10. Best Coast – Crazy For You
9. Warpaint – The Fool
8. Male Bonding – Nothing Hurts
7. The Drums – s/t
6. Sleigh Bells – Treats
5. Robyn – Body Talk (1)
4. Arcade Fire – Suburbs
3. Tame Impala — Innerspeaker
2. Screaming Females — Castle Talk
1. Titus Andronicus — The Monitor
Cee-Lo’s new song is brilliant, and not just because it uses a brandishes a bad word about like the flag of a conquering army. It may be a deft creative strike against the plague of being overplayed into oblivion.
In pop music, you have this rarefied echelon of songs that start with the artists’ loyal following, slip into mainstream play and suddenly become ubiquitous at sporting events, BBQs, bar jukeboxes, and even the iPod nano your mother takes to the gym. See: Outkast’s “Hey Ya,” Jimmy Eat World’s “The Middle,” Feist’s “1234.” Contrast this to any song from the Black Eyed Peas or Smashmouth, which seem to be constructed solely with the intent of seeing how many commercials and between-inning stadium pumping-up they could profit from. Continue reading
… these new bands that immediately entered the download queue after this weekend’s sweat-stained beardstock Northside Festival. Thanks to the good people at the L Magazine for putting on the fest and providing a dollar-per-music value vastly greater than any other fest I’ve seen. Seriously, there was about a week where I was considering oing to SXSW this year to see what the fuss was about. Until I saw what the badges cost, which start at $130 for wristbands and go up to $750 DOLLARS for the all-access music pass (not counting film and interactive badges too). The Northside Festival, while less all-encompassing, cost $50, or just $40 if you had a discount code. I can suffer through a crowd of stinky flannel for that.
The Grates
And, after seeing some live performances, continuing to endorse:
Posted in Inverted Soapbox heartily endorses, music
Tagged ava luna, l magazine, music, north highlands, northside festival, slow club, the grates, twin sister
Lives 1-7, expended
(The Guide, 3/12) The upside to being a band that’s persevered for more than three decades is that you can play anywhere from Mexico City to Savannah and draw a lively crowd.
The downside is that styles and trends change quickly, and your fans tend to best remember your early days. REO Speedwagon lead singer Kevin Cronin, for instance, is often asked to sign copies of the band’s 1979 album “Nine Lives,” the cover of which features the group clad in tight black spandex and leather, with tail-wearing vixens hanging on them and a black panther on a chain in the foreground.
“At the time it was considered cool,” Cronin said with a chuckle in a phone interview last week. “It definitely wasn’t who I was, that’s for sure.”
REO Speedwagon, Edwin McCain
When: 8 p.m. March 13
Where: Johnny Mercer Theatre, 301 W. Oglethorpe Ave., Savannah.
Tickets: $45-$55
Information: 912-651-6566, http://www.savannahcivic.com Continue reading
Posted in interviews, music
Tagged interviews, kevin cronin, music, reo speedwagon, savannah, the guide
(The Guide, 6/5)
There were days in the dead of Grace Potter’s winter, a thick blanket of snow surrounding her parents’ farm in the New England countryside, when she would get pictures from a friend in Savannah. The friend would have his shirt off and be barbecuing on a roof, with a smile on his face that indicated just a bit of gloating.
“We’d be up in Vermont freezing in three feet of snow. I was very jealous,” Potter said by phone Monday from Memphis, where her band, the reconfigured Nocturnals, was recording a performance for PBS.
For this edition of Friday Happy, sit back and enjoy this video from new band Tinted Windows, then let’s discuss.
Why do some of these musical upstarts seem so familiar, you ask? And why is your brain getting that tingling sensation that either a stroke or a complete black-hole alternate-reality, double-Spock mind crush is impending? Details after the jump (thanks to Cribbster for the tip).
Posted in Friday Happy
Tagged Friday Happy, hanson, james iha, music, smashing pumpkins, tinted windows, videos
Matt and Kim
Cold War Kids
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
The Misfits
Metallica
Inverted Soapbox 