Tuesday, January 31, 2006

When The Baby Boomers Die, Who'll Be #1?

PopMatters speculates about who will be the "Greatest All-Time" once the baby boomers die off and the Beatles finally fall from their usual perch atop all those lists...
John Lennon sure sang a lot about how great the world would be, but the best he could offer was a "bed-in." He looks like a lazy punter next to Bono, who is jetting all over the world with heads of state and impoverished children. U2 is the only band with their own iPod, a marketing coup that will endear them to an even younger generation of music fans. They'll almost certainly take the number one spot by 2025, at which point Casey Kasem will be remembered as a tin-eared xenophobe for his less than prescient summation that nobody would give a shit about "these guys" -- the final nail in the boomer coffin.

Coming Attractions: The Sadies Go Live

Later this week in Toronto, the Sadies are recording a live record...

The list runs the gauntlet of past Sadies collaborators. There will be members of Blue Rodeo, The Deadly Snakes, Heavy Trash and, of course, the Good Brothers. You'll also see Jon Langford (The Mekons, Waco Brothers), former Jayhawk Gary Louris (who will produce The Sadies' next record), Neko Case, Kelly Hogan, their Unintended partner, Rick White, and some surprise guests.

The recording will be done at shows on February 3 and 4 at Toronto's Lee's Palace (the same venue that Case used to record part of her The Tigers Have Spoken live record with The Sadies and others), with Steve Albini and Don Pyle producing.

One thing that Good wants to stress is that The Sadies aren't breaking up. "This isn't The Last Waltz," he says.

"I don't want any comparisons to that. It's not a variety show. The point is to make a Sadies live record, and we're just seizing the opportunity while we have tape and all our friends are around. There will be new material as well as the songs we have always played live but never recorded. Best of all, there isn't a lot of pressure because playing live is what we do best."

The Money Shot: The Raconteurs' New Single

Just in from NME:

The Raconteurs' limited edition debut single is available to hear on their official website - and the band have named their album too. Their first single 'Steady, As She Goes'/'Store Bought Bones' was released yesterday (January 30) as a limited edition vinyl-only seven inch. However, both songs are being streamed at the group's new website, http://www.theraconteurs.com/. The tracks are lifted from The Raconteurs' first album, which is called 'Broken Boy Soldiers and out in May. The band, who are fronted by Jack White and Brendan Benson, are planning live shows in the UK soon.

The Money Shot: Arctic Monkeys Are Fastest UK Debut

AP reports:

The Arctic Monkeys' first album, "Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not," has become the fastest-selling debut in British chart history, with sales of more than 360,000 copies during its first week on the charts. Figures from the Official UK Charts Co., which compiles all album sales in Britain, show the Sheffield foursome easily smashed the record previously held by pop band Hear'Say. Their "Popstars" album — the result of a hugely popular reality television show — sold just over 306,000 copies in a week in March 2001.

Music That Sucks 1.31.06

Best bets to suck this week...
  • John Corbett - John Corbett (Oh... Great... Another actor decides to release a debut CD. That's an automatic addition to the Suck List. Guess it's been a slow 10 years since the end of Northern Exposure, eh? Well, we can't all be Shatner, buddy... Prove me wrong!)
  • Barry Manilow - The Greatest Songs from the Fifties (In case you really wanted to hear Manilow's overly enunciated versions of "Are You Lonesome Tonight?" or "Unchained Melody". An obvious attempt to try to catch a little of Rod Stewart's Great American Songbook magic...)

Buy These Now! 1.31.06

Kind of a slow week with not a lot to get excited about other than some reissues and repackaging. I'd give it a "D".

  • Anna Nalick - Wreck of the Day
  • She Wants Revenge - She Wants Revenge
  • Various Artists - Dream Brother: The Songs of Jeff and Tim Buckley (featuring Sufjan Stevens, the Magic Numbers and others)
  • The Flaming Lips - The Soft Bulletin (Special Edition CD/DVD combo)
  • The (International) Noise Conspiracy - The First Conspiracy
  • Nine Inch Nails - Head Like a Hole EP
  • Warren Zevon - Reconsider Me

Monday, January 30, 2006

On the Road with... The Strokes

The Strokes announce U.S. tour dates in support of the new CD... including an early stop here in K.C. Weird though that they are playing Austin the night before SXSW starts.

Fri 03/03/06 New York, NY - Hammerstein Ballroom
Mon 03/06/06 Nashville, TN - Ryman Auditorium
Wed 03/08/06 Atlanta, GA - Tabernacle
Fri 03/10/06 Kansas City, MO - Uptown Theatre
Sat 03/11/06 Tulsa, OK - Cain's Ballroom
Tue 03/14/06 Austin, TX - Stubb's Barbeque
Wed 03/15/06 Houston, TX - Verizon Wireless Theater
Fri 03/17/06 Grand Prairie, TX - Nokia Theatre
Sun 03/19/06 Denver, CO - Fillmore Auditorium
Tue 03/21/06 Mesa, AZ - Mesa Amphitheatre
Fri 03/24/06 San Francisco, CA - Concourse Exhib. Ctr.
Sun 04/02/06 Portland, OR - Roseland Theater
Tue 04/04/06 Seattle, WA - Paramount Theatre
Fri 04/07/06 Chicago, IL - Aragon Ballroom
Sat 04/08/06 Saint Louis, MO - The Pageant
Mon 04/10/06 Milwaukee, WI - The Rave / Eagles Club
Tue 04/11/06 Minneapolis, MN - Orpheum Theatre

Latest SXSW Artist Update

Over 130 Musical Justice artists are on the latest SXSW artist list. I'm not trying to brag, but that means that over 10% of the artists playing at the festival which features more up-and-coming buzz acts than probably any other event are already getting airplay on MJ. Some interesting new adds to the list including Morrissey and Over the Rhine...

