Rose Cousins: We Have Made a Spark

By David Maine Rose Cousins is a Canadian-born, Boston-based singer-songwriter whose latest full-length, We Have Made a Spark, is a collaboration with a number of Boston musicians. Impeccably recorded and performed, We Have Made a Spark benefits from the contributions of a number of talented people, including but not limited to Zachariah Hickman on upright bass and organ, Charlie Rose on pedal steel, banjo and dobro, and Laura Cortese on violin and backing vocals. Despite this variety of input, the record suffers from a dearth of memorable songs. After a strong start, it settles into a kind of languid dullness. The lead song is also the album’s best. “The Darkness” is an excellent tune that benefits from accents of dobro and mandocello and sultry vocals reminiscent of Neko Case. The band is tight and Cousin’s stylings are simultaneously energetic and world-weary, but the real secret is found in the song itself, possessing as it does a clear melody, lively harmonies and an engagingly complex arrangement. This is, unfortunately, the album’s high point. Follow-up tune “The Shell” is well performed but a good bit less memorable, while “One Way” drops the energy level even further. The first of the record’s many downtempo, pretty but forgettable tunes, “One Way” sets the template for much of what is to follow. Cousin’s voice here is minimally accompanied by piano and a hint of strings, but the instrumentation is minimal and the song is left to do the heavy lifting. It’s not quite up to the task. And so it goes. The listener is left waiting for another burst of sonic interest a la “The Darkness”, but that wait will be in vain. Cousins slips into standard singer-songwriter mode, and her default setting is mellow acoustic strumming, a bit of low-key keyboard or percussion, and pretty, breathy vocals. There’s nothing intrinsically wrong with this, but the sameness of the tunes grows tiresome after a while. The news isn’t entirely bad. “For the Best” contains some lively keyboards, and throughout, Cousins is adept at expressing wistfulness and a fair degree of longing in her songs. “If I Should Fall Behind” manages to simultaneously express defiance and anxiety, with the added bonus of Mark Erelli’s effective harmony vocals. Too much of the rest blurs together into a great wash of undifferentiated downtempo prettiness. The central portion of this album is made up of songs like “What I See”, “Go First”, “All the Stars”, “For the Best” and “This Light,” all of which remain difficult to call to mind even after repeated listenings. Cousins can sing, but there is little here that really stands out from the pack. It’s difficult to criticize a record as well-performed as this one—the musicianship is competent, the sound is nicely balanced and it’s a professional effort all around. Music is about more than competence, however, and apart from a handful of moments, there isn’t much here that can be called exciting. Listeners partial to mellow female vocals might find something to enjoy, but overall, We Have Made a Spark lacks that difficult-to-quantify element that would elevate it from its peers. A spark it may have, but there is little to fan it into flame.

The WHO live at the Isle of Wight 1970

WANDERLUST “RECORD TIME”

disco super recomendado

“Looking for George Harrison or next best thing” was the ad the band put in the paper when Rob showed up with a Rickenbacker guitar, good looks and yes, a sitar! Six months later the band had an album released by RCA Records and within weeks after that their song “I Walked” was #1 on radio stations across the country. By the fall of that year the band was on the road with Collective Soul and had opened for THE WHO. After a long break, these four friends get back together and record an album just like they did on their classic debut: live in studio. The cd is produced by Barrie Maguire (credits include Wallflowers, Natalie Merchant, Amos Lee), and the songs are written by band members, Scot Sax, Rob Bonfiglio, and Mark Getten. Wanderlust's cd "Record Time" is being released on Zip Records/SONY and published by Downtown Music Publishing. Their lead single "Lou Reed" is impacting AAA radio stations and internet radio.

The Smiths {Unreleased} The Hand That Rocks The Cradle {HQ Flac}{Remastered}{1983}

Menos cotilleo y más disfrutar de la música . Si este tiene el ego subido que más da si hace maravillas como esta. Cuéntaselo al guru.

Una de las mejores canciones de los 80's , que guitarras envolventes que forma tan personal de cantar.


STEREO REMASTERED.. This ALTERNATE Full Fat Stereo, studio Version was recorded in October 1983 at "Pluto Studios" in Manchester & never officially released.
This version completely lacks the gentle acoustic rhythm guitar track pervasive through the final LP version but does bring Johhny Marrs beautiful & emotive playing to the fore.

Band of Horses: Mirage Rock

review[-]by James Wilkinson After key Band of Horses influence Neil Young experienced his commercial peak with Harvest -- the 1972 country rock cornerstone -- he famously reflected that it had put him in the middle of the road and that he soon “headed for the ditch.” On Mirage Rock -- the follow-up to the Ben Bridwell-fronted act’s Grammy-nominated, game-changing 2010 release, Infinite Arms -- Band of Horses keep a safe distance from the ditch with the help of producer Glyn Johns. As it happens, he’s the very man who helped the 1972-1973 period Eagles lineup hone their saccharine, radio-friendly and harmony-laden sound while Young was exploring comparatively rugged and less-traveled terrain. Seemingly enlisted to consolidate the success of the self-produced Infinite Arms, Johns brings a great deal of experience to Mirage Rock. Production-wise, while Infinite Arms was layered and cavernous, Mirage Rock has a heart-on-sleeve immediacy to it, borne out of Johns’ insistence that the band deliver well-rehearsed live takes of much of the material. However, while their third record flowed effortlessly, the ebb of Mirage Rock is, to some extent, compromised by an earnest attempt to showcase the band’s eclecticism. The strong opening trio of tracks -- the pounding, lo -fi indie rock of “Knock Knock,” the striking Jayhawks-inspired country pop of “How to Live,” and the laid-back, melancholic West Coast haze of “Slow Cruel Hands of Time” -- are contrasting but inspired choices for the album’s front end. However, the mid-set “Dumpster World” -- sonically closer to a pastiche of George Martin’s America than the Eagles -- has its understated sarcasm crushed by a chugging alt-rock mid-section. Similarly, while Bridwell’s uptempo and overtly political “Feud” approximates Graham Nash fronting the Foo Fighters, it sits awkwardly between the bluegrass-tinged “Everything’s Gonna Be Undone” and the truly beautiful, strolling Buffalo Springfield nod “Long Vows.” All in all, though, it’s the pros that outweigh the cons here. Bridwell’s natural gift for melody is given room to shine throughout and is complemented by some of the finest, most spine-tingling harmonies among the band and their contemporaries. There’s also a playful sense of humor evident here on tracks such as “A Little Biblical,” which can sometimes be lacking in the music of Fleet Foxes, Kings of Leon, and their ilk. In addition, Bridwell shows that he can match Robin Pecknold lyrically on “Slow Cruel Hands of Time,” a sincere, heartfelt rumination on growing old that takes in the grandeur of “the sky…in the yard” and the minutiae of stumbling across “a big city man” he used “to rumble with…back in high school.” Overall, though, while Mirage Rock sees Band of Horses further immerse themselves in Americana, more than anything it finds them enraptured by the simple joy of music-making. “Electric Music” -- a freewheeling slice of Stones/Creedence-inspired rock -- encapsulates this premise and finds them “traveling the open road” without a ditch in sight.

