Friday, April 29, 2011

Streaming Jazzfest

For those of you who can't make it down to New Orleans for this years Jazzfest, fret not...while you won't be able to sample the amazing grub, you can catch some of the tunes. 
Rolling Stone will be streaming some of the acts for your enjoyment. 

They have some obvious choices with Arcade Fire and Wilco, but I do like how they are going to give some local flavor with Marcia Ball and The Soul Rebels Brass Band.  I will be down there in a few days...Yippee!!!

Along those lines if you want some real flair of the city you can always listen to one of the best radio channels on the planet, WWOZ.

Here are some tunes to get the weekend started proper with a Jazzfest touch:
Clint Maedgen covering The Kinks  "Complicated Life" with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band (maybe my favorite video regarding the city, every time I watch I get goosebumps)

Irma Thomas classic cover of "Time Is On My Side":
 John Butte "At The Foot Of Canal Street":

The Stooges Brass Band on a 2nd line parade:
 The New Orleans Bingo Show: "I Can't Give You Anything But Love" cover

Kermit Ruffins (actually in in NYC) singing "Caledonia" and others...

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

NYPL Blog Post - Trombone Shorty Backatown

Ok, wrapping up my NOLA Jazzfest Preview for 2011 on NYPL's Blogs so give the last one a gander:

You can check out all of my posts on NYPL Blogs right C'here, hope to have more up on a variety of topics in the future.  But....in exactly 1 weeks time I will be entering the Big Easy and having a Perma Grin latched to my lower face area for the next several days....

Can
Not
Wait

As far as the blog post I have never hidden my pure love of Trombone Shorty, the man to me is the perfect combination of NOLA music, and the album itself kicked arse!  So what is wrong with you? Get into The SUPAFUNKROCK!!!

Here are some more tunes if you haven't fallen in love yet...BOOSH!
"Hurricane Season"

"Suburbia" with a splash of "I Feel Like Funkin' It Up"

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Glide Review - Minks - By The Hedge


 Got a new review up over on Glide.

Read it right C'here!

It is from the Brooklyn Band (originally from Boston) Minks, By The Hedge.

The cycle of indie rock has seemed to shift from New Wave 80's into the noisy 90's and while some new bands go the loud amp guitar route, others take the softer road, and Minks are one of those. 

They have been vague in their origins, even finding out where they are actually from was a pain in the ass, but the music has something that resonates.  I will gladly admit this style isn't my favorite to listen to when I am hanging out, but that doesn't stop me from noticing quality. The sound is very reminiscent of the Beach House record from last year, but I dig this one a bit more.  There is talent here, but it is hard to pinpoint if any of these indie-dream pop groups will stick around...enjoy them while you can.

Anyway, here are some tunes:
"Funeral Song"
 
"Indian Ocean"
"Cemetery Rain"

Monday, April 25, 2011

Dylan Cover #12 Steven King "Dirge"

In this ongoing Monday Series we will be exploring various artists versions of Bob Dylan song's. Today's tune comes from Steven King and is a cover of "Dirge

Thoughts On Dylan Original:
Ahh what a cheery tune for this Monday!  Dylan does anger and hatred so well, I am sure we will get to a few others, but "Dirge" is up there contending for the title of most brutal.  Opening with "I hate myself for loving you/and the weakness that it showed" sets the tone and he never flinches in his assault on the ill fated lover. 
Found on the very underrated Planet Waves album, the shocking thing is this song comes directly before the sweet and pretty "You Angel You".  Dylan was masterful at arraigning powerful screeds around gorgeous sonic ditty's, and Planet Waves seems to fluctuate between both creating a huge scope of a record.   

Back in the day I thought about doing hardcore metal covers of classic rock tunes, and my friend Mattie mentioned Dylan would be ripe for it.  At the time I wasn't as well versed with his full catalog, but I think "Dirge" would work wonders in a heavy setup...but that's not what we get today... 
Cover:
Thoughts on Cover Artist:
Another random find, I have no idea who Steven King is.  With a bit of clicking (hard to call it research) I found out he is from Liverpool, England and has posted a bunch of classic rock covers, with just him and his acoustic guitar. 
Thoughts on Cover:
In the comments to this song someone mentioned it sounded like Tom Waits covering Dylan, and I can hear a bit of that.  The voice certainly adds gravity but it is unfair to judge against Waits who is a master at his voice, King's lower tone and congested delivery (in a good way) do however add a sense of longing. On the original Dylan sounded defiant he needed to break out of this relationship and even strained when singing the hurting lyrics.  Mr. King's cover sounds more reserved and depressed, which suites this tune. 

If the tempo of his playing and delivery were even slower on his cover I think it would have worked better.  It seems to pick up speed at the end and loses a bit of the gloom.  Wallowing in the hate could only help this type of song/performance, taking longer pasues and just slowing down allowing the lyrics to sink in and stab.  That stated, the end result is certainly sturdy and worth a listen.

Grade: C+ 

Wilson's Take:

Stream The New Beastie Boy Album

Straight from the 3 MC's Facebook page:
Good people, unfortunately due to circumstances beyond our control, the "clean" version of our new album, The Hot Sauce Committee pt 2 has leaked.

So as a hostile and retaliatory measure with great hubris we are making the full explicit aka filthy dirty nasty version available for streaming on our new site. We hope this brings much happiness, hugs, and harmony. 

Enjoy Kikoos for life!

Thank you 
The Management

Friday, April 22, 2011

Friday Funday Venture Brothers Music...Live

Well the other night I was a bit bored and checked in on one of my favorite TV creators blogs.  Jackson Publick (aka Christopher McCulloch) posted J.G. Thirwell's live video from his Celebrate Brooklyn show last year.  JG does the music for one of the best shows on TV in any format...the one Jackson created, The Venture Brothers!
If you have never seen the show, pick up the first season on DVD and get into it, things only get better once you have entered this universe of quirky characters and grown up boy adventurers.  The writing is amazing, the stories get more intricate and engaging (not to mention hysterical) with each season and now we got word that more is on the way... 

Getting to excited and forgetting why this post is happening though, check out JG's group Steroid Maximus run through a medley of Venture tunes...some great orchestrated arraignments, peep it:

Steroid Maximus_Venture Bros Medley from JG Thirlwell

We got,  “Fumblestealth”, “Bolly” and “No Vacancy (Venture Bros Theme)” in the medley and it is fun shiz.  Gawker calls it a "tiki-bar-meets-secret-lair soundtrack" and while that's pretty spot on, I think more James Bond on speedy Ecstasy is fitting.  You get the drift...below is one more video from the show, another Venture tune, titled "Gawker"...

Steroid Maximus_Gawker from JG Thirlwell

All this makes me proud to be drinking out of my Sgt. Hatred Water Bottle while I write this...Enjoy yer weekend everyone.

Thursday, April 21, 2011

NYPL Blog Post - Galactic Ya-Ka-May

Well it looks like my NOLA Jazzfest Countdown left RtBE this year and hopped on over to the day job's blog.
After my Dr. John Gris-Gris post received positive feedback, I went with a newer NOLA album from just last year, Galactic's Ya-Ka-May

Not going to say too much more about it, since I already reviewed it here once and fed off that for my NYPL post, but if anything I like the album more now, and I dug it a lot last year.  I will embedded some of the tracks to funk you up though,...enjoy:

My favorite first-
"Liquor Pang" Galactic with Cohen & Scully over some cool drawing time lapse, nice work BluDragonGal  

"Speaks His Mind" with Walter "Wolfman" Washington

"Boe Money" with Rebirth Brass Band

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Glide Review - Beans - End It All

Hey peoples.  Got a new Review up on Glide

Check it out right c'here!!!

It is of the Rapper Beans newest release, End It All.

This was an interesting album to review.  On one hand it is far from standard run of the mill hip-hop that takes the same beat and does it to death, yet just being unique doesn't instantly make you good.

For some reason typing that made me think of the movie The Game with Michael Douglas and Sean Penn.  I remember being told that it was "totally different then any movie out" and I should watch it.  I did, and I did not care for it...like Mr. Horse: 


Beans has obvious talent and End It All is worth listening to once (I liked it much better then The Game turd of a flick, sorry Fincher, but I loved me some Fight Club, so we cool).  The 2 star guideline says this: 

2 STARS:  ehh...its got a couple of good tracks, but it'll spend more time on the shelf than in your player

Pretty much sums it up...

Some tracks from Beans End It All:
"Air is Free"

 "Deathsweater"

"Mellow Out"

Monday, April 18, 2011

Dylan Cover #11 Wanda Jackson "Thunder On The Mountain"

In this ongoing Monday Series we will be exploring various artists versions of Bob Dylan song's. Today's tune comes from Wanda Jackson and is a recent cover of "Thunder On The Mountain"

Thoughts on Dylan Original:
The opening track on Dylan's 2006 album Modern Times, "Thunder On The Mountain" has all the ingredients of a classic; ingenious word play, a rhythmic backbone and some sweet fret work.  In my original review of Modern Times I quoted three sets of lyrics from this tune.  It is epic and fits in with the heavyweights of Dylan's past.  
Cover:


Thoughts on Cover Artist:
Wanda Jackson is the "Queen of Rockabilly" and the newest reclamation project from Jack White who did wonders on Loretta Lynn's Van Lear Rose in 2004.  Jackson is a legend and really cooked back in the day, I love "Hot Dog! That Made Him Mad" and "Fujiyama Mama" and think her early career in particular is pretty dam amazing.  Her songs had a hip appeal and put the women folk right there with the guys when it came to the world of rock and roll.  She was never that well remembered until her recent induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and this release.    

