Page 59 of 583

Dan Wilson: Live at the Pantages

October 7, 2010 / Mike Farley

RIYL: Semisonic, Better Than Ezra, Gabe Dixon

It may not hit you all at once, but the more you listen to and read about singer/songwriter Dan Wilson, the more you realize just how many cool friends and colleagues the guy has. It’s not that he co-founded rock band Semisonic and had some overnight success with “Closing Time,” or that he won a Grammy when co-writing some tracks from the Dixie Chicks’ 2006 album Taking the Long Way. Wilson has written with or is slated to write with the likes of Josh Groban, Adele, the Bravery, Keith Urban, Jason Mraz and KT Tunstall. But he is as riveting a solo performer as you’ll ever see and hear, based on his timeless songs and instantly recognizable voice.

While he’s between studio albums, fans of Wilson can enjoy the digitally-released Live at the Pantages, recorded in Wilson’s hometown of Minneapolis and featuring songs from his acclaimed Free Life album from 2007, as well as a few of the old Semisonic stand-bys. He begins with a solo acoustic set on guitar and piano and then comes back with a full band set, both with his voice and the songs front and center. You won’t find a live album anywhere this clean, sonically. And the songs are bordering on stunning – in particular when Wilson plays “Honey Please” from Free Life, or “Secret Smile” from the landmark Semisonic album, Feeling Strangely Fine. But here is what separates Wilson from any other singer/songwriter – the two brilliant co-writes her performs here—“All Will Be Well,” with Nashville roots rocker Gabe Dixon, and “One True Love,” written along with the great Carole King and first appearing on Semisonic’s All About Chemistry. If you don’t have goose bumps now, you will when hear Wilson sing the latter. In all, Live at the Pantages is a truly awesome storytelling effort. (Ballroom Music 2010)

Dan Wilson MySpace Page

Alternative, CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Pop, Rock

Adele All About Chemistry Carole King Closing Time Dan Wilson Dixie Chicks Feeling Strangely Fine Gabe Dixon Headlines Josh Groban Live at the Pantages Semisonic

Mark Ronson: Record Collection

October 6, 2010 / David Medsker

RIYL: Taking ’60s pop and hip hop and throwing them into a blender

As the DKNY poster boy and the It producer for nearly everything out of the UK since 2006 (Lily Allen, Amy Winehouse, Adele, Kaiser Chiefs, and Duran Duran’s upcoming album), Mark Ronson has reached Timbaland levels of productivity of late without suffering from Timbaland levels of overexposure. Granted, much of that is due to his work’s general lack of commercial crossover in the States – of all the pop artists he’s worked with, only his work with Winehouse has cracked the US Top 40 – but chart success or not, it stands to reason that someone with seven producer credits since the beginning of 2009 alone would need a break. Instead, Ronson has decided to release another solo album.

Record Collection, Ronson’s third solo album and first since 2007’s all-covers project Version, sounds exactly like his other work; tasteful drum programs (the most organic drum machines you’ll ever hear), ’60s-style pop songwriting, a dash of early ’80s synth pop, some two-step, and lots and lots of guest performers, prodiminantly from the world of hip hop. Most of the time, Ronson matches song to singer (and/or rapper) quite well, particularly the hoppin’ leadoff track (and first single) “Bang Bang Bang” and “Somebody to Love Me,” which sports a haunting vocal from Boy George. Ronson splits vocal duties with Simon Le Bon on the dark wave title track, an amusing stab at the here-today-gone-today nature of the music business and the best song Le Bon’s sung in half a decade (“I made a mint in 1987, now I’m living in my parking space”).

There are times, though, when Record Collection could have benefited from a little less busyness. Did the Nuggets-riffing “The Bike Song” really need a rap break from Spank Rock? It’s great that Ronson loves ’60s pop and hip hop, but the two really have no business hooking up, and “The Bike Song” and “Lost It (In the End”) would have been better off if they hadn’t employed the kitchen sink approach. As it is, Record Collection, is one of the more diverse and hook-laden pop records you’ll hear this year. One wonders, though, if it could have reached instant classic status had Ronson reined things in a bit. (RCA 2010)

Mark Ronson MySpace
Click to buy Record Collection from Amazon

'60s, Alternative, Artists, CD Reviews, Dance, Hip Hop, Hipster, Pop, R&B

Alex Greenwald Andrew Wyatt Boy George D'Angelo Ghostface Killah Headlines Kyle Falconer Mark Ronson Mark Ronson CD review Miike Snow Q-Tip Record Collection CD review Simon Le Bon The View

Marnie Stern: Marnie Stern

October 6, 2010 / James B. Eldred

RIYL: Hella, Steve Vai, Sleater-Kinney

Marnie Stern’s wackshit crazy combination of Van Halen-style guitar fingertapping and riot grrl rock really came together on her ridiculously named sophomore album that I will refer to in shorthand as This Is It. So much so that I named it the fifth best album of the decade. Now she’s back with her third album, which forgoes a marathon title and is just self-titled, thank God. Typing out that last one was a mother).

