Wednesday, November 30, 2005

Chris Cornell Sues Hostage Taking Ex-Wife

Former Soundgarden frontman/current Audioslave lead singer Chris Cornell is suing his ex-wife, claiming she "she conspired to divert money that belonged to Cornell to other Soundgarden band members. The lawsuit also claims that [Susan] Silver held his library of music, lyrics and two Grammys hostage."

The couple enjoyed twelve years of marriage before they split in 2002. Former wifey, Silver, used to manage Soundgarden while she was married to Cornell, and now seems to be causing such troubles in retaliation for interpersonal breakdowns with her former husband, according to Cornell himself.

Perhaps an impromptu oration of the Cornell penned 'Ty Cobb' would communicate the singer's frustrations to Silver? ---You know, the "hard headed" part?

For the legal pundits out there, here are the court documents.

Monday, November 28, 2005

Long time no blog...

Apologies for my lack of posts as of late. Where do I even start when there is so much to discuss? My recent absence from the site has in no way reflected a minimal level of auditory intake on my behalf. Au contraire. I've been quite busy catching up on a plethora of tuneage - both new and recycled. With this particular post, I've decided to share a couple personal highlights, and plan to do so with plenty of name-dropping and hyperlinking.

Men Women and Children - I recently heard of this group via Do it Old Maid and was a bit surprised that I had been out of the loop, beings that ex-Glassjaw guitarist Todd Weinstock is at the helm. MW&C finds Todd taking a very similar path as the Long Island hardcore band's vocalist, Daryl Palumbo, who currently fronts the eclectic Head Automatica. Like Palumbo, Weinstock's new work ditches hardcore in favor of Latin rhythms, hip-hop beats, and the excess of disco and funk. In my opinion, MW&C's new studio track 'Dance in My Blood' describes the band best: "You don't need a reason, to get out on the dancefloor" This band definitely finds me wanting to put on my boogie shoes to shake my groove thing on disco mountain.

Stereogum recently posted the mp3 of Elbow's 'Teardrop' cover. As one of my all-time favorite Massive Attack songs, I have been looping this track repeatedly.

Collisions, the fourth and most recent album from Calla has also been receiving recognition on my iTunes lately. Tracks like 'Swagger' and 'It Dawned on Me' are two of my favorites from a well-rounded album that should appeal to old and new fans alike.

Currently, my most-played track is one that I found while digging through the archives on Between Thought and Expression. Dating back to July - a stellar mash-up between The Prodigy's 'Smack My Bitch Up' and Prince's 'When Doves Cry.' The end product? A well-blended remix; titled none other than 'Smack My Bitch Up When Doves Cry.' Not only does it invoke a need to break out a pair of glow sticks, but it also seems to provide an interesting association between violent relationships and questioning lost love - a lyrical connection that many mash-ups seem to ignore.

And lastly on tonight's list of mentionables... Pearl Jam's rare Mtv Unplugged album. Having recently acquired the full two-disc recording, I have been pleased to be able to hear the show in it's entirety (disc one is the band's soundcheck). Recorded in 1992, when their debut Ten was still new, the band is heard performing powerful acoustic versions of songs from that album, plus b-side 'State of Love and Trust' and a cover of Neil Young's 'Rockin in the Free World.' Eddie Vedder's signature vocals are on point and continue to grow in intensity throughout the performance - occasionally finding him spinning out of his emotional limits. On 'Porch', the band erupts into a full-out jam session, and in the process creates my favorite guitar solo of the album. With random tunings and banter thrown in between songs, Pearl Jam: Mtv Unplugged is an insider's look at a fifteen year-old rock juggernaut during their rise to fame.

Saturday, November 26, 2005

Giant - 'I'll See You In My Dreams'

As promised, here's Giant's 'I'll See You In My Dreams.' This is really quite something else, and it makes me laugh almost everytime. Founded by former Christian rockers, Giant was an attempt at secular sucess. This song is the closest they ever came:


And So the Holiday Season Begins

Well, another Thanksgiving has passed, and Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/(insert culturally relevant holiday here) is upon us. Having this last week off from school was nice, although I've spent most of it conducting research for a final research paper, in addition to slaving away for the Man at work. Musically, however, I've spent time catching up on some CDs I hadn't had the chance to listen to, and as it turned out, much of this music seemed to be carbon copies of their more famous counterparts.

