Zeppelin or Metallica song). I hate the silly reverence paid to equipment, be it the guitars themselves or the litany of effects being peddled in the advertisements. I hate that some of the guitarists that I enjoy have probably spent some of their youth learning from these rags.

Above all else, I hate that guitar magazines glorify “the guitarist as technician” over the “the guitarist as auteur.” They peddle the idea that learning how to play “Stairway to Heaven” is as simple as copying the notes, or figuring out what guitars and amplifiers Jimmy Page used. The reality, of course, is that rock and roll is as much myth and mystery as it is manpower and machines. That’s why it’s an awful experience to sit through when your local bar band plays “Stairway to Heaven” and why it’s sublime to hear it from the original source – the song doesn’t always sound the same.

Which brings me to It Might Get Loud, the 2009 documentary from An Inconvenient Truth director Davis Guggenheim which inexplicably didn’t reach Halifax until this weekend (and even then only for two late-night shows). The film’s gimmick is simple: take three of the most distinctive guitarists alive – Jimmy Page, U2’s the Edge and Jack White of The White Stripes/The Raconteurs/The Dead Weather/whatever he comes up with next – and have a “summit” where they get to talk about the electric guitar with each other.

The funny thing about the movie is that the summit is almost completely underwhelming: they play some of each other’s riffs, talk about a couple of songs but, mostly, don’t have too much to say. (That said, the film-ending performance of the Band’s “The Weight” is easily a highlight.) So instead of focusing too much on the meeting itself, Guggenheim spends most of the film one-on-one with each guitarist, tracing them through their relationship with the instrument over the years.

I was worried that the movie would play like a guitar magazine, focusing more on the clinical than the creative. Thankfully, it’s quite the opposite. It Might Get Loud doesn’t care about how these guitar heroes built their most famous riffs and soundscapes, nor does it give undue reverence to particular pieces of equipment. Instead, it’s about mythologizing a guitarist’s work as something ephemeral, unknowable, mysterious. No matter how much the Edge talks about his pile of effects, or we hear Page talk about the house where Led Zeppelin IV was recorded, the film manages to keep things more than a little bit magical. You leave impressed, but unknowing.

Of the three stars, Jack White’s solo segments are the most compelling because there’s absolutely no way to tell if any of it is remotely true. While Jimmy Page plays elder statesman and the Edge honest broker, White shares screen-time teaching tricks to a representation of his nine-year-old self. He builds a guitar out of scrap wood and string, and then proceeds to ramble on about old records and a band he made when he worked as an upholster. I’m not convinced that any of this was real, or where that thin line between half-truths and semi-fictions was drawn. And I’m not sure I care. The mystery isn’t beside the point; it is the point. (The film even calls attention to its own game at the end, where The Edge points out how silly a couple of the film’s constructed visuals are.)

Leaving the theatre, I wasn’t compelled to head home, pick up the guitar and try to play something by one of the film’s stars. I just wanted to jam on my own. Unlike guitar magazines, It Might Get Loud doesn’t make you believe that you can be Jimmy Page, the Edge or Jack White, and it doesn’t even presume that their secrets are knowable. But it makes you believe that there is great magic in the guitar; magic worth unlocking, in whatever way one sees fit.