I've Seen A Million Faces, And I've Rocked Them All
By Felicia & TK | Posted Under Music | Comments (20)
Metric is currently on tour promoting their new album Fantasies. They rolled through Minneapolis last weekend to a sold out crowd at First Ave. Emily Haines sounded great and had a lot of energy. They stuck mostly to the new album, which was slightly disappointing to me, but pulled out “Dead Disco,” which was a big crowd pleaser. Other highlights included new singles “Stadium Love,” “Help I’m Alive” and me smacking a dude in the face for manhandling me. The joke was on me since his face was sweatier than Louie Anderson on a Stairmaster.
—Felicia
Despite my trying to call myself a music nerd, I think I was either unaware, or had forgotten, that there is a Songwriter’s Hall of Fame. After this, I will go back to forgetting about it. This years inductees (the 40th year of the Songwriter’s HOF) included Crosby, Stills and Nash, Jason Mraz and Tom Jones. Oh, and Jon Bon Jovi. Huh. CSN? Absolutely. Tom Jones? Um… OK. Jason Mraz? Wait, what? Bon freakin’ Jovi? The guy that wrote “Wanted Dead or Alive,” one of the most idiotic (but endlessly enteraining) songs of all time? Songwriter’s Hall of Fame, we need to sit down and have a talk about your standards, I’m afraid.
—TK
For those of you going to Lollapalooza in August the schedule was released last week. This is always the biggest disappointment to me, and sometimes makes me regret going. I know it’s really hard to please the thousands of people that will attend, but let’s be real here. I will be the most important person in attendance and they should probably do their best to please me. Unfortunately, this year they scheduled Kings of Leon and Depeche Mode as simultaneous headliners on opening night. These two were in my top bands to see for the weekend, and now I’ll have to choose between the two. KOL will be rolling through Minneapolis in September but they will be playing at the shitty Target Center, one of my least favorite venues. And it’s always sort of a disappointment when you are paying $190 for a ticket plus travel and lodging and you don’t get to see all the bands you want. I suppose this is the price you pay when choosing to go to these festivals, but I still have the right to be irritated. Oh what the hell am I saying? Let’s face the real facts. I will probably be so drunk that I won’t even remember live music taking place, therefore completely voiding out anything I just complained about. For anyone else interested, you can view the schedule here. Single day tickets are also available now at the website.
—Felicia
‘Pac might be dead, but Death Row Records is apparently going to rise from the grave, although in an even more corporate incarnation than it previously was. Music Publisher EverGreen, who own a substantial amount of Death Row’s back catalogue rights, is apparently signing a deal with WIDEawake, the Canadaian company that owns the assets of defunct Death Row Records. They are planning on signing artists and releasing albums. One of the first to be released will be an album of unreleased Tupac tracks. Oh. Yay. Look, I love Tupac’s Me Against The World and all, but this constant barrage of unreleased (read: crappy b-side material) stuff must STOP.
—TK
An update on last week’s Pretenders story: With the change in venue from the Minnesota Zoo to Minneapolis’s Orpheum Theater, ticket prices fell from $68 to $61.50 for main level and $31.50 for the balcony. I guess I do know what I’m talking about after all.
—Felicia
Living Colour, one of my all-time favorite bands, is releasing a new album in September 2009. It’s been six years since their last release (2003’s Collideøscope), and 16 years since their last good record (1993’s Stain). Color me skeptical. But lead singer Corey Glover is saying that it’s “the best record we’ve made yet.” Hm. Yeah, I’ll buy it. And I’ll likely see them when they go on tour in the same month. Because I’m nostalgic and a sucker, I suspect.
—TK
Ruh-roh!!! The music sharing website we use extensively here, Grooveshark is being sued by EMI for copyright violation. We rely on Grooveshark to share music with you that you may not hear anywhere else. Hopefully, many of you will then BUY the music we introduce you to in order to support the artists, considering we highlight many smaller and independent artists. It will be a major disappointment to me if Grooveshark has to be shut down.(ed. note: NOOOOOOOO! -TK)
—Felicia
Here’s your (very short) Monday Afternoon Playlist:
Felicia: I am currently listening to “The Reeling” by Boston’s Passion Pit off their new album Manners, which was released last month. I mentioned their rough EP Chunk of Change here a few months ago, and although I haven’t heard all the tracks off the new album it is sounding a little more polished. I’m excited to see them at Lollapalooza later this summer.
TK: I’ve had a rough goddamn day week month. And sometimes, the only thing that can help a person feel better is to find the softest, saddest, starkest song you can find, and to revel in it. For me, there are a couple of songs that I always to, and one of them will always be “Moonshiner” by Uncle Tupelo. Lord, is this song beautiful. And tragic. And brilliant.
Darcy: Freeland’s second album is out, and it is hot. Really hot. While there is plenty to write about (the review is impending), “Mancry” is the slowest but arguably the most visceral song on the album. It’s a slow build starting with the ringing of a telephone. In the vein of M83 and Nathan Fake, the song then transitions into simple synths that recycle themselves without feeling monotonous, each time pulsing deeper under your skin. The cherry on top is the spectacular drum work performed by Tommy Lee.
This week, the #1 selling album is The E.N.D. by the Black Eyed Peas. Yay, mediocrity!
Music News is brought to you each week by Crockett and Tubbs, otherwise known as TK and Felicia.
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Comments
Posted by: Eep at June 22, 2009 12:25 PM
Living Colour is the shit... you know, when Vernon Reid isn't being too intentionally weird.
A guy at my work is a big prog rock fan and he has this really hilarious version of Wanted Dead or Alive by I think Dream Theater's guitarist. He recorded it as a demo for a student to practice, and somebody else got hold of it and recorded a chipmunk-pitched track over it bagging on the whole thing. Funny stuff. In the interest of full disclosure and self immolation I have to admit I kinds of like the song, though...