While Uncle Joe is best known as one of America's top Classic Rock historians, throughout his 40-year career he's always been acutely aware of current trends in the music industry. Indeed, Classic Rock itself was the finest new music of its day, composed and performed by artists at their creative peak. For a scholarly insight into today's trends, J.B. presents Rave's Raves.
Rave's Raves are composed by Bruce Ravid, a veteran of Capitol Record's A&R Department and in no way reflect the official viewpoint of Uncle Joe, his staff or management. They are written from Rave's industry viewpoint, originally for friends within the music business, but now shared with the world. New editions appear in April/May, August/September, and December with occasional updates in between. Enjoy!
March 2009
***RAVE'S RAVES #34.1***
RAVE'S FAVES (since the beginning of the year)
Spinnerette, Lily Allen (various), Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Depeche Mode, Franz Ferdinand (various), Ladyhawke, Late Of The Pier (various), Glasvegas (various), Decemberists, A.C. Newman ("There Are Maybe Ten Or Twelve"), M Ward, Cut Off Your Hands, Jay Reatard (various), Brian Eno & David Byrne.
All of the above are singles unless otherwise noted. There are lots of fine new tracks out there. Ex-Distiller Brody Dalle has returned with her new band Spinniker. This group is a bit more pop and less punk than the former. Their "Ghetto Love" track is my #1 of this young year. Lily Allen has surprised some people with a supreme sophomore effort. Anti-Bush people need to check out her "Fu-k You" ode to the former President. Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Decemberists, and Depeche have strong new singles. I'm liking the new YYY's album, which has veered in a dance direction with some sweet ballads as well. The Franz CD is very solid but it's the first time I haven't found tracks that I absolutely love. From New Zealand, Ladyhawke is a strong entry into the retro/indie-electro world, while Cut Off Your Hands are a great new guitar-oriented band with a Britrock sound. Speaking of the U.K., both Glasvegas and Late Of The Pier are gaining fans. Jay Reatard is from Memphis and "NME Magazine" calls him the "new king of garage rock. A.C. is the male lead in the New Pornographers, and long-timer M Ward is half of She & Him, who had one of 2008's better releases. Eno and Byrne found their collaboration on a number of year-end Top 10 lists. With so many people weighing in on the new U2 CD, I'll add my 3 cents. Musically, I feel it's their best in awhile but I haven't found several songs on this one, that I love.
LIVE
My January travels took me to Melbourne, where I was able to enjoy the Hot Chip show at Billboard. They've always been great live, and they've become more animated these days. All their songs have been rearranged, mostly in positive ways. Except for occasional breaks to introduce band members while they reprogram synths, they blended their songs together seamlessly (tempo and key) the way a club dj could only hope to. Pendulum played at Melbourne's Corner Hotel a couple of nights later. They are intense as their drum and bass electro is heavily peppered with metal influences. Singer Rob Swire motivates the crowd in more of a hard rock way, which was a little over the top for my tastes as we were club that holds 400. That said, I was thinking that many their fans would have been more likely to see Iron Maiden than Hot Chip. Koko is a hot London club, where I saw Metronomy in February. This electro band is a favorite of NME's. It was a good show but we felt there are better bands in the genre. M83 joined the L.A. Philharmonic at L.A.'s Walt Disney Concert Hall. This gig sold out in an instant. Most of the show featured separate performances by the two entities, and they finally combined for the final five tunes. The music was beautiful but very low-key. It would have been nice to see them do more together. The hall itself is magnificent, and the acoustics might be the best I've had the pleasure to experience.
...and...
I enjoyed my third annual 8+ hour winter Rave-a-thon at WSUM in January. Thanks to GM Dave Black and everyone else who participated, including our own Uncle Joe Benson. We're talking about a return engagement in May, so keep an eye on ravesraves.com for details... Speaking of my site, I'm excited to inform you that I'm about to launch an upgraded redesign of the Rave's Raves site, that will be more interactive and pleasing to the eye. You'll have to let me know what you think. I'll be blogging from South By Southwest and Twittering as BruceRave. I'm a little late to the Twitter party, but it's about time. Feedback on anything is always welcome so please write. Talk soon, and make sure you continue to...
RAVE ON!!!
