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Scissor Sisters Don't Feel Like Saying Sorry
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September 27, 2006
 How jumpy are American record retailers these days? Ask Jake Shears, lead singer for the New York retro-pop group Scissor Sisters. Because of some off-the-cuff remarks Shears made at a retailers' convention, his band's latest album, Ta-Dah, is being boycotted by the nation's largest music retail conglomerate.
For some reason, Shears was asked to speak last month at the National Association of Recording Merchandisers (NARM) convention in Kissimmee, Florida. Shears was an odd choice to address retailers, considering that Scissor Sisters have never sold many records in the U.S. (even though they've sold millions of records overseas) and haven't had a very good track record with retailers -- their self-titled debut album wasn't carried by Wal-Mart, officially because it included a track called "Tits on the Radio." Not sure what else to talk about, the flamboyant singer took the opportunity to criticize retailers in general -- and mega-chain FYE in particular -- for pricing CDs too high.
"A few months ago, I went to go buy the new Raconteurs album, and it was like $18.99," Shears later told MTV News. "Of course, I rounded it up to $20 when I made the comments, and now they're denying it. They said, 'Our records are not $20, they're $19.99.' And so now they're not carrying our new record."
Unfortunately for Shears, by singling out FYE, he incurred the wrath of its parent company, Trans World Entertainment, which also owns Sam Goody, Strawberries, Wherehouse, Specs, Coconuts and Planet Music. So you won't find Ta-Dah at any of those chains -- nearly 1,100 record stores in all.
In explaining his company's decision to pull a Ta-Dah disappearing act, Trans World President and CEO Jim Litwak was....Well, I'm trying to be fair here, but let's face it: He sounded like a whiny child.
"Mr. Shears made an incorrect statement at a convention instead of reaching out to us, to discuss our pricing," Litwak told MTV News. "We decided that it would've been nice to get an apology from them, so we reached out to their distribution company to let them know we were displeased, and we never heard back from them. So we made the decision not to carry the band's new release.
"There are thousands of new releases out there, we've just decided not to carry this one. All they had to do was pick up the phone and talk to us. But they didn't elect to do that. We were ignored, and he made those comments. So who's the injured party here?"
Mr. Litwak also noted that the Raconteurs CD is actually on sale at FYE, but explained that you have to bring the CD up to the register to find out what the sale price is. Makes sense to us. Don't all stores put an artificially high price on their product and then leave it up to the customer to figure out how much it really costs?
Shears, to his credit, isn't apologizing -- nor should he. The whole incident is really just another example of how dysfunctional the record industry is in its current state, and how out of touch retailers are with both artists and consumers.
But with Tower Records teetering on the brink of liquidation, and more consumers refusing to pay that $18.99 price tag when they can get the CD at Wal-Mart or Best Buy or iTunes for nearly half that (or...shhh...download it for free), Shears' comments touched a very raw nerve with Trans World. They and other specialty music retailers are in real danger of becoming irrelevant to the average music fan -- in fact, they may be already. So the melodramatic gesture of a boycott and Litwak's petulant remarks to MTV News are just symptoms of a much larger problem for the music industry.
By the way, the Scissor Sisters will be appearing tonight on the ABC hit dance competition Dancing With the Stars. And ironically, Wal-Mart is carrying Ta-Dah, presumably since none of the song titles have naughty words in them. So the Trans World dust-up might not hurt the band's sales as badly as it could have. Far likelier, it will do more damage to image of music retailers like FYE than it will to the Scissor Sisters' career.
Oh and Jake -- if you're reading this, we've got the Raconteurs CD in our online store for only $11.99. Plus shipping. And yes, we're carrying Ta-Dah, too.
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The Tuesday Roundup: New Releases 09.26.06
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September 26, 2006
Luda's Money Maker
 With all the media hype surrounding the new Janet Jackson album -- will it be a Mariah-like comeback? will it be a pre-Mimi Mariah-like disaster? -- it's easy to forget that the real blockbuster album this week comes from Chris "Ludacris" Bridges, the latest in a growing list of famously funny, profane rappers making a bid for artistic credibility, first with a very savvy move into acting and now with his first-ever "serious" album, Release Therapy. Despite the portentous title and all the pre-release talk of the disc's furrowed-brow subject matter -- politics! child abuse! prison time! -- the disc is making its first big splash with "Moneymaker," a typical Ludacris party rap with a Neptunes beat and a hootchie-heavy video. So will all the talk of gettin' serious scare away fans? Nah -- it'll just make them feel better about themselves as they crank up "Moneymaker" and its likely followup, "Girls Gone Wild." Prediction: 350,000 copies.
Other Big Titles: Jackson vs. Jackson
- Janet Jackson, 20 Y.O.. The safe bet is that it will be neither the dud that was Damita Jo nor the commercial juggernaut that was All For You, but somewhere in between. The furor over the Super Breast incident distracted people from the reality that Damita Jo just wasn't a very good record. 20 Y.O. is no classic, either, but it's a competent return to Janet's strengths -- sexy dance-pop and fluffy R&B ballads. It'll do just fine. Prediction: 190,000 copies.
- Alan Jackson, Like Red on a Rose. Coming quickly on the heels of his gospel record, Precious Memories, which sold over 100,000 copies in its first week back in February, this set is a bit of a toss-up -- the presence of producer Alison Krauss will lure in some new fans from the bluegrass camp, but might scare away equally large number of country traditionalists. Prediction: 125,000 copies.
- Tony Bennett, Duets: An American Classic. America's favorite survivor from the golden age of crooners should get a little sales boost from the who's who of celebrity guests he sings with here: everyone from the obvious (Michael Buble, Diana Krall) to the intriguing (Sting, k.d. lang) to the just plain wacky (George Michael?) shows up to help Tony sing 18 standards. Target alone, which is selling an exclusive version, with additional bonus tracks, should move at least 10,000 units this week. Prediction: 40,000 copies (assuming Soundscan picks up those Target sales).
- Mario Vazquez, Mario Vazquez. I know you've all been dying to see if this kid's decision to drop out of American Idol would pay off. Well, this is the week we finally get to find out. His lead single "Gallery" has been getting some radio play, so his debut album won't tank, but no way will it move Idol-like numbers. Prediction: 25,000 copies.
