What are you listening to, right now................
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This is a surprise from left field...<br />
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[QUOTE][B][SIZE=4]Exclusive: Metallica and Lou Reed Join Forces on New Album[/SIZE][/B]<br />
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It was an improbable match: [URL="http://www.rollingstone.com/music/artists/lou-reed"]Lou Reed[/URL]'s cutting-monotone voice and explicit stories of desire and despair, lashed to [URL="http://www.rollingstone.com/music/artists/metallica"]Metallica[/URL]'s apocalyptic charge. It is now a perfect fit. In a recent rapid series of sessions at Metallica's studio north of San Francisco, the New York king of avant-rock and the world's bestselling thrash-metal band have recorded a new studio album together that is unlike any either artist has made before. The record, not yet titled, features 10 songs composed by Reed with significant arrangement contributions by the band that suggest a raging union of his 1973 noir classic, [I]Berlin[/I], and Metallica's '86 crusher,[I]Master of Puppets[/I]. <br />
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"A marriage made in heaven," Reed says in his first interview about the project, in the studio lounge during a break. "I knew it from the first day we played together: 'Oh, man, this is perfection, right in front of me.' " <br />
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"I don't think we've ever felt this free," Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich says, sitting next to Reed on a couch. "There's nothing that's totally outside of the boundary for us, nothing that feels like 'Oh, what happens if we go there?' The strength of us" – he gestures at Reed – "is it feels like we cannot land on a wrong place." <br />
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"They're bringing Metallica, with all that power," Reed confirms. "And because they're pretty sophisticated, wherever I go, they're still with me." <br />
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Reed and Metallica first played together in October 2009, at the 25th Anniversary Rock and Roll Hall of Fame concerts in New York. Ulrich, singer-guitarist James Hetfield, guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Robert Trujillo backed Reed on two of his classic songs. <br />
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"We knew from then," Reed says, "that we were made for each other." He and the band first planned to cut an album of his older material, "fallen jewels that no one remembered," as Reed puts it. That changed a week before Reed showed up at Metallica's studio. He called the band, proposing a record of songs he'd written for [I]Lulu[/I], a theatrical production of stories by the German author Frank Wedekind, directed by Robert Wilson and currently running in Berlin. <br />
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"Lars and I listened to the stuff," Hetfield says of Reed's demos, "and it was like, 'Wow, this is very different.' It was scary at first, because the music was so open. But then I thought, 'This could go anywhere.' " Metallica started writing parts built from vocal rhythms and electronic patterns on the demos. <br />
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The result is at once unpredictable and viciously tight. "Pumping Blood" opens with a drone that breaks into a crunching march, goes into speed-metal gear and breaks into free-fall sections – all over seven minutes, cut live in one take. Another track, "Mistress Dread," features Reed singing across a relentless staccato riff played at manic velocity. "It doesn't feel like we're his backup band," Hammett claims. "It feels like we're a different band, in a situation we've never been in before." And, Trujillo notes, "it's making us a better band." <br />
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Ulrich says the album is "90 percent" finished. But there are no release plans yet. Reed does not have a record deal, and Metallica are no longer on Warner Bros. "We are free to go wherever," Ulrich says. "I'm obviously psyched for people to hear this, in whatever way we feel is right." <br />
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Hetfield has one condition. "I told Lou I want to be there when people hear it," he says, grinning. "I want to see their faces."<br />
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[URL]http://www.rollingstone.com/music/blogs/alternate-take/exclusive-metallica-and-lou-reed-join-forces-on-new-album-20110615[/URL][/QUOTE]<br />
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[video=youtube;tPHbbvQEA1E]
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You know, man, when I was a young man in high school<br />
you believe in or not I wanted to play football for the coach<br />
And all those older guys<br />
they said he was mean and cruel, but you know<br />
wanted to play football for the coach<br />
They said I was to little too light weight to play line-backer<br />
so I say I'm playing right-end<br />
wanted to play football for the coach<br />
'Cause, you know some day, man<br />
you gotta stand up straight unless you're gonna fall<br />
then you're gone to die<br />
And the straightest dude<br />
I ever knew was standing right for me all the time<br />
So I had to play football for the coach<br />
and I wanted to play football for the coach -
It's grand final week, so the metal is out!<br />
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[video=youtube;LlqY89pkqn4]
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[video=youtube;9TDgkOOlbwg] -
Thought I'd share some of my favourite albums of 2011 so far.<br />
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Raphael Saadiq - "Stone Rollin". Great old school Motown sound. Love it.<br />
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[video=youtube;dfJe_Cl6CpU]
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Destroyer - "Kaputt". Mellow 80s style pop.<br />
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[video=youtube;Pf-ONpLXzGs]<br />
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Rural Alberta Advantage - "Departing". Indie rock.<br />
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[video=youtube;r_E8tn-5WfM]<br />
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Action Bronson - "Dr Lecter". I like the JayZ and Kanye collaboration but like this a bit more as far as rap goes.<br />
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[video=youtube;RM8U-6JVsCI]<br />
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Should be something there for everybody! -
[video=youtube;UIVe-rZBcm4]
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Does this ever get played at Eden Park? (It should be.) -
If life imitates art, for the next couple months I'll be fearing that Buzzcocks song I posted.<br />
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[video=youtube;CCDfWoKfepM] -
Listened a few times to the new album from Red Hot Chili Peppers called I'm With You.<br />
