Van Halen Recording New Album With David Lee Roth
Filed under: News , New Music Frank Micelotta, Getty Images Hard rock legends Van Halen are hard at work on a new album with original vocalist David Lee Roth , according to a statement made late last week by its music publishers. Various reports also suggest the group will hit the road upon the LP’s completion sometime next year. “The band is currently in the studio recording an album with Roth … Read more on Spinner
A day off from the office to look forward to The Office
The bad side of Labor Day: Summer is almost over. Boo! The good side of Labor Day: It’s almost time for the fifth series of “The Office” to begin! Read more on The Buffalo News Blogs
News in brief
Here are a selection of brief news items from this week’s paper edition, and possibly a few news briefs that didn’t make it in the paper. Read more on Onalaska Holmen Courier-Life
Michael Franti & Spearhead announced in November last year that they would be opening for the 2010 John Mayer “Battle Studies Tour” in the spring. It was difficult to picture Mayer, known mostly for his colorful love life rather than his guitar compositions, and Franti, known for his fights against political, religious and racial wars, on the same stage.
Franti’s practicing what he preaches. He is closely involved with CARE, an organization trying to educate mainly women and girls in developing countries in quest against poverty. He travels all around the world on CARE missions. One of the last places he visited was East Timor.
A few years ago Michael Franti & Spearhead released their Yell Fire! album, inspired by Franti’s trip to the Middle East war zones including Israel, Baghdad, Iraq, and the Gaza Strip.
But despite the mixed reactions after the announcement of the collaboration, Michael Franti was confident that his music is compatible with Mayer’s and that Michael Franti & Spearhead would connect to Mayer’s audience.
Franti, in whose veins flow all kinds of blood, is equally open to people of all ages, genders or races. And according to the positive reactions of fans after the first concerts of the Battle Studies Tour, he was right. The light, positive music blending hip hop with funk, reggae, jazz, folk, and rock, turned out to be a perfectly matching opening act for John Mayer’s “Battle Studies.”
Michael Franti & Spearhead gained mainstream recognition last year with the hit single “Say Hey (I Love You)” from their “All Rebel Rockers” album. “Say Hey (I Love You)” turned out to be a gold mine and became double platinum with more than 2 million sold copies sold.
“All Rebel Rockers” was recorded mainly in Jamaica. Franti finds inspiration not only in Jamaica but also in classical albums like Stevie Wonder’s Songs In the Key of Life. But what really makes their sound so unique is the live performance of the band. Something that draws Michael Franti to reggae are the vibes that the band creates when they play together.
Right now Michael Franti & Spearhead are working on their next album.
I’ve just discovered Nerdcore. (Yes you read that right, NERD – core.)
MC Frontalot’s 2005 album “Nerdcore Rising” to be precise.
MC Frontalot is the stage-name of San-Francisco hip-hop musician Damien Hess.
The album is a breath of fresh air.
I heard this album for the first time last night and was immediately impressed with the kind of complex rap flows you would expect from the likes of Del Tha Funkee Homosapien and the Hieroglyphics crew or Jurassic 5, and it’s so refreshing hearing light-hearted humour in a genre saturated with oh-so-serious wannabe-prison-tenants.
The background music on the album is rich with all the vibrant textures you’d expect from a modern hip-hop artist, often with the kind of dark room-shaking synth-bass sounds and tight drums that will raise the eyebrows (and volume controls) of audiophiles everywhere.
Try this for size… (featuring Jesse Dangerously and M.C. Hawking)
And is it just me or does he sound a bit like an ironic Eminem at times…?
And this one’s my favourite one I’ve heard so far…
Anyway, just thought I should share this with you.
Not a classic album by any stretch of the imagination but it’s definitely an album worth owning, if only to reach for it when visited by friends who haven’t heard it… or to humiliate any gangsta rap fanbois that turn up at your party and ask if you have any Snoop Doggy Dogg.
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