Dead Weather: Bonnaroo, 2010
This will probably be my last major post before
I cease operations here at the Licorice Pizza blog. That should happen at the end of this week. As such, I wanted to share something really decent I got hold of not long ago.
The Dead Weather played Day 3 (June 12) of this year’s Bonnaroo Festival, sandwiched on the “What” stage between Big Sam's Funky Nation and Jimmy Cliff on one side and Stevie Wonder and Jay-Z on the other. Kind of an unlikely, yet appropriate, slot for this unholy gothic blues quartet.
I’ve made no secret of mentioning that I really liked
Sea of Cowards. I think the band and album are a natural progression for Jack White, moving forward from the basic blues stomp of the White Stripes. My only issue is that I would rather hear Jack on guitar than drums. Fans at Bonnaroo got a chance to see him do just that during their set: White stepped out to play lead guitar on “Will There Be Enough Water?” launching into an extended solo to end the set. When the band returned for its encore, Jack again took lead guitar for “I Can’t Hear You.”
Like every other year and every other festival, needless to say I couldn’t attend Bonnaroo. It sounds as if Dead Weather was phenomenal.
Rolling Stone wrote, “Their set was a nasty reconfiguration of classic blues, ripping out everything but the floorboards and rebuilding a rickety, menacing house on top of them.”
I’m not sure of the original source for this recording, but the sound quality is as suitably great as the band. Again, my host is expiring in a couple of days and the individual tracks are likely not going to be available after that. The RapidShare file should be around a bit longer.
Forever My Queen.mp3 60 Feet Tall.mp3 Hang You from the Heavens.mp3 You Just Can’t Win.mp3 So Far from Your Weapon.mp3 I Cut Like a Buffalo.mp3 No Horse.mp3 A Child of a Few Hours is Burning to Death.mp3 The Difference Between Us / I’m Mad.mp3 Hustle & Cuss.mp3 Die by the Drop.mp3 New Pony.mp3 Will There Be Enough Water.mp3encoreBlue Blood Blues.mp3 I Can’t Hear You.mp3 Treat Me Like Your Mother.mp3 Zipfile linkageLabels: blues, Jack White, live music
Music from My Mailbox
This seriously has to be one of the largest mailbox dumps I’ve ever done. Sixteen songs – and that’s after I deleted a good number I didn’t want to post. What’s funny is I started off thinking this was going to be an unusually small post because I had to go through about 20 e-mails before I ran across something I liked and wanted to post.
Like always, I was happy see big names like the Dead Weather and MIA reaching out to bloggers to help promote their respective albums. I’ve seen both of these tracks posted on other blogs the last few days, so I apologize I’m a little slow getting them to you.
Besides the Dead Weather, of course, some other tracks you should pay particular attention to: The Ex-Girlfriend’s Club and Best Coast both fit loosely into the garage / psycho-fuzz genres I like and can recommend.
A lot of bands sending out music seem to be shooting for summertime pop-hit type of stuff. Sometimes that can come across like they’re trying too hard, but the couple I picked here – The Like and Sonny and the Sunsets – are bearable, if not downright decent. The Like also went for a purposefully lo-fi sound, recording their album direct to analogue tape.
Finally, I usually shy away from remixes, but I went with this remixed cover of Ice T’s “Colors,” from the movie of the same name. I was just talking with someone the other day about the 1988 flick, a classic directed by Dennis Hopper and starring Robert Duvall and Sean Penn. If I still have the soundtrack, I may get that up as an OST OCD post soon.
Like always, follow the links for more info.
The Dead WeatherRock / Blues / Gothic
From: Nashville, Tenn.
Band
MySpace Die By the Drop.mp3 Sonny and the SunsetsIndie / Beach-Pop
From: San Francisco, Calif.
Band
MySpaceToo Young To Burn.mp3 Pearly Gate MusicTropical / Concrete
From: Seattle, Wash.
Band
MySpaceBig Escape.mp3 
MIAOther
From: London & Southeast U.K.
Band
MySpaceXXXO.mp3 GangliansShowtunes / Celtic / Roots Music
From: Sacramento, Calif.
Band
MySpaceMy House.mp3 Pete CovingtonAlternative / Psychedelic / Pop
From: New South Wales, Australia
Band
MySpaceBalloons.mp3 
The LikePop / Garage
From: Los Angeles, Calif.
Band
MySpaceFair Game.mp3 Sleigh BellsElectronic / Rock
From: Brooklyn, N.Y. & Florida
Band
MySpaceInfinity Guitars.mp3 The Ex-Girlfriends ClubGarage / Rock / Glam
From: Portland, Ore.
Band
MySpaceYour Prescription.mp3 
Lana Del RayGlam / Surf / Hawaiian
From: New York, N.Y.
Band
MySpaceDiet Mtn. Dew (demo).mp3 YelawolfHip Hop / Ghettotech / Southern Rock
From: Gadsden, Ala.
Band
MySpaceGood to Go (ft. Bun B).mp3 DJ Troublemaker / King FantasticPunk / Funk / Crunk
From: Los Angeles, Calif.
Band
MySpaceColors (Ice T cover).mp3 
Best CoastSurf / Pop / Gospel
From: Los Angeles, Calif.
Band
MySpaceFar Away.mp3
Katelyn DawnIndie / Pop / Acoustic
From: Toronto, Canada
Band
MySpacePuzzle Pieces.mp3 Luna is HoneyPop / Rock / R&B
From: Los Angeles, Calif.
Band
MySpaceWho Wouldn’t.mp3 Lisa JaeggiSoul / Folk / Freestyle
From: Brooklyn, N.Y.
Band
MySpaceOh Lady You Shot Me!.mp3 ~~~~~
(pictures, top-to-bottom:
Dead Weather, MIA, The Like, Lana Del Ray, Best Coast)
Labels: "alternative", acousticness, blues, covers, electronic, folk, funk, garage rock, glam, hip-hop, indie, Jack White, pop muzik, RnB, rock
‘Hustle and Cuss’
I think the Dead Weather’s
Horehound was one of last year’s underrated releases. As far as Jack White projects go, anyway. He put himself out of the spotlight and managed to put together a band that turned in a great gothic blues project. At the right time of night and in the right frame of mind, the album remains one of my go-to disks.
There hasn’t been much news lately about the Dead Weather, so I was surprised to hear that they have a new disk,
Sea of Cowards, due out later this month (May 11, here in the U.S.). And I was happily surprised that the news of this upcoming album was accompanied by an early release.
“Hustle and Cuss” stays true to the ethic of the Dead Weather with Alison Mosshart’s more grittied-up vocals backed by Jack Lawrence’s jazzed up bass line. This is the second release from
Sea of Cowards (“Die by the Drop” was released in late March). Both songs show the group growing in maybe the direction the White Stripes would have taken as a four- rather than two-piece, giving Jack White room to expand the garage blues that are his hallmark.
It might be time to stop thinking of the Dead Weather as Jack White’s other, other band and start thinking of them as the band he has grown into.
Hustle and Cuss.mp3 Labels: blues, garage rock, Jack White, new stuff
I’ve made no secret of mentioning that I really liked Sea of Cowards. I think the band and album are a natural progression for Jack White, moving forward from the basic blues stomp of the White Stripes. My only issue is that I would rather hear Jack on guitar than drums. Fans at Bonnaroo got a chance to see him do just that during their set: White stepped out to play lead guitar on “Will There Be Enough Water?” launching into an extended solo to end the set. When the band returned for its encore, Jack again took lead guitar for “I Can’t Hear You.” 
