Virgin Music Festival LIVE COVERAGE: Foo-Fest!

By Murtz Jaffer

The Foo Fighters returned to Toronto last night and rocked the Island in true Foo fashion.

The band headlined the third installment of the Virgin Music Festival in Toronto and played a set that lasted over an hour, mixing old hits with new tunes. Frontman Dave Grohl proved that he was the evening’s best showman by teasing and taunting the crowd by jokingly mocking their singing abilities.

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More Reasons Why Being Deaf Sucks/Rocks - The Other Thing…

By mathan erhardt

Ok, so a few months ago I made a reference to the two things that totally occupied my musical interests. The one that I addressed in that piece was demos; the other that I was fixated on back then was instrumentals, or more accurately, instrumental versions of albums.

Now, I’ve always been a fan of instrumentals. For me, instrumentals were one of the main draws when it came to purchasing singles. Sure, you might get a remix or an occasional b-side, but you were nearly always guaranteed an instrumental. I even copped Tupac’s single for “Dear Mama” because I thought that the instrumental was solid.

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MGF Reviews Tim McGraw’s Spicy Jalapeño Fritos

By J. R. Fernandez

McGraw’s Spicy Jalapeño Fritos
Frito-Lay North America, Inc.
$2.69

A few months back, I reviewed Dwight Yoakam’s Chicken Fries, Buffalo Bites and Macaroni Mouth Poppers, and noted that someone like country singer Dwight Yoakam would probably never put his name on crappy food. Unfortunately for me, I was wrong about that.

Fast-forward to about a week ago, when I was at my local Target and noticed that another country singer—one Mr. Tim McGraw—has his own food product in an EXCLUSIVE flavor of Fritos, called McGraw’s Spicy Jalapeño. While McGraw and his chest hair might not be quite as trustworthy-looking as Dwight Yoakam, he does have a hot wife, and pretty nice hat and has even gone through the trouble to put his completely illegible autograph on the bag, right next to his photo. I decided that that was enough for me to try the product.

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More Reasons Why Being Deaf Sucks/Rocks – I Ain’t Madd

By mathan erhardt

So, the Madd Rapper has a song out and it features Cory Gunz. And really there’s absolutely nothing about this song that I don’t love.

I mean, I love the Madd Rapper as a character. During the heyday of Bad Boy, the Madd Rapper skits were always something to which to look forward when you picked up the latest Bad Boy release. They provided a nice bit of levity, providing a nice break from the glitzy club songs and occasional rugged street song.

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Soundtrack Double Feature: Pineapple Express! … Tropic Thunder!

By Ryan T. Murphy

Of the summer’s two comedy juggernauts, Pineapple Express was clearly going to be the one with the bitchin’ soundtrack. Judd Apatow’s films aren’t necessarily known for their soundtrack awesomeness in the way that, say, a Tarantino film would be, but he and his people have good taste and usually throw in some surprises (I’ll always remember the giddy feeling I first got at hearing “Solid” by The Dandy Warhols as the theme song for Undeclared).

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MGF Reviews Zebrahead - Phoenix

By Ryan T. Murphy

Zebrahead - Phoenix
Icon Records (8/5/08)
Punk / Rapcore / Metalcore

Zebrahead are one of those bands that have always existed on the fringes of the music biz and never transcended into true artists. If they have any die-hard corps of fans, they either exist overseas or are more committed in theory than in practice. Is this because they aren’t talented? Because they aren’t original? Because their band members aren’t pinup material? No, on all counts. They’re just one of those bands that suffers from their success.

They’ve consistently kept their albums reviewed in magazines, they’ve gone out with Warped Tour and played all over Europe and Japan, amongst other places. Zebrahead are a typical fledgling rock band, as opposed to a typical independent rock band. If they didn’t have the minor amount of label success and marketing-mix business strategies of every typical also-ran band, they might have actually built a little more street cred and become at least minimally as popular as their spiritual brethren Sum 41, Good Charlotte or CKY. As it is, they just straddle a crappy fence on which to be stuck: lacking the panache needed to make them radio-stratosphere successful, but too much of a product for the indie kids.