Bill Fay: Life Is People

review[-]by Thom Jurek Life Is People is Bill Fay's first non-retrospectively released album since 1971. His first two, Bill Fay and Time of the Last Persecution, were released at the beginning of the 1970s, sold poorly, and were not reissued until 1998. Producer Joshua Henry (who grew up listening to Fay's early albums via his father's vinyl collection) and engineer Guy Massey persuaded Fay to reenter the studio, enlisting Matt Deighton, Mike Rowe, Matt Armstrong, some string players, four singers from the London Community Gospel Choir, and guitarist Ray Russell and drummer Alan Rushton (both played on Time of the Last Persecution). Jeff Tweedy (a longtime champion) also appears. Fay plays piano and sings. Fay has written songs and recorded at home for 40 years when he wasn't working in factories, shops, and parks. His experiences as a writer and as a citizen are inseparable from these strange songs, which are the works of a master craftsman. His bittersweet reflections on wasted life, loss, death, grief, environmental apocalypse, and human frailty are balanced by themes that affirm tolerance, healing, love, and spiritual redemption. Now in his late sixties, Fay's voice is seasoned, but not weathered. It's plaintive; it imparts the great wisdom in these songs humbly and without artifice. But there is no preparation possible for hearing Life Is People. It's an intimate recording even at its most epic and majestic, as evidenced by the glorious opener "There Is a Valley" and the shimmering "The Healing Day." The liturgical organ and piano that introduce the album's centerpiece, "Be at Peace with Yourself," is, in its repetitive subtlety and grace, a hymn to self-acceptance that is stated elegantly and without bombast. When the choir enters, the song lifts off, rooting itself deep in the scarred human heart. Elsewhere, Fay's sense of intimacy expresses world-weariness and haunted despair, such as on "Big Painter." Fay performs solo on "Jesus, Etc." (written by Tweedy), which makes a perfect bookend to the stark gospel prayer "Thank You Lord." In between them is the foreboding "Empires," a 21st century blues with stellar guitar work from Russell. "Cosmic Concerto (Life Is People)" gorgeously celebrates life in the process of being lived, be the circumstances mundane or profound. Fay (who is donating his proceeds to Médecins Sans Frontières) performs these songs as if they were living things, independent of his inner world. His reverence for them makes the listening experience one of great emotional depth. Life Is People brims with compassion, vulnerability, and tenderness. It is not a comeback record but a late continuation, a great work of art.

Stay-The Change is Coming

Unos Oasis de Barcelona. Tocando temas actuales

Father John Misty - Fear Fun

Review by James Christopher Monger As J. Tillman, indie folk crooner Joshua Tillman painted sparse, often melancholic fever dreams that paired the wounded isolation of Nick Drake with the star-crossed country romanticism of Gram Parsons, a sensibility he also brought to the table as the drummer and backing vocalist for Seattle's Fleet Foxes. His latest incarnation, Father John Misty, adds Harry Nilsson and Skip Spence to the mix, skillfully imbuing the woodsy Pacific Northwest bark of the Foxes with a patina of vintage Laurel Canyon-inspired bohemia. Fear Fun opens with "Funtimes in Babylon," one of three tracks, including "Only Son of the Ladiesman" and "Everyman Needs a Companion," closely echoing the hymnlike sonic breadth of his former band. All three cater to his strong, clear voice, which sounds like a cross between Mark Kozelek (Red House Painters, Sun Kil Moon) and Jonathan Meiburg (Shearwater/Okkervil River), but it's tracks two and three that provide the album with its most transcendent moments. "Nancy from Now On," with its shambling protagonist ("Pour me another drink and punch me in the face"), likable gait, and legitimate yacht rock chorus, is a triumph of both style and substance, while the thick and brooding "Hollywood Forever Cemetery Sings," which ceaselessly wonders "Jesus Christ girl/What are people going to think?" amidst a wall of wet distortion and appropriately thunderous drums, benefits from singer/songwriter/Laurel Canyon scene revivalist Jonathan Wilson's warm and spacious production. Fear Fun's deft mix of folly and grandeur strikes a nice balance between the over the top hippie shenanigans of Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros and the vapid, calculated debauchery of Lana Del Ray, painting the artist as a self-destructive/deprecating Californian gadfly with one foot in the Salton Sea and the other in the lobby of the Chateau Marmont.

Bruce Foxton's album, Back In The Room

Why now for a Bruce Foxton album, nearly thirty years after the first one? Since [Foxton-helmed tribute band] From The Jam started up, in 2007, we anticipated not just playing Jam songs. That's fantastic, and it's great there's still a demand for it. But we always intended to write new material. While Rick [Buckler] was in the band, we had one new song called Later Day. But then my wife [Pat], sadly, became very ill, throughout 2008 and 2009, with breast cancer. Everything kind of ground to a halt, band-wise - and the songwriting came to a standstill. She passed away in 2009. I got my head together, and started to get back into it. Pat always said, throughout the 30-odd years that we were together, that she wanted me to play music. And she did hear, before she left us, the two songs I played on Paul's album [Wake Up The Nation]. This is something she wanted me to do - not to just mull over the past. So since then, Russell Hastings [left]- the singer in From The Jam - and me have been beavering away. And now is the right time. How long did the recording take? We had to do it in batches, because of finance, basically. Me, Russell and Mark Brzezicki [drums, ex-Big Country] have been recording at Paul Weller's studio, and he's done us a huge favour. He gave us a lot of studio time for nothing. But there comes a point where you've got to put a few 50ps in the meter. I'm very pleased with it, though; there's not a track on it I don't like. We'll be mixing it up with those classic Jam songs at future shows. Listening to it, some of the songs - Find My Way Home, Window Shopping - sound like they pick up where The Jam left off. Was that conscious? No, it wasn't. But we've got a guy who looks after our web site, who knows more about The Jam than I do. He said the same thing: he said he thinks that maybe that would have been the direction The Jam would have gone in, if we'd continued. That's a nice compliment. We didn't intentionally set out that way. There's no way I wanted to be Jam 2. We were just trying to write good songs. How did you get Steve Cropper on Don't Waste My Time? Our agent also fronts The Animals. They went out with Steve Cropper as a special guest. And he's always thinking of ways forward for us, and he asked Steve Cropper outright: would he be up for playing on a track? He was supposed to do it over here, but time ran out and he went back to Nashville. So we sent him over a track, and he put the guitar on there. That's it: it's sounds fantastic. It's a real privilege. Which tracks is Paul Weller on? Window Shopping; Number Six, which I think is going to be the single; and a slower one called Coming On Strong. He plays various instruments, from glockenspiel to guitar to piano. It was great working with him. He just experimented, and came up with some really nice parts, as he always does. This must be his first recorded appearance on glockenspiel. I think it is. He's pretty good on recorder as well. The record's being financed via PledgeMusic. I'd never heard of them. We went to Island, who loved the record - but their calculations in terms of how many records they'd like to sell... basically, they didn't think we'd sell 100,000 records. They're probably right. And someone said, 'Why don't you look at PledgeMusic?' It's a great means of getting your record finished, and out there. And a great way for a fan to get involved in it. One of the packages on offer includes a round of golf with you and Russell Hastings. Is this something to be feared? I've played golf for years, but I still play off about 24. I kind of stop-start. But the age group we're partly looking at now - they are into golf. There's a couple of rounds gone already. Interview by John Harris

The End Of The Jam (Mojo)

This month's MOJO salutes 30 years since The Gift ended The Jam's run of essential long-players and mainman Paul Weller, to a chorus of wailing and gnashing Modboy teeth, called an end to the group. In our cover story, MOJO's John Harris tells the tale in forensic detail, as Weller, Bruce Foxton and Rick Buckler revisit that tumultuous time, while Weller's musical progression through funk and jazz into The Style Council's opening salvo is unpicked and Buckler's bonkers retirement present from Polydor is revealed. "Sometimes you've got to be pretentious to go forward," says Weller. And as our audio-visual rundown of his ever-changing moods, 1981-83, tends to suggest, you can't say he didn't try. The End Of The Jam

Ponderosa: Pool Party

review[-]by Steve Leggett Ponderosa's first album, 2011's Joe Chiccarelli-produced Moonlight Revival, had a southern roots rock roadhouse sound with just a touch of country thrown in, a bit like an alt-country version of the Black Crowes. The group's second effort, Pool Party, released just a year later, is a whole other matter. Produced by Dave Fridmann of Flaming Lips and Mercury Rev fame, Pool Party is full of echoing vocals, muted guitars, backwards guitars, dreamy keyboards, neo-psychedelic touches and an air of care and importance that puts them a lot closer on this outing to a dollar store version of the Flaming Lips than it does the Blasters, say, and it is such a pronounced change of direction, it should almost be looked at as a different band, or a second debut album. It's beautifully recorded, sounding like it was tracked in the angels' own heavenly pool room, and the vocals soar and echo in space like the angels singing, but somehow it lacks clarity, drifting along in its own sonic zone without bothering to ground itself to mere earth very often. Call it southern gothic dream pop, if you will, but this is a band that knew how to rock, and there's not much of that in evidence on Pool Party. The most successful tracks, like the skewed pop of "Never Come Back" or the R.E.M.-like title tune, still retain a little of the roots and energy the band showed on its first album. So there's no mistake, this is an impressive sounding album, and obviously lovingly put together, but any ragged edges that remain seem deliberately placed, and the end result is a muted soundscape that will please dream pop fans but probably won't get anyone up and moving their feet. The question now is, which is the real Ponderosa? Perhaps the third album's a charm.

The Beatles - Live Washington Coliseum 1964

inaguramos la sección corciertos

Woods - Bend Beyond

review[-]by Fred Thomas Even with their fuzzy textures and tape experiments, Brooklyn noise folk group Woods have always made sounds that seemed more suited to the sunny settings of the West Coast than the overcrowded buildings and busy surroundings of their urban hometown. With Bend Beyond, the fifth proper full-length from a ridiculously prolific band, Woods' songs feels more drenched in sunshine and ocean spray than ever, and coincidentally more polished and confident than their ramshackle lo-fi earlier albums. In fairness, Woods founder and principal songwriter Jeremy Earl left Brooklyn for a more peaceful home in upstate New York, where he and the rest of the band put the album together. Rather than a remote cabin-in-the-woods record, however, Bend Beyond sounds open, invigorated, and more alive than ever. Lead single "Cali in a Cup" lets go of some of the eeriness and sad-hearted vibes that the band embraced on breakthrough albums like Songs of Shame, feeling instead bright and jubilant, the sonic equivalent of an evening drive up the Pacific Coast Highway. A new level of maturity in Earl's songwriting comes through on tracks like "Is It Honest" and the brilliant "Impossible Skys," and imbues the album with a sense of hopefulness and self-assuredness never heard from the band before. Even the creepy acoustic strains and off-kilter percussion of album closer "Something Surreal" don't equate to the kind of downer folk all the elements suggest. The production feels more deliberate and the songs feel more purposed. Perhaps the absence of the one or two endless jam-style songs that have marked almost every Woods release up until this point contributes to the album's feeling of clearheadedness. The closest Bend Beyond gets to jamming is the opening title track, whose passages of guitar exploration come off more like an homage to Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere-era Crazy Horse and sound restrained when compared to some of the "anything goes"-style noise jams that graced past efforts. With stronger songs, more solid production, and a unique synthesis of tight performances (thanks in part to new drummer Aaron Neveu) and tasteful noise, Bend Beyond is the most fully realized set of songs yet from Woods, and continues a lineage of each record surpassing their last.