Pick o' the Week
 Scissor Sisters, Ta-Dah. If you're reading this from the UK -- do I have UK readers? let's be optimistic and say yes -- you're probably wondering why I'm wasting this week's pick on such a popular band. In Britain, this New York retro-pop outfit has the #1 single and album in the country -- but here in their native land, they still can't get arrested. Why, when nearly every track on this album is radio-friendly? The same reason Madonna can't get her new album on the radio in this country -- programmers consider it too "disco" and refuse to play it. These are the same programmers, by the way, who happily break out the Village People and Sister Sledge every weekend for cheesy "disco hours" -- but god forbid they ever play anything made after 1983 that resembles the sound.
Ta-Dah, for the record, is not a disco album, though there are certainly shades of the Bee Gees on songs like lead single "I Don't Feel Like Dancing." Elsewhere, the Sisters shuffle through '70s pop influences ranging from their other favorite touchstone, Elton John (who actually lends a few piano licks here), to Blondie, Queen and even a little Pink Floyd. It's an irresistibly fun record, the more so because it does sound like it came out of a time capsule from an era when pop radio wasn't so bloodless.
The Best of the Rest
- Jerry Lee Lewis, Last Man Standing. The man who gave the world "Breathless" and "Great Balls o' Fire" has neither the major label backing nor the recent track record of Tony Bennett, which is too bad, because his "duets" album kicks Tony's ass. Lewis, now in his seventies, proves that he's still "The Killer" with a set of boogie-woogie rockers and twangy barroom ballads that he performs with such gusto, he actually overshadows his guests on their own songs. Bruce Springsteen happily settles into the back seat of "Pink Cadillac," Jimmy Page tries to keep up as Led Zeppelin's "Rock 'n' Roll" gets an extreme rockabilly makeover -- even John Fogerty sounds a little blown away as Jerry Lee rips through Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Travelin' Band." This is a comeback album for the ages.
- Teddybears, Soft Machine. The work of a bunch of Swedish knob-twiddlers obsessed with British big beat and Jamaican dancehall, this album sounds a bit dated because it is -- many of these tracks, including lead single "Cobrastyle," have been kicking around for years, as the band awaited a U.S. record deal. So yes, this style of party electronica probably peaked a good five years ago when Fat Boy Slim and Groove Armada were at the top of their game. But instead of sounding like a bad hangover, this is more like the sound of waking after a really great party with all the drugs you did last night still buzzing around your system.
- Sparklehorse, Dreamt for Light Years in the Belly of a Mountain. Mark Linkous continues to explore some of the more interesting intersections between folk-rock and psychedelia -- and the 10-minute instrumental title track has to win the award for Year's Best Stoner Outro. Even sober listeners will be sprawled on the floor by the end of it.
- The Changes, Today is Tonight. There's nothing fancy about this Chicago quartet -- they just make catchy, well-crafted pop-rock that's probably too smart for the pop-punk masses and too big-hearted for the jaded hipsters. But who knows? Maybe I'm the one who's jaded and they'll restore my faith in humanity by selling a million records.
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Playlist: Ragged Rock Glory
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September 25, 2006
I'm usually the first kid on the block to embrace whatever new trend in electronic music (or "electronica," as it's still unfortunately called) comes down the pike, but I still tend to like my rock raw and ragged, the way nature intended it. Here are five new tracks from bands that are keeping it lo-fi and high-energy.
1. The Whigs, "Technology." This trio hails from Athens, Georgia -- not a bad hometown for a ragged indie rock outfit, considering it's the one that gave the world R.E.M. and the Drive-By Truckers. They can sound as raw at the Replacements or as epic as My Morning Jacket, but this punchy little number finds them in Big Star mode.
2. The Kooks, "Eddie's Gun." Have the critics coined a term for the latest wave of Brit-rock bands that take the so-called "angular" sound of Franz Ferdinand and Bloc Party and serrate all the clean, sharp edges with loads of punk rock abandon? No? Great. Let's just call it cool new shit and leave it at that. The Futureheads, Rakes and Arctic Monkeys started it, and these guys add a nice little touch of Brit-pop bounce to the proceedings.
3. The Long Winters, "Pushover." The best way I can describe Winters frontman John Roderick is to say he's a cross between Matthew Sweet and Michael Stipe. And yes, he deserves those comparisons. This isn't the best song of their latest album by a long shot, and it's still great.
4. Built to Spill, "Liar." "Indie rock guitar god" sounds like a contradiction in terms, but Doug Martsch fits the bill. Here, he flashes some unexpected Peter Buck influences. Hm, this list is turning into "bands that sound sorta like R.E.M.," isn't it? Well, there are worse bands to name-check constantly.
5. Paul Westerberg, "Love You in the Fall." Of course, Westerberg is the godfather of ragged indie rock. Weirdly, his latest album is also the soundtrack to a new animated film called Open Season, about a bunch of woodland creatures who fight back against hunters. Shades of John Hiatt's embarrassing Country Bears soundtrack? Nope, it's actually some of the best stuff he's done in years. And yes, it's still pretty ragged. And catchy as all get-out.
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Rockstar: Supernova -- Part Deux
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September 21, 2006
 Last week I wrote a long rant about the absurdity of this season's Rockstar and its prefab band, Supernova. I also gloated over the fact that a little-known band from Orange County, California, also called Supernova, just won a legal case asserting their rights to the name. I even did the public service of suggesting a few choice variations on the Supernova name that the Rockstar band might consider using, including "Superjoke" and "Supercrap," which I still think are pretty great band names. (I considered suggesting "Supersuck," but I figured that might land the hapless Tommy Lee and cohorts in hot water with the Supersuckers.
Well, today, it was announced that the latest spawn of CBS's hit reality TV show -- which also gave the world INXS - version 2.0 -- will officially be called...wait for it... Rock Star Supernova. Brilliant! The band now has a name as clumsy and self-aggrandizing as its music -- at least based on we've heard so far. The final verdict will come on November 21st, when Epic Records releases the band's debut album. I hope I can survive two whole months without making fun of, um...can we be really hip and just call them RSS?