This Is It was an album of all peaks. Not only were all the songs amazing, but they were all manic explosions of emotion. Blistering combinations of lightning guitar work by Marnie and frantic breakbeats by Hella drummer Zach Hill with Marnie’s bizarre yet endearing stream-of-consciousness lyrics created a dream/acid-trip experience that was one of a kind. This album isn’t as insane as that, but it’s still pretty damn nuts. The biggest change is that Marnie actually slows things down this time around on tracks like “Transparency Is the New Mystery” and in the closer “The Things You Notice.” The down-tempo is jarring at first, but what the slower songs lack in energy, they make up for with melody and complexity.

The quieter numbers are the exception though, as most of the songs, like the awesomely-titled “Female Guitar Players Are the New Black” are trademark frantic and manic Marnie. “For Ash” is a track especially worth noting. A memorial to an ex who committed suicide, it has all the power, energy and emotion of any song on This Is It times a hundred. Maybe that’s why Marnie Stern isn’t as over-the-top as the previous album – she blew all the energy on that one track. Still, when the worst you can say about an album is that it’s only almost as good as an album that was one of the best records of the decade, that’s not much of an insult. (Kill Rock Stars 2010)

Marnie Stern MySpace Page

Alternative, CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Psychedelic, Rock

Headlines Marnie Stern Marnie Stern CD review

Raul Malo: Sinners & Saints

October 6, 2010 / Jeff Giles

RIYL: The Mavericks, Roy Orbison, Texas Tornadoes

Raul Malo is an awesomely gifted vocalist and musician, but his solo career has been long on quantity (seven albums in less than a decade) and short on quality control. Too often, his solo albums have given the impression that Malo’s years with the Mavericks wore him out – he’s been content to coast with covers projects, like 2006’s syrupy You’re Only Lonely or 2007’s country-focused After Hours, or specialty-market releases like The Nashville Acoustic Sessions and his Christmas album, Marshmallow World and Other Holiday Favorites. All of which have been fine, in their limited fashion, but nowhere near as exhilarating as those Mavericks records. Without a band to push him forward, it sounded like Malo was happy to keep things at a pleasant, undemanding drift – 2009’s Lucky One, which packed a dozen Malo originals and hearkened back to his days as one of country’s most exciting young performers, seemed like a pit stop between covers projects.

It’s a pleasant surprise, then, that he carries over some of that spirit with Sinners & Saints, a largely self-penned collection that Malo calls “as much of me as I’ve ever put on a record.” It’s brief – ten tracks and under 45 minutes – but its abbreviated length keeps Malo from indulging his weakness for drawn-out ballads, and the result is the loosest, most energetic studio album of his solo career. Recorded with a stellar supporting cast (including Augie Meyers and Shawn Sahm), Sinners highlights the breadth of Malo’s talents, with hints of pop, rock, country, and Tex-Mex in the mix – but it’s also a focused affair, an album where even the longest songs (like a six-minute cover of Rodney Crowell’s “‘Til I Gain Control Again”) feel lean and tightly arranged.

Raul Malo once seemed destined for superstardom, but his career lost momentum in the late ’90s, and Sinners & Saints probably isn’t going to change that. It does, however, prove that this once-prolific songwriter still has some gas left in the tank, as well as plenty of his old passion for playing in the borders between genres. The faithful will be pleased, and if you’ve got a little room in your musical diet for a restless troubadour with the voice of an angel, it just might make you a fan. (Fantasy 2010)

Raul Malo MySpace page

CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Country, Latin, Pop, Rock

Mavericks Raul Malo Raul Malo CD review Sinners & Saints CD review

Music Can Make You Feel So Much Better

October 4, 2010 / Music-lover

When you listen to music, how does it make you feel? For a lot of people, music affects their mood pretty strongly. If you play sad, depressing songs, they’ll start to feel down and drug-out and tired. If you play something upbeat and happy, it can be a great mood lifter, even if a person was feeling depressed before the music started. Some people are affected by music more than others, but almost everyone identifies with at least a song or two in some way. Whether it’s a love song they first heard when they met their spouse or a ‘lucky’ song they heard while they were winning big on one of the sports betting sites, music matters to most of society.

Whether you make music or just listen to it will be affected by your level of talent, but also by what you enjoy. Some people just prefer to listen to music, and they don’t want to go through the work that’s required to learn an instrument. It takes time and dedication to play an instrument well, and taking lessons is also often costly. With that in mind, it’s entirely up to you how you choose to express your love for music.

Many more people listen than play, but quite a few do both. Either way is fine, because it’s all about what you like to do in life, and what makes you feel content. If playing music makes you happy you should do it, even if you’ll never be a professional. Likewise, if you prefer to be just a listener, there’s a lot of benefit to just sitting quietly and enjoying your favorite music – or dancing around to something that’s really upbeat.

Uncategorized

sports betting sites