This letter, signed by a ton of artists and pictured above, is set to appear in an ad in Billboard:

We are big fans of Pandora. That's why we helped give the company a discount on rates for the past decade.

Pandora is now enjoying phenomenal success as a Wall Street company. Skyrocketing growth in revenues and users. We celebrate that. At the same time, the music community is just now beginning to gain its footing in the new digital world.

Pandora's principal asset is the music.

Why is the company asking Congress once again to step in and gut the royalties that thousands of musicians rely upon? That's not fair, and that's not how partners work together.
Congress has many pressing issues to consider, but this is not one of them. Let's work this out as partners and continue to bring fans the great musical experience they rightly expect.

Pink Floyd, Down, Primus, Dead Kennedys (with our without Jello?), Nas, Alabama, Sheryl Crow and many more big major label names signed this (or someone signed it on their behalf). Check out the full list below, and head to fairpayforartists.com for more information on their point of view..

The issue is that Pandora is supporting the Internet Radio Fairness Act which they say will "help end the long-standing discrimination against internet radio". Artists are mad because that possibly means less money for them, but Pandora and other Internet radio providers argue they can't stay in business the way things are now.

Continue reading "A bunch of artists wrote an open letter to Pandora who support the Internet Radio Fairness Act"

photos by Chris Gersbeck, words by Bill Pearis

"Welcome to 21st Century B.A.D," said Mick Jones slyly to the strains of the 20th Century Fox theme, right before launching into the opening riff of "The Bottom Line," Big Audio Dynamite's debut single (And here, first encore). Mick Jones now has better teeth and less hair, and in a suit last night at Roseland Ballroom looked like some West End mafioso from a Guy Richie film. But the man can still sing and play and seemed to be having a great time. "The Bottom Line" is 26 years old but lines like "Dance to the tune of economic decline" still seem relevant.

As do Big Audio Dynamite, who played Roseland last night after a lauded Coachella set over the weekend and sounded like they hadn't skipped a beat despite not playing together for twenty years. This was the original line-up of Big Audio Dynamite, the one that gave us their nearly-perfect first two albums, and two pretty good ones after that. The set stuck almost entirely to songs from this era of the B.A.D., save for 1991 hit "Rush" (from their Big Audio Dynamite II days) which to me sounded much more dated than any of the band's '80s records.

Getting nearly every single the band released plus some choice album cuts, the NYC show was a pretty perfect showcase for what made B.A.D. so great: killer dance songs ("C'mon Every Beatbox," "E=MC²," "Just Play Music"), hip hop and reggae-influenced jams ("Sightsee MC," "BAD"), the band's love of film ("Medicine Show"), and genuinely affecting pop ("The Other 99," "V. Thirteen"). We also got "Beyond the Pale," one of the best songs Jones has ever written, dedicated last night to Joe Strummer (who cowrote much of No. 10 Upping St.).

Apart from the tip of the hat to Strummer, Jones didn't do a whole lot of "remember when" talk and kept things mostly free of drippy nostalgia. He was, however, jovial and chatty, joking with the audience between songs or when things went askew, like a false start to encore number "E=MC²."

Band co-founder Don Letts is just one of the coolest dudes on the planet, and B.A.D. really came alive on any song that featured him, of which there was a fair amount: foreign war critique "A Party," the hard-hitting London travelogue that is "Sightsee MC!" and the band's theme tune, "BAD." (Also the reggae hoedown "Battle of All Saints Road," though I would've prefered No. 10 Upping St.'s "Ticket.") Letts, who's inching towards 60, jumped around the stage, dreads hitting the ground, like it was 25 years ago.

If there was any disappointment it was they have been playing the same set at all these shows, so if you glanced at the setlist from, say, Manchester Academy two weeks ago you knew exactly what you were going to get. I would've liked a couple more songs from 1989's Megatop Phoenix (that album's single, "Contact," was conspicuously missing) but hopefully we'll get some different tracks next time. And I sure do hope there is a next time.

The full setlist, more pictures and some videos from the show, below...

Continue reading "Big Audio Dynamite played Roseland (pics, video & setlist)"

Big Audio Dynamite (1984-1990, 2011-present)
Mick Jones - vocals and guitar
Don Letts - sound effects and vocals
Dan Donovan - keyboards
Leo Williams - bass
Greg Roberts - drums and background vocals

Speaking of Roseland Ballroom, assuming the fire isn't too bad, Big Audio Dynamite will play the Manhattan venue on April 19th, not long after they play Coachella and a warm up show in LA. Tickets for the NYC show go on "Live Nation Presale" Thursday at 10am, and then general sale Saturday at noon. More tour dates below...

Continue reading "Big Audio Dynamite original lineup playing NY after Coachella"

by BBG

N.E.R.D. in Times Square (photo by Matt Kole)


Gorillaz play Boston on Wednesday (10/6) to kick off of the US leg of the Escape to Plastic Beach World Tour, hitting MSG two days later. Tickets are still available. The live band, led by Damon Albarn, will also be joined by a killer lineup up special guests including De La Soul, Little Dragon, Bobby Womack, as well as Mick Jones and Paul Simonon of The Clash. AND, to quote the legendary Onyx, "buh-buh-buh-wait-gets worse!", as N.E.R.D. will join Gorillaz as opener on all dates.

Opening with "Hot N Fun" and ending with "Lap Dance", N*E*R*D* played a three-song pop-up "show" on 9/23 in Times Square as part of a Honda promotion. A pic from that appearance is above and video from that show (as well as all tour dates) are below.

Continue reading "Gorillaz kicking off tour w/ N.E.R.D. & special guests"

photos by Rachel Carr, words by Daiana Feuer

Gorillaz Clash

The third and final round of the Coachella Music & Arts Festival was funky, and not just because the port-a-potties reeked. Keeping a loose theme every day (see Friday & Saturday), Sunday focused on relentless rhythm and groovy basslines. The absolute golden moment belonged to Yo La Tengo's blistering final song. Rhythm that revels in repetition + guitar that tries to destroy itself = wee mind blown. Sometimes the moodiest things are the most uplifting.

Thom Yorke brought his dancing shoes, his favorite Flea, and Nigel Godrich. His band Atoms For Peace played almost every song off The Eraser, many of which featured strong world rhythm sections. When Yorke didn't have a guitar in hand, he danced, whirled, and punched the air like he was rehearsing a scene from Fame. We wanted a high kick, but it didn't arrive. King Khan & The Shrines, on the other hand, featured legs flying all over the place, DJ Lance Rock and Yo Gabba Gabba characters, burning money, as well as a visit from the police-who crept on stage to snap pictures. Probably the first time Khan runs into cops and doesn't leave wearing cuffs. Sunny Day Real Estate had the audience offering bids to buy property, and Phoenix had people choking on dinner as they tried to dance and eat at the same time.

King Khan Gabba Gabba

Not every Julian Casablancas song captivated, but his band delightfully binged on rhythms. Each musician had a personal backbeat player supporting each fill. The drummer plus his sidekick especially sounded great. Matt & Kim's ebullient smiles inspired chaos in the audience, as usual. Mayer Hawthorne and the County revived Motown soulful brassiness and covered Biz Markie's "Just a Friend." The Big Pink played some new songs from next year's album, reaching out for Depeche Mode with a drummer in a pink bathing suit. Electro sweet popper Little Boots forgot her pants as well, wearing a sparkly shirt and knickers, and played with the lasers on stage. Charlotte Gainsbourg inaugurated her "first tour, first everything" with a feminine "Candy-O" sensibility, sometimes in French. Florence & the Machine rounds out the great lady performances of the day, and brought on Nathan Willett of Cold War Kids.

All clad in white, France's DJ ego-powers Club 75 demonstrated the ability to cooperate together with just a few elbows thrown. Cassius, Justice, Busy P, and DJ Mehdi still use CD's (so old school), and took turns passing on the headphones between them and finishing each other's remix sentences, trading places at each station. Backstage security bobbed along while staying tough. When it was their turn, Rusko turned the Sahara tent into a mechazoid robot battle and Orbital live-produced virtual reality anthems for Satan wearing Matrix miner lights around their heads. Infected Mushroom instructed on the benefits of "Becoming Insane" flanked by two mushrooms with red eyes.

The Middle East should not be confused with The Soft Pack, formerly The Muslims. The former may be from Australia but it sounds like a back porch band from Woodstock, and the latter offers a "Parasite" infestation that's as pure as sunshine and a neat drum set up that packs a giant tom punch. What appears as regular rock on headphones reveals its brilliance when experienced live. One of the strangest live moments of the festival belongs to Sly Stone, who played four hours late and on the wrong stage. He bitched, he slurred, he cursed, lay down, walked off, stopped songs and good grief, made a total mess of himself. But that's rock and roll.