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More Reasons Why Being Deaf Sucks/Rocks - I Believe in Danger Mouse

By mathan erhardt

I think I’m now officially a fan of Brian “Danger Mouse” Burton.

I mean the guy has always interested me ever since he popped onto my radar with The Grey Album. I dug how his remixing of The Black Album wasn’t just a mash-up, in that he layered different pieces of various songs when he made his compositions.

And I enjoyed The Mouse and the Mask, but that came at a time when “one mc/one producer” projects had me open. I think when I really started to give the guy his due was when he took over for The Automator as producer of the Gorillaz.

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A Moment’s All I Ask - 8.24.08

By Bambi Weavil

Normally, I try to pay as little attention as possible to Ricky Martin, he of “Shake Your Bon Bon” fame, and former American Idol star Clay Aiken. The rumor mill has suggested that, perhaps, these men are gay. Both Aiken and Martin have recently become fathers, both via artificial insemination to surrogate mothers. While I believe that every celebrity deserves the right to have privacy in their personal lives, if you’re going to make moves such as this, why not go ahead and just come out if you are indeed gay? It’s 2008, you can be out. I’m openly bisexual and out; does that make you feel any better, guys? Just checking.

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More Reasons Why Being Deaf Sucks/Rocks - Broke

By mathan erhardt

I’m really down about being broke.

I mean, I’m sure that most broke folks are down about being broke, so my feelings are nothing new. That said, I kinda had plans for artists that I was going dive headfirst into, and because of my lack of disposable income, those plans are currently on hold.

For instance, I recently became a fan of Iron & Wine and I was planning on pick up Sam’s entire catalogue. The Shepherd’s Dog is what won me over first. Then I picked up Our Endless Numbered Days, and I was convinced this was an artist that I wanted to get into. And then the money ran out.

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More Reasons Why Being Deaf Sucks/Rocks - Even More Things I Left Behind

By mathan erhardt

Yeah, that’s right. I’m still lamenting aspects of my life that currently reside in Tucson.

This time I’m focusing on my actual minidiscs. I had dozens of those things all filled up with perfectly crafted mixes. I’d spend hours poring over discographies trying to come up with the precise mix to encapsulate an artist. And if you were an artist that I really dug, you’d get more than one disc.

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MGF Reviews One Block Radius - One Block Radius

By Bambi Weavil

One Block Radius - One Block Radius
Mercury / Island (9/16/08)
Hip-hop / R&B / Breakbeat / Pop

On their self-titled album, Mercury/Island Def Jam recording artist One Block Radius meshes old- and new-school into a sound that combines pop, R&B, funk and hip-hop. The trio, made up of vocalist/rapper Marty James and DJ MDA (both formerly of defunct hip-hop/breakbeat act Scapegoat Wax), along with MC Z-Man (of the Hieroglyphics camp), counts among their influences alt-rap pioneers like De La Soul and Cypress Hill, ska-rockers Sublime and classic-’80s soul-inspired crooners like Steve Winwood, Hall & Oates and David Bowie. The end result is an album that effortlessly crosses genres in a melting pot of a set, while also managing to pull off things like a sample of “Mama’s Heart”, by garage-rock sweethearts The White Stripes. The group has no problem making it all work itself out with ease.

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Excerpts from This Morning’s Alphabits: Scared Money

By Aaron Coats

Yes, children, I have been shaking like a ragged, three-legged cur roaming the streets of Musicland hoping to find something into which sink my teeth. Yes, I know I haven’t been searching all THAT hard, however; part of that is the lack of money in my possession. My wallet laughs audibly when I withdraw (pun) it from my pocket fully intending to undergo a transaction that includes me walking away palming a new collection of music ready to be absorbed by my Zune. Sometimes I think I even hear the sound that accompanies the boxed red “X” that splashes across the television screens of Family Feud watchers.

Elzhi’s album dropped this past Tuesday and I enjoy that fella’s flow immensely. Just couldn’t cop it. However, I was able to, in its absence, get my hands on Saul Williams’ The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tardust for the low low price of a utilized gift certificate. I happen to be listening to it right now and there are beat-nasty snares and rowdy guitars that illuminate his already potent and glowing lyrics.

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MGF Reviews Mötley Crüe - Saints of Los Angeles

By Tom D'Errico

Mötley Crüe - Saints of Los Angeles
Eleven Seven Music (6/24/08)
Hard rock

It might have taken upwards of 19 years to do, but the original members of Mötley Crüe finally got together and crafted the album no one thought they had left in them—a proper follow-up to Dr. Feelgood.

Some are talking about the autobiographical nature of the album; the “concept” nature of proceedings. But truthfully, this is the album fans were waiting for back in ‘91 or ‘92. And that’s not to say this is a retro album, or that it sounds out-of-place in today’s musical landscape. It’s quite the contrary. Crüe bassist and mastermind Nikki Sixx has always continued to grow and develop over the years, from his work with the Brides of Destruction to the Sixx A.M. project, and has strived to remain relevant over the years. If anything, it was that, coupled with the fact singer Vince Neil and drummer Tommy Lee stayed busy through the years, too, that made the band able to slip back into a comfortable situation. Mick Mars might have had his own problems (health, etc.), but it’s not like the Crüe was lying dormant, either.

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Letters From Freakloud: Mike’s Mailbag #1 (My Name Was Pound Cake)

By Mike Eagle

Seriously, how cool is Uncle Rapi*?
—Rapi

Nobody that spends as much time as you do in Springfield, Ill., can be cool. Even the legislators don’t kick it there after sundown. And if you try to get me to refer to you as my uncle again, I’m gonna have you registered.

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MGF Reviews One Way Mirror - One Way Mirror

By Tom D'Errico

One Way Mirror - One Way Mirror
Metal Blade Records (7/22/08)
Hard rock / Metal / Industrial rock

Side projects and super-groups are nothing new. It’s usually just a bunch of friends drawn together by the desire to create a certain type of music that might not necessarily fit into what the individual members do in their respective bands. In this case, One Way Mirror looks to combine metal and rock into a fiery concoction, turgid with melody and anything else into which the band seems willing to sink its teeth.

A super-group of sorts, featuring members of Soilwork (drummer Dirk Verbeuren), Lyzanxia (guitarists David and Frank Potvin), Scarve (Loic Colin on bass) and Mnemic (frontman Guillaume), the band tackles this rock-metal goliath blending the best of both genres, leaning toward the heavier end of the spectrum.

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FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO MISSED LILY ALLEN’S BOOBS THE FIRST TIME AROUND…

By J. R. Fernandez

At first I was apprehensive about posting things like this to the site, but last week’s Rihanna-nipple-piercing post got such good feedback that I’m ready to capitalize on yet another female musician’s partial nudity. While this one may not be as groundbreaking and/or EXCLUSIVE as the Rihanna one, it’s nudity nonetheless.

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MGF Reviews Chicago - Chicago (X)XXII: Stone of Sisyphus

By Eric Szulczewski

Chicago - Chicago (X)XXII: Stone of Sisyphus
Rhino Records (6/17/08; should have been 1993… will explain later)
Popus interruptus

This one’s so weird that VH1’s Behind the Music would think twice about broadcasting it.

