Category: 2016 Bands to Watch

No other city in the world has been the host of – or the inspiration for – so much popular music worldwide over the years than New York City and its famous boroughs. However, I was a surprised, after extensive searching, that a comprehensive and accessible playlist mix of great and diverse songs about New York City was nowhere to be found.

Therefore, it wasn’t difficult to figure out what needed to be done. The deeper I dug looking for songs about New York – other than the more obvious songs – the more it became apparent that a number of playlist mixes would be required to produce a good representation of New York songs.

Hopefully, New Yorkers and others will find this playlist mix series does the city justice; if you missed the first playlist NYC song mix in this series, it features songs from Lou Reed, Conor Oberst, Belle and Sebastian, LCD Soundsystem, Jay Z and others.

“Positively 4th Street” – Bob Dylan from Bob Dylan’s Greatest Hits (1967)

“The Long Island Sound” – Beirut from Lon Gisland EP (2007)

“Walk On The Wild Side” (Lou Reed Live Cover) – The Strokes from unreleased (2006)

“Coney Island Cyclone” (Alternative Version) – Mercury Rev from Lego My Ego (2007)

“Downtown Train” – Tom Waits from Smoke (1985)

“Lovecraft In Brooklyn” – The Mountain Goats from Heretic Pride (2008)

“Marching Bands Of Manhattan” – Death Cab for Cutie from Plans (2005)

“Empire State” – Guster from Ganging Up On The Sun (2006)

“Bulls In Brooklyn” – The Academy Is from Santi (2007)

“Living For The City” – Stevie Wonder from Legends: Do It Again (1973)

The following video cover by YouTuber Chunnyman of “The Only Living Boy in New York” (Simon & Garfunkel) is very nicely done.

// following song links might not work// we’ll be creating new NYC Songs playlists soon. //

“Superman” – The Kinks from Low Budget (1979)

“Brooklyn” – Mos Def from Black On Both Sides (2002)

“53rd & 3rd” – The Ramones from We’re Outta Here (1976)

“One Day You’ll Dance For Me, New York City” – Thomas Dybdahl from One Day You’ll Dance For Me, New York City (2006)

“The Only Living Boy In New York” – Simon and Garfunkel from Bridge Over Troubled Water (1967)

“New York City” – John Lennon from Lennon (1990)

“Boy From New York City” – The Ad-Libs from The Boy From New York City (1965)

There will be tens and hundreds of thousands of tributes worldwide to the memory of Micheal Jackson in the coming days and weeks. Whether you loved him, were not sure about him or plain hated him*, that’s totally fine.

This video, featuring the You Tube semi-celebrity Sungha Jung, is a fitting tribute to the memory of The King of Pop. This is a live instrumental performance of “Billie Jean” recorded this past April at Church Glessen in Rodgen, Germany.

Also, check out Coverville – Podcast featuring Micheal Jackson cover songs

Just in: Photo of Michael Jackson apparently dead as paramedics try to revive him on ambulance stretcher

Update: 7/7/09 – Michael Jackson Memorial Tribute, Los Angeles, Staples Center

Update (6/26/09 10:11 am PST): The 911 call that Michael Jackson was unconscious and not breathing.

Update: Watch A Tribute to The Memory of Michael Jackson by brilliant guitarist Sunghu Jung performing an acoustic instrumental cover of “Billie Jean”.

Jackson was to start a sold out 50 show comeback in London on July 13. The special 25 year re-issue of Thriller by Michael Jackson, featuring remastered tracks and added other popular Jackson hits collection is #1 right now on Amazon.

How Michael Jackson died will not be official until the coroner and toxicology reports are released. Toxicology reports can take up to three weeks to complete. The address of where Jackson was living is 100 N. Carolwood Dr., Bel Air, Los Angeles, Ca. 90077.

Check back later for updates. Wow, TMZ scooped the world media more than an hour before the official press – like Associated Press and LA Times – that Michael Jackson had died.

The UK Guardian has just published a 50 photo spread of Micheal Jackson featuring photos of the King of Pop from childhood to recent.

Three young French brothers and a friend took their love of rock music and an ode to their boxing champion great grandfather to form the indie rock band Kid Bambardos in their hometown of Bordeaux in 2006. In no time, the band acquired an enthusiastic response from the local music scene.

The band is bassist Thomas Martinelli, 21, vocalist, keyboardist and guitarist Vincent Martinelli, 18, drummer Simon Martinelli, 16, and their childhood friend David Loridan, 19, on guitar, keyboards and vocals.

Kid Bombardos demonstrate a musical maturity beyond their years yet possess a refreshing, catchy sound that is hard to ignore. Plus, they sing in English, and very well at that. Yet they are practically unknown outside of France even though they opened for Vampire Weekend and Hushpuppies.

