The News Review:
- Uncle Monk: Uncle Monk < Music | PopMatters
- A soggy start for V-Fest west
- Put Up r Shut Up
- Reviews of new pop country-roots jazz and classical releases.
- Davis’s Blueprint For Urban Music
- Part 2: Under Heavy Manners [1976-1977]
Uncle Monk: Uncle Monk < Music | PopMatters
PopMatters – May 22, 2007
In doing so Ramone resurrects the ghosts of CBGB & MFUG and brings that attitude full-circle. Strangely enough until you’re slapped with the idea of a former member of the original Godfathers of Punk playing bluegrass it doesn’t really register just how similar in musical theory the styles are. Both punk and bluegrass usually build their melodies around a singular riff and a spartan set of chords that chug it out in the background. Lyrically even most of their themes are similar espousing the philosophy of “Damn the Man!”—whether he be a corporate suit or railroad bull—normally taking center stage as a song’s central conflict. Bearing those similarities in mind Uncle Monk bridges the gap between traditional old-time bluegrass and old-school punk in the most logical way possible for modern audiences to pick up on and enjoy. Tommy Ramone (née Thomas Erdelyi) got his start leasing his building to the fledgling Ramones for practice space eventually becoming the group’s manager. He would occasionally fill in on drums and instruct potential drummers in the ever-revolving line-up on how to properly play the Ramones’ songs… The duo grows more adventurous with musical arrangements on “Heaven” infused with a calypso and Spanish flamenco influence. The uplifting track explores the topic of Heaven and what it means to different people whether it be a religious concept or something that is found in the arms of a loved one. Nevertheless Ramone and Tienan’s punk and alternative backgrounds creep their way onto Uncle Monk while still staying within the country fence. A standout track on the album “Mr. Endicott” is pure punk ethos wrapped with a bluegrass bow. Uncle Monk acknowledges that while many of us are long past the stage of wanting to sniff some glue there’s still that urge to rebel and stick it to the man whether it be through taking personal calls throughout the work day or pilfering extra rolls of toilet paper from the company bathroom.
A soggy start for V-Fest west
Toronto Star – May 22, 2007
Days before there was fear the band wouldn’t even make it. Flowers’ voice failed him during a gig in Colorado last week so he cancelled a Sunday night show in Seattle to allow himself time to recover for Vancouver. The Monday shows were a better mix compared to the punk-heavy themes of the day before. With acts like all-girl-youngsters Smoosh popular Toronto band Metric and the much buzzed about You Say Party! We Say Die! there was more of a female presence. And unlike the heavier sound that prevailed on Sunday there was a bigger emphasis on alternative pop with bands like Hot Hot Heat and The Killers holding court. Backstage the rock stars came out of their luxury buses to bask in the sun. Before going onstage AFI bass player Hunter Burgan disclosed that he’s been writing a side project with Tegan Quin of Calgary duo Tegan and Sara… But My Chemical Romance caused its own frenzy. The New Jersey alternative rock act is at heart a pop band complete with hook-riddled songs pretty boys with cool haircuts and groupie girls who cry throughout their sets. Lead singer Gerard Way is as theatrical and flamboyant as the music pacing across the stage in a black suit enunciating like an actor the words "You wear me out" on "I’m Not kay. " At the end of the cabaret rocker "Mama" he pretended to cry. "A surprise party for me?" he gasped with the spotlight on him. "You shouldn’t have.
Put Up r Shut Up
Aversion – May 22, 2007
No one knows this better than the members of All Time Low who —- having just graduated from high school — are the vanguard of the genre’s next generation. n its Hopeless Records debut Put Up or Shut Up All Time Low shows just how articulate talented and tuneful the new generation promises to be. All Time Low delivers the sort of polished punk rock that made Hopeless Records a household name in the independent music community. All of the elements one would expect from a new millennium punk band are found on Put Up or Shut Up: tempo changes layered vocal harmonies and even tidbits of acoustic balladry… Lipstick on sheets one-night stands and burning out on the party scene are already familiar points of reference for the up-and-coming generation and they are no strangers to the frustration and heartbreak that has fueled punk rock for the past 30 years. The context of these feelings however seems to have shifted considerably. Gone is the anger of ’80s punks at getting stuffed in lockers or snubbed by girls. Gone too is the frustration of ’90s punk rock boys desperately hoping that someday the objects of their desire will see them as anything more than ?best friends ever. ? Now instead bands like All Time Low sing of epic romances gone wrong and emotional trauma suffered at the hands of sadistic ex-lovers long before they have even reached their 21st birthdays. Hey at least they got the girls in the first place. – Matt Reynolds Add article to:.
Reviews of new pop country-roots jazz and classical releases.
Free with registration – Philadelphia Inquirer – AccessMyLibrary.com – May 22, 2007
Sometimes M-5′s level of efficiency gives its flickering funk the cold sweats (“Makes Me Wonder”) and its rock-outs the cold shoulder (“Can’t Stop”). This stuff’s a science. But calculated or not you can’t miss that even in its bigness Long has a pumping heart that is audible above its precision-tooled music-making. The weird break during “Kiwi” the soulful emotionalism of “If I Never See Your Face Again” crooner Adam Levine’s suaveness on the spiky (“Little of Your Time”) and the smooth (“Back at Your Door”) – it’s all crisp without being hermetically sealed. Maroon 5 may bug y’all with their perfection. But try not to stay too mad. You’ll be hearing this everywhere you go… Amorosi Various Artists Music From the Julian Temple Film “Joe Strummer”: “The Future Is Unwritten” (Legacy 3 stars) “The Future Is Unwritten” isn’t a soundtrack album so much as a mix tape that adds up to a shambling musical biography of the late leader of punk firebrands the Clash. (It accompanies the rock doc of the same name that screened at Sundance but does not yet have a U.
Davis’s Blueprint For Urban Music
New York Sun – May 22, 2007
Her debut featured the rhythm section from Sly & the Family Stone and backup singers who would go on to define 1970s funk and disco like Sylvester and the Pointer Sisters. n cuts like “If I’m in Luck I Might Get Picked Up” and “Game Is My Middle Name” Ms. Davis flaunts a feminine sexuality that even in the post-’60s climate of free love and budding feminism was far off the seismic scale not just in pop music but in popular culture. It would take decades for her sassy blueprint to actually get built but in hindsight it’s easy to trace Ms. Davis’s influence on funk and on the men and women of hip-hop: She is sampled and revered by such hip-hop trailblazers as Ice Cube the Roots Prince Paul and Talib Kwali and is the role model for Missy Elliot Lil Kim and Joi. And yet for all of Betty Davis’s outsize extroverted libidinous persona these critical reissues reveal that beneath the veneer is a painfully trapped woman. Devoted listners who are entranced and turned on by her tales of strutting the street against the raw strain of punk-laced funk find the tables are frequently turned… Davis’s influence on funk and on the men and women of hip-hop: She is sampled and revered by such hip-hop trailblazers as Ice Cube the Roots Prince Paul and Talib Kwali and is the role model for Missy Elliot Lil Kim and Joi. And yet for all of Betty Davis’s outsize extroverted libidinous persona these critical reissues reveal that beneath the veneer is a painfully trapped woman. Devoted listners who are entranced and turned on by her tales of strutting the street against the raw strain of punk-laced funk find the tables are frequently turned. Sure there are instances of asserting control on songs like “Shoo-B-Doop and Cop Him” and “He Was a Big Freak” in which she whips her man “with a turquoise chain” but for all the negligees feather boas thigh-high boots and outward shows of power there’s a palpable pain that ultimately connects all of her “empowered” female protagonists. You can hear it in the first minute of her debut on “If I’m in Luck I Might Get Picked Up” with Ms. Davis’s voice breaking on the line “All you lady-haters don’t be cruel to me. ” Wavering on that last syllable Ms.
Part 2: Under Heavy Manners [1976-1977]
PopMatters – May 22, 2007
were like the punk intelligentsia they were the thinkers. (Joe) knew all the cultural and literary references all the revolutionary references and he put it all into context… He knew all the cultural and literary references all the revolutionary references and he put it all into context: he wasn’t just an angry young man stamping and screaming. As you can see in his lyrics there’s a lot more ideas in one of Joe’s rhyming couplets than there are in some people’s entire albums. More than anyone he moved the lyrical goalposts of what contemporary music could deal with. There had been protest songs and anti-establishment songs before but Joe did it in a way that made it sound exciting and not overearnest. He made it humorous as well. Because it’s about the way you tell ‘em: you’ve got to capture people’s imaginations before you give them the serious input and he had a great understanding of that. I remember when I first saw the Clash I didn’t actually hear what he was saying—well no one could understand what Joe was saying—but you knew something was going on because the power and energy were so intense.