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Even though it's 'radio friendly' and doesn't sound like their break through album from 20 years ago (Blood Sugar), I really like it for what it is. It does lack the strong bass guitar riffs of old. Anthony Keidis has written some really strong songs. I can happily listen to the album from start to finish (which I often can't). -
[video=youtube;HFyXFNeZ3zs]
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Can't never get enough of The Carrie Nations. (This version is the safe censored edit.) -
[video=youtube;UkGRLat26j0]
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Almost 20 years old. Still sounds fresh. -
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[quote name='NTA']For Father's Day got the latest Fooeys (Wasting Light) which of course is on high rotation for me. The other album I got on recommendation from a friend: Them Crooked Vultures. Liking the blend of 70s-inspired rock thrown into a blender with FF and QOTS.[/QUOTE]<br />
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Foo Fighters album is good stuff, until it gets thrashed to death by Hauraki and The Rock.<br />
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Them Crooked Vultures is a bloody solid album too. Can easily listen to it from start to finish. Saw them in Wellington when they toured here too, was a fantastic show. Naturally John Paul Jones got the biggest cheer. Was great too see Dave Grohl back behind the drums too. -
[quote name='NTA']For Father's Day got the latest Fooeys (Wasting Light) which of course is on high rotation for me. The other album I got on recommendation from a friend: Them Crooked Vultures. Liking the blend of 70s-inspired rock thrown into a blender with FF and QOTS.[/QUOTE]<br />
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I really like "Wasting Light" it's a solid set of rock songs, as all their albums are. But while some are calling it their best since "The Colour and the Shape" for me it falls down in one area, it doesn't have that 1 or 2 stand out, absolute best-of songs, a "Best of You" a "All My Life" etc. Still pretty awesome though. My tickets for the Sydney show in December are safely tucked away at home.<br />
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For dad's day I got the DVD of their documentary "Back and Forth" its a bloody good little rock documentary, from the origins out of the Nirvana drama, through the revolving door of lineups in the late 90s, up to a "Classic Albums" type look at the making of "Wasting Light". Its great, i've watched it twice already. Dave Grohl is a perfectionist who would be tough to work with, especially in the early days. THe story of him re-doing all the drum tracks on "the clour and the shape" behind the drummers back is pretty harsh. -
I would hate to post the 'original' video of this due to overuse of the 80's mullet look but I went to sleep last night listening to my iPod only to wake with this playing and had to listen to it right through. Must be one of the best drum and bass driving riffs around.<br />
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Jaz Coleman is a rather interesting character too. A dual UK and NZ citizen he is an orchestral composer of note having done numerous works for Symphony Orchestras around the world.<br />
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[quote name='Crucial']Jaz Coleman is a rather interesting character too. [/QUOTE]<br />
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He is a total nutter. Get him drinking (he likes the expensive black label Smirnoff, ahem) and you'll hear some amazing stories.<br />
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[quote]A dual UK and NZ citizen [/quote]<br />
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He lives on Great Barrier Island. He married a Kiwi sheila, had a child, they divorced and she returned home. He wanted to stay close to his child.<br />
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[COLOR=#222222][quote name='Allstar']Foo Fighters ... Was great too see Dave Grohl back behind the drums too.[/QUOTE]<br />
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Dave Grohl was the drummer on a Killing Joke album:<br />
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[video=youtube;AF48rtTB-8g]
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Via wiki:<br />
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Also in 2003, Grohl stepped behind the kit to perform on [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_Joke"]Killing Joke[/URL]'s second [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_Joke_2003_(album)"]self-titled album[/URL]. The move surprised some Nirvana fans, given that Nirvana had been accused of stealing the opening riff of "[URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Come_as_You_Are_(Nirvana_song)"]Come as You Are[/URL]" from Killing Joke's 1984 song "Eighties". However, the controversy failed to create a lasting rift between the bands. Foo Fighters covered Killing Joke's "Requiem" during the late 1990s, and were even joined by Killing Joke singer [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaz_Coleman"]Jaz Coleman[/URL] for a performance of the song at a show in New Zealand in 2003.[/COLOR] -
[quote name='red terror'][video=youtube;UkGRLat26j0]
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Almost 20 years old. Still sounds fresh.[/QUOTE]<br />
Nice. I'm a big Malkmus fan but I do keep going back to the Slanted era<br />
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Quite enjoying his latest effort too..<br />
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Been listening to this a lot the past few months on long road trips. Undoubtedly one of the rarest novelty albums in existence - a punk rock concept album. This is the sad hardcore part of the story where the girlfriend overdoses and dies. Simple, epic, beautiful.<br />
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[video=youtube;kTjfl0yhyRk]
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I reckon this All Music Guide intro gets it right. Hard to imagine Nirvana and Pixies without this.<br />
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[QUOTE]In many ways, it's impossible to overestimate the impact of [URL="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/hsker-d-p4532"]Hüsker Dü[/URL]'s [URL="http://www.allmusic.com/album/zen-arcade-r41102"]Zen Arcade[/URL] on the American rock underground in the '80s. It's the record that exploded the limits of hardcore and what it could achieve. [URL="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/hsker-d-p4532"]Hüsker Dü[/URL] broke all of the rules with [URL="http://www.allmusic.com/album/zen-arcade-r41102"]Zen Arcade[/URL]. First and foremost, it's a sprawling concept album, even if the concept isn't immediately clear or comprehensible. More important are the individual songs. ...<br />
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[URL]http://www.allmusic.com/album/zen-arcade-r41102/review[/URL][/QUOTE]
