A site dedicated to culture with a focus on popular music; from the fringes to the forefront.
Tuesday, October 31, 2023
Album Review: The Kills - God Games
Celebrating the Halloween Spirit Through Song
A few years ago, one of the best blogs out there, WFMU's Rock and Soul Ichiban (now called Boss Radio 66) put together a great collection of Halloween inspired tunes and playlists.
All of these are fantastic and as always Ichiban gives us old songs that are brand new to RtBE and also flat out awesome!
I mean how could we have missed The Bar-Kay's "Holy Ghost" for all of these years?
Damn that is some funky stuff. WFMU Rock and Soul Ichiban always delivers the goods, but in 2014 they got some help from their friends over at Fringe Factory who offered up a Halloween themed show themselves right here.
Here are a few songs that jumped out to us, a tune by the fantastic Mummies, and of course it wouldn't be Halloween without the "Monster Mash" and Elvira. She closes out our Halloween focus with her Third Man Records release "2 Big Pumpkins" written by the B-52's Fred Schneider:
Monday, October 30, 2023
Dylan Cover #604 Daniele Brillo "What Was It You Wanted"
Oh Mercy brought Dylan back in from the creative wasteland that was his 1980's. It had an eerie sense of foreboding, helped by producer Daniel Lanois and the ghosts of New Orleans. The irritable old man in Dylan came out a bit here as well, and "What Was It You Wanted" is a good example of that, a confused searching that colors the lyrics as the protagonist just can't seem to get it right.
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Daniele Brillo is an Italian cover artist who focuses on Dylan, Neil Young and others. This is the second time checking out Brillo in this series we caught up with him almost a hundred covers ago.
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Friday, October 27, 2023
Full Show Friday: The Four Tops - Live at the Second Chance 1982
Thursday, October 26, 2023
New Single/Video from Lxandra for "Sublime"
Photo credit: Lumi Hartikainen |
"I wrote it in the middle of the night on the piano, drinking red wine, during the last COVID lockdown. I recorded it on my live microphone, which is the vocal take used on the final version."
Album Review: The Rolling Stones - Hackney Diamonds
It also sounds like what AI would come up with if someone plugged the phrase “year 2023...new Rolling Stones album” into it, as Hackney Diamonds resembles what makes The Stones great on the surface, with touchpoints to past successes, yet, when you dig a little deeper things aren’t all that satisfying.
Working with producer/co-writer on a few tracks, Andrew Watt, the band sounds modern, fully taut, and glossed up as the production is overly pristine, robust, and gleaming. The booming hits from new drummer Steve Jordan and strutting riffs from Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood kick things off on album opener “Angry”, playing like a checklist of Stones attributes, but without a true connection.
The band has been corporate for literal decades at this point, and many of these songs will work in commercials and remind fans of even better past tunes, such as the disco touches of “Mess It Up” recalling the late 70’s/early 80’s efforts, the countryish Let it Bleed-like “Dreamy Skies” and the sax work on “Get Close”, yet this is not Sticky Fingers, more like Buffed Manicured Nails.
A few touches stand out positively, guest Beatle Paul McCartney surprisingly distorts up a punkish jam titled “Bite My Head Off” with giddy, infectious bass work before the band strap on a good guitar solo for “Whole Wide World”, but for one of the innovators of the genre Richards doesn’t have many memorable riffs here.
Jagger as well delivers a perfectly fine performance vocally, especially considering his age, but lyrically nothing is worth remembering after a few spins, as the vagueness of his words and the idea of still living a “hitting and running through" life style has all been heard before and can sound pretty stale from the great grandfather.
Then again, what is expected from 80 year old rockers? Overall, this is not a bad album, just an incredibly over-polished one from an aging band and maybe the fact that it exists at all on a totally acceptable-to-many-bands/middle-of-the-road level, is a complete success on its own.
One of the best moments occurs when Charlie Watts is reborn with old bassist Bill Wyman for “Live By the Sword” which feels looser, almost as if the old guard were still workshopping the song, with Jagger’s lyrics in particular needing an upgrade.
If this happens to be the last studio album from the Stones, they went out on a high note to wrap it up. The band close Hackney Diamonds by showcasing the over the top drama they mastered during their peak years as Lady Gaga and Stevie Wonder join for “Sweet Sounds of Heaven” whose extended, vibrant, interplay turns it into the clear standout track on the record. They then finish with a nod to their blues foundation, delivering a version of Muddy Waters “Rolling Stone Blues” which gave the legendary rockers their name.
It is hard not to grade The Stones against themselves, one of the greatest bands of all-time. No one outside of the band needed A Bigger Bang in 2005, and the same holds true for Hackney Diamonds in 2023. Also, no one should ever tell artists when to quit, and the fact that Mick, Keith, and Ronnie wanted to go through the writing/recording/release process all over again (with a host of A list friends helping them out) is perfectly fine.
Wednesday, October 25, 2023
Gold Steps Cover Taylor Swift with Pop Punk Version of "Blank Space"
"Taylor Swift's 'Blank Space' is an iconic song that we've always loved," said Betty, lead vocalist of Gold Steps. "We wanted to put our own spin on it, adding an edgier and more aggressive dimension to the track. We're excited to share our take on this classic with the world."
Live Review: Ron Carter's Foursight Quartet - Birdland, NYC 10/19/23
Tuesday, October 24, 2023
New Video/Single from Hannah Anders "18"
"After sitting with my producer and reviewing the giant handful of songs I had written for an upcoming project, he looked at me and said, 'I feel like we're missing one more. One more that's YOU, that's personal, that's your story.' So I set off to continue writing, and set up a co-write with Nashville writer Kris Bergsnes. As we sat and talked about lyrical ideas we both had in our journals and stories of our lives (as you do in a songwriting session) , he shared a possible idea with me as a starting point for our yet to be written song. I can't even tell you now what it was, but it just felt like a song idea for a younger girl, someone who hadn't experienced as many of the hits and victories of life yet. It felt like it belonged to a girl I hadn't been in a long time. So I kind of shrugged my shoulders and said, "I don't know...it feels like an idea for someone else...I'm not 18 anymore." He paused and looked at me and said, 'That's it. That's your song. That's what you need to write."
She continues, “I left the session, marinating on what that meant to me. What it meant to be past the innocence of unending youth. How relieved I was to be past it honestly. How much I had learned. How many disappointments and victories I had experienced. How grateful I was to be in a place where I was unapologetically who I am. The lyrics started to come. It was truly the most honest song I had written in a long time. I had written so many of my other songs at this time with fellow writer Kris Bradley, and so I pulled her in at the end as another set of eyes and ears, another woman who had plowed her way through this industry, and we put the finishing touches on it. What came out of this time in my life is a song that comes from my soul, and I've been waiting to share until the right moment. And the right moment is now. I've had the privilege of singing this song both at home based shows and halfway around the world on tour, crying with people in the room as we all feel our way through what it means to not be "18 anymore,” and I am beyond excited to share this piece of my soul now with everyone. Whether you're 25 or 95, I think you can find yourself here, in the lyrics, in the feeling, in the meaning. We can all use a place to celebrate what it means to conquer the ups and downs and life, and come out the other side proud of who we are and where we are."
Live Review: The Beaches - Mercury Lounge, NYC 10/17/23
Monday, October 23, 2023
Dylan Cover #603 Rita Coolidge "Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I'll Go Mine)"
From the first time we tackled a cover of this song:
It's that thin, that wild mercury sound. It's metallic and bright gold, with whatever that conjures up. Those are the phrases that Dylan himself used to describe the sound that he wanted on Blonde on Blonde. Safe to say he got it and perhaps never more so than on "Most Likely You Go Your Way And I'll Go Mine". That whirling organ that sounds like it may actually take flight, the tempo, the cutting lyric, hot damn this song is a joy. RtBE actually got to see him open a show way back with this one and it was a hoot, not as good as the original, but a gem to see live and hear anytime.
The closest I ever got to the sound I hear in my mind was on individual bands in the Blonde on Blonde album. It's that thin, that wild mercury sound. It's metallic and bright gold, with whatever that conjures up.Cover:
Thoughts on Cover Artist:
RtBE has showcased Rita Coolidge once before in this series and dig her style.
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Friday, October 20, 2023
Live Streams: Daze of The Dead - Billy and The Kids
Full Show Friday: Ryan Bingham - Live in Texas 2016
Thursday, October 19, 2023
New Single From The Sleeping Souls, "Weathering The Storm"
Credit Lukas Rauch |
“”Weathering The Storm” is about being caught up in a situation that is completely out of your control. And trying to navigate your way through as best you can. It was written around the time Russia threatened to nuke Ireland and the UK. They had an animation that they showed on Russian TV of it being dropped off the coast of Donegal and obliterating everything — all of this just after I had moved there, of course! The stress of possible nuclear fallout coupled with some personal family struggles at the time helped me imagine an escape to a nearby island where I could survive the fallout.”
Album Review: Water Machine - Raw Liquid Power EP
Wednesday, October 18, 2023
Happy 35th Anniversary to Sonic Youth's Daydream Nation
Album Review: Bush Tetras - They Live In My Head
Tuesday, October 17, 2023
New Video/Single From Kandle, "Live A Lie"
With this song being about living a lie, and the search for the truth, we decided to make the music video an episode of The X-Files! This cinematic homage still layers in some welcome levity, with epic performance pieces and considerably more dancing than an X-Files episode typically contains. Happy 30th anniversary X-Files!
Live Review: Christone "Kingfish" Ingram @ Brooklyn Bowl 10/12/23
Monday, October 16, 2023
Dylan Cover #602 Luke LeBlanc "She Belongs To Me" Live
The first song in this series was a different cover of this track, here is what I wrote about it then and still feel the same way:
This is a gem of a song, a twisted tale that entwines beauty and deceit, darkness and sparkling Egyptian Red Rings. One of Dylan's best in it's mystery, elusiveness and bitter biting undertones; really pure Dylan and one of his all time classics. Loved it when I first heard it, still love it today.
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Luke LeBlanc is a Minneapolis based singer songwriter. This is the first time RtBE has come across Luke.
Friday, October 13, 2023
Full Show Friday: Red Hot Chili Peppers - LIVE Austin City Limits 2022
Thursday, October 12, 2023
Live Stream: Run The Jewels - 4 Albums In 4 Nights Live from Los Angeles
Album Review: Grateful Dead - Dave's Picks Vol 47: 12-9-79
Wednesday, October 11, 2023
New Single from The Breath "Land of My Other" Title Track from Upcoming Album
Album Review: Gregory Hutchinson - Da Bang
Tuesday, October 10, 2023
New Single from Rahway "Drowning"
RtBE Interview: Graveyard Lovers - 10th Anniversary of Dreamers
Check out RtBE's interview with friends Graveyard Lovers up on Glide.
It is to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Graveyard Lovers release Dreamers. A personal favorite of RtBE's that made our list of top fifty albums of the decade and we were happy to chat with Zach and Tricia about the writing, recording and promotion of it.
For those who haven't heard it, do so today on their bandcamp page, if you are a fan of rock, you will not be disappointed.
Support the artist, read the interview, buy the album and peep some video below:
Monday, October 9, 2023
Dylan Cover #601 Marshall Crenshaw "Bob Dylan's 115th Dream" Live
From the first time we tackled a cover of this tune:
Showing up on one of Bob's greatest accomplishments Bringin' It All Back Home, "Bob Dylan's 115th Dream" always feels like a breather in the albums context. It is silly, the playful Dylan, a Dylan that still exists and can be forgotten about especially when getting "deep" into his serious songs. A vital part of Bob is his playful charm, and amongst the silliness and simple word play on this track he still manages to drop some bombs, " I said, 'You know they refused Jesus, too'/He said, 'You're not him'". A great example of a level of Bob's genius not often exhibit in this series, his playfulness.
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A rollicking electric blues jam that Crenshaw and company kick on out, with fun abandon that the tune deserves. Wild, wooly stuff.
I saw three ships a-sailin’
They were all heading my way
I asked the captain what his name was
And how come he didn’t drive a truck
He said his name was Columbus
I just said, “Good luck”