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17 Apr 2010 18:48

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Music: Saturday Mixtape: Starting points for The Tallest Man on Earth fans

  • New Dylan, shmew Dylan. It’s easy to pigeonhole The Tallest Man on Earth as a straight-up Dylan acolyte, except Swedish. But we argue there’s a lot more going on with this guy. Kristian Matsson, who’s already released two very solid, evocative folk albums, is way more exciting than, say, Jose Gonzalez. Here’s our best attempt to analyze his sound through the guise of early folk.

  • 1. Somehow, The Tallest Man on Earth feels incredibly fresh, despite being loaded with elements that suggest early Dylan or (at the very least) a guy who’s been listening to way too many field recordings. It’s to Kristian Matsson’s credit that he transcends strereotype, and his guitar has some amazing voicings which Dylan never touched.
  • 2. While most under 30 probably best know Kurt Cobain’s amazing cover of this song on MTV’s “Unplugged” in 1993, Lead Belly made the traditional tune popular, and it’s a song the ex-con is most known for today. Definite strains of this rawness in The Tallest Man on Earth’s sound.
  • 3. While Pete Seeger doesn’t always wail on his guitar the way Matsson does, on “John Henry” he’s incredibly vigorous, if maybe more lyrically direct than Matsson ever gets. Seeger’s clean, authoritative voice definitely strikes a different tone from Matsson, but we’d argue they have more in common than they don’t. (Fun fact: Seeger’s still kicking at 90.)
  • 4. Phil Ochs, a protest singer to the end, was a raw and evocative performer and a key voice in the protest music scene during the mid-’60s, and probably the guitarist who Matsson most reminds us of. Both Ochs and Matsson powerfully wail away at their guitars, even if their endgames (political change vs. metaphor) are completely different.
  • 5. On “The Wild Hunt,” Matsson directly references Bob Dylan’s “Boots of Spanish Leather” on highlight “King of Spain.” Ultimately, the era of Dylan he takes most influence from, “The Times They Are A-Changin’,” is merely interpreted. Dylan’s lyrical voice, rich in metaphor, has a lot in common with The Tallest Man on Earth, but you always feel like “The Wild Hunt” is on the edge, ready to tip over at any time.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 Apr 2010 20:31

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Music: Scott Stapp of Creed relegated to singing about baseball

  • We’re pretty sure when he was singing the lyrics to “With Arms Wide Open,” this is exactly what he was thinking about when he said something about his life changing. We’re not sure what we love more about this – the clumsy baseball references, the fact that he sings about them the same way he does about Jesus, or the fact that this song probably paid his rent this month. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

14 Apr 2010 20:43

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Music: Metacritic: MGMT currently embodies the sophomore slump

  • Let’s face it, MGMT is feeling the heat. An indie band that got really popular on its first album thanks to some memorable hit singles, they now have to follow that album up. And as our One-Word Album Review noted, their latest is not exactly getting consensus critical love. How does “Congratuations” as a sophomore slump compare to other buzz bands? Well, according to Metacritic, you can either be Caribou (have a second album way better than the first), The Arctic Monkeys (stay exactly the same), The Strokes (dip noticeably in quality) or Clap Your Hands Say Yeah (completely crap out on album two). MGMT is closer to The Strokes than Clap Your Hands Say Yeah right now, but it’s still not flattering. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 1 Comment • Permalink

13 Apr 2010 22:56

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Music: One-word album reviews: “Congratulations” MGMT, your album sucks

Posted by Ernie Smith • 4 Comments • Permalink

12 Apr 2010 22:10

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Music: A Big Star without health insurance: The sad end of Alex Chilton

  • At least twice in the week before his fatal heart attack, Chilton experienced shortness of breath and chills while cutting grass. But he did not seek medical attention, [wife Laura] Kersting said, in part because he had no health insurance.
  • New Orleans Times-Picayune reporter Keith Spera • Regarding the last week of Box Tops and Big Star lead singer Alex Chilton, who lacked the health insurance to keep him alive, sadly. That’s despite the fact that he wrote hit songs (including a popular TV show theme song) and had a reputation up there with the greatest in pop music history. Chilton, who lived in New Orleans for most of the last three decades, wasn’t overly sentimental about death, but this ties into the health insurance problems many musicians face. He was only 59. He still had plenty of life left to live; there’s no reason it had to end like this. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

10 Apr 2010 17:17

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Music: Saturday Mixtape: Why isn’t Sharon Jones famous yet, anyway?

  • 1. Harlem’s modus operandi is the same kind of garage rock we’ve been hearing for the last 40 years, but you have to admit that it’s so catchy that you may not care about that. We certainly don’t. We’re gonna throw this song into our Nuggets box set.
  • 2. Speaking of retro revivals, Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings are in the market for a mainstream breakthrough already. After Jones showed up with Michael Buble on “SNL” back in January, it’s clear that her band’s pitch-perfect ’60s soul-pop could succeed well beyond the old-school funk collectors that made up her early audience.
  • 3. Back around ’79 or ’80, before R.E.M. became massive stars, Peter Buck was big into fellow Athens, Ga. band The Method Actors, who he says he saw play 100 times in their short history. The post-punk band, which never got famous but were lynchpins for their scene, just had much of their nervy material re-released on compilation “This is Still it.” We can understand why Buck saw them so much.
  • 4. A couple of years ago, High Places sounded nothing like this. There was no undercurrent of darkness in their sound. In fact, one could claim it had almost a twee sensibility. But not here. “On Giving Up” instead relies heavily on dark tones and somber lyrics to propel itself. We’ll let you decide if the change was a good one.
  • 5. Laura Marling is more talented than we are already, and she’s only 20. We want to know why the world thinks that’s fair. “Goodbye England (Covered in Snow)” feels delicate, like she’s in the same room as you trying to cheer you up. It worked for us.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

09 Apr 2010 16:29

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Music: Was that Robert Pattinson/Kurt Cobain story untrue?

  • YES just proves never to trust
    The Sun, guys source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

08 Apr 2010 20:30

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Music: RIP Malcolm McLaren: The guy who sold us on punk

  • He managed the Sex Pistols, among others. One of the greatest music impresarios of the last 40 years, McLaren first ran an image-obsessed London boutique called “Sex,” and later parlayed it into pre-fabbing the Sex Pistols, an anarchic bunch about whom he says this: “I never thought the Sex Pistols would be any good. But it didn’t matter if they were bad.” The British rock stars were his greatest achievement, but he had many others, too: Adam & the Ants, Bow Wow Wow, and his own music. Dude died of mesothelioma, a form of cancer. He was 64. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 Apr 2010 10:06

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Music, Tech: Do your legal MP3s have “secret” DRM? Some stores play dirty

  • Apple, Lala and Wal-Mart are culprits. Does the record industry have sights on putting the cat back n the bag? Despite the lack of digital rights management in nearly all of the online music stores, some embed your name in the file, something which could lead to backdoor digital rights management down the line – especially if cloud-based services like Lala (which we otherwise love) take off. Will the labels ever learn? And why are Apple, Wal-Mart and Lala enablers? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

06 Apr 2010 23:58

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Music: One-word album reviews: Imelda Marcos concept album? WTF?

Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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