Interboro Rock Tribune

IRT now has a Facebook page!

2012-02-07T12:09:00.001-08:00

IRTs Facebook page can be found here

Bon Iver not playing the Grammys

2012-02-06T14:32:00.000-08:00

I don't care about the Grammys. The last time i watched them was at my college bar. Old Dirty Bastard stored the stage and Shawn Colvin had a horrified look on her face. That being said, I'm on the fence as to weather or not think of Justin Vernon of Bon Iver as a douchebag or not for his decision to not play the Grammys this year. He's nominated for 4 awards and was asked to play , but refused because he wasn't comfortable with a collaborative appearance. On one hand he is standing up for artistic integrity, but on the other the other the move reeks of pretension. What do you think?

RIP Don Cornelius

2012-02-01T13:00:00.000-08:00

Don Cornelius, the host of the legendary Soul Train, was found dead of an apparent suicide. As a journalist in the Civil Rights Era, Cornelius recognized the lack of a televised venue for soul music. The show he first aired on a low-power station in Chicago became one of the longest-running syndicated hits.

From the show's debut in 1971, the always smooth Cornelius was the master of ceremonies for performances by a who's who of soul legends, including Marvin Gaye, the Jackson 5, Smokey Robinson, Diane Ross, Aretha Franklin and the Isley Brothers. Cornelius coolly presided over each episode's party, interviewing guests in a soft baritone. After an interview with The Supremes' Mary Wilson, he displayed his own flawless moves on the "Soul Train" line. He was host until 1993 when he stepped down. Soul Train continued on until 2006. He was 75.

Widerspread at the Filmore

2012-01-31T12:42:00.001-08:00

Widespread Panic – The Fillmore - Silver Spring, MD 1/25/12

By Greg Maniha

I confess. January 25th of 2012 marked the first time I have ever seen Widespread Panic. I know, I know, let the browbeating begin, but before you start, please understand this has never been the intention. As a lifelong deadhead with 100 shows under my belt, I have wanted to see this band for a very long time now. Sometimes, one can be a music historian that lives for hearing every note and witnessing every moment they can so long as life doesn’t get in the way. Somehow, life just got in the way of my desire to see Widespread Panic. I never had much of a chance to absorb their recorded output, but the live “Light Fuse, Get Away,” “Till The Medicine Takes,” and “Don’t Tell The Band” were always welcome additions to my collection. I was in love with their take on the punk rock Grateful Dead staple, “Cream Puff War” upon first listen. Indeed, it has always made perfect sense for me to see this band in action, but they just ended up on that list of “maybe one day I’ll get a chance” bands. On January 25th, 2012 in Silver Spring, Maryland, that chance finally came in the form of the first ever all acoustic Widespread Panic “Wood” tour.

The presence of the Wood tour is, to put it mildly, unorthodox. Less than a month ago, Widespread Panic rang in the last night of their 25th year. Taking the stage on New Years Eve in North Carolina surrounded by the unique soundscape that defines them, 2012 was already pre-determined as the year of the hiatus. This is a word Panic fans do not wish to hear. The very thought of a 25 year touring outfit that has experienced success and tragedy while building one of the most loyal fanbases rock and roll has seen since The Grateful Dead taking such a thing as a hiatus is not a desired direction for the ones that love you the most, but in true Panic fashion, one more tour, even a stripped down micro 11 show tour such as the Wood tour, needed to take place.

Widespread Panic is that rare anomaly that takes every note of every composition from the first bar to the last pitch and transforms it into something unlike anything else. From the first wave of modern day jambands Widespread Panic participated in creating to the veteran statesman of the genre they remain a part of today, you will never find another band with this sound. To categorize their music as southern rock, blues, folk rock, hard rock, or a combination of the above is a fruitless effort. During this slow and graceful 25-year ascent into the jamband elder’s council, it’s the individual sound that has earned them perhaps the most generationally diverse lifelong audience. Both Phish and the Dave Matthews Band are touring juggernauts that command immense respect for their loyal audiences, but their audiences have grown with them rather than becoming them. Wayward deadheads and Allman Brothers Band fans didn’t necessarily gravitate towards Phish or DMB once they lost their musical and spiritual leader in Jerry Garcia. They were either supporters or detractors. When the community at large arbitrarily bestowed Phish as the torch carriers for his loss, the reaction was, for the most part, cool and standoffish. It was that unassuming steady buildup of Widespread Panic that ultimately won the hearts and minds of deadheads from all generations. Grateful Dead fans from the early days to the last days found an antidote for their aching soul in Widespread Panic, and they’re staying around for the duration. To be sure, Widespread Panic has much in common with the Grateful Dead, but they remain their own outfit. Like the Grateful Dead, they are one of the greatest cover bands ever assembled, but once again, this doesn’t define them. Both Widespread Panic and The Grateful Dead have the gift of turning every cover song into an original without intention. They are fans of American Music and intend to pay tribute to that which they love the most, but as an unintended side effect, their tribute becomes a piece of the signature identity. Among many artists across the spectrum of American music, Widespread Panic has covered the Grateful Dead from their origins to the present time but the only way you would ever know is familiarity with the original composition. It’s a Grateful Dead composition, but you’re hearing the Widespread Panic interpretation. From the widest range of tribute material to the formless improvisations that represent their on stage communication, Widespread Panic commands tremendous influence within the genre created over twenty years prior to their formation. The embrace and blessing from the ones that paved the way for them to help define it as a genre only adds depth to that influence.

Onstage at the Fillmore Silver Spring, the stage setup resembles a southern back porch more than a concert. The furniture alone looks older than the band and audience alike. The appearance of amplification is present but with minimal appearance. It almost seems as if the intention is to create a calming effect on the truly excited and well-travelled audience that shows no signs of remaining calm once the band takes the stage. Despite the best efforts of Widespread Panic, the Wood tour has begun with the energy of a rock and roll event.

When Vocalist and Guitarist John Bell finally took the stage armed with his mandolin, the enthusiasm deafens his introduction. Many have waited for the tour few will attend and nothing is going to minimize the joy of the lucky few. The overall theme of the performance was the combination of that back porch jam complete with western saloon piano, a campfire gathering, and a jam spectacular with a rock and roll heart. It’s clear upon the opening notes of “Ain’t Life Grand” that this acoustic performance will be a rebellious spike in your drink and a new incarnation of Widespread Panic. “Blue Indian” had John Bell switching to guitar as bassist Dave Schools effortlessly provided the backbone with a smile. Guitarist Jimmy Herring has never played acoustic with Widespread Panic prior to this tour, but he couldn’t sound more at home as he took the lead with his virtuoso abilities. “Coach” gave us the lead vocals of drummer Todd Nance along with the continued back porch session theme while the JJ Cale composed “Ride Me High” brought keyboardist John “Jo-Jo” Herman into the lead vocal spotlight with a jamrock psychedelic extravaganza. Unplugged or not, the improvisation and dance took center stage by this point. “Ride Me High” transitioned into mellow rocker “C Brown” complete with a delightfully tacky 70s light show that briefly changed the shirt of Dave Schools into an over the top pattern explosion complete with giant collar. This is what 70s mellow rock should have sounded like when it first surfaced on the American landscape. The campfire gathering resurfaced with “Old Joe” while the psychedelic ambience returned with the combination of “Party At Your Mamas House” and “Stop Breaking Down Blues.” “Jack” served as a sensual slow burn that channeled the spirit of gone but not forgotten guitarist Michael Houser while the Rolling Stones influenced “Makes Sense To Me” showcased the low thump of Dave Schools accompanied by the percussion of Domingo S. Oritz before building up to a melodic piano lead by Jo-Jo. We’re now halfway through the entire Silver Spring run with one more set to go before it’s a piece of history.

The opening of the second set continued the slow burn with blues driven “Let’s Get This Show On The Road.” This transitioned into the percussion centered slow train rhythm of “Shut Up And Drive” complete with Farfisa solo by Jo-Jo. “Tickle The Truth” conjured up a minor key dominated flamenco lead by Jimmy Herring held together by a crowd-pleasing Dave Schools moment to cherish. The somber minor keys were replaced by the upbeat “True To My Nature” that held on to the moment through a “Space Wrangler” which appeared to be the drinking anthem for the night in the eyes of the audience. The most emotional moment of the evening surfaced with the classic Neil Young penned “Don’t Be Denied.” The entire audience hung on to every lyric as John Bell told the original story about a boy who’s father walked out on him, faced school bullying alone, found a kindred spirit in music, and became a legend. It’s a story so many musicians can tell and Widespread Panic conveyed it as beautifully as one could ever expect. After the crowd favorite “Airplane,” came the debut of the John Lennon anthem “The Ballad Of John and Yoko” followed by the combination of “Mercy” and the set closing “Imitation Leather Shoes.” The triple encore block began with “Trouble” before returning to the legendary Neil Young featuring a sweet slide solo by John Bell with “Are You Ready For The Country?” Finally, the evening capped on a note of high energy with the up-tempo blues of the Jerry Joseph penned “Climb To Safety.”

Part back porch jam, part campfire gathering, and part psychedelic embrace, Widespread Panic delivered enough heart and soul to endure even a yearlong hiatus. The next task is to actually attempt to endure it, and 2013 cannot surface fast enough.

Guns N' Roses announce NYC club dates.

2012-01-30T12:14:00.000-08:00

You may be able to count the people who liked Chinese Democracy one hand, but it would still be a pretty cool thing to see Axl and whoever he brings along in a club setting. This press releases just hit the internet. thought i'd share.

LOS ANGELES, CA (January 30, 2012) – Seminal rock icons, Guns N’ Roses, are set to invade New York during fashion week with a series of intimate shows then continue with additional stops through the northeast, announced today. Six shows confirmed so far including the historic return to The Ritz (now Webster Hall), 24 years after the filming of their heralded “Live At The Ritz” – the MTV concert continues to be one of the most sought after trades in bootleg circles. For the Webster Hall date, GN’R will celebrate their return by reclaiming the venue as The Ritz with signage and the name appearing on the marquee. The New York takeover in February marks the first time the band will appear at Roseland and Terminal 5, beginning on February 10, 2012. Full list of dates below.

Ticket presale on Tuesday, January 31 at 10:00am ET for the NY run, public on-sale is Wednesday, February 1. Chicago, Silver Spring and Atlantic City presale is Wednesday, February 1 at 10:00am EST, with public on-sale Friday, February 3. Tickets and VIP packages for all six dates will be available at gunsnroses.com.

2012 oscar nominations

2012-01-24T15:42:00.000-08:00

Best Picture

The Artist
The Descendants
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
The Help
Hugo
Midnight in Paris
Moneyball
The Tree of Life
War Horse

Best Director

Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist
Alexander Payne, The Descendants
Martin Scorsese, Hugo
Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris
Terrence Malick, The Tree of Life

Best Actor

Demián Bichir, A Better Life
George Clooney, The Descendants
Jean Dujardin, The Artist
Gary Oldman, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Brad Pitt, Moneyball

Best Actress

Glenn Close, Albert Nobbs
Viola Davis, The Help
Rooney Mara, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady
Michelle Williams, My Week With Marilyn

Best Supporting Actor

Kenneth Branagh, My Week With Marilyn
Jonah Hill, Moneyball
Nick Nolte, Warrior
Christopher Plummer, Beginners
Max von Sydow, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

Best Supporting Actress

Bérénice Bejo, The Artist
Jessica Chastain, The Help
Melissa McCarthy, Bridesmaids
Janet McTeer, Albert Nobbs
Octavia Spencer, The Help

Best Original Screenplay

Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist
Annie Mumolo and Kristen Wiig, Bridesmaids
J.C. Chandor, Margin Call
Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris
Asghar Farhadi, A Separation

Best Adapted Screenplay

Alexander Payne, Jim Rash, and Nat Faxon, The Descendants
John Logan, Hugo
George Clooney, Grant Heslov, and Beau Willimon, The Ides of March
Aaron Sorkin and Steven Zaillian, Moneyball
Peter Straughan and Bridget O’Connor, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Best Animated Film

A Cat in Paris
Chico & Rita
Kung Fu Panda 2
Puss in Boots
Rango

Best Foreign Language Film

Bullhead (Belgium)
Monsieur Lazhar (Canada)
A Separation (Iran)
Footnote (Israel)
In Darkness (Poland)

Best Cinematography

The Artist
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Hugo
The Tree of Life
War Horse

Art Direction

The Artist
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Hugo
War Horse

Costume Design

Anonymous
The Artist
Hugo
Jane Eyre
W.E.

Documentary Feature

Hell and Back Again
If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front
Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory
Pina
Undefeated

Documentary Short

The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement
God Is the Bigger Elvis
Incident in New Baghdad
Saving Face
The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom

Film Editing

The Artist, Anne-Sophie Bion and Michel Hazanavicius
The Descendants, Kevin Tent
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall
Hugo, Thelma Schoonmaker
Moneyball, Christopher Tellefsen

Makeup

Albert Nobbs, Martial Corneville, Lynn Johnston, and Matthew W. Mungle
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk, and Yolanda Toussieng
The Iron Lady, Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland

Music (Original Score)

The Adventures of Tintin, John Williams
The Artist, Ludovic Bource
Hugo, Howard Shore
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Alberto Iglesias
War Horse, John Williams

Music (Original Song)
“Man or Muppet” from The Muppets, Bret McKenzie
“Real in Rio” from Rio, Sergio Mendes, Carlinhos Brown, and Siedah Garrett

Short Film (Animated)

Dimanche/Sunday
The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore
La Luna
A Morning Stroll
Wild Life

Short Film (Live Action)

Pentecost
Raju
The Shore
Time Freak
Tuba Atlantic

Sound Editing

Drive
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Hugo
Transformers: Dark of the Moon
War Horse

Sound Mixing

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Hugo
Monyeball
Transformers: Dark of the Moon
War Horse

Visual Effects

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Hugo
Real Steel
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Transformers: Dark of the Moon

UPCOMING RELEASE: Bruce Springsteen Wrecking Ball (Columbia)

2012-01-20T02:23:00.001-08:00

Out March 6th in the U.S., named after the song he wrote eulogizing the demolition of the original Giants Stadium during his multi-night farewell stand at the sorely missed East Rutherford mecca. Its produced by the guy who brought us Candlebox, but don't let that quash your excitement for the Boss's return upon the tragic loss of Clarence Clemons. It sounds like a pretty cool record, with members of the E Street Band, Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine and famed alt-rock journeyman drummer Matt Chamberlain guesting. -Ed.

01 We Take Care of Our Own
02 Easy Money
03 Shackled and Down
04 Jack of All Trades
05 Death to My Hometown
06 This Depression
07 Wrecking Ball
08 You’ve Got It
09 Rocky Ground
10 Land of Hope and Dreams
11 We Are Alive
12 Swallowed Up (Bonus Track)
13 American Land (Bonus Track)

First single "We Take Care Of Our Own"

brad's top 5 villains

2012-01-19T11:03:00.000-08:00

let's face it, any action, superhero, sci fi, etc movie is only as good at its villains. If your protagonist isn't charismatic or threading enough the story will not click. The real trick to a good villain though, is getting your audience to like them.. just a little. these are 5 of the villains i love to hate.

5) Hans Gruber from Die Hard

Ruthless, charming funny and whip smart, alan rickman's Hnas Gruber in the first Die Hard movie is everything most james bond villains want to be but aren't. his punchy one liners and sense of aggravation are what i really dig. I still love it when he says "you asked for a miracle, i give you the F.B.I"

4) Boba Fett from Star Wars

Boba may have gone out like punk, but their was something mysterious and creepy about him that drew me and thousands of other fans to the character. his mercenary ways were the perfect foil to han solo's smuggler and he seemed more of a rebel than Darth Vader... Simply put he was cool and looked cool doing it.

3) Herr Starr from the Preacher comic

it's hard not to feel a little sorry for our german friend after seeing what he goes through over the course of the series, but all that he endures never distracts his resolve. You kind of root for him after a while. it's one of the reasons why i love Preacher so much. The bad guys are the underdogs.

2) The Governor from the Walking Dead comic

The governor is a character of such evil and viscousness you can't help to want to see what he will do next. When this character finally makes it to the tv show, it has the potential to change tv. it could be that iconic of a performance. Experiencing a character like this is fun in fiction, if you met one in real life you'd' be absolutely terrified.

1) The Joker from Dark Knight

I have always loved Jack Nicholson's Joker, but it was Heath Ledger that truly owns the character now. It is a shame we only had one movie with him as the joker. I would love to have seen where he went next. heath really tapped into something primal in the human psyche. There is part of us that wishes we could be just as brazen and chaotic. we can live vicariously here and none gets hurt. one of the saddest lines in film is when the joker says to batman "you and I are going to be doing this forever" because we will never get see what might have been.

The Widespread Panic "Wood" tour begins

2012-01-18T12:16:00.000-08:00

The Widespread Panic “Wood” tour begins.

Let’s start with the good news. 2011 brought along with it the 25th anniversary of jamband pioneers Widespread Panic. Indeed, the jamband genre as we know it today is in no small part the result of Widespread Panic paving the way. It goes without saying that The Grateful Dead are perhaps the undisputed kings of this decades old laboratory experiment, but the first modern day jamband soldiers such as Widespread Panic, Phish, Aquarium Rescue Unit, and Blues Traveler (just to name a few) didn’t exactly start after the Grateful Dead lost Jerry Garcia and called it a day. These bands were already thriving as the Grateful Dead touring juggernaut was still in full swing and sharing the same audience in many cases. Now, one of the modern day pioneers has 25 years under their belt with no signs of slowing down even in the wake of the painful loss of founding member and guitar artisan Michael Houser. With Aquarium Rescue Unit veteran and jamband guitar god Jimmy Herring carrying the torch for Michael, Widespread Panic continues their unstoppable live creativity. Of course, the bad news is that 2012 is going to be the year of the hiatus for Widespread Panic. If you’re one that lives for the next Panic gathering, wherever it may be, this is certainly not what one would call happy news, that being said, they’re not quite done for the year just yet.

Before the 2012 hiatus begins, Widespread Panic will embark on the 11 date, 4 city “Wood” tour. If you don’t already have tickets, good luck. This is a tough ticket to acquire. After 25 years of activity, Widespread Panic will hit the road for their first acoustic performances. One can only imagine the now familiar electric material re-imagined in a stripped down intimate acoustic format. Many will be travelling from across the continent to the opening show at the new Fillmore Auditorium in Silver Spring, MD for the start of this mini tour. If you don’t have tickets for any of the sold out Wood tour shows and have a nice travel budget, you can always head to Mexico for the only scheduled electric shows in 2012. Sandwiched between the Atlanta and Denver shows is the 4 night Panic En La Playa on the Mayan Riviera in Puerto Morelos, Mexico. Similar to the Wood tour as their acoustic debut, Panic En La Playa will be the Mexico debut for Widespread Panic. Whether you’re attending the Wood tour or the Panic En La Playa, 2012 is an exciting time to be a Widespread Panic fan even in the face of a long hiatus. The Wood tour begins on January 24th, 2012.

1/24-25/12 – The Fillmore – Silver Spring, MD
1/27-29/12 – The Tabernacle – Atlanta, GA
1/31/12-2/3/12 – Panic En La Playa – Puerto Morelos, Mexico
2/10-12/12 – The Fillmore – Denver, CO
2/17-19/12 – Belly Up – Aspen, CO

By Greg Maniha

what i'd like to see (it's hard not to be cynical)

2012-01-09T16:45:00.000-08:00

as polarized as america has become politically, there is one thing those from both side of the isle can agree on. It's hard not to be cynical. Liberals are are disillusioned with obama, and conservatives are still trying to come to grips with bush's excessive spending and the crumbling of the economy under a system they have to defend. As we enter another election year you will hear time and time again from both sides how important this election is. every election for the past 20 years has been billed as "the most important EVER!!!!", and that is true to, a point, because every election has the potential to effect the future. But the time has come to not rely on politicians or the free market to save us. Instead we need to dig with in ourselves to return to common sense. This is what i'd like to see from both parties.

DEMOCRATS

1) Unite - stop bickering over little things and see the big picture. In the war over public opinion numbers count and you can accomplish more as a united front then you can as segmented groups.

2) Lay off Obama (just a little) - He's not perfect by any means, but you have to respect the mess he inherited. how anyone would want to com into such a mess is beyond me and i respect him for taking up the job. the anger you direct at obama would be better served aimed at the power structure that keeps his hands tied.

3) Grow some balls already! - when will the democrats realize they could win the battle for the hearts and minds of America if they fought harder and took more risks? America doesn't like weak politicians, so throw down and kick up some dust.

REPUBLICANS

1) Stop appealing to the lesser angels of your base - it's time to take a hard look in the mirror and accept that trying to win over racists, bigots and religious zealots does a disservice to the well meaning, more moderate joe six packs out there who actually do have their hearts in the right place. Guys, get rid of the wackos. You know it's time.

2) Stop coddling the rich - it's not punishing the achievers to ask the rich (both individuals and corporations) to pay their fair share. when the top 1% of the country has so much wealth it is not class warfare to ask them to pay a little more. it is a moral imperative. Middle class republicans please put your horatio alger books back on the shelf. the sad truth is most of you will never be rich

3) Stop acting like ignorance is a virtue - Do you honestly think that denying science does any of us any good? religion and science can go hand to hand. To argue that little tidbit shows a pathetic lack of foresight that is deeply frightening. And demonizing intellectuals moves us backward not forward. to compete in the modern, ever-changing world you better make nice with scientific advancement and technology, or we really will be a third world country and the free market of ideas you all praise will be a thing of the past.

- Brad Filicky

Brad's top 10 albums of 2011

2012-01-05T13:45:00.000-08:00

music that touches me emotionally is always my favorite. You can argue that there were better records out this year than awolnation or the sucker punch soundtrack, but they both reached me in a way that girls or tuneyards.

10) Fleet Foxes - helplessness blues

my number 10 album was also one of my bigger disappointments. helplessness blues is a damn fin album, but i expected it to be my number 1. as beautiful as these songs are they didn't have the power of their debut. Still better than 90% of the stuff out there.

9) Foster The People - torches

Pumped Up Kicks was almost as unavoidable this year as rolling in the deep, and i didn't mind at all. Perhaps the most cheery and catchy songs about a school shooting ever. the rest of the album didn't disappoint and their appearance on SNL was a highlight.

8) Yuck - Yuck

Yuck sound like a 90's band. i love the 90s. it's not rocket science to predict that this would make my top 10. Now i just need to see them live.

7) Sucker Punch - soundtrack

Granted i wouldn't have liked this soundtrack as much had i not seen the movie, but i spent a lot of time with this record this year and it hasn't gotten old.

6) Radiohead - king of limbs

although i'm not as big a fan of radiohead's electronic experimentation as i am of their earlier guitar rock, i am always amazed how creative they can be. King of limbs id no exception.

5) Black Keys - el camino

I love this band. hometown heroes that have done good. on el camino the black keys took a more classic rock turn to surprisingly refreshing results. they can do no wrong.

4) TV On The Radio - nine types of light

it's been a rough year for tv on the radio having lost their bass player to cancer soon after this album was released. in my mind this album is their masterpiece.

3) Foo Fighters - Wasting Light

it's been a while since a foo fighters album made an impression on me, but wasting light was the sound of a band recharged. it's good to see a band this deep in their career can make an album this good.

2) AWOLNATION - megalithic symphony

i first heard the song Sail in the middle of the night in a car heading back to New Jersey from Ohio the day of my father's funeral. it mad an impression by hitting me at the rich time. i found the rest of the album just as good. a mix of anger, catchiness and wannabe hipster swagger.

1) Tori Amos - night of hunters

i got engaged this year at a tori amos concert.This album has been the soundtrack to my new life with my fiancé and i will always cherish the hours we've spent listening to this album. a truly epic statement from tori and an obvious choice for my number 1 album.

brad's most anticipated movies of 2012

2012-01-04T09:44:00.000-08:00

It seems like the movies i'm looking forward to most this year are all geek movies. what can i say? these nerd approved movies are the ones i'm most excited about. and yes.. i am very excited for the Hobbit, but it didn't map my top 5.. Sorry Peter Jackson.

5) Skyfall

I'm excited to see Skyfall because the franchise has had a much needed boost in the form of new 007 Daniel Criag. the fate of the franchise was in doubt due to legal wranglings, but holiday season 2012 will see the return of mr shaken not stirred.

4) The Amazing Spiderman

Despite my belief that Spiderman doesn't need a reboot, i have high hopes for this film. The lizard is a spider villain that deserves his moment in the spotlight and i enjoyed andrew garfield's performance in The Social network. Just don't mess it up!

3) The Avengers

This is almost assured to be good. All the lead up movies have been good and Joss Whedon is a genius in my book. As far as entertainment goes this seems like a safe bet.

2) Django Unchained

Quentin Tarrantino's take on the spaghetti western. This opens on Christmas day and i will be there with bells on.

1) Dark Knight Rises

Christopher Nolan has made possibly the best superhero movie of all time with The Dark Knight. I can't wait to see what he does with the third film in the trilogy. i love trolling the web for any news, rumors, clips and viral marketing for this. July seems so far away.

brad's top 10 movies of 2011

2012-01-03T11:54:00.000-08:00

2011 was a pretty solid year for mainstream movies. From x-men to bridesmaids to harry potter, audiences got more for their entertainment dollar at the local multiplex. these 10 movies were my personal faces..

10) Midnight in Paris

I like woody allen's recent films mainly for his ability to poke fun at intellectual upper class that have been his biggest supporters. it's nice to see that he doesn't take himself as seriously as others do. Plus it is always nice for artist to make a statement that these times aren't so bad for quality art. add to that solid performance from his cast and midnight in paris is a nice perspective on how we view nostalgia.

9) Bridesmaids

is there anyone out there who didn't like this movie? even my 80 year old mother loved it. funny, real, with characters that were likable.. proof that Hollywood can get it right. if you didn't think kristin wiig is a star, you do now.

8) Captain America

The secret for a great superhero movie is that the director and screenwriter must like the character and have a sublet mix of respect and irreverence to the characters origins and their must be a strong villain. Captain America had all of this. It was a crowd pleaser without being too cheesy and had a retro 1940s setting that looked fresh and not to cgi'd. just try to not have fun watching this film.

7) Super 8

i loved Super 8 because it reminded me of movies i loved as a kid. JJ abrams treated his subject and the set of filming itself with the wonder that i felt when i first started liking movies.. it always helps when a filmmaker exudes a true love of film.

6) attack the block

if super 8 reminded me of films i loved when i was a child, attack the block reminds me of movies i loved when i was in Jr high. hip, a little scary and full of attitude, attack the block stepped out of the mid 80s.. it's like the last 25 years never happened. it's a beautiful thing and one of the coolest films to come out of england in a long time.

5) bellflower

it is so hard to find original art these days. it's all been done. then see Bellflower. one of the most original indie films i've seen in a while. full of foreboding, personal apocalypses and a slow descent into madness, this is a film that will stay with you.

4) The Descendants

A charming indie drama with a lot of heart and a stand out performance from george clooney. it is movies like this that enforce my belief that films are the modern day literature. The Descendants examines human relations in an honest and humane way. A small window into a family that we can all relate to.

3) Drive

everything about the story in drive is cliche, but the execution was perfect film making.. expertly paced and beautifully shot, drive is a moody crime drama that stands with the best of michael mann. The violent can be graceful.

2) X-men First Class

Most people didn't like x-men last stand. i felt it was ok, but it didn't leave me too excited for x-men first class. Needless to say i was blown away. I think this is in the top 10 best superhero movies ever made. a great performance by michael fassbender, crowd pleasing cameos and a cold war plot that was believable this film delivered on more counts than i though possible.

1) Sucker Punch

i know i'm one of the few people who would put this on their list , let alone their number 1 movie. I have mad respect for zach snyder. he is the first post video game filmmaker and his aesthetic is visually stunning. his movies are more than empty popcorn flicks. they are state of the art geek cool. Sucker Punch was the most fun i had at the movies all year and met my expectations. i hope Zach explores more original ideas in his future films.

Happy Holidaze from Interboro Rock Tribune!

2011-12-19T06:36:00.001-08:00

A Christmas mix for the ages from your friends at the old dirt road known as the IRT, celebrating our 10th year in print this coming 2012. Happy Festivus, folks!

Tracklist:
1. The Beatles "Christmastime (Is Here Again)"
2. RUN DMC "Christmas In Hollis"
3. Clarence Carter "Back Door Santa"
4. Hall & Oates "Jingle Bell Rock"
5. Otis Redding "Merry Christmas Baby"
6. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town"
7. James Brown "Santa Claus Go Straight To The Ghetto"
8. Louis Armstrong "Zat You, Santa Claus?"
9. Ella Fitzgerald "The Christmas Song"
10. David Bowie and Bing Crosby "Little Drummer Boy"
11. Aimee Mann "You're A Mean One Mr. Grinch"
12. Paul McCartney "Wonderful Christmastime"
13. Billy Squier "Christmas is the Time to Say I Love You"
14. The Who "Christmas"
15. The Kinks "Father Christmas"
16. The Ramones "Merry Christmas (I Don't Want To Fight Tonight)"
17. The Waitresses "Christmas Wrapping"
18. Wham "Last Christmas"
19. U2 "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)"
20. Eels "Christmas Is Going To The Dogs"
21. Billy Childish "Christmas Lights"
22. XTC "Thanks For Christmas"
23. The Pogues "Fairytale in New York"
24. John Lennon "Happy Xmas (War is Over)"
25. Sonic Youth "Santa Doesn't Cop Out On Dope"
26 Esquivel "Auld Lang Syne"

STEPPIN' OUT THIS OLD BROWN SHOE

2011-12-17T04:36:00.000-08:00

A Chat With One of California's Finest Young Bands

by Ron Hart

Brown Shoe is a band of four brothers and one longtime pal from Folsom, California who make music that sounds every bit as epic as that of Coldplay and the Arcade Fire but with a keen perception of good taste. Their second album, The Gift Horse, arrived this past fall and continues to expand upon the group's atmospheric fusion of Red House Painters-esque heaviness and October-era U2 bombast with excellent results. IRT was lucky enough to catch a moment with members Aaron and Ryan Baggaley while they are on the road in support of the new LP, which is available at better record shops in your area.

IRT: Ryan, much of the music on The Gift Horse centers around your experiences while recovering from the rare blood infection you got hit with. Have you been able to find out anything more about your diagnosis and what you learned from this whole ordeal? Was it a one-time thing or something you have to implement preventative measures from letting happen again?

Ryan: It was basically—from what I understand—a freak blood infection they couldn’t figure out how to treat. Along the way they took stabs at every possible terrible thing I could have until something worked or I died. I lived, so that’s cool. It was thankfully a one-time thing and I’ve made a full recovery after putting in lots of hours at the pool to get my lungs back. So now I’m back to doin’ bad shit with my friends.

IRT: What was the biggest lesson or epiphany if you will that you learned or experienced coming out of this situation?

Ryan: That dying isn’t as painful as heartbreak. And always trying to control your world doesn’t allow you to exist in others.

IRT: What records were you guys listening to while creating The Gift Horse and how did these sounds influence the outcome of the record on a sonic level?

Aaron: For the most part we listened to the current mixes while working on the record. It’s not something that we set out to do, necessarily—it’s just how we work. If I we’re to go back to that time—or any time, really—and I just so happened to be in a bar with a juke box, my five bucks would have gone to the Feist version of “Lover’s Spit.” Five dollars worth of “Lover’s Spit.”

IRT: You guys recorded the LP in Folsom. What can you say about the town to sell it to someone who only associates it with the prison?

Aaron: For most people, the allure starts with a romantic idea of an old 49er town wedged into the rolling hills. Twenty years ago, Northern California was littered with towns very similar—nostalgia stores, B&Bs, ice cream shops, cowboys surviving like cockroaches—and if you ask around, you might get a story or two about how it used to be. There’s a draw, I get it, but the older I get the more I feel like the cowboy-cockroach. I could get in to how great it once was, but I think it’s better to just keep the idea of it upstairs, preserved and well-kept like a nostalgia store. It’s changed a lot, and now we just take it for what it is: a safe suburban city-town with a world-class prison and the best tap water in the US.

IRT: When you guys were kids, did you and your siblings ever scope out the prison?

Aaron: We did. Ryan and I used to sneak onto prison grounds, bb guns in hand, and get as close as we could before the guards would fire off warning shots. True story. If only we had bigger guns and could’ve gotten a good look at Charlie Manson or Rick James.

IRT: Why did you guys name the band Brown Shoe? What is the significance of this footwear?

Aaron: We really should have put more thought into our band name. At this point, it feels like our given birth name, and every time I hear it, it’s like hearing my first and middle name in a very stern tone. Like we’re all about to get into some serious trouble.

IRT: How does college radio fit into the world of Brown Shoe? Do you get play on the air and what do you think of colleges and universities cutting college radio programs from their budgets?

Aaron: College radio was the first thing that made us think that we could be a legitimate band, and without it, I’m not sure where we’d be. When we finished our first record, like most bands, we were lost and our only plan was to send out to a bunch of college stations. We ended up getting played on KCRW, which was my first “holy fuck” moment. Weeks later we charted on CMJ and I got a phone call from the CMJ editor asking us what we were up to—Do you have management, label interest, festivals, ect. For all he knew we had made calculated decisions to get to this point when really it was just dumb luck. So yeah, I hate to hear that such a valuable resource for exposing new bands is being cut.

IRT: You say you have a "massive aversion to minor, bluesy, psychotropic music." What groups or albums did you believe fit this description? Are there any exceptions?

Ryan: I just live in a world where I hear things in a major key. I like bittersweet music, and my lyrics are usually the bitter part of that combination. In my head, music should have a pull and a push, and a perfectly-placed minor chord can make the warmth feel warmer. I don’t mind minor, bluesy, psychotropic music. I just avoid it in our music.

IRT: What are your thoughts on the Occupy Wall St. movement?

Aaron: We have varied opinions about Occupy, so we’ll try and keep it short and on point. I’m an optimist and so I look for the good in things. The positives are easy: expression of free speech, fighting for equality, inciting national debate. These ideas are at the core of American ideals but the reaction I've seen from most of America makes it hard to be an optimist. I’ve watched people from both ends of the spectrum stand up against “The Fat Cats in Wall Street,” an idea that crosses party lines.

Yet it seems that from the start, OWS has been trivialized as a bunch of wackadoos with some crazy ideas like "The banks are a bunch of crooks". Which is just hilarious because I don't know anyone who hasn't been f'd by a bank. I guess for some people the idea of urban camping is just too much to handle. There are definite downsides to the movement, but I’ll take these faults over a bedroom culture whose idea of democracy is voting every four years.

Attached is a photo I saw in a Jimmy John's that made a lot of sense to me (left).

IRT: How did the addition of your brother Landon and Chandler Clemons impact the band sound overall, in your opinion?

Aaron: Chandler was our first fifth member. Our sound became larger, naturally. Landon adds an undercurrent of curiosity to everything we play. "Why?" is a very regular part of his vocabulary and will no doubt have an effect on our band for years to come.

BILL ORCUTT: THE IRT INTERVIEW

2011-12-06T18:37:00.000-08:00

A Chat With An Anti-Blues Genius

by Ron Hart

Anyone who has talked seriously with me about music in 2011 knows of my love for the solo output of Bill Orcutt, former guitarist for Miami's premier post-hardcore icons Harry Pussy.

On his own, however, Orcutt has re-imagined himself as a junkyard bluesman who, armed with an old beat-up Kay acoustic guitar and a discarded pickup, records some of the most visceral rotgut folk blues this end of Howlin' Wolf's scorched throat.

This year saw him sign with the excellent Editions MEGO, who reissued his 2009 debut A New Way to Pay Old Debts, in addition to its freshly released, completely unplugged follow-up How The Thing Sings, a pair of modern day blues classics that turns every cliche the last 40 years of white blues performers have inflicted upon the art form and essentially turns it inside out and upside down before dousing it in a vat of acid-drenched D'addario strings.

The following electronic conversation with Mr. Orcutt took place before Thanksgiving. A big thanks to Bill and his stateside publicist, Eric at Forced Exposure, for making this happen.

Both A New Way To Pay Old Debts and How The Thing Sings are available at better record shops everywhere.

IRT: When was the first time you ever heard the blues?

Bill Orcutt: The first time I really remember hearing the blues was seeing Muddy Waters in The Last Waltz. It fucked me up. I was probably 16. I went out the next day and bought his I'm Ready LP. I still have a really clear memory of standing in the record store holding the record in my hands. Much later I used the cover image for one of my own records.

IRT: How did you come into configuring the tunings you utilize for acoustic guitar?

Bill: Well, I remove the A & D strings which is the most distinctive thing about the sound. The tuning is basically the standard E/A/D/G/B/E tuning. On the old beat-up acoustic I usually play I tune it down to avoid snapping the neck, but the pitch relationships are the same. On electric or my other acoustics the pitch is standard. Removing the strings that way pulls the meat off most chords and just leaves you with the bone & some skin. It's a lonesome sound. I started doing it over 20 years ago and it's just become the way I play the guitar.

IRT: What kind of amp settings do you use to gain the sound you achieve in your solo work and do you use any pedals?

Bill: The new record is completely acoustic so there's no amp or pedals there. The previous record I used a pick-up on the acoustic and mixed a bit of amp sound with the sound coming from the guitar itself. I think I wasn't completely comfortable yet with the idea of playing the acoustic. The amp wasn't very loud in the room – just enough to blend in with the sound of the acoustic. I think I was using an Mesa Boogie Mark I. I never use pedals even when I'm playing the electric.

IRT: How did you link up with Editions MEGO? What is it about their ethos as a label that you admire most?

Bill: Peter wrote me to suggest a CD release of A New Way To Pay Old Debts. I was a fan & collector of the old Mego label and was aware of the Editions offshoot. I really dug the Blue Note-like vibe that goes into the mastering, pressing and presentation of their releases and wanted to have a record on the label.

IRT:What is the story behind all of those Stevie Ray Vaughan picks on the cover of How The Thing Sings?

Bill: I'm kind of obsessed with classic rock and when I was researching cover ideas for the Mego record, I stumbled across the Stevie Ray Vaughan picks on a pick collector website. It seemed like a good image to represent the culture of classic rock and white blues.

IRT: Who are some of your heroes on the acoustic guitar and how do you feel they shape your own style?

Bill: I've got a ton of guitar heroes : Fred Gerlach, Joseph Spence, Richie Havens, Mississippi Fred McDowell, R.L. Burnside's early acoustic records, Carlos Montoya, etc. I'm always looking for stuff to steal and these are guys who have something I need. I love 'em for different reasons, but they all have a certain freedom I'm looking for in a hero.

IRT: Do you ever play any Harry Pussy songs live acoustically?

Bill: I wish. I can't remember any Harry Pussy songs.

IRT: Has Harry Pussy been invited to reunite and perform at any of these festivals going down throughout the year? Are you adverse to the idea of reforming?

Bill: No, we've never been invited to reunite. Reforming seems unlikely because of our interests, schedules, responsibilities, geographic locations, etc.

IRT: Has there been any talk of reissuing the HP catalog?

Bill: Not from the band. Maybe someday if the right offer comes along…

IRT: What kind of music are you listening to these days?

Bill: Same stuff I always do – As I'm typing this I'm listening to the Bartok String Quartets which is something probably everybody should hear. I just got the Miles Davis '67 quintet triple CD thing that just came out. That's a great record, been listening to that a lot. And Dylan always, probably everyday. I tend to listen to the same records over and over again for some reason.

Dear Michele

2011-11-26T09:32:00.000-08:00

By Greg Maniha

Dear Michele,

I wish to make it clear that I am in no way attempting to “apologize” on behalf of The Roots or ?uestlove. The Roots have more than earned their artistic credibility and as such, they have no reason to explain themselves to the likes of me, or some network president for that matter. For Iladelph Halflife alone, The Roots have secured their place in music history, but of course, there is far more within their body of work that makes love to the ears and the soul. Great, so now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, let’s focus on the task at hand, shall we?

I originally thought about focusing this piece on the blatant double standard dominating conservative media that Michele Bachman ran crying like a baby to once she discovered The Roots were actually making fun of her. It seemed like a good idea at the time to discuss the sudden awareness on the part of Fox News for the treatment of women in the professional world that was suspiciously absent when Herman Cain’s professional conduct was at issue. I had every intention of shedding light on the fact that conservative public figures whether candidates or media personalities have no issue dishing out the nasty comments to the other side yet when the other side bites back, they suddenly reveal their thin skin and cry like babies, but then I remembered how aware of this the majority of us are and figured, “where’s the fun in that?” Indeed, the very thought of The Roots playing Fishbone’s “Lyin Ass Bitch” for the intro music of Michele Bachman during her appearance on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon was in and of itself, “fun.” It was right then and there that I knew I needed to keep the “fun” going myself!

Dearest Michele, I know the chances of you reading this will be slim to none, still, in the interest of feeding the sense of entitlement you possess, you deserve nothing less than some helpful suggestions for intro music should you ever be invited back to the medium that is late night television. Granted, if I had to guess, I would say the house bands on pretty much any late night program wouldn’t take kindly towards any attempt on your part to take possession of their artistic control, but hey, you seem to have a desire to be in charge of everything else for the benefit of you and you alone, so why not give it a shot? If nothing else, you might get a smile when you’re told where to go or when you’re told to shut that hole you eat pie with. Since you love smiling as you demonize the gay community, the African-American community, and children that suffer from constant bullying, I already know you’ll feel right at home with this kind of response. Just as a little caveat before we continue, my suggestions will range from your “psychological stability” to the “beacon of tolerance” that is Michele and Marcus Bachman, so, without further delay, here are my suggestions to you.

-Psycho Killer – Talking Heads – This, Michele Bachman, quite frankly, would be a perfect song for you. I’m sure it wasn’t written about you, but my god, it should have been. There are both individual lines and entire verses that seriously speak volumes to you. The opening line alone of “I can’t seem to face up to the facts” simply speaks volumes in your direction. If that’s not enough, “ you start a conversation, you can’t even finish it. You’re talking a lot, but you’re not saying anything. When I have nothing to say, my lips are sealed. Say something once, why say it again?” is a verse that describes you to the letter!

-You’re Crazy – Guns N’ Roses – In continuing with the topic of rock solid “psychological stability,” when you change one word from “boy” to girl, we end up with yet another picture perfect description of you. It’s like a gift that keeps on giving. Here, read this and see what you think! “Say girl where you’re coming from, Where’d you get that point of view, When I was younger, I knew a motherfucker like you.” Yet again, it’s like the song jumped out and wrote itself for you!

-They’re Coming To Take Me Away – Napoleon XIV – Okay, perhaps this song represents wishful thinking on my part (I KID YOU MICHELE, ERR, UH, HONEST!) but I promise this will be the final installment that centers around “psychological stability.”

-Boom Bye Bye – Buju Banton – Michele, I had to think carefully about this and it is with hesitation that I included it. On the one hand, I know it’s perfect for your penchant towards tolerance of the gay community. Indeed, Jamaican dancehall offerings are loaded with like-minded feelings towards our gay brothers and sisters. Take this little line from “Boom Bye Bye” as an example, “(Two Man) hitch up on and rub up on, An lay down inna bed, Hug up on another, Anna feel up leg, Send fi di matic an di uzi instead.” This song says, I am Michele Bachman and I love the gay community…oh wait, it doesn’t say that at all! It actually says, I am Michele Bachman and I would love nothing more than to kill the gay community, which is pretty much the message you’ve sent. You’re most likely wondering why I hesitated to include this suggestion and the answer, Michele Bachman, is actually a very simple one. I started to feel sympathy for poor Marcus. Should you decide to choose this song as your intro music, little miss Marcus would be afraid to come home. Without Marcus by your side, what would become of all those lovely garden parties and not to mention, that fabulous dance he did on camera revealing his preference to the world. I am not a proponent of demonizing the fabulous Miss Marcus Bachman even if he wishes to demonize all others like himself. I’m “behind” him all the way. Because I don’t wish to strike fear into the heart of Miss Bachman the way he has with so many, I decided the only remedy was to include this song for you and dedicate my next one to him. So, Michele Bachman, if you want the lovely garden party upon returning home from your next late night appearance, might I suggest this next title as your intro music.

-If You Were Gay – Avenue Q- This, Michele Bachman, is dedicated exclusively to Miss Marcus because we want her, uh, I mean, him to feel safe and unthreatened when you come home to him. The last thing I wish to see happen is for Miss Bachman to get so upset that he cries and never dances on camera at a state fair ever again. My god, watching that disappear from our eyes doesn’t even bear thinking about. Still, be careful with this one because at the same time, the last thing you wish to do is even come close to showing the slightest bit of tolerance for our gay brothers and sisters. What would you do with one less segment of the population to demonize? That would be even scarier than Miss Bachman crying over a Buju Banton song.

-Strange Fruit – Billie Holiday – While we’re on the subject of tolerance, Michele Bachman, this was the first song I thought of when you signed that Christian conservative pledge that stated our African American brothers and sisters were better off during slavery. “Southern trees bear strange fruit, Blood on the leaves and blood at the root, Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze, Strange fruit hanging from the popular trees” might be an appropriate intro for you, but be warned, Billie Holiday intended for this to be an anti lynching and anti racist song, so perhaps a Johnny Rebel song might be more appropriate for you. I won’t recommend it myself because, well, I find his work revolting, but you might like it.

-Don’t Dream It’s Over – Crowded House – One line says it all, “Hey Now, hey now, don’t dream it’s over!”

-Running On Empty – Jackson Browne – Just in case you’re not quite ready to accept certain realities from the previous recommendation, you could always fall back on this Jackson Browne classic.

-Stay – Otis Redding – I’ll include this but I’m kind of yanking it at the same time because the last thing I would ever wish to do is mislead you. The promoter DOES MIND, and the union DOES MIND if you stay, so it wouldn’t be fair to recommend this title to you. Still, what a great song it is! I have both Otis and the prior suggestion to thank for even considering it. Oh well, if unions liked you I guess it might have worked for a second the same way it worked for both Otis Redding when he first released it and Jackson Browne on that history making day he performed it at Merriweather Post Pavilion as the encore, but I guess that’s not quite you now, is it!

-It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue – Bob Dylan – I think, Michele Bachman, we have a winner here with old Zimmerman! This doesn’t so much express you as much as it expresses the general feeling of the majority of the nation. I know what you’re thinking, “but the people elected me to the House Of Representatives!” Am I right? Well, fair enough, but that’s just one district in a nation of 350 million. It’s fair to say that the majority of America is getting kind of annoyed with your style of demonizing and dividing as a method of propelling yourself into the spotlight. There are many lines in this song, but I will cite only one, “Strike another match, girl, start anew, and it’s all over now baby blue.” PERFECT!

In closing, Michele Bachman, perhaps it would have been best to either keep your mouth shut and get through the experience the way our far more classy Michelle (that would be Michelle Obama) handled a group of idiots booing her when she appeared at a NASCAR event with a decorated veteran and children to get things started. Clearly that wasn’t possible for you and look what happened. We’re only laughing harder now at the whining by the original mean girl of presidential politics. As for me, I’m really nowhere near as good at this as The Roots are. They are, in fact, much better at what they do than you are at what you do (what exactly do you do?) Perhaps it might be a good idea to take a cue from one of their song titles. “Never do, what they do” because you kinda suck at it. In the future, if The Roots or anybody else decides to play “Lyin Ass Bitch” by Fishbone as your intro music, take it as a compliment that you’re worthy of even being associated with Fishbone. Though I do have one tiny little suggestion for our iconic hip-hop legends. Imagine how funny it would have been had The Roots decided at the last second to accompany your introduction with Lily Allen’s “Fuck You.” That, Michele Bachman, would have been unbeatable! As a matter of fact, I would guess there’s a greater chance you would have known that song immediately which means we would have actually been able to witness your hissy fit, but once again, The Roots are better at this than I am and as such, they understood the art of subtlety. Oh well, you fantasize about being the president and we fantasize about watching you make a complete ass of yourself. It’s pretty safe to say we get what we want far more often than you get what you want. I wish you the best of luck with the remainder of your campaign and will miss your leading lady Marcus when you’re gone. Seriously, that dance and that wave were beyond priceless! Take good care now!

Greg Maniha

11/26/11

PAUL MOTIAN 1931-2011

2011-11-22T21:28:00.000-08:00

The IRT mourns the passing of one of the greatest jazz drummers to slap a trap, Mr. Paul Motian, who died in his beloved Manhattan on Tuesday November 22, 2011 from complications surrounding the rare blood and bone marrow disorder called myelodysplastic syndrome.

Please visit the Columbia University campus radio station today, WKCR-FM, as they are playing a 24-hour long tribute to Motian by digging deep into the crates for some of his greatest performances of the last 50 years as both a bandleader and a sideman for such talents as Bill Evans, Thelonious Monk, Paul Bley, Keith Jarrett, Arlo Guthrie, Don Cherry, Bill Frisell, Lee Konitz and Charlie Haden to name but a few.

His drum work in the piano trio setting with Evans and Jarrett, however, is some of the greatest rhythmic intimacy you will ever hear in your life, and one needs to look no further than The Bill Evans Trio's essential 1961 recording Sunday at the Village Vanguard and Keith Jarrett's 1968 classic Somewhere Before for proof of that statement.

For more information regarding the passing of this great scion of the snare, read Ben Ratliff's eloquent obituary in The New York Times.

And make sure to check out one of Motian's finest and final performances on acetate by picking up the outstanding 2011 ECM release Live at Birdland featuring Paul with Konitz, Haden and Brad Mehldau.

3:33 The IRT Interview

2011-11-17T05:17:00.000-08:00

Story by Ron Hart

If you've ever stumbled upon Infowars, the aggregate news website run by Texas conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, there is a guaranteed chance you've heard about Bohemian Grove, a campground located in Monte Rio, California that hosts a two-week, three-weekend encampment of some of the most powerful men in the world every July. The strange dalliances practiced by this clandestine society of one percenters is said to be so bizarre they could never be accurately interpreted by mere words. However, the unabashed creep factor of this retreat is perfectly suited for the otherwordly instrumental hip-hop of 3:33, a mysterious collective helping to keep the East Coast rap scene's toes in the avant-garde with a unique offshoot of beatmaking you can call "hiss-hop". Live from the Grove is their third full-length, and exhibits everything that makes these cats such a unique entity in its art form. IRT recently had the opportunity to speak with two of the members of the group (who wish to remain anonymous) over the Internets. Here's what went down.

And oh yeah, do yourself a favor and dive headfirst into the cosmic crunk of the 3:33 catalog if the more abstract aspects of Brainfeeder and the late, great Def Jux are your bag.

IRT: What is the significance of the time 3:33 in the context of the group's name?

Member 1: It's not exactly about the time 3:33 but what that small group of numbers meant for us. We started working on material a few years ago without a group name. As we got deeper into the recording process the numbers felt like that were following us.

Member 2: That time and the number 333 was something that kept popping up in a very synchronized and coincidental way. It just made sense for us to call the group that when that number was a big part of the reason we even started making this music the way that we did. I still haven't come to any conclusions as to what it might mean, but there is definitely something strange going on. If I had to guess I would say that the number is an easily identifiable symbol that is being used to communicate something?

IRT: What initially piqued your interest in Bohemian Grove?

Member 1: Its the veil of mystery that surrounds the grove. The stories, and theories that the grove conjures up. A lot of people are familiar with the conspiracy theories surrounding the Bohemian Grove Club and its further embellishment by guys like Alex Jones. Don't get me wrong, there is a elite group of men that gather there once a year for their little political pow wow, but what attracted us is the air of mystery in those woods and the sense of anxiousness it creates. For that reason we decided to record the album out there.

Member 2: When we were working on our first material someone brought an owl into the basement we were in and decapitated it. Not a real owl but a statue. We took pictures of different areas of the room we were in and incorporated it into our artwork. The owl was a symbol used for the Bohemian Club and has been spotted on the dollar bill and other places in relation to secret society's and things of that nature. Once the connection was made we thought it would be the perfect venue for 3:33 to perform so we did the closest thing possible; we went out there and recorded an album.

IRT: What are your thoughts on the layout of the 2012 presidential election as it stands today?

Member 1: It’s a tough one for sure. I almost feel bad for Obama, because he was put in power after terrible 8 years under Bush’s rule, right at that tipping point. With the rise of the tea party, the collapse of the western world's economies, this upcoming election will be important. But lately I have been questioning how far our individual votes really go.

Member 2: I haven't payed too much attention. I have never exercised my right to vote and I am not convinced that the president is as important as they are made out to be. What business does he have doing commercial cameo's for George Lopez? In addition, I don't think anybody really knows what is going on or how to solve the nation's problems, assuming that they want to. On a whole, I think the American government has deviated drastically from its original purpose and people have been convinced that our form of "capitalism" equals freedom...You need a lot of money to run for president. I don't like politics. You don't know who you can trust...I usually look to Noam Chomsky for some insight. He doesn't seem to have an agenda and is both very informed and intelligent.

IRT: Who were some hip-hop producers that inspired you guys to go in a more beat-oriented direction? Did you guys always start out making beats or did your music evolve from another style?

Member 1: Hip-Hop is always going to be the foundation for our records, and the majority of that influence comes from, Pete Rock, RZA, Prince Paul, Havoc, Godfather Don; mostly NY producers from the mid to early 90’s. In terms of sounds, we try to bridge the gap between earlier NY hip-hop, and incorporate the soundscape of John Cage, Pierre Schaeffer and the their school of Musqiue Concrete, and meld it with Tangerine Dream, David Axelrod & the Mahavishnu Orchestra.

Member 2: There are a lot of hip-hop producers that inspire me, i would have to say RZA is probably the most influential. He did the 'Ghost Dog' score which was beat-oriented and showed the ability for hip-hop to be more than just the type of beats to party and rhyme to. Also, a producer named Sift I met in like 2002. Sampling in general is one of my biggest inspirations and artists like DJ Krush and DJ Spooky have done some really good stuff. I started off playing an instrument then messing around with a cheap keyboard and cutting my own tape loops. Eventually I bought some samplers and sequencers. Experimenting with sounds and electronics and developing my own style or styles. 3:33 has evolved out of a lot of different musical influences but is really something inspired by real life experiences and is intended to be a reflection of that. I just try to make the music I wish someone else was making.

IRT: What aspect of John Cage's music theory most informs your method of creation?

Member 1: We almost take the approach of his famous piece 4”33”. We obviously agree with him about the importance of listening in particular to every detail of the track. Which is why the most important part of our tracks involves the sound design and sequencing. Knowing which frequencies work with each other. The balancing act of creating something experimental and something easy to listen to.

Member 2: I would say his experimentation, but even more so, his use of the I-Ching and chance best reflect the process of 3:33.

IRT: What prompted you guys to remix Company Flow's Krazy Kings III? How did the mix come about? How about Cannibal Ox?

Member 2: I really wanted to hear Vordul and Bigg Jus over our music. Those are two of the most innovative emcees that came out around their time. The Cold Vein and Funcrusher Plus are two of my favorite hip-hop albums. Once we had the acapellas, we had to mess around with them. They both have done some really dope solo stuff since then...I would really like to work with both of them.

IRT: Are you cognizant of whether or not El-P has heard the remixes?

Member 1: I know the label emailed him the mixes and got at him via Twitter and such. I'm sure he has his Google alerts on, and has seen the remixes. Whether he bothered to give them a spin I don't know.

Member 2: I assume he has. It would be interesting to know what he thought.

IRT: Do you have any other remix ideas in the pipeline? Have you guys ever thought of doing an entire mixtape?

Member 1: There are a few more remixes planned, the next one is a one for G-Side. We will probably knock out a few more and release them together with the instrumentals on cassette tape next year. We are just floating around titles and concepts for the project. We actually remixed the majority of the Cold Vein, but don’t have any immediate plans to release it.

IRT: The artwork to your records is phenomenal. Given that, are you guys still positive that physical product will win out over the digital medium in the end? Or at least keep its head above water? Why or why not?

Member 1: Thanks, all of our artwork is created by Kevin Vitella, who is too talented. I believe that the physical medium will always exist in one form or another. The reassurance in vinyl and cassette tapes is further proof of its longevity. I eventually think CD's will go the same route and remain popular in the collector market. The digital format scares me though, because it is eliminating so much. Look no further than what the kindle/e-readers are doing to print. Books are slowly joining the ranks of vinyl as the new member of the niche collector market.

Member 2: I think physical product will always be around. I would never pay for a computer file. If I want to pay and have MP3s, I would rather just buy the CD and have both...On the other side digital sales are a good way for artists to make money without paying for the cost of physical products. But, I prefer physical over digital. It is almost as much a part of the music to me as the music itself.

IRT: What is the significance of the owl as your logo?

Member 2: Going back to question 2, the owl was something that just happened to be there during the recording when we took that picture. If it wasn’t down there at that time, I highly doubt it would have been in our artwork. The owl began manifesting itself elsewhere which led to further developments in our forthcoming projects. i think its significance is something we have continued to find out about ourselves after we made it our "logo". Everything involved in 3:33 almost feels as if its being controlled by external forces.

IRT: Have you guys toyed with the idea of adding any kind of MC element to your music or is that a slippery slope on which you wish not to travel?

Member 2: I think the purpose of our music is better conveyed without that. I still would like to do something with Vordul, Bigg Jus and a small handful of other artists. Most of our stuff is made to be instrumental, but I like hearing certain artists on top of it. Parallel Thought presented us with the remix idea from the song they did with MF Doom, and that spawned a series...

Member 1: Out of that came the idea to do these remixes we have been releasing. We aren’t opposed to the idea of a vocalist on our albums, but as it stands now, they work much better as instrumental records.

IRT: What is your favorite conspiracy theory and how invested in its believability are you?

Member 1: There are so many from the classic William Cooper, to the laughable but highly enjoyable, David Icke. I enjoy the NASA conspiracies, not just the moon landing stuff, or the man on mars. Supposedly, NASA was or still could be activating “Project Blue Beam”. Which is a multi-step worldwide project. The first step involves NASA causing planned earthquakes around the world. Destroying key geographical points, bringing about “new world discoveries” Proving all religions wrong and basically breaking apart our belief systems. What they would discover, I don’t know. The next phase is a sort of fireworks display in the sky. NASA is going to project holographic images across the globe to match different religious faiths, and speak directly to us. At the same time that is going on, we are going to see massive lights, beams, lasers, an all out intense visionary & auditory experience. There's a lot more to the project that I won't go into to. I want to believe in it.

Member 2: The Lincoln and Kennedy parallels are interesting. One that I don't hear much about is that people involved with Haliburton blew up the levees when Katrina hit. I don't necessarily believe any conspiracy's that I have heard, I haven't discounted many either though. But anything involving 2Pac's death and the 7 Day Theory might be my favorite if that count's. I think the most "believable" theories involve population control and monetary policy. I also have a few of my own theories that I find very believable that I would rather not share at the moment.

IRT: If you could exhume a president from history to run in the 2012 election, who would it be and why?

Member 1: William Taft, a former Bonesman and member of the Bohemian Grove. Before he entered the White House, he was part of “The Brotherhood of Death” , ran with the numbers 322 and worshiped the goddess Eulogia. It would be interesting to see his reaction to the world about eighty years after his death.

Member 2: JFK. He didn't get his full four years and he probably would have went another four. I wouldn't mind seeing what he would do today.

IRT: What annoys you most about the current state of hip-hop and why?

Member 2: When artists say their album has no samples and call it Hip-hop. The word itself has been given a new meaning i.e. "hip-hop dance classes". Hip-hop is about DJ's, B-Boys, Emcees & Writers, sampling, breaking, rhyming and bombing. There should be a new genre called pop-hop. It is deprived of originality. There are always exceptions but it just lacks the raw energy and creativeness it used to have. Now a lot of older guys are trying to fit in with the younger crowd. There is a big disconnect between generations and everyone wants to make money and play dress-up. To be an artist and make a living off of music is a huge blessing. Anyone who makes art and thinks they deserve money is not a true artist at all. Kool Herc and Coke la Rock didn't put their time and energy into Hip-hop to make money. Now we have no talent over night gimmicks making money while the pioneers have been left with basically nothing. Hip-hop has lost its craftsmanship. A lot of the better artists around now are not reaching their potential because they are compromising with the current state of hip-hop. Most of the people that i have met that have their heart and mind the right place in terms of the culture tend to make pretty bland music. I am also annoyed at people quoting Lil Wayne as the best rapper alive, or even that he is considered in the discussion, especially when people like Rakim, Kool G Rap, Nas, Black Thought, etc. etc. etc. are all still alive and well.

Member 1: The cheap production/engineering that artists are getting away with. The majority of this new music sounds so disorganized and sloppy.

IRT: Who are some of your favorite new acts that people should get up on?

Member 2: I'm not sure about new but as far as Hip-hop goes Roc Marciano for sure, Gene the Southern Child, Curren$y, Loer Velocity, Ekundayo and one of my personal favorites Megalon a.k.a. Tommy Gunn. I also like this artist Htrspltn out of Russia who does illbient experimental type stuff. I've mostly been listening to older stuff recently like Master P's 'Toon Killaz', Kool G Rap '4,5,6' The Roots 'Illadelph Halflife', Scienz of Life 'Forthcoming by Day' album, CNN, Do or Die, etc.

Member 1: Both of Andy Stott’s new records are amazing. I’m enjoying the majority of music from Tri Angle records, particularly Holy Other. King Midas Sound, Black Chow, basically anything The Bug is involved in. I also have been enjoying new records from HTRK, Gang Dance, Raime, 2562, Falty DL, Zomby, Thundercat and anything coming out on Not Not Fun & 100% Silk. The Numero Group have been on point this year with Stone Coal White. Fathers Children & their amazing record store day title Pressed At Boddie. Hip-Hop on the other hand has been pretty boring save for Roc Marciano, Action Bronson, Currency & Danny Brown.

NEW YORK RECORD SHOP PIONEER ALAN MELTZER DEAD AT 67

2011-11-01T13:57:00.000-07:00

The old Titus Oaks Record Exchange on Old Country Road in Hicksville, NY, is the very first independent record shop I set foot in over 25 years ago, sending me on my way for a quarter century of crate digging to which I still cite as my primary leisure of choice.

And it is with a heavy heart that I bring the news of the passing of Alan Meltzer, the man who opened up the first Titus Oaks in Brooklyn back in the late 60s before launching CD One Stop, one of the largest wholesale distributors of CDs back in the 80s and 90s before starting Wind-Up Records, a label responsible for both one of the best groups of the last 20 years in The Wrens and the absolute worst band quite possibly in American rock history in Creed. Nevertheless, the man was a pioneer of the independent record store template that is slowly growing extinct as the digital format continues to eat through the viability of tangible music goods like CDs and vinyl like MRSA. It was recently announced, however, that American Idol Season 10 finalist James Durbin, the kid responsible for introducing Judas Priest and Zakk Wylde to the Tweeting tweens the world over, signed with Wind-Up for a multi-album deal.

I had the opportunity to speak with Alan about 10 years ago when I was writing a story for SHOUT Magazine about the endangerment of indie record shops and he was as gracious as he was cantankerous and I am very sorry to hear of his passing.

For more information on the death of Alan Meltzer, please check out Matthew Perpetua's piece in Rolling Stone. -Ed.

fanatic vol 1

2011-10-24T10:05:00.001-07:00

Henry rollins never ceases to amaze me. music, film, writing, radio host, the guy has done it all. and still has hours left over to listen and research music. fanatic is detailed guide to the music he played on his radio show Harmony in My Head. it is a truly informative and humorous way to be introduced to hundreds of elusive songs and bands. rollins has done his homework with this one, he gives a background on each song and info on how to find it yourself if you are so inclined. that's rollins for you. always making the rest of us look lazy..

THE IRT GUIDE TO UPCOMING RELEASES: Fall-Winter 2011-12 Edition

2011-10-18T16:31:00.000-07:00

Here is a list of the stuff coming out through February of next year that we are most excited to add to the stacks. Mark yr. calendars. -Ed.

