Friday, December 31, 2021
Happy New Year in Black & White
Friday's Playlist: The Best of 2021
Happy New Year!
As much as I hate seeing time slip away so quickly, I must admit I'm pretty glad to see 2021 coming to an end. I'm sure I'm not alone in thinking I didn't care much for that year. Don't get me wrong, it was no 2020. Don't get me started on that one. But if I had been in a coma for most of 2021 it would have been no big loss for me. Still, there were a few things that didn't totally suck about the year that's about to end. Some of that was the music.
Friday, December 24, 2021
Friday's Playlist: Thank You For Talkin’ To Me Africa
Something a little different this Friday. If the title of this Playlist is lifted off a song by Sly & the Family Stone, the ressemblance ends here. Well, not completely: this Playlist gets plenty funky, too. Especially towards the end.
Friday, December 17, 2021
Friday's Playlist: Unsung Guitar Heroes
Happy Friday!
Are you in the mood for some tasty guitar? Good. For some unfair reason, these cats are not considered royalty. They're not the Claptons, the Becks, the Hendrix, the Pages of rock n'roll. They're not the Charlie Christians, the Wes Montgomerys, the John McLaughlins, the Pat Methenys of jazz. They're not the BB Kings, the Stevie Ray Vaughans, the Guitar Slims of blues.
Friday, December 10, 2021
Friday's Playlist: Robert Quine - Sessions & Contributions
In contrast with the other episodes in our Sessions & Contributions series, this installment doesn't focus on superstars but rather on an unsung hero of rock music.
Although not a household name, Robert Quine was a pioneer guitarist in the punk, post-punk and no-wave genres although calling him that is greatly limiting the breadth of his talents. Free jazz, folk music, avant-garde...
Wednesday, December 8, 2021
Murray Head @ Olympia, Paris - December 8th, 2021
Murray Head has always enjoyed tremendous success in France and his 1976 record Say It Ain't So yielded some of his best known songs, including the hit Say It Ain't So, Joe. So forty-five years after the release of the LP, the Englishman's embarking on a tour where he plays the entire album in sequence. Well, not exactly in sequence: he cleverly starts at song number two, plays the album and then plays the climactic first song of the record, the aforementioned Say It Ain't So, Joe.
Chloe Foy @ Olympia, Paris - December 8th, 2021
Opening for Murray Head, and later joining him as part of his band, is a young British singer songwriter named Chloe Foy. Her first full length album Where Shall We Begin was released last summer. Accompanying herself with a guitar, and aided by another guitarist who would also be part of the main act's band later in the evening, Chloe Foy sang her delicate songs in an angelic, ethereal voice that left the audience spellbound. This is what a support act should always be: a wonderful discovery.
Monday, December 6, 2021
JJ Wilde @ la Maroquinerie, Paris - December 6th, 2021
Canadian rock sensation JJ Wilde is embarking on her first ever European tour, and this is was her first proper concert in France apart a few acoustic promo showcases and radio appearances. Ruthless, the album she released last year, is a great slice of hard driving, good old fashioned rock full of groove and melody.
Friday, December 3, 2021
Friday's Playlist: Madchester and Rave Rockers
This Friday's Playlist focuses on a particular time and place, namely Manchester in the early nineties. Inspired by New Order and similar artists that blended psychedelic pop and electronica, the artists in this Playlist created this specific idiom that is informed equally by rock and rave culture.
Thursday, December 2, 2021
The Black Lips @ Trabendo, Paris - December 2nd, 2021
The reformed bad boys of garage rock have been on a country tangent since the release of their excellent new record Sing in a World That's Falling Apart. But their version of country music is very informed by the seedy, druggy sounds of the Velvet Underground and they end up sounding like murky, punk version of Exile-era Rolling Stones, or Royal Trux attempting Americana, or an even more chaotic version of the Clash. Needless to say, that's a good thing.
Tuesday, November 30, 2021
Steve Hackett & Genesis Revisited @ Salle Pleyel, Paris - November 30th, 2021
While (what's left of) his former band is wrapping things up with one last tour of the world's arenas, the ex-Genesis guitarist is also embarking a nostalgia trek of sorts. But where his erstwhile bandmates concentrate on the hits of their post-Gabriel (and post-Hackett) career, pleasing aging yuppies and soccer grandmas, Steve Hackett is here presenting a veritable prog extravaganza consisting of the very best of his Genesis days as well as a couple of solo pieces.
Monday, November 29, 2021
Ayron Jones @ New Morning, Paris - November 29th, 2021
Rozedale @ New Morning, Paris - November 29th, 2021
Opening for Ayron Jones on his first European concert at the legendary New Morning jazz club was Rozedale, a local duo comprised of a singer and a guitarist.
Friday's
Monday's Playlist: George Harrison: 20 years gone
Hard to believe it's been twenty years since George Harrison passed away. I don't know if he was my favorite Beatle (my ranking changes several times a day) but he released my favorite solo Beatle album. No, I'm not talking about Wonderwall Music...
Friday, November 26, 2021
Friday's Playlist: Prog-Rock Pond Scum
Are you busy right now, or do you have a little time on your hand? And by a little time, I mean THIRTEEN F*CKING HOURS! Because that's how long this playlist lasts.
That's right, it's a behemoth of a playlist. Over seventy tracks. Several hundred musicians. Fifty billion time signatures. Massive, we tell you. Excessive in every way. In that regard, it's coherent with the subject: Progressive Rock.
Friday, November 19, 2021
Friday's Playlist: Power Ballads
Two and a half years ago we gave you a sprawling playlist the wonderful atrocities committed by Hair bands. Well, consider this part two. It's all there: schmaltzy lyrics, syrupy melodies, ham-fisted power chords, cheesy synthesizers...
Friday, November 12, 2021
Friday's Playlist: Shredders
Happy Friday! You know, sometimes you just have forego subtlety completely. Restraint is for the timid. This playlist is ostentatious. It's flash. It's loud. This playlist is about that over-the-top style of guitar playing that was pioneered by Eddie Van Halen: lightning-fast, brash and unapologetic. The players in this playlist don't believe that less is more. They believe that more is not enough.
Saturday, November 6, 2021
Gary Lucas @ Sunset/Sunside, Paris - November 6th, 2021
Journeyman guitarist Gary Lucas is celebrating forty years of a multifaceted career at one of Paris' premier jazz clubs. It is quite a privilege to hear him play and regale us with stories in such a setting. Accompanied by five high-caliber musicians hailing from extremely diverse musical and geographical horizons, the evening was an exquisite blend of jazz, blues, classical and contemporary avant garde.
Friday, November 5, 2021
Listen to the new Jethro Tull song here.
Friday's Playlist: Awesome Bass Solos (pt. 2)
Happy Friday! Almost five months ago we debuted the new Awesome Bass Solos series in our Friday playlists, and finally here is the second episode that is all about that low end.
Right off the bat, a little caveat: these are not necessarily solos exactly. Sometimes it's just a fill, sometimes it's a chorus, sometimes it's an intro, sometimes an interlude. It just means a certain section of the song prominently features the electric bass. So don't get on my case over semantics, ok?
Thursday, November 4, 2021
Listen to U2's new song here.
Monday, November 1, 2021
Check out Porcupine Tree's new song here!
Sunday, October 31, 2021
Friday's Sunday's Playlist: HAPPY HALLOWEEN 2021
CLICK HERE TO CHECK OUT THE 50 BEST HORROR MOVIES YOU'VE NEVER SEEN |
In honor of our favorite holiday, enjoy the ghoulish sounds of our new Halloween playlist. Two years ago we shared a playlist of Halloween-themed rock songs which you can revisit HERE. This year's playlist is comprised of horror movie themes and assorted atrocities!
Friday, October 29, 2021
Friday's Playlist: Great Vocal Performances
This Friday's Playlist compiles some truly breathtaking vocal performances from genres as diverse as soul, jazz, rock, or metal. A lot of these recordings have become classics, but hopefully some might be slightly less obvious.
Saturday, October 23, 2021
The Pineapple Thief @ Élysée-Montmartre, Paris - October 23rd, 2021
The Pineapple Thief had always been one of the most promising so-called Prog bands of the last twenty-some years, and with the arrival of Gavin Harrison in 2016, first as a session drummer then from 2017 a full-time member, the combo from Somerset was catapulted at the head of the heap. Their dramatic, kinetic sound is reminiscent of latter-day Marillion, Radiohead, Mogwai, Archive or Porcupine Tree but they have an identity all of their own thanks to frontman Bruce Soord's sinuous yet memorable melodies.
Friday, October 22, 2021
Friday's Playlist: Just Cool Rock Shit (pt.2)
Friday, October 15, 2021
Wednesday, October 13, 2021
Bob Dylan's Nobel Prize turns five
Sunday, October 10, 2021
Popa Chubby @ Olympia, Paris - October 10th, 2021
New York City's Popa Chubby is a bona fide superstar here in France, and consequently the Olympia is packed to the brim with twelve-bar connoisseurs and guitar aficionados flocking like pentatonic pilgrims to attend the twice-postponed Parisian return of the blues-rock heavyweight.
Friday, October 8, 2021
Friday's Playlist: Mixing Desk Hero: Tom Dowd
Sunday, October 3, 2021
Little Caesar @ Les Étoiles, Paris - October 3rd, 2021
Little Caesar at les Étoiles is our second show since the return of live music after nearly two years of living in suspended animation, with concerts, cinemas, restaurants and travels shut down for most of the world's population, in the same venue where we saw Robert Jon & the Wreck three weeks ago.
Incredibly, this is the band's first Parisian concert in a thirty plus-year career. They've played other French cities before, and lead singer Ron Young did play the capital with his Manic Eden project in the nineties but this is Little Caesar's Parisian debut!
Friday, October 1, 2021
Friday's Playlist: Awesome Guitar Solos (pt. 5)
Listen to the lost Rolling Stones song Troubles A' Comin' here
The Rolling Stones reissue campaign is once again heating up, with Tattoo You now getting the super duper extra deluxe treatment, complete with out-takes, left out tracks and other unnecessary artefacts that fans like me can't wait to spend their hard-earned cash to lap up frantically.
Listen to David Bowie's "new" single here.
Sunday, September 26, 2021
Farewell, Mr. Mayall.
A few days ago, John Mayall announced that he was cancelling most of his upcoming farewell tour dates due to the pandemic and his advancing age. You can find his statement HERE.
Friday, September 17, 2021
Friday's Playlist: Rhythm in Peace, Charlie Watts.
It's been almost four weeks since the beloved drummer passed away. Never a showy musician, Charlie Watts was nonetheless an incredible drummer as evidenced by the numbers in this playlist.
Wednesday, September 15, 2021
Robert Jon & the Wreck @ les Étoiles, Paris - September 14th, 2021
Finally. It had been twenty months since we last set foot in a concert hall (it was at the Zénith and the band was Tenacious D). Tonight we finally ended that dry spell and attended the Parisian return of Robert Jon & the Wreck.
Friday, September 3, 2021
Album Review: Iron Maiden - Senjutsu
Tuesday, August 24, 2021
Rhythm in Peace, Charlie Watts.
Friday, August 6, 2021
Friday's Playlist: Pretty Songs
In contrast to last week's playlist, this Friday's entry focuses on beautiful, delicate songs. No agression, no heavily distorted guitars, no blast beats. A little respite from the brutality of everyday life.
Friday, July 30, 2021
Friday, July 23, 2021
Friday's Playlist: Funny Songs
Friday, July 16, 2021
Friday's Playlist: Happy Birthday Maggot Brain
Friday, July 2, 2021
Friday's Playlist: Awesome Guitar Solos (pt.4)
Friday, June 25, 2021
Friday's Playlist: Awesome Bass Solos (pt.1)
Friday, June 18, 2021
Friday's Playlist: Songs from the Brill Building
The Brill Building is an Art Deco building in New York City, and is famous for having housed a number of music industry offices where composers and lyricists would write the hits of yesteryear. While not rock and roll exactly, these songwriters' impact on popular music in general cannot be overstated.
Friday, January 1, 2021
Friday's Playlist: Happy New Year and Fuck 2020
Finally, the new year is upon us. We all agree that 2020 was shit, and sadly there are no do-overs. So let's wipe the slate clean, shall we? Start fresh. Let's say this year is going to be at least a little better than last year. Can we try that?