Let me take you back to late 1982, if I may. Yr Humble Scrivener was in college. Most of you were still at the gamete stage, if that. Chicago (the group, not the city) was having dirt thrown over it. Their longtime label, Columbia, dropped them after a series of disappointing albums (and to be fair, the twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth albums did well and truly suck). No other label wanted them. Disappointing sales track record over the past five or so years, and where did Chicago and its horns fit in a world full of synthesizers? It was only because their manager Irving Azoff had his own vanity imprint, Full Moon, that the group could record. Warner Brothers, who distributed Full Moon, wasn’t very happy about being stuck with this dinosaur act, but they were not about to piss off the guy who managed acts like the Eagles. So Warners sucked it up.

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MGF Reviews Black Light Burns - Cover Your Heart

By J. R. Fernandez

Black Light Burns - Cover Your Heart
I Am: Wolfpack (8/5/08)
Rock / Alternative / Industrial rock

It was just over a year ago when the first Horseman of the Apocalypse arrived amid the waning days of spring, and I officially recommended (strongly recommended, in fact) something involving Wes Borland. I would then go on to let it be known that Fred Durst could still suck my f*cking balls, but the point was that with Black Light Burns, Borland had finally become involved with something really good. He may have owed a deal of that to Misters Lohner and Freese, but Cruel Melody was still leaps and bounds above anything else he’d previously recorded.

As the band (now sans the aforementioned Lohner and Freese, alarmingly) plans to release a new album early next year, they’ve released Cover Your Heart (with a special edition including the Anvil Pants Odyssey DVD) as an interim piece, of covers and instrumentals from the Cruel Melody sessions. As Borland puts it, “The musicians we covered are people we all listen to pretty religiously. … They’ll all bands that I’m a huge fan of and and [about which] I wanted to tell the world. It’s a shortlist of everyone I love that people may or may not have heard of or may not have thought that I would be into. They’re my desert island songs.”

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MGF Reviews Night Ranger - Hole in the Sun

By Eric Szulczewski

Night Ranger - Hole in the Sun
VH1 Classics (7/1/08)
Pop/Rock From Back When Pop/Rock Was Good

First Greg Norman at the British Open, now a new release from Night Ranger… I Love The ’80s! Even if it’s supposedly 2008, I Love The ’80s!

Seriously, I Love The ’80s (and if you’re wondering why I keep repeating that phrase, look at who’s releasing this and marvel at my blatant suck-up capabilities). It was my time, after all. My late teen years, my Bright College Days, the old Time Of Highest Sexual Potency thing. It was a good time for me. It was a slightly more innocent time when it came to music as well. Anything went, as you could tell from the genres that had their origins in the ’80s—everything from electronica to house to techno to hip-hop. Hell, we’d listen to anything. Go Home Productions has made a career out of creating mash-ups of ’80s material; honestly, check out their mash of Yaz’s “Don’t Go” and U2’s “Vertigo” and marvel at its magnificence.

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MGF Reviews ism - Urgency

By Ryan T. Murphy

ism - Urgency
STM Records (8/5/08)
Rock / Alternative / Electronic

I knew it would happen eventually. Around 2001, when the garage-rock renaissance came roaring in as a reaction to the hyper-technologized sounds of nu-metal, rock fans were in a tizzy over the idea that rock was getting back to basics; ditching all the techno and hip-hop affectations and bashing out a few chords in a garage, like it used to be. In the last few years, we’ve seen that it was really just the impotent meathead aggression that needed to recede. Bands like The Killers and The Bravery have brought back the melodic qualities of great songwriting that got lost when everyone decided to let their computers do the thinking; but they augmented it with an intelligent and carefully meted-out use of technology.

Now, ism has come along and brought the whole thing full circle. Urgency has all the hallmarks of indie-rock simplicity but it is fully integrated with electronica, and it avoids being gimmicky or feeling welded on. Looking at the apocalyptic black-helicopter album cover (which, incidentally, is my early vote for favorite album cover of the year) and seeing the punctuated band name, I was ready to hear a slice of Reznor-derivative tech-rock. What I didn’t expect was to hear some genuine melody, which Urgency has by the pantload.

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