thanks!

Good Afternoon, everybody.

I figured I'd do a quick post now that finals are over and say thanks for making this class awesome.

I'll actually probably keep posting here, partly because I like doing so and partly because it gives me something to do when I get bored.

Have a great summer!
-Sam

Glenn Beck Needs to Shut Up When It Comes to Music

Glenn Beck apparently stays up at night worrying that our nation is hopeless against that "horror show" Glee.

Granted, I despise Glee as well. But for different reasons. Beck says it lacks moral values and that the entire show is "propaganda," particularly their version of the My Chemical Romance song "Sing," which begs the people who watch the show/listen to the song.

"It's an anthem saying 'Join us'. How can you and I possibly win against that?"

What is there to win against? Yes, Glee does have some pretty non-conservative plot lines. A pregnant high schooler, an openly gay couple, divorced parents, premarital sex. But is it really propaganda?

Propaganda, as defined by Webster's Dictionary, is chiefly derogatory information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view.

So is Glee propaganda? Eh, not really. Maybe it's propaganda for equality, but I don't see what Beck is getting at. Gerard Way, the singer from My Chemical Romance, has responded to Beck's claim with this:

"I think the word Glenn Beck was looking for was 'subversion' not 'propaganda', because I don't know what it would be considered propaganda for truth? I can't tell what he's angrier about - the fact that it's how I feel about the persistent sterilization of our culture or the fact that it's on network television for everyone to hear."

Not surprisingly, this isn't the first time Beck has taken a song and decided what it was about: he labeled Muse's performance at the Grammy's of their song "Uprising" as a "call for revolution" as well as expressing his love for the band back in '09. They proceeded to ask him to retract his comments about the band, as they don't approve of his general opinion.

Cover Songs, My Conundrum.

This is a video of Miley Cyrus covering "Smells Like Teen Spirit," the Nirvana classic that arguably changed everything about the music industry.

Sweet Jesus, is this even legal?

Ok, that might be a little harsh. Now, instead of complaining about her covering this, I'm going to do something a little bit unlike my usual blogging self and play devil's advocate.

I think Cobain would love this shit. Here's why:

Cobain knew he wrote a couple of pop songs (including this one) and, as far as I know, didn't have any pretentions or delusions about it. He was ok with it- hey, it's a great hook. Who wouldn't be happy with a hook as great as this one? Miley's got some pretty catchy hooks as well ("Party In the USA," anyone?). Cobain knew how to sell a song, just as I'm sure Miley does by now. I mean, c'mon- she's 18 years old and has sold just as many (if not more?) records as Cobain.

Plus, Miley's dad, Billy Ray Cyrus, managed to do with one song ("Achy Breaky Heart") what Cobain was trying to do with several albums- piss off the entire world.

I also have to mention that Cobain loved the song "Achy Breaky Heart," Miley's dad's only real claim to fame. Apparently, in fact, Cobain and Cyrus were pretty good friends. They hung out and bonded over their young daughters, who played together as children.

This begs the question: are there songs that are "taboo" to cover? As a musician, I say yes. Some songs are absolutely brilliant and should be "untouchable." I feel this way about a large portion of the Lennon/McCartney songbook as well as songs like "Seven Nation Army" and "Smoke On The Water," or pretty much anything by AC/DC (sorry, there's no lightning bolt key on my computer). These songs are all either classics or completely overdone, or both.

But as an avid music listener, I think you should be able to cover pretty much anything you want. Take Franz Ferdinand's new "Covers EP," which they released for Record Store Day. They had released covers by LCD Soundsystem, Britney Spears, and Blondie as b-sides to records, so they just released this EP full of several artists (including LCD Soundsystem and Debbie Harry of Blondie) doing renditions of Franz tunes. I think it's cool to do cover songs as long as you do a good job with it. Unfortunately a lot of people don't get exposed to cover songs and whatnot unless it's a shitty version on American Idol or America's Got Talent or something.

Granted, this could be looked at by Adorno as the problem with pop music- simply rehashing the same songs, over and over again. So how do you make it different?

Well, you make it different. You create something new out of something old. You change the song just enough in order to make it yours, but not enough to make an entirely new piece of material (because, well, it's not making something entirely new, you're using someone else's ideas and changing them a bit).

So I'm a little stuck in the middle here (ha, band humor).

CAKE: Not Just a Delicious Dessert

So, if you've never heard of CAKE, you really need to.

CAKE was one of the first independent bands to start getting noticed, mainly after their self-release of first single "Rock 'n' Roll Lifestyle" (watch that video, too. It's equally great), which described the original hipster. They've stuck around with consistently great albums, with their newest, January's Showroom of Compassion, becoming their first-ever Number 1 album on the Billboard Hot 100 charts. Their combo of twangy, country-like guitars, dancey bass and drums, trumpet, synths, John McCrea's almost monotonic voice, and a ton of vibraslap creates one of the most original and defining sounds in music right now, as well as over the past two decades.

Why am I posting about CAKE (it's supposed to be all caps, I swear I'm not just doing t

hat just to annoy you/yell at you)? Because I follow CAKE on twitter (@CAKEMUSIC).

But why does it matter if I follow them on twitter? Well, that's easy. CAKE is one of the only bands that I follow that doesn't use their twitter just to promote themselves- they use it to promote causes they like, as well as an outlet for the political opinions of the band members. Trumpeter/keyboard player/percussionist Vince Di Fiore is in charge of

posting, and he posts everything from articles like this one about the distribution of wealth in the

United States to a petition for cleaner air in Texas, all while dousing everything in the sarcasm that listeners have always been able to pick out of CAKE's

songs.

CAKE is also very environmentally friendly. For Showroom of Compassion, the band outfitted their home studio with solar panels and recorded using only solar energy. Keeping with the environmentally friendly theme, CAKE printed all of the packaging for Showroom on recycled paper products with vegetable dyes.

So, that's CAKE. I suggest acquiring their music if you don't already own it, and I promise you won't be disappointed.

Rock & Roll and the Government Shutdown

Well, crisis averted, I suppose. The government shutdown didn't happen due to some late-night proceedings (which still have yet to be released...) on Friday night, and now thousands of government workers will continue to get paid and the we're still in massive debt.

I was alerted to this video by Ben Swank's Twitter, @VietnamSummer, on Friday. Me being a self-professed White Stripes super-fan, I kind of freaked out. Here's the video:

I had never thought of "Effect & Cause" as being a protest song, more of just a song about a relationship with some problems. But Congresswoman Donna Edwards makes me realize that it can really be put into practically any context- "you can't take the effect & make it the cause."

The New Grammys

So, as well all know, the Grammys kind of suck nowadays.

Seriously, though. The show is far too long, there's way too many awards, and the awards have pretty much become a joke. Essentially, winning a Grammy nowadays doesn't really mean a whole lot- it just points out that, yes, your music was popular last year and yes, you made a lot of money off of it. That's why it was such a huge surprise that Arcade Fire won album of the year this year- they're on a small label (Merge), and although they were a pretty big act last year, headlining festivals and the like, they definitely didn't sell anywhere near as many records as Katy Perry or Lady Gaga, their big-name contenders for Album of the Year (some people still have no idea who Arcade Fire is). Most years, the "album of the year" Grammy goes to whoever sat on top of the charts for the longest amount of time that year.

So the Grammys are undergoing a "radical change" this year. They organizers are cutting 31 categories, cutting the awards from 109 to 78, with many categories being merged and several being cut completely. The main goal is for the ceremony to go "gender blind"- there will no longer be "Best Female Pop Vocal" and "Best Male Pop Vocal" awards, just "Best Pop Vocal." They are also starting with 40 contenders per award now instead of 25. Grammy President Neil Portnow says that these radical changes are a way to "up the game for what it means to win a Grammy."

Some people are up in arms about this. "Oh, that's not fair! There has to be different categories for male and female singers!" Well, not necessarily. A good singer is a good singer- it really doesn't matter what gender you are. Why not have just one award? It makes things easier and really does make it mean more when you win one of these awards. The Grammys used to be a really big deal- now they're almost laughed at.

Another big change is the dropping of several categories, like Best Zydeco and Best Hawaiian album are gone (they were actually the most recent additions, too), having been consolidated with a couple of other awards into "Best Regional Roots Album."

Is it wrong to consolidate all of these genres into one category? It depends on how you look at it, really, and I'm not really sure if I agree with all of this or not. The male/female thing is totally fine in my opinion- I've actually thought they should consolidate those awards for quite some time. But getting rid of entire genre categories is a different story.