11-01
The Beach Boys: SMiLE Sessions [Capitol/EMI]
Blouse: Blouse [Captured Tracks]
U2: Achtung Baby- 2 CD Deluxe Edition [Island Records]

11-08
JS Bach/Dan Tepfer Goldberg Variations/Variations (Sunnyside)
Dwarr Starting Over (Drag City)
Carlos Paredes Guitarra Portuguesa/Movimento Perpetua (reissues) (Drag City)
The Juan Maclean Everybody Get Close (DFA)
David Lynch: Crazy Clown Time [Sunday Best Recordings/PIAS America]
DRC Music: Kinshasa One Two [Warp]
Luke Roberts: Big Bells and Dime Songs [Thrill Jockey]
Oneohtrix Point Never: Replica [Software]
Pink Floyd: Wish You Were Here - Immersion Box Set [EMI]
Randy Newman Live in London (Nonesuch)
200 Years 200 Years (Drag City)
Hubble Hubble Drums (Northern Spy)
Billy Joel Piano Man: Legacy Edition (Columbia-Legacy)
This Mortal Coil HDCD Box Set (4AD)

11-15
Can: Tago Mago [Reissue] [Spoon/Mute]
Elvis Costello: "Return of the Spectacular Spinning Songbook (Deluxe Edition) [Hip-O]
J-ROCC: Some Cold Rock Stuff [Stones Throw]
Kate Bush: 50 Words for Snow [Fish People/EMI]
Kieran Hebden, Steve Reid, Mats Gustafsson: Live at the South Bank [Smalltown Superjazz]
Olivia Tremor Control: Music From the Unrealized Film Script: Dusk at Cubist Castle andBlack Foliage: Animation Music Vol 1. [Chunklet Industries]
PTERODACTYL: Spills Out [Jagjaguwar]
R.E.M.: Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage: 1982-2011 [Warner Bros.]
Salva: Yellobone EP [Friends of Friends]
The Who Quadrophenia: The Director's Cut (Universal)
The Oh Sees Carrion Crawler/The Dream (In The Red)
Tycho Dive (Ghostly International)
Sea Lions Everything YOU Wanted To Know About Sea Lions But Were Afraid To Ask (Slumberland)
The Crystal Stilts Radiant Door EP (Sacred Bones)
Ray Charles Singular Genius: The Complete ABC Singles (Concord)

11-21
The Rolling Stones: Some Girls [Deluxe Edition] [Hip-O]
The Rolling Stones Some Girls Live in Texas DVD (Eagle Rock)

11-22
Common: The Dream, The Believer [G.O.O.D. Music]
The Skull Defekts: "2013-3012" 12" [Thrill Jockey]
Ty Segall Singles 2007-2010 (Goner REcords)
Wooden Wand and the Briarwood Virgins Briarwood (Fire Records)
Desertshore Drawing of Threes (Caldo Verde)
Doomtree No Kings (Doomtree Records)

11-25
Boris New Album (Sargent House)
John Cale Extra Playful EP (Domino)
Oval OvalDNA (Shitkatapult)

11-29
Gorillaz The Singles Collection: 2001-2011 (Virgin)
Nurse with Wound The Iron Soul of Nothing (Ideologic Organ)
Young Antiques A Man, Not A Biography (Two Sheds Records)
Smashing Pumpkins Gish/Siamese Dream Deluxe Editions (EMI)

12-6
The Black Keys El Camino (Nonesuch)
The Fall Ersatz GB (Cherry Red)
Terror Visions (Jay Reatard) World of Shit reissue (FDH)
The Roots Undun (Def Jam)
Mux Mool Planet High School (Ghostly International)
The Light 1102/2011 EP (Hacienda)

12-20
Rush Time Machine: Live in Cleveland 2011 DVD (Zoe/Rounder)

12-27
Pearl Jam Twenty (DVD) (Sony)

1-1-12
Guided By Voices Let's Go Eat The Factory (GBV, Inc.)

1-10-12
The Little Willies For the Good Times (Milking Bull-EMI)

1-17-12
Kathleen Edwards Voyageur (produced by Edwards and Justin Vernon and featuring guests Norah Jones, Vernon, Phil Cook of Megafaun and Brian Moen of Peter Wolf Crier) (Zoe-Rounder)

1-24-12
Laura Gibson La Grande (Barsuk)

2-7-12
Ben Kweller Go Fly A Kite (The Noise Company)

2-28-12
Pink Floyd The Wall: Immersion Edition (EMI)
Fanfarlo Rooms Filled With Light (Canvasback-Atlantic)

In honor of Steve Jobs...

2011-10-07T03:41:00.000-07:00

Some old school Apple...

Mystery House

Castle Wolfenstein (early IDM/Industrial)

Karateka (first Apple game I ever played -Ed.)

Oregon Trail

Lode Runner

R.I.P. R.E.M.

2011-09-21T15:14:00.000-07:00

"A wise man once said--'the skill in attending a party is knowing when it's time to leave.' We built something extraordinary together. We did this thing. And now we're going to walk away from it... I hope our fans realize this wasn't an easy decision; but all things must end, and we wanted to do it right, to do it our way." -Michael Stipe, announcing the breakup of alt rock pioneers R.E.M. today on the group's Web site.

Please enjoy this tribute to a great American band who provided over 30 years of outstanding music that pulled from every cool artist and band you should have gotten into back in the day. Sorry to see you go. Thanks for helping me find my voice in high school. -Ed.

"Orange Crush" Live on Top of the Pops 1989:

"Turn You Inside Out"

"Every Day Is Yours To Win"

"I Remember California" (Live from Tourfilm)

"Disturbance at the Heron House" (Live on MTV unplugged 1991)

"Carnival of Sorts" (Live Wire NYC, 1983)

Peforming Syd Barrett's "Dark Globe" in London, 1991:

"All The Way To Reno"

"Nightswimming" (Live on Jools Holland, 1992)

LOU REED AND METALLICA REVEAL TRACK LISTING FOR LULU

2011-09-06T17:44:00.000-07:00

With two 11-minute long songs and one 19-and-a-half-minute epic, the heavily anticipated union between the West Coast's kings of metal and the East Coast's emperor of cool could turn out to be either like The Blue Mask meets ...And Justice For All or something achingly akin to Metal Machine Music meets St. Anger, which I don't think any of us want any part of, right? I guess we will all have to wait until Halloween to find out...

Here's some spiel on the album from the supergroup's special Web site followed by the track listing:

"Lulu" was inspired by German expressionist writer Frank Wedekind's plays "Earth Spirit" and "Pandora's Box," which tell a story of a young abused dancer's life and relationships and are now collectively known as the "Lulu Plays." Since their publication in the early 1900's, the plays have been the inspiration for a silent film ("Pandora's Box," 1929), an opera, and countless other creative endeavors. Originally the lyrics and musical landscape were sketched out by Lou for a theatrical production in Berlin, but after coming together with the 'Tallica boys for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame concerts in New York in 2009 all guilty parties knew they wanted to make more music together. Lou was inspired enough by that performance to recently ask the band to join him in taking his theatrical "Lulu" piece to the next level and so starting in early May of this year we were all camped out recording at HQ studios in Northern California, bringing us to today and ten complete songs.

1. Brandenburg Gate (4:19)

2. The View (5:17)

3. Pumping Blood (7:24)

4. Mistress Dread (6:52)

5. Iced Honey (4:36)

6. Cheat On Me (11:26)

7. Frustration (8:33)

8. Little Dog (8:01)

9. Dragon (11:08)

10. Junior Dad (19:28)

Thank you. -Ed.

Metallica and Lou Reed playing "Sweet Jane":

Hair High (the graphic novel)

2011-09-06T09:54:00.000-07:00

Bill Plympton is known as known for his surreal illustrations and textured style and this adaption of his feature film Hair High is no exception. what could be a cliche ghost story is turned into a mindbending look at high school. one we all can relate to... plympton's exaggerated drawings take simple high school issues and makes them look how they all felt when we were that young, huge and distorted and horrible. Once again graphic literature hits us in the heart by being direct and honest.

Watch the Trailer for Martin Scorcese's George Harrison: Living In The Material World

2011-08-23T19:16:00.000-07:00

A beautiful homage to a beautiful man. It's hard to believe 10 years has passed since the Quiet One lost his valiant battle with cancer. His death still ripples through the waters of time.

"George's music always spoke directly to me," Martin Scorsese recently Rolling Stone in regards to his first Beatle-related music documentary, which joins the likes of The Last Waltz and Bob Dylan: No Direction Home in the filmmaker's credit roll. "So directly that I don't think I realized just how inspiring he'd been for me until I made the picture."

Look for this documentary to air on HBO October 5 and 6th.

Tom Waits Announces New Album, Hosts "Private Listening Party"

2011-08-23T18:24:00.000-07:00

In the true nature of one of rock's great seers, Tom Waits utilized the Internet to announced the release of his next album, Bad As Me, due out on October 25th via the Anti- label, by hosting a private listening party broadcast over YouTube.

From the sound of this hilarious short, the music on Tom's first new album in seven years sounds like its gonna be a goodie.

Track List:
01. Chicago 02. Raised Right Men 03. Talking At The Same Time 04. Get Lost 05. Face To The Highway 06. Pay Me 07. Back In The Crowd 08. Bad As Me 09. Kiss Me 10. Satisfied 11. Last Leaf 12. Hell Broke Luce 13. New Year's Eve

For more information, head over to www.tomwaits.com

cla$$war

2011-08-09T15:35:00.000-07:00

Cla$$war is another superhero story for grown ups by Com-x. A chaotic establishing challenging 21st century deconstruction. A 00's Watchmen. The nationalism that arose in the post 9/11 is the perfect target for superhero fiction. Cla$$war uses a superhero to represent the american spirit. a spirit that transcends the efforts of those in charge to distort it and make it ugly. It's a spirit of rebelliouness and indivudality that cannot be distilled or manipulated. we will not abide being lied to. once again comics prove to be a great medium for examining the times we live in.

QUEENSRYCHE AT THE MAYO

2011-08-05T03:38:00.000-07:00

While the world is preparing the unveiling of the documentary celebrating the 20th anniversary of the mighty Pearl Jam, another great Seattle band who doesn't quite get their fair share of accolades these days is also celebrating a milestone in the creative timeline as well. That being Queensryche, who came together in 1981 with a shared love for Pink Floyd and Judas Priest and created one of the most distinct sounds to grace heavy metal in the Reagan era and are now on tour in commemoration of their 30th anniversary as well as in support of their new album, Dedicated to Chaos, easily their best work since Empire.

IRT was on hand for their fourth stop on the six-month long trek at the Mayo Center's Community Theatre in Morristown, NJ, where the group dug deep into their extensive catalog to span the entirety of their career. And while our cut-off was 1993's Promised Land album, leaving us scratching our heads a bit for about half the show over what song was from 1997's Hear in the Now Frontier and what was from 2009's American Soldier, it was the moments when they broke out the gold, such as "The Lady Wore Black" from the first EP, a killer version of "Screaming in Digital" off Rage for Order and a transcendent performance of "Eyes of A Stranger" off their 1988 concept masterpiece Operation: Mindcrime that made the evening a special one.

Setlist:
01 Get Started
02 Damaged
03 I Don't Believe in Love
04 Hit the Black
05 The Hands
06 A Dead Man's Words
07 At 30,000 Feet
08 Rhythm of Hope
09 Real World
10 NM 156
11 Screaming in Digital
12 The Lady Wore Black
13 Walk in the Shadows
14 The Right Side of My Mind
15 Around the World
16 Silent Lucidity
Encore:
17 Jet City Woman
18 Empire
19 Eyes of a Stranger / Anarchy X-tra

LISTEN TO RONNIE SPECTOR COVER AMY WINEHOUSE

2011-07-27T15:35:00.000-07:00

The tragic death of UK soul sensation Amy Winehouse is a major loss to the music world regardless of where you stand in the context of her troubled life. But whatever brought her life spiraling out of control and into the ether in the weeks leading up to her passing last weekend, if you need to be reminded of what a major star we lost, please check out this stunning cover of "Back To Black" from legendary girl group icon Ronnie Spector on the Rolling Stone website, a stunning testament to the 27-year-old Londoner's impact on pop culture that defied generational boundaries.

Of all the eulogies that poured in this past week in reference to her death, I think it was Tony Bennett, who recorded a duet with Amy this past March on a tune called "Body and Soul" that will most likely go down as her untimely studio swan song, who said it best when he told Us Weekly how she was "an extraordinary musician with a rare intuition as a vocalist and I am truly devastated that her exceptional talent has come to such an early end. She was a lovely and intelligent person and when we recorded together she gave a soulful and extraordinary performance."

Rest in peace, Amy.

Ronnie Spector doing "Back to Black" at BB Kings, NYC, December 2010:

eddie vedder - live and solo...

2011-07-14T08:43:00.000-07:00

this dvd was recorded before the release of his ukele songs album so a lot of the material is from pearl jam albums as well as the into the wild soundtrack and a few covers. it is nice to see that eddie has matured and changed with times. it was pearl jam continue to be a relevant musical force. live and solo eddie sounds strong yet weary. it was recorded in 2008 so i think at that time we were all tired of the bush years.. war and a strangled economy.. weary though he may have been, he still manages to let the humor shine through. in the end, eddie has aged gracefully.

DRAG CITY TO RELEASE ALBUM FROM LOST NYC NO-WAVE OUTFIT SOCIAL CLIMBERS

2011-07-07T18:04:00.000-07:00

James Chance and the Contortions. DNA. Teenage Jesus and the Jerks. Glenn Branca. MX-80. ESG. Suicide. All great bands of the No-Wave movement of New York City during the first four years that the esteemed Ed Koch held the mayoral office.

But who was the alternative to all of those acts? The answer: The Social Climbers, a trio consisting of Jean Seton Shaw (bass, vocals), A. Leroy (farfisa organ, korg machine) and Mark Bingham (guitar, vocals) whose unique style of hockey rink dub-funk-punk ruled the periphery of the periphery alongside the likes of such other forgotten figures of the era as Jean-Michel Basquiat's Gray and MX-80 Sound.

But on September 20th, the Social Climbers will finally get their long overdue day in the modern sun when Drag City reissues their sole LP, originally issued on Hoboken Records and consisting of the sum of a trio of shitty 7-inch flexi-discs privately pressed by the band themselves plus two bonus tracks exclusive to this particular edition.

This album is the core definition of DIYwith a sound that helped put bands like Tortoise and Stereolab on the map, and if you have any kind of taste you should go right to the Drag City website and preorder this mug straightaway.

Tracklist:

Domestic 2:47
Chicken 80 3:59
Western World 5:04
Chris & Debbie 6:59
Palm Springs 4:05
That's Why 2:44
Ernie K 3:09
Hello Texas 2:57
Taipei 5:01
Tickhead (live) (CD-only) 2:09
The Day The Earth Stood Still (CD-only) 3:44

"Chicken 80"

"Palm Springs"

NEW FLYING LOTUS MIXTAPE!

2011-07-07T17:43:00.000-07:00

Check out the new mixtape from Coltrane progeny Flying Lotus over at his Brainfeeder site. You will not regret it. Two-odd hours of pure soul satisfaction to heal us in these troubled times.

Stream that shit here:

BIG MAN…ASSIST ME PLEASE!!! A Remembrance of Clarence Clemons

2011-06-19T15:35:00.000-07:00

by Greg Maniha

Those immortal words uttered by Mr. Springsteen thousands of times during the course of nearly 40 years to his irreplaceable saxophonist, vocalist, and stage personality have created so many smiles you could spend a lifetime attempting to count them. It would take nearly as much time attempting to count or isolate the greatest moments of Mr. Clarence Clemons while sharing the stage with Springsteen.

As often as I heard that crazy dialogue between that possessed street preacher you ran with and yourself it began to dawn on me that I believed everything he told us about you! You really were the king of the world and the master of the universe! Hey Big Man, did you hear about this story? I’m sure you did because nothing escapes the king of the world, right? There was this amazing musician named John Lennon who was a fan of the music you were a part of creating. In his final interview, he spoke about idol worship within rock and roll. As he spoke about the trials and tribulations of his own experience, he also expressed great fear and concern for your musical counterpart. He feared that Mr. Springsteen would be buried by the same pressures that did him in before Mark David Chapman destroyed his life, widowed his wife, left his sons without a father and permanently altered the world by forcing it to go on without him. Speaking about the media manipulation that impacted him as a megastar in a post Beatles world and completely relating to what Mr. Springsteen was up against, he said "And God help Bruce Springsteen when they decide he's no longer God. ... They'll turn on him, and I hope he survives it." Mr. Lennon didn’t live to see his hopes realized, but Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band not only survived the media manipulation machine, it faced down a popular conservative two term U.S. President who understood nothing about the creative work all of you were a part of and thrived with style for another 30 years beyond the date of Mr. Lennon’s interview. Perhaps not the rest of us, but more than enough of us never decided that the boss was no longer god and that you were no longer the master of the universe. We simply didn’t allow the media to make this call and they wisely decided not to argue with us. Mortality unfortunately didn’t follow the lead of the media and now I’m kind of “lost in the flood,” so to speak. Big Man…assist me please!

How does one write a eulogy for the master of the universe? How is one supposed to come up with, say, your five greatest moments when they took place night after night on every stage you ever set foot on with the E Street Band? The easy solution for a hack writer would be to list the studio work that created your identity. It goes without saying that the beloved "10^th Avenue Freeze Out" with perhaps the greatest intro of any E Street Band composition immortalizes the fact that you even graced Springsteen with your presence, let alone joined the band! Your saxophone solo on "Jungleland" created a rock opera out of record and turned an entire suite of songs into one of the greatest things ever pressed onto wax. It doesn’t even bear thinking about a "Badlands" without you taking over the solo from the boss and his Esquire. "Hungry Heart" would be far more than incomplete if it didn’t have you to send it home and literally take ownership of the song before it closes. Although many longtime fans might not agree with me, "Radio Nowhere" was a perfect example of the power you still held and the passion to deliver your musical contribution to the world. It might be the best representation of a dual lead with Nils Lofgren, which never seemed to take place during studio sessions. Regardless of this immortal documentation known by fans and detractors alike, it seems to me to be, well, for the masses. I have yet to read the many obituary pieces that will appear in newspapers across the globe, but I have a feeling at least one of these compositions will be cited in the majority of them. As beloved as the compositions were, there was so much more to your musical and social contribution. The fact that you refused to allow the limitations of your body to prevent you from making your mark time and time again is a legacy in and of itself. The lives of the people you touched measure in the thousands. So many of us will never have the chance to tell you in person, but as the master of the universe I already know you feel each and every one of them.

I’ll never forget when my son, now six years old, first started feeling the power of your music. He was only three at the time, but the world he knew was shattering around him because the adults in his life that love him couldn’t work together easily for his sake. He couldn’t understand why things were happening the way they were but I was determined to never leave him behind regardless of adult conflicts. I wasn’t living with him at the time but stubbornly refused to go a day without spending time with him. I would pick him up in the afternoon and we would drive to a favorite park from there followed by a nightly father and son dinner. This resulted in many hours spent in a car with his dad’s collection of “Brucelegs.” It was the FM recording of your legendary show at the Roxy in LA on 7/7/78 that sealed the deal. Your saxophone solo during Badlands on this particular evening pulled him in from the beginning. When he first heard it he asked me excitedly what was making that sound so of course out of concern I asked if he liked it. With an ear to ear grin he gave me an enthusiastic yes! A musical bond between father and son was born in a moment that lives to this day. “Roxy Night” became the soundtrack to my lifeline for a threatened relationship with my son. Big Man, even the master of the universe can’t keep track of everything all at once so I’m not sure anybody had the chance to tell you how much I owe you for playing such a major role in cementing the relationship between my son and I. That solo you played on "Badlands" in LA during 1978 paved the way for a three-year-old boy to start requesting your musical highlights. Badlands remained the favorite but requests for Sprit In The Night and For You quickly followed suit. This musical conversation with my 3 year old son became so powerful it escaped from the Roxy to take over Darkness On The Edge Of Town, The River (yes, he likes "Crush On You"!) Born To Run, Magic and even the obscure cuts on Tracks. For him, it was all about the boss and the big man. It was inevitable that he would end up asking me about concerts with Bruce and the Big Man. I told him that I had seen both of you many times and he insisted that I take him to see a concert TOMORROW. After some explaining he changed his demand to the next concert in San Francisco where we were living at the time.

By the time the Working On A Dream tour opened in San Jose, my son had at least 16 songs he was hoping to hear. He was eight days away from turning four and this was his birthday present (well, this and some lego bricks of course…he does have his priorities.) At the top of his list for the evening was "Badlands", Bruce and THE BIG MAN! Words cannot do justice to the joy you gave my son when you walked out on to that stage with Bruce. He kept screaming repeatedly “There they are!” As I tried to give him earplugs, with a smile and an audience of his own he threw them into the crowd. I had an extra pair so of course I gave it another shot only to have the same thing happen twice. He was determined to have as raw of a rock and roll experience as possible the way only you two could deliver it. When you launched into "Badlands" I have never seen a bigger smile on his face or mine. Watching him actually feel his favorite song take over his heart and soul was a high like no other. Hearing him share with me new favorites he heard for the first time at the concert accompanied with the determination to attend another show ASAP was the kind of conversation not many are blessed to have with their three-year-old son. A new tramp was born that night. You gave this to us Big Man. During a time in our lives when we needed joy of this magnitude, you gave this to us! Whether a written piece is published in Rolling Stone or an undiscovered blog, the content is a matter of opinion most of the time and in my humble opinion, this was one of your greatest musical moments. After that amazing evening my son along with my father and I would attend the 4^th night at Giants Stadium together. By the time this show took place during the final leg of the same tour, he was a seasoned four-year-old tramp that knew he was hearing the complete Born To Run record and wanted to be in the pit so he could be closer to you. We had good seats, but he was already a purist. This would be our last show together as he wasn’t allowed to attend more than one night (he was not pleased about that at all!) After that night we would discuss planning better for the next tour because I was “no longer allowed” to attend without him. It’s now 1:30 AM in New Jersey on Father’s Day and you’re not even 24 hours into your new journey. I explained to him that you had to leave us. After asking why, he told me he understood that sometimes people get hurt too badly to be helped. Upon absorbing the brutal reality that you’re not coming back, he simply walked up to me, gave me a hug, and said “I love you dad and I love the Big Man.”

