Category: Electronica (Page 33 of 34)

Road Warriors 7

March 23, 2007 / Mike Farley

If you find yourself in England this summer, you may catch an all-star lineup including Blondie, Echo & The Bunnymen, and The Feeling at this year’s Cornbury Music Festival on July 7. For more information, check out this link.

Tori Amos’ new album, American Doll Posse, hits stores May 1 and Tori will be hitting the road beginning May 28 in Rome. For more information, visit here.

Former Roxy Music front man Bryan Ferry has just released an album of Bob Dylan covers called Dylanesque and European tour dates began yesterday. No US tour has been announced yet.

Due to Red Hot Chili Pepper Anthony Kiedis’ bout with bronchial pneumonia, the band had to postpone its Japanese tour dates until this fall. I don’t know about you, but my bronchial tubes hurt just thinking about that.

Former Soundgarden front man Chris Cornell is set to release his new album, Carry On, June 5, with mega-producer Steve Lillywhite at the helm for its recording. Cornell plans to perform new songs on his upcoming tour, but also favorites from his days with Soundgarden, Temple of the Dog, and Audioslave. He will hit the road beginning April 6 in Las Vegas Continue reading »

Alternative, Concerts, Electronica, Pop, Rock

Road Warriors 3

February 23, 2007 / Mike Farley

A really cool lineup is shaping up for England’s Isle of Wight Festival from June 8-19. Among the partial confirmations are Snow Patrol, Keane, Paolo Nutini, James Morrison, and The Feeling.

And speaking of cool overseas festival lineups, the Oxegen music festival will take place July 7 and 8 at Punchestown Racecourse in Ireland and confirmed acts include Muse, Snow Patrol, My Chemical Romance, Arcade Fire, Scissor Sisters and Razorlight.

Aerosmith is working on yet another album, and between their days in the studio in June they will take a month-long “break” and head to Europe for a month of shows. This marks the first time Steven Tyler and the boys will have toured in Europe since 1999.

Is anyone surprised that The Police shows that have been announced are selling out in mere minutes? Sold out shows are Boston, New York, and some of the Canadian dates. Additional tickets will be going on sale this Monday for Giants Stadium in New Jersey, as sell as Seattle, Denver and Phoenix. As if this whole idea of a revival tour isn’t enough, the band is planning to write and record again soon. Hey fellas, let’s see how you all play together in the sandbox first.

The Fray continues to tour in support of their 2005 major label debut, How To Save a Life, and the band’s summer tour with Ok Go is already taking shape, kicking off June 11 in Minneapolis and running through August 5. Aside from Ok Go, other acts supporting the tour include Mae, Gomez, Eisley and Meese.

Pop mega-stars Maroon 5 are releasing the extremely anticipated follow up to their quadruple-platinum selling Songs About Jane this May. The new album will be called It Won’t Be Soon Before Long, and the band will then launch a full-scale tour in September.

Cobra Music recording artists and Chicago rock band Suffrajett has been described as raw, low-fi Afro-punk, garage glam, art punk, mental rock, garage rock and grunge hair metal. Man, that’s a mouthful. Anyway, the band and its label have announced two showcases at South By Southwest in Austin next month:

March 14: Austin, TX @ Gen Art Party at Beauty Bar
March 17: Austin, TX @ Cobra Music Showcase at The Jackalope

The Van Halen tour with David Lee Roth as the reinstated lead vocalist has been postponed indefinitely. Come on Mister Roth and Misters Van Halen, can’t you take a cue from the Police and put those gargantuan egos aside for one stinking tour?

Canadian electronic duo Junior Boys will be touring the US and Canada in support of their new Dead Horse EP. Dates are as follows:

3/22/07 Tallahassee, FL FSU – Club Downunder
3/23/07 Orlando, FL The Social
3/24/07 Miami Fl Post (Winter Music Conference)
3/25/07 Tampa, FL Crowbar
3/27/07 Monterey, Mexico McMullen’s
3/28/07 Napoles, Mexico Polyforum Siqueiros
4/6/07 Toronto, ON The Mod Club
4/7/07 Montreal, QC La Sala Rossa
4/8/07 Burlington VT Higher Ground
4/10/07 Cambridge, MA Middle East Underground
4/11/07 New York, NY Bowery Ballroom
4/12/07 Philadelphia, PA First Unitarian Church
4/13/07 Washington DC Black Cat
4/14/07 Carrboro, NC Cat’s Cradle
4/15/07 Atlanta, GA The EARL
4/16/07 Nashville, TN Exit/In
4/17/07 Kansas City, MO Record Bar
4/19/07 PARK CITY UT TBC
4/21/07 Seattle, WA Chop Suey
4/24/07 Portland, OR Doug Fur
4/25/07 San Francisco, CA Mezzanine
4/29/07 Indio CA Coachella
5/1/07 DENVER TBC
5/2/07 Omaha, NE The Waiting Room
5/3/07 Chicago, IL Empty Bottle

This Sunday’s 79th Academy Awards show will feature performances from Oscar nominated artists including Beyonce, Jennifer Hudson, Melissa Etheridge, Randy Newman, Keith Robinson, Anika Noni Rose and James Taylor. The show airs at 8pm ET.

