Enough of 2010 - let's blow this damn year to smithereens with a blast of Cheap Trick's 'Auf Wiedersehen' live from Japan back in the hey of the day.
One of the rockinest of all the Trick rockers, I've loved this lil ditty to suicide from the first time I heard it. I even attempted my own cover version of this for my 2006 covers project.
Happy New Year everyone!
Only four days left to stream online a 2-hour BBC Radio documentary on Roxy Music, the 1970s British musical innovators whose early members included Brian Eno, Bryan Ferry, and Phil Manzanera.
"The opening programme will explore the creative tension between Bryan Ferry and Brian Eno, which resulted in the group's first two ground breaking albums. In early 1973 Roxy Music had become a sensation in England and Europe due to their clever amalgamation of pop values and kitsch as typified on their debut LP "Roxy Music" and follow up "For Your Pleasure", which (as we hear) was virtually ignored in the U.S. The programme explores Eno's departure and how impacted on the group. Undaunted the group recruited multi-instrumentalist Eddie Jobson and released their third album "Stranded" in December of 1973. "Stranded" became the band's first UK number one album and was also the first record to feature writing credits for guitarist Phil Manzanera and sax player Andy Mackay.
All members explain how they recorded the album and set the stage as we will hear for the breakthrough album "Country Life" in late 1974, which was the first Roxy album to break the U.S. Top 40. Following a world tour with bassist John Wetton, Roxy released their fifth album "Siren", featuring the, the dance flavoured "Love Is the Drug," "Siren" was another British Top Ten hit but following its release and subsequent tour, the band members began working on solo projects - Manzanera formed 801, and Mackay and Ferry both began recording solo albums - and announced in the summer of 1976 that they were temporarily breaking up."
If you feel like life is slipping you by, and you're still listening to your musically-atrophied (?) diet of old music, then look no further than the amazing, irresistible page of music links to the Best Music released in 2010.
Not only is is just lists of great music, but lists of best comedy albums, greatest songs, top remixes & covers, best albums, best videos and loads more. The breadth of this aggregation is stunning.
This list comes to you from the amazing blog of Largehearted Boy, a veteran blogger who's been pumping out good news about books, art and music since for as long as I can remember.
Enjoy everyone else's musical picks and surround yourself with the goods.
Boston-based Tinnitus Photography (aka Tim) is one of the better working rock and roll photographers out there right now. He speaks for many of us veteran concert goers with his tag line "...the next best thing to being there, or at least helping to compensate for a faulty memory. Amen to that.
Tim's compiled a look at his top concerts of 2010, along with his stunning images captured across all musical spectrums. He writes:
"By my estimate, I saw about 235 performances this year..it was a pretty tremendous year for concerts as far as i'm concerned. I saw four bands play three different times (Guided By Voices, Wilco, Sonic Youth, Kurt Vile) and another fourteen bands twice. This was by far the most repeat concerts in one year for me (due in large part to the ATP and Matador fests)..."
Lots of indie rock, both past and present, make up the core of his list. Dig the rockography.
Mark Burgess (aka the Chameleons UK)
Dungen
Wilco
IFC has a new offering coming out in January, focusing on cool kids in Portland. It's called Portlandia, and here's one of the early trailers below. Looks cool. The Dream of the 90s is alive in Portland, baby.
"The 6-part IFC Original short-based comedy series PORTLANDIA, created, written by and starring Fred Armisen (SNL) and Carrie Brownstein (vocalist/guitarist, WILD FLAG, Sleater-Kinney), premieres on IFC Friday, January 21, 2011 at 10:30 PM ET/PT. Each episode's character-based shorts draw viewers into "Portlandia," the creators' dreamy and absurd rendering of Portland, Oregon.
"I love Portlandia. It really represents so much of what I love culturally, musically and in so many other ways," said Fred Armisen. "This started as just a fun summer activity for Carrie and me. We'd be hanging out in Portland and shooting whatever made us laugh, and that evolved into Portlandia."
Joe Strummer, the singer-songwriter-political conscience of UK rock band the Clash, died 8 years ago today, on December 22, 2002. He was 50 years old.
I remember that his death shocked everyone, as Joe was still active with his Mescaleros and playing shows and more. It seemed too soon, everyone sorta felt that Joe would've been a great elder statesman of rock. His life was cut too short.
U2 singer Bono was quoted after Joe's death as saying:
""The most profound voice of any musician I have ever heard, Joe took his message to the world and the world listened. He managed to influence more than one generation with his innovative and determined manner and I am not alone in repeatedly turning to his thoughts and lyrics when searching for inspiration. The Clash was the greatest rock band. They wrote the rule book for U2. Though I was always too much of a fan to get to know him well, we were due to meet in January to finish our Mandela song with Dave Stewart. It's such a shock."
Strummer's songs, singing and intensity leading the Clash to global domination meant the world to me thirty years ago. If you want to know more, watch his documentary The Future is Unwritten".
Check out a Joe Strummer interview in Arthur Magazine from 2001. A good read into Joe's state of mind at the time.
Here's Joe with the Mescaleros singing 'Johnny Appleseed' from October 2001.
Here's Joe with The Clash singing "Police & Thieves" from the 1978 film Rude Boy.
Back in swingin' ol London mid-1960s, the Rolling Stones' Keef and Mick wrote a slowed down pop ditty called "Blue Turns to Grey" which eventually ended up on their 5th LP 'December's Children (And Everybody's)
According to 'in the know' YouTube commentator @Desiree50...
"The song first appeared in February 1965 when both Dick and Dee Dee and The Mighty Avengers released versions of it. Another version was released shortly thereafter by Tracey Dey on Amy Records. It was released by The Rolling Stones on their 1965 album December's Children (And Everybody's) later that year. It became a hit in the UK when remade by Cliff Richard and the Shadows in 1966."
The Stones' recording is below - a moody, sulky number of the era.
Here's my preferred version, Cliff Richards' slightly more uptempo, bright recording of the song he did with the Searchers. This version ended up a minor hit.
Lastly, here's the Mighty Avenger' version of it, which for me a mite too proper, too full of old school British town hall sensibility.
Duran Duran has released a video from its upcoming release for the title track "All You Need is Now". The clip includes loads of footage from tours of recent years, while the mid-tempo song is sorta reminiscent of the sound of "New Moon on Monday" from eons ago.
Video directed by Nick Egan. Follow the band on Twitter.
Dutch TV media mogul Jan de Mol (Endemol and more) and British producer Mark Burnett have another offering for US couch potatoes and they want you to sing, Sing, SING!
From the blurb:
"NBC and Executive Producers John de Mol & Mark Burnett are searching for the best Voice in America! Based on the hit show "The Voice of Holland" - It's all about the Voice and only the best need apply.
This is a show about real talent, the best voice, right attitude, unique sound and performance that makes a lasting impression. If selected, singers will be mentored by music industry professionals, compete weekly in front of a panel of judges and America will decide which singer will be worthy of the grand prize.
NBC's "The Voice" wants to know your story and why you are a star in the making. Submissions via Music Xray here."
Check out NPR for Belle & Sebastian's Holiday concert - it's starting up any minute - live from Glasgow!
It's been a fun week for music - catch all the goods at the links below.
- Catch a new Beach House holiday song called "I Do Not Care for the Winter Sun" (via Gorilla Vs. Bear)
- Have you seen the amazing aggregated 'best-of' year end list compiled by Largehearted Boy? Find all your musical faves from the year at the link.
- MAGNET Magazine unveiled its fave 20 albums of 2010 this week - a swell group of bands who made marks in 2010. Click over and hear some fresh tunes.
-- So Much Silence offers his impression of that perennial holiday favorite - The Pogues' 'Fairytale of New York':
"Gritty, desperate and offensive, the banter back and forth between the song’s narrators perfectly captures the image of two lovers fighting over broken dreams and shattered hopes, which, for all the joy this season brings, are pretty much unavoidable as trees go up and festive lights are lit. “I could have been someone,” Shane MacGowen bellows, to which Kristy MacColl answers, “Well, so could anyone."
-- OK Go's Damian Julash, Jr. explains modern-day economics of the music business to Wall Street Journal readers.
"We once relied on investment and support from a major label. Now we make a comparable living raising money directly from fans and through licensing and sponsorship. Our bank accounts don't rival Lady Gaga's, but we've got more creative freedom than we did as small fish in her pond."
-- That cute musical couple Jenny & Johnny speaks to Q Magazine about their history together and fave songs:
"Q: What are your favourite songs on the record?
JR: I really like Scissor Runner because it was like the birth of the album. It was the first we had written as Jenny And Johnny. I like the feeling I get when we play it. I like Big Wave.
JL: We like Scissor Runner.
JR: And Switchblade.
Q: Switchblade and Big Wave are like theme songs for the recession...
JL: Yeah they both are. Switchblade has a certain lost innocence to it. I wrote that one."
-- The always 'reliable-for-a-quote' Bobby Gillepsie of Primal Scream says the band's new LP was a blast to record:
"I think we’re one of the best live bands in the world and I wanted to capture that," Gillespie told NME.COM of the shift in styles. "The last two albums we’ve been loops and drum machines, for this record we wrote euphoric rock n roll songs and I wanted to capture that euphoria and I think we did it. It was a great time making it, fucking great!" Read about the band's recent shows in London.
Cool shit from around the Rockiverse:
- Peter Hook took his Joy Division 'Unknown Pleasures' lovefest tour to San Freancisco on Friday night and Consequence of Sound's Ted Maider captured 'the spirit, the feeling' of it in words and a few pics. Brooklyn Vegan posted a review on an earlier show on the tour last week as well.
- Pitchfork reports today that "The absurdly prolific Guided By Voices frontman Robert Pollard has three albums coming in the first three months of 2011. On January 18, Guided By Voices, Inc. will release the Pollard solo album Space City Kicks. On February 15, Lifeguards, Pollard's duo with former GBV member Doug Gillard, will release their album Waving at the Astronauts via Serious Business Records/Ernest Jenning Recording Co. And March 29, the Pollard-led trio Mars Classroom, featuring members of Big Dipper and Pell Mell, will release their album The New Theory of Everything on Happy Jack Rock Records.
- Paul McCartney in NYC: Sir Macca was all over Saturday Night Live over the weekend and plays tonight at the Apollo Theater. The Guy Can't Help It! (News via Rolling Stone and SPIN's got video)
- Speaking of Macca, he shows up a bit in this (likely VH1?) documentary on late 1960s/1970s British band Badfinger. Watch Part 1 at YouTube and click to the next.
- And more referring to Macca, you can download the Christmas 1963-1969 Beatles singles from Aquarium Drunkard. That's a CD gift for your drunk uncle, no doubt.
Missed this in my email overload, but the cool ARChive of Contemporary Music folks start their twice-yearly sale of collectible records and mersh stuff tomorrow in Tribeca (54 White Street, NYC). I used to go to this when I was in NYC, and it's a record collector's treasure trove. Bring cash, make new record geek friends.
From their blurb:
"CDs are NEW donations from record companies, NOT used, returns or defects! Mostly pop and rock recordings. Collectible LPs are priced below book value. Hundreds of CDs are priced at $1 to $5 each. Cassettes + Classical LPs – 2 for $1.00 Just released NEW & HOT CDs are $5 – $10.
PLUS – 7″ singles. The endless job of alphabetically sorting the singles continues in the basement, and it looks like third copies of the letters “E” “F” and “G” will be on SALE. many desirable and hard to find – PLUS Old + new music books, books of all kinds actually – sealed/unopened LPs – African, Reggae & world-music releases – videos. Sorry to say the laserdiscs are all gone! – 60s psychedelic posters"
The sale goes on all week - more info at their blog.
I recently resubscribed to The Big Takeover, after taking a several years long break. (You should too!)
It took a cover story on the return of Teenage Fanclub and in inside interview with Guided by Voices' Robert Pollard on the GBV reunion tour to lure me back to the lake. I've still got a bunch of Big Takeover issues from the 1990s into the 00s. They always make for great return reading.
If you're new to it, The Big Takeover is an in-depth rock 'n roll magazine that publisher/editor/longtime rock 'n roll fan Jack Rabid has published from his NYC/Brooklyn confines over the last 30 years. He brings honesty, smarts and emotion to the musicians and bands who inhabit the world of punk, psych, garage, pop rock 'n roll, from the old days to the new days.
Here's a cool clip of Jack in action for a documentary series called "Create or Else" from Ogilvy. Watch and learn.
You LOVE the Hives! Hey, it's been awhile since I pinpointed the awesomeness that is The Hives. Little has been heard from the band since their worldwide tour in 2008, though their Wikipedia page notes that The Hives put out a EP of covers in recent months, while the band's post at their site discusses demos for a new release ('something big in the making') hopefully in 2011.
In any case, here's a great clip of "Return the Favour" live in Seattle. Not the full FULL version (with extended verse and choruses), but enough of this 3-chord rager to make me smile again!
Like The Hives on their Facebook page, kids.
Good news from the Gang of Four gang via Yeproc Records:
"To celebrate the release of C O N T E N T, Gang of Four has personally designed the limited-edition Ultimate C O N T E N T Can. Pictured on the cover of the standard CD and vinyl version, the Ultimate C O N T E N T Can contains the album and all the great items listed below. A must have for Gang of Four fans and chroniclers of pop culture alike.
Each Ultimate C O N T E N T Can contains:
* CD copy of C O N T E N T including the track "2nd Life," exclusively available with this package
* Smells Book: Scratch n' Sniff book reflecting key areas of human activity
* History Book: art piece on ceramic tiles depicting the last 40 years of world history
* Blood Book: vials of the band's blood!
* Emotions Book: Rotoscoped photographs of the band's emotions
* Words Book: lyrics"
C O N T E N T is the new album from Gang of Four, featuring 11 new songs written by Andy Gill & Jon King. "What we strive for in all of our songs is to interpret the world in a way you haven't seen nor thought of before," says Andy who also produced the album. "We feel you'll hear this in C O N T E N T. The tracks are simple: vocals, guitar, bass, drums. It is a tough, loud sound."
Click here to hear an NPR segment featuring the song "Never Pay for the Farm".
I've embedded a Reverbnation widget below for you to listen to selected parts of the Steve Wynn & the Miracle 3's new release "Northern Aggression" which I wrote about briefly in a Dream Syndicate post here last week. 
NPR's Ken Tucker did a splendid job of reviewing the newest Kanye West musical release "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" to a non-Kanye fan like me. Throught Tucker's words and Kanye's song snippets, this rock 'n roller was able to see a little of the unbridled genius that everyone else seems to be familiar with. Reviewers are calling it the best Kanye West release, maybe even a stone cold classic to become.
Tucker writes:
"West's new album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, is one of the year's most anticipated albums. And in "Runaway," a nine-minutes-plus opus, West takes himself to task for being an arrogant perfectionist who can "always find something wrong."
"I'm so gifted at finding what I don't like the most," he says, shortly before offering up a toast — in blunt language — to self-centered perfectionists such as himself. Because West knows that, in any given art form, it is not uncommon that one person's self-centered perfectionism is another's acclaimed genius.
"Runaway" was also the taking-off point for a 35-minute avant-garde musical that aired on TV in October. It includes images as varied as a phoenix fallen to earth, ballerinas and an eerie parade whose marchers carry a giant papier-mache bust of Michael Jackson. As with so much of what West does, describing it makes it sound pretentious or precious — in execution, however, the work has a bristling, poignant yet confrontational energy."
For a glimpse of Kanye West's mindset, check out the scrabbled art film "Runaway" below that he directed. It's got fire, cars and near naked women in feather wings!
Guitarist and bandleader Dweezil Zappa makes his way to Phoenix on Monday night as part of the tour where he plays his late father's musical opus Apostrophe in its entirety.
There was a moment in time when a group of guys I hung out with held Zappa the elder in very high esteem, and thus, while my ears wanted to hear the Flamin Groovies, my pals hooked me on prime-era FZ and Apostrophe was among the highlight. Cosmik Debris and Stinkfoot always were audio funtimes.
Did you know that in the mid 1990s, Zappa voiced the character Ajax Duckman on the animated series Duckman. He also briefly appeared in the television sitcom Normal Life with sister Moon Unit Zappa and former Laverne and Shirley star Cindy Williams. He composed and performed the theme music for The Ben Stiller Show (the solo from Spinal Tap's "Break Like the Wind"). In 1999 Dweezil, alongside with his brother, Ahmet, starred in TV show called Happy Hour which debuted April 3, 1999 on the USA Network. The show lasted for one season. (per Wikipedia)
The Phoenix New Times is offering a chance to win a free pair of tickets to the show. The New Times also reviewed Dweezil's show a year ago very positively.
You can even go to Dweezil's music camp in beautiful upstate NY next summer, if you're so inclined. 
There are lots of 10s and 100s over at Metacritic's page for the reissued "Pinkerton" the 1996 release from by rock band Weezer.
Entertainment Weekly wrote:
"the 1996 album itself remains Weezer's finest hour and, arguably, the entire emo genre's."
Pitchfork wrote:
"To recap: Weezer's self-titled Blue Album went multiplatinum on the strength of shiny power-pop and goofy videos anachronistic in the era of post-grunge. For the follow-up, Rivers Cuomo holed up at Harvard and made a disturbingly graphic, harshly recorded concept album that includes his sniffing the fanmail of an 18-year old Japanese girl while imagining her masturbating. Needless to say, it was not played for laughs."
You can buy the fan package from Weezer at its website. In the meantime, relive the goodness from germany 1996:
There is a new book out by first-time author and Memphis rock writer Andrew Earles about the mighty early 1980s rock band Husker Du. Earles titled his book "Husker Du: The Story of the Noise-Pop Pioneers Who Launched Modern Rock", a rather unwieldy title when of course "Everything Fell Together" would've been a perfect title. But that's me, I'm a Husker fanboy.
I'm not a 'book reviewer'; heck, I barely read books anymore, with all the cool shit to chase on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, new songs to write and kids to catch. But the ones I've read lately have all come from the Voyageur Press stable - they're the outfit that put out Jim Walsh's book on The Replacements 'All Over But the Shouting' and legendary 70s punk guitarist and scenemaker Cheetah Chrome's recent memoir 'A Dead Boy's Tale'.
It seemed that the only stuff written about Husker Du over the last 10-20 years or so were connected with new musical projects by band founders Bob Mould and Grant Hart. And even when the old Husker days were brought up, the articles focused on the personalities involved, not the music. Earles' Husker Du book takes a different tack from the start: he writes that he never saw the band live (born too late); it ain't a gossipy book about 'who did what to whom and why' (cause he thinks all that crap has done a disservice to the band's music), and that he wrote it to expose Husker Du's music to people who've never heard it. And to that end, he succeeds.
The band forms in 1979 on page 20. The band signs to major label Warner Brothers in 1985 on page 180. In the 160 pages in between, Earles focuses hard on the relentless Husker Du DIY work ethic, the band's constant touring and all the slam bang recording and writing undertaken. Recollections of the band's history and steps along the way are shared by Husker Grant and Husker Greg, but not Husker Bob, whose own autobiography comes out next year. (You can read more about why author Earles didn't pester Bob Mould to be in his Husker book at this infuriating Q & A over at Blogcritics.) 
Lots of insights are shared by those who knew the band, including Minneapolis music heads from the day like Terry Katzman and Peter Jesperson, SST's Joe Carducci and punk rock kids like Steve Albini. Earles also frequently dives in, down and on the chapter on Husker Du in Michael Azerrad's great collection of rock band tales "Our Band Could Be Your Life."
The book is flawed in sometimes frustrating ways (certain paragraphs seem to repeat themselves at various point in the chapters, different parts go off on long tangents, the chapter on Reflex records (an early Husker DIY label) seems to go on forever, and it seems like editing was slack in parts (rushed perhaps?). But Earles' passion is high for the Huskers, the stories are well told (if not entirely entertaining), and he sticks to his goal of keying in on what he calls the band's 'hair-raising energy with beautiful hooks'.
Lastly, there are cool rare photos and a great appendix, which covers releases, bootlegs, covers, tributes and more. (Bonus: my 2001 song "How Great was Husker Du!" even gets a mention in the appendix on page 268).
For newcomers to the Husker legacy and fanboys like me who were there the first time around, this Husker Du book with the long title makes a fine case of bringing Husker's Du's sustained energy and rapid pop thrills to music fans. Here's a musical reminder:
