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Entries tagged with 'Music'
Posted Dec. 9, 2009,
Five Questions for Tony Fletcher On His Book All Hopped Up and Ready to Go
By David Hershkovtis
All Hopped Up and Ready to Go: Music From the Streets of New York 1927-1977 is a labor of love, over 400 pages of wonderful stories on the likes of Tito Puente, Bob Dylan, Lou Reed and the Ramones, as well as lesser knowns whose recollections help bring the cast of characters to life. Written by veteran rock journalist Tony Fletcher, the book not only covers those vibrant years but also looks beyond the tales to what makes New York the epicenter of musical movements that went from the streets to the national charts. I would definitely include All Hopped Up on my top 10 list this year -- if I made one. I emailed him five questions and here's what he said.
David Hershkovits: All Hopped Up and Ready to Go covers 50 years of New York music history spanning Afro-Cuban jazz, bebop, doo wop, folk rock, acid rock, disco, punk and hip hop. (Did I leave anything out?). Which has the best stories? Which is your musical favorite?
Tony Fletcher: Don't forget Rhythm and Blues, rock'n'roll, the pre-rock folk scene and the glitter scene. All these scenes have great stories and it's a little difficult choosing one over the other. The story about Chano Pozo's death in chapter two is quite something (precursors of the worst days of rap?), but then so is the story about the Almanac Singers living in a commune in Greenwich Village (precursors of hardcore political punk?). I would say that I enjoyed researching the earlier periods of the book because I learned so much about them in the process. That was true all the way up to the vocal group scene (they were known at the time as rhythm and blues or rock'n'roll groups but were subsequently renamed "doo wop" by those who should know better). There's an innocence and beauty to the way an entire city of teens aspired to sing for their supper. (Or at least to attract the opposite sex.) Still, which is my musical favorite? People would assume I'm most closely attached to the CBGBs scene, and I admit that it is the one I know best. But I came out of this experience as a real aficionado of Afro-Cuban music, a great fan of the mambo, and with a genuine love for the 1960s equivalent of the CBs punk scene: the Fugs, the Godz, David Peel and the Lower East Side, and the Holy Modal Rounders.
Posted May. 19, 2009,
Get to Know Green Go
By Erica Mayyasi
There’s a lot going on in Canadian group Green Go’s music: they’ve got 10 hands on deck and dueling male/female vocals that also compete with synths, handclaps and snares to rule the roost. Yet the result is cohesive and surprisingly calm. Perhaps what makes Green Go’s sound so unique is its versatility: while their electro disco pop music has an obvious pump-up-the-volume dance-ability to it, it could just as easily provide a soothing study soundtrack at a lower sound level. With their debut album Borders out last month, that soundtrack is now a complete one.
Green Go began when Ferenc (Fezz) Stenton spotted Jessica Tollefsen performing with another band. “I liked her stage presence and she had a light up keyboard so we decided to team up,” Fezz explains. The two rounded out their roster with bassist Kyle Squance and drummers Mark Andrade and Adam Scott (though Fezz says that they change up the who plays what lineup frequently to keep things fresh).
Fezz and Jessica took some time off from fronting the group to answer a few questions for us:
What’s the story behind the name Green Go?
The name is pretty open for interpretation, but it does come from a year I spent abroad in Brazil. They use "Gringo" as an endearing term for foreigners.
Posted Feb. 26, 2009,
Listen People Listen to Run Dan Run
By Erica Mayyasi
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With so many brilliant bands in our backyard, we don’t always pay enough attention to talented local acts from outside the Five Boroughs. But since hearing Charleston-based Run Dan Run’s song “Your Name Escapes Me” (off their 2007 release Basic Mechanics) last year, they’ve stayed squarely on our radar. Now with a new acoustic EP, 27 Coming St., and an upcoming five-show run in New York, Run Dan Run is taking hold of both our iPod and our city.
With the new EP, band members Dan McCurry, Nick Jenkins, Ash Hopkins and Erin McKinley, who met at the College of Charleston, really show their range. A far departure from the Postal Service-inspired tunes on Basic Mechanics, the young foursome offer up stripped down and slowed down ballads on 27 Coming St. It’s the type of music that could have only been conceived someplace calm and quiet and listening to it transports you there as well.
We got the multi-talented McCurry, who plays keyboard and guitar and sings and writes the songs for Run Dan Run, to answer some post-EP, pre-tour questions for us:
So how did the name Run Dan Run come to be?
It came from a friend's T-shirt that said "Run Katie Run" (referring to Katie Holmes from Tom Cruise). At the time I was looking for a band name that would be fun and flexible. I wasn't thinking about Forrest Gump.
What's the story behind 27 Coming St.?
It was due time to make a recording. We'd been playing acoustic lately and that had been working well. We wanted to try a live recording and saw that we had an opportunity with Ash coming into town to do some musical business (he currently resides in Chapel Hill and has been there for the past one and a half years). We set up in my living room one Sunday evening in October and went for it. Ash took it home to clean it up. When he sent us the files to listen to, he had put in 27 Coming St.. for the album name since that's the location where it was recorded. It seemed fitting. It wasn't at all discussed prior, just a happy accident.
Posted Jan. 19, 2009,
Scenes From the Fires of Rome Music Video Shoot
By Catherine Neckes
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As I step out onto a deserted, concrete stretch of East Williamsburg and bid my taxi driver farewell, he reminds me to "make sure you leave before dark." I guess I emanate ingénue. A fashionably dressed trio of 20-somethings flits out of one of the rundown factory buildings that littered the stark landscape; I catch the distinct whiff of Marijuana in a gust of bitter wind. This must be the place.
By the time I arrive at the Fires of Rome "Set in Stone" music video shoot, most of the band members have finished shooting their scenes and are sitting at the white plastic table drinking brews -- shockingly well behaved. There is some discussion of gigs in Paris (home of the band's record label The Hours), bombs exploding in the famous Le Printemps department store, and Americans queuing for the "Royale with Cheese" at the Parisian MacDo's.
A lull comes, and I try to steer the discussion towards the band's conception and evolution. Gunner, the drummer, unravels what seems the non-traditional gestation period that began with songs written by Andrew Wyatt and Michael Tye (while in The AM), recorded by Andrew and Gunner, and then rerecorded with Fires of Rome band mates Matt and Oscar. Yet, despite the unusual beginnings and what feels like a preoccupied attitude, something crystallized: a record release on January 13th, and now a music video. When I ask about upcoming shows, though, the boys hesitate; not till March, I am told.
It's amazing how much standing around goes on at these things, and the utter lack of music considering this is a music video shoot. Expecting to hear some of the band's synthy-pop riffs (comparisons to T-Rex abound), I get a few hushed, rushed voices instead. Antsy, I seek action and I wander towards the set, over cables and dollies, through hapless crewmen. I try my best not to disturb, for soon after my arrival I had gotten the distinct feeling that the video's producer was trailing me -- making sure the flighty PAPERMAG reporter didn't spill her thieved Corona on the ten grand worth of equipment or take flash photos.
Just doing his job, I assume. Putting out fires and keeping the wheels greased for director Matthew Lessner, with whom I have little time to make pleasantries as he is in the midst of orchestrating a dramatic vision filled with hounds, models, and a miasma of white powder. His intensity feels unexpected amid the generally placid set as he composes a shot with a hospital gown-clad woman (Andrew's model+girlfriend and Vogue cover girl Adina Fohlin) flanked by windblown Afghan hounds.
Posted Jan. 12, 2009,
Lilofee's Seductive, Synthy Sound
By Erica Mayyasi
We may have just finished selecting our musical favorites of 2008, but we’ve already got an act on our radar for 2009. We’re hooked on the catchy tunes of Lilofee, an electro duo hailing from California, which combine the sounds of the '60s girl bands with modern synth rock (especially our favorite “Lock and Key”). We’re not alone either as they’ve generated much buzz in their hometown of San Francisco, where they recently played with Sebastien Tellier.
Lilofee, made up of multi-instrumentalist Rob Easson and vocalist Kimi Recor, take their name from a dark fairy tale from Germany, where Kimi was born and raised. In the story, Princess Lilofee falls in love with a water god and moves under the sea to start a family with him. But after seven years she misses her old life above the water too much and returns to it. In the end, she hears the cries of her children at the water’s edge and ultimately decides to rejoin her family in the depths. “The blind acts of love, selfishness, sadness, but most of all, our ability to sacrifice our own happiness for those we love -- Lilofee songs really center around the themes of this story, so it’s quite the perfect name,” explains Kimi.
Having wrapped up work on their first album, The Only Years, Rob and Kimi took some time to answer a few questions for us:
How did you two meet?
Kimi: I was visiting San Francisco from New York for the summer, and I had heard about Rob through some mutual friends. We ended up getting introduced at some after-party. The very next day we wrote our first song, and after writing about five songs in one week, I called my roommates in NY, told them I wasn't coming home and ended up staying in San Francisco and forming Lilofee. Rob is like my brother from another mother -- and my musical soul mate.
Posted Jun. 23, 2008,
Exclusive: Boy George Is Denied Visa + Pens Obama Song
By David Hershkovits
How excited we were when the New York Post reported that our good friend Boy George would be returning to New York and performing in a series of concerts over the summer. You may remember George's unceremonious exit from New York after having to perform five days of community service sweeping the park for the Department of Sanitation in 2006. In a gesture of appreciation to the Sanitation Dept., the now clean and sober George had agreed to stop at the DSNY's Family Day on Aug. 17 at Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn, where he would perform a full set of his songs in front of about 5,000 people. Shows at Terminal 5 and on Westbury, LI were also scheduled.
Well, apparently not. U.S. Customs thinks it would be better if he didn't and they have denied him a visa. Here are George's comments about his disappointment as well as his views on Barack Obama, who he recently wrote a song about -- which you can listen to after the jump exclusively on PAPERMAG!
On being denied a visa:
"I'm pretty devastated because I am so excited about this forthcoming tour and having my visa application denied seems unfair after I swept the streets of New York spotless. There are a number of public figures who are openly using drugs and they have no problem with immigration and I have seriously turned my life around and I feel great right now and this is just another reminder of how bad things were. I committed a crime and I happily paid the consequences and I should be allowed to move on and get on with what I do best and that is performing and making people people dance and cry!"
Posted Apr. 17, 2008,
Five Questions for Alan Wilkis
By Alexis Swerdloff
To put it simply, Alan Wilkis’s electro-soul jams should be consumed via big headphones while riding the Q train on a crisp spring morning as it heads above-ground over the Manhattan Bridge. His jams will put a boogie in your step, no doubt. We asked Alan some questions, a few weeks after the release of his debut, Babies Dream Big, and the Williamsburg-based crooner was kind enough to respond.
Alexis Swerdloff: Babies Dream Big is bubbling over with little nuggets of references, mixed together into a tasty bouillabaisse! Taking this food reference probably too far, what were the "ingredients" that made up the album?
Alan Wilkis: Bouillabaisse is definitely what I’m going for! 100% stylistic cross-pollination, little bits and pieces of soul, R&B, classic rock, and electronic music from the 70’s & 80’s.
I’m basically trying to tip my hat to the various forms of pop music I’ve loved over the years, while (lovingly) turning them on their heads! Like Boston arena rock guitarmony meets Prince R&B synthesizers... The core of the album is taking familiar sounds and textures and trying to reimagine them in surprising and refreshing new ways.
AS: You are a one man operation in the truest sense. What other one man operations do you look up to?