Thoughts on Cover:
I gotta say this one is intense, except for one aspect...and that's Wanda's voice.  While it had a great growl and flair early in her career, now at almost 75 her vocals actually sound clearer but are the weakest aspect of this cover.  My man-crush Jack White has put together a killer group of musicians and a musical arraignment that lights a fire under the original.  Adding such a powerful horn part is so inspired that I hope Bob steals it for future performances.  When Jack himself starts ripping at 1:42 it gives goose bumps as his guitar is dirty, electric and alive.  Had White himself or even Dylan taken the lead vocals this would be an all-time classic, as it stands it is still great, but Wanda seems a bit out of her league here.  The bond between White and Dylan is palpable and hopefully a future collaboration between the two is in the works...holy god my head would explode if that one went down... 

Grade: Overall B+  Music is an A++++ singing gets a C in my book...

Wilsons Take:

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

NYPL Blog Post - Dr John Gris-Gris

Well it took longer then it probably should have but I have finally contributed to the NYPL Blogs page.  My first post (hopefully of many) joins Andy Wagstaff's series of Great Albums You May Have Missed and is about Dr. John's amazing first album, Gris-Gris
Click here to read the full post.

I will be contributing periodically over there and will let friends know when new posts go up, give me some support and page views by clicking on over. 

Here are some Night Tripper tunes to play in the background as you read it....(Jazzfest is less then a month away...unreal!)

"I Walk On Guilded Splinters" Live

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Glide Review - Acorn Project - Generation Debt


What up all?

Got a new review up on Glide.

Read it right c'here!!!

It is of the Bellingham, WA group Acorn Project's newest release Generation Debt.

The press release for this collective was trying their damnedest not to spin them as a "jamband"....but if the shoe fits.  Granted I hate pigeonholing bands as much as the next guy and perhaps their next album will be Baroque Opera but what you get on Generation Debt is right down Shakedown Street with a side of heady nugs...and that doesn't always work so well on disk. 

The fellas do show promise though on a few tracks and as I mentioned the cover art is awesome, check out the great George Jartos here, and below is the full cover, peep it:
pretty intense and a great work to use as a cover of an album.  Here are a few live tunes, I got a feeling that is where the band would want you to hear them:

"Dose"-


A mini movie, Live From Bellingham Part 1:

Part 2:

Monday, April 11, 2011

Dylan Cover #10 PJ Harvey - "Shot of Love" Live

In this ongoing Monday Series we will be exploring various artists versions of Bob Dylan song's. Today's tune comes from PJ Harvey and is a live cover of "Shot of Love

Thoughts on Dylan Original- The title track on his last "Jesus" album is this opener, "Shot of Love".  While the studio version is OK, it suffers a bit from 80's silliness it is a decent effort, while not the best on the album.  The slower pace doesn't really help, making it sound a bit like "Slow Train's" little brother.  The fadeout hints that the song won't end, but I never really mind when it does...Overall this album's playing, songs and singing were the weakest of his three Christian jaunts but this song itself is for from unlikeable.

Cover:


Thoughts on Cover Artist:  Second week in a row with an initialed lady covering the old Zimmerman, but the comparisons probably stop right there between KT. Tunstall and this weeks PJ Harvey.  While Tunstall writes nice pop rock, Harvey experiments all over the map, she is a true artist who is willing to try any/everything to get her vision across, unafraid of failure or critical reprise she manages to almost reinvent herself with each release.  While persoanlly she has never been one of my favorites I respect her craft and have her newest album Let England Shake downloaded and ready to check out if I ever get some time to do so.

Thoughts on Cover:  Holy Cow Yes!!  This is it...I love the idea of taking a "lesser" Dylan tune and making it your own, and Harvey does just that.  Heavy stomping drums come crunching in, supporting her dynamic voice... as the tension grows the need for love becomes palpable.   Showing enough respect towards the original while tossing it away and adding life to a song Dylan himself hasn't played live in over 20 years.    The lyrics sound desperate and the band sounds ferocious; this performance is a keeper, all you can ask for in a cover...

