So we haven’t posted anything super hardcore in a while. I’m talking about the type of stuff that makes you feel like you just got punched in the face by pure awesome. The kind of music that makes you run faster and jump higher. The stuff that was made by the business end of a kick-ass stick. Well guess what? You’ve just been served. 10 Years has that kick-ass stick.
Figure 1.1
Their new release Feeding the Wolves not only has a manly name, but a manly album cover (see Figure 1.1). Historically I’ve found that if an album has an awesome cover, an awesome name and an awesome artist behind it, you are destined to have something worth its weight in gold. Don’t believe me? Tell that to Michael Jackson’s Thriller or Guns N Roses’ Appetite for Destruction. Yeah, I didn’t think so.
The entire album is a hard-hitting mix of heavy guitar and steel-laden vocals to match. The tracks rarely miss a beat, taking breaks only to show their softer side with powerful ballads (that are not-so-much ballads, I just can’t think of another word to describe them.)
10 Years is currently on the tail-end of the Carnival of Madness tour with the likes of Shinedown, Chevelle, Sevendust, and Puddle of Mudd. But not to worry, they will be headed back out on the road with numerous upcoming tour dates to support the release of their new album.
Buy Feed the Wolves:
LikeWe here at FreshScouts loves us some JJ Grey. We’ve been following his albums since his first release with Alligator records in 2007, have been to numerous festivals to see his amazing headlining southern blues shows, and have essentially been stalking his whereabouts online (in a completely non-creepy way.) So of course, when we saw he was coming out with a new album in August, we were ready. We set up shop outside our local record store and slept there for weeks waiting for the arrival of Georgia Warhorse. After numerous scuffles with the locals and run-ins with the law, we realized that waiting outside a record store weeks before an album comes out is NOT a good idea. You live an you learn I guess.
But the waiting was worth it. JJ Grey & Mofro’s latest release is a soulful blend of down-home raspy vocals, heart-wrenching organ licks and some serious slide guitar. I’ve always said that this man’s albums never do justice to his live shows, but this album definitely gets closer with its more intimate moments. Of course, there may be none more intimate than the track “Slow, Hot & Sweaty”, but I’ll let you be the judge of that.
JJ Grey & Mofro have come a long way since Country Ghetto, but one thing I appreciate is that even though their sound has continued to evolve, they have not strayed away from their original style. They continue to be the same gritty blues band they were 3 years ago (and before.) They form the industry instead of the other way around. Props JJ Grey. Props.
Buy Georgia Warhorse:
I like the girl’s style. Let me just say that.
I’m not necessarily talking about Lissie’s music—which is obviously good or we wouldn’t be talking about her right now—but about the way she’s lived her 28 years of life.
After getting expelled from high school senior year (what must she have done for that to happen?), she got her diploma anyway at an alternative education center in Rock Island, Illinois, where she grew up. Spent two years at Colorado State, then a semester in Paris and finally onto the music business where she’s been ever since.
In 2008 Lenny Kravitz stumbled upon her MySpace page and invited her to open for him on his tour later that year. Now, in August of 2010, she’s finally got her first full album, “Catching a Tiger,” and it’s a doozy.
“Little Lovin’” is probably the most marketable track on the record, but “Record Collector” and “Cuckoo” have great pop potential, too. Lissie’s voice has this smoky, somber tone that sounds like it would be right at home in the 1960s. It’s emotionally charged yet tempered, and the music she runs behind the vocals is light and smooth.
She’d be a helluva live show, I have little doubt, but the album itself is a tight little work of art. Rough beginnings have led to what looks like quite a bit of success, proving once again that the stupid mistakes we make when we’re 17 don’t necessarily have to translate to our adult lives as well.
That’s why I like the girls’ style. It’s just a bonus that the music is so good, too.
Check out “Little Lovin’” here:
And for kicks and giggles, a cover of Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance”:
And grab the album, out today at record stores (online or otherwise) everywhere!
If there’s something—anything—that Tom Morello has ever done in his career that I haven’t fallen completely and madly in love with, then I have no idea what that thing is. Unless he’s murdered kittens at any point in his life. Does anybody know if Tom Morello ever murdered any kittens?
We’ll work under the assumption that he hasn’t and just stick with his work as part of Rage Against the Machine, Audioslave, and most recently, the Street Sweeper Social Club, which releases their new seven-song EP, “Ghetto Blaster,” today. After putting out a full-length record with The Coup’s Boots Riley in 2009, SSSC has come back with a collection of new songs, covers, and a hot remix to “Promenade,” originally featured on the group’s self-titled debut.
Riley is himself a musical legend, and as far as live shows go these two guys know how to make it rain. The two covers on the EP, M.I.A.’s “Paper Planes” and LL Cool J’s “Mama Said Knock You Out,” are on the record by popular demand because they’ve been so successful performing those songs live.
Look, if you’re going to drop ten bucks for seven songs, those seven songs better be damn good, right? These are. Every last one of them. Morello’s creativity on the guitar is unparalleled by anyone in the business today short (maybe) of Jack White. He has done nothing in his life but rock, and the new songs from SSSC are no exception.
Just keep him away from your kittens.
Check out “Paper Planes” here:
And grab the album, out in stores, iTunes, and Amazon today!
I’ve been a fan of Arcade Fire for quite some time now. I was first introduced to them during my formidable years in college when my young mind was being shaped for greatness in the real world. They were probably the first jump I made towards what I would understand to be Indie music (I was young then.) At the time, I never had the chance to read into the band’s history, which it turns out is a shame because their history is actually very interesting.
To start, the band is fronted by husband and wife duo Win Butler and Régine Chassagne. Like REAL husband and wife duo. Not like White Stripes husband and wife duo. It’s like you can hear the love in every one of their songs. It’s quite magical. Secondly, Chassagne used to sing jazz and played the recorder in a pre-Renaissance medieval band. I also used to play the recorder, but not as professionally as him. I’m still training. Thirdly, Butler’s grandfather is legendary swing-era musician Alvino Rey who is credited as being the father of the pedal steel guitar. Crazy right?
The thing that really drew me to this band in the first place is the plethora of sounds you’ll find throughout the albums. In their latest, Suburbs, you’ll find piano, guitar, violin, organ, synthesizer, accordion, washboard, spoons and the jug. Ok, maybe not ALL of those instruments are on the album, but they might play the others in their free time. You don’t know.
Buy The Suburbs:
