Frightened Rabbit – “Head Rolls Off”
This is just a very well put together song. I’m certain they have accents, but it’s the kind of accents that you can’t really tell they’re foreign until you hear them in an interview and you’re like, “Say what?!” But that has nothing to do with the song.
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Mika – “Blame It On The Girls”
Very catchy song, but very unique. This guy is a little off-the-wall, but that’s what makes him fun.
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Muse – “Undisclosed Desires”
FreshScouts featured the new Muse album The Resistance a few months back and this is the second single from the album. It’s a pretty sweet video too.
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LikeWhen I met up with Ari Hest before a concert at a small banquet hall in a hardly noteworthy Illinois/Indiana border town, I was a bit surprised that he was actually there. After all Hest is an artist who, despite having left Columbia Records a couple of years ago, has been playing increasingly bigger venues.
Just a few days before this particular show Hest and his full band had been in Chicago at the new Lincoln Hall, but tonight he was in Danville, Illinois with just his bassist and opener Declan O’Rourke, playing for about fifty people. It was one of the more intimate shows Hest played on his most recent tour, which just wrapped up its American leg, but the owner of the hotel hosting the event is a huge fan and Hest understands it’s not up to him where his listeners reside.
The show, by the way, was fantastic. Unlike some artists, Hest is flawless live. In fact, his voice may be more suited to live shows than it is for recording, as his soulful acoustic set proved.
Before the show, Hest gave Fresh Scouts some of his time considering Tank, KC, and myself have known him for over six years now. We’ve followed his growth and success from the very beginning, and he’s the sort of nice guy you can’t help but root for. Check out the interview (with some snippets of the live show), and make sure you send Ari some love by picking up his “Twelve Mondays” album. It’s a good one.
Check out our recent review of Ari Hest’s “Twelve Mondays”
I believe all world leaders would agree that the solutions to our problems can be found in rock. Wars, famine and economic woes can easily be blown away with the shredding of an electric guitar. Pop rock can’t save us. It’s fun to pass the time, but in the end it just causes more pain. We need real rock. Much thanks to Them Crooked Vultures for stepping up to save mankind.
Note the crooked nature of said vulture.
The trio of Dave Grohl, John Paul Jones and Josh Homme make up the new super group known as Them Crooked Vultures. Prior to this magical union they all served in some major heavy hitting groups. Their musical resume lists Led Zeppelin, Queens of the Stone Age, Nirvana, Eagles of Death Metal and the Foo Fighters. That list is rock. The name Them Crooked Vultures is rock. Their wickedly awesome album art is rock. The only thing that isn’t rock is my repetition of the word rock. But seriously, they rock the rock out of rock. Rock.
Their self-titled album was just released world wide in mid November. Is it a coincidence that the global economy is on a sudden upswing? I think not. The pulse pounding tracks “No One Loves Me & Neither Do I”, “Elephants” and “Scumbag Blues” are the songs that got me out of bed this past week. ”New Fang” (featured below) is the first single and it is gaining rock radio attention.
Now repeat after me. Turn on Them Crooked Vultures. Raise your right hand. Extend your index and pinky fingers to the sky. Place your thumb over your middle two fingers. Thrash your head about. Congratulations. You are on your way to saving the world.
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It boils down to this: few internet personalities are more enjoyable to watch than Ronald Jenkees. His heavy-rimmed, coke-bottle glasses and collection of colorful fedoras don’t even begin to describe his eccentricity, both in terms of his personality and his music. The guy is pure entertainment.
Stylistically he’s somewhere in between hip-hop and techno with splashes of jazz, and even though there aren’t any words to his songs the music itself is almost always packed full of energy and what we in the business call “pizzazz.” It’s pretty easy to figure out that he’s just laying down loops and jamming out on the keyboard, but the formula never seems to get old.
He hasn’t posted a new YouTube video in probably a year, but fans have been qualmed by the release of his most recent album, “Disorganized Fun,” which came out in July and is full of the usual Jenkees madness. It’s almost a shame that some big-name rapper isn’t filling out his instrumentals because there’d be some bona fide hits in the mix of what he does. Whether it’s his remix of the “Rocky” theme song or the track he put down for the podcast lead-in for ESPN.com’s Bill Simmons. That one’s called “Derty” because, let’s face it, it’s a damn derty track. In a good way.
We’ve grown to appreciate his “Hey YouTubes!” introduction almost as much as his music, and even though for the life of us we can’t figure out whether this dude is for real or if he’s just running some sort of gimmick on all of us, it really doesn’t matter. The guy puts down sick music, and as far as amateur jamming pianists are concerned he’s got to be among the best.
We aren’t going to get into the habit of pimping “artists” from the online video arena because, for the most part, we haven’t been particular impressed with that batch of artists. But Jenkees is an exception. Good music is good music, so matter how goofy the musician might be. If Lyle Lovett could do it, the sky’s the limit for our boy R.J.
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Most humans have what medical doctors call a “voice box”. I don’t want to get all technical on you, but this is where singing comes from. Still with me? Ok, well Tom Waits doesn’t have a “voice box”. In its place he has a cement mixer filled with rusty nails, broken bottles, cement blocks and malt liquor. When he opens his mouth and that thing gets a churning it is like nothing you are currently listening to.
Most people know of Tom Waits because of other singers that have covered his songs. That list includes Rod Stewart, Bruce Springsteen, and more recently, Scarlett Johansson. Waits has been writing, performing and touring for over 35 years. Many in the music industry identify Waits as a pioneer and trailblazer. So why isn’t he more universally known? Good question. Well, Waits is known for approaching music his own way. His distinctively unique guttural growl of a voice doesn’t lend itself well to top 40 radio. His quirky on and off stage persona is sometimes hard for folks to understand. Even with all of that weighing in against him, Waits has a huge cult following and his musical influences run deep.
The beauty of Glitter and Doom Live is that it showcases his small 2008 U.S. tour. Waits is not known for regular touring, so this live album gives many a glimpse into what his live shows are like. My favorite tracks are “Lucinda / Ain’ Goin’ Down To The Well No Mo’”, “Falling Down” and “Make It Rain”.
Prepare yourself for something fresh. Hop right in the cement mixer with Tom Waits and take a tumble.
Promotional video for Waits’ Glitter and Doom Live album
Waits’ “Falling Down”
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