web analytics

Pop Rock Nation

Author: Money Mike

  • First Listen: Dave Matthews Band’s “Funny the Way it Is”

    dmb

    I have no problem admitting that when it comes to Dave Matthews Band, I am coo coo for Cocoa Puffs. I’ve seen them more than any other band I’ve ever seen in concert (truth be told, I’ve lost count. But I’m somewhere between 11-15 times). Not only are these guys tighter musically than Ralphie May in Spandex, but there’s something in Dave’s lyrics that speaks to me. Does that mean I’m an overgrown frat boy? Possibly. Hippie? Maybe. Do I smoke too much pot? Well, some may argue that there’s no such thing as too much pot.

    Anyway, “Funny the Way it Is” is the first single from “Big Whiskey & the GrooGrux King”, DMB’s upcoming album. Due out June 2nd, it’s the band’s first album without saxophonist LeRoi Moore, who tragically passed away last year from complications resulting from injuries sustained in an ATV accident. As any DMB fan would probably suspect, the band is celebrating LeRoi’s life more than they are mourning his death, and “Big Whiskey” will contain a healthy amount of input from Moore, scrounged up from hours of tape they had of him performing.

    “Big Whiskey” is produced by Rob Cavallo, who has worked with everyone from the Goo Goo Dolls to Green Day, and the song is fairly recognizable as one of his productions. It’s got a crunchy rock sound, polished to a gleam. The lyrics are typical Matthews musings. Although his songwriting has grown by leaps and bounds over the past fifteen years, you can still spot a Dave lyric pretty easily. Overall, I like the song (and enjoy it more with each listen), and think this bodes quite well for the new album.

  • New Release of the Week 4/14/09: Day26

    day26

    Not exactly the most exciting week for new releases (man, how much have I been saying THAT lately?), we begin this week’s column with a group that begs two questions: What happened to the R&B group? and Are there any acts left on Bad Boy Records? Shit, think back fifteen years, and the R&B scene was littered with groups: Boyz II Men, Jodeci, Shai, Silk, Intro, Hi-Five, Color Me Badd…now I can barely think of any besides Mint Condition (the only R&B band left on the scene). BIIM’s last release was a covers record,  New Edition pretty much now exists only as a touring group, and everyone else broke up, it seems. What the hell, man?

    Similarly, remember when Bad Boy’s roster boasted The Notorious B.I.G., Faith Evans, Mase, 112 and a handful of others? Well, Biggie’s dead, Mase found Jesus (again), 112 split up, Faith switched labels, and the only acts left on Bad Boy appear to be Diddy himself, Cassie (who really doesn’t need to release another albums) and Day26. Although I’m not the biggest fan (actually, I’m not a fan at all), I at least give props to these cats for carrying the torch.

    Here’s some other stuff hitting stores this week that you may find interesting.

    Beck “One Foot in the Grave” (remastered w/bonus tracks)– Remember when Beck first came out, he had two record deals? His pop stuff was released through Geffen, while his more indie-flavored, uncommercial stuff was free to be released on other labels? Well, for those who don’t remember, “One Foot in the Grave” was the first of those lo-fi recordings after the success of “Mellow Gold” in ’94. Me? I’m not so much a fan of lo-fi Beck, but it’s nice to see his work getting the deluxe treatment.

    Easy Star All Stars “Easy Star’s Lonely Hearts Dub Band”-Following in the footsteps of “Dub Side of the Moon” and “Radiodread” (which tackled “OK Computer”), this album features a reggae makeover of the entire “Sgt. Pepper’s…” album. Not sure how appealing that sounds to you if you’re a Beatles fan, but the previous installments of this series have been quite listenable, actually. The album features everyone from Jamaican legends Steel Pulse to the hellbent-on-proving-he’s-not-a-one-hit-wonder Matisyahu. Remember him?

