Last Shadow Puppets Stuck In Time Warp

The Last Shadow Puppets new album, "The Age of the Understatement" is out. Arctic Monkey's leader Alex Turner's side project has produced wonderful results.

The album has a dramatic retro vibe that can only be described as Burt Bacharach meets Quentin Tarantino. Songs like, "Standing Next to Me" and "The Chamber" have a Mersey beat sound that will have you reminiscing about Gerry and The Pacemakers.

"Black Plant", with it's driving beat, Herb Alpertish horns and swirling violins, could easily be mistaken for a lost track from an old James Bond movie. "Standing Next to Me" is pure 60's talk show cabaret. "My Mistakes Were Made for You" looks to be the lead single.

If having one of the most compelling new voices in Rock allows for this type of experimentation, I'm all for it.

Why I Hate "Emo"

"The White Tie Affair" and "The Black Swan" are two more bands with new albums out this week that have been seemingly cloned from the prototypical, whining, emo-rock blueprint.

It is more disposable, angst ridden emo that is utterly indistinguishable from a thousand other groups jumping on the, "Look at me, I'm so sensitive I think I'll sing through my nose", bandwagon.

Oh the difficulties of going to the mall, meeting girls and not actually having to learn anything in order to progress through school. Life is tough.

If you've heard Fallout Boy, My Chemical Romance or any of the other in a long line of "misunderstood", enraged by pubescence boy bands, you've already heard this. Not that that will stop more of them from showing up on the scene in the weeks and months to come.

Feigning angst has never been so much fun.

B-52s Bring The Funplex

B-52s live on KCRW's "Morning Becomes Eclectic" April 2, 2008;



The B-52's recent visit to KCRW includes live performances of material from their new album, Funplex, and old classics.

U2- Old And New

Irish rock group U2 took a break over Easter and have now returned to the recording studio to continue working on their 13th studio album.

Producers Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois are expecting a 2008 release.

The band's first three albums - Boy, October and War - have been remastered and will be released in July. Each album will be put out as a standard single disc, a deluxe double version that includes B-sides, live tracks and rarities and a vinyl edition.

Diamonds Are Forever

The Arctic Monkeys covering a Shirley Bassey classic:

The Worst New Wave Cover Song... Ever

I would like to nominate the immortal Jack Jones, who stole Bill Murray's bad lounge act parody and parlayed it into a career of impressive crapsuckiness, for his version of "Every Breath You Take".




"I'm here all week, tell your friends".

Return Of The Killer Bs

The B-52's latest release, "Funplex", is their first studio album in 16 years. The album picks up pretty much where the Bs left off, with "Love Shack" type tempos and party attitudes in many of the songs.

"Juliet Of The Spirits" stands out. It's no coincidence that Fred Schneider is absent on this cut. Throughout the rest of the album, Fred Schneider's voice is a distracting irritant rather than a highlight.

Walking the line between campy and cool is a difficult challenge that Fred and The B-52s have done so often I have come to expect it. But that spirited nuance is missing in Schneider's voice on this record. Too bad. "Deviant Ingredient" sounds great until Fred chimes in. Almost sounds as if he is reading off a cue card at times.

A couple of live versions round out the album. "Private Idaho" and "Planet Claire", both recorded during a show at the Roxy, prove that the B-52s can still kick it live!