The Allmusic Blog

News Roundup: 2/9/2010

AMG Staff — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 20:00:55 +0000

Faith Evans — the widow of iconic hip-hop artist Notorious B.I.G — will star in her own reality series this year. With three platinum-selling albums under her belt and another record on the way, Evans plans to use the series as a means of relaunching her career. [Variety.com]

The lineup for Bonnaroo 2010 is slowly unveiling itself on the festival’s MySpace page, where new acts are announced every six minutes. While there’s been no sign of the two purported headliners — Paul Simon and Paul McCartney — the festival has confirmed appearances by the Flaming Lips, Phoenix, Weezer, Norah Jones, the Avett Brothers, Jay-Z, GWAR, and others. [Bonnaroo.com]

After 29 years of programming, MTV has officially dropped the “music television” tag from its logo. MTV marketing executive Tina Exarhos says a new design is appropriate for a channel that has “evolved so much over the years,” while critics of the design claim it signals MTV’s complete severance from the music programming that once dominated the channel. [LATimes.com]

Dr. Conrad Murray, the Houston cardiologist who served as Michael Jackson’s doctor in 2009, has been charged with involuntary manslaughter in the singer’s death. According to his lawyer, Dr. Murray will plead not guilty. [Billboard.com]

“Ain’t No Grave,” the title track from Johnny Cash’s next posthumous release, is streaming at Rolling Stone’s website. [RollingStone.com]

After conducting a survey of over 13,000 festival attendees, Glastonbury has decided not to ban flags at this year’s event. 7,269 people voted to uphold the flag rule, which allows attendees show their patriotism by waving flags from their respective countries during a performance — often to the frustration of those standing behind them. [NME.com]

Original Megadeth bassist David Ellefson has returned to the band after an 8-year departure. “This shows the power of brotherly love and forgiveness,” said frontman Dave Mustaine in a statement. “Next we are going to show you the power of getting your asses kicked… hard!” [RollingStone.com]

The White Stripes will take “strong action” against the US Air Force, which used a re-recorded version of the band’s 2002 single “Fell In Love With A Girl” during a Super Bowl commercial. “The White Stripes take strong insult and objection to the Air Force Reserve presenting this advertisement with the implication that we licensed one of our songs to encourage recruitment during a war that we do not support,” the two said via an online statement. [NME.com]

Video Jam of the Day: The Art Museums - S.H.O.P.P.I.N.G.

Tim Sendra — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 17:10:52 +0000

It’s one of the ironclad rules of show biz - put a guy in a giant ape suit and you have comedy gold. Whether it’s a dumb ’60s movie (like the cinematic classic Bikini Beach), a silly kids’ TV show or a music video; just get that giant ape running amok and everything is going to be awesome. Case in point, the video for this track by the Art Museums. The song itself is good enough, a bright little pop trifle that perfectly balances the twee, retro-mod sound of ’80s groups like the Television Personalities with the lo-fi buzz of the Woodsist/Captured Tracks contingent. It’s even better when accompanied by a giant ape wearing a Jam parka, riding a scooter and delivering a mixtape to a cute shop assistant. The song isn’t on the band’s soon to be released debut album, Rough Frame, but nine other songs that are just as catchy and fun do appear.

News Roundup: 2/08/2010

AMG Staff — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 19:00:39 +0000

R.I.P. “The First Knight of British Jazz,” saxophonist/clarinetist/arranger John Dankworth, who died on Saturday at age 82. Dankworth studied at the Royal Academy of Music in the ’40s and formed his first band, the Johnny Dankworth Seven, in 1950. Later that decade, Dankworth formed a big band and married jazz singer Cleo Laine. Along with UK chart success with 1956’s “Experiments with Mice” and 1961’s “African Waltz,” Dankworth moved into film work in the ’60s and became Laine’s musical director in the ’70s; during his career, he also worked as musical director for Ella Fitzgerald, Oscar Peterson, and Nat King Cole. Dankworth was knighted in 2006; he and Laine had a son and a daughter, both jazz musicians as well. [Independent.co.uk]

Along with the Who’s halftime performance, the Super Bowl boasted plenty of other musical acts. Carrie Underwood and Queen Latifah sang the national anthem and “America the Beautiful” before kickoff, while performances by Steve Winwood and Daughtry warmed up fans before the game. [AOLNews.com]

Leonard Cohen’s European tour dates have been postponed for six months as the singer/songwriter undergoes physical therapy for a back injury. Cohen, who sustained the injury while exercising, will move his shows in France and Eastern Europe from March to September. [Guardian.co.uk]

Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, and three original members of the Freedom Singers are among the artists performing on the PBS special In Performance at the White House: A Celebration of Music from the Civil Rights Movement. John Mellencamp, Smokey Robinson, and John Legend are among the other performers on the special, which is hosted by President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama, will air on Thursday, Feb. 11. [RollingStone.com]

Jamie Lidell’s upcoming album Compass boasts a star-studded list of collaborators, ranging from Beck and members of Grizzly Bear to R&B drummer James Gadson and singer Nikka Costa. [Pitchfork.com]

Though Antony and the Johnsons are still touring in support of last year’s The Crying Light — and set to perform their first dates in Japan — the group is already debuting songs that will appear on their forthcoming album Swan Lights. [TwentyFourBit.com]

The artwork for Massive Attack’s latest album Heligoland has been censored on the London Underground because it looks too much like graffiti. [Gigwise.com]

White Man’s Blues

Steve Leggett — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 16:00:09 +0000

By all accounts, Tom Darby and Jimmie Tarlton were an acrimonious duo, thrown together more by opportunity than any pressing desire to play music together, but in spite of the tension between them (or maybe because of it), the body of work they recorded together for Columbia Records between 1927 and 1933 is as singular and distinctive as any in early country or blues. Both were fine guitar players, with Darby generally handling the lead vocals and Tarlton the harmonies, but the difference maker was Tarlton’s striking slide guitar style. Tarlton played with the guitar in his lap Hawaiian style, and reportedly fretted it with a wrist pin from a car. His slide lines give everything the duo recorded an eerie, exotic presence that, coupled with their impeccable vocals, makes them utterly unique. Darby & Tarlton played rags and waltzes and other popular dance forms of the day, but their bread and butter was always the blues, and when you hear people say that country music started as the white man’s version of the blues, what this duo played underscores that notion. Although Darby & Tarlton are musical footnotes these days, “Birmingham Jail” b/w “Columbus Stockade Blues” was a two-sided hit for the duo 80 years ago, selling some 200,000 copies on 78, an impressive sales figure for the time. Ironically, the last song the duo recorded together was “Let’s Be Friends Again,” when it was doubtful the two ever had any great affection for each other. The music belies the connection between them, though, and if they had little personal affinity for each other, they certainly shared the blues.

Sade - Soldier of Love

Andy Kellman — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 13:00:24 +0000

Sade’s longest absence yet did not prevent their return from being an event. It at least seemed eventful whenever “Soldier of Love,” released to radio a couple months prior to the album of the same title, was heard over the airwaves. Even with its brilliantly placed lyrical allusions to hip-hop past and present and its mature sound, the single stuck out on stations aimed at teens and twentysomethings, as well as points on the dial that court an older audience. It was the most musical and organic, while also the most dramatic yet least bombastic, song in rotation. Crisp snare rolls, cold guitar stabs, and at least a dozen other elements were deployed with tremendous economy, suspensefully ricocheting off one another as Sade Adu rewrote “Love Is a Battlefield” with scarred, assured defiance.

While the song was an indication of its parent album’s reliance upon organic instrumentation — the band’s use of synthesized textures and programming is greatly diminished — it merely hinted at the dark, even fatalist, depth of heartache conveyed throughout the set. On “Bring Me Home,” Adu is content in resignation (”Send me to slaughter/Lay me on the railway line”), while on “The Moon and the Sky,” she projects a bruised and angered bewilderment (”You lay me down and left me for the lions”). The focus at least switches temporarily to a loved one on “In Another Time,” in what resembles a love letter to (what is likely) a young daughter mistreated by members of both sexes (”Their whispers are hailstones in your face”; “Soon they’ll mean nothing to you”). Although the bleakness is tempered with themes of survival and recovery, and (just) one song that is purely sweet (”Babyfather”), a fair portion of the album’s lyrical content comes off as drained-sounding, only echoed with vanilla arrangements that are merely functional, restrained to a fault, greatly outstripped by “Soldier of Love.” Lacking rhythmic hypnotism and relatable most to those who are experiencing solitude created by romantic desertion, this is not your mother’s Sade album.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IR5_rTCi-Bo

Tim Sendra’s Favorite 51 Albums from 2000-2009

Tim Sendra — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 20:00:28 +0000

1. Saturday Looks Good to Me - All Your Summer Songs
Picking a favorite record of any time frame is always tricky business with so many factors to consider that it’s usually impossible to be totally confident with your choice. Not this time though. I had no problem with making All Your Summer Songs my favorite record of the decade, really there wasn’t any serious competition. Everything about the album hit me just right; the sound, the songs, the cover art, the voices and the emotion. And it stayed with me too; the time elapsed since the record’s release has done nothing to lessen the feeling of warmth I get from listening to it. It’s really corny to say a record changed your life, so we’ll skip the embarrassment and just say this record made my life much. much better.
“Meet Me By the Water”

1A. Saturday Looks Good to Me - Love Will Find You
Most of the songs on this record were either re-recorded for Every Night or ended up on the excellent Sound on Sound compilation. Hearing them as an album in this lo-fi, low budget setting captures the best elements of the band without any of the pressure that comes with making a “real” record for a “real” label. The relative sparseness and looseness of the arrangements and sound let the emotions come through clearly and cleanly. And the songs are among the group’s best!
“Your Small Heart”

2. The Avalanches - Since I Left You
Listening to this record is a guaranteed way to make a bad day bearable and a good day amazing. The way the group layers samples and sounds into a shimmering, glittering mess of sunshine and happiness is an unequaled achievement. So, the decade ended without a new album from them, so what?
“Flight Tonight”

3. Bella - No One Will Know
This one was a bit of a sleeper - I wasn’t expecting it to rank so highly. No One Will Know overflows with heart, soul and great songs. It’s emotional without being too emo, catchy without being plastic, and full of excellent heartbreak beats. Plus, it sounds really good; their blend of synths and guitars calls up memories of synthpop but adds a modern punch.
“Didn’t Mean to Break Our Love”

4. J Dilla - Donuts
You don’t need me to tell you Dilla’s skills as a producer are legendary. I just want to say that anyone who thinks hip hop is soulless, or that turntables and/or samplers are just machines needs to listen to this album. There is so much pain, joy, sadness and life running through Donuts that it’s almost too much to listen to sometimes.
“Don’t Cry”

5. Love Is All - Nine Times That Same Song
Nothing about the gentle indie pop these Swedes used to play as Girlfrendo prepared me for the clattering noise and frenetic energy of their new incarnation. Or the brilliant songs that grab you by the throat and kick you in the heart. The record is all sing-along classics for those who like their indie pop cuteness mixed up with some punk rock punch.
“Turn the Radio Off”

6. Camera Obscura - Let’s Get Out of This Country
Starting with Traceyanne Campbell’s voice and working down to the gawky album cover, this is the perfect record for lovelorn indie pop fans. “Lloyd I’m Ready to Be Heartbroken” is all kinds of perfect pop; the strings fill me with unsteady joy every time I hear them kick in. The rest of the record has much the same effect.
“I Need All the Friends I Can Get”

7. The Exploding Hearts - Guitar Romantic
There are quite a few bands that only manage one album before breaking up. The circumstances of the Exploding Hearts breaking was tragic and brutal, the album they left behind is the best guitar rock record of the decade. Inspired by all kinds of punk but investing it with more heart than seemed possible, the album stands as a brilliant memorial to a great band.
“Throwaway Style”

8. The Legends – Up Against the Legends
There were plenty of noisy pop records made during the decade featuring varying balances of the two factors, with noise winning out as the decade closed. Up Against is a perfect blending of feedback and sweet melodies that is nostalgic (for C86, for the Pastels, for the Jesus & Mary Chain) but not retro. Maybe the best Swedish album of the decade and that’s saying a lot.
“Nothing To Be Done”

9. Daft Punk - Discovery
If this album only had “Digital Love” and a bunch of junk on it, there would still be a place reserved in the top ten for Discovery. That it is filled with incredible jams and a surprising amount of robot melancholy makes it all the more an incredibly satisfying experience.
“Digital Love”

10. Grouper - Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill
There were few other records made in this time period that created such a powerful sound out of so little. Just Liz Harris’ voice, some guitar and a few pedals made a hazy, noise wave of emotion that could carry you on it’s back through the gloom and deliver you on the other side unscathed. There were, and are, days when this record is the only thing worth listening to.
“Heavy Water/I’d Rather Be Sleeping”

