Glide Magazine...

While surfing yesterday, I ran across a good little nugget called "Glide". Every month they post a selected live concert in MP3 form for free. One month it was a show from WILCO, this month it's Yonder Mountain String Band. They have an eclectic collection of archived live shows from Neil Young, moe, Pearl Jam, etc... I downloaded the WILCO show and the quality was alright, not soundboard, but alright. The Neil Young show was the same way. It's definitely worth checking out if you like live music. The link is:

• Glidemagazine.com

Not only do they have free downloads of different shows, they have many features, reviews, etc... on bands that don't get features in the mainstream rock press.

"The Hand That Feeds" - NIN

He's back! In my email this morning I received the link to the new single that's being released on Itunes by Nine Inch Nails (or if you prefer Trent Reznor). It's called "The Hand That Feeds" and I have to say it's a great little pop song. What's most surprising to me is the potential for radio airplay. It's not as dark and angry as his previous work by a long shot. It's going to be very accessible to the people who aren't very familiar with NIN and it's got a great beat. It's really quite surprising when you listen to this and then go back and listen to something like "Reptile" from "The Downward Spiral". That song was very 90's and this song sounds like it could be an outtake that was written in the 80's. I really like the single and hope it's a sign of what the whole record sounds like. This will probably turn off some of the more hardcore NIN fans that wish Mr. Reznor would get back to his "Industrial" roots (I can hear the whining on the message boards already), but I liked it and it should be interesting to see how well people respond to the album titled "With Teeth".

"Frances The Mute" - The Mars Volta - A Review

Every once in a while a band rises from the ashes of it's previous incarnation and becomes a lot more interesting and just a better band in general. The Mars Volta is such a band. Unlike a band like Zwan for example, (which consisted of two former members of the Smashing Pumpkins, releases an album, then implodes), The Mars Volta consists of two former members of the band At The Drive In, releases their second album, and currently appear poised to take over the indie rock scene and swallow it whole. This album is impossible to categorize. Personally I hear elements of everything from Syd Barrett era Pink Floyd to Rush to the Desperado movie soundtrack to Hendrix and everything in between. The highlight on this album isn't the gorgeous single currently getting heavy airplay on MTV2, "The Widow" (as great as that song is), it's definitely the Salsa/Hendrix rave up "L'Via L'Viaquez". This song contains some of the most fiery guitar work (by underrated Omar Rodriguez-Lopez) I've heard in a long time, and you wish they would get more self indulgent in this aspect of the album as they have everywhere else. The song cycle is a loose theme of an orphan searching for his parents (band member Jeremy Ward found a diary of an orphan in the backseat of a car while working as a repo man, providing the inspiration for the record. Ward died in 2003 of a drug overdose). This record is quite long clocking in at well over seventy minutes (Cassandra Gemini clocks in at 32:32 itself with it's five movements), but it's worth every minute. Intense, burning, weird, dark, self absorbed in the best possible sense and immensely rewarding it is. 5


1 = Don't purchase in the $1.00 bin at your used record store. Avoid like a plague.
2 = Only if you're desperate for new music. You need it like a hole in the head.
3 = An okay buy, probably just download the tracks you want from I-Tunes.
4 = Buy new the next time you're out and about. A fully satisfying record.
5 = Masterpiece, run and buy today!

Official Website



• MarsVolta.com

The Current Records Spinning In My Various Devices..

1) John Hiatt - "Anthology" - The second best anthology I own, (next to "Just Another Band From East L.A. by Los Lobos). The closest thing to a box set by this true classic in american music.



2) A Perfect Circle - "Mer De Noms" - A good rock record by the Pumpkins former guitar tech, Billy Howerdel and Tool's lead singer Maynard James Keenan.



3) Duke Ellington - "Masterpieces by Ellington" - I just recently discovered Duke Ellingtons music thanks to the Ken Burns "Jazz" series on PBS. (If you want proof that public television is still relevant, look no further than this series).



4) At The Drive In - "Relationship Of Command" - A great rock record, whatever you want to categorize them in. They no longer exist, but two of the members went on to form The Mars Volta. Check out their new album, "Frances The Mute".



5) Grace - "The Legacy Edition" - See previous post.

Grace - The Tenth Anniversary

"Love, anger, depression, joy... and Zeppelin" -Jeff Buckley

When Jeff Buckley first appeared on the music scene in the early 90's he scored a modest hit with the song "Last Goodbye" from his debut release "Grace". This was in large part due to heavy MTV rotation, word of mouth among music fans, and the simple fact that he had created one of the most inspiring and beautiful debut records in the history of recorded music. "Grace" has been recently repackaged and re-released as a double CD/DVD set by Columbia records and Sony music. This set includes the original "Grace" album, with no changes other than a remastering. Disc two is a set of previously unavailable rarities and B-sides from the "Grace" sessions that took place at Bearsville Studio in Woodstock, New York. Also included in this set is a DVD companion with a documentary on the recording of "Grace", (including interview footage from Jeff himself), and all the music videos from said album. This newly expanded edition also includes the sought after rarity "Forget Her", which was pulled from the original album in favor of "So Real". After purchasing this set for myself, I sat down for a full listening and viewing. The standout tracks are "Grace", a cover of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah", (which after hearing a million times I'm still inspired by), and "Lover, You Should've Come Over" with it's haunting images of funeral mourners in the rain, lost love, and kingdoms for kisses. The second disc is pretty much what you expect, the songs are good, not great, with the exception of "Forget Her" which is as strong as anything on the original. The true treat here is the DVD with the making of documentary and the music videos. (It also includes a discography of official releases, pre and posthumous).The footage of Jeff in the studio and the interviews are worth the price of the disc alone to any fan. Although upon watching it I realized just how sad it was that he was taken so early. Selfishly for his music, but also as an inspiration for future artists. In the years following his death many comments have been passed back and forth about what a great person and artist we've lost among other musicians and fans. I certainly concur. Rolling Stone gave "Grace" a spot on it's "500 Greatest Albums" issue, and It certainly deserves it.

Official Website and Biography



• Jeff Buckley.com