The evening opened with a monastic choir studying at southern India’s Drepung Monastery. They ascended the stage in orange robes and plumed headdresses and began a dirge-like moaning that sounded like a didgeridoo. Each monk remained motionless and kept his lips parted the same as everyone else, so I could never tell who was singing when. I was transfixed and moved, especially when they revealed a certain vulnerability by removing their head coverings before bowing.

Philip Glass, who doesn’t look anywhere near 75, took over from there and invited Laurie Anderson on stage. Until this point, my only experience with her consisted of dismissing my roommate’s copy of Big Science on vinyl as weird and pretentious. But the real live Anderson was actually quite clever, starting out with an electric violin and a synthesizer that wafted sounds of rain falling, thunder, and tribal drums. Anderson then told us a story in that sardonic, Gandalfian voice of hers (only she and Ian McKellen can make “wooden spoon” riveting) about going on a silent Buddhist retreat that turned into a Survivor-like episode. Antony then quietly joined her onstage for a rendition of “The Dream Before (a.k.a. Hansel and Gretel Are Alive and Well)”, his velvet ululations fitting perfectly with Carnegie Hall’s plush interior.

After his performance, I thought James Blake’s equally soulful murmurs would reverberate nicely in the space, but unfortunately that was not the case. Someone once told me the reason that most people gravitate toward dubstep is because the floor-shaking bass reminds them of the feeling of being in the womb. Regardless (I smell the skepticism from here), the beats that propel “Lindesfarne” and “The Wilhelm Scream” should be heard in a dark room, pressed against a lot of sweaty people moving as one. In a cavernous auditorium, they just sound empty.

Fortunately, Philip Glass was perfectly at home on stage. He enlisted collaborator Tim Fain, whose violin can be heard in the soundtrack to Black Swan, to play “Pendulum”, which Glass composed to commemorate the ACLU’s 90^th Anniversary. After listening to the original, I hear how the cello part is necessary to add heft and depth to the violin’s surging arpeggios, but Fain gave such an invigorating, expressive performance that it didn’t matter in this live setting. Dechen Shak-Dagsay logically followed, since she contemporizes traditional Tibetan Buddhist mantras in the same way that Glass keeps neo-classical music progressive and integrative.

But from there, all sense of coherence between venue and performance dissolved, starting with Das Racist. The thunderously aggressive beats behind “Michael Jackson”, especially backed by the Scorchio String Quartet, shook the foundation to its core. As soon as hype-man Ashok Kondabolu started thrusting his pelvis in slow motion across the stage, I lost it. It is just not possible to take them seriously, especially when they obviously don’t. When Victor Vasquez sat down on the lip of the stage and did a backwards somersault, while Heems seemed to not give a shit as he wandered aimlessly behind his band mates, it was clear the audience wasn’t holding back the giggles as hard as I was.

Ever the diplomat, Glass transitioned to Stephin Merritt with the comment, “A little change of pace.” For how explosive Das Racist was, The Magnetic Fields frontman was the opposite, eliciting chuckles with awkward stage banter. He took to the stage with a footstool, glancing meaningfully at the Quartet behind him as he sang, “I wish I had an orchestra behind me,” opening his set with “This Little Ukelele”. The Scorchio Quartet joined him for “The Book of Love” and he closed with “Andrew In Drag” off The Magnetic Field’s forthcoming album, Love at the Bottom of the Sea. I hoped Lou Reed would take the bait and play “Take a Walk on the Wild Side”. (Spoiler alert: He didn’t.)

The man behind me pretty much summed up Rahzel’s performance with an emphatic “Yes!” when Glass announced him, followed shortly by thunderous applause. The Godfather of Noyze sang (or played? or did inhuman things with his mouth?) “Transformation”, which appeared in its original form on 2000’s “Night Rider” with Slick Rick. If you closed your eyes, as Rahzel suggested, he could have genuinely passed for a Transformer, but then you would have missed his robotic dance moves. He invited Das Racist onstage, where they launched into “Shut Up, Man” while Vasquez wrapped himself up in Carnegie Hall’s American flag and brought it stage center, letting it drag on the ground as he did so. Despite Das Racist’s welcome encore performance, Rahzel clearly owned his time on stage, beat-boxing so hard his shirt came undone.

And then, the “one and only, unforgettable, incomparable Lou Reed”, the Dalai Lama of rock and roll, took the stage for the night’s finale. As much as I was looking forward to seeing Lou Reed in the flesh, he let me down. His performance reminded me of something he said to USA Today about his maligned alliance with Metallica, Lulu: “I don’t have any fans left. After Metal Machine Music, they all fled. Who cares? I’m essentially in this for the fun of it.” From the way he read lyrics off a piece of paper in front of him and impatiently gestured to his band mates and the Scorchio Quartet, it appeared that he neither cared nor was having any fun.

The prize for old men who can still rock the fuck out definitely goes to The Patti Smith Band, whose blistering rendition of “Born to Lose” felt more authentic and just plain sounded better than Reed’s less-than-existential “Who Am I?” The song’s smoldering self-doubt still lingers—mostly thanks to Reed’s second guitarist, who looked beside himself to be jamming with Reed and shredded like his life depended on it—but it still felt empty. It wasn’t until the rest of the night’s performers came onstage to sing along with The Velvet Underground’s “Beginning to See the Light” that I forgave Reed for an underwhelming set. Instead, I sang “Happy Birthday” to Glass with everyone else and hoped that next time, I’ll actually get up the nerve to talk to James Blake.

Photography by Shaun Regan.

After wading through last year’s negative press for Lulu, Lou Reed will return to European stages this summer to embark on what’s being billed as the “From VU to LULU” Tour. It all kicks off on June 6th in Luxembourg and continues throughout the month at a variety of European festivals, including Switzerland’s Caribana Festival, France’s Montereau Festival, Berlin’s Citadel Music Festival and Slovakia’s Pohoda Festival. He also has dates scheduled in France, Holland, Belgium, Denmark, and Germany.

For the trek, the former Velvet Underground frontman will be joined by Tony ‘Thunder’ Smith (drums), Rob Wasserman (bass), Kevin Hearn (keyboards), and Aram Bajakian (guitar). According to a press release, Reed and the band plan on diving into the songwriter’s highly celebrated catalogue, including, yes, Lulu.

Check out the full itinerary below. Tickets are currently on sale for a number of the dates; consult Reed’s official site for ticketing information.

Lou Reed 2012 Tour Dates:
06/06 – Luxembourg, LU @ Rockhal
06/08 – Nyon, CH @ Caribana Festival
06/09 – France, FR @ Montereau Festival
06/11 – Paris, FR @ Olympia
06/12 – Lille, FR @ L’Aeronef
06/14 – Amsterdam, NL @ Heineken Music Hall
06/15 – Brussels, BE @ Ancienne Belgique
06/18 – Copenhagen, DK  @ Falconer Salen
06/20 – Berlin, DE @ Citadel Music Festival
06/23 – Mainz, DE @ Zollhafen/Nordmole
06/25 – Clermont Ferrand, FR @ Cooperative de Mai
06/26 – Bordeaux, FR @ Fete le Vin
06/29 – Bonn, DE @ Kunst!Rasen
06/30 – Dresden, DE @ Filmnächte am Elbufe
07/01 – Munich, DE @ Tollwood Festival at Olympic Park
07/05 – Trencin, SK @ Pohoda Festival

Remember this?

Tibet House‘s 22nd annual benefit concert will take place at New York City’s famed Carnegie Hall on February 13th. As in year’s past, Philip Glass serves as the concert’s artistic director and curator. This year, he’ll be joined by James Blake, Laurie Anderson, Dechen Shak-Dagsay, Rahzel, and others.

Update: Lou Reed, The Magnetic Fields’ Stephin Merritt, Antony Hegarty, and Das Racist will also play the event.

Tickets are now available by calling Carnegie Charge (212-247-7800) or in person at the Carnegie Hall Box Office. Benefit packages are also available through Tibet House. Proceeds will go to preserving and promoting the culture of Tibet.

A true sin in this world is ignoring art. But we do. Our world works too fast. Our eyes have too big of stomachs. We digest without reflecting. We rely on our subconscious to dig deeper. This is life in the modern world. Our main priority: time. There is no greater asset. Though, here’s a piece of irony: A real piece of art is a physical representation of time. So, what’s our excuse? Don’t worry, you don’t have to answer. Just an introduction, really.