It’s not surprising that Kid Bombardos music is repeatedly compared to The Strokes‘ early music. Afterall, it was The Strokes, the band says, as well as The White Stripes, The Velvet Underground, The Kinks, Brian Jonestown Massacre and other bands that drove their passion and commitment to make their own special brand of power pop garage rock.

The following music video “I Round The Bend” demonstrates Kid Bombardos’ fascination with boxing (their MySpace page is full of boxing artwork) but it is also among their most popular songs. Call me crazy, but on this song Vincent’s voice reminds me of Editors’ singer Tom Smith. And check out the awesome alternative acoustic version of the song below.

“I Round The Bend” – Kid Bombardos from I Round The Bend (2009)

“I Round The Bend” (Tahiti acoustic version) – Kid Bombardos from I Round The Bend (2009)

Even though they call their music garage indie rock, the guys blend various influences including elements of gypsy, jazz, pop, rock and even punk. One good example of this blending is found on the song “I’m Gonna Try”. The tune starts of with a modern twist on classical Spanish guitar and progressively accelerates into a spirited, raucous jam. All things considered, Kid Bombardos have already made their mark on indie rock. Few bands can do that with just an EP.

“I’m Gonna Try” – Kid Bombardos from I Round The Bend (2009)

Bonus Track: “Love Song For High Kids” – Kid Bombardos

Watch the band perform an acoustic version of the song “Turnin’ Round”.

Kid Bombardos MySpace page

“Die Young” – The Danks from Are You Afraid of The Danks (June 30).

The Danks on MySpace

Catching up is hard to do. With so much stellar music coming out all the time, it’s not easy to keep up with it all. So, let’s do a bit of catch up on some worthwhile 2009 releases all this week.

Let’s kick it off with an east coast band that more and more folks are tuning in and turning on to recently. Deleted Scenes is a fairly new discovery for me, and would be cross-referenced into the ‘news to me’ sub-category. I love ‘discoveries’ like this; and they happen all the time.

Deleted Scenes’ sonic signature has been described as hazy, trippy and glazed. Indied. But as video from the BYT Sessions demonstrate, the band is diverse – here frontman Dan Scheuerman plays a “One Long Country Song” on the famous Washington, DC Metro red line to Shady Grove (ah, memories). Sure it’s not the best sound quality, but it’s interesting to see an acoustic performance during rush hour on the DC ‘subway’ (everyone calls it ‘The Metro‘). What do you think?

Comprised of band members from Washington, DC and Brooklyn, Deleted Scenes have been compared to bands like The Handsome Furs and Here We Go Magic and they attribute their influences to legends like Bob Dylan and The Velvet Underground.

“Fake IDs” – Deleted Scenes from Birdseed Shirt (2009)
“Ithaca” – Deleted Scenes from Birdseed Shirt (2009)
Deleted Scenes official website
Deleted Scenes MySpace page

More new songs coming this week. But first, look for tomorrow’s new playlist series feature called ‘State of Mind’, songs related to states of the United States – sort of taking Sufjan Stevens‘ brilliant, but apparently abandoned, idea of making an album about every state and doing an IRC version of it.

Note: Feed and email subscribers: You may see a duplicate of this posting due to some server issues. I apologize for the inconvenience.

Each year on April 22 since 1970, millions of people worldwide celebrate Earth Day. However, many cities across the world celebrate Earth Day on different days throughout this week with many events occurring this weekend.

The following is a list of songs related to the earth. You can do your part for Earth Day by lessening your impact on the planet – change to energy efficient light bulbs, turn of power when not being used, drive less and walk or bicycle more, recycle and so on. If everyone one of us did these simple things year round, year after year, we can make tremendous change.

“The Shaded Forest” – Deastro from Keeper’s (2008)

“Snakes and Lions” – Melpo Mene from Bring The Lions Out (2008)

“Earthworm Song” – Winter Sounds from Porcelain Empire (2007)

“The Nature Anthem” – Grandaddy from Below The Radio (2004)

“Forgotten Garden” – Peter Von Poehl from May Day (2009)

“The Alps & Their Orange Evergreen” – Akron/Family from Set Em Wild, Set Em Free (2009)

“Meadowlarks” – Fleet Foxes from Fleet Foxes (2008)

“Niagara Falls” – Sufjan Stevens from Greetings to Michigan (2003)

“The Gardener” – The Tallest Man on Earth from Shallow Grave (2008)

“Waiting for the Flood” – Love and Rockets from Earth Sun Moon (1987)

“Sweet Love For Planet Earth” – F*ck Buttons from Street Horrrsing (2008)

“Crystal Canyon” – R. Carlos Nakai from Earth Spirit (2000)

The love fest for music released in 2008 continues on in part because the weblogs show that some of the most popular pages on this site continue to be related to music from 2008. And, no wonder. As it turns out 08 was a great year for indie and alternative music.

So let’s dive right in. You can also browse through entire playlists of ‘keeper tracks’ from 2008 in IRC best of 2008 series and Best Indie Albums of 2008.

High Places kicks off this installment of top indie songs of 2008 with the light electro pop of “Stardust to Sentience”. The Brooklyn duo of Mary Pearson and Rob Barber serve out heavy loops, layers of sounds and lo-fi vocal arrangements not much unlike their superstar neighbors Animal Collective.

“From Stardust to Sentience” – High Places from their self-titled 2008 debut

“Good Lies” – The Notwist from The Devil, You and Me

“Factories” – Winter Gloves from About A Girl

War Child Heroes is a recently released compilation benefit album that was inspired by pictures drawn by children living in war torn countries.

The producers asked a select group of some of rock’s best classic groups and artists to choose a song of their own and who they wanted to cover it (see the album cover image above for details). Bowie, for example, asked TV on the Radio to cover his song “Heroes” and Dylan requested Beck cover his track, “Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat”. Beck does a splitting R&B rock cover; I thought I knew all of Dylan’s songs, but not sure I heard of this one before. But, still, nice choice Bob.

Not only is it a good cause to support, but the album, for the most part, is a great collection of cover songs from artists and bands such as The Kooks, TV on the Radio, Hot Chip, Beck, Franz Ferdinand, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and many others.

The only thing I don’t understand is the seemingly lack of editorial sensitivity with allowing song titles themselves like “Search and Destroy” (Iggy Pop and Stooges), covered by Peaches (and not very well at that) and “Straight to Hell” (The Clash) covered by Lily Allen with Mick Jones. Sure, the originals are great songs, but maybe not for a benefit album for children ravaged by war? Oops.

“Victoria” (The Kinks) – The Kooks from the benefit covers album War Child – Heroes Vol.1

“Victoria” – The Kinks from the classic 1969 Brit rock album Arthur (the Decline and Fall of the British Empire). The album, and the popular hit track, still rock today; the song was featured in the movie The Parent Trap)

“Leopard Skin Pill Box Hat” (Bob Dylan) – Beck from War Child – Heroes Vol. 1

Your purchase of War Child Heroes compilation will go directly to help children – innocents caught in the middle, and the victims of, the shit that stupid adults do. It’s maddening. As adults, whether we have our own children or not, it is our responsibility to protect children where ever they are threatened in the world. I feel really strongly about that.

The following information is from the War Child organization’s literature:

War Child helps protect children by:

• reintegrating child soldiers with their families
• getting children off the streets, after war has forced them to leave home
• separating children from adults in prison
• rebuilding schools destroyed by war
• lobbying politicians to do more for children affected by war
• empowering the public to get involved.

This installment of In Dee Mail features R&B slicksters Tortured Soul, singer and songwriter Darrin Kohavi and former Flux Punch lead Stephen Rockford Hammond.

“Did You Miss Me” – Tortured Soul from Did You Miss Me

“Please Believe Me” – Darrin Kohavi from s/t EP

“Certainty” – Stephen Rockford Hammond from Flux Punch (originally released in 2008)

Singer Mariam Doumbia and her husband guitarist/vocalist Amadou Bagayoko have been making music together since they first met three decades ago at the Institute for Young Blind People in Mail’s capital city Bamako.

Since then the couple have receive remarkable critical and popular acclaim in Europe and North America. Amadou & Mariam are well-known for their live shows and recently performed in the BBC’s Africa Express festival along with Johnny Marr, The Magic Numbers, Damon Albarn, and Hard-Fi. The duo are currently on tour and have a tour booked in July opening for Coldplay.

“Sabali” – Amadou & Mariam from upcoming re-release of 2008’s Welcome to Mali (3/24) is available as a pre-order

MySpace: Amadou & Mariam

For garage rock lovers who dig 1970s classic guitar rock with plenty of slow jams – meaning longer songs – the brand new release from Weird Owl is worth checking out.

On the whole, there are some solid rock songs on this album, but Weird Owl would do even better to instill more variation in their songs. Hopefully the next release will see Weird Owl step it up and break out more. They have the elements to make more captivating rock like The White Stripes and The Strokes.

As one EMusic observer put it, there is “much needed personality to the sleepy locomotion of the songs.” That quote hits it on the head. But still, this is a decent debut rock album for music lovers inclined to a chilled out experience heavy on electric ooze.

“Do What Th’ Owl Wilt” – Weird Owl from self-titled debut
“Skeletelepathic” – Weird Owl from self-titled debut

Stream more songs at Weird Owl’s MySpace page. *

* Just a minor note to the band: The page background color makes it really hard to read stuff.

Other posts this week:

New Indie Rock Songs from Throw Me The Statue and Papercuts – 2/20/09
More Best Indie Albums of 2008: Person Pitch by Panda Bear – 2/19/09
M. Ward’s New Release ‘Hold Time’ – 2/18/09
Laura Gibson Artist Profile and Upcoming Release – 2/16/09…plus, new releases from Ben Kweller, Bishop Allen and The Decemberists (2/12/09).