Archive for March 3rd, 2010
Live at Rolling Stone: Alberta Cross
March 3rd, 2010
Breaking artist and unexpected Guns n’ Roses opening act Alberta Cross recently stopped by the Rolling Stone offices to treat us to a trio of acoustic renditions of songs off their debut album Broken Side of Time, which was finally released stateside earlier this year. For this special performance, Alberta Cross scale back on the Brit-pop grandeur and feedback on their debut LP, showcasing the gritty roots rock sound at the heart of frontman Petter ...
New Music Report: Dessa
March 3rd, 2010
Christian Hoard’s “Christian Rock” new music pick this week is a 28-year-old prose/poetry writer from Minneapolis with a philosophy degree called Dessa (real name: Margret Wander), who’s also a member of the rap collective Doomtree. Her debut A Badly Broken Code reminds Hoard of fellow Minnesota MC Slug. The beats are punchy and straight-forward, and so is Dessa. One of the best cuts is “The Bullpen,” where she rhymes about putting up with really annoying ...
Watch “Death Letter” From The White Stripes’ “Northern Lights”
March 3rd, 2010
The White Stripes’ concert film Under Great White Northern Lights is currently blowing out speakers in cinemas all over this country and Canada, and Rolling Stone has another taste of the pandemonium that’s in store for lucky filmgoers with a screenings in their ‘hoods. Watch Jack White absolutely thrash his guitar during a cover of Son House’s “Death Letter,” just one of nearly 30 tracks that will feature in the White Stripes’ doc about their ...
Danger Mouse and EMI Settle “Dark Night of the Soul” Dispute
March 3rd, 2010
Photo: Lake/WireImage
Nearly nine months after Danger Mouse’s Dark Night of the Soul project hit stores with a blank CD, the producer and EMI have reached an agreement to formally issue the album with music on the compact disc, the BBC reports. As Rolling Stone wrote last May, a legal hassle between Danger Mouse, or Brian Burton, and EMI stemming back to The Grey Album — Danger Mouse’s mash-up of the Beatles’ White Album with Jay-Z’s ...
James Murphy Opens Up About “Crazy” May LCD Soundsystem LP
March 3rd, 2010
Photo: Wargo/WireImageWhat’s the new LCD Soundsystem record like? “Boring!” raves James Murphy. Having just shipped off a last-minute addition for Shellac’s Bob Weston to master, Murphy is completely exhausted by the as-of-yet-untitled May album — which he also describes as “weird” and “crazy” — and he feels like he’s heard it one time too many.
“You ever listen to a song 40 times?” he asks. “That’s why I don’t write the lyrics until as close to ...
Billy Corgan on Pumpkins’ Split, “Loving” Jessica Simpson: Preview the Story
March 3rd, 2010
Photo: Weiss/WireImageHere are the first two sentences of Rolling Stone’s first Billy Corgan feature in a decade:
Unless you count what he’s done to his career, Billy Corgan has never attempted suicide. Until recently, there were plenty of mornings when he’d wake up to a stark choice: “Go eat breakfast, or go kill yourself.”
When Rolling Stone’s Brian Hiatt met with Corgan in Los Angeles in early February, the Smashing Pumpkins founder had a lot to say ...
Breaking: Broken Bells
March 3rd, 2010
Who: The Shins’ singer-guitarist James Mercer and producer extraordinaire Danger Mouse (a.k.a. Brian Burton), who’ve taken time off from their usual gigs to team for a new self-titled disc of left-field psych-pop. (Read the RS review here.)
Sounds Like: Spooky psychedelia with a British Invasion flavor. Burton outfits Mercer’s beautiful melodies and with analog-synth swooshes, slo-mo kick drums and horn breaks. The mellow punch of “Vaporize” features zippy organ and rolling snare, and Mercer goes for ...
“Not Guilty” Pleas for Three Men Accused of Ticketmaster Hacking
March 3rd, 2010
Three men accused of running a ticket-scalping enterprise that grossed nearly $29 million have pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy, wire fraud and computer hacking, NorthJersey,com reports. According to the 43-count indictment, the three men allegedly created a computer software that allowed them send mass ticket requests to ticketing websites like Ticketmaster and MLB.com by bypassing the sites’ Captchas — those squiggly words you enter before purchasing tickets — allowing the men to rake ...
Patti Smith, Living Colour Pay Tribute to the Who at Carnegie Hall
March 3rd, 2010
Photo: Bank/WireImage“Carnegie Hall, I apologize for what I’m about to do,” said surprise guest Patti Smith last night at a Who tribute concert at the famed New York venue before launching into a snarling punk version of “My Generation,” during which she spit on the hallowed stage at least three separate times. (Iggy Pop did some damage to the very same stage at the Tibet House benefit last week.) Earlier in the night, Bobby McFerrin ...
On the Charts: Sade’s “Soldier” Spends Third Week at Number One
March 3rd, 2010
The Big News: For the third consecutive week, Sade’s Soldier of Love topped the Billboard 200, selling an additional 127,000 copies to keep the top spot on lockdown and out of the hands of Lady Antebellum’s Need You Now, which sold 118,000 at Number Two. However, Need You Now did cross the platinum barrier in its fifth week. The biggest surprise on the charts was Johnny Cash’s American VI: Ain’t No Grave, selling 54,000 copies ...