Well Big Man, from here I could talk about the emotional saxophone solo you played during "Drive All Night" at the St. Louis show in 2008. I could talk about that superb E Street version of the Coasters “And Then (S)he Kissed Me" that you owned during the same St. Louis show. I could go on for hours about the Boss kissing you before starting "Wrecking Ball" like one would kiss the ring of Don Vito Corleone during the final shows at Giants Stadium. I could talk about insanity of the extra-long intro of "10^th Avenue Freeze Out" during the final show on the Magic tour in Kansas City. I could talk about how you personally impacted me on a musical level with every concert I ever saw, every “bruceleg” I ever acquired, and every record I ever listened to so many times over.

Regardless of my favorite musical moment of yours I ever witnessed on stage or within a recording, during a time when my son and I needed it more than ever, Big Man, you assisted me! Bruce was right! You really are the master of the universe! Thank you king of the world, the master of the universe, weighing in at 250 pounds, the big man Clarence Clemons! Thank you!

"Paradise By The C" Live 1978 Capital Center in Landover, Maryland:

"Prove It All Night" Landover '78:

"Kitty's Back" Passaic 1978:

R.I.P. CLARENCE CLEMONS 1942 - 2011

2011-06-18T19:04:00.000-07:00

We here at the IRT are devastated to announce the passing of rock 'n' roll's greatest saxophonist, Clarence Clemons of the E Street Band, who succumbed to complications following the suffering of a stroke six days earlier at his Florida home, according to Reuters.

Bruce Springsteen just addressed fans tonight of the loss of his friend and band mate of 40 years with this quote: "It is with overwhelming sadness that we inform our friends and fans that at 7:00 tonight, Saturday, June 18, our beloved friend and bandmate, Clarence Clemons passed away. The cause was complications from his stroke of last Sunday, June 12th. Clarence lived a wonderful life. He carried within him a love of people that made them love him. He created a wondrous and extended family. He loved the saxophone, loved our fans and gave everything he had every night he stepped on stage. His loss is immeasurable and we are honored and thankful to have known him and had the oppurtunity to stand beside him for nearly forty years. He was my great friend, my partner and with Clarence at my side, my band and I were able to tell a story far deeper than those simply contained in our music. His life, his memory, and his love will live on in that story and in our band."

Words cannot express how major this loss is not only to Boss fans but to the music world in general. The Big Man's shoes can never be filled, and our thoughts and condolences go out to his family, friends and legions of admirers all over the world. -Ed.

"When the change was made uptown/And the big man joined the band/From the coastline to the city/All the little pretties raise their hands."

Clarence Clemons on meeting Bruce Springsteen:

"Tenth Avenue Freeze Out" at the 1999 Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony:

"You're A Friend Of Mine" with Jackson Browne:

"Jungleland", London 2009:

IRT'S WEEKLY RECORD GUIDE: FATHER'S DAY WEEKEND 2011 EDITION

2011-06-17T13:20:00.000-07:00

NO SURRENDER

Medicine Babies (ZerOKilled)
No Surrender has been cast under a lot of genres, as is usually the case with misunderstood underground music. It’s not easy being unique in Brooklyn, a place where unique is considered a norm. Led by Eddie Steeples, more famously known as the Crabman from NBC's sadly defunct sitcom My Name Is Earl, the group been called hip-hop, synth, electronic, techno, afro-punk, alternative and soul. However, I think I can safely say that they are one of the first bands I’ve ever heard to really capture all their supposed sounds and blend them into one unique mix. For the sake of brevity, let’s just call it Medicine Babies. The album starts with springy, chunky beats (“Falling Into You”, “Godda Get It”, & “You’re a Star”) that exemplify that working blend of synth-pop and soul. Funky, falsetto choruses topped with forceful verses create an atmospheric swirl - call it a new twist on your favorite club song. That synthesizer continues to spread throughout the entire LP, but slows down for the trippy, hypnotic “Silver Hall”, featuring Tunde Adebimpe from TV on the Radio. “Mountain” and “Carousel” bring the album to a close, dropping the pace but keeping those simple melodies alive. It seems to be the vein of the entire album – simple melody with a strong beat. Trust me when I say that isn’t a bad thing, either - it’s like 30 years of pop rolled up into one record. Just don’t call it house, whatever you do. -Toni Odell

BATTLES Gloss Drop (Warp)
A lot of hullabaloo was made last year when it was announced that guitarist and de facto frontman Tyondai Braxton would be departing the ranks of NYC's premier experimental rock supergroup Battles. But to be honest with you, for as good as their 2007 full-length debut Mirrored was, that whole alien voice shtick that dude would lace each track was with totally fucking annoying. I signed up with Battles to hear the combination of Braxton, former Don Caballero guitarist Ian Williams, bassist Dave Konopka and one-time Helmet/Tomahawk drum god John Stanier push the boundaries of instrumentalism into unknown territories of rhythm and structure. If I wanted to hear someone sing through pitch modulation like an acid-damaged cartoon, I'll refer to my handy copy of Ween's The Pod, thank you very much. But with Braxton out of the picture, it was the hope that Battles would press on by expanding upon the innovative nature of their first three EPs that peppered the early-to-mid 00s. And for fans of their wordless salad days, Gloss Drop will definitely be seen as a return to form of sorts. Yes, there are indeed vocals present in the mix on this second LP for the Warp label in the form of imaginative guest turns from such prolific voices as synth giant Gary Numan, minimalist techno great Matias Aguayo, Blonde Redhead singer Kazu Makino and Boredoms shaman Yamantaka Eye on his finest cameo since the Naked City record. But overall, Gloss Drop is a largely instrumental affair, although the band seems to have moved on from the IDM-emulating riddims of their earliest work in favor of a sound that delves deeper into a more angular prog-pop idiom. At times, this new direction veers a little too close into Pokemon territory on tracks like "Ice Cream" and "Wall Street". But on cooler cuts like "Inchworm" and "Futura", the quixotic quartet veer off into the Bermuda Triangle of island-style abstract groove that takes their music into a whole new stratosphere of strange that is unlike anything they, or anyone else for that matter, have done before. -Ron Hart

FUCKED UP David Comes To Life (Matador)
When you have a band with a name as dubious as Fucked Up, what more can you do to ensure your proverbial monkeywrench continues to grind the gears of the very establishment you rally against? Well, you would beat its poorest, most flagrantly commercial excuse for a punk band at its own game, of course. And that is exactly what this Toronto-based hardcore outfit has accomplished with their career-defining third album David Comes To Life, a 78-minute-long concept piece that serves as the Stephen Sondheim antithesis to American Idiot's Andrew Lloyd Weber-esque grandiosity. Equal parts Hüsker Dü’s Zen Arcade, The Who's Quadrophenia and Steven Soderbergh's 2006 no-budget whodunit Bubble, the storyline revolves around a guy named David who works at a light bulb factory who falls in love with a girl who shares his beliefs in social anarchy. They conspire to build a bomb together and, after she breaks it off with him, he's the prime suspect in her murder. Remarkably, the group pulls it off without a hitch, thanks to guitarist Mike Haliechuk's revolutionary vision of what hardcore could be once it sheds its mookish narrow-mindedness and explores sonic terrain not normally associated with the art and frontman Damian Abraham's stellar sense of prose and storytelling. David Comes To Life is an incredibly impressive display of how far a particular style of music could go the moment it abandons the tethers of its fanbase's preconceived notions. -Ron Hart

No Surrender's "Young World"

Battles "Futura" live at Le Poisson Rouge, NYC April 27, 2011:

Fucked Up on David Comes To Life:

IVAN JULIAN: THE IRT INTERVIEW -- NYC Punk Luminary Returns With Long Awaited Solo Album

2011-06-12T11:18:00.000-07:00

Story by Ron Hart

For over 35 years, guitarist Ivan Julian has been a seminal figure on the New York punk movement, first as a member of Richard Hell and the Voidoids and the sorely underrated Outsets (not to mention The Lovelies) and later as a record producer, working out of the Lower East Side studio he shares with fellow axeman Matt Verta-Ray of Speedball Baby and Heavy Trash fame called NY HED, where they have worked with such legendary figures as Andre Williams, Kid Congo Powers, James Chance and the Contortions, The Mighty Hannibal and Ronnie Spector to name just a few. For a time he also served as a gun for hire, working alongside the likes of The Clash, Matthew Sweet, Afrika Bambaataa and Shriekback on some of their most acclaimed works.

Earlier this year, Julian released his long-overdue solo debut, The Naked Flame, on the small 00:02:59 label. It is nothing short of a beautiful blast of throwback Bowery punk that stands tall with his very best performances on such classic LPs as The Voidoids' Blank Generation, Matthew Sweet's Girlfriend and The Clash's Sandinista! The IRT was incredibly lucky to have Ivan take a moment from his busy schedule running NY HED and promoting the new record to talk with us about a whole host of topics, particularly some very fond memories of his late friend and fellow Voidoid Robert Quine, who unfortunately committed suicide via heroin overdose on May 31, 1994, following the loss of his wife.

With so many great stories to tell from his years in one of American music's most important movements, it is indeed an honor to have the input of this essential figure in New York rock grace the virtual pages of IRT. The Naked Flame is available on Amazon and at better record stores in the NYC area.

***

IRT: Why the long wait to record an album under your own name?
Ivan Julian: I never really thought of it that way. I have always been making music; it's what I do. This record 'came about' because the band I recorded with, 'Capsula' did such an amazing job of playing the songs on the demo I sent them that I really had to do it. The songs have always been there.

IRT: Re: the song "You Is Dead", one of the great highlights of The Naked Flame and your tribute to longtime friend and bandmate Robert Quine...where were you when you first heard about Robert Quine's passing?
Ivan: Richard [Hell] called me at home. I sat down and played the piano as I do when I get this kind of news. One never gets used to it.

IRT: Did you stay in touch with Quine through the years? Did you guys ever get together to jam or record?
Ivan: Bob and I were close until the very end. He told me he was going to do this (off himself), because of the pain he was feeling over the loss of his wife. My response was, "Please don't Bob!" He was never one who could tolerate much discomfort and this was all too much for him. Richard and I even discussed ways to help him, as did his other friends but his friends couldn't be there all the time. For anyone who's been through something like this; it's hard to judge someone's actions when they hurt so much. However, you do feel a small tinge of anger because it is ultimately a selfish act. You wanna say, "Hey man, we have to deal with all this shit, too. Why can't you?" And now, "You is Dead". Neither of us were the jamming type. We would get together and trade riffs, listen to records or check out new/old effects pedals and see what kind of sick sounds we could get out of them. It was always major fun!

IRT: What is your favorite memory of Robert Quine?
Ivan: We knew each other for such a long time so there were many but I have to say one sticks out... In Darby, England on the Clash tour, when he slowly took his guitar off and full throttle smashed this guy upside the head that was gobbing on him. Completely out of character and completely Brilliant! There were also the times when together we would go out to the Mudd Club or Danceteria and they wouldn't want to let him in because they thought he was a cop. The person at the door would say to Bob, "You look like his truant officer." Oh, if they only knew...

IRT: What inspired you to cover the Nuns? Did you ever play with them on a bill back in the day?
Ivan: This was a 7" I have owned since it came out in '79. I always thought it was an amazing record, the production, the song, stark minimalism, everything. When I was recording the album it came to me that I had to record 'The Beat'. It worked out and fits as a nice stride. Since The Nuns were together I have come to know Alejandro but I never saw them play because I was out of town a lot then.

IRT: What about Lucinda Williams? What is your favorite attribute of hers as a songwriter and prompted you to cover her song "Broken Butterflies"?
Ivan: Her honesty. She convinces you that what she is singing is real and has or will happen. She scares me and I like that in a writer... not in a lover. And as usual as with any good songwriter, her phrasing... the cadence.

IRT: How did you feel working on The Naked Flame in the middle of the night affected its turnout?
Ivan: Though it made me more of a Zombie in the daytime, I believe overall it was a healthy thing. Why? Because it had to be disciplined. I had a finite amount of time to work between dusk and dawn so I could run back to my cave before the sun got too high in the sky. There I could recharge to be able do it again the next night. Also, there were no distractions, nowhere else I had to be and nothing else to take care of... only the record. I could listen to what was being channeled, not just what I was playing. I wouldn't recommend the nocturnal thing for everyone but I couldn't have gotten it finished any other way.

IRT: How did you come about putting together the band you hired for The Naked Flame?
Ivan: They kinda hired me in a way. A band named 'Capsula' from Bilbao, Spain came to my studio and wanted me to mix their record,'Rising Mountains'. I immediately liked their songs and their approach to the mixture of rhythm and noise. While we were working they suggested that I make a solo record and do a tour in Spain. I was a bit reluctant because I had just done the Osaka Popstar tour and I was looking forward to producing bands in my studio. Nonetheless, after they went back to Spain I sent them demos of some songs which they re-recorded and sent back to me. I thought, "Wow this is exciting; They get it." So began the process of me sending them songs via the web and them sending me back amazing basic tracks, (guitar, bass and drums) for me to complete. The final basics used for the record were sent via the post and everything was done on 24 track tape.

IRT: Has there ever been talk of reissuing The Outsets catalog? Where does that music stand with you today? How about the Lovelies? Has there been any talk of resurrecting Mad Orphan?
Ivan: Some of it was available online for a while but no one has approached me about re-releasing it. I haven't listened to a lot of those recordings in a while so I don't know... I can't resurrect those bands because so many of those people that were involved are gone now, especially Danny Hirsch.

IRT: Tell me about the first time you ever heard hip-hop music.
Ivan: It was the same as today when I hear any kind of new, exciting music that comes at you outta nowhere. The first time I heard Run DMC's "It's Like That" it blew my mind. Then came Public Enemy and they raised the bar to new level that no one has reached since. Especially with It Takes a Nation of Millions... and Fear of a Black Planet which is an ultimate masterpiece. A volcanic cauldron of everything; The Last Poets, stripped down James Brown, early Stones, you name it. Like a galloping horse it doesn't let you jump off once it starts. I think the Shocklee brothers, Chuck D. and Flavor Flav (who played a lot of the instruments on the record) are all geniuses and I seldom use that word.

IRT: What was your favorite club to play in in New York City during the 70s and 80s and if you could please share a favorite story from that venue?
Ivan: CBGB's had the best sound and the best sound system for the room. Probably because of all the wood in there and the way the place was shaped. There are too many stories from CB's to fit here. Mainly because you were there almost every night. It was the 'local' and the great thing about it was that you could see other bands in the scene play on any given night of the week, Tuesday- Talking Heads, Wednesday- The Ramones, Thursday- Blondie. Much like Robert Altman's Nashville, music was everywhere.

One night comes to mind when Sylvia Reed (before she married Lou) and I went to see Bo Diddley at Max's Kansas City. We went to the bar and when I looked up, there was Bo Diddley in the flesh standing right next to me. Now I'm not big collector of autographs but come on, it's Bo Diddley. I didn't have any paper and I thought he deserved more than a napkin so I pulled a fiver out of my pocket and got a pen from the bartender. When I asked him to sign the bill he said and I quote, "Give me your woman and I'll sign it." I said, "I can't really give her to you Mr. Diddley, because I didn't buy her." This went back and forth for a while and eventually he reluctantly signed it. He was hilarious!

IRT: How did you get involved with working on Sandinista! with The Clash? What do you believe is the most lasting affect of that album which continues to make it such an influential touchstone for so many young artists? Also, were you at Bond's for their residency?
Ivan:I knew Topper from my days in London before I moved to New York and The Clash had the The Voidoids open for them on the Give 'em Enough Rope tour. It was Mick that turned me on to Reggae, I mean real Reggae and Dub. Not the watered down stuff that we were getting in America but Raw Sounding 7" singles by bands like Elizabeth Archer and the Equators. Mick and Joe were really into Dub as it shows on Sandinista. Initially I just stopped by Electric Lady to say hello. It wasn't long before I had Joe's Tele in hand banging out the chords to "The Call Up". I believe the lasting affect of this record is a right of passage. If you love music and you listen to what has come before, every once you come across a record and say to yourself stop, what's this? Sandanista! is one of those records.

No, we didn't play the Bond's thing. It was difficult to cut through the red tape of all the booking agents clamoring for a spot. Later when Joe found out about it he was really pissed because the idea was to have their friends play while they were there.

IRT: Please tell me a good story about your time with Matthew Sweet. Looking back, the lineup for the Girlfriend album was filled with such great players: yourself, Quine, Richard Lloyd, Lloyd Cole, Fred Maher...what was it like in the studio with such a prolific lineup?
Ivan: Lloyd and I were the tag team on the road but in the studio him Quine and I were never there all at once. It's as if Matthew could only deal with one crazy person at a time.

IRT: What is your favorite memory of making the movie Blank Generation? Ivan: I can sum it up in two words: Carole Bouquet. I can still remember her standing in CBGB's during the shoot. Pure pulchritude in the mist of rotting wood and graffiti... Lovely. Bob and I were a bit annoyed about having to be in the movie because we were in the middle of recording and considered it a distraction. Her being there made it not so bad. It's a good thing that Richard persuaded us to do it because it's the only real footage of the original Voidoids on stage.

IRT: Now that is available on DVD, how do you feel it holds up in 2011? Ivan: It holds up as much as it did then which isn't much. The director, Ulli Lommel re-wrote the script to cast himself as Carole's love interest. As a movie it makes very little sense. Instead of saying action when the camera started rolling it seems as if Ulli said tension because that's all we feel from the people on the screen.

IRT: Are you still in touch with Richard Hell? Has there been talk about doing any kind of deluxe edition of Blank Generation the album?
Ivan: Yes Richard and I are still in touch. There already have been several of what you could call deluxe versions of Blank.

IRT: Have you guys ever talked about working together again? Ivan: Richard has no interest in making music, he's more into his writing.

IRT: Are you in touch with Marky Ramone? Have you tried his sauce yet? Did he ever cook for you guys back in the Voidoid days?
Ivan: We did a tour together a couple of years ago supporting an album we did called Osaka Popstar with Jerry Only from The Misfits and Dez from Black Flag, both of which were supreme gentlemen, real spot-on guys. Re the sauce: None of us were ever brave enough to try Marky's Sauce back in the Voidoid days and anyway the furthest thing from his mind then was cooking...

IRT: Are you shocked to learn he has his own jarred sauce out? I hear its actually quite good! Ivan: I'm not shocked. Marky has always loved fine food and he loves selling things.

IRT: What is your favorite aspect of running your own studio? At the end of the day, what to you prefer: analog or digital?
Ivan: I have always been in love with the whole recording process and how at each stage of development right up to mastering new possibilities present themselves and the song evolves into what it can be. There is nothing like TAPE, period. Especially for drums which are usually the loudest things in the mix. I usually record everything to tape and then dump it to pro tools to mix because it's so much faster. Even then, I use outboard compressors, spring reverbs etc. I build tube compressors called 'The Lumpstar'. I find it relaxing.

IRT: When you first settled in NYC in 1977, what was your first adventure in the city?
Ivan: The Voidoids audition a month after I got here~ in the course of three hours there was vomiting, vodka, nodding out, two six foot girls getting into a cat fight with hair and fishnet stockings going everywhere, more nodding out... Welcome to New York City!

IRT: How do you feel about how much the neighborhood is changing around N.Y. HED? Has it made operating out of that section difficult for you guys? What are your thoughts about the closures of such established venues as Max Fish and the Mars Bar in recent months?
Ivan: This is a rumor; Max Fish is still open but you're right about it being difficult. We had to move the studio four doors down Ludlow St. back in the fall. This came in the middle of the Fleshtones sessions for The Brooklyn Project. We're now under The Pink Pony restaurant. The developers seem hellbent on changing the L.E.S. landscape into a myriad of glass and aluminum structures. Maybe they have some prophetic vision that when 'the big one' hits it will make it easier to sweep it all away and rebuild. If they have their way soon the L.E.S. will resemble some mid-western suburb which is what many of us moved here to get away from. Oh Well.. I'm just a rhyme sayer..

IRT: What are some upcoming albums we could look forward to that were recorded out of NY HED? Do you have a particular favorite album that came out of your studio? What would it be and why?
Ivan: I'm very excited about a band I produced called Hunx and his Punx from San Francisco. Their record, 'Too Young to be In Love' is out now and I'm very pleased with the results. Listen and you'll see what I mean. There's also the band Sediment Club that has an Lp that will be coming out soon. They sound like a mixture of The Voidoids meets The Bush Tetras meets The Contortions. Amazing stuff!