Here’s the real meat: A couple years ago, I tapped my closest friend Cap Blackard to direct the art here on Consequence of Sound. In our four-plus year existence, the site’s never looked better, and he’s to credit for that. This doesn’t surprise me, though. In fact, you could say that was my plan all along.

Fun fact: In sixth grade, the two of us attended an incredibly pretentious private school, where art was restricted to the art room. Style didn’t exist, only uniforms. Despite these stuffy restrictions, Cap went on to win the top art award at the end of the academic year. Sitting there in the pew (yes, a church pew) watching him receive the award, I remember feeling both happy and slightly envious. I was stoked for my best friend, but, hey, it was sixth grade and I wanted a trophy, too. After all, my earlier days in tee ball didn’t necessarily stock my bookshelves with gold.

Instead, I became one of his biggest fans, and over the years, I’ve closely watched Cap grow as an artist. These days, it’s hard to keep up. He never stops creating. To quote the late Kyle Reese, “That’s ALL he does! You can’t stop him!” To help with the workload, he’s tagged some exceptional talent. His assistant (and CoS Senior Staff Writer) Drew Litowitz came in with a full house of cards, submitting a couple of this year’s best works. While his other associates have also produced some fantastic pieces, as well.

So, don’t be a sinner. Take a goddamn minute out of your day, and soak up the art – all 30 pieces (complete with liner notes).

-Michael Roffman
President/Editor-in-Chief 

The Decemberists

Artist: Cap Blackard
Featured art for: Album Review: The Decemberists – The King Is Dead

I love The Decemberists and was glad to get a chance to do something around their latest release. Not having a chance to listen to the album I went off what I knew. I’d heard that the title The King is Dead may be a reference to The Smiths’ The Queen is Dead. I adapted the Smiths album cover to instead feature Decemberists front man Colin Meloy and added in a yellow forest background as seen on the Decemberists cover, re-staging the somewhat romantic posturing as a like-wise romantic wistful forest reclining. -Cap Blackard

Bright Eyes

Artist: Cap Blackard
Featured art for: Album Review: Bright Eyes – The People’s Key

Nothing too complex behind this piece. The fire colors and design were inspired by the album cover and the image itself is riffing off Bright Eyes’ name and the album title. Done with inks and watercolors. -Cap Blackard

Radiohead

Artist: Drew Litowitz
Featured art for: Album Review: Radiohead – The King of Limbs

This was my first piece as Assistant Art Director. From the moment I first heard The King of Limbs, I knew I wanted to convey the record’s dubbed-out, fractal, frenetic, rhythmically reflective sound. I also wanted to focus on how those aesthetics relate to the tree from which the record finds its name. Since it took four years of hibernation to create the record, I show Thom Yorke crawling from the roots of the old tree like some psychotic patient, with magpies in the trees, lotus flowers on the ground – the line work scratched and inverted in a chaotic, disorienting world of echo. The unsettling thing about this piece, though, is that I drew it far before I saw any of the artwork found in the Universal Sigh or the record’s newspaper addition, and it is ridiculously similar to the line work and style of those drawings, specifically the way Stanley Donwood and Dr. Tchok handled the trees. Eerie. -Drew Litowitz

The Strokes

Artist: Cap Blackard
Featured art for: Album Review: The Strokes – Angles

Consequence of Sound got a copy of Angles waaaaay before any of us expected to and we wanted to be the first to break it. In lieu of the time crunch, I did a manipulation of an older photo of mine that I felt meshed with the geometry of both the album cover and the album’s sound. This is from a series I did of the most incredible public structure I’ve ever seen: The Plantation Fashion Mall. Now closed and abandoned, I was allowed to shoot the building to preserve its magnificence. Its glass domes and palatial architecture are the glory of late ’80s and early ’90s Florida incarnate.

I used Photoshop to tailor the image to Angles adding in some bold colors to match the album cover. This was my last series to date on a traditional film camera. The grain of the film aided in creating a beautiful watercolor-like aspect to the feature image. -Cap Blackard

R.E.M.

Artist: Cap Blackard
Featured art for: Album Review: R.E.M. – Collapse Into Now

Originally, I was going to do this piece by bleaching dark paper, but I ended up buying the wrong kind of bleach and it had practically no reaction. So I opted for some very wet watercolor work with the intention of creating an abstract foundation for an edited version of my reference photo of Michael Stipe. The hardest whites are liquid paper, and the overlay worked out pretty well after some filters and sculpting.

The severe whites and blacks as well as the presence of lines and the marigold and yellow are references to the album cover for Collapse Into Now. -Cap Blackard

Foo Fighters

Artist: Cap Blackard
Featured art for: Album Review: Foo Fighters – Wasting Light

This is the first piece of photography I’ve done specifically for the CoS feature image. Since the first music videos accompanying this album were all recorded on VHS, I decided to incorporate tape into the image. The photo was taken on a garage floor with discarded cigarettes and matchsticks to add to a grungy feel.

The VHS tape sacrificed for this project was of the 1980 skit comedy film, Loose Shoes. Even with Bill Murray featured in a couple of scenes the film didn’t have enough redeeming qualities to save it from my screw driver. I placed a label reading “Wasting Light” on the cassette. -Cap Blackard

Panda Bear

Artist: Drew Litowitz
Featured art for: Album Review: Panda Bear – Tomboy

Leading up to the much-anticipated release of Tomboy, Panda Bear released a few 7″ singles and sold tour posters and t-shirts, all with simplistic, pencil-drawn gray and white images, similar to record’s future cover art. Among these singles was “You Can Count On Me”, which featured cover art of a simple pencil rendering of a father and child. For my Tomboy illustration, I wanted to draw a portrait of Noah Lennox in graphite, to match the simple visuals Lennox had been using of late. The drawing’s minimalism and crude pencil marks show Lennox alone, totally underexposed, accompanying a record of unbearable loneliness and solitude.  -Drew Litowitz

TV On The Radio

Artist: Cap Blackard
Featured art for: Album Review: TV on the Radio – Nine Types of Light

A digitally manipulated photo of a clustered flower that I took. No clue what kind it is. Normally I finish photos at a natural size and shrink them down to feature box size, but in this case what I thought were going to be some “final tweaks” on the feature image ended up being so extensive that it would’ve been a massive ordeal to redo them on the original file. There were many many many layers by the end of this piece. -Cap Blackard

Fleet Foxes

Artist: Drew Litowitz
Featured art for: Album Review: Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues

Helplessness Blues is one of the most desperately inquisitive records I’ve ever heard. For every statement, there’s Robin Pecknold with yet another existential inquiry. To express Pecknold’s anxious disillusionment, I scribed some of the record’s key lyrics around a simplistic portrait of the Fleet Foxes frontman, highlighting some of the record’s most difficult questions. The hardest one being, “WHY? The result looks something like a bathroom stall graffiti portrait, used as some sort of shrine. I think that about fits the bill. -Drew Litowitz

The Cars

Artist: Cap Blackard
Featured art for: Album Review: The Cars – Move Like This

A rare instance where I did the feature art and wrote the article. This is a collage, mostly sampling from mid ’90s DC comics (read: disposable) with a few other pieces from newer issues that were damaged, as well as an old issue of Disney Adventures. Images of cars were cut out and assembled then painted over with acrylic. The colors red, yellow, green, and blue pertain to the album’s cover. When I scanned the piece I wrapped it in plastic wrap 1) because it was still wet and 2) because I thought it might look cool. The gloss of the plastic wrap ended up being a bit overwhelming on the whole, and I prefer the non-plastic version. However, the picture I ended up using as the feature image is a cropped version of the plastic wrap version. You can see the full size plastic version here. -Cap Blackard

Moby

Artist: Cap Blackard
Featured art for: Album Review: Moby – Destroyed

This drawing started on a paper tablecloth at a Moroccan restaurant in Chicago (the Moby head to the left, drawn without reference) and CoS President/Editor-in-Chief Michael Roffman insisted that it be used for the featured image. I crumpled it up and abused it in my purse for a couple weeks before sitting down to finish it adding layers of inks, charcoal, white paint and liquid paper. The larger Moby head was drawn with reference after I’d rorschached the paper. The general feel of the images was derived from Destroyed‘s theme of stark loneliness. -Cap Blackard

