The Monkees Davy Jones passed today at the young age of 66 due to an apparent heart attack. The Monkees were major pop stars in the 1960's with their hit television show that aired for two seasons from 1966-1968. Scoring several top ten hits with Jones on vocals "Daydream Believer", "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You" and "Valleri".
The Monkees were probably one of my first musical obsessions, starting my love for pop music. They made a comeback in 1986 to celebrate their 20th anniversary with the hit "That Was Then, This Is Now" which found a whole new audience in the 1980's crowd. Including an 11 year old me. MTV aired the entire show in a marathon which I just so happened to catch and I was in awe of the music and comedy. 1987 I got the opportunity to see the Monkees in concert in Wallingford, Ct at the Oakdale Theater. Quite a fun show for a 12 year old.
Over the years I went back and forth with listening to them over the years an had many times seen the members play solo shows including two by Davy.
Davy Jones will surely be missed but I am sure he has been welcomed quite gracefully into Pop Star heaven.
Moustache of Insantiy has decided to call it quits. They sent out a statement via mailing list that read
Hi all,
Yesterday, me and Bill decided to call it a day with the band. It was a hard decision to make, but it feels like the right one. I'm sure we'll do something together again at some point in the future, but at the moment this just feels like a good time to stop. There are just too many other things going on in our lives that need to be prioritised.
We will play the remaining shows listed on our website, but then that's it. A big massive thanks to all of you for the support over the past four years. It's because of you guys we kept at it as long as we did.
The music will of course continue to be available, most of it for free. If you haven't gotten yourself a physical copy of Album Of Death, you still can. But, you better hurry cause they won't last forever. If sales continue at the current speed all CD copies will be gone by June 2034. You've been warned.
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I had a chance to see the band live two years ago as part of February Records Elm City Poorest. They were a fun act to see live and will be surely missed.
Immediately when I put this album on I was blown away. Which doesn't happen to often but I love the jangly guitars reminiscent of the C86 & Paisley Underground scenes of the early to mid 80's.
The album is available and the name your price on bandcamp and it's really great so check it out. I would love to hear more from them.
Well I found out I guess. A wife, three kids and a job. A pretty chaotic life if you ask me. Not nearly as much time to hang around with my friends and drink and go to concerts like we did in out teens and twenty's. However some of my friends don't understand that and hold it against me. I've been given a hard time by a particular friend over not being able to hang out. I've only seen them twice in the past year, though them claiming I make no contact at all. The last time we saw each other we travelled to New York City to go see one of our favorite bands The Descendents back in September. Afterwards going back to the normal life. I invited said person to come and celebrate at the wife's birthday party and no call no show. Well I've got lots to worry about rather than people being extremely childish at 38 years of age. Enjoy as I will continue working to support my family and go on doing what I do for them. My number one priority. Good luck to you and whatever you do in your future.
Very excited to see that the Dum Dum Girls will be playing the state of Connecticut. And within a fifteen minute drive from where I live. Thursday, Febuary 8th at The Space in Hamden. Also playing is Widowspeak & Punks On Mars. Two bands I am unfamiliar with but hope to get to know a little more before the show.
I never knew anything about M83 until 2008 when their Saturdays=Youth LP was released. Upon hearing the single "Kim & Jessie" I was intriuged by their My Bloody Valentine drony guitar and nice lush vocals from singer Anthony Gonzalez.
Hurry Up, We're Dreaming is the latest work from M83. Their first double LP in which Gonzalez stated he has always wanted to make a double LP since hearing the Smashing Pumpkins Mellon Collie & The Infinite Sadness. Quite a project to take on. Gonzalez also states the writing process was done as if he were writing for an imaginary movie. As I may say, lyrically and musically I imagine this through listening to M83's music.
This album features instruments not featured on previous M83 albums such as acoustic guitar and saxaphone. But fit in quite well. This album may just go on to be one of the biggest and influential LPs of the Shoegaze/Dreampop genre. Come to think of it there aren't many.