IRT: Do you have a favorite current spot to see music or hang out at in the LES?
Ivan: Jessie Malin's place, The Bowery Electric, it's not too big, not too small and as long as Tim is behind the board it will be a perfect sounding room as well.

"The Naked Flame" video:

"Blank Generation" live from the film Blank Generation:

GIL SCOTT-HERON Live At The Village Gate 1976

2011-06-08T18:37:00.000-07:00

Head on over to Big O Zine and nab yourself an excellent FM broadcast of the late, great Gil Scott-Heron with longtime cohort Brian Jackson and their Midnight Band at the legendary Village Gate in New York City (now known as the Poisson Rouge) back in 1976.

Mr. Heron left this planet on May 27, 2011 after falling ill following a return from a trip to Europe. His contributions to poetry, spoken word, jazz, funk, soul and hip-hop are as deep as that incredible voice of his, and he will truly be missed by so many of us who were inspired by his words.

"RIP GSH… and we do what we do and how we do because of you. And to those that don’t know tip your hat with a hand over your heart & recognize… Quite stunned at the fact I just wrote and recorded guest vocals on one of his next albums. This makes one realize that time is precious, damn." Chuck D.

"New York City, It's Your World"

COFFEY TALK: IRT Chats with a Motown Studio Legend

2011-05-22T11:30:00.000-07:00

s a member of Motown’s intrepid studio band The Funk Brothers, Dennis Coffey has played a key role in some of the most beloved soul classics ever recorded, including The Spinners’ It’s A Shame, Edwin Starr’s War and Marvin Gaye’s babymaking anthem I Want You, among countless others. He was also paramount in bringing the legendary Detroit label into the psychedelic rock era with his fuzz-and-wah-drenched electric guitar licks that permeated such hits as The Temptations’ Cloud Nine. Additionally, he worked with Funkadelic on their eponymous 1970 debut masterpiece, scored the disgustingly funky soundtrack to the 1974 blaxploitation favorite Black Belt Jones and co-produced Rodriguez’s cult soul classic Cold Fact, in addition to releasing a stinging string of solo albums that have been pilfered by some of the most noteworthy cats in the hip-hop game. Coffey's self-titled debut for the Strut imprint sees him revisiting a variety of vintage material from his past with some of today’s most contemporary figures in left field groove music, including Mayer Hawthorne, Fanny Franklin of Orgone, Dirtbombs frontman Mick Collins, Rachel Nagy of the Detroit Cobras, Scottish songwriter Paolo Nutini and Lisa Kekula from The Bellrays. He also plays guitar alongside The Roots on Booker T.'s outstanding new solo album, The Road From Memphis.

For a further appreciation of Dennis Coffey, check out the outstanding megamix compiled by Detroit musical ambassador DJ House Shoes that encapsulates all of the axe man’s five decades of greatness into one seamless 47 minute blend. Find it here

The IRT had the opportunity to speak with Mr. Coffey upon the release of the new album. Dennis Coffey's eponymous LP is available at better record shops across the Tri-State area. -Ed.

IRT: How did the new album come together, initially?

DC: I had been playing around town for the last five years or so in clubs with young bands, and my wife Millie told me I should get in touch with a producer and engineer by the name of Al Sutton, who was doing a lot of production around town. We spoke, and he said he wanted to get me in the studio. I told him ‘Sure, I know how to do that, but what are we going to do with the record once it’s done?’ So he got back to me about six months later and had put together a management team, and they sat down with a plan for how they wanted to do the record. I liked what I saw so I got started writing. I must have written about 30 songs, and they chose what they liked, and I got started writing rhythm arrangements and everything else. That’s how it got started.

IRT: How did you go about choosing the artists selected to cameo on the new album?

DC: I was familiar with Mayer Hawthorne as an artist, as my wife Millie had bought his album and I knew his material, but my management team and Strut were responsible for getting a lot of the people together; many of them from the Detroit area themselves.

IRT: What are your thoughts on how ubiquitous funk music is in the 21st century? Who are some of your favorite contemporary funk artists working today?

DC: You know, it just suddenly started coming up. I started noticing that there were a lot of young bands that I would sit in with who could really play. I got to sit in with Mayer Hawthorne’s band, and a band called Fitz & The Tantrums out in San Diego, and I just started hearing about a lot of young bands playing retro funk. I don’t consider myself to be a great listener, I’m much more of a player and practitioner, so it’s not all the bands that I’m familiar with, but I definitely have seen a resurgence of young musicians picking up instruments and cranking out the funk, and I think that’s great.

IRT: In regards to your cover of "I Bet You": what was it about that particular song that inspired you to cover it over the song you did appear on from that first Funkadelic album, "Mommy What's a Funkadelic?"? What is your favorite memory of working on that Funkadelic record?

DC: That’s an A&R choice. My management team and Quinton Scott over at Strut helped put together the selection of cover songs.

IRT: What was your relationship like with Eddie Hazel? Did you guys bounce a lot of ideas off one another?

DC: For the most part, when I did the Funkadelic sessions, the other musicians were in another room or something, and I was pretty much by myself overdubbing guitar parts, so I didn’t get to spend much time with Eddie. George Clinton and I did meet when I recorded ‘I Wanaa Testify’ with The Parliaments, but I didn’t get to interact with too much with the other guys.

IRT: You were key in helping Motown achieve a more rock-based sound with your guitar playing. What kind of rock acts were considered favorites among the Motown camp and who would you consider to be the single greatest inspiration that helped usher in the utilization of electric guitars into their sound?

DC: Well, Motown was already using electric guitars. I brought the psychedelic soul guitar sound, which was much different than what they were using. At that time, they weren’t using things like the fuzztone, the echoplex, the wah-wah pedal, etc. That all came with Norman Whitfield, he was the visionary who wanted to take Motown from the story songs about love into the kind of social commentary guys like Sly Stone and others were doing, the whole protest movement, Woodstock, and all that. Norman had that in his mind.

I was a member of the producer’s workshop at Motown, and I would be with James Jamerson upstairs at Golden World Studios four nights a week for two and half hours straight, and producers could come by and experiment with musicians. After doing that for three weeks, Norman came by and was working on an arrangement for a song called ‘Cloud Nine.’ I happened to have this wah-wah pedal with me, and when he counted it off I used that on the intro, and he says ‘That’s it! That’s what I want.’ So I got the call to record with him and the Temptations and away we went! I was his guy after that. And of course that helped position me for things like Gladys Knight and everything else.

I had been using those kind of guitar effects playing around Detroit with Lyman Woodard & Melvin Davis, and in fact we ended up opening for the MC5. We opened the show with a cover of ‘A Day In The Life’ and right away the kids got it and were into what we were doing.

IRT: Of all the original Motown cats, who was the biggest rock fan?

DC: Norman Whitfield was the visionary there. He looked at what guys like Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix were doing and incorporated that into his sound. I look at him as a master of dynamics. He would stand in front of Uriel Jones and Pistol Allen, the two drummers, and count the song off, and say things like ‘Now when I point to you, everybody stop playing.’ He was always building up layers, making breakdowns, creating this searing funk with amazing dynamic changes.

IRT: How did you come into producing Sixto Rodriguez's Cold Fact and what are your thoughts on how seminal a work it stands as today?

DC: Mike Theodore and I had worked with Rodriguez as arrangers for two songs with Harry Balk on Impact, which didn’t really end up going anywhere. About a year after those records, Mike called and said ‘Let’s go hear Rodriguez again.’ He was playing in this place called The Sewer, this seedy, funky kind of place on the river. We go in and here’s this guy strumming away, facing the wall. All you can see is the back of his head and his shoulders. We couldn’t see his face at all, so right away that got our attention. It forced us to listen to the lyrics. We both knew that this guy had something, so we got Clarence Avant at Sussex to allow us to do Cold Fact. He was pretty nervous, because he had been working more as a writer than a performer, so about half the record he played with a band, and half we recorded him and his guitar and built the band around him. We knew he was ahead of his time. We looked at him as kind of an inner city version of Bob Dylan, coming up with songs about what he saw in his Detroit neighborhood.

IRT: Please tell me your favorite memory of working with Marvin Gaye.

DC: I think that would be when I did I Want You with him in LA. When I moved to LA Mike Theodore and I were staff producers at Sussex, and also worked at Mo West doing the Motown stuff, where Marvin and Leon Ware were doing this album. Since Marvin was producing, he was out with the musicians the whole time, letting us know what he wanted, trying to share his vision with us. He was a very nice man, easy to work with, an easy demeanor. He was very enjoyable to work with.

IRT: Did you ever get the chance to work with the Jackson 5?

DC: The first time I encountered them I was in the studio at Hittsville in Detroit. I looked over and coming in was the whole Jackson family. Michael was just a small guy than, and his dad and whole family were with him. His dad was watching the special effect pedals I was using, and asked me what they were. I explained them to him, and he said he wanted to buy those pedals for the Jackson Five, so I gave him the number of Joe Pedorsic at Capital Music where I had gotten mine.

I think we recorded some of the original tracks for their record, but I think when Berry heard them, he might have thought we were a bit too funky, and the tracks got re-recorded.

The last time I ran into them was in the early 70’s when I was living in LA. I had gotten a call to play a big event for all the distributors. I had just played a similar kind of thing with Barbara Streisand. So I asked when the rehearsal would be, and they said ‘well the last guitarist left during rehearsal’ so there wasn’t going to be a rehearsal. I thought ‘that’s not really the kind of thing I want to get involved with’ but they told me they hadn’t just been asked to get a guitar player, they’d been asked to get me specifically. So I performed with them and there were no major glitches. They were doing things like a medley around Benny Goodman’s ‘Sing Sing Sing’ and all of that, and this time the little kid in front was Janet. That was probably the last time I worked with them as a group.

IRT: When was the first time you ever heard hip-hop?

DC: I believe the time my engineer played me Public Enemy was the first time I had heard hip-hop, so I guess the first time I heard hip-hop I was playing on the record!

IRT: In terms of the heavy amount of times it was sampled, what is your favorite utilization of the use of "Scorpio" in a song, be it hip-hop or R&B, and why?

DC: Boy. There are so many of them, but the first time I heard one stands out. I was in a recording studio, and I asked the engineer for an example of some of the things that people were paying attention to at the time. He played me some Public Enemy, and I hear my guitar part from ‘Getting It On.’ I said ‘I don’t remember getting paid for that session!’

My son James actually listened to a lot of hip-hop, and he was familiar with all of my music. He once sat me down with about 20 cassettes, and told me these all were using my music. I talked to Clarence Avant, who owns the copyrights for the Sussex material, which is a lot of what they were using, and he was able to help get me paid and credit as a writer on many of the songs. He wanted to avoid the kind of thing where all the labels were getting sued. And as a result of that, a lot of the hip-hop guys know me, which has been good. Chuck D and I still stay in contact via e-mail.

IRT: Was there ever an instance that you heard one of your guitar licks sampled in a modern song that got your goat? Please explain.

DC: Not really, generally speaking they would take something I played and re-create something else with it. As long as I started seeing writing credits on my BMI statements for songs I didn’t remember writing, I was okay with it. I never heard something where they took some of my music and changed it all around and made it stupid or anything.

IRT: What was the approach you took in regards to the creation of the the soundtrack to Black Belt Jones?

DC: I had moved to California with Mike Theodore, because when Motown left Detroit it created kind of a vacuum. Before that everyone in Detroit were getting production deals. There were also all these smaller labels and Detroit had a very active music scene. But when Motown left a lot of that left with them. So Mike & I moved to LA, and one of the reasons for that was that I had always wanted to do film; I’d always wanted to do a theme song. I’d asked Clarence Avant to hook me up with some film folks, so one day he called up and said there was this movie Black Belt Jones that had been shot, and they felt it needed a main theme. I met the folks at Warner Brothers, they showed me the film, and told me where they wanted music. So I wrote it, Mike did the horns and strings, and I put together this vocal counterpoint and ran the vocals through a wah-wah pedal, and that was that.

IRT: Do you have a favorite soundtrack that you worked on in the 70s? Which one and why that one?

DC: I actually didn’t do that many soundtracks. A lot of the soundtrack material that people know me for is songs that were taken from albums, like for example the songs that were in Hell Up In Harlem came from album tracks. I did do quite a few cues for the SWAT TV show, dramatic cues and things like that but generally speaking I didn’t do that much film work. I did a fair amount of TV work though, for things like Midnight Special and In Concert.

IRT: Do you have a favorite memory of your first appearance on Soul Train?

DC: I knew Don Cornelius from when he was a DJ in Chicago, and I had done a concert with him at McCormack Place. When Soul Train was happening of course Scorpio was moving up the charts, and they’d said to me that they wanted to have me on the show. For that show, bands were mostly lip synching to their records when they were on, but I actually brought the whole band in and performed live. It was a packed house, and they told me, “When we told the kids you’d be here, we had about 25% more kids show up than we could fit.” The whole thing was really fun. We actually ended up playing on that show twice.

IRT: Now that the new album is out, has there been any talk about reissuing your solo catalog? Is that something that is already in the works? Do you have a dearth of unreleased material available in your archives?

DC: As far as unreleased material, the only thing I can really think of is a live recording of me with Lyman Woodard & Melvin Davis. A lot of my solo work has been re-issued, at least in part. Fuel Records just came out with a collection of my material from that label a couple of months ago. Some of my Westbound catalog came out on Ace. These are all selections of course, more like a selected discography. There isn’t anything out that has ALL my material. There’s still the Hair & Thangs album. Right now there’s basically a couple CDs out with material collected from ten or eleven albums.

IRT: As a country music fan, did you ever have an opportunity over the years to ever work with one of your heroes in that genre? Who would you have most liked to work with and why?

DC: When I first started, I was a big Hank Williams fan, and also Johnny Cash of course. I played on my first country rockabilly record when I was 15. You can actually hear that one on YouTube. It’s called I’m Gone with Vic Gallon. You can hear me do two rockabilly solos on that one. The only other chance I really had to do anything like country was when I did an album of Hank Williams songs with Del Shannon.

IRT: Please tell me a story about working with Ringo Starr on Goodnight Vienna. What was that experience like?

DC: Ringo was a very nice guy. We did a very typical LA all-night session for that album, and I didn’t get to spend much time with him. A few weeks later though, I was in the High Sierras on horseback, and I got a call from my answering service saying that Richard Perry, the producer, wanted some more guitar work. So I came back and got to the studio, and it was just me and Ringo because Richard was about an hour late to the session. So Ringo got to hear all about my trip to the Sierras! He was an extremely nice guy. I tried not to ask too much about the Beatles and all that because I’m sure he’s talked enough about them, but it was a good conversation. We just sat there shooting the breeze till Richard showed up in his Bentley.

IRT: Of all the records you produced in the 1970s, which one was your favorite and why?

DC: It always comes down to ‘Scorpio,’ because that’s my signature song, and it has endured for all this time. Frank Sinatra I believe once said that if an artist has one song, that people know immediately and associate with them, that’s a pretty good measure of success, and Scorpio has always been that song for me. There’s Black Belt Jones, and of course all the Motown material, and Taurus and everything, but Scorpio has always been the one for me, and of course it’s had a new life through all of the samples, which is great.

www.denniscoffeysite.com

www.strut-records.com

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RIP Gerard Smith, Bassist, TV on the Radio

2011-04-23T22:27:00.000-07:00

TV On the Radio's Gerard Smith dies of lung cancer

By NEKESA MUMBI MOODY
AP Music Writer

NEW YORK (AP) -- TV on the Radio bassist Gerard Smith died Wednesday of lung cancer, the band said in an announcement on its website. He was 36.

Smith's death comes a little over a month after it was announced that he was battling the disease.

At the time, the band said Smith had health insurance, great medical care and had already seen "dramatic results." However, Smith was unable to join the band on tour as they promoted their last album, "Nine Types of Light."

In a recent interview with The Associated Press, the rest of his bandmates declined to talk about his illness out of respect for Smith.

"We are very sad to announce the death of our beloved friend and bandmate, Gerard Smith, following a courageous fight against lung cancer," the band said on the website. "We will miss him terribly."

The band canceled its concerts for the next few days, starting Wednesday in Detroit.

Smith had described himself as a subway performer in New York when he was recruited for the band, who have been hailed by critics for masterful albums like "Return to Cookie Mountain" and "Dear Science."

Smith recalled in a 2008 interview with The Brooklyn Rail, a journal on the arts, politics and culture, how lead singer Tunde Adebimpe discovered him and added him to the band.

"I saw Tunde in the movie 'Jump Tomorrow' on IFC. And I was super addicted to film at that time. A year later, I was playing on the subway platform here, at the Bedford stop, and he kept giving me money. And then I was like, I recognize this guy. Then it finally clicked, and I said, 'Dude you were in that movie! I loved that movie!' That film had meant a lot to me, especially because there was a black actor that wasn't in the ghetto, and there weren't a lot of politics," he said. "He was being a human being and not only a black actor. And that meant a lot to me."

In that same interview, Adebimpe told Smith: "What you were playing was just so far and above what was normally down there that I can't even describe it. I was just like, that dude's awesome."

Smith grew up in Long Island, N.Y., and studied fine arts in high school but would later abandon it.

"I had a difficult time, to say the least, toward the end of my fine arts career," he told L.A. Record in 2008. "I started to look around and see that I was one of the few - if not only - black fine arts students and I saw that again in the art world itself."

Smith didn't expect that his stint in TV on the Radio would have lasting meaning

"I just never took it seriously ... I never imagined that this would be a position that I would be in," he said in the same interview.

Smith told the blog the Pistola Press in 2009, after the band went on hiatus, he was planning to use his time off to spend time with his son and get better at his craft, but also to embrace life.

"Yeah, trying to get back what little bit of life I can and appreciate that ..." he said.

He and Adebimpe also scored the music for the 2010 documentary "The Lottery."

TV On The Radio Live on Letterman, 2008:

"New Cannonball Blues" from the amazing new album Nine Types of Light:

Happy Easter from Patti Smith and the IRT!

2011-04-23T13:23:00.001-07:00

Inside job

2011-04-04T18:56:00.001-07:00

Inside Job is a documentary that should outrage you. untethered greed combined with the deregulation of the baking industry has resulted in the loss of millions of jobs and billions of dollars. you can talk all you want about about free markets spreading freedom and wealth throughout the world, but you'd better account for the base human nature of greed. If you want to know why the economic crash happened this film is your road map. It will boil your blood and put into sharp focus that there is a place and a need for government in business and regulations are necessary. laissez-faire just will not cut it.

- brad filicky

a quick note on sucker punch

2011-03-31T11:17:00.000-07:00

I know Sucker Punch hasn't been getting the best reviews, but i loved it. Zach Snyder does not get enough credit as a director. a lot has been written about the first wave of post-vcr film makers (think Quentin Tarrantino and PT Anderson), but i think Zach is the first post video game director. Sucker Punch is a visually mind blowing and something right out of an Xbox game. His whole aesthetic seems to be shaped by video games with good graphics. and he managed to create a world where ass kicking women, zombies, dragons, and machine guns all fit together. All that was missing was a vampire. I wanted to be entertained and boy was i ever. feminism filtered through the vision of geeks everywhere. bring it on.

- brad filicky

TV ON THE RADIO'S GERARD SMITH DIAGNOSED WITH LUNG CANCER

2011-03-26T12:30:00.000-07:00

Please keep Gerard Smith, the amazing bassist for TV On The Radio, in your thoughts, as he has just been diagnosed with lung cancer, as recently announced by the famed Brooklyn band on their Web site on the eve of the release of the group's new album Nine Types of Light.

"Upon the completion of Nine Types of Light, Gerard was diagnosed with lung cancer," the band said. "As a result, he has been undergoing treatment and will be unable to participate in the upcoming tour.

However, a positive diagnosis for the otherwise deadly disease is expected for him.
"Gerard is fortunate enough to have health insurance and is receiving excellent medical care. Already we have seen dramatic results," the band statement continued. "Combine that with Gerard's legendarily willful disposition and it might just be cancer that has the problem. We appreciate your concern and support for Gerard and his family."

Nine Types of Light is gearing up to be quite possibly TVOTR's best work yet and it is due out April 12th on Interscope. Please go out and support this amazing, amazing band. And check out the video for one new song, "Will Do", and download another great new track, "Caffeinated Consciousness", below.

Rest easy, Mr. Smith. Hope to see you back on the road soon. -Ed.

what i thought of spider woman agent of s.w.o.r.d.

2011-03-08T17:50:00.000-08:00

spider woman agent of s.w.o.r.d i easily one of the best endings of a big crossover event i have ever read (secret invasion). redemption, exotic locales, action. this graphic novel has everything a good action movie should have and is exactly why a lot of comics these days are more fun than going to the cinema. a return of the creative team that made daredevil a smash (brian bendis and alex maleev) - a perfect mesh of story and art.

- brad filicky

a quick write up of Razorjack.

2011-03-07T11:06:00.001-08:00

What i like best about this graphic novel is how effortlessly it harkens back to the glory days of 2000 ad comics. It has that hyperactivity, over the top violence and fantasical storytelling that Judge Dredd was known for. Creator John Higgins has an obvious love for the medium which translates as vivid enthusiasm that takes the reader along for the ride whether they want to go or not. Just hold on and enjoy the ride. If this was a film it would be in eye popping 3d with metal soundtrack. if that's your thing then this is your book.