Let me know what you think of all of this in the comments, I'd love to have a discussion about this.

This Is Just Disheartening, or The Joys of Record Store Day

Just when I thought things were going to start getting better in the music industry, this happens.

Mercury, a music label in the UK, is stopping the physical release of vinyl singles in the coming months (real meaning: anything that hasn't already been made/planned won't be released as a vinyl single). Apparently, physical singles count for less than 1% of all single sales weekly, with digital sales being the obvious main source of all of those millions of sales. Unfortunately for music fans in the UK, this means that artists like Arcade Fire, The Killers, and U2 will no longer be able to release vinyl singles, save for "rare occasions." Which sucks, because that pretty much means no more cool b-sides.

I'm assuming that those "rare occasions" will probably be the most wonderful day of the year. No, I'm not talking about Friday or Christmas (please watch the video that's linked, it's honestly one of the best mashups I've ever heard). I'm talking about Record Store Day (which might as well be christmas for a music geek like myself), and it's coming up on April 16th.

Record Store Day was conceived in 2007 and is quickly becoming a really big deal in the industry. Tons of artists release limited edition 7", 10", and 12" inch vinyl that is exclusively sold at independent music stores. This years releases range from a new single by The Flaming Lips to a re-release of Nirvana's "Hormoaning" EP. (You can see the full list of releases here.) Most independent music stores have huge events planned for the day, often involving live music and DJ sets, giveaways, etc. Last year, my brother and I got tons of cool stuff- a Them Crooked Vultures 10" picture disc, a pink Phoenix single, the Dessert Sessions on Vinyl, a Black Keys 12" single, a Queens of the Stone Age EP 10" picture disc, and more.

Record Store Day is what the industry needs, but every single day instead of the second Saturday in April. And not only because vinyl just sounds so much better, but because it's tangible. It proves you bought something, that you supported an artist, that you love what you've just spend a decent money on (because believe me, it's an addiction...our total last year ended up coming out to just short of $100 bucks). Plus, everything's special. Most of the releases are extremely limited- often only having a total release of 1000 copies (some are less limited with 5000 or 10,000 copies).

So, even though the bastards at Mercury aren't going to put out physical singles anymore, supporting record stores has actually never been easier. So go out on April 16th! I promise you'll come away with something incredible.

Oh, Cultural Double Standards.

I found this on reddit.com today. Granted, there's one fallacy in there- Rebecca Black didn't write the lyrics to "Friday"- it's a pretty interesting comparison.

The idea of Wayne's type of rap has never appealed to me, even though I'm technically in that demographic that music like his is produced for (white suburban teenage males)[side note- while I technically lived outside of the city of St. Louis, I spent most of my time in the city. So that's kind of misleading, but whatever). Wayne has been critically lauded, winning, among countless other awards, 4 Grammys. He won his first Grammy for the song "Lollipop," a song about receiving oral sex and comparing it to candy.

A Grammy. For a song about a blow job.

While Rebecca Black didn't write actually write the lyrics for "Friday" (you can credit this guy, Patrice Wilson, with that), she associated herself with the music and now will go down in infamy for this song. Although the song is pretty pointless- telling us the days of the week, repeating the word "fun" something along the lines of 15 times, etc- we all know it, it's been around for quite some time at this point. The poor girl is getting a lot of slack for it, too. People have commented on her video and told her to cut herself and die and that she should hate herself. Seriously? She's 13. She did this for fun. Those are her actual friends in that video (which prompts one question- why are 13 year olds driving?). Let the girl be a kid, that's really what everybody needs at that age. Not relentless mockery for singing a song for fun.

But is it really all that different from Lil Wayne's trashy "swag rap"? Not really. The point is really the same- to make meaningless songs that in the end just make all of us look bad.

Glee and the Entitled Bastards Behind It.

I know I just posted about Dave Grohl recently, but this needs to be talked about.

So to be honest, I was a pretty big fan of Glee the first season. Though it was a kind of clichéd story, it had its moments and could be pretty funny while still pulling at your heartstrings. The songs that the writers picked fit quite well into the story, and the songs they sang were either classic or well known by almost everyone. The creators were ecstatic, as they had a huge hit- I personally know way too many people that watch that show religiously.

