Category Archives: music

music

Miley to host the MTV VMA’s, Taylor Swift leads the nominations…

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Admittedly, I still kind of watch the MTV VMA’s but for the only reason… I watch for laughs only. Even though MTV is not good anymore like it used to be… I still tune in to the MTV VMA’s just for comedy material. The VMA’s used to be good in the old days but these days the VMA’s are crap. The VMA’s used to be good in the 80’s and 90’s when the hair metal and grunge movement took over but now the VMA’s are obviously about Rap & Pop music.

Sometimes I just find it amusing seeing half naked pop stars on stage lip syncing and having dancers all over. It’s gonna get worse this year, I see. With Beyonce, Taylor Swift, Rihanna, Nicki Minaj is gonna be all over it.

http://www.mtv.com/news/2219077/2015-vma-nominations/

Now you know why Taylor Swift changed her direction to pop music, right? I think her labels urged her to change her genre to pop with the album “1989” so award shows can ram her down our throats even more. Taylor is talented and I dig her music myself but I believe she is overhyped though and the industry is obsessed with her for sure.

One thing I’m noticing is that Beyonce and Taylor are on a few categories together. I wouldn’t be surprised that Beyonce will win everything instead of Taylor just to keep Kanye happy.

Kanye is not nominated for anything this year but he’s probably still gonna be involved. He’s probably gonna perform or present an award or both. He’ll definitely be there though. I have a feeling the whole Kardashian clan will be there too. They’re probably gonna get Bruce (Caitlyn) Jenner to present an award to somebody.

Usually every year in the VMA’s, something controversial happens just to get the world talking and debating about it as a ploy for more ratings. I wonder what’s gonna happen this year? Last year Miley did the twerk, what is she gonna do this time?

Kev

movies, music

Sam Mendes says “Spectre” theme song is completed and will be revealed soon…

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For each 007 theme song, they usually have some big mainstream artist sing the opening title theme. Who’s the artist gonna be for this film? For “Skyfall” they had Adelle sing the main theme which earned her an Oscar. Sam is being very secretive on the artist and won’t tell us who it is. So far no leaks about who the artist is gonna be so they did a good job keeping it from us. The artist must be a huge surprise.

Hopefully the artist won’t be Lady Gaga, Katy Perry or Rihanna.

Spectre Will ‘Probably’ be Sam Mendes’ Final Bond Film, Theme Song Completed

I can’t wait for “Spectre”, though. I’ve seen every Bond film and looking forward to this one too.

Kev

music

Started listening to Motorhead on Apple Music…

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I’ve always respected the hell out of Lemmy Kilmister and Motorhead. “Ace of Spades” is one of the greatest records of all time. I just listened to that record again yesterday on Apple Music and forgot how amazing it is. I plan on catching up with the rest of their albums in their discography so I’m just listening to a little bit at a time. I’ve also listened to their latest record, “Aftershock” which is really good as well. Right now as I type this, I’m listening to their 2010 record, “The World Is Yours”. I love Motorhead, man. Their music is great ’cause they mix hard rock, punk and blues together. They’re mostly blues sounding, though. Motorhead has been around for so long and they’re still together too! Still releasing albums and touring full time. They’ve been around since the 70’s and still going.

Motorhead just recorded a new album called “Bad Magic” which will get released in August so looking forward to that record as well. Motorhead is a genius band and Kilmister is a rock god for sure.

Lemmy is almost 70 and it looks like his health is not at it’s best but he keeps rockin’ anyway. Yet another band worthy for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and it’s insane they’re not in yet!

Kev

music

Reggae Gold 2015 album cover… is it just me or is this album cover sexy as hell???

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I take a look at Itunes this week to see what’s new in the Itunes store and on the front page appeared this album cover at the top of Itunes. it immediately caught my eye as I’m sure it did the same to a lot of men out there. The album cover is pretty sexy as hell, in my opinion. Black chick looking hot on the cover.

Whatever it takes to sell an album, I guess. I’m sure people don’t listen to Reggae music much and I’m sure nobody heard any of the artists on this album before so they put a hot black chick on the cover to give it more attention.

I do enjoy reggae music sometimes but I’ll have to try to give this album a listen myself.

Kev

music

Blur, one of the greatest rock bands in the UK??? I think so!

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Last week, I took some time to listen to all of Blur’s albums in their discography. I’ve been a longtime fan of this band. The only albums I’ve heard by Blur over the years was “Parklife” and their 1997 self titled album with the hit song, “Song 2” on it. I decided to listen to the rest of their albums and all 8 Blur albums are really great. They’re really great songwriters. Their music can get pretty tight and unique.

I even listened to their new album, “The Magic Whip” a couple of times which is a really good record. You should check it out yourself. “The Magic Whip” is definitely one of the best new records of this year. I heard all 8 of their albums, thanks to Apple Music.

I’m sure you’ve heard of Blur before but you’ve probably only heard their songs on the radio, the internet or have seen their videos. You should listen to their records too. The singer has a good voice and I dig their guitar playing as well.

Blur rocks.

Kev

music

Bruce Springsteen plays surprise two hour bar show in New Jersey…

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The Boss maybe taking a break from the E Street band at this time but he decided to make a surprise appearance at a small bar in New Jersey called, The Wonder Bar. Musician Joe Gruschecky had a gig there and all of a sudden he invited a surprise special guest.

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/bruce-springsteen-plays-surprise-two-hour-bar-show-in-new-jersey-20150719

Some of you may find this a little strange but before Springsteen got big and famous, he was just like the rest of us local musicians. When the Boss first started rockin’ in bands, he started playing in small bars where only a few people would show up. So fame and fortune didn’t happen for him over night for sure. He came a long way to get where he is today.

Why did he accept this gig at the Wonder Bar?

Probably because since the E Street Band is on a break or something, he probably couldn’t stand sitting around and doing nothing so he took upon the opportunity since he was free. He just wanted to play again.

Kev

music

Joe Satriani… finally finished listening to the rest of his discography…

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How did I get into Joe Satriani’s music? Well, let me tell ya a little story. Back when I first started playing guitar 20 years ago, there was a guy who used to own this little bookstore in my hometown of Greenwich. Well, the bookstore owner happened to be an expert guitar player and I hired him to start teaching me how to play guitar to help get me started ’cause I didn’t know where to get lessons. This guy wasn’t much of a teacher either and he was willing to teach me beginner stuff. Well, the guy’s bookstore had a small CD section where he was selling CD’s. I was browsing the CD section of his little store and one day he came up to me grabbed a CD and handed it to me. It had a cool cover on it with a photo of the Silver Surfer on the cover and the album was Joe Satriani’s “Surfing with The Alien”. My guitar teacher says, “You should check this out. Every guitar player should listen to this kind of music when you start”. So I said sure and bought the album as he reccomended. Well, that album “Surfing With the Album” is when it all started for me. That album is such a masterpiece, I’ve been a fan of Joe Satriani ever since.

Over the years, I would try to catch up with Joe’s music but I only bought like 4 or 5 of his albums on CD. Then when Itunes and Apple Music came around, I started to listen to the rest of his albums. Just finished listening to the rest of his discography today. This morning I listened to three Satch albums: “Black Swans and Wormhole Wizards”, “Super Colossal” and “Time Machine”.

All of Joe’s albums are really really good; however, three of his best albums in his career are “Surfing with the Alien”, “The Extremist” and “Strange Beautiful Music”. Nothing will ever top “Surfing” although “The Extremist” came pretty close.

Joe has a new album coming out next Friday called, “Shockwave Supernova” and looking forward to checking that out as well. I’ve been a long time Joe Satriani fan and still am today. I like how he makes his albums sound different. He’s always going different directions. He’s not just shred music, he makes his music sounds like actual songs… his lead guitar playing is the one doing the singing. His lead guitar is the lead singer. That’s why I love listening to him. Joe Satch is a genius and a hero of mine. Got the opportunity to see him live in concert once when he opened for Deep Purple. Plus, Joe seems like a super nice guy and there’s no ego in him at all.

Kev

music

Neil Young will yank his music off streaming services… I think he’s still living in the past…

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Neil Young has been a long time critic of today’s “sound quality” in music so it’s no surprise that he will whine and bitch about the sound quality of streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music. This inspired Neil to create his own MP3 player called, PONO.

Ya know, when Neil complains about today’s sound quality in music… after thinking about it a while, I think he’s still living in the past. Hey NEIL! Get over yourself dude, it’s called “technology”! I really believe he’s still living the past. Is there something wrong with Neil’s ears? After thinking about it, I think today’s sound quality is perfectly fine. I think there is something wrong with Neil’s ears as I can recall that he said he had “tinnitus” many times in interviews. Maybe if he didn’t have “tinnitus”, he would appreciate today’s sound quality better. I think he’s still living in the past ’cause I believe he still hears music in a “vinyl” kind of way, ya know? I think that’s what it is.

I think the sound quality is fine and Apple does give you the option to improve the sound quality yourself by using the Equalizer. I just believe Neil doesn’t understand the way music works today since he’s “old school” and still living in the 60’s.

He thinks he’s doing this as a way to make his fans “happy” but he isn’t. If you read some of the comments, he’s angering a lot of fans and many disagree with him. I disagree with him too.

Oh well, as I said in a post before… when you make something new in the music industry, it’s not gonna make everyone happy. It’s gonna upset a few artists for sure and like the old saying goes, “You can’t please everybody”.

At least Lars Ulrich of Metallica came out and said he appreciates “streaming services”:

http://loudwire.com/metallica-lars-ulrich-music-streaming-debate/

I think Neil needs to get over himself. He’s talented, a legend and all but I think he’s an asshole and an egomaniac sometimes. I think today’s sound quality is fine, he’s full of it.

Kev

music

Music I’ve been listening to on Apple Music…

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I’ll have to admit that I find Apple Music streaming service quite addicting. I’ve been listening to it for quite a lot over the past week.

Lately I’ve been listening to all of Blur’s albums. You know that rock band from UK who does songs like “Song 2”, “Girls & Boys”, etc. I’ve listened to most of their albums including their new album, “The Magic Whip” which is really good! I love Blur. I dig their sound and they write good tunes.

I’ve also listened to Janet Jackson’s first two albums that she made in the 80’s and those are good albums too. Yeah, I dig Janet’s music, always had.

Last night, other than listening to Lana Del Rey’s two albums, I’ve also listened to two Deep Purple albums: “Machine Head” and “Perfect Strangers”. Both of those Deep Purple albums are classics.

Earlier this morning, I just listened to Carcass’s latest record, “Surgical Steel” that they released in 2013. I like metal and always wanted to check out Carcass. Their music is enjoyable and listenable.

That’s all for now. So far so good, Apple Music is awesome and I think it’s gonna be a game changer for the music industry. Streaming services could kill the Compact Disc for good and pretty soon record labels will be forced to release albums over the internet. How will artists get paid for their music when the Compact Disc era finally ends? Well artists can get paid from the Itunes store and they can get paid with their share from the Apple Music subscriptions. They’ll get paid by Pandora and Spotify too. So no worries folks, major label bands still can get rich with their music even if Compact Discs disappear completely.

Apple changed music history with Itunes, they’ll do the same again with Apple Music. I think Apple did a good job with it.

Kev

music

Think I’m in love with Lana Del Rey now, listened to “Born To Die” and “Ultraviolence” last night…

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After finally getting around to checking out Lana Del Rey’s music last night, I think I’m in love with her now. Yes, she’s pop music but like I said in a post before, I’m not totally against pop music ’cause I actually dig some of it. Lana Del Rey’s music is very very good. Loved both of those albums, “Born To Die” and “Ultraviolence”. Her songs are pretty powerful and intense. I love her singing voice too. This is how today’s pop music is suppose to sound, in my opinion. Even though, “Born To Die” is a really good album, I love, “Ultraviolence” a lot more, though.

One thing though, she is loved by most liberals in America. Why do liberals love her so much? I would think the only reason is that she had one of her videos where she played a lesbian in it and liberals immediately assumed she’s all for “equality”. Ya know, maybe that was just a character for a video? So because she played a lesbian on a video doesn’t mean she is one or she maybe all for equality. Maybe she just wanted to send a message with the song and the video? From the looks of things, it seems that Lana is more conservative than liberal. Sure, she hasn’t went public with her political views yet but you can tell what her political views maybe just by listening to her songs. Her song “National Anthem” is a big clue that she maybe conservative. She’s also very religious too so that’s another clue that she maybe conservative.

Anyhow, I’m glad I finally got into Lana’s music ’cause she’s very good. She’s better than most pop singers. I can deal with her than Miley, Lady Gaga and Katy Perry. Lana’s music is more enjoyable and likeable. I know I’m late getting into Lana’s music but late is better than never.

One of my favorite tunes by her is “Shades of Cool”. See video below.

Kev