Grade: A+

Wilsons Take:
PJ Harvey wraps her voice around "Shot of Love" like a bored driver finally getting her hands on Ferrari; opening it up, cornering it atop blistering guitar chords and breathing an energy into the song. So many Dylan tunes avail themselves to that possibility. As with much of Dylan's work, the bard has laid the foundation. The cover artist's primary job is to elevate the energy level. Hendrix famously accomplished the feat on "All Along the Watchtower", and yet "Shot of Love", being a lesser-known song, offers the greater challenge. Harvey not only met the challenge but made a tune from Dylan's quiet years gloriously-loud.

Thursday, April 7, 2011

New B-E-A-S-T-I-E tune, Give it a Listen!

It might not show so much today, but perhaps the most influential band in my life has been the Beastie Boys...This poster is still hanging in my childhood bedroom:
For me the high point came with Check Your Head, the combination of all musical styles was so perfect at that time of my life and opened up these ears to the craziest things.  That said it is hard to disparage in the slightest any of their releases.

Their new album, Hot Sauce Committee Part 2 comes out May 3rd
 and Thanks to Rap Radar, you can hear the new opening track "Make Some Noise" ...Droooop right about now. 
"Make Some Noise"

(Side Note: How awesome is it that they sampled themselves from the Pharcyde on "Intergalactic"?  I will tell how awesome...Boosh!)

And if you haven't seen this all ready...(Thanks Mike and P)

As far as "Make Some Noise"...I like it...has a funky beat...and I can BUG OUT to it. 

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Glide Review - Yuck Yuck


Good on ya' got a new review published on Glide.

Read it right C'here!!!

It is the self titled debut album from the band Yuck.

This is an English foursome from London and to say they are directly up my alley (eww) would be an understatement.

Fluid Noise geeetars? Distortion on the bass? catchy jangling drums that can switch it up and get heavy? Yes to all the above?  Then Check and Mate!

If you like the Dino Jr, give these newbies a whirl.  It is so nice to hear distortion and guitars coming back to (fairly) main stream rock...its been too long.  I will keep this short because I hope to have more from them soon to talk about.

Until then here are some really cool looking videos and great songs to enjoy:

"Georgia"  This would have ruled the Buzz Bin back in the early 90's.

"Rubber" Drone-riffic disk closer

"Sunday" Live Mellowness

Monday, April 4, 2011

Dylan Cover #9 - KT Tunstall "Simple Twist of Fate" Live

In this ongoing Monday Series we will be exploring various artists versions of Bob Dylan song's. Today's tune comes from KT Tunstall and is a live cover of "Simple Twist of Fate"
Thoughts on Dylan's Original: Well the classics just keep coming in this series, with "Simple Twist of Fate" what a gem of a song.  Impeccable lyrics gorgeous phrasing, just a great great song that is hard not to enjoy.
Cover:
Thoughts on Cover Artist:  The first time I heard KT Tunstall was on a sampler CD that I got with some magazine, I forgot which one at this point, but it was her biggest hit of a song, "Black Horse & The Cherry Tree".  When I first heard it I was impressed, by her song writing, singing and performance, while I haven't dove in to anything else she has produced it is obvious she is talented. 

Thoughts on Cover: This is a really touching cover, delicate in nature.  Minimal background accompaniment, with stand up bass and harmonica, Tunstall puts her light touch on the tremendous tune and still pays respect to the original.  While it might not be holy original it is certainly satisfying.   
Grade: B

Wilson's Take:
KT Tunstall's performance of "Simple Twist of Fate" smacks of Jewel circa 1998.
Perhaps the videographer's playing tricks, maybe the YouTube feed is grainy this evening, but one could be forgiven for squinting at the screen amid the belief that someone kidnapped Jewel, dyed her blonde locks auburn and released her onto the stage as KT Tunstall. The lyrics of "Simple Twist of Fate", as sung here, could easily be replaced with "Who Will Save Your Soul", "Foolish Games" or any of the ballads from the female crooner who made the snaggle-tooth sexy. This delivers us back to a time when Jewel exported erections across America with sultry videos and smoky, coquetish ballads on cigarettes, coffee and life's anything-but-simple pleasures. Be that as it may (or may not), KT Tunstall offers a fine cover of "Simple Twist of Fate" - but it leaves the viewer (or at least this viewer) wondering what Jewel's up to these days. (according to wikipedia, living on a 2,200 acre ranch in Texas with a cowboy).

As if cowboy's didn't already have it all...