Aberdeen City (Boston MA)
Aberfeldy (Edinburgh UK)
American Minor (Huntington WV)
Animal Collective (Baltimore NY)
Apollo Sunshine (Boston MA)
Aqueduct (Seattle WA)
Arctic Monkeys (Sheffield UK)
Nic Armstrong & The Thieves (London UK)
Art Brut (London UK)
Athlete (Deptford UK)
The Avalanches (Melbourne AUSTRALIA)
Bobby Bare Jr. (Nashville TN)
Belle & Sebastian (Glasgow UK)
Be Your Own Pet (Nashville TN)
Sarah Blasko (Sydney AUSTRALIA)
Blue Aeroplanes (Bristol UK)
Sarah Borges (Boston MA)
Bottle Rockets (Festus MO)
Billy Bragg (London UK)
The Brakes (Philadelphia PA)
Hayes Carll (Conroe TX)
Cary Brothers (Los Angeles CA)
Neko Case (Tacoma WA)
Peter Case (Los Angeles CA)
Cat Power (Atlanta GA)
The Charlatans (Manchester UK)
Chin Up Chin Up (Chicago IL)
Chocolate Genius Inc (Brooklyn NY)
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah (Brooklyn NY)
Clem Snide (Nashville TN)
Clor (London UK)
The Concretes (Stockholm SWEDEN)
The Cribs (Wakefield UK)
The Crimea (London UK)
Rodney Crowell (Nashville TN)
Dashboard Confessional (Boca Raton FL)
The Datsuns (Auckland NEW ZEALAND)
Deadman (McGregor TX)
Dressy Bessy (Denver CO)
Drive By Truckers (Athens GA)
Earlimart (Los Angeles CA)
Echo & The Bunnymen (Liverpool UK)
Editors (Birmingham UK)
Tim Fite (Brooklyn NY)
The Flaming Lips (Oklahoma City OK)
Guy Forsyth (Austin TX)
David Garza (Austin TX)
Eliza Gilkyson (Austin TX)
Girls in Hawaii (Brussels BELGIUM)
Goldfrapp (London UK)
Goldrush (Oxford UK)
Gomez (Southport UK)
Jon Dee Graham (Austin TX)
Great Lake Swimmers (Toronto ON)
Jackie Greene (Sacramento CA)
HAL (Dublin IRELAND)
Hard-Fi (Staines UK)
Sarah Harmer (Kingston ON)
Richard Hawley (Sheffield UK)
Gemma Hayes (Dublin IRELAND)
Healthy White Baby (Chicago IL)
Collin Herring (Ft Worth TX)
The High Dials (Montreal ON)
Donal Hinely (Denton TX)
Susanna Hoffs & Matthew Sweet (Los Angeles CA)
The Jessica Fletchers (Oslo NORWAY)
Damien Jurado (Seattle WA)
Ladytron (Liverpool UK)
Jimmy LaFave (Austin TX)
Bettye LaVette (West Orange NJ)
Amos Lee (Philadelphia PA)
Ted Leo/Pharmacists (Bloomfield NJ)
Levy (New York NY)
The Like (Los Angeles CA)
Little Barrie (London UK)
The Living End (Chelsea AUSTRALIA)
Living Things (St Louis MO)
The Long Winters (Seattle WA)
Lucero (Memphis TN)
The Magic Numbers (London UK)
Magnolia Electric Company (Chicago IL)
Milton Mapes (Austin TX)
Marah (Brooklyn NY)
Mazarin (Philadelphia PA)
Metric (Toronto ON)
Rhett Miller (New York NY)
Scott Miller & The Commonwealth (Knoxville TN)
The Minus 5 (Seattle WA)
Minus the Bear (Seattle WA)
The Morning After Girls (Sydney AUSTRALIA)
Morningwood (New York NY)
Morrissey (Manchester UK)
Moving Units (Los Angeles CA)
Nada Surf (New York NY)
The New Pornographers (Vancouver BC)
Nine Black Alps (Manchester UK)
Of Montreal (Athens GA)
OK GO (Chicago IL)
Oranger (San Francisco CA)
The Oranges Band (Baltimore MD)
Tim O'Reagan (Minneapolis MN)
Beth Orton (London UK)
Over the Rhine (Cincinnati OH)
The Paybacks (Detroit MI)
Glen Phillips (Santa Barbara CA)
The Plimsouls (Los Angeles CA)
The Ponys (Chicago IL)
Portastatic (Chapel Hill NC)
Pretty Girls Make Graves (Seattle WA)
The Rakes (London UK)
Bill Ricchini (New York NY)
Stan Ridgway (Los Angeles CA)
Josh Ritter (Moscow ID)
Rogue Wave (Oakland CA)
Sam Champion (New York NY)
Saturday Looks Good To Me (Ann Arbor MI)
She Wants Revenge (Los Angeles CA)
Silversun Pickups (Los Angeles CA)
The Spinto Band (Willmington DE)
Chris Stamey (Chapel Hill NC)
The Stills (Montreal QC)
Kelley Stoltz (San Francisco CA)
The Subways (Welwyn Garden City UK)
Ben Taylor (Martha's Vineyard MA)
Susan Tedeschi (Jacksonville FL)
Test Icicles (London UK)
Teddy Thompson (New York NY)
Tres Chicas (Raleigh NC)
Tullycraft (Seattle WA)
KT Tunstall (London UK)
The Twilight Singers (Los Angeles CA)
John Vanderslice (San Francisco CA)
Laura Veirs (Seattle WA)
Waco Brothers (Chicago IL)
We Are Scientists (Brooklyn NY)
The Willowz (Los Angeles CA)
Winterpills (Northampton MA
The Woggles (Atlanta GA)
World Leader Pretend (New Orleans LA)
World Party (London UK)
the Zutons (Liverpool UK)

TiVo Alert

This week's late night musical highlights including Imogen Heap on back-to-back nights with Carson Daly...

Monday - She Wants Revenge (Kimmel)
Tuesday - Broken Social Scene (Conan), Imogen Heap (Carson Daly)
Wednesday - We Are Scientists (Letterman), Imogen Heap (Carson Daly)
Thursday - Nothing's on... go out drinking!
Friday - Collective Soul (Leno)

MJ Listener Top 20: 1.30.06

This week's top 20 current tracks based on the "thumbs-up/thumbs-downs" of Musical Justice listeners... The Great Unknowns hold the top spot for a second week while James McMurtry's new track 'Childish Things' is starting to build some critical mass, jumping all the way to #2. Other big debuts include Teddy Thompson, Margot & The Nuclear So & So's and Babyshambles.

Rank Artist - Song
1. The Great Unknowns - Something To Do
2. James McMurtry - Childish Things
3. Lucero - And We Fell
4. Teddy Thompson - Everybody Move It
5. Hard-Fi - Hard To Beat
6. Ryan Adams & The Cardinals - Sweet Illusions
7. Margot & the Nuclear So & So's - Dress Me Like a Clown
8. Ryan Adams & The Cardinals - Let It Ride
9. Guy Forsyth - Long Long Time
10. Death Cab For Cutie - Soul Meets Body
11. Babyshambles - Fuck Forever
12. Bob Mould - Paralyzed
13. Rhett Miller - Help Me Suzanne
14. The Dandy Warhols - Smoke It
15. The White Stripes - Walkin' With A Ghost
16. The Killers - All These Things That I've Done
17. Son Volt - Afterglow 61
18. Shout Out Louds - The Comeback
19. Frank Carillo and the Bandoleros - Bad Out There
20. Foo Fighters - Best Of You

MJ Weekly Top 20 Airplay Chart: 1.30.06

This week's top 20 songs on Musical Justice's radio station based on our airplay. Death Cab keeps the top spot while 'Smoke It' gives them a run for their money by moving up 5 spots. Marah jumps onto the list at #11 with the best ranking for 'The Hustle' to date. The White Stripes' cover of Tegan and Sara's 'Walking With a Ghost' also makes its debut in the top 20 at #17.

Rank Title Artist
1 Soul Meets Body - Death Cab For Cutie
2 Smoke It - The Dandy Warhols
3 Sweet Illusions - Ryan Adams & The Cardinals
4 Let It Ride - Ryan Adams & Cardinals
5 Middle Of Nowhere - Hot Hot Heat
6 We Can't Make It Here - James McMurtry
7 All The Money Or The Simple Life Honey - Dandy Warhols
8 Bandages And Scars - Son Volt
9 Don't Lose Touch - Against Me!
10 The Denial Twist - The White Stripes
11 The Hustle - Marah
12 Cool Water - Laura Veirs
13 Help Me, Suzanne - Rhett Miller
14 Juicebox - The Strokes
15 Two More Years - Bloc Party
16 All These Things That I've Done - The Killers
17 Walking With A Ghost - The White Stripes
18 Back Of Your Mind - Collin Herring
19 Long Long Time - Guy Forsyth
20 Jet Pilot - Son Volt

Friday, January 27, 2006

Nettwerk Takes on RIAA

A bit of a surprise as the Nettwerk music label offers to provide legal aid to a family being sued by the RIAA...

"The current actions of the RIAA are not in my artists' best interests," said Nettwerk chief executive Terry McBride in a statement. "Litigation is not 'artist development'. Litigation is a deterrent to creativity and passion and it is hurting the business I love."

Cheap Thrills 1.27.06

Today's list...

Thanks to today's contributing bloggers. Please support their blogs! To hear these artists and more, click here.

Disclaimer: These links are intended to help promote artists that Musical Justice plays. In the event that you sample an artist here and like 'em, please support those acts by buying legal copies of their music and going to see their live appearances. None of the MP3 are actually provided or hosted by us. We don't guarantee their quality and whenever you download things, you are assuming the risk that you might download viruses, spyware or other nasties. In the event that you are one of the artists listed above and you would like us to remove any links, please contact us and we will do so ASAP.

The Money Shot: Lou Reed

Lou's not happy about the upcoming movie "Factory Girl" which is going to feature Weezer as the Velvet Underground...

Reed said he read the script and it’s “one of the most disgusting, foul things I’ve seen by any illiterate retard, in a long time. There’s no limit to how low some people will go to make money.”

On the Road with... Van Morrison

Van the Man announces a handful of US dates in support of the upcoming release of his new CD "Pay The Devil".

Tour Dates:

March 2006
3 - San Francisco, CA - Masonic Auditorium
4 - Los Angeles, CA - Wiltern LG
6 - Dallas, TX - Nokia Theatre
7 - Nashville, TN - Ryman Auditorium
8 - Boston, MA - Opera House

Thursday, January 26, 2006

Cheap Thrills 1.26.06

It's been a little while since I've done a list of MP3s so here's a big stack.

Thanks to today's contributing bloggers. Please support their blogs! To hear these artists and more, click here.

Disclaimer: These links are intended to help promote artists that Musical Justice plays. In the event that you sample an artist here and like 'em, please support those acts by buying legal copies of their music and going to see their live appearances. None of the MP3 are actually provided or hosted by us. We don't guarantee their quality and whenever you download things, you are assuming the risk that you might download viruses, spyware or other nasties. In the event that you are one of the artists listed above and you would like us to remove any links, please contact us and we will do so ASAP.

Coming Attractions: Alejandro Escovedo

Excellent news on Alejandro from Pitchfork...