JOSH FLAGG “DEVASTATE ME”

Jordi, para ti, para que olvides lo de la moto.

review[-]by Matt Collar After an extended hiatus that found the individual members of Beachwood Sparks working on various side projects including forming such bands as the Tyde and All Night Radio, the California soft country outfit reunited for 2012's The Tarnished Gold. An elegiac, blissful, and melodic album, The Tarnished Gold finds the '70s-influenced band's sound maturing and deepening, while still retaining much of the melodic, hippie-dippy ramble-rock that makes them so charming. Produced by Thom Monahan -- who handled the band's 2001 outing Once We Were Trees -- the album features the original Beachwood lineup of singer/guitarist Chris Gunst, singer/bassist Brent Rademaker, singer/multi-instrumentalist Dave Scher, and drummer Aaron Sperske. Also lending a hand are the Tyde's guitarist Ben Knight, onetime Ryan Adams & the Cardinals guitarist Neal Casal, pedal steel player Dan Horne, and even L.A. freak folk mastermind Ariel Pink. Although Beachwood Sparks have long drawn favorable comparisons to such mellow West Coast luminaries as Gram Parsons, Poco, and others, here the mix of layered harmonies and hushed, late-afternoon balladry also brings to mind works by such similarly inclined contemporaries as Teenage Fanclub and Goldrush. Which is to say that while the band's sound here is undeniably influenced by the great West Coast folk-pop of the '60s and '70s, there is something contemporary and utterly present about the album, too. It's as if on the band's previous albums, they merely evinced making soft country-rock appealing, whereas here, much like their unexpectedly inspired 2001 cover of Sade's "By Your Side," given a second life on the 2010 soundtrack to Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, they make it universally relevant, melodically buoyant, and guttingly romantic. And that's still with all the band's influences intact. In fact, cuts like the rollicking "Sparks Fly Again" and the poignant "Nature's Light" are organic and heartfelt moments that bring to mind the epic, cinematic moonshine of the Byrds' "Chestnut Mare" and Stone Canyon Band-era Ricky Nelson. Elsewhere, tracks like the bittersweet leadoff "Forget the Song" and the lilting "Leave That Light On" are gorgeously realized, glowingly warm productions, with hummable melodies and literate, heartbreaking lyrics. Ultimately, The Tarnished Gold is not just a perfect album for late summer afternoons, but also Beachwood Sparks' masterpiece. As Gunst sings at the start of the album, "Forget the song that I've been singing/Lay down the weight that I've been holding/Hope that spring melts the winter in my heart," The Tarnished Gold will melt whatever preconceptions you have about the band and leave you basking in the warmth of the summer of Beachwood Sparks' career.

The Jam - The Modern World (1977)

Hola ,

Bueno, este clip de The Jam es para recordar a mi Vespa Primavera que fue robada del parking la pasada semana. Después de tenerla 33 años!, todo acabo en una comisaria de los Mossos, el apuntando datos y yo pensando que no la vería más...que impotencia ir a denuciar algo!!. Sales de allí pensando , harán algo por recuperarla (es que no) o he ido a renovar el carnet de conducir??. La canción no va de esto pero es aquello que piensas , vaya mierda THIS IS A MODERN WORLD !!

Wanderlust

¿Como he podido vivir sin ellos? Super recomendado disco de este grupo recuperado

Nude Beach: II

review[-]by Chrysta Cherrie From the trippy neo-garage of Ty Segall to the urgent buzz of the Men and the anarchic punk of Iceage, the late aughts and early 2010s re-energized rock in many flavors, and with the addition of Nude Beach, the genre gets an expertly executed and irrepressibly fun infusion of feel-good, timeless American guitar pop. The Brooklyn-based trio debuted in 2010 but reached a bigger stage in 2012 with the Other Music Recording Company re-release of sophomore album II -- and given its infectious blend of classic rock scruff, power pop bounce, and punk pace it's no surprise the record quickly exhausted its original limited run on the Mandible label. This isn't a new approach, to be sure; the Hold Steady and the Gaslight Anthem served Springsteen-styled Rust Belt rock for a new generation in the mid-aughts, but where they sometimes fell more on the dad-ready side of the equation, Nude Beach takes a cue from like-minded predecessors the Exploding Hearts and the Reigning Sound, consistently capturing a youthful exuberance that transcends the generation gap. Opener "Radio" makes the band's intentions crystal clear, a jangling, guitar riff-led reflection of returning to one's roots that evokes the simultaneous comfort of the familiar and the yearning for the new, begging to be played at a sticky-floored bar or on a long drive through the Midwest. And sure enough, II has the makings of a great rock & roll jukebox, the kind that folks used to thoughtfully fill by hand but which has since been phased out in most places by a digital version that favors more options over a personal touch. There's melodic, rough 'n' tumble rock ("Walkin' Down My Street"), carefree Tom Petty-style swagger ("Love Can't Wait"), and soulful, Strange Boys-esque blue-eyed R&B revival ("Loser in the Game"), balanced with the crooning "Don't Have to Try," pairing stirring organ undertones and sunrise-conjuring reverb in a slow dance. No, Nude Beach aren't starting a revolution with II, but its well-crafted songs and raw-edged execution are just too damn joy-inspiring to deny.

