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Pop Rock Nation

Author: Money Mike

  • Port O’Brien Releases Online EP to Support Haitian Relief Efforts

    How often do you get a chance to support a good cause and get turned on to some good new music as well?

    California’s own Port O’Brien has been touring the country in support of their recently released album, “Threadbare”. I was fortunate enough to catch these guys play the Paradise in Boston a couple months back, and I was also fortunate enough to catch band members Van Pierszalowski and Ryan Stively at the merch table following their set. They were great, personable guys, the music was awesome, and Van (who was rocking a pretty sweet yellow Lil Wayne tee of his own) was nice enough to give me a Port O’Brien tee shirt.

    Anyway, this band is doing their part to support the relief efforts in Haiti. If you go to their website, you can download “The Pan American Sessions”, an EP featuring alternate versions of four songs from “Threadbare”. 100% of the proceeds from this release will be donated to Doctors Without Borders relief efforts in the hurricane-stricken country.

    Lots of us talk a good game, but don’t back it up. Four bucks is a drop in the bucket for most of you out there. By contributing, not only will you be donating to a great cause, but you might just wind up with a new favorite band, too.

  • Respect Due: Arsenio Hall

    My opinion of the current talk show wars…is probably not worth reading. After all, I’m usually in bed by midnight (and if I’m not in bed by midnight, I’m definitely NOT watching TV). So the whole Leno/Conan thing really doesn’t mean a lot to me.

    Leno’s kinda funny. Conan’s kinda funny. Of the 11:30 guys, I’ve gotta go with Letterman. Carson Daly’s boring as hell. Jimmy Fallon sucks BUT he has The Roots as his backing band, which is enough to get me to watch episodes on nbc.com. To me, the only legitimately hilarious late night host is Colin Ferguson, and by the time he comes on, I’m in la la land. Truthfully, the last late night show I stayed up and watched religiously was “Politically Incorrect”.

    The last (and only) late night talk show (in the traditional sense) that I ever watched religiously was “The Arsenio Hall Show”. While I must admit that the caliber of guests has gotten better over the years, back in the early Nineties there was no way in hell I was sitting through either Johnny Carson OR Letterman. Arsenio had the best guests and he pretty much had the ONLY show that paid any attention to R&B or hip-hop. No one else was putting NWA or Tupac on late night TV. No one else at the time was able to get Prince or Michael Jackson to go on their show, either.

    Arsenio Hall was the first talk-show host to speak to my generation and reflect my tastes. So screw Leno and Conan. Bring back Arsenio and his extra-long fingers.

  • New Releases 1/19/10: Spoon, RJD2 & More

    Hope that those of you who had a 3-day weekend had a good one, and hope that those of you in Massachusetts made it out to the polls today. Welcome to yet another Tuesday, one in which there are less new releases than normal-yep, it’s January. Here are some of the highlights.

    Spoon “Transference”-I really tried to like “Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga”. Really. It just didn’t do anything for me. Of course, that probably just shot down the tiny sliver of indie cred I have left, but I don’t care. I did catch Spoon doing a soundcheck a couple of months ago, and they sounded pretty good-until the actual show, when they were completely upstaged by the two bands opening for them (Phoenix and Passion Pit). Anyway, we’re not about negativity here-this album should officially catapult Spoon into the major leagues.

    RJD2 “The Colossus”-Ramble John Krohn, better known as RJD2, splits the difference between Moby and DJ Shadow. Each successive album has been less hip-hop based and more indie-pop based, which is fine. The guy’s talented. People slept on his last album, “The Third Hand” (which, to me, was Moby-er than ever before), but it was pretty good. “Colossus” might be my sole purchase this week.

    “Crazy Heart” Original Soundtrack-If you watched the Golden Globes Sunday night, you’re well aware that Jeff Bridges took home the Best Actor in a Dramatic Motion Picture trophy for his performance of a down-and-out country singer in “Crazy Heart”. Newcomer Ryan Bingham also took home Best Original Song for “The Weary Kind”, also from this movie. Bridges (who turns out to be a pretty fine singer) turns in a few vocal performances here, as does Colin Farrell (!). The soundtrack was produced by T-Bone Burnett, who brought us one of the most popular soundtracks in recent years: “O Brother Where Art Thou”.

    Also in stores today: a new one from Motion City Soundtrack (produced by Blink-182’s Mark Hoppus), British favorites The Editors (produced by legendary boardsman Flood, of Depeche Mode and U2 fame) and a new Eels record.

    Get your complete list of this week’s releases here.