Good news: On May 2, Backporch Records will release The Boxing Mirror, Alejandro Escovedo's first new solo album since 2000. Even better news (in case you haven't heard yet): Escovedo has for the most part overcome the Hepatitis C that left him collapsed on a Phoenix stage in 2003.

Thanks to the generosity of family, friends, and fellow musicians, Escovedo has been able to fund his treatment and recovery despite his lack of health insurance. (The 2004 Escovedo tribute album Por Vida, featuring Lucinda Williams, Calexico, the Jayhawks, Son Volt, Steve Earle, and many others, sure helped.)

Now that he's back in the game, Escovedo has enlisted one of his more famous friends, John Cale, to produce The Boxing Mirror, which the pair recorded with Escovedo's touring band in Los Angeles late last year. The album will feature 11 new Escovedo songs, but has 12 tracks in all. If you just go by the story the tracklist tells, it looks like Escovedo had to settle a disagreement between John Cale and Larry Goetz (who, incidentally, worked on Cale's 2005 effort Black Acetate) by including both of the soundman's mixes of "Take Your Place".

Tracks:
01 Arizona
02 Dearhead on the Wall
03 Notes on Air
04 One True Love
05 The Ladder
06 Break This Time
07 Evita's Lullaby
08 Sacramento & Polk
09 I Died a Little Today
10 Take Your Place (John Cale mix)
11 The Boxing Mirror
12 Take Your Place (Larry Goetz mix)

On The Road with... Jenny Lewis

The frontwoman of Rilo Kiley's hitting the road on a solo tour...

Thu 02/02/06 Los Angeles, CA - Vista Theatre
Fri 02/03/06 San Francisco, CA - Swedish American Hall
Sun 02/05/06 New York, NY - Angel Orensanz Theatre
Fri 03/03/06 San Diego, CA - Women's Club
Sat 03/04/06 San Francisco, CA - Bimbo's 365 Club
Mon 03/06/06 Portland, OR - Aladdin Theater
Tue 03/07/06 Vancouver, BC - Richard's On Richards
Wed 03/08/06 Seattle, WA - Neumo's
Fri 03/10/06 Denver, CO - Bluebird Theater
Sat 03/11/06 Omaha, NE - Scottish Rite Hall
Sun 03/12/06 Minneapolis, MN - Woman's Club Theater
Mon 03/13/06 Milwaukee, WI - Pabst Theater
Tue 03/14/06 Chicago, IL - Park West
Wed 03/15/06 Grand Rapids, MI - Calvin College
Thu 03/16/06 Toronto, ON - Opera House
Fri 03/17/06 Somerville, MA - Somerville Theatre
Sat 03/18/06 New York, NY - Irving Plaza
Mon 03/20/06 Philadelphia, PA - Sanctuary @ First Unitarian Church
Thu 03/23/06 Alexandria, VA - The Birchmere
Fri 03/24/06 Carrboro, NC - Cat's Cradle
Sat 03/25/06 Atlanta, GA - Variety Playhouse
Sun 03/26/06 Nashville, TN - Belcourt Theatre
Tue 03/28/06 Austin, TX - The Parish
Wed 03/29/06 Dallas, TX - Horchow Auditorium
Sat 04/01/06 Los Angeles, CA - Orpheum Theatre

NME's Greatest British Albums of All-Time

NME released a poll of their writers to determine their list of the 100 Greatest British Albums of All-Time. Proving that they can be trendy bastards, the Arctic Monkeys' debut which has just been released in the States, landed at #5. In all fairness, it's on the verge of becoming the fastest selling debut in UK history, but better than anything the Stones, the Who, Radiohead, Bowie, Led Zeppelin, The Kinks or Elvis Costello ever recorded??
The Top Ten is as follows:
1. The Stone Roses 'The Stone Roses'
2. The Smiths 'The Queen Is Dead'
3. Oasis 'Definitely Maybe'
4. Sex Pistols 'Never Mind The Bollocks'
5. Arctic Monkeys 'Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not'
6. Blur 'Modern Life Is Rubbish'
7. Pulp 'Different Class'
8. The Clash 'London Calling'
9. The Beatles 'Revolver'
10. The Libertines 'Up The Bracket'

Wilco Dates Go on Pre-Sale

Get 'em while they're hot. Pre-sale tickets for several of the upcoming Wilco shows shows are going on sale as I blog...

Here are the dates:

JEFF TWEEDY w/Special Guest GLENN KOTCHE*
JAN-31 VANCOUVER BC COMMODORE BALLROOM SOLD OUT
FEB-02 SEATTLE, WA MOORE THEATRE SOLD OUT
FEB-03 PORTLAND, OR CRYSTAL BALLROOM SOLD OUT
FEB-04 EUGENE, OR MCDONALD THEATER BUY
FEB-06 ARCATA, CA HUMBOLDT STATE UNIVERSITY BUY
FEB-08 SAN FRANCISCO, CA THE FILLMORE SOLD OUT
FEB-09 SAN FRANCISCO, CA THE FILLMORE SOLD OUT
FEB-11 SAN DIEGO, CA SPRECKELS THEATRE SOLD OUT
FEB-12 LOS ANGELES, CA HENRY FONDA THEATRE SOLD OUT
FEB-13 LOS ANGELES, CA HENRY FONDA THEATRE SOLD OUT
FEB-15 BOULDER, CO BOULDER THEATER SOLD OUT
FEB-16 DENVER, CO GOTHIC THEATRE BUY
FEB-18 LINCOLN, NE ROCOCO THEATRE BUY
FEB-19 IOWA CITY, IA IOWA MEMORIAL UNION BALLROOM BUY
FEB-20 DEKALB, IL OTTO'S BUY

WILCO SPRING TOUR
MAR-05 CHAPEL HILL, NC MEMORIAL HALL TBA
MAR-06 CHAPEL HILL, NC MEMORIAL HALL TBA
MAR-08 CHARLESTON, SC NORTH CHARLESTON PERFORMING ARTS CENTER TBA
MAR-09 ATHENS, GA CLASSIC CENTER EXHIBIT HALL BUY
Pre-Sale begins Wednesday, January 25 @ 10 a.m. here.
Public On Sale begins Saturday, January 28 @ 10 a.m. via classiccenter.com
MAR-10 JACKSONVILLE, FL FLORIDA THEATRE TBA
MAR-12 SUNRISE, FL LANGERADO MUSIC FESTIVAL AT MARKHAM PARK INFO
MAR-14 TALLAHASSEE, FL THE MOON INFO
MAR-16 KNOXVILLE, TN TENNESSEE THEATRE BUY
Pre-Sale begins Wednesday, January 25 @ 10 a.m. here.
Public On Sale begins Saturday, Friday, January 27 @ 10 a.m. via Ticketmaster
MAR-17 NASHVILLE, TN RYMAN AUDITORIUM TBA
MAR-19 ST. LOUIS, MO THE PAGEANT TBA
MAR-22 DES MOINES, IA VAL AIR BALLROOM TBA

Bono Seeing "Red" Over AIDS

Billboard reports on this new Bono fundraising idea...

U2 frontman Bono unveiled a new push to fight HIV and AIDS in Africa today (Jan. 26) in Switzerland, announcing a partnership with several companies to sell products under a brand called "Red," with the proceeds going toward organizations like the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

MJ Listener Top 20

The top 20 current tracks based on the "thumbs-up/thumbs-downs" of Musical Justice listeners...

1. Something To Do - The Great Unknowns
2. Living For The Weekend - Hard-Fi
3. Soul Meets Body - Death Cab For Cutie
4. 7/4 (Shoreline) - Broken Social Scene
5. Smoke It - The Dandy Warhols
6. Back of Your Mind - Collin Herring
7. Gideon - My Morning Jacket
8. Help Me Suzanne - Rhett Miller
9. Cool Water - Laura Veirs
10. Face Down - Katie Todd Band
11. Friend of a Friend - Foo Fighters
12. We Can't Make It Here - James McMurtry
13. Down To Nowhere - Thea Gilmore
14. Sweet Illusions - Ryan Adams & The Cardinals
15. When Will You Come Back Home - Ryan Adams & The Cardinals
16. The Denial Twist - The White Stripes
17. All These Things That I've Done - The Killers
18. And We Fell - Lucero
19. Middle of Nowhere - Hot Hot Heat
20. Walkin' With A Ghost - The White Stripes

MJ Weekly Top 20 Airplay Chart

This week's top 20 songs on Musical Justice's radio station based on our airplay. Debuts from Bloc Party, Babyshambles and Rhett Miller hit the charts. Meanwhile Ryan Adams and the Dandy Warhols continue to dominate the top 10.

Rank Title Artist
1 Soul Meets Body - Death Cab For Cutie
2 Sweet Illusions - Ryan Adams & The Cardinals
3 We Can't Make It Here - James McMurtry
4 Bandages And Scars - Son Volt
5 Let It Ride - Ryan Adams & Cardinals
6 Don't Lose Touch - Against Me!
7 Smoke It - The Dandy Warhols
8 Middle Of Nowhere - Hot Hot Heat
9 All The Money Or The Simple Life Honey - The Dandy Warhols
10 The Denial Twist - The White Stripes
11 Amazing Life - Jem
12 Two More Years - Bloc Party
13 Down To Nowhere - Thea Gilmore
14 Fuck Forever - Babyshambles
15 Help Me, Suzanne - Rhett Miller
16 Juicebox - The Strokes
17 King Of The Mountain - Kate Bush
18 All These Things That I've Done - The Killers
19 What Is Your Secret - Nada Surf
20 I Want None Of This - Radiohead

Wednesday, January 25, 2006

Coming Attractions: Bruce... Live from '75

Billboard.com reports...

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band's Nov. 18, 1975, show at London's Hammersmith Odeon will be released as a two-disc set Feb. 28 via Columbia. The show first appeared on DVD last fall as part of the label's 30th anniversary edition of Springsteen's "Born To Run" album.Touted as the first complete E Street Band concert to be released on CD, "Hammersmith Odeon, London '75" is highlighted by exuberant runs through tracks like "She's the One," "Rosalita" and "It's Hard To Be a Saint in the City." The show was Springsteen and company's first on English soil and came just ahead of the release of "Born To Run."

The Money Shot: Beth Orton

The Brit folktress talks to Rolling Stone about her new record and upcoming tour...

For the pared-down record, Orton stripped away the electronic elements and lush orchestrations that were staples of her previous albums. "I wanted to make the music that I liked to listen to, and I wasn't listening to electronic music," she explains. "For me, the thread that runs through everything I love is soul, is folk . . . In the end, it came to me like, 'You know what I want to make? A folk-gospel-soul record with a country tear dripping down its cheek.' But then at the same time, I wanted to do that as sparsely and minimally as possible."
And the tour dates...

3/12: Washington, DC, 9:30 Club
3/13: Atlanta, Variety Playhouse
3/15: Austin, TX, South By Southwest
3/19: Denver, Gothic Theatre
3/20: Salt Lake City, Club Sound
3/23: San Diego, House of Blues
3/24: Hollywood, CA, Avalon
3/25: San Francisco, The Fillmore
3/27: Portland, OR, Wonder Ballroom
3/28: Seattle, The Showbox
3/29: Vancouver, Commodore Ballroom
4/1: Minneapolis, First Avenue
4/2: Madison, WI, Barrymore Theatre
4/3: Chicago, Vic Theatre
4/5: Detroit, The Majestic Theatre
4/6: Toronto, Carlu
4/7: Montreal, Club Soda
4/8: Boston, Avalon
4/10: Philadelphia, Theater of the Living Arts
4/11: New York, Webster Hall

Tuesday, January 24, 2006

Music That Sucks 1.24.06

Ooooh... look at the steam coming off this pile!
  • Ace Frehley - Greatest Hits Live (I'm sure that most people don't remember back in 1978 when the individual members of Kiss all released their own solo records. Four shitty solo records, simultaneously released. For cryin' out loud, Gene Simmons covered "When You Wish Upon a Star"... A true all-time milestone in music that sucks!)
  • Il Divo - Ancora (Probably the most pretentious pile of crap pawning itself off as pop music this year... unless they get around to recording another CD before 2007.)
  • Kenny G - The Essential (Hard to believe that you could ever say "Kenny G" and "essential" in the same breath unless it was something like "It is essential that I destroy this Kenny G CD.")
  • Lisa Loeb - Very Best of (Ok, there's nothing really wrong with Lisa Loeb. Who doesn't catch themselves singing along with "Stay"? But can anyone name another one of her songs? Anyone? Bueller??)

Buy These Now! 1.24.06

Even in the grey days of January, there is hope. Easily the best week of the year so far. I'd give it a "B". Here's the list of new CDs by bands we play on Musical Justice...

Cat Power - The Greatest
The Go-Betweens - That Striped Sunlight Sound of
The Gossip - Standing in the Way of Control
The Gourds - Heavy Ornamentals
Jenny Lewis - Rabbit Fur Coat
Test Icicles - For Screening Purposes Only

So, which of these CDs would you most like to see us give away as prizes on the Musical Justice mailing list?

TiVo Alert

Musical highlights from this week's late night lineup...

Tuesday - Beth Orton (Letterman), The Constantines (Carson Daly), She Wants Revenge (Kimmel)
Wednesday - nothing...watch The Daily Show instead!
Thursday - Iron & Wine with Calexico (Late Late Show)
Friday - Aimee Mann (Late Late Show), Alanis (Leno)

Saturday, January 21, 2006

D'oh!

First, the Daily Show and now this...
In the episode, titled "Jazzy and the Pussycats," Jack and Meg White find themselves in the middle of a family feud when Homer and Marge buy a drum kit for Bart, who becomes a jazz drummer, much to the dismay of his musically inclined sister, Lisa. In one scene — an homage to the Stripes' clip for "The Hardest Button to Button" — Bart bashes his kit in his bedroom, down the street, through the halls of Springfield Elementary and into an intersection, where he meets up with the Detroit duo.

On The Road with... Aimee Mann

Aimee Mann hits the road for an acoustic tour:

Still supporting her 2005 album "The Forgotten Arm," singer/songwriter Aimee Mann will begin a three-week acoustic tour Jan. 27 in Boulder, Colo. "For the last year, I've been touring with this whole band, and I just thought if I went out again, it would be time to try something a little bit new," she tells Billboard.com.While rehearsals with touring musicians bassist Paul Bryan and keyboardist Jamie Edwards haven't begun, Mann expects to add a few nuggets to her set list. "There's a song called 'Frankenstein' [from 1995's 'I'm With Stupid'] that people seem to request a lot so we thought we'd give that a whirl," Mann says.
Tour dates are:
Fri 01/27/06 Boulder, CO Boulder Theater
Sun 01/29/06 Lawrence, KS Liberty Hall
Tue 01/31/06 Saint Louis, MO The Pageant
Wed 02/01/06 Chicago, IL Park West
Thu 02/02/06 Buffalo, NY University At Buffalo
Fri 02/03/06 Cleveland, OH Odeon Concert Club
Sat 02/04/06 Ann Arbor, MI Michigan Theater
Mon 02/06/06 Toronto, ON Mod Club
Tue 02/07/06 Montreal, QC Club Soda
Wed 02/08/06 South Burlington, VT Higher Ground
Thu 02/09/06 New York, NY Town Hall
Sat 02/11/06 Easton, MD Avalon Theatre
Sun 02/12/06 Asheville, NC Orange Peel
Tue 02/14/06 Atlanta, GA Variety Playhouse
Thu 02/16/06 Orlando, FL Hard Rock Live
Fri 02/17/06 West Palm Beach, FL Carefree Theatre
Sat 02/18/06 Tampa, FL Tampa Theatre

The Money Shot: Pete Doherty

Not again.

Babyshambles/Libertines principal Pete Doherty pleaded guilty today (Jan. 20) to possession of heroin, crack cocaine, morphine and marijuana. Doherty, 26, admitted the offenses during a hearing at Thames Magistrates' Court in London. He was freed on bail until sentencing on Feb. 8.

End of an Era: Rhino Records Closes

It's increasingly tough to survive as an independent music store, but there are few better-known than Rhino. Of course, the record label that spun off the store survives. But it gets harder and harder for the indies to compete with the likes of iTunes and Best Buy...

They're throwing a wake of sorts for the Rhino Records store Saturday and Sunday. Founded in 1973, the venerable record shop officially closed its doors after the turn of the year, hard on the heels of the folding of cross-town competitor Aron's Records. But, in a final gasp of Rhino tradition, old customers will gather at the Westwood Boulevard location to paw through boxes of CDs, LPs, DVDs and videocassettes at the store's final parking lot sale.

Friday, January 20, 2006

Shakeshackers' Hit & Run Scare

Guitarist David Lee of Th' Legendary Shackshackers was hit by a hit & run driver while on a 100 mile bike ride. Lucky to have lived to tell the story, he suffered about 40 stitches worth of facial lacerations and had two teeth knocked out. Unfortunately, like most musicians, Lee doesn't have medical insurance and the medical & dental bills are starting to hit pretty hard. If you're a fan and would like to help out, click here.

U2 Tops Money Makers

Billboard launched it's first "Money Makers" chart which combines music sales and box-office numbers to determine who's raking in the dough. They just released the list for 2005 and U2 tops the chart. Acting like they're going to pay off Third World debt all by themselves, Bono and the boys generated a staggering $255 million in combined revenues last year.

The entire top 10 (which shows that contrary to popular opinion, pop music and touring is an OLD man's game... the average age of the top 10 is almost 49 and 50 Cent's the only one under 30):
  1. U2 - $255,022,633.35
  2. Rolling Stones - $152,356,754.50
  3. Kenny Chesney - $87,731,463.50 (What was Renee thinking??)
  4. Paul McCartney - $84,263,375.10
  5. Elton John - $77,150,061.65
  6. Celine Dion - $76,137,905.65 (Because there's no limit to bad taste in Vegas...)
  7. 50 Cent - $75,351,514.85 (which doesn't appear to include the box office for his movie)
  8. Green Day - $71,753,415.60
  9. Neil Diamond - $70,203,895.50
  10. The Eagles - $67,524,283.25

R.I.P. Wilson Pickett

Walk into any bar with a band playing old soul covers and you'll hear "Mustang Sally" at some point but you'll never hear it performed better than by "The Wicked Pickett"...

Friday, January 13, 2006

Cheap Thrills 1.13.06

Have a great weekend!

Thanks to today's contributing bloggers. Please support their blogs! To hear these artists and more, click here.

Disclaimer: These links are intended to help promote artists that Musical Justice plays. In the event that you sample an artist here and like 'em, please support those acts by buying legal copies of their music and going to see their live appearances. None of the MP3 are actually provided or hosted by us. We don't guarantee their quality and whenever you download things, you are assuming the risk that you might download viruses, spyware or other nasties. In the event that you are one of the artists listed above and you would like us to remove any links, please contact us and we will do so ASAP.

The Money Shot: Marah "Under the Radar"

This article from the Houston Chronicle - "Marah flies under the radar with a classic-rock sound"

"I haven't looked at a Billboard chart in years. There's so many bands that blow up fast. I don't know where they are now, but I'm sure they wish they were still around," says Serge Bielanko, the vocalist/guitarist who fronts Marah along with his brother Dave. "We're never going to be on MTV, but we want to be musicians for the rest of our lives."

Arcade Fire, Bloc Party, Fiona Apple Also "Under The Radar"

New Pantheon announces their nominations for "most outstanding under-the-radar album". To be eligible for the award, an album must not have been certified as gold (500,000 copies shipped) by the RIAA in the period of July 1, 2004, to October 30, 2005. The nominations were made by celebrity judges including Beck, Elton John, Elijah Wood, Margaret Cho, John Legend, Ric Ocasek, Shirley Manson, Suzanne Vega and others. Almost all of them have appeared on the Musical Justice playlist over the past year. Here's the list of nominees:

  • Animal Collective - Feels
  • Antony and the Johnsons - I am a Bird Now
  • Arcade Fire - Funeral
  • Bloc Party - Silent Alarm
  • Death Cab For Cutie - Plans
  • Fiona Apple - Extraordinary Machine
  • Kings of Leon - Aha Shake Heartbreak
  • M.I.A. - Arular
  • Sufjan Stevens - Illinois
  • The Decemberists - Picaresque


Thursday, January 12, 2006

SXSW 2006 Update

An updated list of acts for SXSW is up and it's quite a list. You've got the usual buzz bands like Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Arctic Monkeys, We Are Scientists and Corinne Bailey Rae. There are the rock-solid acts like Rhett Miller, Neko Case, the Paybacks and Marah. And then you've got the comeback kids which includes some interesting names like Peter Case & the Plimsouls, a rare US appearance for World Party, Echo and the Bunnymen, Suzanna Hoffs with Matthew Sweet, Tom Verlaine.

Here are some of the MJ artists currently scheduled to play...

Aberdeen City (Boston MA)
Aberfeldy (Edinburgh UK)
American Minor (Huntington WV)
Animal Collective (Baltimore NY)
Apollo Sunshine (Boston MA)
Arctic Monkeys (Sheffield UK)
Art Brut (London UK)
Athlete (Deptford UK)
The Avalanches (Melbourne AUSTRALIA)
Bobby Bare Jr. (Nashville TN)
Be Your Own PET (Nashville TN)
Bottle Rockets (Festus MO)
The Brakes (Philadelphia PA)
The Brilliant Mistakes (New York NY)
Neko Case (Tacoma WA)
Peter Case (Los Angeles CA)
Centro-matic (Denton TX)
Chin Up Chin Up (Chicago IL)
Chocolate Genius Inc (Brooklyn NY)
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah (Brooklyn NY)
Clem Snide (Nashville TN)
The Concretes (Stockholm SWEDEN)
The Crimea (London UK)
Dashboard Confessional (Boca Raton FL)
The Datsuns (Auckland NEW ZEALAND)
Deadman (McGregor TX)
Dirty Pretty Things (London UK)
Echo & The Bunnymen (Liverpool UK)
Editors (Birmingham UK)
Elbow (Manchester UK)
Richmond Fontaine (Portland OR)
Guy Forsyth (Austin TX)
David Garza (Austin TX)
Girls in Hawaii (Brussels BELGIUM)
Gogol Bordello (New York NY)
Goldfrapp (London UK)
Goldrush (Oxford UK)
Gore Gore Girls (Detroit MI)
The Gossip (Portland OR)
The Go! Team (Brighton UK)
Jon Dee Graham (Austin TX)
Great Lake Swimmers (Toronto ON)
The Greenhornes (Cincinnati OH)
The Gun Shys (Orange County CA)
HAL (Dublin IRELAND)
Richard Hawley (Sheffield UK)
Collin Herring (Fort Worth TX)
The High Dials (Montreal ON)
Susanna Hoffs & Matthew Sweet (Los Angeles CA)
The Jessica Fletchers (Oslo NORWAY)
Damien Jurado (Seattle WA)
Knife in the Water (Austin TX)
Ladytron (Liverpool UK)
Bettye LaVette (West Orange NJ)
Amos Lee (Philadelphia PA)
Ted Leo/Pharmacists (Bloomfield NJ)
The Living End (Chelsea AUSTRALIA)
Living Things (St Louis MO)
The Long Winters (Seattle WA)
Lucero (Memphis TN)
The Magic Numbers (London UK)
Magnolia Electric Company (Chicago IL)
Milton Mapes (Austin TX)
Marah (Brooklyn NY)
Mazarin (Philadelphia PA)
Rhett Miller (New York NY)
Scott Miller & The Commonwealth (Knoxville TN)
Chris Mills (Chicago IL)
The Minus 5 (Seattle WA)
Minus the Bear (Seattle WA)
Nada Surf (New York NY)
The New Pornographers (Vancouver BC)
Nic Armstrong & The Thieves (London UK)
Nine Black Alps (Manchester UK)
Of Montreal (Athens GA)
OK GO (Chicago IL)
Oranger (San Francisco CA)
Tim O'Reagan (Minneapolis MN)
Beth Orton (London UK)
The Paybacks (Detroit MI)
Glen Phillips (Santa Barbara CA)
The Plimsouls (Los Angeles CA)
Portastatic (Chapel Hill NC)
Corinne Bailey Rae (Leeds UK)
The Rakes (London UK)
Reigning Sound (Memphis TN)
Josh Ritter (Moscow ID)
Saturday Looks Good To Me (Ann Arbor MI)
Chris Stamey (Chapel Hill NC)
Test Icicles (London UK)
Teddy Thompson (New York NY)
Tres Chicas (Raleigh NC)
KT Tunstall (London UK)
The Twilight Singers (Los Angeles CA)
John Vanderslice (San Francisco CA)
Laura Veirs (Seattle WA)
Waco Brothers (Chicago IL)
We Are Scientists (Brooklyn NY)
The Willowz (Los Angeles CA)
Winterpills (Northampton MA)
World Leader Pretend (New Orleans LA)
World Party (London UK)

Wednesday, January 11, 2006

On the Road with... The Elvis Costello Orchestra??

From Billboard...

Initially expected to begin sometime this month, Elvis Costello's orchestral tour will instead open March 27 in San Francisco. The artist and frequent collaborator Steve Nieve will perform with local orchestras on the 13-date trek, which concludes May 13 in Atlanta. Only 10 cities appear on the itinerary, including two shows in Honolulu and one in Maui, as well as three in Baltimore.
...

Here are Costello's tour dates:


March 27: San Francisco (Davies Symphony Hall)
March 31-April 1: Honolulu (Neal S. Blaisdell Center)
April 2: Maui (Maui Arts & Cultural Center)
April 11: Austin, Texas (Bass Concert Hall)
April 13: Houston (Jesse H. Jones Hall)
April 18: Chicago (Orchestra Hall)
April 20: Baltimore (The Music Center at Strathmore)
April 21-22: Baltimore (Meyerhoff Symphony Hall)
May 10: Boston (Symphony Hall)
May 12: Brooklyn, N.Y. (Brooklyn Academy of Music)
May 13: Atlanta (Fox Theatre)

The Money Shot: Patterson Hood

The DBT's Hood is a guest speaker at a University of Georgia class on the music business.
“Most people don’t ever see money from a record deal,” he said. “The money I have made is based on merchandising, so as long as people can’t download T-shirts, I’ll be OK.”

Kaiser Chiefs Lead Brit Awards

Kaiser Chiefs and James Blunt both grabbed 5 nominations as the annual Brit Awards were announced. Here's the list:

BRITISH MALE SOLO ARTIST
Antony And The Johnsons
Ian Brown
James Blunt
Robbie Williams
Will Young

BRITISH FEMALE SOLO ARTIST
Charlotte Church
Kate Bush
Katie Melua
KT Tunstall
Natasha Bedingfield

BRITISH GROUP
Coldplay
Franz Ferdinand
Gorillaz
Hard-Fi
Kaiser Chiefs

BRITISH ALBUM
Coldplay - X&Y
Gorillaz - Demon Days
James Blunt - Back To Bedlam
Kaiser Chiefs - Employment
Kate Bush - Aerial

BRITISH SINGLE
Coldplay - Speed Of Sound
James Blunt - You're Beautiful
Shayne Ward - That's My Goal
Sugababes - Push The Button
Tony Christie ft Peter Kaye - (Is This The Way To) Amarillo

BRITISH BREAKTHROUGH ACT
Arctic Monkeys
James Blunt
Kaiser Chiefs
KT Tunstall
The Magic Numbers

BRITISH URBAN ACT
Craig David
Dizzee Rascal
Kano
Lemar
Ms Dynamite

BRITISH ROCK ACT
Franz Ferdinand
Hard Fi
Kaiser Chiefs
Kasabian
Oasis

BRITISH LIVE ACT
Coldplay
Kaiser Chiefs
Franz Ferdinand
KT Tunstall
Oasis

POP ACT
James Blunt
Katie Melua
Kelly Clarkson
Madonna
Westlife

INTERNATIONAL MALE SOLO ARTIST
Beck
Bruce Springsteen
Jack
Johnson
John Legend
Kanye West

INTERNATIONAL FEMALE SOLO ARTIST
Bjork
Kelly Clarkson
Madonna
Mariah Carey
Missy Elliot

INTERNATIONAL GROUP
Arcade Fire
Black Eyed Peas
Green Day
U2
White Stripes

INTERNATIONAL ALBUM
Arcade Fire - Funeral
Green Day - American Idiot
Kanye West - Late Registration
Madonna - Confessions On A Dancefloor
U2 - How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb

INTERNATIONAL BREAKTHROUGH ACT
Arcade Fire
Daniel Powter
Jack Johnson
John Legend
Pussycat Dolls

OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION TO MUSIC
Paul Weller

The Money Shot: Scissor Sisters Play With Elton John?

According to NME:

"Jamming in a Central American jungle with people who have spent time in a studio with Def Leppard, Elton (John) coming by to make tea and lay down some mean Bo Diddley grooves, picking banjos above a hair extension parlor, employing a 25-piece choir comprised solely of unemployed Brooklyn haircutters, a famous glam rock figure (or two) wondering just what they can buy at the Jamaican grocery downstairs and plenty of swimming with and jumping sharks."

On the Road with... Ted Leo

Tour dates announced in Pitchfork. Looks like a gap while they're down in TX to slide in an SXSW appearance or two:

03-02 Brooklyn, NY - The Hook *
03-03 Providence, RI - The Living Room *
03-04 Boston, MA - Paradise *
03-05 New Haven, CT - Toad's Place *
03-06 Rochester, NY - Bug Jar *
03-07 Cleveland, OH - Grog Shop *
03-08 Ann Arbor, MI - Blind Pig *
03-10 Chicago, IL - The Abbey Pub *
03-11 Newport, KY - Southgate House *
03-12 Nashville, TN - Exit / In *
03-13 Little Rock, AR - Vinos *
03-14 Dallas, TX - Gypsy Tea Room *
03-15 San Antonio, TX - Sanctuary *
03-19 Houston, TX - Walter's on Washington *
03-20 Baton Rouge, LA - Chelsea's Café *
03-22 Athens, GA - 40 Watt Club *
03-23 Charlotte, NC - Casbah at Tremont Music Hall *
03-24 Washington, DC - Black Cat *
03-26 New York, NY - Knitting Factory *

The Money Shot: Sony Comes Out of the Closet

From Reuters:

Sony Music on Tuesday said it was launching the first major music label dedicated to nurturing lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans-gendered artists. The label, Music with a Twist, is a joint venture with Wilderness Media & Entertainment, the company led by Matt Farber, who founded Viacom Inc.'s MTV Networks' new gay and lesbian channel LOGO, which is available in an estimated 20 million homes. The label also comes as Wilderness Media plans this weekend to launch a syndicated national radio show called Twist targeting the gay and "gay-adjacent" communities, debuting on FM stations and the Web.

On the Road with... The Subways

This just in from Liquid Generation...


One of the biggest bands in the UK right now, The Subways, will be headlining their first US (and Canada, pfft) tour in support of their debut album, Young for Eternity, in stores February 14th.

Tour info:

3/1 Atlanta, GA - The Loft
3/2 Chapel Hill, NC - Local 506

3/3 Philadelphia, PA - First Unitarian Church
3/4 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club
3/7 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom
3/8 Boston, MA - Paradise
3/9 Montreal, QUE - La Sala Rossa
3/11 Toronto, ON - The Mod Club
3/12 Detroit, MI - The Magic Stick
3/13 Cleveland, OH - Grog Shop
3/14 Chicago, IL - Empty Bottle
3/15 Lawrence, KS - Replay Lounge
3/19 Houston, TX - Meridian Red Room
3/20 Dallas, TX - Gypsy Tea Room
3/22 Tempe, AZ - The Clubhouse
3/23 Los Angeles, CA - Troubadour
3/25 San Diego, CA - Epicentre
3/27 San Francisco, CA - Slim's
3/28 Portland, OR - Doug Fir Lounge3
3/29 Vancouver, BC - Richard's on Richards
3/30 Seattle, WA - Crocodile Café

Tuesday, January 10, 2006

Cheap Thrills 1.10.06

Bunch o' Bloc Party today...

Thanks to today's contributing bloggers. Please support their blogs! To hear these artists and more, click here.

Disclaimer: These links are intended to help promote artists that Musical Justice plays. In the event that you sample an artist here and like 'em, please support those acts by buying legal copies of their music and going to see their live appearances. None of the MP3 are actually provided or hosted by us. We don't guarantee their quality and whenever you download things, you are assuming the risk that you might download viruses, spyware or other nasties. In the event that you are one of the artists listed above and you would like us to remove any links, please contact us and we will do so ASAP.

Music That Sucks 1.10.06

This week's installment of new actual releases that flat out blow...

  • John Denver - Love Songs (Just guessin' but if you listen to this while you're making love, it's gonna be the missionary position...)
  • Bad Seed - Dirty Urine (Uh... where's that smell coming from?)
  • Various Artists - All Shook Up: A Reggae Tribute to the King (Now I can't stop picturing Elvis' greasy pompadour replaced with dreds and a spliff)

The Money Shot: Jack White Told to 'Shut Up!'

From MTV news...

On Tuesday (January 10) the White Stripes posted a message on their Web site announcing that White's doctors have instructed him not to speak or sing for the next two weeks, in order to rest his ailing cords. In addition to forcing the band to postpone a handful of Japanese dates, the announcement also brings up the question of just how White will articulate his thoughts — though the early money is on "wild gesticulations," with "chalkboard hung around the neck" a close second (OK, not really).

Coming Attractions: RHCP

A new Chili Peppers CD is on the way.

It's been almost four years since the Red Hot Chili Peppers put out an album of new material, but that's about to change with the release of the two-CD Stadium Arcadium in April. The Rick Rubin-produced songs were originally planned to be released as a trilogy, with a new album being released every six months. "The third record made it interesting for us, because two records have been done in different configurations," RHCP singer Anthony Kiedis told NME.com. "System [Of A Down] did it. Guns 'N Roses did something similar, but three seemed sort of special, and we really got behind this idea until we realised that the third record wouldn't really be coming out for two years. It was like, 'This music needs to be heard now,' and two years from now we'll have new songs."

Coming Attractions: Yeah Yeah Yeahs

This just in from Billboard:

New York rock trio the Yeah Yeah Yeahs will return on March 28 with its second Interscope album, "Show Your Bones," according to a label spokesperson. First single "Gold Lion" will be commercially released a week earlier in the United Kingdom. The set was produced by Squeak E Clean and mixed by rock veteran Alan Moulder.

On the Road with... Lucinda Williams

Livedaily has Lucinda Williams dates...

February 2006
17 - Eugene, OR - The Shedd
18 - Portland, OR - Aladdin Theater
19 - Medford, OR - Craterian Ginger Rogers Theater
21 - Santa Rosa, CA - Luther Burbank Center for the Arts
22 - Napa, CA - Napa Valley Opera House
25 - Oakland, CA - Paramount Theatre (w/ George Jones)
27 - Santa Barbara, CA - Arlington Theatre (w/ George Jones)

March 2006
2 - Boulder, CO - Boulder Theater
3 - North Kansas City, MO - Voodoo/Harrah's Casino
4 - St. Paul, MN - O'Shaughnessy Auditorium
6 - Madison, WI - Barrymore Theatre
7 - Milwaukee, WI - Pabst Theater
9 - Pittsburgh, PA - Byham Theatre
10 - Cleveland, OH - House of Blues
12 - Nelsonville, OH - Stuart's Opera House
13 - Lexington, KY - The Kentucky Theatre
17 - Oxford, MS - The Ford Center
18 - New Orleans, LA - House of Blues
20, 22 - Nashville, TN - Belcourt Theatre (w/ Miller Williams)

Buy These Now! 1.10.05

Well, now that we're past the holidays, it's time to start highlighting the new releases again... not much to pick from, but there are a few interesting releases. I'd have to give the week a "C-" overall.
  • Jack Ingram - Live: Wherever You Are
  • We Are Scientists - With Love and Squalor
  • Bettye LaVette - Take Another Piece of My Heart
  • Various Artists - Alright, This Time Just the Girls, Volume 2 (includes Wanda Jackson, the Detroit Cobras, the Muffs, Holly Golightly and more)

Welcome G Zombie!

For the regular visitors to this blog, you may have noticed a new box on this page called "Contributors" where my individual profile used to be. That's because we're going to be adding some additional bloggers here. I'd like to welcome the first of them, G Zombie. I won't brag too much on him or provide a lot of personal details, but I can promise that the level of writing here is going to improve dramatically with his addition.

Welcome to Musical Justice, G Zombie!

Monday, January 09, 2006

Cheap Thrills 1.9.06

Don't miss Beck covering Nick Drake... wow!

TiVo Alert

With very few exceptions, it looks like a good week to go to bed early...

Monday - David Gray (Carson Daly)
Tuesday - Imogen Heap (Letterman), Amos Lee (Carson Daly)
Wednesday - nope, nothing
Thursday - North Mississippi All-Stars (Carson Daly)
Friday - Dwight Yoakam (Kimmel)

The Money Shot: Franz Ferdinand vs Oasis

Franz Ferdinand takes a shot back at Oasis in NME:

Until now, Alex Kapranos has held his tongue. But the Franz Ferdinand singer is quoted in today's tabloid press as comparing Liam to a "neurotic young girl at a high school". He reportedly said: "He knows he can get in the papers from being as obnoxious as he can. When I read the press that surrounded them earlier in
2005, it sounded like an extremely anxious, neurotic young girl at a high school who though that she had younger, better looking competition and was just bitching about everything about her."

Punk and 80's Alternative

Written by my brother and promoted from the MJ bulletin board to the blog...

Those of us who are at least 25 years old probably remember when punk was on the outside and alternative was truly alternative.

I remember calling into my local radio station on a saturday night request program and asking them to play this new band. They had just released their second LP, "reckoning".

The DJ told me that they didn't play REM because their listeners weren't interested in hearing them. I asked him how he knew this since they never played them, and he said that they didn't "fit the style" of the music their audience liked.

Now, REM is a staple of the same station's playlist.

That's when alternative was alternative. There were so many amazing bands that no radio station would touch. REM, The Replacements, Love and Rockets, the Minutemen, the Meat Puppets--I could go on for days.

Alternative was alternative and punk was dangerous.

I knew this was about to change in the early 90's. Subaru launched an ad with a kinda gothic looking teenager comparing the Impreza to punk (anyone remember that?). When Nevermind came out and hit the top of the pop charts, I knew things would never be the same.

The problem is, punk and alternative have become a format. The music hasn't gotten it's due, it's been churned up and regurgitated in an easily digestable form by the corporate Music Industry. It's become a form of manufactured rebellion. It's hollow.

I think this is why web radio (like MJ) is such a godsend for folks who want real, honest music.

I don't look for musical justice in the form of sales and popularity for the bands that are really doing great things. The justice comes in the form of a fierce devotion of their fans and the longevity of the music.

Friday, January 06, 2006

SXSW 2006 - A First Look

The first round of artists are up at the SXSW website. Musical Justice artists listed include:

Arctic Monkeys (Sheffield UK)
Belle and Sebastian (Glasgow UK)
Be Your Own PET (Nashville TN)
Neko Case (Tacoma WA)
Cat Power (Atlanta GA)
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah (Brooklyn NY)
Dashboard Confessional (Boca Raton FL)
Dirty Pretty Things (London UK)
Echo & The Bunnymen (Liverpool UK)
Editors (Birmingham UK)
Elbow (Manchester UK)
Gogol Bordello (New York NY)
The Magic Numbers (London UK)
Magnolia Electric Company (Chicago IL)
Marah (Philadelphia PA)
Of Montreal (Athens GA)
Beth Orton (London UK)
KT Tunstall (London UK)

More to come. Is anyone planning to attend?

Cheap Thrills 1.6.06 (part 2)

More stuff for your hard drives. Have a great weekend!

Thanks to today's contributing bloggers. Please support their blogs! To hear these artists and more, click here.

Disclaimer: These links are intended to help promote artists that Musical Justice plays. In the event that you sample an artist here and like 'em, please support those acts by buying legal copies of their music and going to see their live appearances. None of the MP3 are actually provided or hosted by us. We don't guarantee their quality and whenever you download things, you are assuming the risk that you might download viruses, spyware or other nasties. In the event that you are one of the artists listed above and you would like us to remove any links, please contact us and we will do so ASAP.

Cheap Thrills 1.6.06 (part 1)

There's a shitload of good music at the Salon link. Worth sitting through an ad, I'd say.

Death From Above 1979 - Sexy Results
Sarah Silverman - The Aristocrats
Devendra Banhart - At the Hop
Belle & Sebastian - Another Sunny Day
Low - Nowhere Man
Animal Collective - Grass
Dirty Three - Doris
Devendra Banhart - Quedate Luna
My Morning Jacket - Dondante
Chris Mills - Chris Mills Is Living the Dream
Mendoza Line - Catch a Collapsing Star
Rogue Wave - Publish My Love
Apollo Sunshine - Magnolia
Metric - Poster of a Girl
Jenny Lewis - Melt Your Heart
Pernice Brothers - There Goes the Sun
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Ain't No Easy Way
Cowboy Junkies - No More
Antony & the Johnsons - Paddy's Gone
Nada Surf - Do It Again
American Analog Set - Born on the Cusp
Tim Fite - No Good Here
Rosebuds - Leaves Do Fall
Bettye LaVette - Let Me Down Easy/The High Road
Clientele - (I Can't Seem to) Make You Mine
Amy Rigby - Dancing With Joey Ramone
Stellastarr* - Sweet Troubled Soul
Portastatic - I Wanna Know Girls
Nouvelle Vague - In a Manner of Speaking
Richard Thompson - For Whose Sake?
Dungen - Panda
John Hiatt - Thunderbird
British Sea Power - Please Stand Up
Devendra Banhart - Will Is My Friend
Lucero - Sixteen
Beck - Farewell Ride (Subtle Remix)
Dwight Yoakam - Blame the Vain
Rosebuds - You Better Get Ready
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Upon This Tidal Wave of Young Blood
Nouvelle Vague - Guns of Brixton
Dressy Bessy - Who'd Stop the Rain
Teenage Fanclub - It's All in My Mind
Mercury Rev - In a Funny Way
Belle & Sebastian - Take Your Carriage Clock and Shove It
Richard Thompson - Uninhabited Man
The Cloud Room - Hey Now Now
New Pornographers - Twin Cinema
Sleater-Kinney - Entertain
Bloc Party - Tulips
Animal Collective - Prospect Hummer
Over the Rhine - Born

Wolf Parade on Late Late Show

Prefix has video of Wolf Parade's appearance on the late night show hosted by Craig Ferguson.

