Wake Up!

Welcome back!  It's a proper exclamation to scream upon hearing the new album "Wake Up" by John Legend & The Roots featuring 10 cover songs and 1 original tune.  The album is coated in luscious orchestration perfectly honoring classic R&B/soul albums from the 60's and 70's.  It's a welcome flashback to the music of Marvin Gaye, James Brown, Sly and the Family Stone and Curtis Mayfield.  Together, Legend and The Roots not only honor the classic style, but they fit in as if it's their standard modus operandi.
"Wake Up,"  the one original tune on the album provides a lesson in dynamics.  The song moves back and forth between verses covered in minimalist restraint and loud jamming choruses with horns and funk guitar.  The album sounds big!  It has the hi fidelity feel of old school analogue recordings.  Listening through laptop speakers the string arrangements pop out with a warmth seldom heard in modern music recordings.  Leave it to The Roots to be the band to bring musicianship back into style. Forget sampling, everything here is played by musicians in the band.  The Roots are among the great bands possessing appeal across societal boundaries.  Because of their presence as the preeminent hip-hop band, and Jimmy Fallon's house band, The Roots have reached a new level of recognition in the common American household.  I'm just saying, this could be the start of a revolution, a return to musicians working a little harder and building lush orchestration behind their studio work.
If I close my eyes when listening to the album its as if I'm back in 1993 listening to NYC Kiss.Fm on the big yellow school bus heading to school in the morning.  On "Hang On In There,"  The Roots feature glockenspiel and a full string section.  Legend brings out a deep croon reminiscent of Isaac Hayes.  Having honed his singing chops in an Ivy League a capella group at the University of Pennsylvania, Legend has made it his career goal put the rhythm and blues back in R&B.  Once again, he has succeeded with this album.
It is the goal of the album to present a modern take on political tunes from an earlier generation.  Legend and The Roots decided that for a time filled with war and turmoil there is a lack of music designed with the purpose of uniting people and promoting revolution as well as togetherness.  It could be argued that this album would better serve that goal by writing new songs, but these classics sound poignant as ever here.  "Wholly Holy" provides a gospel approach of togetherness, calling for people to hold up and support their neighbors.  Proof that this album represents music of a distant pass is the song lengths which hover in the 5 minute range for half the songs on the album.  Long or short, the album is captivating due to the sonic detail behind each recording.

To preview the album, head to grooveshark.com for a listen.

Justjaee.com

From time to time I'll be writing articles for justjaee.com, a music technology blog founded by Grammy award winning producer Jaee Logan.  Check out my first article reviewing the JamHub, a mixer allowing music to be created and perfected in silence.


www.justjaee.com

Windows Closer to Challenge iPhone/Droid

Poised to challenge Apple and Google in the mobile phone market, Microsoft will showcase its new Windows Phone 7 operating system on October 11 hoping to gain momentum into the holiday season.  Last week Microsoft finalized the software, which will be the featured operating system for phones made by LG, Samsung, and HTC.  Not much information is out yet about the ease of using the Windows Phone 7 system compared to Android and OS operating systems.  The big news for the moment is that the phone will integrate Zune and Xbox services. Gamers can access features of Xbox Live, and music fans can transfer their on demand Zune music service to the phone.  So long as the phone is on more than one network, it may challenge Apple which has thus far kept its exclusive allegiance with AT&T. 


*Photo Credit: Bonnie Cha/CNET

Props to Pillows

It's not often that I give in, but recently had a great stumbleupon session that lead me to this video 2 Guys 600 Pillows video.  The shots are remarkable DIY rock video production ala OKGO.  As the name suggests, it's two guys singing a song and colliding in various choreographed ways with white pillows.  The images constantly bring amazement, but the music not so much.  It's unfortunate that the song is so far bellow the video in value.  In fact, the video is the inspiration here and the song is playing mere background.   If you watch the video through the end it turns out it's produced by sleepbetter.org which by all accounts is a site intended to sell sleep products. I do wish there was some chance of this video being put to better use, with a good band.... Rock on pillow director.

Next up: Live YouTube

This week, YouTube is performing a test-drive of its new live streaming capabilities.  The first tests will include live interviews with Tony Hawk and other skateboarders.  But the first tests pale in comparison to the end goal.
YouTube's new live function is intended to act in part like Skype.  Imagine streaming video from your home webcam to an open universe where an unlimited number of persons can log in to see your broadcast.  I'm waiting for the moment when I can sit on my couch with a beer and watch the band playing 10 miles away in a dingy pub.  Will atmosphere be missing? maybe, but this technology stands to bring us all closer to being two places at once.

Jukebox The Ghost: Everything Under the Sun

photo from jukeboxtheghost.com


Everything Under The Sun, the new album by Washington D.C. trio Jukebox the Ghost is a pop happy innovative tribute to classic piano rock.  Jukebox offers music that feels familiar, complex, energetic, and warm at the same time.  On this sophomore release, the band that started practicing in the music department at The George Washington University, solidifies itself as a unique and creative powerhouse.
For those not familiar with the band's first release "Live and Let Live," the new album offers fewer songs with repetitive sing-a-long hooks.  This is not to the detriment of the album.  Prior successful songs including "Good Day" and "Hold it In" were delightful to be stuck one's head, but were so catchy they could remain their too long.  On the new album Ben Thornwell (keys) and Tommy Siegel (guitar) continue to share lead vocal duties.  As expected, Thornwell continues to shine as a brilliant vocalist, keyboard player, and the heart of the band's sound.  It's difficult to determine whether Thornwell is more talented at singing or playing piano.  With theatrical vocal antics and powerful second nature piano chops, he is easily comparable to Ben Folds.  Thornwell's vocals and songwriting style are perhaps closer to that of Freddie Mercury and Queen.  This is a big to do comparison, but it is well warranted.
Improving on the new album are the vocals offered by Siegel.  Since Live and Let Live, he has clearly benefited from singing on the tour van with Thornwell.  Now Siegel has a strong falsetto and a greater mastery of his own vocal abilities.  Once again, Jukebox chose to keep Siegel's guitar as second fiddle to Thornwell's piano playing.  Although this definitely works for the band's sound, I'm dying to hear the band let Siegel loose.  He's an incredibly talented guitarist who has clearly spent an incalculable amount of time developing his use of guitar tone and effect pedals.  Siegel plays with a bright tone and lingering sustain that sounds similar to the tone of Trey Anastasio (Phish).  Together, Siegel and Thornwell make a great team complimenting each other and developing sounds from their instruments and vocals that make the band feel as if there is a fourth member.
Standout tracks include: Empire (iTunes album features a remix by Freelance Whales), The Stars, and Schizophrenia (performed on Late Night with David Letterman).