AW: Prince, Self, Frank Zappa, Jamie Lidell, Brian Wilson
Posted Feb. 7, 2008,
Went to See Cat Power Last Night at Terminal 5
By Carol Lee
I dragged my Fashion Week-fatigued ass all the way over to Midtown West last night to catch Cat Power at Terminal 5! It was the first show of the Cat Power with Dirty Delta Blues tour they're kicking off for the new album Jukebox. It was a three-floor mob scene. The opening band was Appaloosa which I missed. Chan Marsahall looked casually great in her Flashdance-cut-up "France" T-shirt, Acme black jeans and one fishnet Chanel glove, while sporting a bouncy ponytail. Chan and the boys (Judah Bauer, Jim White, Gregg Foreman and Eric Paparozzi) played their hearts out but the sound system at Terminal 5 is just so terrible. T5 holds big-time sold-out shows all the time -- they should really have a top-notch system. Coupled with the weak sound was lots of feedback which was clearly annoying the band -- Chan at one point laid down on the floor and stopped a song. Oh well. But it was still really good to to see her. Michael Stipe was at the show on crutches. He said he injured his foot in a go-cart accident. Poor, Michael. Get well soon! Cat Power heads to Boston today to play at the Orpheum.
MORE PICTURES AFTER THE JUMP >
Posted Dec. 6, 2007,
Phranc's Art Show at CUE in NYC (With Free Hootenanny with Phranc & Ann!)
By Ann Magnuson
I am so happy to report that the flu I had for one terrifying week has abated and I will be winging my way east to support PHRANC at her first New York solo art show this Thursday Dec. 6 at the CUE Foundation gallery in fabulous Chelsea! (There must be one or two of you who aren't going to Miami!) CUE asked me to be one of their two guest curators for the month of December and I could think of no better artist to invite than PHRANC! (Read all about Phranc, her art and the show in my L.A. Woman column in the December issue of PAPER!)
See the fabulous and whimsical and socially relevant 3-D art from the Cardboard Cobbler, a.k.a. The Jewish Lesbian Folk Singer, a.k.a Tupperware Lady Legend, a.k.a All Around Great Gal, a.k.a Phranc!
Posted Aug. 30, 2007,
PJ Harvey's Playing on a Coast Near You!
By Alexis Swerdloff
We're quite excited for PJ Harvey's forthcoming album White Chalk, which is out September 25th... it's been a three years since her last album and it's time we had some more PJ in our lives. In any case, for a while there, she had only confirmed a few shows in the UK, and just this second I got an email confirming two shows here in the States! She'll be playing on October 10th at the Beacon Theatre here in NYC and on October 15th at the Orpheum in L.A. Mark your calendars: Tickets go on sale September 7th!
Check out the video above, in which she sings "When Under Ether," a song from "White Chalk," at the Copenhagen Opera House.
Posted Aug. 17, 2007,
Happy Birthday CD!
By Alexis Swerdloff
It turns out that today is the 25th birthday of the Compact Disc, aka the CD. Since August 17, 1982, there have been 200 billion CDs produced -- that's a lot of CDs! Though the mp3 has gone on to eclipse the CD in popularity, the CD is still chugging along. So, have a good one, CD. You deserve it.
Posted Aug. 17, 2007,
Justin Timberlake Made Me Cream, I Mean, Scream Last Night
By Carol Lee
Last night my friend Cheryl and I went to see Justin Timberlake at Madison Square Garden for the "Futuresex/Loveshow" concert. And, ladies, what can I say, JT is H-O-T!!! Good Charlotte opened but we only caught the last song "Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous." It was a sea of orgasmic, screaming (and sometimes puking and crying) girls, drunk moms, cell phones and digi-cams -- and I loved every second of it! From "What Goes Around" to "Sexy Back" (the finale) with a few ballads thrown in (including the amazing "Cry Me a River"), Justin was a tour-de-force sex bomb! He wore a dark three-piece-suit for the first half of the show, the blazer was gone at some point and he came back on after a break decked out in a light grey three-piece finished with a fedora.