The next 40 in alphabetical order:
Acid House Kings - Sing Along with Acid House Kings
The Aislers Set - The Last Match
Belle & Sebastian - Dear Catastrophe Waitress
The Bicycles - The Good the Bad and the Cuddly
Birdie - Triple Echo
The Brunettes - Mars Loves Venus
Burning Hearts - Aboa Sleeping
Camera Obscura - Underachievers Please Try Harder
Comet Gain - Réalistes
The Clientele - Strange Geometry
The Concretes - The Concretes
Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours
The Envelopes - Demon
The Essex Green - Cannibal Sea
Field Music - Tones of Town
The Format - Dog Problems
Ghostface Killah - Fish Scale
The Go! Team - Thunder, Lightning, Strike
Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci - How I Long to Feel That Summer in My Heart
Hefner - Dead Media
Junior Senior - Hey Hey My My Yo Yo
La Roux - La Roux
LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver
Jens Lekman - Night Falls Over Kortedala
Ted Leo/Pharmacists - The Tyranny of Distance
Manitoba - Up in Flames
Metro Area - Metro Area
MF Doom - MM..Food?
The New Pornographers - Mass Romantic
Pacific! - Reveries
Phoenix - United
Quasimoto - The Further Adventures of Lord Quas
Ratatat - Classics
Sambassadeur - Sambassadeur
Saturday Looks Good to Me - Every Night
Shout Out Louds - Howl Howl Gaff Gaff
The Softies - Holiday in Rhode Island
Spoon - Girls Can Tell
The-Dream - Love/Hate
Zero Zero - AM Gold

Gil Scott-Heron - I’m New Here

Thom Jurek — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 16:45:32 +0000

I’m New Here is a shock. It’s a wallop filled with big nasty beats, a wide range of sonic atmospheres, and more — sometimes unintentional — autobiographical intimacy than we’ve heard from Gil Scott-Heron than ever before. Produced by XL Recordings head Richard Russell, I’m New Here is his first record in 16 years. It is a scant 28 minutes and doesn’t need to be a second longer. It’s unlike anything he’s previously recorded, though there is metaphoric precedence in his earliest, largely spoken-word, albums. Its production pushes forcefully at the margins and Scott-Heron embraces it without a hint of nostalgia.

It opens with “On Coming from a Broken Home,” the first of a two-part poem that bookends the album. Over a piano and a sampled string loop (from Kanye West’s “Flashing Lights”), he reflects on his upbringing filled with strong female figures and an unconventional structure, with a startling epiphany at the end. It segues immediately into a slamming read of Robert Johnson’s “Me and the Devil,” with enormous hip-hop drums, sampled strings, and sonic effects that create a sense of brooding menace as Scott-Heron wails with bracing rawness to hair-raising effect. Just as quickly, the album shifts dramatically. A lone acoustic guitar introduces the Bill Callahan-penned title track. Scott-Heron recites the verse but sings its refrain: “No matter how far wrong gone/You can always turn around.” It feels like he’s speaking into a mirror with a dawning awareness of who — and what — he’s become and accepts it. He now owns this song. A Burial-like wall of effects over a cello loop introduces “Your Soul and Mine.” It’s Scott-Heron’s unflinching look at death, and the way it feeds, yet it ends with a warrior’s words: “So if you see the vulture coming/Flying circles in your mind/Remember there is no escaping/For he will follow close behind/Only promise me a battle/For your soul, and mine.” It’s not all darkness, however. A reading of Bobby Blue Bland’s “I’ll Take Care of You” features Gil’s soulful piano with a small string section. He sings it tenderly, in a now-raspier but still deeply expressive voice; it stands out sonically, but belongs here because of its intimacy. “New York Is Killing Me,” based on a John Lee Hooker blues, has been reinvented with almost entirely new lyrics and an arrangement. Singers from the Harlem Gospel Choir; handclaps, bass drums, cymbals, synths, and guitar are treated spatially by Russell; Scott-Heron’s lead vocal roars from the center. “The Crutch” is a burning atmospheric poem about a junkie’s life. Scott-Heron doesn’t distance himself from his subject; it isn’t mere observation, but an empathic elegy, and Russell’s suffocatingly close production brings it home.

Forty years after his debut, I’m New Here contains the artful immediacy that distinguishes Scott-Heron’s best art. The modern production on it adds immeasurably to that quality, underscores his continued relevance in reflecting the times, and opens his work to a new generation of listeners while giving older ones a righteous jolt.

Hot Damn Jammz 44: We Can’t Believe We Won a Grammy!!

AMG Staff — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 12:00:59 +0000

We’ve been doing the HDJz for over a year now and it’s been a constant source of amazement to us at the sheer number of good-to-great bands, singers and producers out there. Maybe they aren’t all world-beaters, innovators or game-changers, but then again, maybe some of them will turn out to be just that. All we know is that it’s a lot of fun digging these bands up and we hope you like it too.

Nedry
Nedry’s blend of dreamy electronics and slightly alien vocals sound like Bjork and Blonde Redhead had a particularly beautiful baby.

The Mad Trist
This Dutch group likes Queen of the Stone Age a bunch, but songs like “Pay the Piper” are sincerely flattering imitations.

Golden Ages
If you’ve worn out your copy of Fuck Buttons’ Tarot Sport and need a fix of blissful but driving drones, these guys are just the ticket.

Moon Duo
The duo are Sanae Yamada and Erik Johnson (from Wooden Shjips) and they play long, drone-y jams that are inspired by groups like Silver Apples, Neu and Cluster. And their new album, Escape, is being released by…wait for it…Woodsist.

Sunset
Bill Baird used to be in this pretty good band called Sound Team, since their split in 2006 he’s been releasing dreamy, super melodic pop sounds under his name and under Sunset. The new record is called Gold Dissolves to Gray and you can stream it here.

French Kissing
This London combo has one foot in the garage and on foot in some really sticky bubblegum. Their tune “Oh Suzanne” is a footstomper of the highest quality.

Future Islands
Baltimore trio with an upcoming synthpop album on Thrill Jockey.

Sisters
Sisters are a noisy two piece (guitar and drums) touring alongside like-minded indie groups Atlas Sound, Neon Indian, Dum Dum Girls, and Blank Dogs.

Yamon Yamon
A little bit post-rock, a little bit indie and a little bit Afro-beat, this Stockholm group turn those elements into soaring songs like “Alonso”.

Lonelady
Way back when the AllMusic Blog was still wearing short pants, we raved about Manchester, England’s post-punk meets pop outfit Lonelady. Now that her debut album Nerve Up is arriving soon on Warp, it’s a cause for Hot Damn Jamm celebration.

News Roundup: 2/4/2010

AMG Staff — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 20:13:27 +0000

Men at Work will have to pay an Australian music publishing company 40 to 60 percent of their earnings from their 1983 song “Down Under.” A judge in Sydney’s Federal Court found the band guilty of illegally sampling the flute solo from the children’s song “The Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree” on their hit. Just how much Men at Work will need to pay Larrkin Music Publishers will be determined at a hearing next week. [ContactMusic.com]

John Mayer and Arcade Fire have licensed two of their best-known songs to help with Haiti relief efforts. Along with donating $500,000, Mayer will contribute his 2006 hit “The Heart of Life” to Red Cross radio and television commercials. Meanwhile, Arcade Fire’s “Wake Up” will be used in charity ads that will run during the Super Bowl; all of their licensing fees will go to Partners in Health’s Stand with Haiti. [RollingStone.com]

R.I.P. Matthew Good Band co-founder and bassist Geoff Lloyd, who died last weekend. Lloyd was in the Matthew Good Band from 1995 to 1999, then went on to form the Vancouver punk band the Slipjacks. A benefit concert for Lloyd’s wife and family will be held on Sunday, Feb. 7. [Exclaim.ca]

Not a band to rest on their laurels, the Dead Weather may have their second album ready as soon as April. In an interview with Australia’s Triple J radio station, Jack White described the new album as “bluesier and heavier than we ever thought we could be.” [NME.com]

The Dresden Dolls’ Amanda Palmer is embarking on a side project with an eclectic roster of collaborators. Evelyn Evelyn, her duo with experimental folk-punk artist Jason Webley, revolves around “conjoined twins who had spent their lives trapped in the circus industry.” The project’s album, which is due this spring, also features Frances Bean Cobain, Gerard Way, Andrew WK and Tegan and Sara on a power ballad called “My Space.” [TwentyFourBit.com]

Thom Yorke, Devendra Banhart, Suicide’s Alan Vega and the Melvins are among the acts reinterpreting Liars’ upcoming album Sisterworld in a special double-disc package out this March. [Pitchfork.com]

Joe Perry has revealed that Steven Tyler tried out to be Led Zeppelin’s singer when Robert Plant passed on the band’s 2008 reunion — and failed. [TheDailySwarm.com]

Iamamiwhoami: The most frustrating viral music campaign ever? [MTV.com]

Video Jams of the Day: Good Shoes, “Under Control” and Mia Doi Todd, “Open Your Heart”

Heather Phares — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 15:25:56 +0000

Good Shoes delivered Think Before You Speak, a great, Buzzcocks-gone-indie pop debut album, in 2007 before seeming to disappear from the face of the earth. However, they’re back with a new album, No Hope, No Future, and a heavier approach. Maybe their more muscular sound inspired the video for the single “Under Control” and its parade of pumped-up, bikini-clad bodybuilders.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1KworDaCqs

If you need a break from all that brawn, Michel Gondry’s video for Mia Doi Todd’s “Open Your Heart” is a colorful, choreographed palate cleanser.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovaf8ZD-lRo