Remember when Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera ruled the pop airwaves and tabloids together? Now they are both generating publicity for different reasons. While Britney is having her head shaved and enters drug rehab facilities weekly, Christina keeps on looking hot and making music. After her GRAMMY performance a few weeks ago, Christina landed on the cover of Maxim and kicked off her North American tour this past week in Dallas, supporting her new album, Back to Basics. Support acts on the tour include Danity Kane and Pussycat Dolls.

Ultra Music Festival 9 in Miami is set for March 23 and 24 as the official closing event to the Winter Music Conference. 60,000 fans are expected to see headliners The Cure and Paul Van Dyk, along with 150 of the world’s top electronic bands and DJs. The lineup so far is as follows:

March 23:
ULTRA LIVE! MAIN STAGE: The Cure, Tiësto, Miss Kittin, Shiny Toy Guns, Junkie XL, Brazilian Girls and Fedde Le Grand.

ONBEAT.COM ARENA: Deep Dish, Sander Kleinenberg (DVDJ set), Kruder & Dorfmeister, Digitalism and Boys Noize.

March 24:
ULTRA MAIN STAGE: Paul van Dyk, Erick Morillo, Sasha & John Digweed, Ferry Corsten, Rabbit In The Moon, Christopher Lawrence and Sander Van Doorn.

CARL COX & FRIENDS: Fat Boy Slim, Carl Cox, Danny Tenaglia, Josh Wink and Yousef.

AMNESIA IBIZA ELECTRO-TECHNO STAGE: Richie Hawtin, Mauro Picotto, Timo Maas, Tiga, DJ Hell, Tiefschwartz, Loco Dice, M.A.N.D.Y., Damian Lazarus, Marco Bailey, Mar T, Les Schmitz and Nate Campbell & Franco Munoz.

ULTRA RECORDS HOUSE ARENA: Roger Sanchez, Benny Benassi, David Guetta, DJ Dan, Bad Boy Bill, Seb Fontaine, Donald Glaude, Starkillers and King Britt.

GLOBAL VIZION BREAK BEAT hosted by MC FLIPSIDE: Hybrid (live), BT (live), Stanton Warriors, Uberzone (live), DJ Icey, Krafty Kuts, Meat Katie, Baby Anne, Storm, Johnny Dangerously, GITM (live), Rick West, Keith Mackenzie and Mark Sanchez.

CONTAGIOUS MUSIQ DRUM & BASS: Goldie, Andy C, Grooverider, Planet of the Drums (Dieselboy / Dara / AK 1200), Fabio, Ed Rush & Optical, DJ Craze, Photek, Shy FX, Bailey, SS, Teebee, Subfocus, Reid Speed, DB, Empress, The Engineer and Bass Nacho.

MC’s: Damian Pinto, GQ, Skibadee, Tali, Armanni, Sharpness, J-Messinian, Question Mark and Dre.

Singer/songwriter and media wiseass John Mayer has just announced his summer tour in support of the Continuum album. The tour kicks off June 1 and Ridgefield, Washington and runs through August 8 in West Palm Beach, Florida. No word on whether Mayer will be swapping spit with Jessica Simpson on this tour or at any time in the near future. Tour dates are:

June 1 – Ridgefield, Washington
June 2 – George, Washington
June 5 – San Jose, California
June 6 – Fresno, California
June 8 – Las Vegas, Nevada
June 9 – Los Angeles, California
June 12 – Chula Vista, California
June 13 – Glendale, Arizona
June 15 – Salt Lake City, Utah
June 16 – Denver, Colorado
June 17 – Denver, Colorado
June 19 – Bonner Springs, Kansas
June 20 – Maryland Heights, Missouri
June 22 – Dallas, Texas
June 23 – Houston, Texas
June 24 – San Antonio, Texas
June 26 – Indianapolis, Indiana
June 28 – Chicago, Illinois
June 30 – Cincinnati, Ohio
July 1 – Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio
July 5 – Auburn Hills, Michigan
July 14 – Hartford, Connecticut
July 15 – Saratoga Springs, New York
July 17 – Boston, Massachusetts
July 20 – Camden, New Jersey
July 21 – Hershey, Pennsylvania
July 24 – Holmdel, New Jersey
July 25 – Washington, D.C.
July 26 – Uniondale, New York
July 30 – Virginia Beach, Virginia
July 31 – Raleigh, North Carolina
August 1 – Charlotte, North Carolina
August 3 – Nashville, Tennessee
August 4 – Pelham, Alabama
August 5 – Atlanta, Georgia
August 7 – Tampa, Florida
August 8 – West Palm Beach, Florida

