I Want My Music Television: 2/23/15

One Last Time - Ariana Grande


Admission time: I kind of actually like Ariana Grande. One giant drawback is that everyone she collaborates with pretty much sucks massively sans The Weeknd, but I still think that song would be better without him. Finally Grande has released a song without any features as a single (I may have went with Why Try instead). Much like the song, the video is cheesy fun even if I am not entirely sure if that was the director's intention. Speaking of the director who is credited as Max Landis, is he at all related to John Landis, director of possibly the most famous music video of all time: Thiller?

Time Machine - Ingrid Michaelson


Sure Fiona Apple and Zach Galifianakis pretty much did this exact video and did it better a couple years ago (and there are three people in the video I do not even recognize; the dude on the beach and the golfers), but Ingrid Michaelson's indignation every time someone starts singing in her place is still pretty entertaining.

Irresistible - Fall Out Boy


Speaking of video concepts that were done earlier and better, the new Fall Out Boy video reminds me of Hootie and the Blowfish's Only Wanna Be With You but with the ESPN anchors.

Black Bat Licorice - Jack White


Jack White has been making novelty vinyls for years not it is surprising he has not made a novelty music video until now where Black Bat Licorice is three interactive music videos in one which you can watch over at JackWhiteIII.com. Since that is not embeddable, I though I would share this live performance of the song featuring Q-Tip. Yes you read that right.

Every Single Bone in My Brain Is Electric

The nineties were a great time for rock feuds: Nirvana vs. Guns n Roses, when the Gallagher brothers were not fighting with themselves, Oasis would take aim at Blur, there were bizarre feuds like Coolio vs. Weird Al, Metallica vs. Napster, Sinead O’Conner vs. Frank Sinatra and the pope, and in rap, there was even a huge East coast vs. West coast feud. All those feuds were organic and came from places of pure hatred. Today’s feuds seemed to calculated fueled more for promotional reasons than hatred. And whenever someone is caught hating someone or something else, a quick press release apology that sounds like it was edited by multiple public relations representatives is released. Most of those do not even need to be released it is just that the media routinely takes quotes out of context in hopes of firing up a feud.

That is what makes Jack White so refreshing, he has not problem starting up a good old fashion feud. He (reportedly) banned The Black Keys guitarist from his studio and does not even want his kids at the same school. The band kind of took the high road in Rolling Stone blaming more faults at the people that leaked the information, but still thinking White is not the best guy in the world. But Jack could not find common ground at hating leakers furthered his hatred at that other two-piece in the very next issue of Rolling Stone claiming they blatantly ripped them off and would be nothing without him. Of course the media would blow his rational out of proportion with his comparison that Amy Winehouse is the reason Adele was able to have success. (I agree with Jack that there is always some who opens the door for other artist to walk through, granted the first is not always the best.)

Next came the inevitable apology but Jack White certainly did not employ a PR firm to compose it as it was dripping in sarcasm in between the line and filled with back handed comments, I find it hardly coincidently that White brought up Danger Mouse in the apology out of nowhere as basically to say, The Black Keys need a co-writer and producer to make hit records. If there is one take away from the Rolling Stone article and the subsequent apology is Jack White really likes to complain which he freely admits he does quite frequently in the article.

Jack White’s hatred of The Black Keys stems from their similar sound to his former band The White Stripes but the biggest White Stripes plagiarist may actually be Jack himself. Each of his band have a very distinctive sound, The Raconteurs were power pop, The Dead Weather were hard rock, but when it came to his solo album it was a blues rock album in the vein of The White Stripes just with more musicians (the Stripes famously only recorded songs that the duo could perform live by themselves).

White’s second solo album Lazaretto is more the same, simply good blues mixed with rock and roll with most of the songs sounding liked more fleshed out versions of The White Stripes songs. But just like the first solo album, I have to wonder if Jack White is more entertaining when he puts constraints on himself like he did with the White Stripes because when he has everything at his disposal, it somehow manages not to be as interesting. There are bits and pieces as interesting material on Lazaretto like the instrumental High Ball Stepper but nothing that makes me not wish he would patch things up with Meg White. Really the only truly interesting part of listening to Lazaretto I had was trying to figure out which bands is backing him on which songs, his all-male band The Buzzards or the all female one, The Peacocks.

Song to Download – Lazaretto

Lazeretto gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.

I Want My Music Television: 6/8/14

There have been a couple of videos that have caught my eye lately so I thought I’d give them some love since the death of Musical Television left a void for a forum on the art form. If you are interested in buying the video through iTunes, click the title link (where available). If you are interested in buying the song, look for a link in the analysis.


Lazaretto - Jack White


I am not going to lie, I kind of want Jack White’s suit from this video.


Boom Clap – Charlie XCX


Last week I did not have kind words for Iggy Azalia and her Fancy song, but honestly, I kind of like Charli XCX on that song (though being attracted to her as Brittney Murphy is kind of creepy), and kind of like her in general. Sure she is all sorts of bad (let it never be forgotten she was that wrote that horrible I Love It song from last year) but this is actually kind of catchy in its horribleness. If this keeps up, Charli XCX (another reason not to like her, that name, it is annoying to write and what does it mean? 90-10?) could challenge Pretty Little Liars for the guiltiest guilty please of the 10’s.


Best Friend - Foster the People


Foster the People may have only recorded one song worth listening to but they almost always release music videos worth giving a look. We have seen maneater videos plenty of times, but this is the first womaneater I remember seeing.


Zigzagging Towards the Light – Conner Oberst


Conor Oberst was the indie king as Bright Eyes for over a decade but decided it was time to sell out and sign to a major label (the same that turned The Black Keys into the defacto biggest band in the world). If their idea to bring Oberast to the masses was a two and a half minute dialogue with an omnipresent voice during a new future dystopia in black and white, maybe he should have stayed independent. Or they better have a better idea for what will be continued.

I Want My Music Television: 4/2/14

There have been a couple of videos that have caught my eye lately so I thought I’d give them some love since the death of Musical Television left a void for a forum on the art form. If you are interested in buying the video through iTunes, click the title link (where available). If you are interested in buying the song, look for a link in the analysis.


Empire - Shakira


I may be reading into it too much but the whole runaway bride could explain why Shakira has yet to walk down the aisles with her baby daddy. And I usually do not comment on these sorts of things, but whoever the cinematographer Shakira has been working with needs some sort of award because her last two are just absolutely beautifully shot.


Supernova - Ray LaMontagne


Listening to the new Ray Lamontange song and its seventies pop-rock vibe and hearing that he brought in The Black Keys Dan Auerbach to produce made me think that the singer is finally trying to be an actual rock star. He even released his very first music video. Sure it has the production value of your average lyric video, but hey, its baby steps.


Gulls – David Gray


Recently Coldplay went full Bon Iver for the first song off their upcoming album and it sounds like David Gray has been listening a lot to the Minnesota woodsman too. He even combined that sound with a trippy music video. Coldplay quickly followed up that Bon Iver sounding song with a more traditional sounding song, I hope the same goes for David Gray, but I am not really digging this new musical path.


High Ball Stepper – Jack White


As previously mentioned, I thought Coldplay releasing a Bon Iver meets Radiohead type song was a weird first impression to make. But at least it had words; the first song we get to hear off the upcoming Jack White album is an instrumental. But the paint and glitter in speakers motif of the music video is all sorts of awesome.

I Want My Music Television - 10/24/12

There have been a couple of videos that have caught my eye lately so I thought I’d give them some love since the death of Musical Television left a void for a forum on the art form. If you are interested in buying the video through iTunes, click the title link (where available). If you are interested in buying the song, look for a link in the analysis.

The Baddest Man Alive – The Black Keys and RZA


The Black Keys! RZA!! The Baddest Man Alive!!! Dan gets fish slapped!!!!


Girl on Fire – Alicia Keys


Alicia Keys is back and thankfully without Nicki Minaj who ruined the song at the Video Music Awards. Although I was hoping for a video for the Bluelight Version of the song which was my favorite of the three versions that Alicia released for the song.