Over the course of the past thirty six of being a music lover I have discovered many great bands through college and public radio. It has always been a great avenue to discover new and upcoming artists and to breakaway from the boring and dreadful consistency of your everyday commercial "modern rock" radio or the typical redunancy of the local classic rock radio station. Over the past couple of years college radio stations have been being sold to different programmers. Mainly classical, religious changing the format for the station with little or no notice to anyone involved in the station until they are escorted out and the streams changed. This to try and make the college more money than they already have. Some 350 stations have stood up for this with little or no success. Very few have have been offered to take the shows online while some haven't been even offered that.
The Age of Internet Radio
Since the big internet boom in the 1990s radio stations started broadcasting their streams online. And then a wave of user reccommended stations based on what you type in. Pandora, last.fm are probably the two most popular. I can see why Pandora can work for some people. I listen to it occassionaly with my family. I usually take to last.fm. Streaming from your home computer is free with outside certain areas having to pay a monthly subscription fee. What do I like about last.fm? 1)Variety. There is so much more variety for someone like me who loves al sorta of music. 2) Obscurity. There seems to be a lot more obscurity with last.fm. I can type in many artists I can't find on Pandora and they will pop on last.fm almost guaranteed. From that obscure raging hardcore band I've seen in some club 15 years ago to any band I've seen on MTVs 120 Minutes 25 years ago. I don't believe Pandora offers this. If you type in any artist say, The Smiths. You will here the same three bands over and over for the duration of your listen. Smiths, Morrissey, The Cure, Psychedelic Furs. Trust me, I know. I normally wouldn't have a problem with this but sometimes can get a little to repetitive. The rotation for an artist is less repetitive on last.fm. Also genres. With last.fm you can type in a genre, not something like "Rock" or "Alternative" but something a little different. I've used the indiepop, c86, Britpop, Paisley Underground and many other searches before and the results are amazing. The "Your Recommended" station based on *EVERYTHING* you have typed in in the past is also a nice feature. I continue using this today.
My family and I own a Roku box. It's basically an internet streaming device for your television. We can stream Netflix & Amazon On Demand. This has help cut cable costs considerably with all the options. There many movie stations you can download and install into the device that make it exciting to use. A 50s & 60s SciFi & Horror station, A KungFu station. Lot's of fun. The Roku also offers many radio stations ready to stream on demand. Both Pandora & last.fm are available. While searching through all the free stations to install I stumbled across SomaFM. A streaming internet radio station. Unlike last.fm and Pandora its not based on someting you type in to the search engine. It's all streaming "live" & by genre. SomaFM offers a number of great stations. I have been listening to this for about a year (whenever that free time comes) and never get bored with the rotation or the selection they play. The two most popular in my house, Indie Pop Rocks and the Underground 80s stations. A station entirely dedticated to synthpop and undeground new wave. How can we go wrong with that?
SomaFM also offers several different types of electronic stations as well as Trip Hop, Drone, Americana, Jazz, Industrial, Lounge. Music your typical hipster will love. Just recently, in 2011 SomaFM has added the station 480 Minutes with the tagline "What alternative rock radio would sound like had Nirvana never happened." Yeah I like the sound of that. I haven't had a chance to listen to that yet but look forward to. If I like it enough I am sure you will read about it here.
As I type this, this is what is on SomaFM.
How can you go wrong with a station that breaks out a classic like the Trash Can Sinatras? It's not Nirvana so I am thankful they don't think Nirvana is the be all end all of "MODERN ROCK" or "ALTERNATIVE".
Pardon me if I get a little personal here. I do that sometimes.
Almost four years ago I didn't know what I wanted in life. I had a wife, two kids and had just started a pretty good job working for the largest Catholic men's organization and one of the largest life insurance companies globally. Well, I was unhappy. And I let my wife know it. I told her I wanted to split. I had been in touch with an old friend something I painfully regret. My wife and I continued to live together. We weren't talking. One day I came home and she began to pack her things and begin the hardest six months of my life. I was suddenly by myself. I begged for her to stay but nothing I said would change her mind.
We worked for the same company, this did not make anything easier. Things came to ahead when she told me she was talking to someone. I immediately became more and more depressed as time went on. I would sit home drink an entire bottle of wine, sometimes two and go through my record collection. I would lay around and listen to songs that would remind me of her. I still get sad and super depressed when I think of those times. But hey, we
worked things out and she came home. We even had third child out of love. I worked very hard to show her I loved her. Today things cannot possible get bad. We wont let it.
Here is two songs I've listened to the most during that time.
Sugar - If I Cant Change Your Mind
Cheap Trick - The Flame
Yes sad times indeed. But thank god that is all over with
I recently heard of this band through online browsing. Ya know, when you shop at online retailers and they recommend things based on your previous purchases and searches. They seem to think they know us better than we know ourselves. I've rarely taken into this. However with this band I have seen it pop up a few times in various record stores and said online retailers based on my Oasis searches on Amazon.com.
This record, released back in September, I decided to check out. While they hardly sound like Oasis (although listing them as a major influence) I think they've got something here. What we have here is some British indie rock that was once popular in the 90s mixing in some 60s psych pop influences at times while mixing in some modern influences. Is there a Britpop Revival going on I am unaware of?
On August 28th 2009 Noel quit Oasis after a backstage altercation with his brother Liam. Liam and the rest of the band formed Beady Eye, Noel immediately started writing songs for a solo album. Claiming at one time to have two albums worth of material. Shortly after forming the High Flying Birds ( a reference to Jefferson Airplane's "High Flying Bird").
The first single, "The Death of You And Me" was released in September and immediately I couldn't wait for the album to be released. I knew exactly why this man was the principal song writer for Oasis, one of the biggest and greatest bands of the 1990s and the leader of the Brit Pop movement.
Since then, the latest single "If I Had A Gun" is dead on Noel Gallagher song writing, the hooks, the emotions, all reminiscent of one of his greatest compositions "Don't Look Back In Anger" off (What's the Story) Morning Glory?, Oasis greatest selling album.
Noel has definetly composed a tremendous solo album. I can't wait to hear what the future holds for this man.
I have never been too familiar with much of Adam Ant's work other than his early 80's pop hits. I have read about him and his work prior as being more "Punk" and raw before the early 80's boom in popularity. I recently engaged in a conversation with with a complete stranger about music and recommended some albums by Blondie and Adam Ant that I was unfamilliar with. Both later day period albums.
While on one of my many thrift store hunts for music I stumbled across a promotional copy of Adam Ant's "Wonderful" CD. His last studio work in the past 11 years. The CD sat around for a few days up until this morning, I wake up and on this New Years Day the rest of the family is sleeping. I am looking for something to listen to in this limited amount of time that I have time to listen to music before the morning chaos of children running aound the house and cartoon land takes over. I see the Adam Ant CD sitting on top of a pile of recently aquired discs so I decided to try it out. I was in for a surprise.
I did not get the peppy, campy new wave pop tracks like "Goody Two Shoes". Instead enclosed was a mature rock record by a former 80's pop star. With help from Morrissey's Boz Boorer on guitar and ex Ruts drummer Dave Ruffy this album has a nicely rounded out mix of styles. From 70's influenced rock to Barret era Floyd influenced pop of "Alien" (my personal favorite track here). To anyone has seriously ever doubted an artist like Ant, I suggest give this record a listen.
Ant returned to the studio on 2009-2010 to record Adam Ant Is the Blueblack Hussar in Marrying the Gunner's Daughter which has been confirmed to be released in early 2012. His first studio album since 1995. Now, something I am looking forward to.