Mystery Jets Radlands

Review by Mark Deming Sometimes a change of scenery can give someone a new perspective, and traveling to Austin, Texas to record their fourth album has made an audible difference in the way Mystery Jets do things. While their previous albums displayed a charming fascination with '80s pop and electronics both old and new, Radlands reflects the drier, sunnier climate in which it was created. Keyboards play a lesser role in these arrangements, the melodies sound more organic and direct, and steel guitars and vocal choruses punctuate the tunes; while suggesting the band has embraced roots rock is going way too far to prove a point, there's a sunburned, burnished glow to the best moments here that makes it sound as if traveling to Texas was the same thing as taking the Way-Back Machine to Laurel Canyon circa 1972 in the minds of Mystery Jets. (Producer Dan Carey gives the sessions a comfortable, naturalistic tone that's a superb match for the material.) The group's stay in the Southwest is also reflected in the existential angst-fest "Lost in Austin" and the contemplative "The Ballad of Emmerson Lonestar," while "You Had Me at Hello" recounts a road trip to the Mustang Ranch in Nevada, and the sly, bittersweet tale of one jaded gentleman's evening with a hooker recalls the enchanting cynicism of Steely Dan's glory days. Radlands represents a changeup for Mystery Jets, but not a radical one; the melodic strength of these songs and the push and pull between the playful and the philosophical in the lyrics is in the same ballpark as Serotonin and Twenty One, and "Greatest Hits" is a top-shelf would-be hit single, and one of the finest examples yet of a pop tune about the post-breakup division of a shared record collection. Not a reinvention so much as an enjoyable detour, Radlands is a set of aural postcards from the Lone Star State that demonstrates just how much good a working vacation can do.

Bob Dylan - Duquesne Whistle (2012)

Hace unos días me quedaba a gusto despachando a Dylan de pesetero y vendido a los patéticos (algunos) festivales de verano en donde las entradas más baratas cuestan 90 euros. Sigo pensando lo mismo.

Pero por otra parte este hombre tiene esta magia creativa que no para de impresionar. "Duquesne Whistle" abre su nuevo disco "Tempest" y desde que lo he escuchado no me la quito de la cabeza. Un tema imponente , clásico, unos de los mejores de 2012 !
Por otra parte el vídeo está muy bien y el trabajo del actor muy bueno. Aquí veo la influencia de Woody Allen , si no es que ha colaborado en el mismo.

Bravo por el tema ! y mal por lo que ya he comentado.

Archie Powell & the Exports

Biography by Chrysta Cherrie Midwestern good-time rockers Archie Powell & the Exports join the likes of A.C. Newman and Ted Leo in carrying the power pop torch into the aughts. Singer/guitarist Archie Powell, son of a Chicago Symphony Orchestra violinist, took up guitar by age 11 and began writing songs four years later, but it wasn't until he graduated college that he formed AP&E proper. Keeping it simple, the band name was inspired by the Export brothers who rounded out the lineup: bassist/singer Adam; keyboardist Ryan; and drummer RJ. Their first recording, the Loose Change EP, arrived digitally and for free in 2009, expanding their audience to a national level, followed a year later by the heartstring-plucking debut full-length Skip Work. The following fall they returned to the studio, this time with Justin Perkins (Yesterday's Kids, Screeching Weasel, the Obsoletes), to record sophomore record Great Ideas in Action, which is scheduled for release in May 2012.

Richmond Fontaine - Post To Wire (feat. Amy Boone) - Live @ Rough Trade East

Hola ,

Se encuentran varias versiones de este tema de Richmond Fontaine, pero esta especialmente me gusta mucho sobretodo por la excelente voz de Amy Boone (a la que no conocía). Un magnífico tema que da nombre al no menos magnífico disco "Post to Wire" (2004.

Dexys Midnight Runners - One Day I'm Going to Soar

review[-]by Jon O'Brien In the 27 years since Dexy's Midnight Runners' last studio album, frontman Kevin Rowland has become more renowned for his financial problems, drug addiction, and of course, his bizarre drag makeover on 1999's career-suicide My Beauty than the wondrous blend of blue-eyed soul, post-punk, and folk-pop that he conquered the charts with in the early '80s. One Day I'm Going to Soar, the band's first release since 1985's poorly received Don't Stand Me Down, doesn't reach anywhere near the heights of "Come On Eileen" or "Geno," but it's far from the embarrassment of his solo effort. Opening track "Now" sets the eccentric tone immediately, as its stately piano riffs and mournful violins make way for a contrasting folksy stomp featuring a typically rousing chant of "Attack! Attack!" while elsewhere, there are solid forays into '70s string-soaked disco ("I'm Always Going to Love You"), lounge bar jazz-soul ("Me"), and best of all, seductive Al Green-esque funk ("She Got a Wiggle"). Ever the showman, Rowland's theatrical tendencies are still as ham-fisted as they were in his heyday, as evident on the melodramatic cabaret number "Look," as on "Incapable of Love," a battle of the sexes duet featuring the equally overblown tones of Madeleine Hyland. There's little need for such a "subtlety of a sledgehammer" approach as Rowland's highly confessional lyrics are dramatic enough on their own. Appearing to revel in picking his own personality apart, there are spoken word notes to self, declarations of independence, and tales of self-loathing, all of which make you feel like you've wandered into a brutally honest but utterly compelling therapy session. One Day I'm Going to Soar hardly justifies the almost-three-decade wait, but it's as marvelously idiosyncratic as any longtime fan could hope to expect.

King Washington “The Gears”

L.A. powerhouse vocalist Tyson Kelly has the best rock vocals since Ed Roland, and proves it with this superb debut. Joined by lead guitarist George Krikes, bassist Dylan Cronin and drummer Kyle Turek, The Gears is a triumph of sparkling musicianship and high gloss production. You’ll hear Badfinger-like harmonies and hooks aplenty on the title track, its just mesmerizing. And the Helter Skelter opening on “Fourth Of July” leads to snappy melody full of awesome harmonies and guitars. But despite the nods to rock gods of the past, the bands sound is totally unique. More potential “hits” are “Animal” and “Anybody Home” but it runs out of gas by the albums end. However you can’t deny the great tracks on the albums first half, so I’d highly recommend this one.

Damon Albarn: Dr. Dee

By Steven Spoerl An ambitious English opera that shape-shifts ceaselessly. Dr. Dee promised to be a challenging work from the outset of the project. Initially it was planned as a collaboration between Albarn, his Gorillaz co-creator Jamie Hewlett, and graphic novel titan Alan Moore. Moore reportedly dropped the project early on but did leave the basic narrative idea, a musical about the life of John Dee, one of Queen Elizabeth I’s closest advisors. Dr. Dee had a well-received run in Manchester, garnering acclaim from various publications during its eight-day stint at the Palace Theater. Capitol has now decided to release the soundtrack as a standalone piece. In many cases soundtracks and scores have had flickering impact when isolated from their visual accompaniment. Dr. Dee slowly reveals that while it’s no exception to that rule, it still attempts transcendence. How close it comes to succeeding over the course of its 18 tracks may be the most stunning aspect of the recording. Dr. Dee announces itself wisely with “Bells”, an instrumental driven by a melancholy organ arrangement that runs over field recordings. While that may be a standard go-to for an introductory device, it became a standard for a reason: when it’s done right, it works marvelously, as “Bells” shows. “Bells” also proves to be the calm before the insane storm of wild-eyed genre-hopping that characterizes the entire recording. “Apple Cart” gets things off to a beautiful start, being eerily reminiscent of some of Shearwater’s early work. It’s also the first of several pieces which presents Albarn as a focal point. Somewhat unsurprisingly, the ensuing highlights of Dr. Dee tend to have Albarn taking the vocal parts, which is due, in part, to being able to literally hear his commitment to the material. Of course, it also helps that they’re some of the record’s most accessible and pop-oriented tracks, playing right into Albarn’s wheelhouse. Among those, “Saturn”, “The Marvelous Dream”, and the stunning closer, “The Dancing King” are high points that showcase Albarn and distract from some of Dr. Dee‘s most unfortunate, overwrought excesses. There are multiple instances in Dr. Dee where it’s easy to wish it would’ve stood tall as a defiantly pop or rock opera instead of trying mightily to fit within traditional operatic style. Most notably is when the opera vocalist enters during the last half of “Temptation Comes in the Afternoon” and nearly derails it. As a soundtrack, Dr. Dee has serious trouble navigating these portions successfully. In a two-sided knife twist, though, its most unconventional moments become spectacular. Largely, apart from the Albarn-heavy songs, the ones that stand out are the brief instrumentals and the wordless chorus pieces. Each one brings something unique to the table and several are propelled by former Fela Kuti drummer/legend Tony Allen and the 20-piece BBC Philharmonic orchestra. One of the briefest of these instrumentals is also the most fascinating. In a departure from the overall mood of the latter half of Dr. Dee comes “Moon (Interlude)”, which features some out-of-nowhere near-shredding on acoustic guitar and nothing else. It’s those small moments that do wonders in helping Dr. Dee remain a fascinating work. Whenver it seems like the album is about to lose its footing entirely, a moment like that will rope it back in. After a while, Dr. Dee essentially becomes a high-wire act in which Albarn teases potential disaster and tests limits, but always reigns things in just in time. Thankfully, more often than not, when he does return to form, he does it so spectacularly that any small missteps are forgiven. Dr. Dee is unquestionably a towering, ambitious, and inarguably complete work that flies in the face of convention, as typically suits Albarn these days. It’s accessible in parts, immensely challenging in others, and beguiling in its entirety. That incomprehensible strangeness and startling originality very well may be Dr. Dee‘s neatest trick. It keeps the listener listening and anxiously awaiting what comes next all the way through to its closing moments. That alone is worth the post-curtain call applause.

The Elwins - Stuck In The Middle

Bob Mould - Silver Age

eview[-]by Stephen Thomas Erlewine Perhaps writing his autobiography put Bob Mould in a nostalgic mood, as The Silver Age -- arriving roughly a year after See a Little Light: The Trail of Rage and Melody, co-written by Michael Azerrad -- surges forth with a molten, melodic energy unheard in Mould's music since the days of Sugar. It's no coincidence Mould introduced The Silver Age by performing Copper Blue in its entirety during a series of summer concerts in 2012: it is the forefather of this roaring blast of overdriven pop. Once again working in a power trio format -- here supported by bassist Jason Narducy and drummer Jon Wurster -- Mould sounds liberated, eschewing any of the lingering sensitivity and fragility that echoed through parts of 2009's Life and Times, an otherwise powerful guitar pop record. Here, there's nothing but finely sculpted muscle, with even the handful of slower cuts--"Steam of Hercules," the closing "First Time Joy" -- grinding with precise purpose. Mostly, The Silver Age bursts forth with relentless momentum, alternating between such nervy, coiled explosions of energy as "The Descent" and the classic power pop of "Round the City Square." Mould's songwriting is lean and tuneful, as is the music itself. This may hearken back to Sugar, but isn't a complacent trip down memory lane: this is a king rightfully reclaiming his dominion.

