The Dirty South finds Drive-By Truckers maturing into one of the most capable southern rock bands workin it today. While some of the fun of Hood and Cooley songs like Too Much Sex - Too Little Jesus has been replaced by the gritty realism of Puttin’ People on the Moon... Read More ->
What's up with roXor blog, and why does the world need yet another blog then?
I have been blogging since 2000, since really before the word blogging came into the public consciousness. Life intervened and I have not been able to run a true blog for a few years now.
The best blog I ever published was a fairly high profile music blog that I sold a few years ago - so I wanted to get back to that. But this time around I wanted to include movies, videos, artists, etc. so I decided to publish an entertainment blog.
And not that kinda entertainment blog.
Most entertainment blogs are there to tell you about what Britney or Whitney are up to, who is the latest bimbo to have a topless photo set loose on the interwebs, etc. We want to publish an entertainment blog about real music, movies, and artists.
That's all well and good but what about that roxor?
Second, I've been through the phases of roxor ( or r0x0r) being something leet, to something that I have been called as a derogatory comment, to something that had jumped the shark, to a phrase that became sort of an inside joke.
So while I am using it as something cool (I was backstage with Korn, it was so ROXOR), it also carries some baggage w/ it because it was once trendy - so it was a natural choice for my new entertainment blog.
Whew! It’s been quite awhile since R.E.M released any sort of album. What took so long? Who knows! Their first album in nearly four years, Accelerate is a total rock victory for the band. Accelerate is the first album by R.E.M. absent Bill Berry who quit in 1997. When the popular drummer left the band, singer Michael Stipe was quoted as saying that R.E.M. had become a “three-legged dog” with Berry’s departure. Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck and bassist Mike Mills have continued as the dynamic trio and kept R.E.M. alive.
Accelerate becomes the group’s first studio album in four years. Ultimately, I must say that R.E.M. sounds whole again, which is probably the best thing about this album. R.E.M. is no longer the “three-legged dog” they claimed to be in the past – they are now complete in their purpose. Stipe sings at the end of his record, “Music will provide the light you cannot resist” and “I’m Gonna’ DJ.” You can surely believe him — as Stipe and his band believe in themselves once again.
Singer Matthew Caws of band Nada Surf performs on stage during their concert at the Rock-en-Seine Festival in Saint-Cloud near Paris last year. The band is attempting a come-back with their release of “Lucky” available in stores on February 5, 2008. Caws says the record represents another step forward for the band. “We are always asking ourselves, ‘Can we make another good record?”‘ he says. “I feel like this album is strong, and I’m glad we made it.
Seattle-based Barsuk Records is in the process of developing a publicity plan, however president Josh Rosenfeld worries the Hollywood writers strike, which has sent most of the late-night TV shows into reruns, may mean missed opportunities.
“This is a band with a great licensing history, and we wanted placement on TV shows to be part of the album’s rollout,” Rosenfeld says. “We were also hoping to do the usual late-night shows, but all that is up in the air if the strike continues.”
The Virginia Beach, VA alt/pop/rock band Days Difference has been labeled “America’s answer to Coldplay” ( Is that a good thing? ) and their debut CD “Numbers” will be available everywhere June 5th.
This is the second time Days Difference will be featured on Pure Volume. Just this past Saturday, the band’s music received 18,546 plays, hit number 1 under Top Artists, and over 400 people purchased their music at I-Tunes.”Numbers” will be supported by a tour east of the Mississippi with dates beginning locally and branching out to other states in the Southeast, Northeast and the Midwest. “Numbers” was recorded at Red Cell Studio with producer Jim Anderson at the helm and is distributed by Redeye.
Days Difference believes music is about people with every song they write. “Experience, conviction, and the passions and sorrows of life really define who people are,” says vocalist Jeremy Smith. “Really, it’s the things we and the people around us go through every day that inspire us to write and play. We want to create something tangible, something our audience can relate to. That’s what we are about.” Drummer, Jonathan Smith, adds, “Our band’s name, Days Difference, is the idea that everyone should live each day like its their last. Live life to the fullest. Don’t regret not pursuing what you really love. Take risks, jump at challenges.”
I’ve downloaded all of the MP3’s here ( bottom of the page, the Free Music Archive ) but now the fantastic Big Head Todd is posting live MP3’s as podcasts.
They’ve moved the Free music archive that was located on the mp3s page but in an effort to simplify the website and make it less confusing they’ve added it to this new page.
So now you can still download the great free alternative tracks and tracks you can’t anywhere else ( I like Family Situation and Halo ) but you can also download all of this great live music or even subscribe to the podcast.
