Page 241 of 583

Fiona Joy Hawkins: Blue Dream

February 13, 2009 /

Wow. This disc’s sleeve has so many splashy things on it, such as “Produced by Grammy Award Winner Will Ackerman” and “Guest Performance by Luka Bloom” to gushing quotes from T-Bone Wolk and Bob Ludwig that you get the feeling you should really, really love it before hearing a note. So why, then, is it so damn ho-hum? Ah, maybe because Hawkins is another in a long line of pianists who crank out faceless albums in which to listen while you do other things, like sit in a dentist’s office or work the Sunday crossword puzzle. Listeners are also told that this is “WORLD FUSION PIANO.” That doesn’t really mean anything other than Hawkins is employing other artists to throw some “non-traditional” sounds into her mix. No, this isn’t Richard Clayderman, but it’s about as captivating. And at 22 tracks it’s nothing short of ego overkill. Definitely for a certain type of audience. Could possibly be good to put your newborn babies to sleep at night. (Little Hartley Music)

Fiona Joy Hawkins MySpace page

CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, New Age

Adolfo Lazo: On Tape

February 12, 2009 /

Generic indie-rock that would be better if Lazo wasn’t doing the singing. His nasally voice would have been a wonder had he been working in a band like Camper Van Beethoven, but alas he only has his plain white music to prop himself up. There’s nothing inherently terrible about the album, but it’s just another one of those indie shots that sounds like it was recorded for the artist’s own amusement rather than something to grab anyone else’s ears by. Of course, the two Spanish-infused tunes here (“Rey de Espana,” “Wall es tu Carrera”) sound like Santana Lite, and a third one (“Borracho”) is just plain silly filler. Suffice it to say that Adolfo Lazo isn’t a very interesting musician or singer, and this album certainly isn’t going to further his cause. It may have been better for everyone if he had kept this one on tape in a shoebox. (self-released)

Adolfo Lazo MySpace page

CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Latin

Green Day – 21st Century Breakdown

February 11, 2009 /

With American Idiot in 2004, Green Day released one of the best rock albums of the past 20 years. I immediately went from casual fan to huge fan with that record. The music was incredibly powerful, but the lyrics were even more impressive. Green Day was willing to make a rebellious political statement at a time when most of the country was in a collective stupor, consumed by the “war on terror.” They didn’t hold back, and the result was stunning. Bullz-Eye’s David Medsker summed it up in his review of the record.

Green Day’s biggest conceit was that they were what they seemed, a group of snot nosed punks who would rather beat off in front of the TV than take a stand on anything of importance. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth. No band writes tunes as sharp as “Longview,” “Geek Stink Breath” and “Hitchin’ a Ride” without some synapses firing. And with their newest, American Idiot, the cat’s out of the bag; they wrote a concept album, which actually brings the band full circle. With songs that both rocked and popped, they were more of a mod band and a punk band, and American Idiot pays heartfelt tribute to their mod forefathers the Who while eviscerating the current pop culture climate at the same time. It’s heady stuff, to be sure; they’ll certainly never get away with acting like slackers again. The world knows better now.

Many fans have been waiting for their follow-up effort, and 21st Century Breakdown arrives in stores in May. Rolling Stone scored an “early listen” to six tracks from the record. We weren’t so lucky, but we bring you their impressions.

As previously reported, the 16-track album is broken into three acts — Heroes and Cons, Charlatans and Saints, and Horseshoes and Handgrenades — and Dirnt told AP magazine that the songs “speak to each other the way the songs on [Bruce Springsteen’s] Born to Run speak to each other. I don’t know if you’d call it a ‘concept album,’ but there’s a thread that connects everything.” The songs are defiant, but also defiantly hopeful, referencing the unsettled political climate as well as more personal and generational turmoils. Its blend of claustrophobia and freedom is well illustrated by the album’s cover art, which depicts a tight shot of a young couple kissing against a graffiti-covered wall.

Defiant. I love it. Can’t wait.

Alternative, Artists, News, Punk, Rock

Ticketmaster and Live Nation announce merger

February 11, 2009 /

The merger is valued at $2.5 billion and the surviving company will be called Live Nation Entertainment.

The deal is subject to the usual legal issues, including regulatory review, and there’s sure to be some pressure against it from the music industry and others who see this consolidation as a threat.

—Management: A lot of ego to fit into one space … Barry Diller, chairman of Ticketmaster Entertainment, will be chairman of the board with Michael Rapino, now CEO of Live Nation, as CEO and president, and Irving Azoff, now CEO of Ticketmaster, as executive chairman and CEO of Front Line.

—The name change: Dropping the Ticketmaster brand in favor of Live Nation could be the first step toward distancing the new company from the negative press surrounding the long-standing ticketing giant. A WSJ source said management wants to diminish the impression that the “company is out to gouge” consumers—as concert-goers have long complained about the service fees Ticketmaster tacks on to ticket prices.

It will be interesting to see if this passes the anti-trust test. I suspect they will have some trouble, but who knows.

The news is coming at a time when Ticketmaster is struggling with some bad press following the Springsteen ticket fiasco.

Bruce Springsteen has responded to his fans’ outcry following Ticketmaster’s problem-laden sale of his Working on a Dream tour tickets earlier this week. Countless fans reported technical malfunctions during the onsale, while others complained that Ticketmaster forwarded them to the company’s secondary ticket site, TicketsNow, even though seats were still available through Ticketmaster. The New Jersey Attorney General has also announced an investigation into the sale. Ticketmaster has since issued an apology to Springsteen, and vowed to make amends to confused fans.

“Last Monday, we were informed that Ticketmaster was redirecting your log-in requests for tickets at face value, to their secondary site TicketsNow, which specializes in up-selling tickets at above face value. They did this even when other seats remained available at face value. We condemn this practice,” Springsteen and his tour team said in a letter posted on Bruce’s official site. “We have asked this redirection from Ticketmaster to TicketsNow cease and desist immediately and Ticketmaster has agreed to do so in the future and has removed its unwanted material from their and our site.”

As for the merger, Bruce wasn’t very supportive of that idea.

Springsteen isn’t keen on the idea of a Live Nation Ticketmaster merge either. “A final point for now: the one thing that would make the current ticket situation even worse for the fan than it is now would be Ticketmaster and Live Nation coming up with a single system, thereby returning us to a near monopoly situation in music ticketing,” Springsteen writes. “If you, like us, oppose that idea, you should make it known to your representatives.”

Artists, Concerts, External Music, News

Bruce blogs the Super Bowl

February 11, 2009 /

Bruce Springsteen has written a journal on his web site about his Super Bowl experience.

Since the inception of our band it was our ambition to play for everyone. We’ve achieved a lot but we haven’t achieved that. Our audience remains tribal…that is predominantly white. On occasion, the Inaugural Concert, during a political campaign, touring through Africa in ’88, particularly in Cleveland with President Obama, I looked out and sang “Promised Land” to the audience I intended it for, young people, old people, black, white, brown, cutting across religious and class lines. That’s who I’m singing to today. Today we play for everyone. I pull myself upright with the mike stand back into the world, this world, my world, the one with everybody in it and the stadium, the crowd, my band, my best friends, my wife come rushing into view and it’s “teardrops on the city…”

I know I’m biased as a big Springsteen fan, but I felt he really delivered an exceptional performance for the Super Bowl. The song selection was excellent, and he delivered a 12-minute party that most people enjoyed. Even Howard Stern, who loves to criticize Bruce, argued that is was a fantastic performance.

Artists, Concerts

« Older posts Newer posts »

© 2026 Eat Sleep Drink Music

Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