Taj Mahal: The Hidden Treasures of Taj Mahal 1969-1973

By Matthew Fiander Taj Mahal is, without a doubt, a blues legend. Sure, some qualify this with the term “modern” as if he’s important to today’s blues, but not the tradition as a whole. But Mahal came around at a vital time for blues music. His 1968 eponymous debut, with its mix of old and new styles of blues, was a revelation in part because it was an outlier. Blues veterans were branching out, in part to keep up with psychedelic movements in rock music, and Mahal’s staunch adherence to tradition – which he would hold his entire career, even if his tradition of blues included African and Carribean sounds, among others – made him a defiant voice, but a welcome and strong one. Now, 40-plus years after that first album, Legacy Recordings is planning an expansive reissue of “definitive” editions of Mahal’s records. The campaign starts, before any true albums come, with The Hidden Treasures of Taj Mahal 1969-1973, a two-disc collection of entirely unreleased material – one disc is studio cuts, the second a live set – to show us the early years of his solo career and the tangents he ran down outside of his proper records. The stuff presented on the first disc, from the studio, doesn’t branch too far from early classic records like Taj Mahal and Giant Steps, but it does bounce around from sound to sound the way those records do. There’s the smooth blues-rock of “Tomorrow May Not Be Your Day”, the dustier stomp of “Yah-Nah Mama Loo” or the swampy Delta feel of “Sweet Mama Janisse”. Each song is catchy and fiery, and this set of cuts is surprisingly consistent. It entertains a more loose jam feel than much of his records, with many of these songs stretching upwards of seven minutes. This can be thrilling. The longest cut, 16-minute plus “You Ain’t No Streetwalker, Honey, But I Do Love the Way You Strut” is a brilliant exercise in blues vamping: each player getting their turn and Mahal wailing each verse to the rafters. It’s most striking, though, for the opening moments that find Mahal scatting out the melody and beat for his fellow musicians and then declaring, “It’s all in there, man, just grab a fucking hold of it.” That musical instinct is all over these tracks, even if some of the jams – “I Pity the Poor Immigrant” and “Shady Grove” in particular – run long enough that you can see why they ended up unreleased. But that idea of feeling music, of the way sound becomes emotion, is all over the second disc, an essential live recording that captures a set from 1970 at the Royal Albert Hall in London. The set starts with Mahal alone, transfixing both audience (then) and listener (now) with an a capella “Runnin’ by the Riverside” and the acoustic blues of “John, Ain’t It Hard”. The most bracing moment, though, comes a minute or so into the live take of “Sweet Mama Janisse” when the band kicks in with a tight, thumping foundation for Mahal’s commanding singing voice. The group knocks out classic versions of “Diving Duck Blues”, “Checkin’ Up on My Baby” and “Oh Susannah”, among others. It’s a set that runs 20 minutes shorter than the first disc of studio cuts but feels infinitely more revealing and, in some ways, satisfying. The applause here is contained but also, somehow, feels stunned, as if they’re unsure of what to make of all the pure, sweating energy coming off the stage at them. During the set, Mahal presents himself as both storyteller – setting up, say, “Sweet Mama Janisse” – and singer, meshing the two traditions that weave through blues music beautifully in between songs that manage, despite his interstitial storytelling, to speak for themselves. If now is the time to celebrate Taj Mahal’s legacy – as if we shouldn’t have (and didn’t) started already – The Hidden Treasures of Taj Mahal 1969-1973 is a great place to begin. The stuff here may not always measure up to his most classic material, but the studio disc offers more than a few gems, and moments that reveal Mahal’s commanding presence as a band leader, while the Royal Albert Hall show is an absolute knock out. For a man so dedicated to honoring the blues, the sounds of that night – and some of the ones in the studio here – honor it in the best way possible, by playing it tight and, ever so slightly, pushing it forward.

The Days Of Wine And Rose, 30 aniversario

En el mismo lugar (Plaça Reial) pero a las 00:15 con motivo de su 30 aniversario nos deleitaran de nuevo con su -The Days Of Wine And Roses- igualmente la palabra mágica para entrar gratis es: miramar.blogmagazine

Actuación de Howlin Rain en Barcelona

Atención, amigos de Barcelona, el día 21 de Septiembre a las 11 h. en la Paça del Reial, actuación de Howlin Rain. Diciendo la palabra Miramar.rockmagazine en la entrada tenéis entrada gratis.

The Dreaming Spires -'Everything All The Time' (2012)

Conocéis a este grupo ? Los he descubierto recientemente y me parecen muy buenos.
Su disco muy recomendable. Graban para un pequeño sello inglés.Son de Oxford y los grupos del sello suenan a country/pop/rock americano

'Everything All The Time' is the debut single from The Dreaming Spires.

The single is out now on Clubhouse Records and was produced by Sam Williams (Supergrass).

The band has an enviable musical pedigree. Group members - and brothers - Robin and Joe Bennett formerly played with not one but two influential bands - Goldrush and Danny & the Champions of the World, and co-founded not one but two award-winning festivals, Truck & Wood.

Trembling Bells and Bonnie "Prince" Billy: The Marble Downs

By Cole Waterman Collaborations between disparate musical acts tend to yield one of two results — an embarrassing stain for all involved or a triumph of reinvigorated artistry. For Bonnie “Prince” Billy (Will Oldham) and Trembling Bells, their partnership falls decidedly in the latter category, bearing sweet, yet strange, fruit in the form of new album The Marble Downs. The record’s ten songs are effectively a synergy of not only both artists’ distinct sounds, but of two countries’ musical traditions. On the one side is Oldham with his noir Appalachia-Americana fancies; on the other are Trembling Bells with their British whimsy and baroque ‘60s pop. On paper, the two styles may seem more apt to clang against each other than merge into anything coherent. Actualized on record, though, the initial jarring soon turns infectious. The two approaches don’t unite in a singular harmony, but entwine around each other like a marble cake, their strengths separate, yet complimentary. Take the back-to-back placement of organ-driven, garage-rock stomping “Ain’t Nothing Wrong With a Little Longing” with the sparse ode to loneliness “Excursions Into Assonanc” — opposing sentiments expressed with equally contrasting musical styles, yet somehow they work together within the context of the record as a whole. The work is peopled with underwear-clad angels, sinister demons, Johnnie Walker, Merge Haggard, the Grim Reaper, ruined livers and dead anniversary flowers. It sounds dour, sure, but beyond that, the record is damn fun, the music funereal, but in a celebratory, jazzy way. Part of the album’s effectiveness is that Oldham and the Bells don’t take themselves too seriously. Wry humor and melodrama abound among the cacophonous instrumentation and protean song structures. Credit Bells’ founder and drummer Alex Neilson with crafting the off-kilter terrain, the album sharing some of its deliberate eccentricity with Tim Buckley’s classic Starsailor. Opening the record with a grandiose arrangement and Bells’ singer Lavinia Blackwell’s siren-like intonations, “I Made a Date (With an Open Vein)” clears the road for the journey to follow. As Blackwell’s operatic howls carry forward and the brass resounds, a fuzzy guitar sidewinds beneath like a snake through the desert sand. When Oldham’s warbling voice joins the fray, it is as a perfect foil for Blackwell’s cutting precision, their pairing a study in the contrast between the sacred and the profane. “How long? / Not so long / Till Death knocks at your door / As the rain falls on everyone / So the reaper keeps his sword”, Oldham and Blackwell sing in unison, closing out the number in a refrain that may appear despairing, but could also come across as a call for devil-may-care abandon. What follows is a series of tête-à-tête duets between Oldham and Blackwell, rich with pathos whether expressing the two characters’ disdain for one another or their mutually-destructive affection. “I Can Tell You’re Leaving” is a series of swapped turn-of-phrase put-downs, reminiscent of the Pogues’ “Fairtytale of New York”. Oldham plays the desperate drunk to Blackwell’s soiled dove, finishing each other’s sentences in scathing and clever cursing as jaunty piano-key tickling plays behind them. “I used to be your universe”, Oldham sings, provoking Blackwell’s, “You’re not even my Birmingham”. Coming in on the other side of the spectrum is the sentimental “Love is a Velvet Noose”, a title sure to be a motto on the lips of the jilted and experienced. Rife with suicidal implications and whiskey-beckoning oblivion, the song is the most affecting and sincere of the lot, a paean of Oldham and Blackwell trading endearments over a mournful cello and violin and sparse piano work — “So dress me in a winding sheet / While my lover sings the blues / A dozen angels ‘round my crown and feet / And ‘round your neck / A velvet noose”. The best one-two punch occurs near the close of the record, starting with Blackwell taking lead on the a cappella “My Husband’s Got No Courage in Him”. She is menace personified in this traditional murder ballad setup: “I wish my husband / He was dead / And in his grave / I’d quickly lay him / And then I’d find another one / That had a little courage in him.” The track bleeds into a reworking of Oldham’s “Riding”, a scary as hell blues scorcher featuring a call-and-response between vocalists, Oldham demur and Blackwell bellowing: “Where you goin’ ridin’, boy? / I’m gonna ride on down to see you”. The stench of brimstone saturates the piece, its hammering intensity befitting the charge of Judge Holden from Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian. Praise aside, there are some missteps on the album. The Robin Gibb cover closing the record, “Lord Bless All”, lacks the impact a work of this stature deserves; perhaps coming on the heels of the two previous songs set the odds against it. Also, a number of the songs extend a tad longer than necessary, trailing off rather than wrapping up. All said and done, though, The Marble Downs should be a welcome addition to the oeuvre of both artists involved. Quirky and challenging, yet ultimately rewarding, it may not garner new fans unfamiliar with either Oldham or Trembling Bells, but it nevertheless deserves a spot amongst the best collaborations of recent years.