Summer Tours

Artist: Cap Blackard
Featured art for: The 15 Hottest Summer Tours of 2011

I wanted something that summoned the spirits of summer traveling in North America: big rigs, deep forests, tropical coasts, a funky car covered in luggage, and a mysterious sun-soaked crow spirit (a byproduct of reading dystopian America graphic novel Puma Blues and its art by Michael Zulli). This piece started with loose pencils, water colored over, then inked with a broken and spewing Pilot Razor Point pen, and finally, accented with a white paint pen and liquid paper. -Cap Blackard

Lady Gaga

Artist: Virginia McCarthy & Cap Blackard
Featured art for: Album Review: Lady Gaga – Born This Way

The illustration pencils and inks are by good friend, talented illustrator, and frequent collaborator, Virginia McCarthy. I provided the colors. A strange Gaga creature leads former Gaga outfits in a choreographed dance number emulating the “Born This Way” music video. The “Born This Way” video was in many ways such a stark departure from the visual complexity of her previous videos that this seemed a pertinent comparison to make – with those previous video’s costumes following the simply and scantily dressed Gaga form. The coloring and background was done in Photoshop. -Cap Blackard

Bon Iver

Artist: Cap Blackard
Featured art for: Album Review: Bon Iver – Bon Iver

Going into this piece I took ideas from both the cover for Bon Iver – a kaleidoscopic kind of Bob Ross painting of pastoral landscapes and farm houses. As well as the exceptional music video for the then new track, “Calgary“. It’s got a recurring bed/sleep and couplehood theme. I smooshed all those ideas together for this image.

The face isn’t frontman, Justin Vernon, but he does kind of have ’70s hair, so that’s where that came from. The background was laid in with no linework underneath it. The figures were put in with blue line, painted over, and the final lines for the whole piece were done in charcoal. -Cap Blackard

Incubus

Artist: Cap Blackard
Featured art for: Album Review: Incubus – If Not Now, When?

When I do feature illustrations for CoS, I always look into the album and the band’s recent goings on. Sometimes I have a good familiarity with the artist(s), sometimes not so much. I always strive to keep elements of the band’s latest project imbued into the feature art. This one side steps a bit. The cover for If Not Now, When? is a black and white photograph with a decent amount of grain to it. I knew I wanted a piece that was relatively monochromatic that would either have natural grain, or that I’d add grain to. In looking into the meaning behind the album’s name and the title track, I decided to take it into an alternate direction, riffing off how I’d choose to interpret the album title. In this case- how long until animals take on human traits or humans take on animal’s? -Cap Blackard

Portugal. The Man

Artist: Cap Blackard
Featured art for: Album Review: Portugal. The Man – In the Mountain, In the Cloud

The man’s face was a doodle drawn in my sketch book, pretty much actual size in the full size picture. Done with a ballpoint pen. It wasn’t originally intended to be part of the feature art but while playing with it it seemed like an interesting fit. I changed the color of the drawing’s lines to reflect the line drawing color of the album art. The photo was taken by me at Apollo Beach on Florida’s Space Coast. -Cap Blackard

Jay-Z & Kanye West

Artist: Cap Blackard
Featured art for: Rise to the Throne: The Collaborative Highlights of Jay-Z and Kanye West

This was actually the first feature illustration I did for CoS, back in fall 2010. I mixed up which album was coming out and did a piece for Watch The Throne and not My Dark Twisted Fantasy. So though my first piece of published feature art was for last year’s Daft Punk, this was the first drawn. Rapper Astronautalis is now the proud owner of the original watercolor of this piece. -Cap Blackard

Stephen Malkmus

Artist: Virginia McCarthy
Featured art for: Interview: Stephen Malkmus

Borrowing the building-side painting look from Mirror Traffic‘s album art, Virginia created this strangely sinister portrait of Malkmus. A pencil illustration overlaid with digital paint. I came in and overlaid it onto a beat-up cardboard texture to give it a similar street-side texture to the album art.  -Cap Blackard

Red Hot Chili Peppers

Artist: Cap Blackard
Featured art for: Album Review: Red Hot Chili Peppers – I’m With You

Riffing off the cover for I’m With You, with a fly perched on a pill capsule, I ended up with a fly version of Anthony Kiedis vomiting up pills into Flea’s mouth. Sure, why not?

