Showing posts with label Kings of Leon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kings of Leon. Show all posts

Thursday, December 30, 2010

The 100 Best Songs of 2010


1. Tighten Up - The Black Keys

2. (Expletive Deleted) You - Cee-Lo

3. The High Road - Broken Bells

4. Power - Kanye West

5. Little Lion Man - Mumford & Sons

6. King of Anything - Sara Bareilles

7. Runaway - Kanye West and Pusha T

8. The Cave - Mumford & Sons

9. Head Full of Doubt / Road Full of Promise - The Avett Brothers

10. Radioactive - Kings of Leon

11. Rolling In the Deep - Adele

12. Airplanes - B.o.B. featuring Hayley Williams of Paramore

13. Breakeven (Falling to Pieces) - The Script

14. Mine - Taylor Swift

15. In Sleep - Lissie

16. Kandi - One EskimO

17. Next Girl - The Black Keys

18. Do-Wah-Doo - Kate Nash

19. Beg Steal or Borrow - Ray Lamontange and the Pariah Dogs

20. 40 Dogs (Like Romeo and Juliet) - Bob Schneider

21. Wake Up Everybody - John Legend & The Roots featuring Common & Melanie Fiona

22. No One's Gonna Love You - Cee-Lo Green

23. Tightrope - Janelle Monáe featuring Big Boi

24. Release Me - The Like

25. Ain't No Grave (Gonna Hold This Body Down) - Johnny Cash

26. Thinking 'Bout Somethin' - Hanson

27. American Slang - The Gaslight Anthem

28. Got Nuffin - Spoon

29. I Should Have Known It - Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers

30. Valentino - Diane Birch

31. The Catalyst - Linkin Park

32. In the Sun - She & Him

33. On to the Next One - Jay-Z featuring Swizz Beatz

34. Laredo - Band of Horses

35. Everlasting Light - The Black Keys

36. Dog Days Are Over - Florence + the Machine

37. Rewind - Diane Birch

38. At or With Me - Jack Johnson

39. Young Blood - Norah Jones

40. Horchata - Vampire Weekend

41. Need You Now - Lady Antebellum

42. Gimme Sympathy - Metric

43. I Know What I Am - Band of Skulls

44. Animal - Neon Trees

45. Home - Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros

46. Giving Up the Gun - Vampire Weekend

47. Every Subway Car - Barenaked Ladies featuring Erin McCarley

48. You and Your Heart - Jack Johnson

49. Half of My Heart - John Mayer featuring Taylor Swift

50. I Never Told You - Colbie Caillat

51. Bang Bang Bang - Mark Ronson featuring Q-Tip & MNDR

52. Pursuit of Happiness (Nightmare) - Kid Cudi featuring MGMT and Ratatat

53. Love the Way You Lie - Eminem featuring Rihanna

54. If You Let Me - JP, Chrissie & the Fairground Boys

55. Wavin' Flag – K’naan

56. Hey, Soul Sister - Train

57. The Sound Of Sunshine - Michael Franti & Spearhead

58. Howlin' for You - The Black Keys

59. All Summer - Kid Cudi, Best Coast and Rostam of Vampire Weekend

60. Back to December - Taylor Swift

61. When a Woman Loves - R. Kelly

62. The Ghost Who Walks - Karen Elson

63. He's Not a Boy - The Like

64. It's Gonna Be - Norah Jones

65. Misery - Maroon 5

66. Dear God 2.0 - The Roots and Jim James of Monsters of Folk

67. Kush - Dr Dre featuring Snoop Dogg and Akon

68. Infinity Guitars - Sleigh Bells

69. Opposite of Adults - Chiddy Bang

70. Erase Me - Kid Cudi and Kanye West

71. Stylo - Gorillaz featuring Mos Def & Bobby Womack

72. Run Back to Your Side - Eric Clapton

73. Your Easy Lovin' Ain't Pleasin' Nothin' - Mayer Hawthorne

74. Forgiveness - Sarah McLachlan

75. Soundtrack 2 My Life - Kid Cudi

76. Naturally - Selena Gomez & the Scene

77. Bright Lights Bigger City - Cee-Lo Green

78. Undo It - Carrie Underwood

79. Fearless - Taylor Swift

80. Written In Reverse - Spoon

81. Gypsy - Shakira

82. Paris (Ooh La La) - Grace Potter and the Nocturnals

83. Hey World - Michael Franti & Spearhead

84. Pyro - Kings of Leon

85. This (Expletive Deleted) Job - Drive-By Truckers

86. Not Afraid - Eminem

87. Hard Times - John Legend & The Roots featuring Black Thought

88. Maybe - Sick Puppies

89. Do You Love Me - Guster

90. People Say - Portugal the Man

91. Alice - Avril Lavigne

92. Too Late for Lovers - Gin Wigmore

93. Amazing - One EskimO

94. Come and Get It - Eli "Paperboy" Reed

95. Next Best Thing - Nikki & Rich

96. Playing God - Paramore

97. Had It All - Katharine McPhee

98. Heaven and Earth - Blitzen Trapper

99. Unthought Known - Pearl Jam

100. Stop for a Minute - Keane featuring K’Naan



Monday, December 13, 2010

I Want My Music Television vol. XCVII


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.


Kush – Dr Dre featuring Snoop Dogg and Akon



Much like when we got our first listen to Chinese Democracy, it is hard not hear this song and think, we waited a whole decade for this? And why did Dr. Dre taint one of songs with Akon and auto-tune? Dre sets trends, he doesn’t follow them. Granted had this been released in 2002 without Akon, I would have loved this.


Hold My Hand - Michael Jackson with Akon



Speaking of Akon ruining songs, this happened. Not that it would have been much better without him. Count me with the Jackson family in saying they should have kept Michael Jackson’s unfinished work in the vault.


Pyro – Kings of Leon



This may be the lamest slo-mo fight ever in the history of slow motion. I do not what Kings of Leon is trying to say with this video, but I do not care enough to study it more than the one viewing.


Boots - The Killers



And now some holiday cheer courtesy of The Killers. Actually I am not sure if I am uplifted or depressed for have seen this.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Hate to Be so Emotional, I Didn't Mean to get Physical


Come Around Sundown - Kings of Leon

In the current issue of Rolling Stone issue, Kings of Leon lead singers Caleb Followell expressed his deep displeasure of “hipsters.” Which is ironic considering those are the only people who bought his band’s first three records. Yes kiddies, Kings of Leon recorded music before Sex on Fire.

After barely cracking the top twenty-five on those first three hipster approved album, the band exploded with one anthemic song after another off of Only by the Night becoming the biggest band in America in the process to dismay to all the hipsters who knew them before they became beloved by frat boys, soccer moms, and pigeons everywhere.

So what do you do for a follow up? More of the same. Come Around Sundown sounds like it could have been from the same sessions that produced Only by the Night. But the problem is that the new album is cut from the same cloth as the previous one, there are no songs on Come Around Sundown as haunting as Closer, as big as Use Somebody, or sweaty as Sex on Fire.

Of course this set of songs may not have been meant to be heard solely through computer speakers but at your local amphitheatre. The pounding drums that open up the album on The End will shake fourteen thousand fans in unison. “It’s in the water, it’s where you came from,” the chorus to Radioactive begs to be chanted in stadiums across the country with a guitar opening that may even make The Edge jealous. And Pickup Truck is too good to be stuck at the end of the album where Caleb is at his most mournful. But Come Around Sundown as a whole just blends together and gets old really quick. Hopefully the band pumps new life into the songs when they come to your town.

Song to Download – Pickup Truck

Come Around Sundown gets a Terror Alert Level: Elevated [YELLOW] on my Terror Alert Scale.



Wednesday, September 29, 2010

The 100 Greatest Albums of the 00's


The College Dropout - Kanye West1. The College Dropout - Kanye West

2. A Rush of Blood to the Head - Coldplay

3. Continuum - John Mayer

4. The Rising - Bruce Springsteen

5. The Spirit Room - Michelle Branch

6. The Grey Album - Danger Mouse

7. The Lillywhite Sessions - Dave Matthews Band

8. Gold - Ryan Adams

9. Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King - Dave Matthews Band

A Rush of Blood to the Head - Coldplay10. Wreck of the Day - Anna Nalick

11. Final Straw - Snow Patrol

12. Only By the Night - Kings of Leon

13. Bible Belt - Diane Birch

14. American IV: Man Comes Around - Johnny Cash

15. I and Love and You - The Avett Brothers

16. Back to Black - Amy Winehouse

17. Heavier Things - John Mayer

18. White Ladder - David Gray

19. Hot Fuss - The Killers

Continuum - John Mayer20. Room for Squares - John Mayer

21. Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends - Coldplay

22. Plans - Death Cab for Cutie

23. Magic - Bruce Springsteen

24. All That You Can't Leave Behind - U2

25. Eye to the Telescope - KT Tunstall

26. On and On - Jack Johnson

27. Cardinology - Ryan Adams & The Cardinals

28. White Blood Cells - The White Stripes

29. Attack & Release - The Black Keys

The Rising - Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band30. The Renaissance - Q-Tip

31. Parachutes - Coldplay

32. How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb - U2

33. Late Registration - Kanye West

34. Bleed American - Jimmy Eat World

35. Alright, Still - Lily Allen

36. Musicforthemorningafter - Pete Yorn

37. As I Am - Alicia Keys

38. Songs About Jane - Maroon 5

39. Hotel Paper - Michelle Branch

The Spirit Room - Michelle Branch40. Whoa, Nelly! - Nelly Furtado

41. Tell 'Em What Your Name Is! - Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears

42. Heartbreaker - Ryan Adams

43. Get Rich or Die Tryin' - 50 Cent

44. Stand Still, Look Pretty - The Wreckers

45. The Odd Couple - Gnarls Barkley

46. Narrow Stairs - Death Cab for Cutie

47. Extraordinary Machine - Fiona Apple

48. Get Lifted - John Legend

49. A New Day at Midnight - David Gray

Gold - Ryan Adams50. Brushfire Fairytales - Jack Johnson

51. The Diary of Alicia Keys - Alicia Keys

52. Audioslave - Audioslave

53. Graduation - Kanye West

54. In Between Dreams - Jack Johnson

55. Phrenology - The Roots

56. Fearless - Taylor Swift

57. O - Damien Rice

58. Love, Save the Empty - Erin McCarley

59. Stand Up - Dave Matthews Band

Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King - Dave Matthews Band60. Songs In A Minor - Alicia Keys

61. Easy Tiger - Ryan Adams

62. The Way I See It - Raphael Saadiq

63. Room Noises - Eisley

64. Twenty Three - Tristan Prettyman

65. Songs for Silverman - Ben Folds

66. Taking the Long Way - Dixie Chicks

67. Closer - Better Than Ezra

68. Busted Stuff - Dave Matthews Band

69. Eyes Open - Snow Patrol

Wreck of the Day - Anna Nalick70. Be Not Nobody - Vanessa Carlton

71. Hello - Tristan Prettyman

72. Emotionalism - The Avett Brothers

73. Some Devil - Dave Matthews

74. Riding With the King - B.B. King & Eric Clapton

75. Game Theory - The Roots

76. Kamaal the Abstract - Q-Tip

77. St. Elsewhere - Gnarls Barkley

78. Musicology - Prince

79. To the 5 Boroughs - Beastie Boys

Final Straw - Snow Patrol80. Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga - Spoon

81. The Blueprint - Jay-Z

82. Afterglow - Sarah McLachlan

83. Stillmatic - Nas

84. Me and Mr. Johnson - Eric Clapton

85. Sleep Through the Static - Jack Johnson

86. Try! - Live In Concert - John Mayer Trio

87. Be - Common

88. This Is the Life - Amy Macdonald

89. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend

Only by the Night - Kings of Leon90. Before the Robots - Better Than Ezra

91. No Line On the Horizon - U2

92. The Fall - Norah Jones

93. Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not - Arctic Monkeys

94. Shaman - Santana

95. Rising Down - The Roots

96. Taylor Swift - Taylor Swift

97. Amanda Leigh - Mandy Moore

98. Troubadour - K'naan

99. Back to Then - Darius Rucker

100. Little Voice - Sara Bareilles

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

The Ten Most Anticipated Albums of Fall 2010


We are coming upon the fourth quarter which means record companies will actually start releasing albums in hopes that you will buy some to giveaway at Christmas. Please note that release dates are subject to change. Click the album name (or album artwork) to pre-order it on Amazon. Click the artist’s name for their iTunes page.

1. Dark Twisted Fantasy (working title) – Kanye West (11/16): He really shouldn’t be this high considering his last album was one of the worst of last decade. But this will be a return to rap, and it is hard not to get excited when the album will be headlined by two stellar tracks, Power and Runaway. I suspect there will be plenty of toasting to this douchebag this fall.

2. Speak Now - Taylor Swift (10/25): And how can you mention Kanye West without Taylor Swift? She gave us a definitive answer at the Video Music Awards to the question of if she would be addressing the Kanye incident from last year on the new album. Between Innocent and Mine, it sounds like Taylor is growing up quickly and moving further away from her country roots.

3. Wake Up!John Legend & The Roots (Today): Fall 2010 looks like the season of collaborations with Ben Folds teaming with writer Nick Hornsby, Elthon John recording with his idol Leon Russell, and Mark Ronson hooking up with, well, everyone. But the union I am most interested in is this one from The Roots and John Legend covering mostly obscure soul records.

4. Record CollectionMark Ronson & The Business Intl. (9/28): After bringing retro back in style with Amy Winehouse, Lily Allen, and his second album, Ronson has been working with Duran Duran and that comes though in a big way on this album which sounds very synth heavy. Look for appearances by Q-Tip, Ghostface Killer, Boy George, D’Angelo, and Simon LeBon himself.

5. Come Around SundownKings of Leon (10/19): After their breakout with Only by the Night it is interesting how the Followell boys will follow up the success. From the sound of first single Radioactive, it will be more of the same.

6. Hands all OverMaroon 5 (Today): After a pretty good debut album, every successive Maroon 5 album has gotten blander than the previous one. First single Misery doesn’t give me too much hope that Hands all Over will turn that around, but the album was produced by hair-band uber-producer Mutt Lange, so maybe it will be worth a listen.

7. Second Chance - El DeBarge (9/28): C’mon, who isn’t down with an El Debarge comeback? One can only be disappointed in that he didn’t bring the whole family with him.

8. Lonely Avenue – Ben Folds and Nick Hornby (9/28): Here was an album I had to do a double take when I first saw it announced. Quirky pop master Ben Folds and novelist Nick Hornby. For illiterates like me that are unaware of Hornby, his books that have been turned into movies include High Fidelity (which was number 10 on my list of The 100 Greatest Movies of the 00’s), About a Boy, and Fever Pitch (but do not blame him about the horrible adaptation because his book was actually about soccer). Hornby contributed the lyrics with Folds coming up with the music including a song about Alaska’s least favorite son Levi Johnston.

9. The Lady Killer - Cee Lo Green (12/7): I really was not interested in a Cee-Lo album that didn’t involve Danger Mouse, but after hearing the ultra-catchy (Explative Deleted) You, color me intrigued. But seriously, after this, lets get another Gnarls Barkley album out please.

10. Hot Sauce Committee part 1 - Beastie Boys (TBA): Putting this on the list may be a bit of wishful thinking because there is no release date announced yet, but with Adam Yauch doing better these days, he’s hoping he is well enough to do the rigors that surround promoting a new album.




Other albums of note:

Today
The Sound of SunshineMichael Franti and Spearhead
Guitar Heaven: The Greatest Guitar Classics of All TimeSantana
You Get What You GiveZac Brown Band
A Year Without RainSelena Gomez and the Scene

September 28
ClaptonEric Clapton
InventedJimmy Eat World
Pete YornPete Yorn
Le NoiseNeil Young
6: Commitment - Seal
The Dissent of ManBad Religion
Going BackPhil Collins

October 5
Tiger SuitKT Tunstall
GlowDonavon Frankenreiter

October 12
Charleston, SC 1966Darius Rucker
The Rock and the TideJoshua Radin
The Age of AdzSufjan Stevens

October 19
Sale el Sol - Shakira
The UnionElton John and Leon Russell
Libra ScaleNe-Yo
Fly Me to the Moon... The Great American Songbook Volume V - Rod Stewart

October 26
Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager - Kid Cudi

November 2
...Featuring Norah JonesNorah Jones
National RansomElvis Costello
DreamsNeil Diamond
SidewalksMatt and Kim

November 16
Born FreeKid Rock
LoudRihanna

November 23
Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes – Social Distortion

Unknown Dates
Songs of Ascent – U2
The Believer – Common
Walk with Me Now and Fly with Me Later – DMX
Give Till it’s Gone – Ben Harper and Relentless7
Nothing – N.E.R.D.

And what would a music preview be without an obligatory this may actually be the season that Dr. Dre releases Detox mention.