HONEYMOON STALLIONS

Honeymoon Stallions “Moonlighting” Andy Goldberg (The Sun Kings, The Goldbergs) returns with a new band and a new album. The Honeymoon Stallions gallop out of the gate with the opener “If It Wasn’t For You,” a terrific melody with a layer of organ under the guitar riffs. “Radio Song” has a touch of Nick Lowe with its solid hooks. “Driftin’” is a slightly mellower Andy, similar to Jeff Larsons bluesy mid-tempo jangle pop. This newer texture continues on “By The Moon…” and the Beatles bounce with Harrison-styled slide guitar surfaces on “Every Now and Then.” Every song is strong here, and its on par with his previous albums. Overall, a welcome autumn present for lovers of great guitar pop.

Animal Collective - Centipede Hz

review[-]by Fred Thomas With 2009's Merriweather Post Pavilion, Animal Collective delivered on the seemingly unattainable level of promise that had grown with each release since their beginnings. Ever-shifting, the wooly freak folk of 2003's Sung Tongs gave way to subsequent albums Feels and Strawberry Jam, which were influenced in equal parts by minimal techno and Syd Barrett-esque psychedelic rock. Big beats, pop hooks, heightened production, and Animal Collective's patented freakiness combined into a perfect storm with MPP, and countless new fans were exposed to the band for the first time. Expectations for a similarly brilliant follow-up were bound to be huge, but the band's mercurial approach would never allow for any album to sound too much like the last. Ninth studio album Centipede Hz finds AC returning to a face-to-face writing style, rather than collaborating through file exchanging due to distance. Also returning to the fold is longtime contributor Josh Dibb (aka Deakin), who sat out the last album entirely. Deakin's presence is noticeable on the far busier new songs, and he even contributes his first lead vocal ever for the band on the swirling bounce of "Wide Eyed." Noah Lennox has expanded the stripped-down percussion of earlier releases into a makeshift drum kit (complete with the kick drum that was often absent in the past), and live keyboards replace the MIDI-sequenced arpeggios that decorated the last album. All of these elements add to a maximized sound that Centipede Hz sometimes drowns under. The digital rush of "Monkey Riches" is so heavy with ornamental sounds that they suffocate the song, while the trudging pulse of album-closer "Amanita" piles processed guitar lines and nervous rhythmic samples on top of an already weary skeleton, obscuring the song's strengths. Still, manicured pop moments abound, kicking off with the road trip nostalgia of the incredibly catchy "Moon Jock," and one-two punching into the more aggressive, distorted, melodic scatter of "Today's Supernatural." The roomy acoustic percussion of "Father Time" collides with booming electronic drums and Avey Tare's nasally, geeky vocals in a series of carefree hooks. Centipede Hz is an album of numerous skittering layers, replacing the ambient pop elements of previous albums with slight Brazilian touches, fuzzy electronic bashing, and even more unrecognizable gurgling samples than usual. Despite the return of MPP producer Ben Allen, there's nothing as direct or bounding as "My Girls" or even as trippily infectious as "Summertime Clothes." In the context of their greater body of work, Centipede Hz is yet another strange and oozing collection of experiments, most of which succeed. There's a higher percent of anxiety and queasiness mixed in amid the moments of pop bliss, and though fans of the glassy perfection of MPP may be initially disappointed, Centipede Hz sounds like another logical step in the band's evolution. COLLAPSE

Review by Steve Leggett Eric Bibb's version of the blues is calm, wise, hushed, and elegant, as much or more about redemption as it is about despair, and above all, Bibb sees the blues as narrative, part of the story we all drift through. His best songs, often built on traditional patterns and rhythms, are wise and affirming, and they fall to the brighter and more hopeful side of the blues. There are several such gems on Deeper in the Well, including the opening track, a delightful piece of Louisiana shuffle funk called "Bayou Belle," the string band gospel bounce of "Dig a Little Deeper in the Well," a modal and relentlessly driving "Boll Weevil," "Sittin' in a Hotel Room," which is a wise and hopeful story of contentment, and the final track, a stunningly beautiful banjo version of Bob Dylan's "The Times They Are a-Changin'." It all adds up to a beautifully redemptive album, one of Bibb's best.