    Fastball “Little White Lies”– Those of you who thought Fastball disappeared after scoring smash hits with “Out of My Head” and “The Way”, well, you’re wrong. The power-pop trio is back with their first album in five years. Although I don’t know much beyond the two singles, I have friends who swear these guys can do no wrong, and they certainly have a way with a hook. This one might be worth a listen.

    Bernie WIlliams “Moving Forward”-Although my body is in Boston these days, my baseball heart will always be with the Yankees (that sound you just heard was me getting kicked in the head by 100 Red Sox fans). Retired Yank Bernie Williams has released albums of his instrumental guitar work before, and they’ve been surprisingly well-received-or at least well-received enough that I can’t think of a comparable athlete’s venture into music that was as successful. Anyway, Bernie pulled in the big guns for this release, as he got Bruce Springsteen to appear on this album. I always knew The Boss had good taste in baseball teams.

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

  • A Requiem for Kurt: 15 Years Later

    Is it sacrilegious to compare Kurt Cobain and Tupac Shakur?

    Before you start screaming, believe me. I know you can’t compare their output from an artistic standpoint. Cobain was clearly an A-list songwriter and an effective vocalist who made two (three, if you count “Unplugged in New York” classic albums, while Pac’s output was decidedly mediocre. His legend is based more on charisma and image than music.

    But take a closer look. The two died at relatively the same age (Kurt was 27, Pac was 25), both died by gunshot, and while their musical paths were widely divergent, they both were the spokespeople for a segment of their generation. I’m lucky enough (or culturally and musically eclectic enough) to be able to claim both as representations of the era in which I came up.

    There’s no denying what Kurt did to popular music, even if (shock! horror!) his influence is ever-so-slightly overstated. A lot was made of his symbolic toppling of Michael Jackson’s “Dangerous” from the top of the Billboard charts, but a closer look into 1992 reveals #1 albums like “The Bodyguard” Soundtrack and Michael Bolton’s “Timeless…the Classics”, chart-toppers post-“Nevermind”. With that said, though, Kurt’s kicking down a door that R.E.M. had pried ajar is extremely significant. Whereas in the fall of ’91, I asked my friend Dee to make me a “rock” mixtape and returned with a Warrant and Poison-heavy piece of work, I was checking out much harder, less glammed-up sounds barely a year later. A whole generation of kids did the same.

    After all these years, the music still holds up. A lot of folks forget (or don’t realize) how poppy Nirvana’s music was. While the musical structure was off-center, the melodies were straight from The Beatles. Think about that next time you find yourself singing along with a Nirvana song. “Teen Spirit”, “Lithium”, “Pennyroyal Tea” and “Rape Me” still sound fresh on the radio after nearly two decades, and Cobain’s shadow still looms large over the rock scene today. Next time you hear Chester Bennington shrieking on the radio, think about whether that sound would have existed in contemporary pop music without Cobain and Nirvana. Whether you want to praise or curse him for the existence of bands like Linkin Park is another story entirely.

    kurtIt’s interesting to imagine what Kurt would be doing with his music if he were still alive. After all, his contemporaries Pearl Jam still make commercially relevant music, as do partners-in-rage-if-not-sound Nine Inch Nails. Hell, anyone who’s heard “Pablo Honey” knows that Radiohead pretty much started out as a Nirvana tribute band, and Soundgarden’s Chris Cornell was still pretty relevant until his recent ill-fated collaboration with Timbaland. Would Nirvana still be on the cutting edge? Would Kurt have said “fuck it” and retired? Would he be a kook like Axl Rose is these days? Shit, would the Foo Fighters (an absolutely underrated singles band) even exist? That’s to say nothing of Courtney Love. If Kurt really did write much of “Live Through This”, I’d say there was a helluva career in store for her, had they stayed together.

    At any rate, Kurt deserves credit for bringing an anti-establishment attitude straight into the mainstream and not doing a goddamn thing to temper or change it. And when you break it down, isn’t that what rock ‘n roll is all about?