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Keith Richards on Drugs
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September 20, 2006
 I find something oddly comforting in the slow, inexorable transformation our most beloved rock 'n' roll idols into a bunch of cantankerous old farts, pining for the good old days. Maybe it's because my grandparents all died when I was very young; it's like I've found a new set of grandpas in the pages of my favorite music magazines. First, it was Bob Dylan, railing against the "atrocious" technology that hamstrings all modern recorded music, and longing for the days when Brian Wilson could record his symphonic pop on a four-track. Now it's Keith Richards, explaining that he's only stopped taking drugs because they all suck now, and reminiscing fondly about the drugs of yore that worked "just through the blood stream."
Here's Keith sharing his hard-earned theories of pharmacology in an interview in Q Magazine: "I think the quality's gone down. All they do is try and take the high out of everything.... I don't like the way drugs now are working on your brain area instead of just through the blood stream. That's why I don't take any of them anymore."
This is normally the part where I insert a snarky comment, but words fail me.
By the way, Keith does make exceptions to his new "just say no" policy when there are compelling medical reasons to do so. For example, he did take morphine for a few weeks following his now-legendary fall from a Fijian coconut tree. "I did try to squeeze a little bit more out of the night nurse," Keith told Q. "She was very accommodating."
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The Tuesday Roundup: New Releases 09.19.06
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September 19, 2006
Cha-Chingy!
 By my count, there are at least three new albums out this week that could all make a run for the top debut spot (though none of them has a snowball's chance of outselling Justin Timberlake's FutureSex/LoveSounds, which will probably stay at #1 for a second week) [Follow-up note: At least I got this part right.]. It'll be close, but I think this week's hot new item, by a nose, will be Chingy's Hoodstar. Chingy is one of those rappers who's so uninteresting, it's easy to forget that he actually has a huge following. His last album lacked a big hit and still went platinum. This time around, he already has a #1 hit with "Pullin' Me Back," and a followup, "Dem Jeans," that looks like it might do just as well. Prediction: 180,000 copies. [Actual sales: 70,000 copies -- not quite a flop, but pretty disappointing for the guy with the #1 rap song in the country.]
Other Movers and Shakers
- Clay Aiken, A Thousand Different Ways. Never underestimate the popularity of American Idol's pipsqueak runner-up. Two years ago this guy sold 270,000 copies of a friggin' Christmas album in a single week. Not even Trans-Siberian Orchestra sells that many Christmas albums. His popularity may have waned a little since then, but not by much. Prediction: 175,000 copies. [Actual sales: 205,000 copies. Even after saying "don't underestimate this guy," I went ahead and underestimated him. You can't help it -- Clay Aiken is just so...underestimatable.]
- Fergie, The Dutchess. Yeah, "London Bridge" is a smash hit, and yeah, everyone loves the Black Eyed Peas. But the jury's still out on whether fans will embrace Fergie as a solo artist -- you can't build your whole career around being the "My Humps" girl, although "London Bridge" was a pretty savvy attempt to do just that. Prediction: 165,000 copies, followed by a very steep drop-off when people hear the rest of the album, which is a mess. [Actual sales: 142,000. The negative word-of-mouth might be spreading even faster than I expected.]
- Elton John, The Captain and the Kid. Elton John and Bernie Taupin apparently saw how popular the Scissor Sisters got by sounding like early '70s Elton John and decided to try the same thing. Funny thing is, it worked; this disc, a "sequel" to John's 1975 classic Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy, is his best record in years. I'm not sure how much word of that has reached his fans, but I'm pretty sure it will outsell 2004's lackluster Peachtree Road. Prediction: 110,000 copies. [Actual sales: 37,000. I really don't know how to explain this one. Peachtree Road sold nearly twice that figure in its first week. Maybe tepid lead single "The Bridge" just didn't inspire fans to check out the album.]
- New Found Glory, Coming Home. For some reason NFG have been getting almost no media attention or airplay, but those pop-punk/emo fans are more loyal than people give them credit for -- witness the long-lost Dashboard Confessional's triumphant return earlier this year. And this album, like Dashboard's Dusk and Summer, manages a more mature version of the band's sound that should keep those aging fans from jumping ship. Prediction: 100,000 copies. [Actual sales: 31,000. Where oh where is the loyalty?]
- Jesse McCartney, Right Where You Want Me. I think in the long run this album will fall far short of Beautiful Soul, McCartney's platinum-selling debut -- bland, inoffensive male pop stars are thick on the ground these days and this tow-headed kid brings nothing new to the table. However, fans of bland, inoffensive male pop stars are perhaps the most rabid variety known to science, so their first-week buying frenzy will be enough to propel this disc to some impressive sales levels. Prediction: 75,000 copies. [Actual sales: 52,000. I guess everyone's still out buying John Mayer's new album, which moved another 133,000 units this week.]
- Diana Krall, From This Moment On. In the jazz world, the critics still actually hold some sway, and early critical buzz on this album is overwhelmingly positive. Prediction: 65,000 copies. [Actual sales: 85,000 copies.]
- Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Thug Stories. Rap acts don't age well, but this hardcore Midwest group might be ready for a comeback -- especially with Krayzie Bone's high-profile guest rap on Chamillionaire's hit "Ridin'" and the recent success of another old-school group, Three 6 Mafia, paving the way. Plus, they're the #30 artist on our site -- so somebody out there must still care about them. Prediction: 60,000 copies. [Actual sales: 26,000. Guess they're not quite ready for that comeback.]
- Lupe Fiasco, Food and Liquor. The hip-hop cognoscenti have been championing this Chicago rapper for more than a year, so naturally hip-hop radio has completely ignored him. Still, someone must be listening -- the guy's got 250,000 MySpace friends. The busy sales week will hurt him a little, but not much -- after all, most fans of Chingy and Bone Thugs wouldn't like Lupe's smart, soulful brand of backpacker rap, anyway. Prediction: 45,000. [Actual sales: 58,000. The fact that this album did better than I expected -- or, to be fair, most people could've expected -- while Chingy sorta tanked, actually gives me some hope for the future of hip-hop.]