R.I.P. Lou Rawls

Maybe not the type of music we play, but a distinctive voice is silenced by lung cancer...

On the Road with... Arctic Monkeys

U.S. tour dates according to Yeti. Interesting to see a SXSW showcase date included in there...


Monday 13th Mar
Great American Music Hall
San Francisco, CA

Wednesday 15th Mar
Henry Fonda Theatre
Los Angeles, CA

Friday 17th Mar
La Zona Rosa
Austin, TX
DOMINO SXSW SHOWCASE! Featuring Arctic Monkeys, Test Icicles, The Beautiful New Born Children, Archie Bronson Outfit & special guests.

Saturday 18th Mar
Metro
Chicago, IL

Tuesday 21st Mar
Phoenix Concert Theatre
Toronto, ONT CANADA

Wednesday 22nd Mar
La Sala Rossa
Montreal, QC CANADA

Thursday 23rd Mar
Paradise Rock Club
Boston, MA

Saturday 25th Mar
Webster Hall
New York, NY

Sunday 26th Mar
First Unitarian Church
Philadelphia, PA

Monday 27th Mar
9:30 Club
Washington, DC

Wednesday 29th
Mar
Crocodile Cafe
Seattle, WA

On the Road with... Belle & Sebastian with The New Pornographers

According to Pitchfork, they're hitting the road together with the Pornos as the opening act. That's a tough act to follow, don't ya think? Here are the dates:

02-25 Toronto, Ontario - The Docks
02-26 Montreal, Quebec - Metropolis
02-27 Boston, MA - Avalon
02-28 Boston, MA - Avalon
03-02 New York, NY - Nokia Theatre
03-03 New York, NY - Nokia Theatre
03-04 Philadelphia, PA - Electric Factory
03-05 Washington DC - 9:30 Club
03-06 Washington DC - 9:30 Club
03-08 Nashville, TN - Ryman Auditorium
03-09 Louisville, KY - Brown Theatre
03-10 Chicago, IL - Riviera
03-11 Milwaukee, WI - Riverside Theatre
03-12 Minneapolis, MN - Orpheum Theatre
03-14 Dallas, TX - Granada Theatre
03-15 Austin, TX - Stubb's (SXSW)*
03-18 Los Angeles, CA - Wiltern
03-19 Los Angeles, CA - Wiltern
03-21 San Francisco, CA - Concourse @ SF Design Center
03-23 Portland, OR - Roseland
03-24 Vancouver, British Columbia - Commodore Ballroom #
03-25 Seattle, WA - Paramount Theatre

Coming Attractions: Sonic Youth

News on a new CD from Sonic Youth on NME:

The as-yet-untitled album will be the follow up to 2004's 'Sonic Nurse'. In a posting on the band's official website, they revealed they had been recording at Sear Sound Studio, where they had put together 1987's 'Sister' and 1994's'Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star'.

New songs recorded include:
'Pink Steam'
'Do You Believe In Rapture?'
'Or'
'Sleepin Around'

The Money Shot: Jason Isbell (DBT)

The DBT guitarist talks about his upcoming solo record...
The record's title, "Sirens of the Ditch," is a Sappho reference to frogs, which Isbell collects. Not the real amphibians, he said, but their counterparts in wood, marble and other materials. "Actual frogs themselves, they're kind of unassuming," Isbell said in a telephone interview on his way home from the Birmingham, Ala. airport. "The smallest frogs can make the biggest noise."

MJ Weekly Top 10 Airplay Chart

The top ten most heavily played songs on Musical Justice last week...

Rank Title - Artist
1 Be Yourself - Audioslave
2 The Denial Twist - White Stripes
3 Soul Meets Body - Death Cab For Cutie
4 Middle Of Nowhere - Hot Hot Heat
5 Bandages And Scars - Son Volt
6 Let It Ride - Ryan Adams & Cardinals
7 Smoke It - Dandy Warhols
8 The One I Love - David Gray
9 We Can't Make It Here - James McMurtry
10 Amazing Life - Jem

The Boss is on the Case

Set your TiVo. This just in from Backstreets...

Coming to the tellyvision in the new year: the January 8 episode of Cold Case on CBS will be a special one, featuring an all-Springsteen soundtrack. "8 years" is set between 1980 and 1988, and features nine of Bruce's songs from that period: "Stolen Car," "Drive All Night" "Atlantic City," "No Surrender," "Glory Days," "I'm on Fire," "Bobby Jean," "Brilliant Disguise," and "One Step Up." CBS' David Brownfield tells us it's "like an hour-long music video"; show creator and episode writer Meredith Stiehm says: "Because there are such vivid stories and characters in Bruce Springsteen's music, we decided to let the lyrics do a lot of the storytelling for us, instead of depending on dialogue." According to Brownfield, the episode was directed by Mark Pellington, who also directed Springsteen's video for "Lonesome Day." Tune in Sunday, January 8, from 8 - 9 p.m. ET/PT.

Save the Recording Industry

If you're looking for a good Friday timewaster, Techdirt shares this link to The Turnaround Game. In the game you're a CPA who's been brought in to turn around a sinking record label. The registration's a pain and the game's about as exciting as being a CPA, but if you ever wanted to look at the numbers behind a label, here you go...

Thursday, January 05, 2006

Cheap Thrills 1.5.06

Back after a long hiatus...

Laura Veirs - Magnitized/Where Gravity Is Dead
Ryan Adams - Magnolia Mountain/Withering Heights/Strawberry Wine/When Will You Come Back Home?/Don't Fail Me Now/The Hardest Part/Now That You're Gone/How Do You Keep Love Alive?/Meadowlake Street/Blossom
Ok Go - Get Over It/A Million Ways
Weezer - Undone/Say It Ain't So
Gorillaz - Feel Good Inc.
The Subways - Rock and Roll Queen
Vic Chesnutt - Gepetto
Richmond Fontaine - Evergreen
Bloc Party - So Here We Are
Sufjan Stevens - The Predatory Wasp
Bright Eyes - Poison Oak
Death Cab for Cutie - Marching Bands of Manhatten
Stars - What I'm Trying To Say
The New Pornographers - The Jessica Numbers
The Decemberists - On The Bus Mall
Maximo Park - Apply Some Pressure
Iron & Wine - Jezebel
Okkervil River - Black
Hot Hot Heat - Dirty Mouth
We Are Scientists - Inaction
LCD Soundsystem - Tribulations
KT Tunstall - Black Horse and the Cherry Tree
The White Stripes - The Denial Twist
Feist - Mushaboom
Animal Collective - Did You See The Words
Editors - Fingers in the Factories
Sufjan Stevens - Chicago
Jens Lekman - Pocketful of Money/Rocky Dennis' Farewell Song
Devendra Banhart - Santa Maria Da Feira/Heard Somebody Say
The Clientele - My Own Face Inside The Trees/ E.M.P.T.Y.
Animal Collective - Grass
Broken Social Scene - 7/4 (Shoreline)
Spoon - They Never Got You
Bright Eyes - First Day of My Life
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - In This Home on Ice
Bloc Party - Compliments
Nouveau Vague - Love Will Tear Us Apart
British Sea Power - The Land Beyond
Rogue Wave - Salesman at the Day of the Parade
The National - All The Wine
Beck - Missing
Wolf Parade - This Heart's On Fire
The Decemberists - Eli, The Barrowboy
The White Stripes - My Doorbell
Great Lake Swimmers - When It Flows
Jens Lekman - Black Cab/Maple Leaves
Animal Collective - Bonfire/Sea Lion/What I Do/Forest Children Risen/In the City That Reads/Judy Biworker/The Kite/Leaf House/Softest Voice (You'll Be Alright)/College

Thanks to today's contributing bloggers. Please support their blogs! To hear these artists and more, click here.

Disclaimer: These links are intended to help promote artists that Musical Justice plays. In the event that you sample an artist here and like 'em, please support those acts by buying legal copies of their music and going to see their live appearances. None of the MP3 are actually provided or hosted by us. We don't guarantee their quality and whenever you download things, you are assuming the risk that you might download viruses, spyware or other nasties. In the event that you are one of the artists listed above and you would like us to remove any links, please contact us and we will do so ASAP.