Vadrum Meets Barber of Seville

Hell yes it's another drum video from Black T favorite Andrea Vadrucci!

New Music Tuesday: June 24, 2008

Med sud i eyrum vid spilum endalaust isn't a random mashing of the keyboard, it's Iceland's minimalist rockers, Sigur Ros' fifth studio album. Translated "With A Buzz In Our Ears We Play Endlessly," the album is the first to feature the band singing in English. Gobbledigook is that song and the album's first single.

Amos Lee has teetered on the edge of mainstream success for his last two albums and while Blue Note isn't exactly the kind of label known for big sellers (exception, Norah Jones), he has managed to develop a devout underground folk following. Now he brings his gentle melodies back on Last Day At The Lodge. Listen is the first single released.

Just in time for summer, Philly's hip-hop blues bender G. Love returns along with his band Special Sauce on Superhero Brother. Though the group hasn't had a strong consistent album since 1997's Yeah It's That Easy, G. Love and co. don't seem to mind that one bit. Still sounding as loose as ever, Superhero Brother appears to be an album filled with the solid grooves that fans have been looking forward to for awhile.

The Rest:

• Saints of Los Angeles - Motley Crue
• Real Animal - Alejandro Escovedo
• Last 2 Walk - Three 6 Mafia
• Digi Snacks - RZA as Bobby Digital
• Big Blue Ball - Big Blue Ball (Peter Gabriel's new project)
• Lunada - Thalia
• Fire Songs - The Watson Twins
• Rotation - Cute Is What We Aim For
• Bulletproof - Reckless Kelly
• I, Flathead - Ry Cooder
• GNV FLA - Less Than Jake
• Firesight - Jessie Baylin

Josh Homme Will F*ck You Up

Here's a video of Josh Homme of the killer band Queens Of The Stone Age ripping a new asshole to a kid who threw something at him on stage during one of their shows. I'm not going to comment on the video except to say don't throw things at Josh Homme. 

WARNING: Extreme language ahead.

iTunes on top, Amazon plays catch up

Earlier this year, for the first time ever, Apple's iTunes music store surpassed Wal-Mart to become the number one music retailer in the US. According to an NPD Group report, during January and February, iTunes outsold online music stores like Rhapsody and Amazon.com as well as traditional brick and mortar stores such as Best Buy, Target, and Borders.

The battle for online seems to be heating however. Apple's closest digital competitor, Amazon.com, is currently number four in the US music market but has begun a new aggressive pricing structure for their DRM free music. Amazon has introduced special weekly promotions that put popular and high profile albums on sale for $ 3.99-5.99. But with the good comes the bad: taking the road iTunes refused to go down, Amazon is allowing labels to set a sliding price for their tracks. This means while most tracks will stay 89-99 cents, some tracks will cost more depending on the length of the track or popularity. It has yet to be seen if these either of these two marketing schemes from Amazon can take a bite out of Apple.

read more...

• RollingStone Magazine
• Apple press release
• ARS - The Art Of Technology

Paul McCartney Celebrates 66th

Happy Birthday to Sir Paul McCartney, a true legend and musical revolutionary.

New Music Tuesday: June 17, 2008

Hey everyone, sorry for no new posts in between Tuesdays but its been a long week and I (CJ) have been fighting a cold. I'm feeling better now and we'll start getting back into the swing of things shortly. If you have any ideas for posts or artists that you'd like to see spotlighted, drop us a line and let us know. On to Tuesday.

The big release this week is Coldplay's fourth album Viva La Vida or Death And All His Friends. Besides the funky fresh title, the Brian Eno (U2, Talking Heads) produced affair features less of lead-singer Chris Martin's trademark falsetto and opts to kick the guitar and drums up a few notches. Notably absent is the prominence of the bands piano ballads - traded here for more mid-tempo rock songs built for stadiums.

Sixteen albums in, and Nostradamus represents heavy metal heavyweights Judas Priest's first concept album. Revolving around the 16th century prophet of the same name, the double CD/triple vinyl album will focus on his prophecies and their impact after his death.