Flop o' the Week
- Natalie, Everything New. Remember last summer when this ex-Houston Rockets cheerleader had a monster hit called "Goin' Crazy"? How quickly they forget. The first singles from her new album have gained no traction at all, and the Shakira makeover -- blonde hair? faux-primitive leather wrist bands? -- can't possibly help, either, especially since her sound is still treacly, soft R&B. Prediction: 10,000 copies. [Actual sales: The album failed to chart, which probably means it sold less than 4,000 copies. Ouch.]
Oddity o' the Week
- DJ Shadow, The Outsider. The king of underground, instrumental hip-hop DJ/producers throws a serious change-up on this one -- or maybe it's a big ol' slimy spitball. Most of Shadow's latest album features radio-friendly rap tracks with lots of well-known guests on the mic, including E-40, David Banner, and Q-Tip. And most of those tracks are in the Bay Area party rap style known as hyphy, which is sort of like a caffeinated, goofier version of crunk. I have absolutely no idea if anyone is going to embrace Shadow's version of a mainstream hip-hop record -- especially since a sizable chunk of the record is given over to stuff that sounds more like the ambient/electronic stuff he did with James Lavelle's UNKLE project. My guess is that critics, terrified of looking stuffy or out-of-touch, will hail it as the work of an unpredictable genius -- but most of Shadow's fans will despise it, radio will ignore it, and the hyphy crowd will shrug and go back to their E-40 records.
Pick o' the Week
 The Whigs, Give 'Em All a Big Fat Lip. I still don't care for Dave Matthews' music, but damn if the man can't run a good record label. Thanks to his ATO Records, the debut album from this Athens, Georgia trio finally gets a major-label release, and it's sure to turn some heads with its ragged, jubilant mix of Big Star-inflected power pop and jammy Southern rock. They get a lot of comparisons to labelmates My Morning Jacket, and rightly so -- they're not quite stylistic kin, but they're well on their way to being just as good.
The Best of the Rest
- Howie Beck, Howie Beck. This Canadian singer-songwriter's second album has been available as an import for nearly two years, but finally gets a U.S. release this week courtesy of Ever Records. It's full of hushed, impeccably crafted folk-pop, reminiscent of follow Canadian solo artist Feist (who makes a guest appearance) and fellow '70s-inspired singer-songwriters like Josh Rouse.
- Mosquitos, Mosquitos III. Chris Root's nasally wisp of a voice is starting to wear out its welcome, but he and Mosquito-mates Juju Stulbach and Jon Marshall Smith still cook up a pretty adorable blend of Brazilian samba grooves and American indie pop.
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Playlist: Party Tunes
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September 18, 2006
I started off this week doing a themeless playlist, but at some point I realized that every track I was picking would sound fun at a party. Maybe this is some subliminal way of telling myself I need to get out more? Anyway, I don't know what kind of party you would actually hear all these songs at, but I bet it'd be a good one.
1. Beck, "Nausea." The new Beck sounds a lot like the old Beck -- like old, old Mellow Gold-era Beck. So how come it still sounds fresher than nearly anything else out there? Beck's weirdly infectious, mutant blues/funk/kitchen-sink jams just never cease to amaze me.
2. Lupe Fiasco, "I Gotcha." This Chicago rapper's album doesn't quite live up to the hype -- his rhymes are too prone to rambling, and the production is uneven -- but when he's got a good beat behind him, he's unstoppable. And here, thanks to the Neptunes, he gets one of the best beats you'll hear all year. Watch out, Kanye.
3. Ben Watt feat. Baby Blak, "Attack Attack Attack." I usually can't stand it when people try to mix rap and house music, but for some reason the combination really clicks on this track from Ben Watt (of Everything But the Girl fame) and Baby Blak (of...um, actually I don't know anything about him).
4. Jerry Lee Lewis & Bruce Springsteen, "Pink Cadillac." The Killer meets The Boss -- how can it not work? Springsteen wrote this as a B-side during his Born in the U.S.A. period, but after hearing this version you'd swear it was a Jerry Lee song all along. Goodness gracious!
5. The Doors vs. Blondie, "Rapture Riders." Ah, the mash-up. Will we look back on it twenty years from now and laugh the way we laugh at fade haircuts and parachute pants? Probably, but the best ones sure are fun -- like this one, which works so well it's almost unsettling. Jim Morrison and Debbie Harry -- kindred spirits. Who knew?
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Show Review: The Black Keys
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September 15, 2006
 There's something weird, wonderful and a little time-warpy about going to a Black Keys concert -- especially now, when the band has a big enough following to sell out the 1,400-capacity Hollywood Avalon. Yes, there are other bands out there playing retro-sounding blues-rock, but none quite so drastically primitive as the Keys. Armed with only a drum kit, a guitar, one microphone and a few effects pedals, Patrick Carney and Dan Auerbach pump out such a dense, grimy wall of sound it's hard to get over the fact that it's just two guys up there. They don't even have a guitar tech -- Auerbach tunes his own strings between songs. Their new label, Nonesuch, must love them -- by today's standards, their tour support costs are probably tiny.
Musically, the Keys can be a little limited -- which is perhaps understandable given their bare-bones approach. Still, I kept wishing during their Avalon set for more moments that were either slow and sublime, like "You're the One" off their new album Magic Potion, or fast and furious, like their barn-burning cover of The Sonics' "Have Love Will Travel," which they played as their finale. Most of the time, Carney and Auerbach lock into a swampy, stompy, midtempo groove that's equal parts Zeppelin, Hendrix and Muddy Waters. It's a great groove, and they ride it brilliantly, and it's probably missing the point of the Keys to say that you wish they'd venture away from it more often, and play outside their comfort zone a bit. But there, I just said it.
Still, I hope that whatever this amazing duo decides to do next, they stick to their lo-fi guns, avoiding any temptation to open things up with a flurry of additional instruments or guest musicians or modern technological embellishments. From what Carney told our man Adam McKibbin in an interview we just posted today, it sounds like they plan on doing just that. Good for them. The Black Keys is one of those bands I'm happy just exists. I like throwing on their records to cleanse my palette after I've listened to too much high-tech, overproduced music -- in other words, nearly everything else that's out there these days.
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Rockstar: Supernova -- Done and Done!