Acoustic or electric, solo or side project; Jerry Garcia was prolific during his breaks from the Grateful Dead. Between 1972 and 1982, Garcia recorded five historic studio albums and jammed with a revolving cast of musicians in the Jerry Garcia Band.
Rhino is releasing a new 2 disc set with the first-ever compilation spotlighting Garcia’s solo work.
While some of it like Run For The Roses highlights everything that could go wrong when Garcia went into the studio the vast majority of this 2 Disc Set shows what happened when Garcia was at top form creating a unique flavor of Americana.
Birdsong and The Wheel highlight was was amazing about the album of the same name, and “Rubin And Cherise and Cats Under The Stars gives an excellent account of the songs from that album of the same name. Let It Rock gives you his version of Chuck Berry Rock-n-roll and Russian Lullaby seems to me to be a foreshadowing of what is coming from Garcia in his later years.
As with his work with the Dead, the live disc is hard to evaluate because many of us have favorite versions of all these songs from other live discs ( or bootlegs for that matter ).
Welcome to cowpunk week at RoxorBlog - I would have never guessed that I would be writing about Old 97’s and Willie Nelson in the same week - but - another great new release from Rhino makes it necessary.
Hit by a Train features 18 of the Old 97’s Best Songs From the Band’s First Five Studio Albums, Plus Singles, and Live Tracks released between 1994 and 2001.
Included: “Timebomb,” “Jagged,” “Murder (Or A Heart Attack),” “Rollerskate Skinny,” “Four Leaf Clover” (with former X singer Exene Cervenkova) and “Valentine,” an acoustic track featuring Hammond taking a rare turn on lead vocals.
The Listening Party is Here, I’ll do a review if they’ll send me a copy
If you are like me, you just can’t get enough Black Keys. I have been a fan since I first heard the initial feedback of ThinkFreakness way back when. Turns out there are a couple of very cool videos available on their website. Check out the videos for Set You Free and 10 am Automatic here.
Interesting factoid - according to wikipedia the duo’s name comes from an artist friend from Akron with schizophrenia , who used the term “black keys” to describe things he disliked or people he did not trust.
One of the strangest mutations of pop culture is the cover band that only covers songs by a single band - yes I am talking about the tribute band.
From Neil Deal ( a Neil Young and Crazy Horse tribute band ) to Mini Kiss ( YOU wanted the littlest, you got the littlest… ) the world is replete with musicians so obsessed with their heros that they cover them day in and day out. You’ve got 2U, Achtung Babies, and U2Zoo.
DeadHeads are known for their ability to identify the year of a bootleg by listening to just a few notes. But for even the most “dead”icated listener, the band’s 1976 New Year’s Eve concert presents a genuine challenge. Rarely does any Dead show display the essence of several distinct periods of their sound, but this release contains the best elements of three or four clearly defined eras, and the sum of the parts adds up to one of the most interesting and inspired concerts of the band’s 30-year performing career.
The three-disc set includes more than 180 minutes of music capturing the Grateful Dead playing in their Bay Area backyard at the peak of the group’s live prowess and just a few months before the release of the band’s ninth studio album, Terrapin Station.
In the best news I’ve gotten today “The Search” - the new album from Son Volt, is set for release on March 6. By all accounts The Search is the band’s most daring and diverse album yet. The follow-up to 2005’s acclaimed ‘Okemah and the Melody of Riot,’ ‘The Search’ is a departure from the band’s alt-country laden records, employing an exceptional variety of sounds, melodies, and arrangements.
“Instrumentally, the electric guitar was the focus of the last record ‘Okemah’, but for ‘The Search‘ we wanted to try something new, ” says songwriter Jay Farrar. “This time, we utilized different instrumentation to fit each song — from guitar pedal loops to various keyboard sounds to horns.”
Whew! It’s been quite awhile since R.E.M released any sort of album. What took so long? Who knows! Their first album in nearly four years, Accelerate is a total rock victory for the band. Accelerate is the first album by R.E.M. absent Bill Berry who quit in 1997. When the popular drummer left the band, singer Michael Stipe was quoted as saying that R.E.M. had become a “three-legged dog” with Berry’s departure. Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck and bassist Mike Mills have continued as the dynamic trio and kept R.E.M. alive.
If you are like me, you just can’t get enough Black Keys. I have been a fan since I first heard the initial feedback of ThinkFreakness way back when. Turns out there are a couple of very cool videos available on their website. Check out 