- brad filicky

Just watched the Nirvana Live at Reading DVD

2011-03-04T17:16:00.001-08:00

Nirvana - Live at Reading

Nirvana's gig at 1992's Reading Festival is legendary. Seeing this full setlist DVD is seeing a band at their creative peak and the height of the first leg of their career. Watching Kurt Cobain's antics on stage as well as the ferocity of Dave and Krist's playing it is obvious the band was still having FUN. The success was there, but the pressure hadn't reached a fever pitch. Even though at the time of this concert Kurt and Courtney were under assault by the media, he manages to have a good time. It feels very much of an us (the band and their fans) vs the world than the world vs Kurt Cobain. And that makes all the difference. What makes this dvd so electrifying is that this is the man before he was dragged kicking and screaming to become the Voice Of A Generation. It exemplifies all the right reasons why the world fell in love with the band to begin with. Watch and feel nostalgic for what could have been.

- brad filicky

SUZE ROTOLO 1943-2011

2011-02-28T15:31:00.000-08:00

Last week, the world lost one of the great icons in the Bob Dylan universe, as the stunning Suze Rotolo, Bob's former lover and the girl he is walking arm in arm down Jones Street in New York City on the cover of The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, died at the age of 67 on February 24th after a valiant battle with an undisclosed illness, according to Rolling Stone. For a beautiful obituary on this West Village treasure, please check out J. Hoberman's piece in The Village Voice. Her muse helped inspire Dylan to write some of this greatest songs, including "Boots of Spanish Leather", "Tomorrow Is A Long Time" and "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right", as well as "The Death of Emmett Till", as she was the one who first told Bob about the controversial 1955 murder case that inspired him to write one of his most renowned protest anthems.

"Right from the start I couldn't take my eyes off her," Dylan gushed in his 2004 memoir Chronicles. "She was the most erotic thing I'd ever seen. She was fair skinned and golden haired, full-blooded Italian. The air was suddenly filled with banana leaves. We started talking and my head started to spin. Cupid's arrow had whistled past my ears before, but this time it hit me in the heart and the weight of it dragged me overboard."

A lifelong New Yorker who based her whole being in the West Village in spite of its ever-changing facades, Suze will be greatly missed.

NEW BATTLES!

2011-02-27T05:53:00.000-08:00

It's called Gloss Drop and it comes out June 7th. It's the band's first album as a trio since the departure of Tyondai Braxton and, based on the track listing, thankfully seems to find them doing more instrumental music akin to their first 3 EPs, with the exception of tracks that feature a host of prolific guest vocalists like Gary Numan, Boredoms frontman Yamantaka Eye and Blonde Redhead chanteuse Kazu Makin. For more information, check out the Battles site. You can pre-order Gloss Drop via the Warp subsidiary Bleep as well. Get psyched.

Track Listing:

01 Africastle
02 Ice Cream [ft. Matias Aguayo]
03 Futura
04 Inchworm
05 Wall Street
06 My Machines [ft. Gary Numan]
07 Dominican Fade
08 Sweetie & Shag [ft. Kazu Makino]
09 Toddler
10.Rolls Bayce
11 White Electric
12 Sundome [ft. Yamantaka Eye]

Video for "Tras":

THE WEINGARTEN/BIEBER DUO

2011-02-11T03:32:00.000-08:00

Check out this video of former IRT contributor/ex-Parts and Labor drummer/current 1000TimesYes CEO Christopher R. Weingarten debuts his new solo outfit The Weingarten/Bieber Duo before a crowd of jacketed hipsters at St. Cecilia's Convent in Brooklyn on 1/29.

Neil Young + Crazy Horse's 1991 World Tour: The 20th Anniversary

2011-02-05T18:58:00.001-08:00

This year marks the 20th anniversary for Neil Young's tour with Crazy Horse for the band's 1990 grunge classic Ragged Glory with opening acts Sonic Youth and Social Distortion in what could easily be one of the wildest triple bills in rock history, probably. Here is the band opening up one of the shows with "Hey Hey My My (Into The Black)". If you have your copy of Weld on hand, I suggest that you break it out in celebration this week. -Ed.

JOHN BARRY 1933-2011

2011-01-31T18:17:00.000-08:00

By Reuters

British composer John Barry, who won five Oscars and is best known for creating music for the James Bond movies, has died. He was 77.

"It is with great sadness that the family of composer John Barry announce his passing on January 30, 2011 in New York," his family said in a statement released by Bond production company EONProductions.

"Mr. Barry is survived by his wife Laurie of 33 years and his four children and five grandchildren."

A private funeral will be held, with a memorial service to follow in Britain later in the year.

No cause of death was given but the BBC reported he died of a heart attack.

Fellow composers paid tribute to Barry's influence.

"I think James Bond would have been far less cool without John Barry holding his hand," fellow Bond composer David Arnold told BBC Radio.

According to online biographies, Barry trained as a classical pianist but turned his attention to jazz and learned to play the trumpet.

In the late 1950s, he became leader of the John Barry Seven, which hired Vic Flick as lead guitarist. It was Flick who performed the famous James Bond guitar riff, which accompanies the openingcredits of the movies.

He began arranging music for singers on a television series, including Adam Faith, and composed the score for "Beat Girl," in which Faith appeared, in 1960.

Barry's work brought him to the attention of producers of "Dr. No," who were dissatisfied with the score they had been given and so called in Barry to help.

'The result was to become one of the signature tunes of movie music history, and Barry went on to become one of the most celebrated film composers of his generation. As well as five Oscars, he won four Grammy awards.

Barry's Bond compositions included "Goldfinger," "From Russia With Love" and "You Only Live Twice," and his Academy Awards included best music for "Dances With Wolves," "Out of Africa" and "Born Free."

"You Only Live Twice" Theme:

"On Her Majesty's Secret Service" Theme:

"Midnight Cowboy" Theme:

"Bond Below Disco Volante" from Thunderball:

Live From Kutsher's

2011-01-30T16:18:00.000-08:00

One of these days I'll get around to securing tickets to the East Coast version of the All Tomorrow's Parties festival, especially now that its gonna be in Asbury Park, NJ (thanks for the tip, Karate Boogaloo!). But until then, I can always head over to the Free Music Archive to download full sets from the event, particularly a slew of performances from this past fall at one of the last of the old school Catskills resorts, Kutsher's in Monticello, including Geoff Barrow's Beak>, Bardo Pond, Wooden Shjips and legendary Australian post-punks The Scientists. Enjoy! -Ed.

The Scientists at ATP 2010:

HEY PAUL: THE RAT PACK!

2011-01-30T14:56:00.000-08:00

Hey folks, head on over to Guitars 101 to catch a kooky 1962 performance from The Rat Pack back on the 25th of August in 1962 at the 500 Club in Atlantic City.

The track listing of this particular soundboard recording goes as follows:

Dean Martin:
I'm Gonna Sit Right Now And Write Myself A Letter
Volare
On An Evening In Roma

Frank Sinatra:
Goody Goody
At Long Last Love
I Get A Kick Out Of You

Sammy Davis, Jr.:
The Lady Is A Tramp

All:
Medley And The Birth Of The Blues
Oh, Yeah, We Got A Lot More

And while you are at it, please make sure to support your local record shop and ask for the latest release from the Sinatra vaults: a 17-track compilation gathering the best moments from the 2006 Reprise box set Vegas, a sadly out-of-print five-disc collection that chronicled Frank's years playing at The Sands, Caesar's Palace and The Golden Nugget from 1961 to 1987. It's a great place to start for the Sinatra concert novice, but those of us who are into the whole ring-a-ding thing in regards to Old Blue Eyes' Sin City trip are hoping they will follow this up with an updated version of the whole shebang. -Ed.

FREE FREESTYLE MUSIC

2011-01-30T14:29:00.000-08:00

From the promising, Brooklyn-based On The Prowl imprint comes this total throwback to the days when Latin Freestyle ruled the New York airwaves and girls like San Jose-born Latina lovely Corinne were the fresh faces of teenage wet dreams.

"I feel like I've been transported back to 1990 and getting ready to go out to Trumps," chortled my beautiful bride upon hearing the hairspray high of "Dream A Little Dream", which is currently available for free courtesy of your friends at Scion, a make that when my wife decided to call me and tell me she just put a down payment on one while she was car shopping almost gave me a stroke.

Download the EP, which features the original cut plus four remixes, here. -Ed.

a quick note on what i'm reading

2011-01-27T18:48:00.001-08:00

tears of a clown is a must read for anyone sceptical of the tea party movement and it's leader, a madman named glenn. tracing his rise from a morning shock jock to the spokesman of the right wing, dana milbank does a great job of examining beck as a showman. beck's showboating is more for ego gratification and financial gain rather than ethical beliefs. this is very irresponsible considering how close beck comes to inciting his listeners to violence. of course the book details the questionable facts glenn uses to make his points, but really, isn't that a given?

-brad filicky

2011 oscar noms

2011-01-25T07:54:00.000-08:00

Best motion picture of the year

Black Swan (Fox Searchlight) A Protozoa and Phoenix Pictures Production Mike Medavoy, Brian Oliver and Scott Franklin, Producers

The Fighter (Paramount) A Relativity Media Production David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman and Mark Wahlberg, Producers

Inception (Warner Bros.) A Warner Bros. UK Services Production Emma Thomas and Christopher Nolan, Producers)

The Kids Are All Right (Focus Features) An Antidote Films, Mandalay Vision and Gilbert Films Production Gary Gilbert, Jeffrey Levy-Hinte and Celine Rattray, Producers

The King's Speech (The Weinstein Company) A See-Saw Films and Bedlam Production Iain Canning, Emile Sherman and Gareth Unwin, Producers

127 Hours (Fox Searchlight) An Hours Production Christian Colson, Danny Boyle and John Smithson, Producers

The Social Network (Sony Pictures Releasing) A Columbia Pictures Production Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti, Michael De Luca and Ceán Chaffin, Producers

Toy Story 3 (Walt Disney) A Pixar Production Darla K. Anderson, Producer

True Grit (Paramount) A Paramount Pictures Production Scott Rudin, Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, Producers

Winter's Bone (Roadside Attractions) A Winter's Bone Production Anne Rosellini and Alix Madigan-Yorkin, Producers

Performance by an actor in a leading role

Javier Bardem in "Biutiful" (Roadside Attractions)
Jeff Bridges in "True Grit" (Paramount)
Jesse Eisenberg in "The Social Network" (Sony Pictures Releasing)
Colin Firth, "The King's Speech"
James Franco in "127 Hours" (Fox Searchlight)

Performance by an actor in a supporting role

Christian Bale in "The Fighter" (Paramount)
John Hawkes in "Winter's Bone" (Roadside Attractions)
Jeremy Renner in "The Town" (Warner Bros.)
Mark Ruffalo in "The Kids Are All Right" (Focus Features)
Geoffrey Rush in "The King's Speech" (The Weinstein Company)

Performance by an actress in a leading role

Annette Bening in "The Kids Are All Right" (Focus Features)
Nicole Kidman in "Rabbit Hole" (Lionsgate)
Jennifer Lawrence in "Winter's Bone" (Roadside Attractions)
Natalie Portman in "Black Swan" (Fox Searchlight)
Michelle Williams in "Blue Valentine" (The Weinstein Company)

Performance by an actress in a supporting role

Amy Adams in "The Fighter" (Paramount)
Helena Bonham Carter in "The King's Speech" (The Weinstein Company)
Melissa Leo in "The Fighter" (Paramount)
Hailee Steinfeld in "True Grit" (Paramount)
Jacki Weaver in "Animal Kingdom" (Sony Pictures Classics)

Best animated feature film of the year

How to Train Your Dragon (Paramount) Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois
The Illusionist (Sony Pictures Classics) Sylvain Chomet
Toy Story 3 (Walt Disney) Lee Unkrich

Art Direction

Alice in Wonderland (Walt Disney), Robert Stromberg (Production Design), Karen O'Hara (Set Decoration)
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 (Warner Bros.), Stuart Craig (Production Design), Stephenie McMillan (Set Decoration)
Inception (Warner Bros.), Guy Hendrix Dyas (Production Design), Larry Dias and Doug Mowat (Set Decoration)/span>
The King's Speech (Paramount), Eve Stewart (Production Design), Judy Farr (Set Decoration)
True Grit (Paramount), Jess Gonchor (Production Design), Nancy Haigh (Set Decoration)

Achievement in Cinematography

Black Swan (Fox Searchlight) Matthew Libatique
Inception (Warner Bros.) Wally Pfister
The King's Speech (The Weinstein Company) Danny Cohen
The Social Network (Sony Pictures Releasing) Jeff Cronenweth
True Grit (Paramount) Roger Deakins

Achievement in costume design

Alice in Wonderland (Walt Disney) Colleen Atwood
I Am Love (Magnolia Pictures) Antonella Cannarozzi
The King's Speech (The Weinstein Company) Jenny Beavan
The Tempest (Miramax) Sandy Powell
True Grit (Paramount) Mary Zophres

Achievement in directing

Black Swan (Fox Searchlight), Darren Aronofsky
The Fighter (Paramount), David O. Russell
The King's Speech (The Weinstein Company), Tom Hooper
The Social Network (Sony Pictures Releasing), David Fincher
True Grit (Paramount), Joel Coen and Ethan Coen

Best Documentary Feature

Exit through the Gift Shop (Producers Distribution Agency) Banksy and Jaimie D'Cruz A Paranoid Pictures Production
Gasland Josh Fox and Trish Adlesic A Gasland Production

Inside Job (Sony Pictures Classics) Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs A Representational Pictures Production

Restrepo (National Geographic Entertainment) Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger An Outpost Films Production

Waste Land Lucy Walker and Angus Aynsley (Arthouse Films) An Almega Projects Production

Best documentary short subject

Killing in the Name Nominees to be determined A Moxie Firecracker Films Production
Poster Girl Nominees to be determined A Portrayal Films Production
Strangers No More Karen Goodman and Kirk Simon A Simon & Goodman Picture Company Production
Sun Come Up Jennifer Redfearn and Tim Metzger A Sun Come Up Production
The Warriors of Qiugang Ruby Yang and Thomas Lennon A Thomas Lennon Films Production

Achievement in film editing
Black Swan (Fox Searchlight) Andrew Weisblum
The Fighter Paramount Pamela Martin
The King's Speech (The Weinstein Company) Tariq Anwar
127 Hours (Fox Searchlight) Jon Harris
The Social Network (Sony Pictures Releasing) Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter

Best foreign language film of the year
Biutiful Mexico
Dogtooth Greece
In a Better World Denmark
Incendies Canada
Outside the Law (Hors-la-loi) Algeria

Achievement in makeup
Achievement in makeup (Sony Pictures Classics) Adrien Morot
The Way Back (Newmarket Films in association with Wrekin Hill Entertainment and Image Entertainment) Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk and Yolanda Toussieng
The Wolfman (Universal) Rick Baker and Dave Elsey

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)
How to Train Your Dragon (Paramount) John Powell
Inception (Warner Bros.) Hans Zimmer
The King's Speech (The Weinstein Company) Alexandre Desplat
127 Hours (Fox Searchlight) A.R. Rahman
The Social Network (Sony Pictures Releasing) Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)
Coming Home from Country Strong (Sony Pictures Releasing (Screen Gems)) Music and Lyric by Tom Douglas, Troy Verges and Hillary Lindsey
I See the Light from Tangled (Walt Disney) Music by Alan Menken Lyric by Glenn Slater
If I Rise from 127 Hours (Fox Searchlight) Music by A.R. Rahman Lyric by Dido and Rollo Armstrong
We Belong Together from Toy Story 3 (Walt Disney) Music and Lyric by Randy Newman

Best animated short film
Day & Night (Walt Disney) A Pixar Animation Studios Production Teddy Newton
The Gruffalo A Magic Light Pictures Production Jakob Schuh and Max Lang
Let's Pollute A Geefwee Boedoe Production Geefwee Boedoe
The Lost Thing (Nick Batzias for Madman Entertainment) A Passion Pictures Australia Production Shaun Tan and Andrew Ruhemann
Madagascar, carnet de voyage (Madagascar, a Journey Diary) A Sacrebleu Production Bastien Dubois

Best live action short film
The Confession (National Film and Television School) A National Film and Television School Production Tanel Toom
The Crush (Network Ireland Television) A Purdy Pictures Production Michael Creagh
God of Love A Luke Matheny Production Luke Matheny
Na Wewe (Premium Films) A CUT! Production Ivan Goldschmidt
Wish 143 A Swing and Shift Films/Union Pictures Production Ian Barnes and Samantha Waite

Achievement in sound editing
Inception (Warner Bros.) Richard King
Toy Story 3 (Walt Disney) Tom Myers and Michael Silvers
Tron: Legacy (Walt Disney) Gwendolyn Yates Whittle and Addison Teague
True Grit (Paramount) Skip Lievsay and Craig Berkey
Unstoppable (20th Century Fox) Mark P. Stoeckinger

Achievement in sound mixing
Inception (Warner Bros.) Lora Hirschberg, Gary A. Rizzo and Ed Novick
The King's Speech (The Weinstein Company) Paul Hamblin, Martin Jensen and John Midgley
Salt (Sony Pictures Releasing) Jeffrey J. Haboush, Greg P. Russell, Scott Millan and William Sarokin
The Social Network (Sony Pictures Releasing) Ren Klyce, David Parker, Michael Semanick and Mark Weingarten
True Grit (Paramount) Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff and Peter F. Kurland

Achievement in visual effects
Alice in Wonderland (Walt Disney) Ken Ralston, David Schaub, Carey Villegas and Sean Phillips
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 (Warner Bros.) Tim Burke, John Richardson, Christian Manz and Nicolas Aithadi
Hereafter (Warner Bros.) Michael Owens, Bryan Grill, Stephan Trojanski and Joe Farrell
Inception (Warner Bros.) Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley and Peter Bebb
Iron Man 2 (Paramount and Marvel Entertainment, Distributed by Paramount) Janek Sirrs, Ben Snow, Ged Wright and Daniel Sudick

Adapted screenplay
127 Hours (Fox Searchlight), Screenplay by Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy
The Social Network (Sony Pictures Releasing), Screenplay by Aaron Sorkin
Toy Story 3 (Walt Disney), Screenplay by Michael Arndt. Story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich
True Grit (Paramount), Written for the screen by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
Winter's Bone (Roadside Attractions), Adapted for the screen by Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini

Original screenplay
Another Year (Sony Pictures Classics), Written by Mike Leigh
The Fighter (Paramount), Screenplay by Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson. Story by Keith Dorrington & Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson
Inception (Warner Bros.), Written by Christopher Nolan
The Kids Are All Right (Focus Features), Written by Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg
The King's Speech (The Weinstein Company), Screenplay by David Seidler

shows that have not or never did jump the shark - in my opinion

2011-01-24T22:27:00.000-08:00

buffy the vampire slayer
angel
sopranos
northern exsposure
seinfeld (except the last episode)
six feet under
cheers
mash
simpsons
the office
true blood
dexter

brad filicky

a quick note on what i'm reading

2011-01-21T13:23:00.000-08:00

Methland by nick reding is chronicle of the wages of both drug abuse and the war on drugs, but even more than that it is a story of america in the 21st century and the wages of big business on the heartland. reding tells of the rise of meth as a result of the intrusion of big agriculture, big pharmaceutical and special interests into the lives of middle americans. an intrusion that has lead to the poverty, hopelessness and desperation that so often fosters rampant drug addiction. told with compassion and detail this is reporting that tugs at the heartstrings and makes the reader think. there can be no doubt of meth's profound impact on rural areas of the united states. areas that were once considered ideal places to raise families and are now increasingly becoming ghost towns. this is a book that explains why with a gentle but firm hand.

what i thought of the green hornet

2011-01-19T20:33:00.000-08:00

if anything green hornet was a mixed bag. the best way to comment on it is to do a simple pro and con list..

what worked:

michel gondry's direction style - as a fan of michel's directing style i was pleased to see that his quirky style translates into a more straight forward narrative and mainstream action film. he even managed to use techniques from his music videos to pretty good effect.

Christoph Waltz - once again a fun villain performance form unglorious basterds star Waltz. i've always said that a superhero movie is only as strong as it's villain. and christoph was both funny and sinister as chudnofsky.

the black beauty - yeah i'm a sucker for the green hornet's car.. as the center for most of the action the car held its own and almost became a character.

what didn't work.

seth rogan - normally i like him and green hornet is an old enough character that most geeks won't have a problem with a complete reimagining of the character, what bothered me though is he was a little too eager in this one. i liked his enthusiasm for the project and i know he was looking for this to make him an even bigger star than he already is, but his performance came across to me as hyperactive slightly annoying.

the script - not to rag on seth rogan more than i have to, but he co-wrote the script and i found the dialogue a bit dated and tired.

the 3D - this is really more of a question of technology than poor movie making. the new 3D technology is just not as good for live action films as it is for animated ones. i found it unnecessary and at times distracting. It didn't really add to my experience at all and i feel that in a few years time the 3d effects will not hold up.

I give it a 6 out of 10.

brad's top 10 movies of 2010

2011-01-18T18:49:00.000-08:00

10)

scott pilgrim vs. world

i may not have been thrilled with michel cera's portrayal of title character scott pilgrim, but that didn't stop this movie from being a blast of hyperactivity and harmless fun. a pretty faithful adaption of the hit comic book (up to the end that is), this movie succeeds because edgar wright is a fan of the source material and it shows.

9)

machete

this is not a movie that will show up on many top 10 lists, but i loved it. It was silly and over the top with violence cheesy one liners and gratuitous nudity. but that's not what got me. what got me is that the script was complex enough not to make feel like an idiot watching it. "high brow" and low brow at the same time.

8)

kick ass

another comic adaption. this was a smart but nasty piece of work that knew exactly what use what to discard and what to add to make the book come to life on the big screen. as a fan of the source material i was pleased to see that this movie was just as hard hitting as the comic.

7)

true grit

coen bros latest film is the rare case when the remake is better than the original, mainly due to pitch perfect performances by josh brolin, jeff bridges and especially newcomer Hailee Steinfeld. westerns aren't usually my cup of tea, but i was immediately taken in by the first frame and didn't want it to end.

6)

black swan

this psycho-sexual thriller is the topic of a lot of conversation lately. sadly a lot of folks don't get it. in the end this is a surprisingly honest depiction of mental illness, from the point of view of the sufferer. to all those who didn't get it, put yourself in the shoes of natalie portman's character.

5)

blue valentine

perhaps the most honest and brutal portrayal of a dying marriage ever done in any art form, blue valentine is not easy to watch. heartbreaking, touching and poignant, you root for the characters even if you know what will happen. this film could go down as the performance of both ryan gosling's and michelle williams' career.

4)

the fighter

i'm no fan of sports, but i have no problem with sports movies and the fighter is one of the best sports movies since the wrestler. christian bale gives one of his best performances as a drug addicted fighter trying to train his brother. a slice of life story with characters you like despite their flaws.

3)

winters bone is a mystery, poverty and the meth trade, but at heart it is a tale of family and the lengths one girl will go to save hers. most hollywood films that exam poverty and middle america do so through big city eyes. this film feels like it was made by characters that are similar to the ones on screen and that makes all the difference.

2)

inception

christopher nolan once again made a film that was both a commercial hit and genuinely good piece of art. visually stunning and narratively complex, inception isn't as hard to follow as some said. watch it again, you'll see. i wav expecting a small little science fiction film, instead we got this mind bending block buster. well played chris, now go make batman 3.

1)

the social network

many critics have dubbed this film the film of a generation. a film that defines where we are in 2010 as people. perhaps, but what really got me about this film is how david fincher managed to maintain his dark mise en sin while dealing with a subject that could be typical and unchallenging. instead he shows the creepiness the can sometimes come with the facebook experience.

brad filicky

Watch This 10-Year-Old Kid Shred

2011-01-13T17:43:00.001-08:00

A friend of mine at work just hipped me to this 10-year-old Asian girl who recently appeared on some strange Japanese talent show and just ripped on what looks like an Ibanez...Further investigation finds this talented youngster to be Haruka Kageyama of Japan, who puts all the kids in her age bracket here in the States to shame by actually banging out real playing on a real guitar instead of some plastic toy with red, green, yellow and blue buttons...Just watch the way she rips those arpeggios! Totally wicked...

Watch her as she tears into "Captain Nemo" by the Michael Schenker. Check out the dumbfounded look on the one Japanese judge's face LOL

And again with Joe Satriani's "Always With Me, Always With You"

And once more doing Steve Vai's "For The Love of God"

So awesome...why can't the little brats on America's Got Talent show and tell like this! Hey Boris, I think you might have your new guitarist right here! -Ed.

R.I.P. CAPTAIN BEEFHEART

2010-12-18T12:59:00.000-08:00

A very sad day for fans of the avant-garde. Rest in peace, Mr. Van Vliet.

Captain Beefheart on Late Night with David Letterman:

Trout Mask Replica Promo Video:

The Captain and his Magic Band Live in Detroit 1971:

"Mirror Man" Live at Pinkpop 1974:

"Ice Cream for Crow":

KATHLEEN HANNA EXPLAINS THE ORIGINS OF NIRVANA'S "SMELLS LIKE TEEN SPIRIT" AT JOE'S PUB

2010-12-18T12:57:00.000-08:00

PRAY FOR ARETHA

2010-12-08T20:14:00.001-08:00

"Spirit in the Dark"

REMEMBERING JOHN LENNON ON THE 30TH ANNIVERSARY OF HIS MURDER

2010-12-08T14:22:00.000-08:00

On December 8th, 1980, the world lost one of the greatest men who ever put the pen to paper and wrote a song. It's hard to believe 30 years has passed since the murder of John Lennon, and the wounds of his passing still feel fresh today. Hearing all the fans singing Beatles and John songs in unison during the first part of the ABC News broadcast covering his death below still brings a tear to the eye.

Just remember the man today and make sure to play your favorite John Lennon song for him. He continues to be missed and lord knows we need his words now in these crazy times more than ever. And much love to Yoko, Julian, Sean and the rest of the Lennon family. -Ed.

Howard Cosell announces the death of John Lennon on Monday Night Football:

ABC News' original broadcast covering the death of John Lennon from December 8, 1980:

Part I

Part II

"Don't Let Me Down", Beatles Rooftop Concert, Apple Records London:

"Instant Karma" live at the One to One concert, New York City:

"(Just Like) Starting Over" Video:

Macca and Ringo speak on John's passing on Larry King Live:

Sir Richard Bishop on WNYC

2010-11-19T16:32:00.000-08:00

Check out this killer solo performance from Sir Richard Bishop at this music cafe called Zebulon in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

False Flag, the debut album from his new band Rangda alongside Six Organs of Admittance mastermind Ben Chasny and ocassional Sunburned Hand of the Man drummer Chris Corsano, is definitely one of the best albums of 2010, something of which any fan of the electric guitar should take note.

Also available is the newly released Funeral Miriachi, the final LP of recorded material from Bishop's primary band, the Sun City Girls, just before the untimely death of drummer Charles Gocher in February of 2007 following a long battle with cancer. Its a fitting capper to a career that spans nearly 30 years and over 70 different releases.

Get both of these albums at your local record store.

STRETCH ARMSTRONG AND BOBBITO REUNITE FOR 20TH ANNIVERSARY

2010-10-20T16:14:00.000-07:00

In these dark days of NYC hip-hop, where retail meccas like Records Wanted, Fat Beats and Beat Street are all but memories and the city hasn't delivered a breakout rapper worth his or her guest spot on a Green Lantern mixtape, its great news to hear of the reunion of the urban underground's greatest radio duo, DJ Stretch Armstrong and Bobbito, hosting a surprise reunion show on their longtime home on Columbia University's WKCR 89.9 FM during their old 1 AM to 5 AM graveyard shift late tomorrow night/early Friday morning. For the majority of the 1990s some of the greatest moments in rap history went down, from legendary freestyles from some of the biggest names in the game from Notorious BIG to Nas to Eminem to the rise of the city's storied underground movement where the likes of Company Flow, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Organized Konfusion, Non Phixion, Cage, The Juggaknots and so many more got their first big break.

In anticipation for this landmark event, the duo have provided as a free download the immortal session that went down between Jay-Z and Big L on February 23, 1995, and can be copped here.

You will be able to stream the entire show live on the WKCR web site tomorrow night and, hopefully, someone will have the right mind to rip that isht onto mp3 so those of us who have an early bedtime can enjoy it as well.

Here's hoping this one-off reunion show inspires Strech and Bob to get back into it full-time and help kickstart NYC hip-hop back into fighting form.

For more information, visit Nah Right.

Bobbito reminiscing on the Stretch & Bobbito Show:

Nas' 1993 Freestyle:

Cage and Necro 1992 Freestyle:

Eminem Cage Diss:

Organized Konfusion with Lord Finesse freestyle:

What the "F" is a "Rap Sabbatical"?

2010-09-21T13:58:00.001-07:00

Read this letter in the Village Voice, which states this one trendy bar in Williamsburg, Savalas, is taking a "sabbatical" from hip-hop being played in its confines. Seriously, what the hell is going on around here, people?

It's no wonder hip-hop is dying such a slow rotting death in NYC.

For shame, Savalas. Never drank at your establishment before, and I'm sure as hell not doing so now if I can't hear Biggie at your damn joint.

And the saddest part of all, the great DJ Ayres, one of this city's best DJs had a night there until this stupid moratorium.

Dumb hipsters. Why don't you all move back to the Midwest?

Thanks to Whiney G for the tip. -Ed.

Well, I May Have Missed Pavement's Brooklyn Show...

2010-09-21T10:02:00.000-07:00

...but at least I can live with the knowledge I got to see them five times over the course of the 1990s: Roseland in '94 with the classic lineup of Guided By Voices, The Academy in '95 and then again at Lollapalooza that summer, Roseland again in 1997 and the Irving Plaza in '99.

And, thanks to my man Dan at NYC Taper, I can at least listen to this amazing show on the Brooklyn Waterfront thanks to a beautiful audience capture from Taper contributor AcidJack. But it doesn't come close to being there.

Here's hoping they come back around...

-Ed.

Set List:

Cut Your Hair
Date With IKEA
Rattled By The Rush
Elevate Me Later
Grounded
Frontwards
Shady Lane
Unfair
Perfum-V
Fight This Generation
Silence Kid
Box Elder
Stop Breathing
Two States
Father To A Sister of Thought
Heckler Spray
In The Mouth A Desert
We Dance
Summer Babe
No More Absolutes (Fin)
Stereo

Encore:
Spit on a Stranger
Trigger Cut
Starlings in the Slipstream
Gold Soundz
Kennel District
Range Life

Short fan clip of Pavement performing "We Dance" 9/19/10 at the Brooklyn Waterfront:

Colin Greenwood Reveals News of a New Radiohead Album Whilst Putting the Internet, Music Industry on Blast

2010-09-17T12:25:00.000-07:00

Go to Index on Censorship to read this beautifully written essay by Radiohead bassist Colin Greenwood on their decision to release In Rainbows online while revealing the fact that the band has essentially a whole album's worth of new material in the can and is not sure how to go about releasing it.

Or, you can just read it below. Thank you.

Radiohead’s Colin Greenwood explains why the band released their last album direct to their fans

It’s been nearly three years since we announced our “pay what you think it’s worth” scheme for the launch of our last record In Rainbows. I remember the excitement of it all, not least because the release date was my wife’s birthday, 10 October. The idea came from a friend of our manager, who proposed an “honesty box”, placing the onus on people to ask themselves how much they valued our music. Last summer, as we finished some more recordings, we started to think and talk about how to release them. So it seemed a good moment to take stock of the technological and cultural changes that have happened in the meantime.

In August 2007, we had finished our first record after the end of our deal with EMI. Previously, we would have given it to our record company at least three months up front, and then gone through the protracted round of meetings to decide on videos and singles — experiences we’d had for the previous six records. This time there was no EMI, and no one to decide anything but ourselves. We owned it outright, and could do whatever we wanted with it. This coincided with the growth of the internet as a medium to discover and share music, something we had used to reach fans while we made In Rainbows. This desire to use the technology was driven by distrust and frustration with trying to broadcast our music via traditional media, such as radio and television. Music on television is scarce, and hard to do well. Radio has such regulated playlists that disc jockeys are lucky to have one free play per show. Why go exclusively through such straitened formats when you could broadcast directly to people who are interested in you, in that moment?

The other attraction for us was the conjuring up of an event, a way of marking our releases and performances as special, unique times. The internet makes it easier for everything to be live, and that’s what we do. While we were in our studio, making the last few records, we would schedule last-minute “web casts”, and, at short notice, make small, spontaneous and impromptu programmes where we would play our favourite records, talk to fans, play new and old songs live, and even cover versions of songs from bands that had inspired us. It was stitched together on old Sony cams and video editors from eBay. It did feel like a Ruritanian broadcast, but it was thrilling to be sharing a live moment with our fans that wasn’t mediated by anyone except the internet service provider, and a live show that could be created ten minutes from home. I’d like to think the equivalent of this in broadcasting history would be the mom and pop radio stations that set up in America between the wars, when the excitement of a new medium was explored through the immediate community. In the same way, we saw the internet as a chance to treat the global constituency of Radiohead fans as our community. Also, it helped break up the studio tension, and made us feel less cloistered and isolated while we finished recording.

Against all this positive experience of using net technology, we’d had a bad experience on the previous record, when someone had taken some of the songs from a computer and put them online, well ahead of the official release. Everyone became very careful about carrying songs around, in the car, on CDs, music players and computers. It made you realise how easy it is to store and transmit music once it’s digitised, and that the fundamental thing about music is its destiny to be broadcast or shared. Part of the process of making a record involves listening to new songs or ideas in lots of different places: the car, the kitchen, with friends late at night. Having feelings of mild anxiety about music escaping onto the web wasn’t conducive to that, and there were a few panics. Fortunately, we managed to keep everything unreleased until the online download of In Rainbows.

The success of keeping the music off the net until release proved very powerful. A pre-digital album launch would involve some shows perhaps, record shop queues if you were lucky, and plans by the record company to mark the release as an event. In the digital world, with the ease of music escaping online, that sense of an event is diminished.

With In Rainbows, we were able to be the first people to digitally release our record, directly to people’s personal computers, at 7.30am GMT on 10 October 2007. I was having breakfast, and watched as the file appeared in my email, and the album streamed onto my desktop. I spent the next day and night monitoring people’s reactions online, both to the music and the means of delivery. Journalists in America had stayed up overnight to write the first review as they received the music – again, in the pre-digital age they would have had advance copies up to three weeks before. On the torrent site bulletin boards, people were arguing over whether they should be downloading and paying for the record from our site, rather than the free torrents. Various online pundits and pamphleteers were pronouncing the end of the record business, or of Radiohead, or of both.

For all the giddy prognostications, the most important reason for the success of In Rainbows was the quality of the music. I think this was overlooked, but without the great songs that we were proud of, the online release would have counted for nothing. I am optimistic that if you make good work you can secure the patronage of your fans.

Three years later, we have just finished another group of songs, and have begun to wonder about how to release them in a digital landscape that has changed again. It seems to have become harder to own music in the traditional way, on a physical object like a CD, and instead music appears the poor cousin of software, streamed or locked into a portable device like a phone or iPod. I buy hardly any CDs now and get my music from many different sources: Spotify, iTunes, blog playlists, podcasts, online streaming – reviewing this makes me realise that my appetite for music now is just as strong as when I was 13, and how dependent I am upon digital delivery. At the same time, I find a lot of the technology very frustrating and counter-intuitive. I spend a lot of time using music production software, but iTunes feels clunky. I wish it was as simple and elegant as Apple’s hardware. I understand that we have become our own broadcasters and distributors, but I miss the editorialisation of music, the curatorial influences of people like John Peel or a good record label. I liked being on a record label that had us on it, along with Blur, the Beastie Boys and the Beatles.

I’m unconvinced that the internet has replaced the club or the concert hall as a forum for people to share ideas and passions about music. Social networking models such as Twitter and foursquare are early efforts at this but have some way to go to emulate the ecosystem that labels such as Island drew upon, the interconnected club and studio worlds of managers, musicians, artists and record company mavericks, let alone pay for such a fertile environment. Shoreditch, in east London, has a vibrant scene right now, with independent labels such as Wichita, Bella Union and distribution companies like The Co-op, alongside the busy Strongroom studio. I spoke to a friend, Dan Grech-Marguerat, about the scene. He is a busy mixer and producer, and told me that he could just sit at home and work on the computer but would miss the social buzz and benefits of working at the Strongroom and other studios.

There are signs that the net is moving out of its adolescence, and preparing to leave its bedroom. I have noticed on the fan message sites that a lot of the content and conversations have grown up, moved away from staccato chat and trolling, to discussions about artists, taste and trends, closer to writing found in music magazines.

There is less interest in the technological side of the net, and more focus on what services the web can deliver, like any other media. People are using touch and gesture-controlled devices such as the iPad to see through those objects to get to the content they want. This transparency and immediacy is exciting for us as artists, because it brings us closer to our audience.

We have yet to decide how to release our next record, but I hope these partial impressions will help give some idea of the conversations we’ve been having. Traditional marketplaces and media are feeling stale – supermarkets account for around 70 per cent of CDs sold in the UK, the charts are dominated by TV talent-show acts – and we are trying to find ways to put out our music that feel as good as the music itself. The ability to have a say in its release, through the new technologies, is the most empowering thing of all.

Cool Website Alert: Pitchfork Reviews Reviews

2010-09-17T09:50:00.000-07:00

This kid is funny. Check him out. He reviews the reviews written on Pitchfork, and he is dead-on about most of these clowns the God Almighty of Indie Rock Journalism hires to scribble pabulum to the unknowing masses.

Make sure you read his story about being a driver in Barack Obama's motorcade through New York City and asking the President about Pitchfork. Pretty funny stuff.

He is GOOD.

http://www.pitchforkreviewsreviews.com/

PEANUT BUTTER WOLF DJ MIX

2010-09-14T11:10:00.000-07:00

Download that jawn here. You'll be glad you did.

NEW FOUR TET MIX

2010-09-09T08:27:00.000-07:00

Download this killer new mixtape by IRT favorite Four Tet on the web site of the great Fact Magazine, one of the better online music publications on the Internet today.

But act fast, its only available for three weeks. Grab it here.

FACT Mix 182: Four Tet:

01 Rocketnumbernine: Matthew and Toby (Four Tet remix)
02 Pheeroan Ak Laff: "3 in 1"
03 Soul Capsule: "Seekers (Ricardo Villalobos remix)"
04 Mount Kimbie: "Blind Night Errand"
05 Grevious Angel: "Move Down Low VIP"
06 Ro 70 meets Move D: "Untitled"
07 Floating Points: "J+W beat"
08 Ramadanman: "Glut"
09 JD Robb: "Canon in Percussive Sound"
10 Index: "Starlight (break)"
11 Four Tet: "Nothing to See"
12 Falty DL: "St Marks (Cosmin TRG remix)"
13 Luke Abbott: "Holkham Drones"
14 Oni Ayhun: "OAR004A"
15 Bob Holroyd: "African drug (Four Tet remix)"
16 Lata Mangeshkar: "Too Mere Saath Rahega Munne"

Remembering Fat Beats

2010-09-04T06:26:00.001-07:00

I will never forget the first time I ever went to Fat Beats in NYC, where I picked up an Arsonists mixtape and the 12-inch of De La Soul's "Keepin' the Faith". I have many memories of that store, from meeting such local greats as Percee P and Creature selling their CDs outside the store to running into Q-Tip shopping for vinyl to watching Stretch Armstrong spin a set on a random Saturday afternoon in the late 90s. Walking up that flight of steps opened up a world to me that I know many of my friends and fellow fans of hip-hop know all too well. It was a pilgrimage to head up to that store when I was at SUNY New Paltz, and a regular spot on my record shopping circuit when I lived on Long Island. The legendary shop on the Avenue of the Americas is shutting its doors today, thus closing a chapter of East Coast hip-hop history that will NEVER be replaced. RIP to a true mecca of NYC.

If you are reading this and feel inspired to share your favorite Fat Beats story with IRT, please do so in the comments. Thank you. -Ed.

Shopping at Fat Beats:

Jean Grae and Talib Kweli performing live at Fat Beats:

Homeboy Sandman performing "Angels with Dirty Faces" at Fat Beats:

SRV REMEMBERED

2010-08-27T11:02:00.000-07:00

Today marks the 20th anniversary of the death of modern blues great Stevie Ray Vaughan, who was tragically killed in a helicopter crash following a concert with Eric Clapton in Alpine Valley, Wisconsin. In honor of this sad milestone, please enjoy this amazing rendition of "Life Without You", an outtake from Vaughan's appearance on MTV Unplugged and remind yourself of the joy and happiness his stellar guitar playing brought to our lives. RIP Stevie. -Ed.

TALKING HEADS "Don't Worry About the Government" Live on the Old Grey Whistle Test, 1978

2010-08-23T18:14:00.000-07:00

JIM CARROLL ON THE TODAY SHOW ON 1999

2010-08-23T18:07:00.000-07:00

This is the kind of stuff I missed when I slept in because I didn't have to be at work until 10 AM.

DAVID GILMOUR TO COLLABORATE WITH THE ORB ON FORTHCOMING LP

2010-08-17T12:57:00.000-07:00

On October 5th, Columbia Records will be releasing Metallic Spheres, a unique collaboration between Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour and British ambient superstars The Orb, who are no strangers to the music of Floyd, having done several trance remixes of their most beloved songs (see below).

"Together, they created a two-part sonic mixture in a range of styles combining David's unique guitars and The Orb's crafted sound manipulations", states the product description on Amazon.

It is rumored that renowned producer Martin "Youth" Glover of Killing Joke is also involved in the project as well.

For longtime fans of both parties, this is certainly a collaboration to very much look forward to; let's just hope that the results are more in line with Meddle and Zabriskie Point than The Division Bell.

Track Listing:
1. Metallic Side
2. Spheres Side

The Orb's remix of "Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Part 1 of 2)":

The Orb's Remix of "Echoes":

The Orb's Remix of "Obscured By Clouds":

MICHAEL ROTHER OF NEU! RETURNS TO NYC

2010-08-13T06:44:00.000-07:00

On August 6, legendary krautrock pioneer Michael Rother of the group Neu! returned to the New York City area with his new trio consisting of Steve Shelley of Sonic Youth and Aaron Mullan of Tall Firs known as Hallogallo 2010. For the first time in over 35 years, the group played the music of Neu! for an excited NYC crowd as part of Lincoln Center's Out the Doors Festival. Check out a stream of the concert below, and please visit my former editor Andy Gensler's No Cover blog on WNYC's Culture Web site for a great write-up of the show. Enjoy!

An incredible box set of all four Neu! albums is currently available via the Gronland imprint.

Set List:

1. Hallogallo 2010 (Unreleased)
2. Neutronics 98 (A Tribute to Conny Plank)
3. Aroma Club B3
4. Deluxe
5. Veteranissimo
6. Dino