Neil Young Recording New Album With Crazy Horse

Neil Young is recording a new album with Crazy Horse, according to a post on Young’s fansite Thrasher’s Wheat – and now confirmed by Rolling Stone: ”It’s looking good,” a representative for Young says. According to the fansite report, Young shared the news over the weekend at the Slamdance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, at an event with Jonathan Demme to promote their new movie Journeys. The audience “erupted in applause” when Young said that he was working with Crazy Horse again. Multiple fans subsequently posted on Crazy Horse drummer Ralph Molina’s Facebook wall to ask if the news was true. His response: “Yes!”   Read more...

Heartless Bastards

Brimming with confidence and creativity, Arrow sees Heartless Bastards pushing their distinctive sound forward with their most eclectic, energetic collection thus far. The album – the Austin, Texas-based band’s first release with Partisan Records – is marked as ever by singer/guitarist/songwriter Erika Wennerstrom’s remarkable voice, at turns primal and pleading, heartfelt and heroic. Songs like “Parted Ways” and the searing “Low Low Low” expertly capture the Bastards’ multi-dimensional rock in all its strength and spirit. Following upon the difficult introspection of 2009′s acclaimed third album, The Mountain, Arrow stands as a powerhouse new beginning for Heartless Bastards.

“The Mountain was me going through some things after being in a relationship for nine years,” Wennerstrom says. ”This album is kind of like me being comfortable again.”   Read more...

Exclusive Preview of Upcoming Paul McCartney Album!!!

It takes about 10 seconds — and a glance at the album’s title — to recognize that Kisses on the Bottom (out Feb. 7) is not going to rank among the major recorded works of Paul McCartney’s life. A collection dominated by breezily paced standards, it announces itself as a good-natured trifle with its album-opening cover of “I’m Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter.” In addition to containing the line which gives Kisses on the Bottom its goofy title (in the tamest possible context, of course), the track is awash in the trappings of light vocal jazz: Instruments aren’t so much played as brushed against as unassumingly as possible.

Click here to get an advance listen of the whole album.

Ana Tijoux

On her stunning album 1977, Ana Tijoux embarked on an introspective journey. She talked about being born in France to Chilean parents in exile during the Pinochet regime, and struggling to make it as a female MC upon moving to Chile as a teenager. While Tijoux’s songs were deeply personal, she never sounded self-important — partly because her story echoes those of so many Chileans (and Latin Americans in general) who were raised far from home, and who were told scary stories of distant political monsters by parents fleeing brutal dictatorships.   Read more...

Howler-America Give Up

Fresh-faced and ingratiating, indie-rock newcomer Howler hails from the ’80s punk-rock hotbed of Minneapolis. But there is little evidence that frontman Jordan Gatesmith cut his teeth on legendary local fare such as the Replacements and Husker Du. Instead, Howler uncannily channels millennial-era Strokes at its most CBGB-obsessed, bringing to bear all of the singalong choruses, simple backbeats and pouting vocal delivery that first elevated that band to stardom. In this regard, Howler’s handsomely recorded debut, “America Give Up,” occasionally feels like a pastiche of a pastiche, one heavy on hooks and attitude but a little light on substance and originality. That said: It’s only rock-and-roll, and Gatesmith is only 19.Album opener “Beach Sluts” weds a slow-burning riff to a propulsive stop-start Cal-punk beat reminiscent of vintage Descendents. The song’s title and accompanying reports of “drinking in the afternoon” are characteristic of the group’s genially delinquent preoccupations. The driving “This One’s Different” exemplifies Howler’s inarguable capacity for mainlining a catchy melody at a frantic tempo, but it fails to live up to the promise of its title — the song is interchangeable with many tracks on the record. However, exciting hints about where the band may evolve are in evidence on “Too Much Blood,” a midtempo drone that suggests someone poured a little “Disintegration”-era Cure into the musicians’ espresso.

I Want My MTV: An excerpt from Craig Marks and Rob Tannenbaum’s MTV oral history

2011 Pitchfork Readers Poll

For the fourth straight year Pitchfork readers gave their picks for the best (and worst) in the world of music. And for the fourth straight year, they responded in force. As usual, there are some similarities with our own year-end lists (Bon Iver fans are everywhere) and some key differences (Radiohead’s The King of Limbs was shut out of our own survey but made your Top 10).

Here you’ll find all of the 2011 Readers Poll results, including your choices for Top Albums and Top Tracks, along with Most Underrated and Overrated Albums, Most Annoying Singles, Best Reunions/Comebacks, Best Musician Twitters, Best Live Acts, and more.

Craig Finn-Clear Heart Full Eyes

“Good ol’ Freddie Mercury is the only guy that advises me,” Craig Finn sings on “No Future”, from his first solo album, Clear Heart Full Eyes. Later in the same song, he calls out another 1970s rock icon: “The best advice I’ve ever gotten was from good ol’ Johnny Rotten,” he confesses, before launching into a few lines from “God Save the Queen”. As rock touchstones go, Queen and the Sex Pistols aren’t too far off the beaten path; he could have quoted Alex Chilton or Damo Suzuki or even Elvis Costello, but that would miss the point. Finn is after the artists and music that try to make rock a communal rather than a private experience. So he’s an unlikely hero for the cloistered and segmented indie rock crowd, which we’re told prizes obscurity over accessibility. Ironically for a band whose lyrics depicted geographically specific subsubcultures, Finn’s day-job group the Hold Steadybrought a bar-band approach back into the indie rock world. They strove for broad appeal, which circa 2005′s Separation Sunday sharpened their guitar attack and made them sound almost dangerous.   Read more...

The Little Willies – For the Good Times

NYC country folk collective The Little Willies have seen six years between the release of their debut and their latest album, For the Good Times. Still nursing a knack for twangy Americana, the group sounds more refreshed, energetic, and jazzier. With Norah Jones on keys, occasionally trading vocals with Richard Julian, the group’s breezy, swing-heavy sound is equal parts honky tonk and hopping jazz club. Each member of The Little Willies has his or her own solid musical identity outside of the group, but together they’re a powerhouse. For the Good Times is a covers record, sampling some legendary tracks from the country cannon, including Dolly Parton, Johnny Cash, and Kris Kristofferson, and these musicians give everything a fresh, breezy jazz tone much like that of Jones’ early work. The group’s adoration and close study of these staples occasionally alters or outstrips the power of the original, an important feat in a cover album. Their take on Loretta Lynn’s “Fist City” fails to channel the fury of the original, but takes a steadier, more lamenting approach. Lynn’s original is feisty and cute, while The Little Willies make it mournful, with just enough rhythm to keep you engaged. The title track is an endearing take on the Kristofferson original, mirroring their sweetly haunting version of “Jolene” that serves as the album’s curtain call.Instrumental “Tommy Rockwood” is the only original track on the album, written by guitarist Jim Campilongo as the result of hours-long walks around New York City to kick his smoking habit. The distraction tactic clearly worked, as the whimsy shines in the tumbleweed, much like their idols. A well-crafted nod, For the Good Times finds the Little Willies showcasing their favorite pastime—giddily playing standards with their bandmates. Equal parts good time and fresh, original takes on these classic tracks, the band offers a medley of styles that color these standards in a new light.

Essential Tracks: “Permanently Lonley”, “For the Good Times”, and “Tommy Rockwood”

Foxy Shazam – The Church of Rock and Roll

Do you remember when rock ‘n’ roll was fun? When you listened to rock to bang your head and yell the lyrics at the top of your lungs? If you don’t remember, or never have, well, it’s a shame. Bands like The Darkness, Electric Six, and Andrew WK have made rock fun again, and are continually trying to reclaim rock from the more serious folks. It’s easy to toss these bands aside as kitschy and over-the-top, but they just want to show you a good time. Foxy Shazam leads the pack. Their newest release, The Church of Rock and Roll, has crunching, blasting guitars, soaring vocals, and entertaining lyrics that will restore your faith in rock as a fun genre.

    Read more...