The show was being shot for an HBO Special (watch it and look for me and Cheryl on 9/3) and we were warned ahead by JT's manager that if you're there with someone you're not supposed to be with you should beware.
Posted Aug. 15, 2007,
Pick of Destiny: A Girl Wins This Year's Guitar Battle
By Carol Lee
New York City's most anticipated and talked about rock event, Guitar Battle: Shred for Your Life, took place last night at the Anthology Film Archives and it was (uh-oh) magic! The winner of the Third Annual Guitar Battle was none other than a 16-year-old girl Alex Niemetz who is already a veteran rocker and plays guitar in an all-girl band ModRocket. She shredded in a deadpan fashion looking cool as a cucumber while blowing all the boys out of the water one by one, including last year's winner Johnny Rad and eventually making rock 'n' roll history. She was apparently really nervous, according to Cheryl Dunn, who shot the whole event with four-camera crew for a TV show pilot, and had asked her family not to come to the battle. But you wouldn't have known it from watching her rip on that guitar like she was Toni Iommi from Black Sabbath. Whoa! I think the moment she appeared on stage in a bad-ass white T-shirt and cut-up black denim shorts armed with The Stooges' Ron-Asheton-esque strawberry blonde mane, everyone in the audience knew she was a force to be reckoned with. Some of us even predicted that she would take home the coveted "Shred for Your Life Pick" decorated by Neckface (along with a brand new guitar and a jeweled guitar crown) -- which she did.
Posted Aug. 14, 2007,
Pattie Boyd, Ex-Wife of George Harrison and Eric Clapton Pens Autobiography
By Carol Lee
I stumbled upon some fun, gorgeous and utterly cute of photos of Pattie Boyd today. She has recently penned a tell-all autobiography titled Wonderful Today, which will be released later this summer. No doubt the book will be a page-turner (fingers crossed!). After all, as an ex-wife of a Beatle, George Harrison, whom I love-love-love and Eric Clapton (who wrote wrenching classics like "Layla" and "You Look Wonderful Tonight" about her after stealing the girl from his best friend George), Pattie Boyd has seen a thing or two in her day. Boyd was truly a queen of the Sixties. Aside from her famous marriages, she also modeled and worked as a photographer... sort of like Linda Eastman, though I don't think Linda ever worked as a model. Anyway, so here's a little photo tribute to the original rock 'n' roll babe -- from frolicking with Harrison in the Bahamas in the '60s and traipsing around London with Clapton in the '70s and the '80s to gallery hopping solo in recent months. She's 63 years old now and looks pretty damn good. Can't wait to read her book! By the way, how cute is George Harrison rocking a mod beach get-up complete with fuzzy red cap?!
Posted Aug. 3, 2007,
Michael Caine Chills Out
By David Hershkovits
Most people know Michael Caine as one of our finest actors, who's managed to maintain dignity and credibility in an industry where those are rare commodities. But did you know that he's also an expert on "chill out" music. Niether did I until I read about an upcoming CD compilation he's putting together. The idea came about following an evening Caine spent with Elton John who was so impressed with Caine's knowledge that he urged him to go ahead with the record. To be called Cained, the 72 year-old actor's collection of mellow tracks to be released in Sept. will include Chicane's "No Ordinary Morning" and Nina Simone and Felix Da Housecat's "Sinnerman."
Says Caine: "I've loved this type of music for years, and have hundreds of CDs. I've been buying them for about 15 years, and really know my way around. About ten years ago I started making my own compilations. I've always been interested in music, and over the years have made literally thousands of tapes. And with chill-out I suppose I finally found my forte."
timesonline
Posted Aug. 2, 2007,
Elton John Hates the Internet
By David Hershkovits
Sir Elton John is showing his age as well as his technophobia when he says the Internet is destroying music. A self-confessed Luddite with no cell phone or iPod, John says: "The Internet has stopped people from going out and being with each other, creating stuff. Instead they sit at home and make their own records, which is sometimes OK but it doesn’t bode well for long-term artistic vision."
