This is some serious rock & roll detective work right here. Vulture : Randy Newman may proclaim, “I Love L.A.,” but Los Angeles is deeper, richer, and more vibrant than that shouty stream of Chamber of Commerce clichés. For an Angeleno like me, “Under the Bridge” by the Red Hot Chili Peppers comes closer to capturing the city’s true vibe. It starts out sunny: “I drive on her streets ‘cause she’s my companion / I walk through her hills ‘cause she knows who I am / She sees my good deeds and she kisses me windy / And I never worry… ” And ...

[ Gelezen in NRC Handelsblad, zaterdag 19 mei 2012, geschreven door Pieter Steinz. ] Bij Waterloo begon de victorie – althans voor ABBA, het Zweedse viertal dat van het midden van de jaren zeventig tot het begin van de jaren tachtig de hitparade domineerde en daarna zou uitgroeien tot een van de invloedrijkste popgroepen aller tijden. Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus en Agnetha Fältskog wonnen op 6 april 1974 in Brighton het 19de Eurovisiesongfestival met Waterloo, een kauwgomrocknummer over een smoorverliefde vrouw. ‘Bij Waterloo gaf Napoleon zich over’, zongen de blonde Anna en de bruinharige Frida tweestemmig nadat rollende gitaren het liedje ...

Day two of the Hangout Festival in Gulf Shores, Ala. featured stellar sets from the likes of Dr. Dog, Randy Newman, Gogol Bordello and Red Hot Chili Peppers among others.

Van Dyke Parks has collaborated, over the years, with the likes of Randy Newman, Ringo Starr, the Byrds, Harry Nilsson, Ry Cooder, and others. More recently, he has been issuing a series of seven-inch vinyl singles, the most recent of which was “Sassafrass”/”The All Golden.” Yet, for more music fans, he will always be associated with Brian Wilson’s troubled late-1960s [...]

WHAT : Hangout Music Fest WHEN : May 18-20 WHERE : Gulf Shores, AL WHO : Jack White, Wilco, the Flaming Lips (performing Dark Side of the Moon ), Alabama Shakes, Skrillex, M. Ward, Yelawolf, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, Randy Newman, more WHAT : NYC Popfest WHEN : May 17-20 WHERE : New York, NY  WHO : Allo' Darlin, Comet Gain, the Ladybug Transistor, Heaven's Gate, Seapony, Saturday Looks Good to Me, the Wave Pictures, more WHAT :  Plisskën Festival WHEN : May 12 WHERE : Athens, Greece WHO : Junior Boys, Joker, Michael Rother with Camera, Male Bonding, Peaches, King Khan & the Shrines, Swords">Forest Swords, College, the Notwist ...

Перед вами новый выпуск «Блогоскопа», дайджеста зарубежных музыкальных блогов. Главным «генератором новостей» на этой неделе был выход в свет нового диска американской инди-рок-группы The Shins «Wincing the Night Away». Альбом «утёк» в Сеть ещё несколько месяцев назад, но это не помешало ему стать одним из главных бестселлеров недели и предметом оживлённых пересудов: удастся или нет ему возглавить хит-парад Billboard и оказаться таким образом первым в истории «альбомом-номер-один» для независимого лейбла Sub Pop. На момент написания этого текста результат «чартовой битвы» The Shins и «порно»-RnB-проекта Pretty Ricky ещё не был известен, и предсказания все делали разные. Тем временем Chromewaves и ...

Six-time Grammy Award winner and founding member of The Eagles, Glenn Frey will release After Hours, a collection of classic love songs from the 40's to the present, on May 8th from Universal Music Enterprises. After Hours, his sixth solo album and first since 1995 is a total departure taking him in a whole new direction. The two-and-a half year project was developed out of Frey's passion for the songs and sound of such artists as Tony Bennett, Nat King Cole, and Dinah Washington. The exquisite collection of songs include 40's classics such as "Sentimental Reasons" and ...

Detroit? Manchester? LA? Norwich? Name the city that has produced the best music A question reaches us via Twitter from Kate Melsom: @ guardianmusic You are on a desert island & only take 1 City's music which city would you pick? #Bestmusiccity — Kate Melsom (@katemelsom) April 25, 2012 A good question. Kate says she'd opt for Detroit, thanks to Iggy Pop, Marvin Gaye and the White Stripes – and many other acts you could add to the list. Here's a few other nominations from Twitter: only allowed music from one city? I'd have to go for manchester. well greater ...

A co-founder of the defining country-rock band of the genre's formative years, Chris Ethridge left his mark on music by playing with Gram Parsons and Chris Hillman in the Flying Burrito Brothers, and then as a session and tour musician for Willie Nelson, Randy Newman, Jackson Browne, and Linda Rondstadt, among many other artists. It was Nelson who confirmed via Twitter that Ethridge died Monday at the age of 65. The cause of death hasn't been announced, thorugh Ethridge's friend Booker T. Jones had previously tweeted that the bassist was hospitalized last week and was not expected ...

The calibre of the stock which birthed Rufus is well known. Born in 1973 to folk singers Loudon Wainwright III and Kate McGarrigle (thus giving him the full name of Rufus McGarrigle Wainwright, dontcha know), he became brother to the equally tuneful Martha and Lucy, and unsurprisingly took to music at a young age, studying the piano at age six and touring with his mother and sister by the time he was 13. It was an eventful but not entirely happy adolescence for young Rufus. He came out as gay whilst still a teenager, and has suggested his parents found ...

Calgary, Alberta, Canada-based music preservationists, The Society For The Preservation of Folk Music, has taken to the airwaves to announce the first round of artists slated to play this year’s Calgary Folk Music Festival. The SPFM has also promised that the festival’s ban on bottled water, introduced last year, will once again be in effect, despite protests by hundreds of thirsty festival-goers. “We just want a drink of water! We don’t understand any other way to procure water except in bottled form! Help us!” said the thirsty festival-goers with dry, dry lips and tongues. However, the SPFM ...

In a shrewd piece of either child psychology or ’70s snot faced rebellion, Costello advises his eagerly baying (as in ‘at the full moon’, everyone knows he knocks an album out a month) fans to go for something “by one of the most beautiful and loving revolutionaries who ever lived”. And, who might this musician be? Does Elvis, the man with the perceptive skills of Randy Newman and the coherence of Van Morrison, see himself... Continue reading Album Review: Elvis Costello – The Return of the Spectacular Spinning Songbook

De melankolske ballader overtrumfede den ellers stadig skarpe satire ved eksemplarisk solokoncert

Randy Newman helps out in the first in a series of weekly middle fingers to the world

Songs:Illinois favorite and former “S:I House Concert Series” performer Peter Mulvey has a new album and a companion EP out at the end of March. These are a slight departure as they are both cover records. The lp has songs written by Tom Waits, Leonard Cohen, Jolie Holland, Chris Smither and Duke Ellington. The companion [...]