So we promised the Counting Crows interview would be coming soon and, just to prove we're not messing with you, here's a little teaser.
Adam Duritz of Counting Crows went to get a new iPod to replace his broken one. Normally you need to exchange your previous model to get an upgrade but... this iPod contained the then unreleased album Saturday Nights and Sunday Mornings in its entirety. Click the link below to hear a quick clip detailing the events at the Apple store...
We know, we know. We've said it before but this time we're serious...
After a three-month hiatus, the blog is back and we're going at it with all guns blazing.
So, where have we been? We're all about transparency here at HT&E and we're not going to lie to you. We've been working on a few (shock horror) different projects. Now they're all up and running we've got far more time on our hands to get this site back to its best and better!
You may have noticed a few design tweaks to the site. We've shifted some things around, polished a few bits and tightened up a few flabby areas ready for some great new content coming your way soon...
Talking of which, we're currently writing up an awesome chat we had with Counting Crows frontman Adam Duritz who, fresh from the band's split with label Geffen, talked music, Macs and gave his thoughts on the state of the industry today. After we've uploaded a few regular posts to get back in our groove we'll be unleashing the full interview right here on HT&E.
Have a look round our refurbished site and check out our awesome affiliate, the guys at MOG Music Network who have been superbly understanding during our self-imposed period of radio silence.
That's it for now. Look out for another post very soon and, as always, drop us comments or email us using the address at the bottom of the page with feedback, article suggestions or just a simple "how's it going?".
Find hidden gems in your music collection or open your computer to the biggest free library of tunes seen since Napster... and it's all legal!
By now you're no doubt happy with one media player or other to listen to your music or, should the viewing of this page be about as digital as you get, you've settled for a CD or analog system. All methods have their benefits but, of late, we've been enjoying the latest revolution in music appreciation.
While listening to a compact disc or MP3 can be enjoyable when you know what it is you're in the mood for, there's something to be said for a little nudge now and then. We don't mean the radio which renders your control over the playlist to nothing but the minimal hope of a request getting aired, nor do we mean the services like Pandora and Last.FM that have appeared online in recent years. Today we're talking about an application you will almost certainly heard of and one that might be the best thing you've tried since a double deck cassette player.
iTunes Genius
While Apple's iTunes does its job when it comes to playing media, buying media and syncing media to iPods, it hasn't had that addictive feature you can't live without until now. That feature is called Genius and, quite frankly, it is.
Assuming you have an adequately stocked music library, Genius allows you to hit one button while a track is playing and build a playlist based around that song. That sentence doesn't do any justice to the service though. You really HAVE to try Genius to understand what makes it great and, just how effective it can be during the times when you think "I wanna' hear more like this".
By constantly scanning your library and checking back with the Apple mothership (don't worry, they're not after those "questionable" downloads you've got stored in there) Genius matches songs, sometimes surprisingly, that share characteristics of the source tune and fit into its overall "feel". Again, words can't do Genius justice but in recent tests Marlena Shaw’s California Soul brought about a fantastic journey through Mark Ronson and Motown, rounded off with a crescendo of Daft Punk. Aerosmith have mingled with Elvis and Elton John held hands with U2 while Fall Out Boy danced along.
Of course, aside from reviving underplayed tunes in your collection, Genius is also a handy and damn fast way of creating a playlist that you can come back to time and time again. If you haven't already, download iTunes 8 today at www.apple.com/iTunes
Spotify
For those lacking a hard drive busting music reservoir there's a new application which, for the enjoyment and unbridled access to such a vast library of tunes it provides, just doesn't seem legal. Spotify can be downloaded from www.spotify.com and is available for Mac and PC users but offers a twist on the normal computer-based music player - none of the music is yours. You don't import songs from CD and you don't download them to your computer, with just a broadband internet connection you have one of the largest music collections you've ever seen at your disposal. Load up the app, search for an artist (just like you do in iTunes or Windows Media Player) and the results are displayed. Perfect for when your smug "music aficionado" counterparts open a sentence with "Of course, you probably don't have a copy of...", the chances are you now do.
Unlike many streaming audio services, Spotify offers up good quality audio at around 160Kb/s (that's pretty good) and rarely lags or pauses to "buffer" its stream. Of course, you need a decent web connection, but nothing fancy.
On top of the ability to search for almost any artist you can think of (there are a few notable exceptions but more bands are added all the time) you can also create playlists and take advantage of Artist Radio which plays your chosen musician alongside those of a similar ilk. All of this with no drain on your disk space or the requirement to spend a penny (in monetary terms that is, pissing yourself at the value offered is quite possible). So what's the catch...
There really isn't one. Spotify is supported by advertising. If you sign up for a £10 monthly subscription you can get rid of them but, due to their infrequency and brevity, it's hardly worth it. For putting up with (sometimes quite informative) adverts every 15 minutes or so you can forget about paying for music ever again. Just remember to pay your phone bill and you're good to go...
A band featuring Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison, George Harrison, Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne couldn't fail to produce a quality album and Travelling Wilburys Vol. 1 is just that. Recorded in 10 days in early '88 in order to accommodate Dylan's touring schedule, the multi-platinum selling first volume of the Wilburys project is a classic for many more reasons than the sum of its musician parts.
Utilising the talents of each member to the full, there is a signature left on every track with the sound of each artists respective band (The Heartbreakers, The Beatles, ELO etc) melded with the overall feel of the album. From rockabilly rambles through classic British invasion sounds, a wide range of genres are touched without disjointing the 10-track set piece in any way.
Of particular note are Roy Orbison's voice at its haunting best during Not Alone Anymore, the Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da feel to Last Night and Dylan finding the perfect grating, rhythmic tone for the mesmeric storytelling of Tweeter And The Monkey Man.
It sounds trite but it's true to say that Travelling Wilburys Vol. 1 is a simply timeless album, made even more important after the loss of Roy Orbison, who died shortly after the album's release, and George Harrison in 2007.
Re-releases have seen the album become easier to get hold of in recent years (hell, it's on iTunes!) and as such provides no excuse for true music fans not to have a copy of Travelling Wilburys Vol. 1 in their collection.
In a recent interview with Prospect Magazine, Sir Paul McCartney has announced that he was the instigator of politics in The Beatles' music and not John Lennon as is widely believed.
During the interview covered by The Sunday Times, McCartney cites meeting with philosopher Bertrand Russell in the mid-60's as the spark that ignited the band's anti-Vietnam war sentiment and support for the peace movement.
While some refute the former Beatle's comments, McCartney claims that the political megaphone has now been passed on to younger pop stars including Bono and Sir Bob Geldof.
N.B. It is The Sunday Times and not HT&E that refers to both Bono and Geldof as "younger pop stars".
Songs like Revolution are seen as Lennon-inspired protest vehicles but Sir Paul now begs to differ causing many biographers and political activists of the time to claim that he is re-writing history.
While Lennon may have wanted to "Give peace a chance" it seems, according to McCartney at least, he was ushered into his activism. Somewhat hard to believe from the man who also claimed that The Beatles were more popular than Jesus.
The full interview will appear in the January issue of Prospect on sale 17/12/08
A rainy night in London is one to forget for one of New York's most talented sons.
There's no doubt that Gavin DeGraw is supremely talented and that's what made his London gig on a rainy November night all the more infuriating. Breaking immediately into a raunchy, rock-driven opener the tone was set for a night that would only wow fans that refer to him as "That guy who sings the One Tree Hill song".
Making his name with a piano and a heaven-sent vocal, New Yorker DeGraw has seemingly abandoned the intimacy that brought him to the attention of record labels and fans and sought an all out assault on the popular music scene. Given the current financial climate it's probably right to be chasing the yankee dollar but to do so while retaining integrity is a tough task and, on the strength of this one night in an historic British entertainment venue, a task at which Gavin DeGraw has unfortunately failed.
London's Astoria theatre is such a "cosy" venue that you would be hard pushed to find a bad seat in the house. Everywhere is close to a stage tailor made for the music with which DeGraw made his name. On this night though he chose to ignore the signs and force a new sound down the throat of the full house.
It's true, he is yet to make a bad album; a stunning debut in Chariot, a stripped version (recorded in one breathtaking take) and an accomplished, self-titled latest release. Why his music isn't more well known has been a mystery - until now.
It could have been the venue, it could have been the sound engineers (one of whom appeared to have a help menu open on his screen for most of the show) or it could just have been a bad night but, DeGraw simply didn't transfer the energy and depth of his albums to the stage. SURELY it should be the other way around!
The sonic delivery was messy, bass-heavy and engulfed the act's biggest selling point - DeGraw's voice. More the aural serving one would expect from a basement club's open mic night than such an exciting, label-promoted talent such as this.
It's not that there was a requirement for a toned down set of ballads and vocal acrobatics but it would have been nice. The only hints of DeGraw's vocal range, power and perfection were displayed in embarrassing, seemingly improvised interludes between muddy versions of his pop rock hits. Amazingly, the best track of the night was Chariot's Chemical Party which injected some much needed life into the subdued crowd who mostly made noise from static positions.
Perhaps the band are paid too much money to sit back for a song or two but that's what the entire performance was crying out for. Something stripped down, beautiful and clean. Every time a standout track looked ready to deliver it fell flat. It took until the encore to even begin to lure the goosebumps from the skin. Finally, a vocal driven performance. No drums, no bass, just soul. It lasted mere seconds and 80 percent of it was delivered by the crowd. A massive tease.
Throughout it all, the strength of so many well crafted songs lured a decent amount of sing-a-long value but it was the knowledge of just how good the original versions are that helped take the edge off a lackluster stage show. Even the lighting did little to rouse, cajole or otherwise enliven a vocal yet uninspired audience.
So on this night it didn't work. The man's too good for things to go on like this and surely, when his grunge-rock tinged with pop rebellion is over there'll be far more to be taken from shows like this.
Right now though, if performances are like this on every night of this current tour, it would be worth spending your money on a top spec stereo and a copy of Chariot Stripped to enjoy Gavin DeGraw the way he's meant to sound.
"They can improvise and jam as good as anyone I've ever seen. But they got these songs that really stick in your head as well." Says Jack Johnson of Californian quartet ALO (Animal Liberation Orchestra). With a sound that draws from the sun-soaked seventies and infuses jazz, R&B and soul sensibilities, ALO is the jam band you wish you could have booked for your last pool party.
Effortless gliding grooves and a healthy dose of quirky charm make for the perfect blissed out aural experience with sets that can sooth and rock in equal measure. No surprise then that ALO forms part of the placid posse that make up the aforementioned Mr Johnson's Brushfire Records label.
Stand-out musicians in their own right, the band consists of vocalist and keyboard player Zach Gill, bassist Steve Adams, guitarist Dan Lebowitz and drummer David Brogan. The list doesn't do the band or individuals enough credit however with many different co-conspirators filtering in and out since the band's conception in Santa Barbara (including five-piece brass section The Free Range Horns) and each member multi-tasking when it comes to their roles, instruments and songwriting duties.
Two studio albums and a handful of EPs into ALO's evolution, HT&E caught up with founding members Dan "Lebo" Lebowitz and Zach Gill to help unravel the story behind one of the west coast's most intriguing ensembles.
HT&E: How do you succinctly define your sound?
DL: Succinctly speaking, we are a rock and roll band that likes to experiment and spread joy.
ZG: Bohemian Jam Pop
HT&E: Musical experimentation seems to be your thing. What new avenues are you keen to explore?
DL: With Roses and Clover, we scratched the surface of our group composition skills. Specifically, recording our instrumental explorations and then crafting them into songs with words and melody. I'd like to explore that some more.
ZG: To be in a band that functions like ALO, where everyone has equal say, is always going to be a bit of an experiment. It happens very naturally. The last few years we have put some musical parameters on ALO, I am excited about the idea of tweaking some of those parameters in certain areas and seeing what happens.
"Our name has been misinterpreted many times, sometimes mistaken for an animal rights advocacy group and sometimes mispronounced to be AOL"
HT&E: Has your name ever caused you any problems?
DL: Depends how you look at it. It has definitely caused controversy. A little of that never hurt anyone though.
ZG: Our name has been misinterpreted many times, sometimes mistaken for an animal rights advocacy group and sometimes mispronounced to be AOL (America on Line). It's hard to say if this has ever caused us real problems. It has definitely raised a few eye brows and stirred a little controversy here and there, although I am not sure that is a bad thing.
HT&E: How did it come about?
ZG: Band names are a funny thing, a bunch of musicians get together and start making music together and pretty soon it comes time to name the project. I have been in bands with most of the guys in ALO for many years, we would change our band name every time we got into a new style of music or a member left. I don't think any of us expected that when we chose the Animal Liberation Orchestra that we would keep it for all that long. But for some reason that one stuck, of course now I think most people call us by ALO. When we chose the name I think it really reflected our musical sense of adventure. We had just finished up with our university music studies and we were searching for a way to merge our academic training with our sense of humor, music and lifestyle. The original line up, called the Animal Liberation Orchestra and the Free Range horns, featured a five piece brass section as well as drums, keyboards, guitar and bass. The original drummer was our college Jazz band professor. So we really did have this sort of quirky, orchestral rock band thing going.
DL: We were college students enchanted by satire.
HT&E: You often play with Jack Johnson and notably collaborated on Girl I Wanna Lay You Down. Any hook ups planned for the future?
DL: There are always ideas on the table. We all like to talk music and hang, and that is where the best colaborarions seem to come from.
ZG: We are in close contact all the time, I am sure there will be some exciting collaborations in the near future
ALO and Jack Johnson on stage. Image courtesy of randylane via Flickr
HT&E: You're all involved with solo projects. Does this mean the next album is on hold?
ZG: We decided to take a good part of the year off for people to explore other musical endeavors and to give the ALO chemistry a little break. So far it's been really great, all the members have been having lots of new successes in lots of different realms, and I think when ALO returns to the studio some time in 2009, theses new experiences will help to inspire and re ignite the flame of inspiration. Its kind of like when you take a year off from planting crops in a field, so that the soil can regenerate itself. This is what we have been doing
DL: Actually, we're already discussing ideas for it. At the moment we are all putting a lot of energy into our solo projects, which feels really good, because over the past few years there has been no time for it. The next ALO album isn't too far off though. I think that we all like to wear many hats, be it the leader hat, the collective hat, even the side man hat.
"The kid was simultaneously laughing and crying as he clung to the neck of Steve's bass. Far out indeed!"
HT&E: What's the strangest thing to have ever happened to you on tour?
ZG: Everything about touring is strange, you loose yourself, you find yourself.
DL: Once, while playing a festival set, a young man who was clearly tripping on acid climbed up on stage, walked over to our bass player Steve, and tried to take his instrument. All of this happened in the middle of a song! The kid was simultaneously laughing and crying as he clung to the neck of Steve's bass. Far out indeed!
HT&E: Do you have a favourite memory from ALO's history so far?
DL: When we were 14 years old, we had this jam in Zach's parents basement. I've never been the same since.
ZG: there are so many good ones I would never be able to choose just one, sometimes I like to think about the old days, when all five of us would sleep in the same hotel room, like a giant slumber party. At the time we all complained about this or that, but now it sounds like fun.
HT&E: Which other artists are you interested in working with?
DL: I'd like to work with Amos Lee. I just discovered him and think he's fantastic. Of course, Paul Simon and B.B. King are living legends that I admire.
ZG: Off the top of my head right at this moment...Ben Folds, Bjork and the Flaming Lips. maybe we could write a musical/rock opera together?
HT&E: Which label would you prefer, cult classics or chart toppers?
DL: Cult Classic!
ZG: I could be happy with either, depending on how big the cult was or how high the chart was topped. Somewhere between the two might be perfect for me.
It has been so long since last you heard from HT&E and for that we apologise.
Life, love, circumstance and more have conspired against us to such an end that, while music is running through every fibre of our being, we haven't been able to vent through our much loved outlet, this hallowed site.
Times are changing and we will be back in normal flow post haste. Please hang on and look forward to the gifts that we will no doubt be offering up very soon.
As the balmy summer days come to an end (at least on this side of the world) there's no better album to have ticking over on your MP3 player. Partly prompted by an appearance on Apple's latest iPod nano advertising campaign and partly down to the fact that this is not the type of album you put aside for long, Matt Costa's Songs We Sing is doing the rounds on HT&E's pocket jukebox this week.
At times it sounds like the darker side of Jack Johnson and on other occasions it's The Beatles getting serious after recording Revolution 9. The title track is where it's at on Songs We Sing, however, with a Ryan Adams sensibility fused into happy-go-lucky folk rock.
Other standouts are Cold December and Behind the Moon, the latter of which evokes thoughts of Ian Brown and the Stone Roses but, if you can believe it, with an uplifting twist.
If you're missing the blue sky and lamenting the rainy, grey days, slip this old favourite on and you'll be comforted and agreed with in equal measure.
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