Are We Falling In Love?
A review of The Joy Formidable’s cover of Badalamenti and Lynch’s Falling.
By Peter Dysart
I’m typically not a huge fan of covers, especially if the original song was a classic already. I will make exceptions, though.
Month: July 2015
J’adore this modern pop tune from French singer Cheraze, “Promets pas la lune” (“Don’t promise the moon”). As far as I’m concerned, she IS the new Edith Piaf, the modern focus of sartorial elegance and a lady who knows hats. The tune is both boldly global and gamely gallic. The lithe hands of Cheraze float …
Katéa is a Helsinki-based chanteuse whose musical sounds are inspired by Amy Winehouse, Adele, Lorde, Florence + The Machine, Tove Lo and Lana Del Rey. Her music a unique blend of indie-folk and experimental pop. She crafts songs where piano and guitar-driven tracks are topped by bright yet strong, warm and heartfelt vocals. She’s written …
Truer words have never been spoken than those from Ambrosavage below. Gary, Indiana never disappoints a true midwesterner. There’s something in the gray industrial moonscape dotted with pools of standing chemicals which jumps up to kiss any returning traveler and say, “Welcome home friend, the east is behind you, South Chicago is in front of …
This 1971 combination [album] is a bit of a rocky road – the medley of “By The Time I Get To Phoenix” & “I Say a Little Prayer” is moronic, but you do get their version of the Brotherhood of Man’s 1970 hit “United We Stand”. There’s also some Randy Newman and Hoyt Axton covers. …
Garage rock in the 80’s and beyond was always very hit and miss for me – often miss. But when I heard this and saw MonoMan do it live – I thought to myself, this is “god-like.” – Pat Thomas is the author of Listen, Whitey! The Sights and Sounds of Black Power 1965-1975. Lyres …
On Sunday night July 27 I attended my last concert for the month of July. Right on the heels of Stiff Little Fingers I saw the very wild Casualties show. The Casualties, a hard core punk band from NYC, came on stage and the first thing front man/singer Jorge Herrera did was take a cup …
This is the old Yuengling mansion on upper Mahantango Street in Pottsville, PA. It and it’s full block of stables and grounds and such were donated to the city some decades ago – probably to the huge relief of the Yuengling family. It was given to the Schuylkill County Council for the Arts who back …
Ambrosavage rolled in for lunch at the All American Cafe in Pottsville, PA and beheld the following scene: “So this guy at the All American Cafe just told this young gal at the counter that he hit pick 5 for 350 dollars. ‘I was 1 away from 1.5 million’ he said and yet he still …
Saturday night July 25th brought the return of two things Seattle hasn’t seen in a long time — rain and Stiff Little Fingers. The rain and cooler weather did nothing to prevent the swelter inside the tiny El Corazon caused by both poor ventilation and the onstage energy of the band reciprocated by the packed …
Manson Prosecutor and Prolific True-Crime Author Vincent Bugliosi, born in Hibbing, Minnesota in 1934, is best known for his prosecution of Charles Manson and his hippie cult followers. During the year-long trial, Bugliosi used vicarious liability and aiding and abetting theories to convict Manson. This skilled prosecutor described Manson as a “dictatorial maharajah of a …
Queens, New York four-piece ensemble The Frightnrs have announced their latest EP, Inna Lovers Quarrel, coming via Diplo’s Mad Decent Records on August 28th. The band takes inspiration from vintage Jamaican rocksteady combined with 80s rub-a-dub, plus a touch of ska and punk influence for a unique sound that redefines what reggae sounds like in …
July has been a busy month for concerts. On the 21st I had the pleasure of seeing the Young Dubliners (only two of the members are actually from Ireland). They may not be looking young any more, but on stage their behavior and their music exhibit all the youthful exuberance that matched any of the …
Not having planned an extended vacation this year, I’ve taken a few day trips to assuage the restlessness that hits me around July. Fortunately, I have a national park an hour’s drive from my house: Lassen Volcanic. The park consists of the usual wooded trails and streams, but also a 10,463 foot volcano that can …
