Opinion

The De-Evolution of Robin Thicke

July 14, 2014

At the end of 2013, when I made my predictions for what would happen in the year to come, one of them was “Robin Thicke will return to pre-Blurred Lines fame level.” It was something of a throwaway line. I figured a 36-year-old lucking into a monster hit was more of a fluke then a signal that he’s going to be a mainstay on the top 40. What I couldn’t have predicted was just how far he would sink. Thicke’s new album Paula came out two weeks ago, and has been one of the biggest bombs the music world has seen in some time. It sold about 530 copies in the UK, and just 53 in Australia. Things were a little better in the US, where the album debuted at No. 9, and sold 24,000 copies. Still, the notion that Thicke was going to turn his smash hit into a[...]

Is Originality Overrated?

June 23, 2014

I’m still not sure what my favorite song on the new Black Keys album is. It might be the one that sounds like Pink Floyd, or the one sounds like Sweet, or the one with the riff that sort of sounds like an electric version of Cat Stevens’ “Wild World.” Or maybe the other one that sounds like Pink Floyd…. Ok, you get the idea. But while many of the songs on Turn Blue can be directly traced to 70s classic rock, that doesn’t make me love it any less. If you go to The Black Keys looking for originality, you’re looking in the wrong direction. They have loads of great songs, but they are more than happy to be revivalists rather than originators. This brings up an interesting question: Is originality really all that important? We’ve spent more than a decade appreciating songs from rock bands who we love because[...]

Best Case/Worst Case: Up-and-Coming Pop Stars

June 16, 2014

Pop music is in a transitional stage right now. New performers keep sprouting up with mega-hits faster than we can keep track of them. So, with that mind, let’s look and some of the bright new faces in pop and determine what would be the best ways for their careers to play out, and what scenarios would leave us sick with disappointment. Lorde Best case: Continues to embrace weirdness, and largely ignores what’s going on with contemporary pop stars. In a perfect world, she could keep making the music she wants to make while staying a force in the mainstream, but if she fades out of view of the Billboard Hot 100 and continues to do her own thing, that would be fine, too. Really, just as long as she stays weird, and continues to grow as a songwriter without blatantly seeking out huge pop hits, that would be great.[...]

When Rock Stars Are Jerks

June 9, 2014

Last week, I wrote about the ongoing feud between Jack White and The Black Keys, and why I didn’t think it was anything to get worked up about – musicians talk crap about each other’s work all the time, so what if one artist you like hates another artist you like? But the Rolling Stone interview with White wasn’t just noteworthy because of White’s specific comments about the Keys, it also registered because the dude just comes off like a bit of a prick. He just seems like a bitter guy who, considering his massive success, doesn’t have all that many reasons to be bitter. Ultimately, that was why White decided to apologize: he knew his words had left a bad taste in his fans mouths, and he wanted to correct the problem as quickly as possible. But this raises a larger question: does it matter that our favorite rock stars[...]

Who Cares What Jack White Thinks About The Black Keys?

June 2, 2014

In a recent Rolling Stone interview, Jack White said some shit that pissed off a bunch of people. He accused the Black Keys of ripping off his work, and argued that Adele owes a large part of her commercial success to Amy Winehouse’s death. This was apparently controversial enough that White released a statement apologizing for the comments on his website this weekend. To me, the question that needs to be asked is why the fuck does any of this matter? First off, White’s apology is hilarious. He’s basically saying “Sorry I told you how I really feel.” I mean, it’s not like he’s actually retracting any of those opinions or saying “Nah, I was just shitting around, the Black Keys are a great band.” And as someone who thoroughly enjoys the music of White as well the Keys, I couldn’t possibly care less. So Jack White doesn’t like a band[...]

The Awkward Rebirth Of Michael Jackson

May 26, 2014

Michael Jackson’s new album Xscape debuted at #2 on the Billboard charts. The lead single, ‘Love Never Felt So Good,” currently resides at #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts. Oh, and last Sunday, a hologram of Jackson had one of the best performances of the Billboard Music Awards. So, it would seem that with the five-year anniversary of his death fastly approaching, Michael Jackson is one of the biggest pop stars in the country. So, what do we make of this? Plenty of musicians have had posthumous releases debut near the top of the chart, and had their work continue to be appreciated by new generations, but this feels different. It almost feels like Michael is actually still here, still producing new work, and still existing as an active pop star, even though that’s technically impossible. Every posthumous Hendrix or Tupac release has been treated as just that – unearthed[...]