December 2008
***RAVE'S RAVES #34***
RAVE'S FAVES (on the air)
Bloc Party ("Month"), Pendulum, CSS, Shiny Toy Guns, MGMT, Franz Ferdinand, The Ting Tings (various), AC/DC (various), Offspring, The Killers, Airborne Toxic Event, Bigelf, Ladyhawke
"One Month Off" is my favorite track on the latest Bloc Party album (see live review below). It's cool to see the drum and bass band Pendulum break open, and they have other strong tracks on the album. Current airplay track "Jager Yoga" should have been the first CSS single. STG's "Ghost Town" is getting top requests at L.A.'s KROQ as is Franz Ferdinand's "Ulysses". It took awhile, but the highly deserving "Kids" by MGMT has finally emerged on a number of outlets. I'm not wild about the latest Killers direction overall, but I do like the first two singles. Bigelf are an L.A. hard rock band with a softer song and big hook, getting played on Indie 103.1. Ladyhawke from New Zealand is in the Eighties-oriented indie-dance mode, and she's got great hooks. Since many of you have asked, yes I like the new AC/DC album a lot. However, one listen to the G 'n R didn't do much for me and I haven't been back.
RAVE'S FAVES OF 2008
MY TOP-TIER ALBUMS OF 2008 IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER
Elbow – "The Seldom Seen Kid"
Fleet Foxes – "Fleet Foxes"
Foxboro Hot Tubs – "Stop Drop and Roll"
MGMT – "Orangluar Spectacular"
ProCon – "Kingmaker"
Pendulum – "In Silico"
The Rumble Strips – "Girls and Weather"
Skybombers – "Take Me to Town"
Switches – "Lay Down the Law"
The Ting Tings – "We Started Nothing"
Vampire Weekend – "Vampire Weekend"
Honorable mention goes to Liam Finn, The Fratellis and Shiny Toy Guns. The above albums were close enough for me that ranking was more difficult than it was in recent years. As a long-time fan of Elbow, it was gratifying to see them win this year's prestigious Mercury Prize in the U.K. ProCon from Toronto blend dance and rock in a very cool way. The Rumble Strips are working on their follow-up with hot producer Mark Ronson, who was recently quoted in "Rolling Stone" as saying that singer Charlie Waller has one of the best voices around. Skybombers and Switches were victimized by a tough-road for straight ahead guitar bands in 2008, but I feel they both have excellent long-term prospects. Expect Switches to be more computer-oriented upon their return.
MY ELEVEN FAVORITE AIRPLAY SONGS OF 2008
1) MGMT – "Kids"
2) Switches – "Drama Queen"
3) The Ting Tings – "That's Not My Name"
4) The Rumble Strips – "Girls and Boys In Love" (TV commercial)
5) The Cribs – "I'm A Realist"
6) Foxboro Hot Tubs – "Stop Drop and Roll"
7) Devo – "Watch Us Work It" (TV commercial)
8) B-52s – "Pump"
9) The Last Shadow Puppets – "The Last of the Understatement"
10) Shiny Toy Guns – "Ghost Town"
11) Pendulum – "Propane Nightmare"
12) The Fratellis – "Mistress Mabel"
LIVE
The Last Shadow Puppets filled the Mayan in downtown L.A. and aced their show with the help of a 17-piece orchestra. They only played a couple of U.S. dates, so this show had an extra special aura to it. Ezra Furman and the Harpoons have gotten solid airplay on L.A.'s Indie 103.1. Their Roxy gig was filled with energy, and this young guy shows strong long-term potential. I went to see Friendly Fires at Spaceland based on the buzz surrounding this new U.K. dance/rock band. They exceeded expectations and blew away the sold-out crowd. The band play great, and singer Ed Macfarlane dances his ass off nonstop. Bloc Party are one of the best live bands out there, but their show at The Grove of Anaheim wasn't one of their best. There was so much boom in the room that even some of their most familiar songs were indistinguishable at first. As their recent album "Intimacy" isn't as strong for me, that brought the show down a bit as well.
...and...
As newer guitar bands have struggled, the main indie rock focus has been on highly-instrumentalized, more progressive bands as well as a newer folk-flavored artists. This developed during the Bush years. The other most-reviled, post World War 2 President was Nixon, and late Sixties/early Seventies versions on the same musical trends sprouted during his term. There were unpopular wars each time. Can there be a correlation or is it merely coincidence? Let me hear from you on this topic as well as anything else I write about... Thanks as always to Uncle Joe Benson for his friendship as well as his posting of this tipsheet on his fine site. Make sure you check the rest of it out if you haven't done so recently... I hope that the holiday season is treating you well and that '09 will be fine for you. Keep an eye out for a modified Rave's Raves website as well as some other exciting announcements. Until late February...