Tuesday, April 26, 2011

The Beastie Boys - Hot Sauce Committee Part 2


Mike "Mike D" Diamond, Adam "Ad Rock" Horovitz and Adam "MCA" Yauch have completed their eighth studio release Hot Sauce Committee Part 2. The Beastie Boys have been at it for a long time and continue to put out some quality music. The new CD is a good collection of tunes. They seem to have taken a mix of styles from the years and combine them to make the new album.

With a little help from NAS the first single released last year was Too Many Rappers. A pretty killer tune that keeps a great beat as they all rap throughout it. The whole album has some great beats and really rocks you to it. Keeps you pumped up through out. They use many of the old effects that they used with some of the fuzz noise as well as various others. Still there is a lot of regular instruments being played and is in classic form.

Santigold joins in for the song Don't Plan No Game I Can't Win. A nice beat with a little bit of a reggae sort of feel to me. It's great to hear the boys back at it and to hear MCA rapping again after his battle with cancer. Sounds just as good as he did before.

It's been a few years since I've seen them live, but they would certainly be on the list of bands I would really love to see live this coming year. Pick this album up for sure!

Have a listen to the stream here: http://beastieboys.com/preorder/

Track List:

1. Make Some Noise
2. Nonstop Disco Powerpack
3. OK
4. Too Many Rappers [new reactionaries version] (featuring NAS)
5. Say It
6. The Bill Harper Collection
7. Don't Play No Game That I Can't Win (featuring Santigold)
8. Long Burn The Fire
9. Funky Donkey
10. The Larry Routine
11. Tadlock's Glasses
12. Lee Majors Come Again
13. Multilateral Nuclear Disarmament
14. Here's A Little Something For Ya
15. Crazy Ass Shit
16. The Lisa Lisa/Full Force Routine

Wednesday, April 06, 2011

Foo Fighters - Wasting Light Album Review


The new Foo Fighters album was produced by Butch Vig and was recorded fully on analog tape in Dave Grohl's garage in San Fernando Valley, CA. There's a really good mix of songs on this CD, from some songs that sound like classic Foo's to some new sounds with a different touch. They certainly put their time into putting together a really nice collection of tunes for this one.

"Bridges Burning" starts you off with a really good pumped up song that keeps you rolling from the start with the heavy guitars and beats. The first single off the album was released early on iTunes, "Rope" has a different feel to it. Sort of a funky rock feel to start and gets into a really good rockin' song. There are a few ballad type songs as well as a few really all out rock songs that might make your head spin.

"Dear Rosemary" is a slowing song with a nice tempo and then you kick into "White Limo" which is more of a screaming metal type song that seems a bit out of place for this album, but still has a bit of a entertaining Rob Zombie feel to it. "Alandria" goes back to a typical Foo Fighters song with Dave starting out with a little yelling voice into the slow melodic sound that kicks it in with a jam. Quite an awesome song.

"These Days" is like the ballad song that goes from mellow to the rocked out chorus and back to mellow. Great tune for sure.

Most of the album follows a typical format of the Foo's over the years. It really is another really nice to hear summer CD. I would guess that we might even see them out on a tour this summer to support the new CD. Hope they come back to Kansas City. Last show here was a total blast.

Track Listing:
1. Bridge Burning 4:46
2. Rope 4:19
3. Dear Rosemary 4:26
4. White Limo 3:22
5. Arlandria 4:27
6. These Days 4:58
7. Back & Forth 3:51
8. A Matter Of Time 4:36
9. Miss The Misery 4:32
10. I Should Have Known 4:15
11. Walk 4:16

Tuesday, April 05, 2011

Radiohead - The King of Limbs Album Review


Radiohead is Colin Greenwood, Jonny Greenwood, Ed O'Brien, Philip Selway and Thom Yorke.

Here we go starting it all off with the old electronic drum machine repeating the samples for a minure before Thom Yorke joins in to the first song "Bloom". He does bring it together really well with a melodic sound playing as he sings in a really mellow tone. Still I would much prefer to hear the boys get out some instruments and play like a band! After three years since their last album, Radiohead started this one out as an electronic copy for sale on their site and a limited edition package as well. It has been officially released on all other media outlets as of April 5th.

There are only eight songs on this collection and about 36 minutes of music. I would have hoped that after the gap in time they would have put a few more together for the fans, but I certainly will take what i can get. They are all relatively mellow tunes and lots of repeating beats through the songs. Overall I really enjoy the feel of the whole album and really hope we will see a tour come out of this one. Please make your way to Kansas City!


Track Listing:1. Bloom 5:14
2. Morning Mr Magpie 4:40
3. Little By Little 4:27
4. Feral 3:12
5. Lotus Flower 5:00
6. Codex 4:46
7. Give Up The Ghost 4:50
8. Separator 5:20

The Gaddabouts - The Gaddabouts Album Review


The Gaddabouts are Edie Brickell, Steve Gadd, Pino Palladino and Andy Fairweather-Low. Their first CD has been 10 years in the making and now in 2011 finally is officially released. From the stories and interviews it sounds like Edie ran into Steve and they decided to get together and do some songs. I for one can certainly say that I'm happy that they have done so. This is an allstar band in my mind having work with so many accomplished artista over the years.

Edie's lyrics tied into the music writing skills of these guys really all comes together in this eleven song collection. There's a great vibe about this whole cd from accoustics playing, blues, jazz and so many other styles hit this album. You can check a little more about the band out at www.thegaddabouts.com. They will be playing their first and at this point, only show on Friday, April 8th at Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall. It's all sold out, but if you have a ticket, enjoy something you may never see again.

This album is fun, everything from slow paced songs to bouncing up and down songs. My favorite of the bunch are "Mad Dog", "Let It Slide" "They Say Everything". "Mad Dog" is really a good old fun song and makes me want to get up and clap along and dance every time I hear it. The bluesy guitar of a song like "Gonna Hold On" is another one of those that make you want to dance around as well.

There's a lot of maturity in this album. I think there is in many of Edie's songs but this album really shows a nice touch of the different flavors of what she is capable of putting out. "Feelin' Better" just finishes it off with some great energy.

I say go get this NOW! What an awesome collection of songs.

Track Listing:
1. Never So Far Away
2. Let It Slide
3. Remind Me
4. My Heart 5:07
5. They Say Everything
6. Mad Dog
7. Gonna Hold On
8. Good Day
9. Good For Me
10. More Than Anybody
11. Feelin' Better