Boston based four-piece melodic punk/hardcore band Smoke or Fire is hitting the road in support of their new album, This Sinking Ship. Here are the confirmed dates:

March 8 Southgate, MI The Modern Exchange w/ Love Me Destroyer
March 9 Chicago, IL Ronny’s w/ Love Me Destroyer
March 10 Minneapolis, MN Triple Rock w/ Love Me Destroyer
March 11 Papillon, NE The Rock w/ Love Me Destroyer
March 13 Denver, CO Marquis Theater w/ Love Me Destroyer
March 14 Salt Lake City, UT Urban Lounge w/ Love Me Destroyer
March 17 Tacoma, WA Hells Kitchen (early show, doors at 6pm) w/ Love Equals Death, Shook Ones & Love Me Destroyer
March 18 Portland, OR Hawthorne Theater w/ Love Equals Death, Love Me Destroyer & Shook Ones
March 19 San Francisco, CA Bottom of the Hill w/ Love Equals Death, Love Me Destroyer & Shook Ones
March 22 Hollywood, CA Knitting Factory (front) w/ Love Me Destroyer & Love Equals Death
March 23 Fullerton, CA The Alley w/ Love Equals Death & Love Me Destroyer
March 24 Tempe, AZ Mad House w/ Love Equals Death & Love Me Destroyer
March 25 El Paso, TX House of Rock and Roll
March 26 San Antonio, TX The Sanctuary
March 27 Houston, TX Walter’s On Washington
March 29 Birmingham, AL Cave 9 w/ The Draft & Tim Barry
March 30 Atlanta, GA The Masquerade w/ The Draft & Tim Barry
March 31 Gainesville, FL Common Grounds w/ The Draft & Tim Barry
April 1 Jacksonville, FL Jackrabbits w/ Tim Barry & Fifth Hour Hero
April 3 Charlotte, NC The Casbah w/ Tim Barry & Fifth Hour Hero
April 4 Baltimore, MD Ottobar w/ Tim Barry & Fifth Hour Hero
April 5 Richmond, VA Alley Katz w/ Tim Barry & Fifth Hour Hero
April 6 New York, NY Rebel w/ Tim Barry & Fifth Hour Hero
April 7 Cambridge, MA The Middle East w/ Tim Barry & Fifth Hour Hero
April 14 Philadelphia, PA Circle of Hope w/ Tim Barry & Fifth Hour Hero

Alternative, Concerts, Electronica, Indie Labels, News, Pop, Rock

Notes From The Orphanage VI

November 21, 2006 / Mike Farley

It’s Thanksgiving week, and a good time to do a good deed and bring in an orphan. In our case, that means reaching into the bin and showing love to some CDs that have been collecting dust for too long. Read at your own risk.

The Blood Brothers: Young Machetes (V2)
The first track is called “Set Fire To the Face On Fire,” and the lyrics start out “Fi-Ah,” Fi-Ah, Fi-Ah.”—how Beavis and Butthead of The Blood Brothers. But it gets better, depending on where you stand on the whole scream vs. sing thing. The Blood Brothers are a cross between Jane’s Addiction, The Cure, Led Zeppelin, and every screaming death-metal band you’ve ever heard. All of that makes them unique and interesting, though at times lead singer Jordan Blilie’s voice is like 100 nails on 100 chalkboards.

Riley Baugus: Long Steel Rail (Sugar Hill)
Yeeeeeeeee-haaaawwwww! If you take that toothpick out of your mouth long enough to sing along to this twang-fest, you are in for a wild ride on the Riley train. Hence the title of the record, which really does make you feel like you’re on a train barreling across the U.S. of A. It’s Americana at its finest, not only because of the songwriting, but because of Baugus’ spectacular fiddle and banjo play.

Meg & Dia: Something Real (Doghouse)
This is chick-fronted power pop with some really slick guitar work and even better songwriting. And now for the other shoe to drop. Lead vocalist Dia sings in that baby talk, fingers in mouth vocal style made famous by Vanessa Carlton, and it’s never sounded more tired. The thing is, though, you can tell she’s got the talent; she just needs to mature and use her voice more effectively for this duo to have success.

Ella Rouge: self-titled (Moby Dick)
ABBA front man Benny Andersson has son. Son grows up to play in band so as to follow in dad’s footsteps. Son has lots of dad’s musical ability. However, son listens to a bit too much Creed while growing up, therefore sabotaging the debut album for his band, Ella Rouge. It doesn’t suck, but at times is the musical equivalent of a tug of war between David Cassidy and Scott Stapp.

The Nice Boys: self-titled (Birdman)
They call this type of music glam rock, or, as their bio states, “straight-ahead-stadium-glam-rock.” More accurately, this is guitar-driven rock with very little attention to melody and songwriting. The opening track, “Teenage Nights,” is catchy enough but the rest of the ten tracks will have you asleep and snoring in about two minutes. This is one of those bands that critics love for no reason whatsoever, but this critic knows better.

Taylor Swift: self-titled (Big Machine)
Here we go again, another cute teenage girl that’s handed a guitar at an early age and learns how to sing and write songs. But this country artist has a future because somewhere in that teenage body is a pretty strong voice, and her songs are Nashville-ready. The downside is that she too has listened to too much Vanessa Carlton and Michelle Branch (see Meg & Dia review above), but the upside is that she’s already a better singer than “singer of the year” Carrie Underwood. Did you hear that, Faith Hill?

Tiga: Sexor (Turbo Recordings)
With songs like “Welcome To Planet Sexor” and “The Ballad of Sexor,” you can’t possibly take this electronic album seriously. And you’d better not, because that comic relief is the only redeeming quality. It’s like a five-year-old made up lyrics and put them to some cheesy beats on his Casio. Yes, I said Casio, and I don’t care if that dates me. Now get me off of this spaceship on planet Sexor and fly me back to Earth.

Paula DeAnda: self-titled (Arista)
Okay, this is getting ridiculous. Here is another sixteen-year-old artist with a major label release and better than average voice. But the difference between everyone else and this J-Lo-esque teen is that she has the likes of Clive Davis, Ne-Yo, Timbaland and Diane Warren on her team. That’s like me batting in a lineup with Albert Pujols, Derek Jeter and David Ortiz—no matter how many automatic outs I cost my team, we’re still going to win. Same with young Paula and her R&B/pop debut, which is like liquid sugar pouring out of your radio.

Alternative, CD Reviews, Electronica, Pop, Rock

Movie Tunes: The Top 40 music moments in film history

October 6, 2006 / David Medsker

There’s nothing better for someone who’s a fan of both music and movies to sit down in a theater, watch a film, and find yourself in awe of how the director has utilized a pop song to set a scene or convey a mood. It’s easy to know that you need a romantic song for a romantic moment, but finding the right song…? That’s the hard bit…and it gets even harder as you have to provide the proper sonic backdrop for just about every key moment in the film. Bullz-Eye polled all of our movie and music writers (and then some) to get their favorite uses of pop songs in movies.

The only real criteria we set was this: the song couldn’t have been written specifically for the film or have made its debut on the film’s soundtrack. This was pretty rough on us at first, because it meant we had to say so long to Simple Minds’ “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” (“The Breakfast Club”), bid bye-bye to O.M.D.’s “If You Leave” (“Pretty in Pink”), and offer a fond farewell to Kate Bush’s “This Woman’s Work” (“She’s Having a Baby”).

Fortunately, we had a lot of great songs – and movie moments – waiting in the wings. But be advised: our descriptions contain spoilers galore.

Some sample choices:

36. “Closer,” Nine Inch Nails – Se7en

When I popped in the DVD of “Se7en” to refresh myself with the film’s usage of Trent Reznor’s composition, I was legitimately surprised to find that it didn’t actually begin with it; there are, in fact, four minutes of screen time preceding the song’s appearance. The thing is, the film’s opening credits – over which the harsh, thumping industrial beat of “Closer to God” plays – are so damned creepy and set the tone of the 123 minutes that follow that it never occurred to me that they weren’t the first thing in the movie. The quickly-cut close-up shots of an unidentified individual (later revealed to be our man “John Doe,” a.k.a. Kevin Spacey) filling journals with miniscule handwriting, blacking out lines in books, going through photos of various medical experiments, and – worst of all – using a razor blade to remove his fingerprints will make you shudder. Reznor’s music does most of the talking. In fact, he only sings one line at the very end of the credits: “You get me closer to God.” Uh, actually, it’s about as far away from heaven as you can imagine. If you’d had any idea that this would be the most comfortable you’d feel for the next two hours, you’d’ve walked out of the theater right then and there. – Will Harris

28. “Jump in the Line,” Harry Belafonte – Beetlejuice

With all due respect to the “Day-O” sequence in “Beetlejuice” – it does appear first, and therefore comes as a complete surprise – it is the movie’s closing number, as it were, that gets our vote. Perhaps it’s the song’s relative obscurity (it did not make the Top 40, while “Day-O,” actually titled “Banana Boat,” reached #5), or maybe it’s the song’s brash energy and instant familiarity that roped us in. Oh, who are we kidding, it’s then-fifteen-year-old Winona Ryder, suspended in air and lip-synching to Harry Belafonte, shake, shake, shaking her body line, while the dead football players do a hilarious callback as her backup singers. It was also great to see Michael Keaton’s title character get a, um, little dose of karma from a witch doctor as well. All in all, it is the perfect ending to an unforgettably loony movie. – David Medsker

19. “Tequila,” The Champs – Pee Wee’s Big Adventure

I think it’s safe to say that my entire generation discovered this classic rock song thanks to Pee-Wee Herman and his first flick. Seeing him turn a rowdy biker bar’s clientele into a bunch of grooving softies while dancing to the song on top of the bar in his trademark shoes was the highlight of the movie. How can you not hear this song and not get images in your head of Pee-Wee doing his great little dance? I recall seeing and hearing it for the first time and wondering just what the hell that song was; I even went so far to tape it from the movie itself onto a cassette, so I could groove along with it whenever I liked. Pee-Wee has always been one of the coolest, and we owe him so much thanks for introducing a ton of kids to this always-great song. – Jason Thompson

To see the entire list, click here.

Alternative, Electronica, External Music, Lists, Pop, Rock, Songs, Videos

NOW that’s what I call a poor excuse for a number one!

July 24, 2006 / Will Harris

Relating to the Spotlight Kid’s fine posting below, one should also be aware of a highly disturbing article which appeared on the always-fair-and-balanced Fox News website last week about the album. What’s worse is that there’s nothing in it that really surprises me…

Record Biz Crisis: Top 20 Misses 750K
By Roger Friedman

The top 20 pop albums sold fewer than a total of 750,000 CDs last week.

You read that correctly. The actual total was 738,211. The number includes 220,000 copies of a greatest hits singles collection from all the labels, “Now That’s What I Call Music! Vol. 22.” Without “Now 22,” regular releases came in around 500,000 copies.

This is a crisis that no one acknowledges in the record business. But consider that recently dismissed Sony execs Donnie Ienner and Michelle Anthony were making $2 million a year, and that their income is typical of upper echelon management in any record company. If the half million CD sold at full price — $15 — then they didn’t even pay for a small part of one salary.

Consider also the execs at radio conglomerates, who have tightened playlists so that few new records are played unless — as identified by New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer’s findings — stations receive free trips, gadgets and other gifts as inducements. You might wonder how any of the companies on either side can afford to stay in business.

Consider that last Tuesday, “Now 22” was not the only new release. Sony/Epic issued a new CD by writer-producer Butch Walker, a performer whom this column has extolled over and over. Not only did no one from the company bother to send it here, this reporter only learned about it by accident — yesterday. Walker, who should have a following from his extensive touring — he produces and opens for Avril Lavigne. But he’s been ignored by his label and radio. What’s he supposed to do? The CD sold fewer than 15,535 copies — the minimum it would have taken to hit the top 50. And here’s an amazing statistic: four songs from the new album have been played a total of 200,000 times on Walker’s MySpace page. I doubt this is the work of one person who clicked the links that many times. Some group of people is interested in Butch Walker. They’re just not a group that his label or radio stations are interested in, apparently. If they were, there would be more of an investment in Walker’s career — and other countless talented artists like him — by the record companies. Instead, the record stores are empty, and customers are drifting toward other entertainment.

There isn’t a lot to look forward to right away in terms of new releases: Rapper DMX has a new album on Aug. 1, but his last one was three years ago. Rocker Tom Petty’s waited four years to put his new CD, and the last one wasn’t exactly a bestseller with fewer than 350,000 copies sold.

Yesterday’s crop of new releases has only one promising title, by Los Lonely Boys, whose previous album sold 2 million copies. All eyes will be on them to see if they can beat their last first week sales record: 4,000 copies. That shouldn’t be too hard. Or Music, a satellite label from Epic, sticks with their artists the way most labels do not.

Alternative, Artists, Blues, Country, Electronica, External Music, Hip Hop, Jazz, Music Labels, News, Pop, Rap, Rock