November 11th, 2009 by Sam
A self-loathing drug addict violently ends his life with a shotgun blast to the face, who would have thunk it?
In a recent interview with BBC Radio 1, Dave Grohl admitted he had a sneaking suspicion that Kurt Cobain wouldn’t live a long, healthy existence.
“There are some people that you meet in life that you just know that they are not going to live to be a 100 years old,” Grohl said. “In some ways, you kind of prepare yourself emotionally for that to be a reality.”
Yet despite all the blinking neon warning signs, Grohl insists he was taken aback upon hearing the news of Cobain’s passing.
“It was a terrible surprise,” he said. “It was probably the worst thing that has happened to me in my life. I remember the day after that I woke up and I was heartbroken that he was gone. I just felt like, ‘Okay, so I get to wake up today and have another day and he doesn’t.’”
Grohl said he embraced the traumatic event as a moment of personal catharsis.
“Usually it takes something like that for people to appreciate life as a gift and you have to take advantage of the time that you have,” he said. “Sometimes you can’t save someone from themselves.”
Tags: Dave Grohl, ESP, Kurt Cobain, Nirvana
Posted in Gossip, News | No Comments »
November 11th, 2009 by Sam
A website dumb enough to sell the Beatles entire music catalog without their legal consent, insists they had every right to do so as a result of a new recording technique dubbed “psycho-acoustic simulation”.
An injunction against Bluebeat.com was filed by music giant EMI, after they discovered digital copies of every Beatles album had surfaced on the defendant’s website.
However, owner Hank Risan argued that the mp3s sold on his website were not EMI produced recordings, but rather files that had been remastered to sound exactly like the originals.
In other words, the single laziest legal defense ever uttered in a courtroom.
“They’re hosed. That just doesn’t make any sense,” Copyright Attorney Scott Mackenzie told Wired during an interview. “I don’t even see the basis of their theory.”
Sure enough, the judge ignored the almost laughable defense and ordered the immediate halt of all sales.
The Santa Cruz based company will also likely have to pay millions of dollars in damages and copyright infringement fines.
Tags: Bluebeat.com, Copyright Infringement, EMI, The Beatles
Posted in Gossip, News | No Comments »
November 11th, 2009 by Sam
I must admit, I wasn’t entirely optimistic when Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age), Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters), and John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin), announced they would be joining forces to create another ill-conceived supergroup.
However, much to my surprise, Them Crooked Vultures aren’t nearly as bad as I originally imagined, and their self-titled debut (available on November 17) mixes enough new with old to hold the short attention spans of stoners and aging hippies alike.
Led Zeppelin they are not, but “Scumbag Blues” attempts to capture some of their Heavy Metal majesty, as a versatile Jones rocks the keyboards like no one else could.
Homme channels Paul Westerberg on the Replacements inspired single “Mind Eraser, No Chaser”, whose dated garage band sound is a welcome addition to an album teaming with seething blues licks.
Tags: Dave Grohl, Hard Rock, John Paul Jones, Josh Homme, Them Crooked Vultures
Posted in Reviews | No Comments »
November 11th, 2009 by Sam
Weezer have gotten progressively mainstream with each subsequent release, and latest effort Raditude does little to alter the bands current trajectory as Top 40 staples.
The rockabilly inspired first single “(If You’re Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To” finds everyone’s favorite socially awkward anti-hero, Rivers Cuomo, pining over his lady love as he attempts to seduce her with late night viewings of Titanic and trips to the local Best Buy, “So make a move. Cause I ain’t got all night.”
“I’m Your Daddy” is about as generic as songs come, but then again so is the incredibly infectious “The Girl Got Hot”, which only shows that sh*tty and Power Pop don’t always go hand in hand.
Overall, the album is a bit of a disappointment, especially when compared to anything released prior to the abysmal Make Believe.
Tags: Best Buy, Emo, Rivers Cuomo, Titanic, Weezer
Posted in Reviews | No Comments »
November 11th, 2009 by Sam
I can’t stress this enough, solo albums are almost always a terrible idea, especially when your entire professional identity has been linked to a relatively successful band.
Of course none of that seemed to stop Julian Casablancas from taking the inevitable leap of faith into Synth Pop mediocrity with the grammatically challenged Phrazes for the Young.
A routinely somber Casablancas trades in his melancholy for New Wave effervescence on the hopelessly optimistic “11th Dimension”, which exists on an alternate plane where nothing is as it seems, “We’re so quick to point out our own flaws in others/Complicated, man was on the wings of robots.”
“River of Brakelights” is one of a handful of tracks that could actually pass for a discarded Strokes B-side, but much like every other song on the album its potential is ultimately drowned out by Mike Mogis’ overproduction.
Tags: Julian Casablancas, Synth Pop, The Strokes
Posted in Reviews | No Comments »
November 11th, 2009 by Sam
Echo and the Bunnymen have essentially lived off the critical acclaim of one album, but as brilliant as Ocean Rain may have been, Ian McCulloch has yet to write anything that comes even close to rivaling his 1984 magnum opus “The Killing Moon”.
The Fountain begins much like it ends, with a whimper.
Opening track “I Think I Need It Too” has the same generic mass appeal of every U2 and Coldplay song ever written, but lacks the social relevancy needed to inspire anyone under the age of 50.
“Shroud of Turin” is almost as unimpressive as its real world counterpart, as a beleaguered McCulloch questions the many limitations of a supposed omnipresent being, “Never happens when you want it to/Never does what it’s supposed to do/It’s never good enough to see me through.”
Tags: Alternative, Echo And The Bunnymen, Ian McCulloch
Posted in Reviews | No Comments »
November 11th, 2009 by Sam
Phoenix has extended their already successful World Tour by another four dates, adding shows in Toronto, Canada, Pontiac, Michigan, and Columbus, Ohio.
The French ensemble gained further notoriety through their bizarre pairing with American car manufacturer Cadillac, who famously claimed the artistic credibility of Led Zeppelin.
Tags: Phoenix
Posted in Out On Tour | No Comments »
November 11th, 2009 by Sam
Prepare your picket signs, the rowdy, homoerotic antics of the Black Lips will be coming to a town near you.
Best known for their insane live shows, the Atlanta based punk foursome has scheduled stops in Costa Mesa, California, Torino, Italy, and Istanbul, Turkey.
Tags: Black Lips
Posted in Out On Tour | No Comments »
November 11th, 2009 by Sam
The single most overrated act to emerge from Burlington, Virginia’s burgeoning jam band scene, have announced yet another tour of the East Coast.
Phish will perform their bewilderingly popular music to aging stoners, during shows in Detroit, Michigan, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Portland, Maine.
Tags: Phish
Posted in Out On Tour | No Comments »
