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Pop Rock Nation

Author: Pop Rock Nation

  • You Gotta Hear This Vol. 1: Vampire Weekend

    And the fact is, over the past couple of weeks, a lot more people HAVE heard the debut CD by NYC quartet Vampire Weekend. After a performance on “Saturday Night Live” a couple of weeks back, their album vaulted back into the Top 30 on the Billboard chart.
    I found out about the band a month or so before, thanks to a coworker who went to Columbia University along with the four members of VW. They’ve gotten tons of blog press over the past couple of months, and are allegedly the first band to appear on the cover of “Spin” magazine before their first album was released. I’ll leave it up to you to decide whether that means anything or not.
    At any rate, these kids are pretty interesting. Their music is hooky and catchy (as all pop should be…I’m not even gonna call it “indie pop” for the benefit of all the dorks with tight pants and ironic mustaches), and carries a couple of interesting influences. First and most obvious would be the African music influence. A good friend of mine who is also a musician harumphed “all they did was rip off old Hugh Masakela records”. While it’s true that they probably listened to a lot of Afrobeat stuff (in addition to much of the African-influenced work of Anglo bands like Talking Heads, Paul Simon and Peter Gabriel), their music has a fun, tossed-off quality (they actually remind me of The Ramones in spots) that makes it more unique than your average retread. Their songs also have a bit of a classical influence. The string sections are a bit fuller than on your average pop record, and when was the last time you heard a pop/rock album with a flute?
    Although they’re a bit on the pretentiously literate side (come on, they’re frickin’ Ivy Leaguers…what did you expect?), thanks to Vampire Weekend, not only do I have a cool new danceable album in my collection, but I now know what a mansard roof and an oxford comma are!
    Check ’em out for yourself:
    Their official website is: http://www.vampireweekend.com/
    Check out the video for “Mansard Roof” here: http://youtube.com/watch?v=XSOM0tQMNZ8
    …the video for “A-Punk” is right here: http://youtube.com/watch?v=fiATtJUPuzI

  • Vital Idol: All This And A Jar Of Kellie Pickler

    Week 2 was a terrific example of why this show works even if the contestants have off nights. If you ask those who watched last night, based solely on the performances, it was definitely below par. But then again, what are we asking of these barely less than amateurs? They were doing Beatles songs which are some of the most revered records of all time. How could these folks pull off any of the material well? And when they didn’t for the most part, you could just feel music fans going, “How could you not know that song?” The Beatles’ music is so personal to people and there was no way that these poor Idol contestants could win. But those very average performances did make me yearn for the originals. Maybe that’s the trick now. Have your songs ravaged by contestants so that people buy them on iTunes. Wait, the Beatles aren’t on iTunes. Never mind.

    Based on last night, I predicted that Michael Johns, Kristy Lee Cook, and Amanda Overmyer would be in the bottom three. Kristy Lee Cook’s nickname should be “Bottom 3”.

    Before we get to the elimination, why Kellie Pickler? I guess they’ll tell us.

    Let’s get to the elimination.

    – It looks like Ryno is doing this one by one style rather than talking to the contestants as a group.

    – Brooke White is back to the straight hair if anyone cares. I do! And I like the curly better!

    – In the shocker of all shockers, Carly Smithson is in the bottom three. I blame the tattoos.

    – And we get another shocker. Michael Johns is in the top ten. He’s thankfully hiding the chest hair again tonight.

    – Kristy Lee Cook is in the bottom three, living up to her brand new nickname. Only one spot left.

    – They really need to dump the segment where they take calls. It’s never been done well on television and some of the lamest calls get through, like what song Ramiele recently downloaded to her iPod. She actually said she only steals music through Limewire. Ok, she didn’t say that.

    – Kellie Pickler is singing Red High Heels while wearing her red high heels, and I totally thought she was going to take a header walking down from the platform, but she made it safely.

    – They are showing Fantasia with a homeless guy visiting Angola. Wait, that homeless guy is Elliot Yamin.

    – Amanda Overmyer is the final contestant in the bottom three, which means, I got two out of three right. Last week I got all three right. Too bad that my NCAA Tournament picks will be a complete failure.

    – Ryno tells Carly she is safe which makes Carly whisper, “Are you kidding me?”

    – Kristy Lee Cook must have nine lives. Big Rube Studdard is going to celebrate Amanda Overmyer home.

    So far, no surprises when it comes to the departed. But I’m banking on a surprise in the next couple weeks. If Johns keeps making it through, someone is going to have to pay. Seacrest out!

    GG

  • Danity Kane, Flo-Rida, YAWNNNNN: New Music Releases 3/18/08

    Maybe I’m getting old, maybe I’m slowly growing out of touch with popular music nowadays.
    What does it mean when I’m completely disinterested in the two potentially biggest-selling releases of the week?
    For those of you that care, “Making The Band” favorites Danity Kane release their second album, “Welcome To The Dollhouse” today. Their debut album entered the charts at #1 and sold a million copies, so there’s a lot riding on this release, as my buddy GG mentioned a couple of blog entries ago.
    The other release of note comes from T-Pain protege Flo-Rida, whose debut single “Low” reigned on top of Billboard’s pop charts for an amazing 9 weeks. “Mail On Sunday”‘s follow-up single “Elevator” (which features the typically omnipresent Timbaland) has made it into the Top 15 in just a couple of short weeks.
    Daniel Lanois is much better known as a producer than an artist, but to give you an idea of the kind of clout this man has, the guests on his new album, “Here Is What Is”, include: U2, Willie Nelson, Sinead O’ Connor and Aaron Neville. Quality stuff.
    Other releases of reasonable note include: a new album from underground rap favorite Lyrics Born, a set from LOX rapper Sheek Louch, indie favorites The Kills and dance gurus Groove Armada.
    Yeah. I’m excited too!!
    Get a complete list of this week’s releases here: