Posts Tagged ‘Rock’

The Hotrats is a cover band formed by Gaz Coombes and Danny Goffey as a side-project from their main band Supergrass.

They cover Roxy Music’s, Love Is the Drug which is one of my all time most favorite-ist songs.  Roxy Music is so slick and sly with their funky ass version of the song.  The Hotrats do a killer job covering it and put a slight euro-trashy spin on it but still keep the right amount of funk and slyness.  Good Love!!!

Hotrats :: Love Is the Drug – Turn Ons

Roxy Music ::  Love Is the Drug (Single)

If there was ever a “charity compilation cover album” you NEEDED to buy this is it.  War Child – Heroes, Vol. 1

Here are 17 reasons why…

1.  Proceeds go to the humanitarian charity organization, War Child, who funds protection for children living in global war zones.

2. Beck covers Bob Dylan (Beck never ceases to amaze…)

3. The Kooks cover The Kinks

4. The Hold Steady covers Bruce Springsteen (Soooo Good!!!)

5. Hot Chip covers Joy Division (Hot!!!!)

6. Lily Allen covers The Clash

7. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs cover Ramones (Joey would be proud!! This from an all out Ramones Fanatic.  It does serious justice!!!)

8. Franz Ferdinand covers Blondie

9. Duffy covers Paul McCartney and Wings

10. Estelle covers Stevie Wonder (Wonder-ful Funk!!)

11. Rufus Wainwright covers Brian Wilson

12. Scissor Sisters covers Roxy Music (Somehow it becomes ABBA On Fire Disco Trash!!!!)

13. Peaches covers The Stooges (Peach Cobbler… I mean Peach “clobbers” The Stooges.  Amazing!!!)

14. Adam Cohen covers his father Leonard Cohen (In spanish no doubt.  Beautifully insane sick… and LIVE!!!)

15. Elbow covers U2 (Gorgeous!!)

16. The Like cover Elvis Costello

17. TV On the Radio covers David Bowie

Here are a couple of my favorites.  The whole album is absolutely amazing!!!  Well worth the $10 for a good cause.

Listen: Beck (Bob Dylan) – Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat

Listen: The Kooks (The Kinks) – Victoria

Listen: Hot Chip (Joy Division) -Transmission

Listen: Adam Cohen (Leonard Cohen) -Take This Waltz (Toma Este Waltz)

Listen: Elbow (U2) – Running to Stand Still

We are always looking for new sound and musical experiences here at cutbucket.  Thus, when I heard Black Keys were teaming up with some hip-hop heavy hitters we were all over it.  We went as far as setting Google Cal reminders for the release date, which by no coincidence was “Black” Friday.  Nice marketing nuance.

First impressions on a handful of tracks were slightly less enthusiastic than had been expected.  Some tracks leave me feeling like the last true good hip-hop/rock collaboration was the Judgment Night soundtrack.  As we listened on we were happy to find some serious sick cuts.

The tracks that still maintain and showcase the vintage Black Keys blues rock sound while fusing the flow of a fine selection of MC’s are wonderful.  Some tracks seem to lose the Keys signature and that is a shame.  That being said, well worth the wait for the few gems!!

By far our favorite cut is What You Do to Me.  Super swanky flow by Dan Auerbach on the chorus make you want light a smoke and sport a fedora.  Dan’s keyboard lick that echoes throughout kills!!  Nicole Wray’s sexy voice is the glue that binds the hard hitting verses by Billy Danze and Jim Jones.  As a total package, OUTSTANDING!!!

Note:  Make sure you check out the great video webisodes of the making of the album. www.blakroc.com/videos.html

Download: Blakroc – What You Do to Me (feat. Billy Danze, Jim Jones & Nicole Wray)

Download: Blakroc – Hope You’re Happy (feat. Billy Danze, Nicole Wray & Q-Tip)

Download: Blakroc – Ain’t Nothing Like You (Hoochie Coo) [feat. Jim Jones & Mos Def]

Roky Erickson, the man the myth the legend, just fits so well with Friday the 13th for some reason.  Dude is and was a true bad ass rocker!!!  Props to Roky.

Download: Roky Erickson & The Aliens – I Think Of Demons

Download: Roky Erickson & The Aliens – I Walked With A Zombie

Download: Roky Erickson & The Aliens – Two Headed Dog

Download: Roky Erickson & The Aliens – White Faces

Readers of cutbucket have come to find that there is no real direction, no real target for the type of music you will find here.  The reason? Try and bring wonderful music to the masses with no “walls”.  There is so much great music out there and so many people pushing the bad stuff in our faces, we need stand up for the good stuff.

Well… let me push some good stuff on ya (again)!  One of my favorite bands of the year is Deer Tick.  Maybe I like them because I can’t quite explain them.  You can read my previous post [http://cutbucket.com/?p=177] to get my impressions.  I had the opportunity to ask 5 questions of front man, John J McCauley III.  He gave honest and insightful if not hilarious answers.  I hope getting to know John a little better helps open some insight into Deer Tick’s music for you.  It did for me.

cutbucket – I was going to ask you how a kid out of Rhode Island ended up making super textured country folk rock (actually I am not sure what Deer Tick music is, which is great), but I hear you started to develop your sound by listening to the likes of Hank Williams.  What are some of Deer Tick’s other major influences and who are you listening to these days?  (Sorry for the boring standard “influences” question.  I promise it gets better)

John – I think Deer Tick started out by being heavily influenced by Hank, and Townes Van Zandt and stuff like that. But I don’t listen to that stuff all the time. I’ve been listening to a lot of Tom Petty and The Replacements lately. And Dylan, who I used to not really like.

cutbucket – I understand that the band’s name “Deer Tick” came about from a personal experience with a deer tick.  If you had to re-name your band based on experiences since then, what would it be?

John – I don’t know. Foot Fetish? Let’s All Trip On Shrooms And Throw Stuff Off The Bus? Those are pretty good band names, huh?

cutbucket – If “Born on Flag Day” was a soundtrack to a movie, what would that movie be about?

John – An old, miserable Irish American with cancer, living in Providence.

cutbucket – When Deer Tick was going through the writing process for Born on Flag Day, did you give more consideration to where your music would fit into your fans lives or was all about telling your story?

John – I didn’t really write the album as an album. They’re songs I picked from a bunch that I’d written that I thought would fit nicely together. I guess its more about telling the story.

cutbucket – The first line of the song “Hell on Earth” states, “Life is beautiful and beauty is a dying art”.  Do you feel Deer Tick’s art is “beauty” or are you aiming for something different?

John – I wouldn’t call it beauty, hell no. It’s some kind of art. Sometimes it feels like we’re all locked in a room together and there’s a gun in the middle of the room and somebody is going to snap at any moment and we’ll all be dead in a big, rock n roll murder-suicide. Other times it feels about as perfect as a margarita on a hot summer day. We’re not really aiming for anything, which is maybe a problem.

Listen: Deer Tick – Hell On Earth

Listen: Deer Tick – Easy

Listen: Deer Tick – Friday Xiii

Author:  Coach

Chuck Berry is HANDS DOWN the King!!!  When it comes to Rock and Roll, very few have come close to his influence on rock.  It is hard to believe that it was August 1, 1955 when “Maybellene” reached #5 on Billboard’s Best Sellers chart and topped the R&B chart for eleven weeks.

That means Chuck has rocked us for over 54 Years!!!! Unbelievable when you think about it.  And to this day, Maybellene will rock you just as hard as it rocked grandma and grandpa (actually it kicked their ass hard).

Below are a few of my favorite Chuck Berry cuts that don’t generally show up in the typical “best of” rotation.   Every music lover should have Chuck Berry: The Chess Box (Box Set) in their collection.   It will keep you up and rocking all night.

Listen: Chuck Berry – Tulane

Listen: Chuck Berry – Woodpecker

Author: Coach

Living in Phoenix you learn the true meaning of Summer and Heat.  It’s freaking brutal heat and you feel as if the summer drains the soul out of you at times.   I was getting out of my truck the other day and the temp was reading 116 degrees.  I looked up at the sun as if to say “what the Fuc!<” and happen to catch a glimpse of a hawk circling above me.  Upon a second glance I saw there was a group of hawks soaring and circling above my house.  I ended up counting 15 in total.  It was if they were waiting for someone (like me) to pass out on the sidewalk so they could rip the flesh from the overheated bones.  I know this sounds morbid, but the heat is that torturing at time.

For some reason Danzig’s “Dirty Black Summer” started ringing through my mind as if were a soundtrack to these soaring raptors intentions.  Thus I am posting a classic dirty metal classic.  You can run but you can’t hide from The Summer!!!

Listen: Danzig – Dirty Black Summer —->  BUY HERE

Listen: Danzig – Anything

Listen: Danzig – Soul On Fire

Author: Coach