Thursday at Canalside Report Card

May 9, 2014

Along with Memorial Day, the official start of summer here in Buffalo always seem to be when the Thursday at Canalside Concert Series, formally Thursday at the Square, announces it’s summer schedule. Ever since leaving that cesspool that was a 5pm on a Thursday at Lafayette Square, the series seems to be on the up. It doesn’t hurt that the still-under-renovation Canalside is gorgeous on a summer night. With Buffalo Place pulling out of the concert series and Comcast stepping in, we were interested to see if anything drastically different would happen with the types of acts brought in (spoiler: it didn’t). Yesterday at 5:30pm, the Canalside Concert crew hosted a lineup unveiling party down by the water, and as expected, plenty of opinions were voiced. On one hand, concert-goers want familiarity. People like what they know, and repeats tend to rule. On the other hand, people want change. Keep it[...]

Why The Presence Of A New Pixies Album Bothers You

May 5, 2014

When the Pixies reunited in 2004, they swore they wouldn’t make a new album. At the time, most thought this was the right move. After all, what they accomplished in the 4.5 albums they made was pretty close to perfect, so why dilute that greatness with a new album that couldn’t possibly live up to expectations? It was a sound bit of thinking, but after a decade, they just couldn’t help themselves. They released Indie Cindy, a collection of the songs released on three EPs that have come out gradually over the past eight months. The reaction to Indie Cindy – as well a the EPs that make it up – has been frosty to say the least. Just as the band had feared in 2004, it couldn’t live up to the Pixies’ legacy and the record is being treated as an unwelcome guest in their catalog. Over the past two and a[...]

Why Do We Care What The Critics Think? (I’ll Tell You)

April 28, 2014

It’s August 2006, I’m hanging around the no-longer-in-existence FYE on Transit & Wehrle, next to the Imax Theater.  I pick up the new issue of Spin, immediately flip to the reviews section, and I’m dejected to notice that Tom Petty’s Highway Companion had only received two stars.  I resisted the urge to hurl the magazine across the room, but I was decidedly unhappy. How could the be so down on my favorite artist ever? But more importantly, why did I give a fuck? It’s the question that fans, musicians, and probably even other critics have contemplated for decades: why do we care what the critics think? If we derive joy from an album, should we really be losing sleep over whether or not some freelancer from Rolling Stone thought it wasn’t any good? Ideally, no, but we care anyways. Because as music fans, we feel an intrinsic need to have our[...]

The “Related Artists” Question

April 21, 2014

A few weeks ago a friend of mine – who is also a musician – posed a question to her Facebook friend: “Which other famous acts did she sound like?” Because I can never resist the opportunity to be a smart ass, I responded with “Def Leppard, Boyz II Men, and Frank Sinatra.” If you’re wondering, she sounds nothing like any of those acts, but while my original post was just for shits & giggles, it happened to inadvertently represent an important question: what does it mean when we say that one artist sounds like another one. If you’ve read a lot of local music publications – including this one – you’ve probably seen a lot of local acts compared to internationally famous ones. I know because I’ve done this myself; in my preview of Well Worn Boot’s show at Nietzsche’s this Sunday, I described the group as “Primus meets[...]

Requiem For The Greatest Hits Album

April 14, 2014

As one of the few people still buying CDs, I’m already something of a musical relic. What I tell you next might shock you though, the last two albums I bought were Greatest Hits compilations. Just in case you thought I was aiming for any hipster cred here, the compilations in question were for Foreigner and My Chemical Romance (both of which I will defend to the death, but I’m just sayin’). Now, this might seem a bit confusing as the greatest hits album is even more a thing of the past than the CD. We more or less killed it when we created the playlist, right? The old problem of “how could they leave off (insert fan favorite here) was resolved once and for all when iTunes gave us the ability to just add that song right along with the others. But while I’m thankful for the ability to[...]

Is Discography Dilution A Problem?

April 7, 2014

Last week, a rather strange rumor hit the internet. Apparently, The Flaming Lips were going to record a “companion” album to The Dark Side Of The Moon. The idea was that you played the two albums simultaneously and that they sync up, just like The Wizard Of Oz. Well, the whole thing turned out to be a big April Fool’s prank, but it’s not hard to see why people believed it, or why it was a bit troubling. The Flaming Lips have been doing a lot of this lately – and there’s a case to be made that it’s been  too much. Last year’s The Terror was a wonderful album, and it didn’t get the respect it deserved, but it’s just one of a number of things they’ve been putting out in recent years and the quality tends to vary. First, there was that six-hour long song  that no one completely understands the reasoning[...]