Suggestion:  Get the album if you like- Phoenix, Ben Folds, Queen, MGMT

Merchandizing and the Sex Pistols: Abandoning or Honoring their spirit?

(image obtained via Billboard.com)

Punk-rock founding fathers The Sex Pistols have officially gone off the deep-end.  Last week a licensing deal was announced, pairing the Sex Pistols with French perfume manufacturer Etat Libre d'Orange.  The new fragrance named after the band comes complete with a Sex Pistols commemorative bottle featuring the band's 1977 "God Save the Queen" art work.  Upon hearing news of this fragrance I had to ask the following question:  At what point does a band lose it's credibility in chasing business opportunities?

The Sex Pistols are now more than 30 years removed from their classic studio work.  The band's hey day lasted from 1975-1978, followed by short lived reunion tours in 1996 and 2002.  Together with the Clash, the Sex Pistols are undoubtedly the most important band in early British punk rock.  Built in part as an art project by their recently deceased manager Malcolm McLaren.  McLaren was a devious spirit known for pushing the limits of fashion and music through his S&M inspired clothing store SEX.  Legend has it that McLaren built and named The Sex Pistols, hand picking people from the local punk scene.  McLaren's greatest gift to the band was manufacturing their attitude (one could argue they were merely a punk-rock version of The Monkeys).  McLaren claims to have planned out the entire short lived career of the band, the story was played out in the 1980 film The Great Rock N Roll Swindle.  A swindler, McLaren may have been.  McLaren retained all rights to The Sex Pistols name and music until the mid-eighties when he lost a court battle to John Lydon (Johnny Rotten).  It can be argued that this new fragrance by The Sex Pistols is merely a continuation of their original identity:  "Make money, turn heads, and do what is not expected."

Perhaps a fragrance costing $51 a bottle is the most punk rock thing a bunch of geezers formerly known as The Sex Pistols can come up with and sell.  Then again, it could be that in the aftermath of McLaren's 2010 death, a new modern swindler has emerged to market the band on its terms.    The perfume deal starring the band was licensed by business partner Live Nation Merchandise.  Executive VP of worldwide retail and licensing for Live Nation Merchandise, Michael Krassner claims that Johnny Lydon and other band members have been closely involved with the licensing decision.  Live Nation shares hefty profits with Johnny and the Pistols for other merchandise including (I did not make any of this up) alarm clocks, shoes, laptop skins, and virtual characters in "The Sims" video game.


When I first learned of the new fragrance my reaction was a hefty:  WTF?!?!  I mean, what does it even smell like?  (Maybe it's a dead ringer for the spoof Gheorghe Muresan cologne?).  Then it hit me, forget the smell.  It's irrelevant whether the classic Sex Pistol's bottle has a worthy fragrance inside.  There are thousands of bands that can't sell a free bumper sticker for every band that has continued selling power more than 30 years after their last new music was released.  My question posed was: At what point does a band lose it's credibility in chasing business opportunities?  The answer is that a band with nothing to prove (30+years of no new music) can't lose credibility.  If a band like The Sex Pistols can still strike a licensing deal for an absurd product such as cologne, they have officially achieved eternal status in the "pantheon of music stars"(thanks Bill Simmons for the pantheon of sports).

Sony Enters the Cloud

For nearly a decade, the biggest record labels have been experiencing what often appears to be an impending doom.  Brought on by a change in consumer preferred music format (mp3 over cd) and changes in delivery mechanisms (downloading in place of retail store), Sony and its com-padres including Warner Music Group, EMI have often resisted turning to the internet based distribution system that has become the preference of music consumers.  As consumers, we are always on the go and in 2010, we are always connected.  The look of the future marketplace has become more clear in the last year, and finally companies are proactively getting involved.

On September 1, 2010, Sony announced plans to release a new cloud-based music service that will connect users PC's and other wireless devices to music and video media.  The online music store will be called Sony Music Unlimited.  Sony plans to allow consumers to stream their purchased music and video to Tv's, Play Station3, PC's and Blu-Ray devices.  Users will be able to access all their media through Sony's cloud system, eliminating the need to expand home hard-drive storage space. 

More information about the product line will be forthcoming.  Sony anticipates making the service and its many connections available by the 2010 holiday season.  The announcement of this service came on the same day that Apple announced plans to introduce a similar cloud accessing program.  It is unclear how successful the Sony product will be, as there is no information regarding whether it will sync with non-Sony devices such as cell-phones or iPods, or whether the service will offer music by bands not on a Sony label.

Consumers clearly seek connectivity and streamlined use of their devices.  Sony should succeed if their product can enable users to access music without having to purchase only Sony goods.  It is also hoped that Sony will enable consumers to access music they already own, and be able to view the collections of friends and fans of similar music.