The Music Jerk

Wednesday, August 30, 2006

bad covers, Elijah Blue Allman and new 31G clique releases

I was just flipping through channels when I saw some girl completely butcher "Psycho Killer" by The Talking Heads on some terrible who wants to be a rockstar type show.

Speaking of things that made me want to reach through the screen and hit musicans, I saw Josh Joplin on MPT cover "Big Mouth Strikes Again" by The Smiths. Wow, seriously this could not have been worse. I had total trainwreck syndrome while watching this, knowing it's horrendously terrible but not being able to phyiscally turn it off.

Let's keep going with the bad covers. While in the store Hollister (don't ask...) I heard a cover of "Enjoy The Silence" by Depeche Mode. First off this song shouldn't be covered, it just shouldn't. it didn't help that the cover was of the bland pop-rock variety. Boo to that!

Okay, how about good covers! So the new Deadsy album came out last week. I had really high hopes for this album as I loved the first one. The first one had two great covers on it. "Brand New World" (originally done by Sebadoh) which one of those covers (along with The Blood Brothers verison of "Under Pressure") that is actually better than the original. They also do an impressive cover of "Tom Sawyer" (originally performed by Rush) The new albums boasts a cover of The Stones classic "Paint It Black." Honestly I didn't think they'd be able to pull it off, but they do very very well. They also are bold enough to sample Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song." While the new album ("Phantasmagore") is more upbeat than the previous one, it's still quite good. "Razor Love," the opening song, is one of those jams that just make you want to go out and do stuff. You know like "Move Along" by The All-American Rejects. As always the worst thing about Deadsy is the fact that they run about with the whole Korn/Family Values Tour clique. Speaking of which, yes I'm paying ten bucks to go to The Family Values Tour this year and yes I will be leaving right after the Deadsy performance. Oh and as you listen to them remember that their singer is the son of Cher and Gregg Allman. Whoa. All in all you have to love a band that sounds like a modern verison of Gary Numan.

Cool stuff happening in the future:
The Locust are in the studio recording their new full legnth "New Erections" that is supposed to be out early in 2007, possibly Feburary.
New stuff from both Holy Molar and Das Oath supposed to be out November 14th.
The new album from The Game is slated to be out this November as well. I know he only raps about shoes and how good he and the west coast are but damn if he's not crazy good at it! I loved "The Documentary" and honestly can't wait for this album to drop.

It seems I was right about Rick Ross which shouldn't be surprising anyone could have predicted it. His album "Port Of Miami" debuted at number one.

On Lupe Fiasco's upcoming album (drops in November if I'm not mistaken) Mike Shinoda produces a track. DAMN YOU SHINODA!!!

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

Caution: KFed induces vomiting

That band Hinder is becoming more popular. Fuck.

The new Evanescence single "Call Me When You're Sober" is getting major airplay and was number three on TRL today. Fuck.

Mike Shinoda is still alive. Fuck.

But hey Bloc Party has a new album coming out next year! If it's even half as good as Silent Alarm we're in for a treat.

By the by I just today stopped feeling sick from watching Kevin Federline's performance at the Teen Choice Awards.

Wednesday, August 16, 2006

"Musical diplomatic immunity" needs to become a reality

While sitting around listening to the radio and such Keane's "Is It Any Wonder" came on and I said out loud to myself, "There is no way I'm listening to this" and swiftly changed the radio station. It wasn't even like a conscious decision, it was completely reactionary. You know like when the doctor hits your knee with that mallet.

mike001100: I can't stop listening to Frou Frou, does that make me a 35 year old single woman?
Sapphire Pal: no
Sapphire Pal: I love that band they some amazing songs
Sapphire Pal: might make you german
Sapphire Pal: I cant stop listening to new order here to stay
Sapphire Pal: does that make me gay?
mike001100: No. New Order is great!
mike001100: The penned True Faith.
mike001100: True Faith!
Sapphire Pal: haha
Sapphire Pal: but here to stay is a very gay song
Sapphire Pal: I mean its almost like pet shop boys
mike001100: Not as gay as anything The Pet Shop Boys have ever done.
Sapphire Pal: lyricly
Sapphire Pal: he talking about some boy folowing him
Sapphire Pal: and the synth parts are very discotequ
mike001100: Whatever. They might as well have some kind of musical diplomatic immunity in my book.
mike001100: They could execute people on stage and it wouldn't matter.
Sapphire Pal: HAHAHHAHA
Sapphire Pal: nice


Okay so Musical Diplomatic Immunity (which will henceforth be known as MDI on this site) is a great idea. But who should get it? Here's some of my picks and why.

-Michael Jackson - to seal from Dave Chappelle, he made Thriller. Thriller! If it weren't for Off The Wall Justin Timberlake would be making my buffalo chicken sub at Subway tonight. And if you're within my age/generation (I'm twenty-four) you LOVED "Bad" and "Smooth Criminal." Don't even try to deny it, everyone will know you're lying. But the biggest reason? He needs this immunity the most. Plus he owned a monkey named Bubbles...

-New Order - Okay so there was this band. They were amazingly, mind blowingly great; influential to a fault. Then the singer killed himself. Fuck. What do the remaining members of that band do? They get together and form one of the best bands of the 80s. Just for being able to pick up the pieces after their good friend and front man took his own life they deserve the immunity. I always bring up "True Faith" as the reason they're untouchable (which is apparently the subject of a dance sequence in the upcoming movie Marie Antoinette I'm told) but all in all that's not the one, you know. So let's go ahead and talk about the one of theirs. It's the best selling twelve inch single of all time. Despite your view on them, that's impressive. Then they were bold enough to remake it in 1988 and it didn't lose any of it's original appeal. Even a subpar band like Orgy can cover it and the song itself raises the talent level of the band. Come on! "Blue Monday!"

-Paul Simon - There are probably more arguments for him than I can even think. I give it to him because of the album Graceland. Easily one of the best albums of the 80s with a single that EVERYONE loves in "You Can Call Me Al." With it's mix of cajun and african influences this album remains interesting even if you've heard it more times than the average student at a liberal arts college hears Dave Matthews on any given day. If you need more proof look for his performance of "Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Shoes" on Saturday Night Live. This is right up there with The Churchills on Spin City, Chappelle doing "The Reflex," and Marvin Gaye doing the national anthem at the NBA all-star game in '83 as one of the my favorite TV music moments.

-Frank Sinatra - It's Frank Sinatra! Plus if I didn't give it to him some guy from Jersey would probably break my legs. Plus "Fly Me To The Moon" is one of the greatest scotch drinking songs ever along with "No More Sorry" by My Bloody Valentine. This is a voice that will never die.

-Dean Martin - It's Dean Martin! You gotta love Dino! Plus if I didn't give it to him Frank Sinatra would probably break my legs. This is a voice that will never die.

-Prince - Anyone who knows me saw this coming and knows my arguement already. Purple Rain. One of the greatest albums of the 80s and probably the best music movie of all time. Looking back at it the album was pretty ridiculous. How do you have that many amazing songs on one album?!?! I mean seriously! It's absurd! For instance: "Computer Blue" followed by "Darling Nikki" followed by "When Doves Cry." What?!?! All in a row! Prince I love you.

-Chuck Berry - He's the true king of rock and roll. That's all that really needs to be said. Plus he needs the immunity too.
(For the record Berry takes Elvis' MDI spot)

-Madonna - Is anyone more adaptable in music? Where would pop music be without her? For that matter where would female fronted pop be without her? MDI law allows Madonna to claim any woman who hit number one after 1985 as her personal assistant/servant/maid. I was getting ready to name the songs that made her deserving but I realized that would take far too long and I'd still probably leave one out. She along with Michael Jackson are obviously, unarguably first ballot picks for MDI. Her doing "Like A Virgin" at the VMA's in 1984 is also one of the greatest music TV moments of all time.

-Tupac Shakur - He actually doesn't get the immunity since he's dead. Yes he's dead. But if he were alive he would definitely get it and would definitely need it. The best rapper of all time? Yeah, probably. If more rap today had a message and a sound like "Changes" popular culture as a whole would benefit. "Hail Mary," "Brenda's Got A Baby," "To Live And Die In L.A.," "Dear Mamma" - by the time I'm fifty (if not before or even now) all these tracks will be considered untouchable classics. Hm, just in case he is alive we'll go ahead and give it to him. =)

-Morrissey - First off it's Morrissey so he probably wouldn't even accept the MDI. Second off, it's fucking Morrissey! I'd be willing to bet that Morrissey is your favorite alt-rock/alt-pop singer's favorite singer. He's like the Ras Kass of modern pop rock. Since The Smiths are not together when Morrissey declines the MDI due to some ridiculously pretentious sexual or political reason I'll give it to Johnny Marr, if nothing else for the music to "How Soon Is Now." Speaking of which I still can't believe that "How Soon Is Now" was originally slated to be a B-side to "William It Was Really Nothing." Not to say that "William It Was Really Nothing" is a bad song (it's great!) it's just amazing that Marr and Morrissey were so amazingly ready for battle at the time that "How Soon Is Now" was like a throw away track. Completely ridiculous!

I was thinking of giving it to Ozzy Osborne but his show is just unforgivable. If Randy Rhodes were still alive he'd be deserving for sure. Dr. Dre almost made the list, but I cannot in good mental health give it to him until "Detox" comes out, which may be never.
I didn't put any underground artists on the list. They should have their own lesser MDI. UMDI if you will. The U being "underground." You can use IMDI if you like with the I being "indie." Quickly, off the top of my head this would go to the Leo brothers (Ted and Chris), Ian Mackaye, Mark Bianchi, Crass, The Specials, My Bloody Valentine (if only for "Loveless"), Justin Pearson, The Get Up Kids, Varg Vikernes/Burzum (he definitely needs it!) and Sam Rosenthal.

Sapphire Pal: ]I bet you gave morris day and the time MDI
mike001100: No. I love them but they aren't deserving.

Thursday, August 10, 2006

The allusive amoprhous term known as "post punk"

This is from my friend Irish's blog which can be found here:
As some of you may know Mike and I have a little running argument about which band is better Joy Division or New Order. While entirely futile and imbecilic, it is fun so I thought I would share some of my arguments on the topic with the readers at large. Joy division typifies the movement of post punk (almost as bad a name as emo) more than another band. You could say the New Order has the better sales, that PiL had the Name (Johnny Rotten), That Devo and Pere Ubu were around before but the core of what the movement was about had its most creditable start in Manchester. It was a city in decline. A former industrial juggernaut that at that point 1979-1982 was in such a wretched state, it could not help but breed the dissonant and alienating sound that Joy Division mastered. When you hear a song like Atrocity Exhibition you can feel the alienation the space and aimlessness that was abundant in the youth of the day. The music itself not just the lyrics give off that presence.


This was my reply:
Actually I think Devo is far more important to post punk (and definitely underground music today) than Joy Division is.
All you really need to do is pick up any "underground" album that can be loosey associated with "punk" and you hear something of Devo. I may have to let you borrow some more Devo...
At the time, sure Joy Division was far more relevant. Time has definitely changed that.



Okay I'm going to speak further on this.
Joy Division is a hugely important band. I can't stress the word important enough. However if Ian Curtis had not have died when he did (I've been told by fellow music jerks that this is an impossibility) I'm not sure if the band could have stayed fresh. I don't think they could or would have turned to a New Order type sound if Curtis still had a say in the band. All that said Joy Division was obviously more important than both Devo and New Order within that current time period of late-late 70s and early 80s. But this is the problem with music, it's ever changing. Speaking in modern times from a post punk/punk rock/western US musical background, Devo is to me the more important, influential band. I can see their fingerprint on everything from Spock rock (The Locust, The VSS) to noise rock (Fast Forward, Melt-Banana). But it's not just the underground you can see it in popular music. Some of the more robotic sounding keyboard driven beats in rap to keys/keyboard breakdowns becoming a more regular thing (again) in popular rock music (Panic! At The Disco). How much would great/modernly relevant labels like 31G or Gold Standard Labs be changed if there were no Devo? Not to mention the whole no-wave movement...
Curtis is more influential right now than Joy Division itself. Not for his vocals/vocal delivery but rather lyrically. I think his shadow is cast over that whole My Chemical Romance/A.F.I. scene.
As for New Order they to me continue to prove keys matter in pop music. They also brought a more poppy sound to what Devo maybe (?) wanted to do and left a lasting effect on every music genre from goth to techno.

This is not meant at all to discount Ian Curtis' or Joy Division's contributions to music as a whole. They still remain one of the more interesting bands in history.

Ian Curtis movie? Here.

By the by good call on Pere Ubu, Irish. Oh and in terms of worst genre name, you have to go with spock rock over both emo and post punk. Stoner rock deserves an honorable mention. "But stoner rock isn't a real genre Jerk!" Bongzilla. Sleep. Weedeater. Yes it is!

Wednesday, August 09, 2006

Things that make you go "wow!"

Ten thousand people showed up to try out for American Idol at the Rose Bowl on Tuesday. Ten thousand!!!
Regardless I can bearly stand the show most of the time.

I watched that Paris Hilton special that one of the music channels were airing. I must say I am surprised. I like the single, "Stars Are Blind," but even the rest of the album sounds good for what it is. It reminded me of Justin Timberlake's "Justified." Not necessarily in sound but in that I think it's going to blow up, have some decently high hits on the charts and it'll be a big dance record (this probably will be the biggest similarity.)
Although I am curious to know how much they "aided" her voice. That's not a burn, just curious - they are good dumb pop songs afterall.

Tuesday, August 08, 2006

Everyone wants to be bossy! That's why it's a hit!

So I can't decide if the DMX track "Lord Give Me A Sign" is good or the chessiest rap/R&B/ect song since R. Kelly's "I Believe I Can Fly." Either way I guess it's better than hearing "Snap Yo Fingers" every five minutes.

Okay, so I should probably first say that I really like Kelis so I might be a little bias but "Bossy" is a great track! I love those minimal keyboardy beats that sound like they could be the theme song to The Munsters.
"I'm A G" by N.O.R.E. is another wonderful song with this kind of beat. Plus that song makes you feel like a pirate! Arrrrrrrr!
Back to "Bossy" I really like the fact that she uses the words 50 tried to use against her and Nas in "Piggybank" as the basis for the hook. That's how you really come back at someone, just make an amazing track. Anyway am I mistaken or is Travis Barker in the beginning of this video?
Oh and I'm starting the petition for Nas and Kelis to have kids in order to infuse hip-hop with more talented artists.

So yesterday Rick Ross was the guest on both 106 And Park and Sucker Free Countdown! He was on both hyping his new album, "Port Of Miami," which came out today. I get the feeling that this album is going to be huge.
Rick Ross is also featured on the new Daz track "On Some Real" which is an alrght song. Honestly the best part of the song is just hearing Daz on the radio again. This guy is like Cuba Gooding Jr. in "A Few Good Men." He was just another one of the many Death Row kids featured on "The Chronic."

Don't get me wrong, I love "Gimmie That" but Chris Brown makes me laugh. There's a thing we Lakers fan say: the Lakers need to merge our two best centers (Chris Mihm and Kwame Brown) into one person who would be a great player. This players name would be Chris Brown. Wait, wait. What if we made this center then gave him the obviously unholy/demonesque dancing powers of the music Chris Brown. Whoa...

I'm offically sick of that Gnarls Barkley single.

Check out Hot Wyred on BET. Video games and music all in one neat little package.

I wish this was a joke: I just now realized that this was an all rap post.