Really? Seems to me people are out more than ever and one of things they are doing is listening to live music. To bands that perform in clubs where people actually do meet and communicate, unlike in the caverns of Madison Square Garden, where John recently performed while simultaneously streaming the show on the Internet.
Posted Jul. 18, 2007,
The Figs: See 'em Tonight at Luna Lounge!
By Alexis Swerdloff
The Figs, a six-piece outta Lafayette, Louisiana are a bit like what would happen if The Pipettes decided to wear flowery as opposed to polka-dotted dresses, traded in their keyboards for banjos and were just generally more Fig-like. The sassy sextet stomp their feet and bat their eyelashes as they hoot, holler and coo their own interpretations of Louisiana roots rock.
Their debut album, out on August 28th from Valcour, features such gems as "Fall on My Knees" a cover of a traditional bluegrass song, and original numbers like the rollicking "I'm So Tired" and the softly sad "3/4." Of their first East Coast gig tonight at the Luna Lounge, the curly-haired, button-cute Fig, Sarah Gray, said, "We're curious to see how our Southern brand of charm translates north of the Mason Dixon!" As are we! Which is why we'll be standing in the front row at the Luna Lounge tonight getting our Fig on.
Here are some tunes to get you in the mood:
Posted Jul. 18, 2007,
Skeletons & the Kings of All Cities Get Short-Shrifted
By PAPERMAG Editors
PAPERMAG contributor Jonas Oransky sent us this here little screed this morning:
Like them or not, Editors really have to be out-marqueed for their new record not to get Pitchfork's top review spot on any given day. It takes a band with serious vintage and a little mainstream crossover -- a band like the Meat Puppets. And the Puppets did win that popularity contest on Pfork today, even as both albums were trashed in their top-of-the-fold reviews.
So it really sucks for the little guys, Skeletons & the Kings of All Cities. Their new album Lucas -- read what else I had to say about it here -- got a great review today [8.2], but the piece was stuck not only below the Puppets and Editors, but also under a German dance compilation, which failed to pull even a 6. And Lucas' rating just barely failed to earn the record a "Recommended" appellation, which would have given it some extra play.
How long is the attention span of the Pitchfork reader? Will he or she even get to the Skeletons review? Will the band get their due from a potential audience that would probably get interested if they knew the king of websites loved this record?
Posted Jul. 17, 2007,
Stick a Pitchfork in Me: The 2007 Pitchfork Music Festival, Day Two
By PAPERMAG Editors
PAPERMAG correspondent Justin Goncalves packed a toothbrush and a dream and headed Midwest-ward to check out the indie rock wet dream that is the 2007 Pitchfork Music Festival. Here’s his report from the front lines.
Saturday's lineup brought with it a more conventional festival experience, including a marathon lineup of acts and an eccentricity of genres unique to this Pitchfork Music Festival (last year's was a very heavy, concentrated dose of indie rock). With sets from Grizzly Bear, Battles, Iron & Wine, Clipse and Girl Talk, Saturday had the potential to rock my socks off.
The day started with a relatively straightforward set from Glasgow-based band The Twilight Sad. Singer James Graham had no qualms about his accent as the quartet played tunes from their April Fat-Cat Release Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters.
Posted Jul. 12, 2007,
Bonde Do Role Do It Right!
By Shanon Kelley
Brazil's Bonde Do Role (pronounced BON-jay) play a crazy mix of favela music, hip hop and dance. And while I know that everyone here has probably already heard of this amazing trio, I only just saw them live for the first time this past Tuesday at the Spiegeltent. One of my very first Papermag blogs was about them, in fact, and how they were the first band to be signed to Diplo's label, Mad Decent. Their live show was fabulous, the only thing that bothered me was the fact that the audience was more concerned with photographing them than with dancing! They'll be playing the Music Hall of Williamburg (the new and improved North Six) on September 15th. Go see them and dance!