I’m Shakin’ – Jack White


For the unaware, Jack Black recorded his first solo album with two bands, an all guy one and an all girl one and here they are going head to head. I have to say I prefer the blue Jack White.


Hurts Like Heaven - Coldplay


It is weird that Cpldplay are launching a comic book based on their album over a year after it was released. But then again, maybe it will ended up being optioned as a big budget motion picture. It is no less plausible than a talking alien raccoon. Plus I have to admit, Major Minus is an awesome name for a arch-nemesis and the bad guys are usually more interesting than the comic book heroes anyway.

I Want My Music Television - 7/22/12

There have been a couple of videos that have caught my eye lately so I thought I’d give them some love since the death of Musical Television left a void for a forum on the art form. If you are interested in buying the video through iTunes, click the title link (where available). If you are interested in buying the song, look for a link in the analysis.

Handwritten – The Gaslight Anthem



Wow, The Gaslight Anthem put out a video that is not tattooed dudes sing heart on their sleeve music and this has a coherent storyline (or as coherent as music video get). But it is really just another reason to get excited for their album release this week. Look for a review sometime soon.


Freedom At 21 - Jack White



Hype Williams directed the latest Jack White music video. Seriously. And it is as weird and stylist as you would actually expect.


The Wind - Zac Brown Band



And if that is not a weird enough combination for you, Mike Judge directed the latest Zac Brown Band music video. But I guess Zac Brown Band would not have been out of place on King of the Hill. Granted robotic Zac Brown would have been.


I Shall Not Be Moved – Public Enemy



And who would have guessed Woody Allen directed the new Public Enemy video? (Okay, that one did not really happen… yet). It is amazing they are still putting out music that is still pretty good though I find it odd that Chuck D put Basketball Wives on blast considering his partner shilled for VH1 for most of last decade. But I guess somebody needed to put the Basketball Wives (none of which are actually married to basketball players) on blast.

Who’s Jealous of Who?

In the past decade, Jack White has played in three very distinctively different bands. First there was the blues based garage band The White Stripes with a very strict rule of only recording songs the two could play live (meaning rarely more than two instruments per song) and were so strict they even kept their clothing limited to red, black, and white. Then came The Raconteurs a power-pop rock band. The last band he formed was the creepy alternative rock group The Dead Weather with Jack on drums. Then last year White announced he was not going to form any more bands, oh yeah, and he announced his first big band The White Stripes was essentially dead.

So what is next for the guy who recorded ten albums with three bands over the span of twelve years who does not want to start anymore bands? A solo album naturally. And with three distinctly sounding bands what exactly does a Jack White solo album sound like? Well it sound a lot like what The White Stripes may have sounded like had they not put restrictions on their recording and brought more musicians and singers into the studio with them.

Blunderbuss is right out of the blues rock playbook but right away in the opening track Missing Pieces you hear organs that would have never fit into a White Stripes album. Those missing his breakout band will want to go straight to Sixteen Saltines, a riff heavy song reminiscent of some of the former band’s most famous.

But further into the album, the less and less it starts sounding like a White Stripes album and other Jack White influences. He goes down to the delta and recruits a sultry R&B singer to duet with on Love Interruption. And all the time he has spent in Nashville shows through with a few fiddles and mandolins while the Little Willie Brown cover I’m Shakin’ sounds like it could have been recorded in Sun Studios. here is a heavy classical piano into on Hypocritical Kiss which is a bit jarring coming from the guy. There is actually a lot of piano in the second half of the album. Then the album ends with White’s weirdest musical trip yet Take Me With You When You Go, which starts out as swinging sixties song that kicks into a frantic high gear in the second half.

Even though it is more diverse, Blunderbuss is similar to a White Stripes album in that although the songs are really good, they start to wear on you if you listen to the album straight through and Blunderbuss is much better heard on shuffle in the middle of the rest of your music library.

Song to Download – Sixteen Saltines

Blunderbuss gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.

Best of the Week - 4/21/12

Quote of the Week: You’re a grimy little pimp. (Lane, Mad Men)

Song of the Week: Hello – Lionel Richie (Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23)

Scene of the Week:



Big News of the Week: A Melancholy Happy Trails to Dick Clark: American Bandstand was a bit before my time but like anyone born in the past fifty years, New Years Eve was not New Years Eve without Dick Clarke counting down the ball. Even after his stroke I still had to check in with him because there was no one better to ring in the New Year with. This year would have been Dick’s fortieth anniversary of Rocking Eve special and it will not be the same without him.

Preview Picture of the Week:

Susan Sarandon on The Big C Tomorrow  

Free Download of the Week: Live to Rise – Soundgarden (iTunes): The grunge gods have recorded their first new song in over fifteen years and you can get it for the low, low price of free.

Deal of the Week: R&B Classics for $3.99: Amazon MP3 has some R&B classics for only $3.99 including The Temptations, Marvin Gaye, Al Green and Lionel Richie.




New Album Release of the Week: Blunderbuss - Jack White

New DVD Release of the Week: The Innkeepers

Video of the Week: A documentary on the history of rap directed by Ice-T? Yes please. Hopefully this is just part one of a hundred. Actually, was is this not a series on VH1 Classic like the recent great Metal Evolution?


Something From Nothing: The Art of Rap Official Trailer


Next Week Pick of the Week: NFL Draft, Thursday at 8:00, Friday at 7:00, and Saturday at Noon on ESPN: For fans of preferential bottom feeders like myself, the NFL Draft is our Super Bowl, three days where hope springs eternal where hopefully our horrible players are replaced by better ones. And with the Browns having thirteen picks and three in the top thirty-seven and with plenty of holes needing to be filled, there will plenty for me to pay attention to this year.

I Want My Music Television - 4/9/12

There have been a couple of videos that have caught my eye lately so I thought I’d give them some love since the death of Musical Television left a void for a forum on the art form. If you are interested in buying the video through iTunes, click the title link (where available). If you are interested in buying the song, look for a link in the analysis.


Happy Pills – Norah Jones



You just knew when you heard the latest song from Norah Jones that the video would feature murdering some dude. I also like that te video featured Norah in the shower (and not just for the obvious reason) because when I first heard the song, “out, I’m gonna get you out…” made me think Happy Pills is the twenty-first century version of I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair.


Blood for Poppies - Garbage



It has been bout a decade since Garbage released any new material and for the first single back, it sounds like they never left with them still making dirty pop records. Although am not totally convinced that Shirley wasn’t hermetically sealed in-between albums because she hasn’t aged a day.


Sixteen Saltines - Jack White



The newest Jack White music video features a dude eaching a penut butter and jelly sandwich of trhe ceiling and it does not even crack the top ten weirdest thing that happens in the video. Seriously.


Let's Roll - Yelawolf and Kid Rock



Didn’t Bubba Sparxxx try the hillbilly rap a decade ago and was met with a resounding yawn? I am not sure I will picking up too many Yelawolf stock.

The Five Most Anticipated Albums of Spring 2012

A pretty slow week for music releases (unless you’re a fan of the 90’s: Wilson Philips! Candlebox!!) and where spring has become a wasteland for new music ever since the major labels pushed 90% of major releases to the weeks before Christmas, there is a surprising glut of great music coming in the next couple weeks, here are the top five album I am must looking forward to in the next couple months.

1. …Little Broken Hearts – Norah Jones (May 1): Sure the spaghetti western soundtrack album Danger Mouse released last year was a bit of a letdown, but the three standout tracks all utilized the vocal talents of Norah Jones (sorry Jack White). The duo is back together for a new album, but unlike Danger’s previous duets with Cee-Lo and the dude from The Shins, no new band name instead the album is being released under Jones’s name. Despite the darkness of Rome’s tracks, the first single from …Little Broken Hearts is the bouncy break up song Happy Pills. And looking at other track names (Say Goodbye, Travlin’ On) we will be getting a full on break up album.

2. Born and Raised – John Mayer (May 22): Let’s get out of the way first: Mayer’s last album sucked massively because nobody wants to hear a concept album about dating and breaking up with Rachel Green. In the three year since the album his stupid mouth has gotten him much more publicity than his music but has been relatively quiet since starting recording the album, which may just be because of a lingering throat problem, but the first single Shadow Days suggest that he is truly sorry for saying things like how his genitalia is racist. I just hope the album is more on par with his first three.

3. What We Saw from the Cheap Seats – Regina Spektor (May 29): The first song off the new album from Spektor, All the Rowboats, sound darker than anything she has done before. This could be thanks to producer Mike Elizondo who is most famous for working with Dr. Dre but also produced that last album from fellow pianist Fiona Apple. But the second single, Don’t Leave Me does fit much better into her back catalogue, most because it is actually a new version of a song she released a decade ago.

4. Blunderbuss – Jack White (April 24): Now that he has stated no more new bands, Jack White is now on his own, but I get the sense we will still get the blues-pop-rock through a weird filter that we have come to love from the guitarist.

5. The Idler is wiser than the Driver of the Screw, and Whipping Cords will serve you more than Ropes will ever do – Fiona Apple (June): Much like her last album, Fiona’s new album has been sitting on the shelf for a while but will supposedly get a June release, though no specific date gives me pause that we will actually get to hear the album before then. Unless, of course, you caught her nine date tour last month where she unveiled some new song (I avoided listening to them because I do not like to judge songs based on a crappy YouTube recording). (Scooter Update: It seems like whenever I create one of these music preview lists, inevitably that day a major release gets announced and today was no difference as just an hour after I published this post, Fiona Apple wrote on her Facebook page that her album got an official release date: June 26 along with the cover art. No presale on Amazon as I write this update.)

And here are some other notable releases. Click on the album title to preorder on Amazon or the artist name to be taken to their iTunes page.

Today
Dedicated – Wilson Phillips
My Head Is an Animal – Of Monsters and Men
Bottoms Up – Obie Trice
Love Stories & Other Musings - Candlebox

April 10
Underwater Sunshine (or what we did on our summer vacation) – Counting Crows
Boys & Girls – Alabama Shakes
Slipstream – Bonnie Raitt
MTV Unplugged – Florence + The Machine
A Wasteland Companion – M. Ward
New Life – Monica
Scars On 45 – Scars On 45

April 17
Love Is a Four Letter Word – Jason Mraz
Picture Show – Neon Trees
California 37 – Train
I Missed Us - SWV
Moving Up Living Down – Eric Hutchinson

April 24
Speak in Code – Eve 6
This Machine – The Dandy Warhols
Landline – Greg Laswell

May 1
Blown Away – Carrie Underwood
Master of My Make-Believe – Santigold
Strange Clouds – B.o.B

May 8
Strangeland – Keane
After Hours – Glenn Frey
After Hours – Silversun Pickups

May 15
Not Your Kind Of People – Garbage
Heroes – Willie Nelson
Rize Of The Fenix – Tenacious D
The Only Place – Best Coast
Bloom – Beach House
Welcome To: Our House - Slaughterhouse

May 22
Apocalyptic Love - Slash

May 29
Here – Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros

June 5
Americana – Neil Young & Crazy Horse

June 12
The Bravest Man in the World – Bobby Womack
Sythetica – Metric

June 19
Cherry Thing – Neneh Cherry

June 26
Overexposed – Maroon 5

TBD
Handwritten – The Gaslight Anthem
The Diving Board – Elton John
Life Is Good – Nas
The Lion the Beast the Best – Grace Potter & The Nocturnals
Lollipops and Politics – V.V. Brown
Write Me Back – R. Kelly
Undisputed – DMX
Songs of Accent - U2
Mumford & Sons
The Avett Brothers
The Beach Boys
Bob Seger
D'Angelo
Diane Birch
Pearl Jam
Green Day
Linkin Park
Taylor Swift
M.I.A.
Wu-Tang Clan
The Offspring

And of course let’s not forget the obligatory this may be the quarter we finally get to hear Dr. Dre’s Detox.