This edition of 4 JYSDL focuses on some classic indie slow jams with the exception of the Felice Brothers.  Good songs for a sunday morning cup of coffee at your digs or when your hangover can’t manage to hear anything loud and fast, which is the case for me right now.  Enjoy.

1. The Jam – That’ Entertainment

2. Bon Iver – For Emma

(more…)

Stone Temple Pilot’s new album maybe a far cry from the STP you grew up on or it could be exactly that.  We won’t know until May 25th.   Scott Weiland has always been full of drama which is what pulled the band apart in the first place.  However, he did manage to put some good things together with Velvet Revolver.  The De Leo brothers and Weiland re-grouped on a mini tour last year which seemed to be a cautionary approach to finding out if it was worth the effort for a new album.  After hearing more about Weiland’s drama during the tour, I’m sure most thought it was all over again, a lil comeback tour amounting to nothing.   None the less they decided to try a new album.  But the band and Weiland were only in the studio two or 3 times together. Weiland recorded all the vocals on this new album  separately at his own studio, Lavish Studios.  They kept a producer between them to make sure everything worked.  This recording method makes the album skeptical of course, but maybe this is what works for Weiland.  I bet he was a drama queen when they put out their earlier stuff and he had his distractions with Velvet Revolver and it all turned out good.  Let’s hope it works because with Miley Cyrus and Jonas Brothers on the cover of Rolling Stone, Rock and Roll needs STP to make a strong comeback more than ever.  ”Between the Lines” is the first single off the album and debuted in a performance at SXSW earlier this month.

Before I start I want to make this very clear, these are the best beats I have heard hit the scene in a long time, maybe ever, this kid is no joke. Ok so that was a bold statement, but it isn’t every day an artist mashes up sounds to create a never before heard sound combing hip-hop, trance, 16 bit beats, and symphony strings. The spotlight track we want to set you off with is called Fuse off his latest album “Butter”, which truly is smooth as butter.

Picture Scotland… forget haggis, forget men in skirts, forget fluorescent ginger pig tails and miserably cold weather. Now instead imagine one of the most musically eclectic breakthroughs this country has to offer right now. Imagine diverse electronic and acoustic sounds created by a man hell bent on world domination, playing live shows everywhere from Tokyo to Tennessee… Indeed, you may be thinking this mythological creature stands as much chance of being spotted as the Loch Ness Monster, and that the only enjoyable being to come out of Scotland is Grounds Keeper Willy. But no, you would be very much mistaken.

(more…)

Performing live is something that can easily go wrong and when it does it tends to go really wrong. The following are examples of some of the craziest and most shocking events to ever happen at a concert.

1. Milli Vanillii, Bristol, CT July 21st, 1989

This duo had their career ruined when their vocal track began to skip at a concert. Yes it was discovered that the duo did not actually sing at their concerts or on their albums. This caused a public outcry and the group was eventually forced to return their Best New Artist Grammy.

2. L7, Reading Festival, England, Aug. 28th, 1992

This all girl-grunge band was performing on stage to a rowdy crowd and the problem got worse when the band experienced technical difficulties. Donita Sparks, the lead singer guitar player for the band, got angry when the crowd began throwing mud at the stage and decided to throw something back. Her object of choice? Her own bloody tampon, showing that you should never mess with a female rocker when she is on her period.
(more…)

There was time in east coast hip hop, just after the days of tight jeans, white Reeboks and silver boom boxes on shoulder and just before the flashiness of bad boy records, puffy and glamorous hip hop.  This is when the rough, rugged and raw side of east coast hip hop began to emerge into the spotlight.  The videos of the time consisted of harsh amplified emotion by artists who resembled street soldiers usually in dark places, looking ready for war.  Wu-Tang first emerged in this era and was able to stand the test of time, other groups like Das Efx, Heltak Skeltah and Gravediggaz fell off in the mid-late 90′s when flashy hip hop re-emerged.  This side of hip hop lives on but doesn’t get much credit because the songs certainly don’t hold up in the club ready, bling manufactured world hip hop has become.  The instinctive raw emotion of hip hop began here.

1. KRS One – Sound of Da Police

2. Run DMC – Down with the King

(more…)

This brand-new, completely unreleased studio album features 12 previously unreleased studio recordings totaling over 60 minutes of unheard Jimi Hendrix. Ten of these recordings were made between February and May, 1969, as the Jimi Hendrix Experience set out to create the sequel to their groundbreaking 1968 double-album Electric Ladyland. The album features “Valleys Of Neptune,” one of the most sought after of all of Hendrix’s commercially unavailable recordings, and includes exciting 1969 arrangements of the classic signature songs “Red House,” “Fire,” and “Stone Free.” Also includes unheard studio versions of Hendrix’s inspired interpretations of “Bleeding Heart” (Elmore James) and Cream’s “Sunshine Of Your Love.” Mixed by Eddie Kramer, the engineer for all of Hendrix’s albums throughout the guitarist’s lifetime. Produced by Janie Hendrix, Eddie Kramer, and John McDermott, the team behind all of the acclaimed Jimi Hendrix CD and DVD releases since 1996.

(more…)

I usually don’t like to post just one song, but this video and song really grew on me and is incredibly catchy. An entertaining and cheeky music video for “70 Million”, a hit song by Franco-American band, Hold Your Horses!, offers a wink at art history as band members playfully reconstruct famous paintings in an off the wall lyrical interpretation all their own. Produced by L’Ogre.

70 Million by Hold Your Horses ! from L’Ogre on Vimeo.

I’m not the biggest fan of OK Go but I have to admit they have quickly become the masters of the music video. Their first music video for the song “Here it goes again” was a massive hit on the internet that shot them into fame. They came out with a few other videos before releasing “This too shall pass” which is also a creative and amazing video. They did another video for that song that was filmed in a two story warehouse, in the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, CA. The “machine” was designed and built by the band, along with members of Synn Labs over the course of several months. The official video for “This Too Shall Pass” is off of the album “Of the Blue Colour of the Sky”.

Every now and again its nice and also funny to see a star athlete get knocked off of their pedestal. These guys walk around with millions of dollars, acting like the rules dont apply to them and figuring that there will be no backlash. To bad that rappers dont really care who you are, or how much money you have, as long as your name and actions make a good rhyme. Here are some examples of athletes catching the short end of the hip hop stick.

You Like That BRON BRON?

Taking sloppy seconds is one thing, but getting it announced on wax (and on the accompanying music video) is another—especially if you’re a star athlete like Lebron James. On “Popular Demand (Popeyes),”  The Clipse andPusha T discusses a Madonna-looking groupie who’s allegedly fucking LeBron…after Pusha already smashed “a long time ago” on a balcony in Miami’s Delano Hotel. Like that Bron-Bron?

HOVE VS STEPHON

LYRICS: “Please excuse yourself, you’re very sick/Don’t confuse me with Marbury out this bitch/Run up on me at the light, you could lose your life”

Wayne VS the O’Bannon Bro (WHO?)

LYRICS “Listen close I got duct tape and rope/ I’ll leave you missin’ like the fuckin’ O’Bannons.”

(more…)