Awesome Dubs

Creed Shreds


Metallica Smooth Jazz

Radiohead Live on Later... with Jools Holland

Later... with Jools Holland is a show that airs in the UK in which multiple different bands will perform every show. It's been running non-stop since 1992 and Radiohead have been one of the bands to play quite often over the years. The performances are of top notch quality as always and it's interesting to see the progression of the look of the band in the videos. They've performed songs from every album except "Pablo Honey" and I've posted them below for you to see.

"High and Dry" from "The Bends" 1995


"Airbag" from "OK Computer" 1997


"Idioteque" from "Kid A" 2000


"Life in a Glasshouse" from "Amnesiac" 2001 (As far as I know a very rare performance)


"Where I End and You Begin" from "Hail to the Thief" 2003


"Weird Fishes/Arpeggi" from "In Rainbows" 2007

Worst Album Covers Ever

Please post contributions in the comments section

New Music That Matters 2010: Errors - Come Down With Me

Errors are a Glaswegian band that I recently discovered and after hearing one song on their Myspace I decided to give their newest album a listen. Obvious comparisons to Mogwai arose after only a few minutes time as their sound is along the same post-rock/instrumental vein. They utilize synthesizers a bit more and therefore have been labeled as 'post-electro'. "Come Down With Me" is catchy as a whole and hooks are found in abundance, never needing vocals to be had. First track "Bridge or Cloud?" builds with layers of synths before crashing into a drum line full of cowbell segueing into the delicate end of a perfect opener. Following track "A Rumor in Africa" is insanely catchy and is one of the album's best songs. Metronomy (see earlier post) came to mind when I first heard third track "Supertribe"; it focuses less on the guitars and more on the synths and is yet again catchy as hell. The finale "Beards" is more of a Krautrock offering and is perhaps the only song on the whole album that is a little bit different than all the rest. It's the longest song on the album clocking in at just shy of six minutes and is an epic (behemoth) end to (I hate to say it again) catchy as hell album.

Live Music Matters - Part 2

Iron Maiden: Children of the Damned (Live in Chile 2009)

Iron Maiden is a band I've always wanted to see live, especially after watching this footage of their classic song "Children of the Damned". For a bunch of old dudes they can still compete with the best of them and the energy they bring is almost palpable. This isn't a song they normally play live (as Bruce Dickinson tells us at the beginning of the video) but it still kicks some major ass and the guitar solo on the double-neck at around 5 minutes is amazing.

BONUS

Decade Look: Part 14 - RJD2's Since We Last Spoke

Released in 2004 "Since We Last Spoke" is still my favorite RJD2 album. His debut "Deadringer" had a couple classic tunes ("Ghostwriter" and "Smoke and Mirrors" in particular) but I've never been album to sit through the entire album; it's way too long. "Since We Last Spoke" on the other hand clocks in at a reasonable 47 minutes and is nicely paced and cohesive. The stop-start title track is a perfect beginning; it sees RJD2 going more rock oriented and gives the listener a good idea of what to expect from the rest of the album. "1976" is almost a dead-ringer (ha!) of "Ghostwriter" and I defy you to not start whistling along halfway through. "Making Days Longer" is an acoustic ballad sung by Ramble John himself and is a cover of "Bless the Telephone" by Labi Siffre. The smooth hip-hop track "To All Of You" is what "Deadringer" fans might've expected/wanted the album to sound like. "Iced Lightning" is an instrumental song that could easily be mistaken for something from the catalogue of DJ Shadow and is one of the album's best moments. Second last track "Through the Walls" comes slightly from left-field with it's 80's sounds but is nevertheless an enjoyable late addition. The outro of "One Day" feigns grandiosity (in a good way) and makes for a perfect album closer.

Standout tracks: Since We Last Spoke, 1976, Making Days Longer, Iced Lightning, Through the Walls

New Music That Matters 2010: Gorillaz - Plastic Beach

"Plastic Beach" was my first highly anticipated release of 2010 and after a couple full plays of it I can confidently say it's going to be on my year end best of list. I'm inclined to think that Damon Albarn can do no wrong; every project he has ever had any involvement with has been a success, from The Good, The Bad & The Queen to Blur. This time around with Gorillaz Albarn has crafted a sprawling album that sees the band evolving from four animated characters to 'an organisation of people doing new projects.' Along with the original band members the enlisted help this time around includes Snoop Dogg, Mos Def, De La Soul, Gruff Rhys, and Lou Reed. In addition to that a couple tracks have some orchestral help from the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble and The Lebanese National Orchestra for Oriental Arabic Music.

The album begins with a short "Orchestral Intro" before going into "Welcome to the World of the Plastic Beach" which features Snoop Dogg and is a laid-back, smooth yet tentative second track. Third track "White Flag" is a classic Gorillaz cut that echoes "Dirty Harry" from "Demon Days" in it's fusion of rap and orchestral sounds. Fourth track "Rhinestone Eyes" features no guest appearance and is a synth-pop precursor to the album's gargantuan next few tracks, beginning with lead single "Stylo" and ending with the instrumental "Glitter Freeze". "Stylo" features Bobby Womack and Mos Def but it's Womack's soulful singing that rounds off an infectious, stabbing bass-line driven pop number. "Superfast Jellyfish" has lyrical content that mocks TV adverts and features De La Soul and Gruff Rhys, the latter providing one of the album's most memorable choruses. "Empire Ants" starts off with Albarn singing in his yearning manner before bursting into atmospheric, melancholic pop drenched in synths and female vocals provided by Swedish band Little Dragon.

Then there's "Glitter Freeze"; my favorite track and arguably the album's finest moment. As I mentioned, it's an instrumental track and it never at any point feels like it needs vocals; it has plenty of hooks and I can almost guarantee you that you'll be reaching for the repeat button. Unfortunately the album drops off a bit at this point, especially with twelfth track "Sweepstakes", which features Mos Def and is completely forgettable.

Sixteen tracks does seem a bit long to me; who knows, maybe I'll whittle it down to fourteen for my own satisfaction, I can do that right?



Official "Stylo" video featuring Bruce Willis: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9vAOzYz-Qs&feature=fvst

Live Music Matters - Part 1

Live music is extremely important for a number of reasons and therefore needs to be written about. A band you may like on an album can either be awesome at a show, or shit. You may come away from a live performance with a greater appreciation for the artist's music, or, a bitter taste in your mouth, resulting from shit music ruining the taste of your precious ten dollar beer. An evening tainted by an atrocious act does not go away, it leaves a burn-mark in your brain that inflames every time you go to listen to that artist again. An evening graced by an awesome act does not go away either, it leaves a similar mark that instead scorches pure awesomeness upon future listens. The topic of live music will be a continuous segment on this blog and with each successive post I will provide a short video from YouTube containing some great live performances from some great bands.

The topic of this inaugural Live Music Matters update is the beast from Germany known as Rammstein. Their live shows are generally reputed as one of the best around and one can see why in this video. Lead singer Till Lindemann is a madman on the stage, he'll bludgeon himself with the microphone, light himself on fire, anything to provide entertainment. The other band members are equally strange, especially the guitarists who are statuesque in this performance of "Ohne Dich". You also get a sense of the enormity of the performance in the video, European crowds are some of the vastest in the world when it comes to live shows. Check out some of the other songs from the show in the info section of the video, "Du Hast" is a good one too.