Slash Turns Japanese
Seriously. Slash is probably the hardest working rock guitarist around. If he’s not lending his talents to any number of artists, he’s either playing live or working on his own studio projects. So, while Velvet Revolver is on permanent hiatus, Slash has wasted no time in recording a solo album with guests ranging from Iggy to Fergie.
The album itself isn’t due out until early next year, but a Japanese-only single has already been released, featuring Koshi Inaba, of Japanese hard rock band B'z, on vocals.
The song, “Sahara,” sounds more like Slash’s Snakepit than it does Velvet Revolver; it’s harder, faster, and not as glossy. Bonus strangeness points – Koshi sings the song entirely in Japanese. It actually took me a couple of listens before I realized there was a reason I couldn’t understand what he was saying.
Sahara.mp3 Labels: guitar heroes, hard rock, new stuff, singles
'Let Me Die in Southern California'
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about Southern California. I grew up there and as we sometimes do, I took it for granted. I spent 30-some years there and missed a lot. In my mind, I’ve missed living there, but I doubt the reality matches my memories. And barring some drastic change in economics (the U.S.’s; California’s; mine), I doubt I would move back there anytime soon.
It’s been a couple of years since I’ve been back there at all, and those trips had been for deaths of family members, so not really vacations. Due to the modern wonder of the Internet, I've recently reconnected with some old friends who still live there and I’ve also made a couple of new friends out there, so I plan on going out for a real visit sometime in the next few months.
That all said, it was by virtue of its title alone that The Voyces’ new song, “Let Me Die in Southern California,” caught my eye when it hit my inbox the other day. I’ve listened to the song several times since – it’s undeniably catchy, with a hummable tune. More than that, it seems to have an underlying darkness: “Those big bright lights that sometimes seem so pretty / Lose every bit of allure / When you feel the weight of the world.”
I think every good California song should be about either mindless summertime fun (i.e. almost all old Beach Boys songs), or about the decay behind the façade (i.e. almost all Eagles songs). The Voyces, who are originally from Southern California have come up with a classic in the vein of “California Dreaming,” complete with beautiful harmonies and visions of the sun setting over PCH as trash and bodies rot in ditches alongside the highway.
“Let Me Die in Southern California” is the first single from their upcoming album of the same name. The disk will be out September 28 on Planting Seeds/Darla Records. For more info, check The Voyces’
MySpace.
Let Me Die in Southern California.mp3Labels: folk, new stuff, singles
‘Lick Your Lips Before Suicide’
For reasons I can’t quite describe, I love the Raveonettes. I have only one of their albums, but I’m always excited to hear them on the radio, and I was very excited to get this new song in my mailbox today.
I didn’t even want to check the blogosphere to see if “Suicide” had already been posted all over hell and halfway to
My Old Kentucky Blog – I just wanted to listen to it myself and present it to my faithful few readers who maybe haven’t heard it yet.
“Suicide” is an advance track from the Raveonettes' upcoming album,
In & Out of Control. The disk itself isn’t due in stores until October 6, but there’s nothing like creating an early buzz. I hate that the official description of the song calls it “a sugar-coated, 60’s-meets-shoegaze anthem.” Shoegaze to me means someone who’s too sad to even be emo. But I do like the idea of an updated, darkly sugar coated 60’s anthem. Think “Last Kiss,” redone not so long ago by Pearl Jam. There’s hit records in them thar tragedies!
The song itself is everything indefinable about why I love the Raveonettes: Sharon Foo’s understated voice; the fuzzed-out guitars; the simple and timeless rock ‘n’ roll – Velvet Underground by way of the Jesus and Mary Chain. Wait. Did I just define it there?
Suicide.mp3 (Pay no mind to the teensy-tiny Vice Records promo at the end of the song – whattaya want for free?)
Here’s the full track list for
In & Out of Control:
01. Bang!
02. Gone Forever
03. Last Dance
04. Boys Who Rape (Should All Be Destroyed)
05. Heart Of Stone
06. Oh, I Buried You Today
07. Suicide
08. D.R.U.G.S.
09. Breaking Into Cars
10. Break Up Girls!
11. Wine
...and if you click over to the Raveonettes’
MySpace, you can get info on their tour, which formally starts at Lollapalooza in just a few days (and which, I should also note, carefully avoids Florida).
Labels: "alternative", new stuff, singles
'Oh No! Not You Again!'
Trying a new tack with my constantly overflowing mailbox, I thought I’d see if maybe I could separate out the good stuff in a timelier manner. It was that approach that found me tonight’s music.
The Heavy is a UK quartet whose music sounds at once familiar, while also sounding miles apart from so much else clogging the airwaves and Internet tubes lately. The Heavy has managed to fuse garage rock and funk into something that could have you playing air guitar to one song and lookin’ for someone to grind with to another. All the while, the music is raw; never that slick, Auto-Tune shite. As the band themselves describe it: “So dirty. So much weight. So much energy and laced with a soul that you just don't hear anymore.”
In a sort of unique promotional campaign, The Heavy are planning on issuing three singles leading up to the October release of their Jim Abbiss-produced sophomore disk,
The House That Dirt Built. The first single, “Oh No! Not You Again!” – which features guest vocals from Shingai Shoniwa of The Noisettes – officially hit stores today.
Check this song out and see if you don’t agree it’s one of the coolest things you’ve heard in a while.
Oh No! Not You Again!.mp3 Labels: funk, garage rock, new stuff, singles
Wolfmother comes 'Back Round'
I was very happy to see a new song from Wolfmother in my mailbox this weekend. I hadn’t heard anything from the band in ages and I feared they had permanently called it quits.
“Back Round” is the first new music from Wolfmother since their excellent 2005 debut disk. The band went through a major upheaval in the intervening years with vocalist and guitarist Andrew Stockdale being the only remaining original member. Bassist Chris Ross and drummer Myles Heskett both left Wolfmother last year, leaving the band’s future in doubt. After a brief hiatus, as well as two low-key gigs under the name “White Feather,” Stockdale revealed the new line-up in February: Guitarist Aidan Nemeth, bassist and keyboardist Ian Peres, and drummer Dave Atkins.
Wolfmother is currently working on a new album, tentatively titled
Cosmic Egg. According to Stockdale, the new disk will be a double album containing at least 18 tracks. The album, which Stockdale says will be "a little bit heavier [but] hopefully not too complicated," should be out this summer.
“Back Round” is the first taste of music from the album. The band is giving the single away, asking that fans donate to the
Red Cross Victorian Bushfire Appeal (note: The actual Brushfire Appeal is
closed, but I’m sure the Australian Red Cross – or your local Red Cross – would appreciate any donations).
Back Round.mp3 Labels: new stuff, rock, singles
Conquista
At least I think “
conquista” is the Spanish word for “conquest.” Which becomes important because the White Stripes’ latest single release is likewise titled “Conquest” and features a mariachi version of the song. See how neatly I managed to tie all of this together?
“Conquest,” the second single from
Icky Thump, was released Dec. 18. The tracks “It's My Fault for Being Famous,” “Honey, We Can't Afford to Look This Cheap,” and “Cash Grab Complications on the Matter” appear respectively on black, white, and red versions of the vinyl releases, with the latter featuring the aforementioned version of “Conquest.”
The B-sides were co-produced by Beck, who also contributed vocals and piano to “Being Famous” and played slide guitar on “Honey.”
In other White Stripes news, the band has been nominated for four Grammy Awards:
BEST ALTERNATIVE ALBUM:
Icky ThumpBEST ROCK SONG:
Icky ThumpBEST ROCK PERFORMANCE BY A DUO OR GROUP:
Icky ThumpBEST LIMITED PACKAGING: limited edition “Jack and Meg”
Icky Thump USB drives
No word on whether Jack and Meg plan to appear or perform at the Feb. 10 awards show.
It’s My Fault for Being Famous.mp3 Conquest (acoustic mariachi version).mp3Labels: garage rock, new stuff, rock, singles, White Stripes
Dancing Barefoot
Today’s post comes from the “Lost in the Corners of Apt. 104” category.
In the late 80’s some record company marketing genius created a 3-inch CD, which was supposed to be the digital replacement for the 7-inch single. There were some problems: “Record labels never settled on a suitable package,” according to
cd3music.com. “While playable on many audio systems, some hi-fi stereo systems / compact disc players required a snap-on adaptor to turn them into a standard 5-inch CD. Because of this, 3-inch CD singles never sold very well.”
A sucker for novelty, I fell for the gimmick and bought exactly two of these little disks. I thought I had long ago lost the adapter, but while cleaning up some things today, I found it. I’ve never actually used the adapter in anything where the CD goes into a slot (i.e. my computer), so I wasn’t sure how it would work. I could picture it jamming and never coming free. But I tried anyway. And I’ll be go-to-hell if it didn’t work!
The first of these two little singles is U2’s “When Love Comes to Town” from 1988’s
Rattle and Hum album. Along with the album version and a remixed version of the title track, the single also contains a remix of “God Part II,” and a cover of Patti Smith’s “Dancing Barefoot.” I believe the single was issued first in the 3-inch format, then later as a traditional 5-inch disk. And if you’re interested, “When Love Comes to Town” charted as high as number two in the U.S.
Dancing Barefoot (Patti Smith cover).mp3 When Love Comes to Town (live from The Kingdom mix).mp3 God Part II (the hard metal dance mix).mp3Labels: rock, singles, U2
The album itself isn’t due out until early next year, but a Japanese-only single has already been released, featuring Koshi Inaba, of Japanese hard rock band B'z, on vocals. 