On Tuesday I acquired the Fort Minor album. Fort Minor is Mike Shinoda's band, and it basically sounds exactly like Linkin Park sans Chester--which makes sense since Linkin Park is Shinoda's band too. Their disc isn't all that bad---it just sounds like Linkin Park recycled.

Al Stewart was one of my new-old finds of the week. Hearing 'Year of the Cat' on XM, I decided to check out the man's Greatest Hits disc since that particular song struck me in quite a positive way. In addition to 'Year of the Cat,' 'Carol,' and 'Lord Grenville' were a couple of other songs I found I possessed quite an affinity for. Critics of this artist may brand him a David Bowie copycat, but at least All Music Guide gave this album a full four and one half stars.

Finally, Giant's 'I'll See You in My Dreams' proved to be my cheesy listen-to of the week. Nevermind any of their other songs; I was content to to play this power ballad in repeat mode on Windows Media Player for days at a time. So all of you can enjoy this Foreigner decoy, I'll post the stream in the next post.

That's my week in a musical nutshell, and I hope to catch up on more music here in the near (a reliable source tells me Five Bolt Main is a band worth checking out). I'll keep you posted.

Monday, November 14, 2005

Pearl Jam - 'In Hiding'

With a new Pearl Jam disc on the horizon, I've decided to dig through the archives and find one of my older favorites by the band.

Off of 1998's Yield, here's 'In Hiding:'

Sunday, November 13, 2005

Unowned: Pearl Jam Redux

Pearl Jam is almost set to finalize their new album. Pondering a play on Soundgarden’s Superunknown, the band says one possible title for the new disc includes "Superun-owned:"

[Eddie Vedder] added he had been mulling an album title that was a play on Soundgarden's Superunknown: "I was thinking of the word 'un-owned' -- not owned by anybody," he said. "The sky is un-owned. The moon is un-owned. We're un-owned. We want to remain un-owned. The title was Superun-owned."

Said to be aggressive, the grunge band’s newest work is supposed to be the band’s hardest effort and is tentatively set to release in April 2006.

Thursday, November 10, 2005

2006 Coldplay Tour Dates

A must-see tour for myself, Fiona Apple and Richard Ashcroft will split opening duties for Coldplay's upcoming North American tour. Fiona will open for dates falling between January 25 and March 5, while the former Verve frontman will open the remaining dates.

The 2006 tour dates are below:

Jan. 25: Seattle (Key Arena)
Jan. 26: Vancouver (GM Place)
Jan. 30: Sacramento, Calif. (Arco Arena)
Jan. 31: Oakland, Calif. (Oakland Arena)
Feb. 1: San Jose, Calif. (HP Pavilion)
Feb. 3: Las Vegas (MGM Grand Garden Arena)
Feb. 19: Denver (Pepsi Center)
Feb. 20: Omaha, Neb. (Qwest Center)
Feb. 22: Auburn Hills, Mich. (Palace of Auburn Hills)
Feb. 23: Louisville (Freedom Hall)
Feb. 25: Houston (Toyota Center)
Feb. 26: Dallas (American Airlines Center)
Feb. 27: Oklahoma City (Ford Center)
March 2: Washington, D.C. (MCI Center)
March 4: Orlando, Fla. (TD Waterhouse Center)
March 5: Tampa, Fla. (Ford Pavilion)
March 20: Cleveland (Quicken Loans Arena)
March 22: Toronto (Air Canada Centre)
March 25: East Rutherford, N.J. (Continental Airlines Arena)
March 26: Uniondale, N.Y. (Nassau Coliseum)
March 30: Chicago (United Center)
April 3: Manchester, N.H. (Verizon Wireless Arena)
April 4: Uncasville, Conn. (Mohegan Sun Arena)
April 6: Philadelphia (Wachovia Center)

Tuesday, November 08, 2005

New Enya Track List

Here is the track list for the new Enya album:

'Less Than a Pearl'
'Amarantine'
'It's in the Rain'
'If I Could Be Where You Are'
'The River Sings'
'Long Long Journey'
'Sumiregusa'
'Somebody Said Goodbye'
'A Moment Lost'
'Drifting'
'Amid the Falling Snow'
'Water Shows the Hidden Heart'