But this season has been rather different. I watched the first few episodes of the season, and it honestly just...well, it sucked. The episodes are written around what major artists' music the creators can get their hands on instead of putting songs in that are relevant to the story line- so there's not much of a story going on this semester other than the "Let's get to nationals!" thing from last season.

What bothers me the most is the sense of entitlement the bastards behind the music have. Recently, Ryan Murphy, the creator of Glee, wanted to use Guns 'N Roses in an episode. When Slash said no, Murphy ripped into Slash, calling him a "washed up old rockstar" (quite the opposite, in my opinion). Nearly the same thing happened with Kings of Leon (who I can't find myself getting into anymore), whom Murphy called "snot

ty little assholes" for not wanting their music on the show.

So when Murphy asked Dave Grohl if he could use the Foo Fighters song "Times Like These" on the show, Dave declined. Murphy was, according to Grohl, "offended that [Foo Fighters] weren't begging to be on his fucking show."

Dave's remark is the best thing I've heard in a while: "You shouldn't have do do fucking Glee. Fuck that guy for thinking everybody should want to do that show."

And to be completely honest, you shouldn't. It's complete bullshit that Murphy thinks every single artist should want to be on his show. Why is he so entitled? Is it because Lady Gaga and Justin Beiber wanted to be on the show? I mean, they're the biggest pop stars in the world! Every artist and band should aspire to be like them, right?

No. Artists should be able to do what they want with their music, especially if they don't want it to be on some shitty, clichéd musical TV show about high school.

Artists Who Hate Their Albums

Oh, the music industry.

Let's start with Lupe Fiasco, shall we?

I read this article last week after a close friend of mine was telling me how excited she was about Lupe's new album "L.A.S.E.R.S." In order for Atlantic records to release his record, he was "forced to create" songs that he didn't like- namely, the lead single "The Show Goes On."

“That was one of those records the record company gave me, [they even gave me] stuff they wanted me to rap about. … At that point, I was just drained. I was like, ‘Whatever. Another song, another day, another dollar.” said Fiasco. “I had to do ‘Show Goes On,’ that was like the big chip on the table. I had to do it and it had to be the first single if the record was going to come out.”

That's some of the biggest bullshit I've heard in a long time- from both ends of the argument, really. Record companies obviously don't care about the artist anymore if this is happening- they merely care about how much money they're going to make off of a particular record and artist. This is why we don't see any conscious hip-hop in the mainstream- because even though these huge labels have the power to promote records that bring out issues within society, the labels push the bullshit "gansta rap" that sells to suburban teenagers, with their black Escalades and their houses that all look the same.

And, on top of that, there's Nick Valensi's (he plays guitar) comments on how "awful" the making of the new Strokes album was, which is really unfortunate in my opinion. His issues really have more to do with how the album was actually made than how it sounds, but he did say that that he feels like they have a better album in them, and that he wants it to come out soon (which, again, would be rad. I do love The Strokes).

What's the point of releasing an album you don't completely love? As a musician, I know that I wouldn't release a record to the public unless I knew that I enjoyed every single song on the record. If you don't love it, that means you're not putting much effort into it, and that means it's not going to be your best work.

On a nicer, unrelated note: The Beach Boys are releasing "The Smile Sessions" sometime this year, a 44- year old unfinished album that was shelved. Should be pretty neat.

One last thing- a bit of shameless self-promotion. My band with my brother and Pat Testa, Cute Machines has a free show Tuesday night at Café Prytania for WestFest, which is a bunch of free shows for bands headed to SXSW. It's FREE and it's going to be totally rad, so you should show up. Doors are at 9, music starts at 10, and you'll be home by midnight so you can get some sleep before class on Wednesday morning.

Fuck the Police.

Fuck the police.

No, but seriously.

Today on the Peace Quad was the SGA Battle of the Bands. Thanks to some technical difficulties and some people being late, the whole event (which was supposed to be over by 2:00 pm because that's when classes start again) was running behind by about 30 minutes. So when Naughty Professor, the last band to perform, finally went on at about 1:57 this afternoon, they were already aware that they had to play quick due to classes and such. But at 2:00, some self-righteous cop shows up and threatens jail time to all of those involved if they didn't stop playing, walking up on stage right in the middle of Naughty Professor's first song.