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September 14, 2006
 Score one for the little guy! No, not Lukas Rossi, the squirrelly little Canadian fashion victim who won the dubious honor of fronting the Tommy Lee/Gilby Clarke/Jason Newsted rock band that's the product of this year's season of CBS's Rockstar. I'm talking about the band Supernova -- and no, not that Supernova, the other Supernova: a veteran California punk/novelty band that yesterday, the same day as the Rockstar finale, won an injunction against Tommy Lee and co. preventing them from using the Supernova name. It's already taken, suckers! Pick another one! I hear "Superjoke" is available. Or how about "Supercrap"? Supercrap has a nice ring to it.
As you can probably tell, news of the court's decision to uphold the rights of an obscure punk band from Orange County cheers me up immensely. And it's not just because I always like to see somebody sticking it to the likes of CBS, Mark Burnett and Tommy Lee. It's also because I find the very concept of the show Rockstar to be personally offensive.
I can't say I watched every minute of every episode, because watching Rockstar made me want to gouge my eyes out. But I can say that every time I did tune in, what I saw was the musical equivalent of elder abuse. Contestant after contestant got up there, took a wonderful old rock 'n' roll chestnut like "Psycho Killer" or "Bittersweet Symphony" -- or even "White Wedding," for God's sake, which suddenly seems sublime when compared to Toby Rand's ridiculous rendition -- and gleefully proceeded to piss all over it with the most canned, calculated, forced histrionics imaginable. Nothing any of them ever did -- not one strangled note, not one hip thrust, not one stage dive -- had about it the faintest shred of understanding or respect for the song they were (supposedly) singing. Each performance was just a pure display of "look how cool I am" ego.
So what Rockstar ultimately boiled down to was a bunch of careerist hacks miming their way through a hollow imitation of rock 'n' roll swagger for a bunch of other careerist hacks. Not that I believe Tommy or Jason or Gilby or the mascara-encrusted host Dave Navarro started out as hacks, but that's clearly what they've become at this point. None of these guys seems to feel a whole lotta love for the music anymore, but they clearly feel a great deal of love for themselves and their careers -- and the contestants eagerly reflected that self-absorbed attitude right back at them.
So I think it's fantastic that "the boys" -- as everyone carefully called the band throughout the season finale, avoiding the word "Supernova" -- lost the rights to their name at the hands of three average joes who've been playing crappy little clubs off and on for 17 years and whose biggest claim to fame is a song called "Chewbacca" that was used in the Kevin Smith film Clerks. It's not just a case of "score one for the little guy" -- it's score one for authentic, old-fashioned rock 'n' roll, the kind that's fueled by actual passion, not the prepackaged pseudo-passion that was on crass display on Rockstar.
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The Tuesday Roundup: New Releases 09.12.06
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September 12, 2006
Another Week, Another Pop Diva
 Yes, I know I used the same "Pop Diva" headline last week in talking about Beyonce, but let's face it: Pop divas don't come much bigger than Justin Timberlake, who has just the right combination of talent, ego and audacity to reach Michael Jackson-like heights of popularity. And he seems down-to-earth enough to avoid pairing that with MJ-like levels of nuttiness (recent comments about the mildly addictive properties of heroin notwithstanding). Even in this outrageously crowded release week and these times of depressed album sales, FutureSex/LoveSounds (nice OutKast nod in that title, by the way) should easily move around 550,000 copies in its first week and go on to match Justified's multi-platinum success. [Actual sales: 684,000. Which is about as close as I came to predicting anything accurately this week.]
Others Pretty Faces in the Crowd
The rest of this week is sort of a crap shoot -- there are so many middle-tier releases it's next to impossible to sort them out and predict what will do well and what will get lost in the crowd. My best guess is that acts with faithful, well-established followings will do well -- newcomers and acts reliant on the occasional hit single will stumble, sometimes badly.
- Lionel Richie, Coming Home. Bob Dylan's surprise #1 debut two weeks ago owed a lot to Starbucks and iTunes, but it also reminded us that in this brave new digital era, veteran acts benefit from having old-fashioned audiences who still go out and actually buy the album. That, and a song that hit #1 on adult R&B radio, will help make Richie's latest another surprise smash. Prediction: 210,000 copies. [Actual sales: 75,000, which means New Found Glory will likely win the Coming Home sweepstakes.]
- John Mayer, Continuum. It's been three years since Mayer took a break from his sensitive singer-songwriter roots and went off on a blues bender. How much of his fan base did he scare away in the interim? My hunch: None of it. When Jessica Simpson has to make up rumors about you to boost her career, you know you're a hot ticket. Prediction: 130,000 copies. [Actual sales: 300,000. Maybe that blues detour actually won him more fans.]
- The Mars Volta, Amputechture. Never underestimate the power of pretentious noise-rock to inspire a rabidly loyal fan base. The Volta's last album sold over 120,000 in its week, and pre-release buzz among fans suggests that they might actually like this album better. Prediction: 125,000 copies. [Actual sales: 59,000, less than half the sales of their previous disc, Francis the Mute. So much for that rabidly loyal fan base.]
- Papa Roach, The Paramour Sessions. Isn't nu-metal dead yet? Unfortunately, no. Prediction: 55,000 copies. [Actual sales: 37,000. My faith in humanity is slightly restored.]
- Daz, So So Gangsta. He's dropped the Dillinger last name (since classic gangster/bank-robber names have fallen out of fashion in the hip-hop world) and signed to Jermaine Dupri's So So Def label. Will anyone start caring about Snoop's cousin again as a result? My guess is: Not really. Then again, he does have Rick Ross guesting on his first single, and I've learned not to bet against that guy. Prediction: 40,000 copies. [Actual sales: 23,000.]
- Bob Seger, Face the Promise. You would think Mr. "Like a Rock" would benefit from the same old-fogey factor that made Dylan such a hit, but he doesn't have a recent track record (this is his first album in 11 years) and the lack of buzz on this record has been deafening. There are fans on the album's Amazon.com page asking other fans if it's a new release or just another compilation. That's a really bad sign. Prediction: 40,000 copies. [Actual sales: 151,000. Can you say: Holy crap! I think Seger just forced a premature end to my career as a music biz prognosticator. No, not really. I'm too proud to quit now. Just like Seger. In fact, you might say I'm like a...]
Sleepers and Creepers
I can't even begin to guess how many copies these albums will sell in their first week -- probably not many (30,000 or less), but all have a very good chance of creeping up the charts and becoming surprise hits in the weeks ahead.
- Madeleine Peyroux, Half the Perfect World. Peyroux's low-key, sophisticated jazz/pop/Americana sound is tailor-made for the Starbucks/Barnes & Noble crowd, and this is easily her best set of songs to date. It'll slowly but surely sell about a bazillion copies, at least until Norah Jones puts out her next record.
- TV on the Radio, Return to Cookie Mountain. To judge from all the industry hype surrounding this band, you would think they'll outsell Justin Timberlake. The reality is that TVOTR is still a cult band, but that should start to change with this album, which is just as weird as their first, but less self-consciously so. And "Wolf Like Me" should finally get them some long-overdue radio play, or at least a spot on some car commercial.
- Barenaked Ladies, Barenaked Ladies Are Me. Because it's their first album since going the indie route (it's not on Warner/Reprise -- our site's wrong), a lot of American BNL fans probably haven't even heard yet that there's a new album. Once they get word of it, they'll start buying it -- and BLAM will linger on the charts for a long time as a result. [Note: This is the one album in this group that went against my prediction that they'd all sell less than 30,000 -- it actually sold 37,000, much to the credit of loyal BNL fans who clearly helped get the word out. Oh, and I'm sure the fact that ARTISTdirect featured the Ladies on the homepage last month helped, too. In fact, we'll just take credit for that extra 7,000, thanks.]
- Los Lobos, The Town and the City. I still haven't heard it yet myself (thanks, Hollywood Records -- we hate you, too), but the advance reviews on these critics' darlings are even more glowing than usual, with many hailing it as their best since 1992's Kiko. Assuming that's true, it should put the Lobos back on the map.
- Governor, Son of Pain. Usually when I like an R&B album, that means it'll tank. But Governor Washington has the advantage of being on T.I.'s Grand Hustle imprint, so he should get some mainstream attention despite his obvious old-school, unhip tendencies. He's really good -- like Anthony Hamilton-level good -- and has a bona fide hit lurking on this album in the form of a Scott Storch-produced slow burner called "Destiny." So this album will bubble up eventually -- just not this week.
- Mastodon, Blood Mountain. Remember what I said earlier about never underestimating the power of pretentious noise-rock? Well, the same holds true for pretentious sludge-metal, and these cult heroes finally have the major label backing to take their latest proggy concept album to the next level.
Pick o' the Week
 Los Abandoned, Mix Tape. Apparently I'm a sucker for Spanglish acts -- last week it was Kinky, this week it's this fun-lovin' four-piece from right here in LA. Despite their name and the occasional lyrics sung in Spanish, this band's sound is straight-up, all-American pop-rock, with plenty of big hooks, raucous choruses and sunshine harmonies. Their best songs, like "Van Nuys" (as in "Van Nuys/is very nice"), are pure bubblegum, but since so few bands do bubblegum well these days, it's a pleasure to hear one that can.
The Best of the Rest?
Amazingly, despite the flood of new releases this week -- or maybe because of it -- very few titles really jumped out at me as exceptional. I'm a big fan of the new Madeleine Peyroux album, but among the more under-the-radar releases, only Los Abandoned and these really caught my ear:
- The Black Keys, Magic Potion. This Ohio two-piece blues/garage-rock combo keeps graduating to bigger labels -- they're now on Nonesuch, home to Wilco and Joni Mitchell -- and yet their sound keeps getting more compressed, sparse and claustrophobic. This album has weaker songwriting than their last release, Rubber Factory, but its clenched-jaw, stripped-down blues grab you by the collar and don't let go.
- Swollen Members, Black Magic. More magic! Go ahead and crack your Canadian hip-hop jokes, but these guys have the beats and the rhymes to hold their own with any American rap group.
- Brazilian Girls, Talk to La Bomb. It lacks the consistency of their outstanding debut, but there's still plenty to like about this category-defying New York group's sophomore album. If nothing else, they get points for taking risks and injecting more noise and politics into their smooth-groove pop/house/jazz/dub sound.
- Tally Hall, Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum. This record's actually been out for almost a year, but in the wake of Tally Hall's buzz-building inclusion on The OC and The Real World soundtracks, it's being reissued. It's still too clever for its own good, but there's a lot of great, Beatlesque pop to be found here. Plus, my girlfriend digs it.
- The Album Leaf, Into the Blue Again. Jimmy LaValle really has no business either writing lyrics or singing them, but apart from that, he continues to be one of the world's best producers of instrumental, ambient post-rock. And the instrumentals here are as good as anything he's ever done.
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Playlist: The Great Flood of Sept. 12
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September 11, 2006
Well, kids, tomorrow's the big day. By my count, there are over 50 artists releasing new albums on September 12 -- and I'm sure I'm missing a few. It's the most ridiculous torrent of new product to hit record store shelves on a single day in years. So as a public service, here are five choice selections plucked from this week's bumper crop. I'm sure more will emerge in the weeks ahead as I sift through this pile on my desk.
1. Madeleine Peyroux, "I'm All Right." I'm a sucker for happy songs about unhappy subjects, and this breezy little number fits the bill. "I'm all right," Madeleine croons as she reminisces fondly about what a pain in the ass her ex-lover was. "I've been lonely before." Haven't we all, Madeleine -- haven't we all.
2. Yo La Tengo, "Beanbag Chair." YLT are usually a little too weird for my taste, but this bouncy, harmony-drenched song is hard to resist, and the quirky bits make the poppier bits sound all the sweeter.
3. The Black Keys, "Your Touch." I love how these guys actually seem to get more lo-fi with each passing album. This isn't so much garage rock as musty, dirt-floor basement rock, recorded under a single, naked 60-watt bulb that sways gently with each drum kick.
4. Brazilian Girls, "Jique." Another weird song, with a big, glorious chorus about Sundays being okay -- perfect timing for the start of NFL football! Though I'm guessing that's not what they had in mind. And what the hell's a "Jique," you might ask? Hell if I know, but from the way they chant it, I bet it's something naughty.
5. TV on the Radio, "Wolf Like Me." As my colleague Doug Kamin put it, this song will get you a speeding ticket. It's a rare accomplishment when a band can write a catchy, relentless rock anthem without abandoning their core sound, but these New York post-modern rockers pull it off.
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OK Go, Going, Going... Gone?
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September 8, 2006
 It's fitting that OK Go's latest low-budget, one-take video has them dancing on treadmills. The band has been stuck on a career treadmill ever since the release of their sophomore album, Oh No, almost exactly one year ago, gaining a massive following for their ingenious videos but very little new audience for their music.
This week the band's label, Capitol Records, issued a press release triumphantly declaring, "Sales of Oh No have increased 1700% over the past five weeks." But as a wise man once said, 98% of all percentage-based statistics are meaningless. The reality is that Oh, No sold a paltry 8,250 copies last week, raising its total sales to 64,000 for the past 52 weeks. And this was after a week in which the band made appearances on the MTV Video Music Awards and The Late Show With David Letterman. That treadmill video -- "Here It Goes Again" -- has been viewed seven million times on YouTube alone. And their previous dance-dork video, "A Million Ways," is reportedly the most downloaded music video in history. So why aren't more people buying the band's music?
Here's one thought: Maybe it's because the music isn't as good as the choreography. I for one am not an OK Go fan -- their spiky pop-rock is catchy but colorless, with none of the inspired silliness or energy of their videos. In fact, the music has so little to do with those brilliant dance routines that the little bespectacled guy lip-syncing the lead vocal isn't even the band's singer. That little guy is Tim Nordwind, the bassist; the lead singer is Damian Kulash, the tall guy fiddling with the remote control at the beginning of the "Here It Goes Again" video. It's Kulash's sister who does all the choreography -- and curiously, she's always referred to that way, as the sister, never by her actual name, as if the band is afraid they'll disappear the minute she starts getting the recognition she deserves.
Who knows, maybe by the time you read this, Oh No will have skyrocketed into Billboard's Top 40 albums. It's currently the #5 album on iTunes, which is a promising sign. And this week the band went from appearances on Letterman and MTV to appearances on Conan O'Brien and The Colbert Report, which have smaller audiences but maybe ones better-suited to the band's indie rock sound.
But my guess is that OK Go will maybe get as far as the 100,000 sales mark and then quietly go away again -- at least until their next video, which will probably feature synchronized swimming or pogo sticks or some other YouTube-friendly gimmick. Because for all the buzz surrounding OK Go about the powers of viral marketing and the growing popularity of amateurish, low-budget videos, all the marketing and videos in the world -- "viral" or otherwise -- won't sell records if the music's not that good.
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Paris! Paris! Paris!
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September 7, 2006
 Nobody knows better than Paris Hilton that there's no such thing as bad publicity. Still, I don't think she planned on the torrent of media attention she's garnered this week -- which has been excessive even by her outlandish standards.
Latest and most humiliating, of course, was the DUI she received last night. Her publicists are already spinning the incident like crazy, insisting that she was on her way home from a "charity event," that she had "one drink on an empty stomach after a full day's work" shooting a new music video, and that she booked on "the absolute minimum amount of alcohol in your system that would justify an arrest." They were also sure to mention that the one drink was a margarita. A margarita! Who hasn't knocked back a margarita after a hard day's work?
Then, earlier this week, there was the heiress' less widely reported but no less salacious hookup with former blink-182 drummer Travis Barker. Barker was just recently part of a rash of MTV reality show breakups -- he and former Miss USA Shanna Moakler, who put their marriage on the small screen for MTV's Meet the Barkers, parted ways a month ago. Paris, for her part, was about three weeks into a one-year vow of celibacy. Between the two of them, the pent-up sexual energy was apparently too much to resist. According to witnesses, the pair was "groping and grinding with their clothes on" within hours of meeting. Of course, given that most of the reports had the couple hooking up at Los Angeles' Pure Nightclub, when Pure is actually in Las Vegas, we're sure that every dirty detail, including the one that the couple had intercourse, is absolutely 100% true. (Okay, fine, they probably did, but who knows? Maybe they passed out from too many margaritas before they could get past all the public groping and grinding. These things happen.)
 But my favorite Paris Hilton story of the week has to be the amazing prank pulled on her by Banksy and Danger Mouse, who replaced hundreds of copies of her album at stores with parody versions. Banksy, a self-described "art terrorist" best-known for sneaking his own artworks into big museums like New York's Met and London's Tate Gallery, supposedly met Danger Mouse -- one-half of the duo Gnarls Barkley -- while shopping for disguises at a joke shop. And if you believe that, it probably took you awhile to figure out that the copy of Paris Hilton's album you picked up last week wasn't the real thing. Because song titles like "Why Am I Famous?" and album artwork featuring lines like "90% of success is just showing up" and my personal favorite, "Every CD you buy puts me even further out of your league," just weren't enough to tip you off.
Why would two highly acclaimed figures in their own right gang up on a pop culture punchline like Paris? Maybe it was Danger's way of exacting a little revenge for Paris' threat to record a cover version (shudder) of Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy." (Listen to her massacre of Rod Stewart's "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?" for a hint of how that would've turned out.) Or maybe they just decided to use Paris as an example of how our consumer culture has made it possible to package mere notoriety as if it were actual talent.
But hey, why don't you decide for yourself? Go listen to Banksy and Danger Mouse's version of Paris -- now available under their official moniker, Underground Animals -- right here on ARTISTdirect! (God, I'm such a shill.)
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The Tuesday Roundup: New Releases 09.05.06
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September 5, 2006
Another Week, Another Pop Diva
 You don't need a crystal ball to know that Beyonce is going to rule the charts this week. First, she's Beyonce. Her last album sold 11 million copies worldwide. Second, because of Labor Day and the shortened week, she has virtually no competition.
Despite all of this, a lot of pundits seemed to be convinced that Ms. Bootylicious has lost her shine, pointing to signs like the "disappointing" performance of the album's first single, "Deja Vu" (it peaked at a measly #4) and the rather bizarre videos for both that song and its followup, "Ring the Alarm." And while it may be true that Beyonce is no longer the omnipresent pop force she once was, you'd still be a fool to bet against her. She'll sell 450,000 copies -- and the pundits will find a way to convince everyone that this constitutes a flop. [Actual sales: 540,000 copies. Stay tuned for flop arguments -- so far no one's making them, though.]