Kate Perry started out her career as Katy Hudson and released a contemporary christian album under that name. Strange now considering the first single off of her new mainstream album, One Of The Boys, is I Kissed A Girl - an ode to sexual experimenting. Her quirky pop songs has garnered her fans like Madonna and spots in numerous television shows and films.

Now a list of other releases:

• Stay Positive - The Hold Steady
• Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace - The Offspring
• A Thousand Shark's Teeth - My Brightest Diamond
• Bubble And Scrape - Sebadoh
• At Mount Zoomer - Wolf Parade
• Keep It Slow - Low Motion Disco
• Look Out Mountain, Look Out Sea - Silver Jew

New Music Tuesday: June 10, 2008

Another new Tuesday and more new music, so let's get started. Kentucky natives My Morning Jacket have released Evil Urges, the band's first album since 2005's critically successful Z. Evil Urges continues the mostly reverb-less sound featured on Z and is also garnering mostly positive reviews. Less of who they were and more of who they are, My Morning Jacket seems to get better with each new release. Worth checking out.

Jakob Dylan benches the Wallflowers for his first solo album, recorded at Rick Ruben's home in Hollywood. Seeing Things is a mostly acoustic flavored folk album that focuses on Dylan's strong songwriting and weathered vocals. Though no new album announced, The Wallflowers continue to perform together with a handful of shows earlier this year.

the rest:

• Tha Carter III - Lil Wayne
• Flavors of Entanglement - Alanis Morissette
• All I Intended To Be - Emmylou Harris
• Here We Stand - The Fratellis
• I Know You're Married But I've Got Feelings Too - Martha Wainwright
• Seeing Sounds - N.E.R.D.
• Encanto - Sergio Mendes
• The Hard Way - James Hunter
• Light It Up - Rev Theory
• Stay Down - Smoking Popes
• A Good Day - Priscilla Ahn

Listen to Evil Urges From My Morning Jacket

For the time being, My Morning Jacket's soon to be released (6/10) album Evil Urges is streaming in its entirety on the band's MySpace page here. Grab a joint and wander over there; me thinks this album will kill.

New Music Tuesday: June 3, 2008

This is not your average New Music Tuesday. No, not this Tuesday. It's a very special Weezer Tuesday. Of course, if you're not into the band then absolutely, this is your average New Music Tuesday. But you've now identified yourself as a boring person and I politely ask you to leave this site before I get upset...

Okay, on with it.

Weezer has released their sixth album, Weezer, and in a move that is somewhat unexpected yet feels perversely right, it's their third album to be self-titled. Of course the fans have always distinguished the albums from each other, with the help of the band, by the distinct colored backgrounds of the three "Weezers." Their debut was blue, comeback green, and their latest red. This set of songs is certainly their most diverse and without question, has their greatest album cover yet. Long live Weezer!

In an effort seen as milking the cash cow, Capitol Records has released The Best Of Radiohead. A thirty song double disc edition is available as well as a DVD with music videos. The argument that each song can only be properly interpreted through its placement within each individual album is both incredibly pretentious and obviously true.

Amazingly enough, Jewel has released a new album, her second in as many years. I know, I didn't realize she had an album out a couple years ago either, but it's true. Wikipedia told me so. Like any number of recent pop and rock artists, Perfectly Clear is Jewel's entry into the highly lucrative and much more forgiving world of country music. She also has thrown in some cleavage for good measure.

Number One With a Bullet Point:

• Indestructible - Disturbed
• Wanderlust - Gavin Rossdale
• @#%&*! Smile - Aimee Mann
• Self Portrait - Lalah Hathaway
• Don't Do Anything - Sam Phillips
• City That Care Forgot - Dr. John
• 22 Dreams - Paul Weller
• To Survive - Joan As A Police Woman (available now on iTunes and CD/Vinyl June 9th)
• A Soft Kill - From Bubblegum to Sky