Sly Stone made history look unable to get past its youthful drug phase, but Jonsi, Pavement, and Spoon come from a music scene that did a little bit less cocaine. Jonsi repped the awesomeness of Sigur Rós and great hats. Steve Patterson of White Rabbits joined Britt Daniels and the rest of Spoon to add percussion on "I Turn My Camera On". Spoon's tour-mate Bradford Cox (who played earlier in the day in Deerhunter) also joined Spoon on stage, like he did on their recent Kimmel appearance. Pavement ran through the hits during one of their first U.S. shows since reuniting. "That's the 90's in a nutshell," said Stephen Malkmus after the angsty "Unfair"...

"...Pavement, the iconic slacker band of the '90s, who took the main stage against what turned out to be one of the fest's chief attractions, the finally wildly popular French dance-rock band Phoenix, who wowed possibly the biggest crowd of the entire fest ... while Pavement played to a field half-full of true believers rather than the massive throngs many expected, and thought the band deserved.

No matter, though. Pavement still delivered a set that vindicated the group of prior crimes -- namely a Coachella performance near the end of their career so notoriously bad, many in attendance point to it as the moment the band decided to break up.

This night, however, they were tight, they were loud, and they sounded large on that vast field -- an odd statement, given the fact that in their heyday they were far more known for being introspectively small rather than arena-ready..." [The OC Register]

Virtual Snoop Dogg introduced the Gorillaz set, but Blur's Damon Albarn appeared in the flesh, with a few special guests including Paul Simonon, Mick Jones, De La Soul-who kicked their own old school jams earlier in the day-and Little Dragon's Yukimi. One unique rhythm transcended the next, showing the mutability of hip hop and dance music. And then that was it, suddenly. The festival ended and tens of thousands of people started wondering where they left their car keys...

Radiohead Peppers For Peace

Daiana's Weekend Top 10:
1. Yo La Tengo's last song
2. Little Dragon's Yukimi
3. Gossip leading a revolution
4. Thom Yorke dancing to African rhythms
5. PiL giving a history lesson
6. Sly Stone wigging out
7. Bouncing penises + fat people in undies (Die Antwoord + Major Lazer)
8. Devo putting on the hats that ushered in modern pop culture for "Whip It"
9. John Waters corrupting many young minds
10. The Gorrilaz lyric: "Super fast jellyfish going super fast. You can't even see him but you wanna eat him."

--

Owen Pallett, Local Natives, Miike Snow, and Yann Tiersen also played the fest Sunday. Gary Numan was among those who couldn't. Reviews & pictures from Day One, HERE and Day Two, HERE. Setlists (Thom Yorke and Pavement), pictures, and videos from Day Three, below...

Continue reading "Coachella 2010 - Day Three in pics, video & review (the Thom Yorke & Pavement setlists included) "

"Carbon/Silicon, the band formed by Mick Jones of The Clash and Tony James of Generation X, will self-release The Carbon Bubble on Saturday, November 14th. The reason for the special weekend release date is that the album will be made exclusively available as a FREE download via their website www.carbonsiliconinc.com."

a photo desperately in need of a good caption....

Actress Sienna Miller (L) hugs Mick Jones, former guitarist and vocalist of English punk rock band The Clash, after presenting him with the Inspiration Award at the 2008 NME Awards USA at El Rey theatre in Los Angeles April 23, 2008. The awards are given out by New Musical Express, a British weekly music magazine.

Carbon/Silicon @ Highline Ballroom, NYC - Dec 5, 2007 (ainyc)

Facts

1. The duo was formed in England in 2002 by two punk rock legends -- Mick Jones of the Clash and Tony James of Generation X.
2. Jones is a strict vegan who does not consume any meat or dairy products.
3. Jones and James first met at a Heavy Metal Kids show in London, which led to their first musical project, London SS, back in 1975.

[Spinner has live Carbon/Silicon video]

Tickets are on sale for an April 4th Carbon/Silicon show at Irving Plaza in NYC. Matt Pond PA is also playing that show and touring with them. The tour starts after SXSW. All dates below....

Continue reading "Carbon/Silicon - 2008 Tour Dates w/ Matt Pond PA, SXSW "

an Ahmet Ertegun Tribute....

continued below....

Continue reading "Led Zeppelin reunion concert photos & setlist"

DOWNLOAD Carbon/Silicon - What the Fuck (MP3)

Carbon/Silicon is a Garage Rock duo consisting of two punk rock legends: Mick Jones formerly of The Clash and former Generation X member Tony James. The band formed around 2002. [Wikipedia]

This has been on my "to listen" list for a while, and I was hoping to have some opinion before tonight's show at Highline Ballroom (oops). Consider this some last-minute notice and a free MP3. More dates below...

Continue reading "Carbon/Silicon = The Clash + Generation X (show tonight)"