Lake Street Dive

Incidentally, I listened to Lost in a Dream by War on Drugs and got about just under 14 minutes into the album and it just did not do it for me.

My new friend, Tony Ziegler -- artist and bass player, recommended Lake Street Dive and I listened to two songs by them and was blown away.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EPwRdVg5Ug

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dW2KJR4i-mM

Different genre but it appealed to me a lot more...

Stand-Out of 2014: Lost In The Dream by The War On Drugs

    I can't say The War On Drugs (AKA Adam Granduciel) has been a band i've heard too much about in the past but their latest effort Lost In The Dream, released March 2014, is the type of album that has the power to make waves and recruit fans.

   Album opener "Under The Pressure" represents the band's sound throughout the album perfectly, employing a lot of reverb and spacey synth action before bringing in soothing piano touches that compliment singer/guitarist/songwriter Adam Granduciel's voice nicely. The song overall brings a solid groove that you can get into but at the same time relaxes you, which I think characterizes the entire album well.

   The next song (and also the first single) "Red Eyes" reveals a more driving side of Granduciel that puts me in a convertible driving down the highway in the middle of Summer. In fact, the tune reminds me a lot of Don Henley's "The Boys Of Summer" in terms of rhythm, synths, and guitar licks popping in and out.

   I also hear a lot of influences thoughout Lost In The Dream from Pink Floyd and 80's rock (think U2, Genesis, and a bit of Tom Petty). "Eyes To The Wind" and "Lost In The Dream" even throw some Bob Dylan vibes at you. If I were to make a recipe for Lost In The Dream it would go something like this: Meddle + Achtung Baby + Highway 61 Revisited + A heavy dose of effects.

   Lyrically, Lost In The Dream doesn't offer too much in my opinion. While the themes of the album seem to revolve around feeling run down and tired, Granduciel's words are, for the most part, drenched out by reverb and other effects, making it hard to understand what he's trying to get across. The second half of the album features more songs where you can hear the vocals better but even then there aren't many statements made here that make me want to go tweet a quote from a song due to how "mind blowing" it is (which, I admit, is something I do occasionally). It's probably for the better that the first half of the album's vocals are difficult to comprehend for this reason, having more melodic power than poetic.      

   The War On Drugs have been recording and releasing albums since 2008 without much acknowledgement but I think Lost In The Dream really shows what Adam Granduciel can do with his music. I can't say the lyrics would give Bob Dylan much amusement but sonically the album works well through texture and hypnotic synths in the less wordy songs. Give it a listen if you're up for something new, i'd give it a 7/10. 

Image from "Lostinthedream" by The War on Drugs - http://pitchfork.com/news/53210-the-war-on-drugs-announce-new-album-lost-in-the-dream-share-red-eyes-plot-tour/. Licensed under Fair use via Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lostinthedream.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Lostinthedream.jpg

Spotify: A Beneficiary to the Music World, not a Negative...

    Spotify is currently one of the greatest streaming services for music.  It is perfectly suitable for today's world and the avid listener because technology is constantly advancing.  Although, many artists believe Spotify (and similar services such as Pandora) are harming their income and overall work since listeners are hearing music for free or a very inexpensive price, this is not always the case.

    Loyal music fanatics will utilize the broad capabilities of Spotify; as a result, they will engage into new music and/or music they have never heard before from their favorite artists and bands.  Consequentially, people will buy music and concert tickets.  In fact, there is a good chance that artists will earn more royalties and recognition.  A prime example of this is when Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails made the decision to sell albums for free or any price their fans were willing to pay.  Luckily, there are countless dedicated fans out there who pay for music they enjoy; Radiohead and Nine Inch  Nails received higher earnings on these albums than the albums they distribute with a fixed price.

     Artists should not devalue Spotify and other streaming organizations.  Being open-minded leads to happy fans who will most likely please their idols with multiple profits and other satisfactory circumstances.

Sirius XM Radio

There are really a lot of very interesting music stations on Sirius XM Radio.

The stations that I like the most are:

Channel 21 Little Stevie's Underground Garage (which has old and new garage sounding rock and roll)

Channel 27 Deep Tracks (obscure album oriented rock and roll from the 1960's until now but mostly 60's, 70's and 80's.

Channel 29 Jam On (featuring newer bands that have an improvisational live feel to their music)

Channel 31 Coffee House (but only the Vin Scelsa show that I think is on Mondays)

Channel 34 Lithium (Grunge Seattle Rock from the 1990's mostly)

Channel 37 Octane (Metal Music)

Channel 38 Ozzy's Boneyard (Hard Rock and Ozzy Osbourne type music)

Channel 40 Liquid Metal (very heavy metal music -- mostly influenced me through my son Alex)

Channel 49 Soul Town -- Rhythm & Blues/Motown

Channel 67 Real Jazz (interesting Jazz)

Channel 76 Symphonic (interesting Classical)

Gov't Mule at the Beacon last night

Alex and I had pretty good seats last night.  It was the first time both of us to see Gov't Mule and they played two sets totaling about 3 hours.

Hard to tell what songs were originals and which were covers but I do remember Billy Cobham's Stratus, Weather Report's Birdland, a reggae version of Steve Miller's The Joker into a Bob Marley tune, a tribute to Joe Cocker (Leonard Cohen's Bird on a Wire and the Boxtop's The Letter). There were two excellent girl backup singers for the Joe Cocker tribute.

Guest drummer Simon Kirke (Free and Bad Company) was on Bad Company's Mr. Big and another tune I forget.  The second set ended with Carmine Appice guest drumming to two Rod Stewart tunes -- Hot Legs and Stay with me...

A very satisfying night overall, in my opinion.  Too bad we are missing tonight's show with Myles Kennedy.

Jack Bruce

I found out somewhat belatedly that Jack Bruce had died of liver disease on Saturday October 25th at the age of 71.  One of members of the all-star power trio supergroup CREAM, Bruce was considered one of rock's top bass players and was actually classically trained and very much into jazz as well.

Bruce always had an explosive relationship with CREAM drummer and co-founder Ginger Baker, who he had played with in the Graham Bond Organization and several other bands prior to joining CREAM.  CREAM had a relatively short life span from 1966-1968 but they very much influenced bands like Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin. I am reading a biography of Led Zeppelin that my stepdaughter had thrown in the garbage but I thought was worth a read...

Actually, it seems like the real founder of Cream was Ginger Baker and there is an excellent biography I read about him last year right after I saw him live at Iridium in Manhattan -- he played a jazz set with jazz players and was absolutely marvelous, although slightly off the wall as is his reputation.

Jack Bruce will be severely missed.

Alex's first blog post -- The Foo Fighter's HBO Documentary

After listening to the new Foo Fighter's album, Sonic Highways, I have never been more excited to see them live at Citi Field this upcoming July. The album appears to have much depth and concept to it (moving away from the typical hard and heavy sound produced by the Foo's). Tracks such as: "Something from Nothing," and "The Feast and the Famine," consist of strong, meaningful lyrics and great flows and riffs. 
A recent documentary about the album has been aired on HBO. It shows Dave Grohl and the other band members traveling through different locations (New York, Chicago, Nashville, etc) where there are prominent music scenes. "Sonic Highways," appears to be an album where the band truly discovers themselves as unique individuals seeking the priceless treasures of life: family, friends, compassion, and the aesthetics of nature.