Jail time. For playing music. In New Orleans, one of the most musical cities in the world.

I've never understood those "disturbing the peace" laws. Music doesn't "disturb the peace." Why do I need a "noise" permit? What if I'm not making "noise"? What if what I'm making is music, loud and raucous (as it should be). If anything, the cops that show up to tell me that I'm "disturbing the peace" are the ones who are actually at fault- they're the ones who are threatening us with jail time for being original, creative, and ourselves.

Why can you arrest me for being loud late at night?

To keep me quiet.

Because maybe it's not just a house party where we're all just chilling out and having a nice time listening to our friends play some music. Maybe I'm not just making music. Maybe I'm starting a revolution. Maybe I'm sticking it to the man. Maybe I'm pointing out the shit in society. Maybe I'm everything you're against. Maybe I'm not obedient.

We Need A Revolution

I found this image today while browsing reddit.com and found it to be extremely relevant to everything we have been talking about in class lately. it takes a minute to see it, but the way the money is folded allows for the phrase "We Need A Revolution" to be spelled out by the letters on the dollar.

It amazes me how split the party system supposedly is. In reality, everyone is going for the same goal- more money in their pockets and their bank accounts.

One thing I've really noticed lately is that even though there are massive protests going on throughout the world (Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Wisconsin...), there's really not any protest music coming out of it- or at least mainstream protest music. But it's also ridiculous to think of any major acts these days writing protest music. Picture this: Katy Perry, in the middle of her current "California Dreams Tour," dropping everything to record a song in protest of the Libyan or Egyptian (or Wisconsonian) government.

I would laugh. Not because of the idea of it, but because I can't take most of pop music seriously anymore, and a Katy Perry protest song (the song that I'm getting in my brain would be something along the lines of the backing music of "California Gurls" plus the lyrical equivalent of "Maggie's Farm") would honestly be downright laughable.

The idea of somebody who actually makes an impact on music these days putting something out that even mentions any form of protest is insane. I'd love to see Britney or Katy Perry or Justin Timberlake or whatever come out with something, anything revolutionary, but it would most definitely not get any airplay (if it even were to get released as a single).

I swear to god, if I ever find out that somebody has made a synth-pop mashup of "Maggie's Farm..."

Godlike Genius

Well, the new Foo Fighters single dropped this week. And, according to NME, Dave Grohl is officially a Godlike Genius.

Grohl is one of those guys who, in all honesty, deserves everything he's got. But if it weren't for some stupid shit when Nirvana was just starting to get big, Dave would definitely not be where he is right now. His band, Scream, had split up due to a the departure of their bass player, and he had just been to a Melvins concert with Kurt Cobain and Krist Novoselic and started to get to know the two of them. Kurt and Krist loved Dave's style of drumming and needed a new drummer, so after an audition, they added him as a full-time member to the now infamous lineup of Nirvana, the band that changed rock music forever.

With the music industry in the state it is, it's very refreshing to see an artist who loves what he does but can have a sense of humor about all of it. Dave is another one of those guys who takes what he does seriously but obviously thoroughly enjoys himself, like in the "Fresh Pots!" video from when Them Crooked Vultures were in the studio or his commentary on seeing Jake Shears' nutsack at a Scissor Sisters show.

Joshua Homme: The Queen of the Stone Age

If you haven't heard of Queens of the Stone Age, I suggest you pick up one of their albums. They all kick major ass and are sure to please because hey, who doesn't like a little bit of harder rock every once in a while?

In a little less than a month, Queens of the Stone Age will be kicking off a 14-date North American tour to commemorate the reissue of their self-titled debut album from 1998 with a date here in New Orleans at One Eyed Jack's, a 400-capacity venue on Toulouse down in the quarter. Why is that a big deal? The last time Queens of the Stone age played here in New Orleans was a headlining slot at VooDoo in 2005. Last summer they were the friday night headliners at the massive European music festival Reading and Leeds.

Lucky for me, my brother got us 2 tickets. As you might be able to guess, I'm beyond excited.

Joshua Homme ("Homme" rhymes with "mommy") is one of the most interesting musicians I can think of. He has self-described "musical schizophrenia" and is not only in Queens of the Stone Age, but also plays the drums for Eagles of Death Metal and is the frontman for Them Crooked Vultures, his Grammy-winning collaboration with John Paul Jones (of Led Zeppelin) and Dave Grohl (of Nirvana and Foo Fighters). His music ranges from the deep guitar jabs to Stones-esque sleaze to stoner-rock heaven, and he pulls it off well. As the main songwriter for 2 out of the 3 bands that he regularly plays in, he's got his hands full and is one of the hardest working men in the business now, whether he's touring, recording with one of his bands, or producing acts like Arctic Monkeys or Spinnerette. Josh is one of the most humorous musicians I listen to, slipping puns and wordplay into nearly every song he writes (as well as helping the wonderful people over at Record Store Day out by doing this amazing video for last year's event).

But Josh is also known for being one of the biggest assholes when it comes to being on stage. More often then not, Josh rips into audience members during shows who are acting in a way he does not deem appropriate. Personally, I think his anger is often justified, but what he says is usually out of line and rather offensive. Usually he's reacting to a fan's stupidity, but when you're going to call some kid a "chickenshit fucking faggot" you might be taking it a little too far.

It's episodes like this that make me wonder how the people he works with stick have stuck around for so long- Troy Van Leeuwen and Joey Castillo have been around since the beginning, and friends like Dave Grohl and Alain Johannes have been working with him since the early part of the 2000s.

Onstage antics aside, Josh knows how to put on a show. He switches instruments constantly, can play guitar like a madman (and sing at the same time) and is pretty innovative when it comes to cool sounds. It's very cool for me to listen to songs off of the first Queens of the Stone Age album that so heavy you could almost call them metal ("Avon," anyone?), where as several of the songs from his latest works are slow-burning blues ("Make It Wit Chu" is the perfect example). Granted, musical progression makes absolute sense, especially when you've been doing it as long as he has, so I applaud him for having such a wide array of styles that he rocks.

(Get it? "Rocks"? It's a "stone" pun.)

Stop The Hate!

So last night was incredible. And no, i'm not talking about the Krewe du Vieux parade in the quarter. I'm talking about Marleyfest 2011, the best example of a community of musicians I have ever experienced

So a couple of weeks ago, people who obviously hate everything about life did a terrible thing and stole several thousand dollars worth of instruments, personal belongings, and money from the van of the wonderful gentlemen in New Grass Countr

y Club while they were out gigging in Shreveport. So, as any wonderful community should do, the guys in Sun Hotel, Native America, Habitat, and Caddywhompus organized an amazing evening in order to stop the hate that those bastards in Shreveport so willingly shelled out on New Grass. It was 5 bucks to get in for tons of awesome music and tons of love, the obvious opposite of hate. There's even a "Stop the Hate" EP, made up of songs from all of the bands that played (plus Vox and the Hound). They even made "Stop the Hate" t-shirts (or they'd tag the shirt you were wearing).

This really ranks up there in coolest concerts i have ever been to. There was so much love and friendship, and it was really an enjoyable night. Sure, I ended up missing most of Krewe du Vieux, but that's alright- I'm part of a community, and people in a community help each other out. New Orleans is the only city i can think of that has such a wonderful group of musicians that honestly want to help each other out. Back home in St. Louis, people go to a show to see their friend's band and leave directly after. Here, people show up early and they stay late. They put on benefit shows for people whose priceless gear got stolen by some bastards out in Shreveport. They come to your shows, and you go to theirs. Bands care about each other like the members of a family cares for one another, and it's a wonderful thing to see somebody in your family start to make it big.

So thank you, New Orleans, for helping to stop the hate.

State Farm, or Why I Have Finally Given Up On Weezer.

Damn you, Weezer.



I stumbled across this today, and it honestly sickens me to think of what Weezer used to be. The Weezer that I know and love didn't give a shit what the critics said about Pinkerton and wrote some of the best music of the '90s. The Blue Album and Pinkerton were truly great albums, highlighting the fantastic lyrics of Rivers Cuomo over what was, at the time, a new direction for rock and roll- almost a pop-grunge. Pinkerton, especially, is actually heavy- instrumentally as well as lyrically. Rivers writes his heart out about his girl problems and what was really on his mind. Albeit non-political or particularly revolutionary, he was writing about things he thought were important. Songs like "Tired of Sex" and "Why Bother" highlight his disillusionment with the lifestyle that Weezer became a part of the success of their debut album. Rivers wrote meaningful songs that people enjoyed listening to and that people could relate to. But after "Pinkerton" was poorly received, Rivers changed the sound of the band, and although "The Green Album" and "Maladroit" have a couple of amazing tracks to them, they are inconsistent albums that lack substance and seem to be mostly filler tracks. The reviews of "Pinkerton" pushed Rivers from writing about his life and what really mattered to him to writing about what everyone else told him to write about.



Weezer has, in my opinion, never had an album match the emotion and meaning that was so blatantly there (and criticized) on "Pinkerton." Their latest albums have been attempts to stay relevant, with one or two singles and about 8 tracks worth of filler. After I watched this video today, I thought about all of this. Instrumentally, Weezer really hasn't changed much- they still know how to write a killer guitar hook, and their guitars are as distorted and thick as ever (seriously though....how the hell do they get some of those tones out of those guitars? It's so thick....). Lyrically, though, Weezer has become a gimmick band. Songs like "The Greatest Man That Ever Lived" and "Can't Stop Partying" are practically jokes. The depth that Weezer once had is now gone, leaving them to be that band that does a song for State Farm Insurance.

Seriously, guys? This puts you on about the same level as that "Free Credit Report Dot Com" band.

A Bit of Shameless Self-Promotion

So as a few of you might know, Pat Testa and I are in a band, Cute Machines. We're a dance-punk band, with influence ranging from The White Stripes to LCD Soundsystem to Lady Gaga to The Who. Pat plays the synthesizers and sings, I play guitar and synthesizers and sing on occasion, and my twin brother, Collin, plays bass and sings more often than I do. It's an awesome mix of synths,fuzzed out guitars and bass. Oh, and we have a drum machine, too.

Well, we've got a really big show coming up this weekend, so I thought I'd let you all know. It's on Saturday at Café Prytania, doors are at 9, and we're going to be playing around 10 or so. We're playing with Coyotes and an amazing band from Austin, Mobley. It's 5 bucks at the door for several hours of awesome, so you know you want to go.

So that's my bit of self promotion. Hopefully we'll see some of you there.

Farewell, White Stripes.

As many of you probably know by now, The White Stripes have called it quits. After 13 plus years of making some of the most wonderful (and wonderfully simple) music I can possibly think of, they have this to say:

“The White Stripes do not belong to Meg and Jack anymore. The White Stripes belong
to you now and you can do with it whatever you want. The beauty of art and music is
that it can last forever if people want it to. Thank you for sharing this experience. Your
involvement will never be lost on us and we are truly grateful."

I seriously was about to cry when I heard this news today. The White Stripes were my first favorite band, the first band that I can say I religiously followed. Back in that awkward stage of middle school, I discovered them and that was pretty much it. I dreamed of getting to see them live and bought every album.

The White Stripes were one of the most important bands of the last decade, there's no doubt about that. They, along with The Strokes, pushed indie garage rock into the mainstream music scene. 10 years ago, before "White Blood Cells," the idea of a brother-and-sister duo making a racket playing Son House and Leadbelly covers would have never made any waves in the music business. But now, "Seven Nation Army" is considered one of the best songs of the 2000s, and Jack White is considered one of the greatest geniuses in modern music. Their near perfect blend of pop and blues gave The White Stripes an edge that nobody else had at the time, and now you can't find a guitar player who isn't inspired by Jack.

I respect them for their decision to end it now though. In another quote from the band, they claimed that the breakup was "for a myriad of reasons" and that they want "to preserve what is beautiful and special about the band and have it stay that way." Good for them, I say. They had a great thing going, with not a bad album to their name. After 4 years of Jack working on other projects and Meg starting a family, it probably just didn't feel right anymore. I wish more bands would do that, to be honest. Far too often, bands release records just to stay within the business and make money, it doesn't matter if the album is one or two good songs plus 10 songs worth of filler. I applaud you, White Stripes, for having the decency to call it quits when you know it just doesn't feel the same.

That's all I really have to say about the whole situation. Third Man, Jack's label, says that they'll continue to release old studio and live recordings through their Vault subscription service as well as commercially, so it's not like they died or anything. Just kind of sad, really.

Thank you, Jack and Meg.

Lollapalooza: Chile

Last summer I was lucky enough to be able to attend Lollapalooza in Chicago's Grant Park during the first weekend of August, and I have to say that it was one of the coolest experiences of my life. I got to spend 3 days hanging out and listening to music, discovering new bands like Royal Bangs, Skybox, and even MyNameIsJohnMichael, as well as getting to see other acts that I never thought I would get to see, like Arcade Fire and The Strokes. I even got to touch Lady Gaga when she did a stage dive directly on top of me during Semi Precious Weapons' set.

So, in hopes of going again next year, I got on Lollapalooza's website over the weekend to find out when tickets go on sale this Spring. I was surprised to find out that Perry Farrell (the creator of Lollapalooza as well as lead singer of one of my favorite 90s bands, Jane's Addiction) is putting on Lollapalooza Chile in Santiago in April. With headliners like The Killers, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Kanye, Fatboy Slim, The Flaming Lips, and (of course) Jane's Addiction, as well as about 40 other bands, including many South American bands and artists, it looks like the Chileans are in for a real treat.

It struck me as I read about the festival, though, how rarely bands trek down to South America. It was a really big deal when The White Stripes played nearly every country on the continent after their release of "Get Behind Me Satan" in 2005 (MTV even did an hour long special from Manaus, Brazil). Then I thought about how incredibly different music is in that part of the world. I never hear about any pop artists from South America (other than Shakira, of course), and I wonder if the people in Chile have even heard of some of these smaller bands on the line-up, like Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros. Granted, I hadn't heard many of the bands at Lolla last summer, but I had at least heard of them and therefore knew who I wanted to go see.

Then I began to think about European music and festivals. It's not uncommon for me to hear about artists from Europe. In fact, a lot of music from Europe is far superior to the crap that comes out of the U.S. pop charts these days (I'm looking at you, Justin Bieber and Bruno Mars). Why is it that most of the world's most popular music comes from just two countries, the U.S. and the U.K.?

It didn't take me long to figure out an answer to that question: in regards to culture and what's "in" right now, the U.S. and the U.K. are where it's at and where everything comes from. With all of the money in those two economies, as well as widespread access to the internet and other media outlets, it's no surprise that bands that aren't U2 or the Rolling Stones don't tour to countries that are that far out of the way. It's kind of a shame, really.

Jack White, Wanda Jackson, & Third Man Records

One of the first bands that I found myself to really get into was The White Stripes, Jack White's blues/garage rock duo with his sister/wife Meg. I loved what he was doing then, and I absolutely love what Jack's doing now.

In March 2009, Jack White opened Third Man Records & Novelties, a building in downtown Nashville that houses a record shop, label offices, photo studio, and venue. With this label, Jack set out to create for his fans something tangible, something other record companies seemed to ignore or put on the backburner. Most releases on Third Man are either related to Jack's several bands (The White Stripes, The Raconteurs, The Dead Weather...), or they are 7" singles of bands that Jack has found and enjoyed, ranging from Transit- a band made of members of the Nashville Transit Authority- to Dungen- a psychedelic quartet from Sweden. Everything is released first on vinyl, and most of the singles are released digitally on iTunes as well.

Third Man's latest release, though, is none other than rockabilly legend Wanda Jackson's new LP "The Party Ain't Over." Honestly, I was not too excited about this release until I heard her roaring cover of Bob Dylan's "Thunder On The Mountain," at which point I immediately ordered the record. Wanda rips through originals like "Funnel of Love," but also pulls out wonderful covers, including Amy Winehouse's "You Know I'm No Good," sounding better than ever even though she's 73 years old.

I read a pretty fantastic article over at The Huffington Post today that brings up a very good point- Wanda was the pioneer of women in music, influencing everyone from Debbie Harry to Lady GaGa. She toured with- and dated- Elvis. So why had I never heard of Wanda Jackson before Jack White brought her back into the limelight? It's kind of frightening to think that the people who have had the most influence in the music industry have gone almost unnoticed. Honestly, if Jack wasn't doing all he is to promote this album (limited Fuschia colored vinyl, performing shows with her in L.A., New York, and Nashville, as well as Conan and Letterman), it would probably be a near flop. But this guy knows how to work the business and get stuff out there (plus, he's a great guy. Watching him play with Wanda and then in the interview afterwards on Conan last night made me smile).

The fact of the matter is, we need more people like Jack White in the record business.