Other Movers and Head-Bangers
- Audioslave, Revelations. I keep thinking that hard rock fans will have a true "revelation" and realize that this band is the most boring supergroup ever, with none of the spark of its members' former bands, Soundgarden and Rage Against the Machine. But their last album debuted at number one with 263,000 copies sold and this one probably won't do much worse. Prediction: 220,000 copies. [Actual sales: 142,000. I guess a few fans did have a true revelation after their lackluster previous album.]
- Iron Maiden, A Matter of Life and Death. The world's most parody-proof heavy metal band returns with its fourteenth studio album -- and dude, there's skeletons marching next to a tank on the cover! It's timely and totally rad! Prediction: 110,000 copies. [Actual sales: 56,000. Dude, you headbangers bought more copies of Lamb of God's new album than the Maiden's? What is wrong with you people?]
And that's it. Told ya Beyonce didn't have much competition.
Pick o' the Week
 Kinky, Reina. Apparently they're never going to top their mind-boggling debut album, but on their third release, Kinky recapture a little of that disc's genre-hopping magic. Songs like "Una Linea de Luz" and "A Donde Van Los Muertos?" are prime examples of this Mexican quintet's knack for rousing dance-rock anthems that mix Latin percussion, monstrous bass grooves, electronics and even the occasional funky accordion. And they occasionally hit the mark with a more straight-up pop-rock tune, like "Monday Killer," which improbably features guest vocals by Men at Work's Colin Hay. They still haven't quite bottled the energy of their raucous live shows, but they continue to be one of the most unique-sounding bands out there.
The Best of the Rest
- Alice Smith, For Lovers, Dreamers, and Me. This New York pop-soul singer will suffer unfair comparisons to Corinne Bailey Rae, but she's a unique talent in her own right, with a powerful voice and an unexpected knack for vampy jazz-pop songs like "Woodstock" (no, not the Joni Mitchell tune).
- The Hourly Radio, History Will Never Me. Not another band with a U2 complex? Yup, but unlike so many of their peers, these guys actually have some serious songwriting chops to back up all those soaring vocals and reverb-laden guitars.
- Hem, Funnel Cloud. "Lively" is a relative term when discussing these maestros of hushed chamber-folk, but this is probably their liveliest, most engaging set yet.
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Playlist: Some Hip-Hop I Actually Like
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September 4, 2006
I was going to write a long diatribe here about how most mainstream hip-hop sucks right now, but I'll spare you that. After all, what do I know? I'm a white dude raised in the Reagan-era suburbs. I'll just say that it's weird to me that all of these songs would be considered "underground" hip-hop in America, because they're every bit as fun and party-ready as anything that makes it to radio. Maybe even more so.
1. Lyrics Born, "Callin' Out." The San Francisco Bay Area is a hotbed of talented, innovative hip-hop artists, and none is more exciting than this guy, a gravelly-voiced, motormouthed Asian-American rapper who favors a sunny, old-school funk vibe. This track is nearly three years old and it still deserves to be a hit.
2. Mojoe, "3rd Coast Anthem." This San Antonio duo is dropping their debut album this month. From what I've heard, they've got a bluesy, soulful vibe that's pretty unique, and a nice alternative to that sludgy, syrup-sippin' stuff coming out of Houston.
3. Swollen Members, "Too Hot." These guys release their fifth album this month, but you've probably never heard of them before. Why? Well, mainly because they're Canadian, and as a hardcore hip-hop fan from LA once told me decisively, "Canadians can't rap. They're too nice." But if you like witty, leftfield rappers like the Pharcyde, and you can check your anti-Canadian presumptions at the door, this new Swollen Members track will blow you away.
4. k-os, "Crabbuckit." If Swollen Members are Canada's answer to the Pharcyde, then k-os might be its answer to will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas. Both guys are essentially great pop songwriters masquerading as rappers. Here, k-os borrows the backbeat from "Hit the Road, Jack" and turns it into a pop-rap anthem as undeniably catchy as anything from Monkey Business.
5. Colossus, "Thrupenny Bits (Remix)." Back in the Bay Area, Oakland-based producer-bassist Charlie Tate, a.k.a. Colossus, teams up with British rapper Hylton Smythe and cooks up one of the funkiest hip-hop tracks you'll ever hear anywhere. "Thrupenny Bits," by the way, is cockney rhyming slang for "tits." Just thought you should know.
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Panic! at the Video Awards
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September 1, 2006
Well, another MTV Video Music Awards show has come and gone, and you can bet there's gonna be some fallout, boy. And I'm not just talking about my own terrible puns. I'm talking about the heirs apparent to the eyeliner-sporting, sissy-boy, emo-pop throne -- Panic! at the Disco, who somebody at MTV must be really, really invested in. Not only did the Fall Out Boy proteges get five nominations and a choice performance time slot, they capped off the evening's festivities by taking home the moonman for Video of the Year. Expect to get really sick of hearing "I Write Sins, Not Tragedies," if you're not already.
Other than that, I can't really comment on this year's VMAs, because I spent the evening in the living hell that is Los Angeles International Airport's Bradley Terminal, picking up my girlfriend from a much-delayed flight from London. So I missed them. Oh, well. I hear Al Gore was the highlight. He, Panic! and YouTube will probably the best only people who get any traction as a result of this year's show. Why YouTube? Because after seeing OK Go do their treadmill dance live, about a zillion kids immediately rushed to their computers and started forwarding the YouTube link for the treadmill dance video to all their friends. How great is it that a bunch of dorky white guys with some Napoleon Dynamite-style dance moves stole the show from the slickly choreographed likes of Beyonce and Fergie?
Wait...you mean you really care who won? Okay, fine. Go here for the full list.
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1. The Whigs, Technology
2. The Kooks, Eddie's Gun
3. The Long Winters, Pushover
4. Built to Spill, Liar
5. Paul Westerberg, Love You in the Fall
About the Blogger
Name: Andy
Location: Los Angeles, California
Andy made his debut as a TV pundit last month for the G4 Network show Filter and still can't shut up about it. He's also excited about the start of the NFL season. Go, Eagles!
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