Rimkus notes: Take a look at the “Rejuvenated” (not “remodeled” or “under new management”) Garfield Diner in Pottsville, Pennsylvania. Ambro had a delicious (we hope) breakfast here. I looked this admittedly cool-looking place up, and was beset by the hysterically bad internet reviews which kept popping up. My favorite was, “the flies were more hospitable …
I recently had dinner with longtime Beach Boy Bruce Johnston – just happened to sit next to him and he was eating alone. 90 minutes of him honestly answering any question – he was egoless, sincere, with no axes to grind with Brian Wilson or anyone else. Given all the wacko shit he’s witnessed in …
Starting in the early 70s, I’ve never had a casual relationship with The Who – just like I’ve never had a casual connection to my head, heart or groin. The Who always exemplified the visceral, mercurial, macho, homoerotic, thunderous, vulnerable side of rock music, they made me feel more alive reflecting my changing moods. Many …
This past July 18th was another scorcher in Seattle and I attended my fifth concert of the month. This time the headliner was the Phenomenauts. Bringing their science and and science fiction with them, the Bay Area’s Phenomenauts are all about having fun and perhaps teaching some science along the way. This band appears on …
Joni In The Moon’s mesmerising aural flights have been turning heads skywards, with multiple songs nominated for WAM Song Of The Year awards, triple j kudos rolling in and strong community radio airplay around Australia. Yet their upcoming single War & Porn is set to spin them into an interstellar orbit, stargazing siblings Joni and …
Wednesday night punk and Seattle’s El Corazon is packed with punks to see the Adolescents and The Weirdos — two veteran American punk rock bands. The Adolescents may not look like adolescents any more, but these guys are nowhere near ready for the front porch rocker whiling their days away. They churned out hard core, …
Here’s a deathless dance number from the 1965 Indian suspense thriller, Gumnaam. Imdb describes the plot thusly, “Eight people are trapped on an island when their plane abandons them. They find a large mansion whose butler is expecting them. Then one by one, they die…” But not before having a blast on the dance floor. …
Twenty years and a thousand Jumbo Jacks ago, I toiled with friends on a comic screenplay called, “High Sticking.” Youthful, drunk on creative juices and coffee, we chortled, “There’s no such thing as ‘Over the Top,’” and sought to outdo each other generating ribald twists furthering an admittedly inane plot wherein steroid-raging footballers marched like …
Here’s two great pieces of video (one posted for the very first time earlier today!) documenting the version of Treepeople that ripped the hell outta Seattle during Silkworm‘s first two years in town (1990-91, during which the two then-quite-unfashionable Idaho/Montana transplants often teamed up for gigs), just prior to my own arrival hereabouts in July 1992. …
Brooklyn based garage rock trio Sharkmuffin creates super-heavy, jagged, and exceedingly catchy punk rock. Their newest album, Chartreuse, will be released on August 7 and in advance of its release they have paired their lead single “First Date” with a homemade music video. Sharkmuffin was recently named one of the “20 All-Female Bands You Need …
Jah Cure, one of Jamaica’s greatest singers, returns to the scene with his brand new video for “Made In California,” the latest single off his eagerly awaited album The Cure (Jul 10, VP Records). “Made In California” pays homage to one of Cure’s favorite loves – Golden State’s locally grown ganja. The video was shot …
I love this tune: The self-titled album from NYC-based indie pop band Stargroves is rich with ambitious compositions and catchy melodies. One highlight from the record is “Half Awake in Reykjavík,” which glides along with a perky piano loop that gives the song a theatrical quality, making it sound as though it could have been …
On Wed, Jul 15, 2015 at 1:06 PM, Marshall, Marc wrote: http://www.popmatters.com/column/154630-rock-is-the-new-jazz.-sorry-rock/ Just ran across this and it made me laugh as we were discussing jazz vs rock last night. I think this is pretty accurate (not that I have a real hold of the present commercial world of music) and is pretty funny at …