This started with me working on a rough layout concept in Photoshop, where I completed the piece. For this image’s use in the feature box, it holds up really well. View it larger and my Photoshopping technique gets a bit transparent. It’d be nice to find the time to do an analogue version of this some day. -Cap Blackard

Lil Wayne

Artist: Bianca Triozzi
Featured art for: Album Review: Lil Wayne – Tha Carter IV

Bianca took the truly lil’ Lil’ Wayne from the cover of Tha Carter IV and age-progressed him to current day Carter. Sharing a Twin Peaks fanaticism with myself and Michael Roffman, she thought she’d drop the rapper into his own personal Black Lodge, complete with an armless statue sporting Nicki Minaj hair. This piece was all analog. -Cap Blackard

St. Vincent

Artist: Drew Litowitz
Featured artwork for: Album Review: St. Vincent – Strange Mercy

On the outside, Annie Clark is adorable, petite, and elegantly beautiful. She’s every hipster’s dream-wife. But, her meticulously chaotic soundscapes stand in stark contrast to her outward appearance. I wanted to play with that concept. To show the perfect, cute Clark with an almost sinister look on her face, her crazed hair, and a little bit of blood on her surgical gloves (“Surgeon”), just a taste of what her latest record has to offer. Her perfection marred only slightly by the blood on her hands from cutting herself open and crafting one of the year’s best albums. -Drew Litowitz

Wilco

Artist: Drew Litowitz
Featured artwork for: Album Review: Wilco – The Whole Love

“The Art of Almost” and The Whole Love were the two phrases which led me to this minimal graphic. Using the “charging” symbol from an iPod or iPhone as a launching point, I created a worn, distressed heart, “almost” filled with love, but still well on its way to getting there. -Drew Litowitz

Ryan Adams

Artist: Drew Litowitz
Featured artwork for: Album Review: Ryan Adams – Ashes & Fire

Ashes. Fire. Roses. Using symbols commonly associated with Ryan Adams, and the record’s album art for inspiration, I wanted to create an image in which everything burned together into one fiery mess. Adams sits to the left, watching roses and a tropical forest burn right before his eyes. For such a dark, beautiful record, I think it gets the job done. -Drew Litowitz

October Party

Artist: Cap Blackard
Featured artwork for: Consequence of Sound’s October Party in Brooklyn

For his birthday a couple years ago, indie rapper, Jackson, aka Ms. Paintbrush of Grand Buffet put a call out on his Tumblr for a gift wish. He wanted people to send him images of Jay Leno carjacking a seahorse. I was happy to oblige and sent him linework intending to color it soon after. Fast forward to this October and I finally got around to coloring it. This was simultaneous to being assigned our CMJ-timed October party poster and the image felt like a good fit for a concert poster. I’d done some “save the date” ad graphics leading up to the announcement of the party. They were simple, sepia-toned, text based images. Working the more bold, marker-colored seahorse graphic into that color scheme took some trial and error with different layering styles before I felt that it matched the feel of the rest of the poster. For the curious, the albums floating thin the seahorse’s car are Slave to the Rhythm and Tin Machine. You can see the original illustration with Jay Leno and the seahorse here. -Cap Blackard

Tom Waits

Artist: Cap Blackard
Featured art for: Check Out: Are You Bad As Tom Waits?

This art was not just intended as the feature image for Waits’ Bad Like Me, but also CoS’ “Bad Like Me” Quiz. Inspired by that feature, I thought I’d make a carnival-style quiz machine to test your badness. This is a digital photo collage amalgamating many separate and very unrelated elements. The body of the machine is an antique, derelict Coke machine. You can check out a large, non-animated version here. -Cap Blackard

Coldplay

Artist: Cap Blackard
Featured art for: Album Review: Coldplay – Mylo Xyloto

I read that the WWII White Rose Movement was one of Chris Martin’s inspirations with this album, so I went with that image for the feature. There’s a memorial for the Movement that’s a very amorphous rose made from tiles set into the ground. I liked the notion, and based off that, I went for a similar idea with a fractured, but still recognizable look. The color scheme comes from the more prominent hues of the album art. Lots of texture layering for the background. This is an all-digital collage. -Cap Blackard

Lou Reed & Metallica

Artist: Drew Litowitz
Featured art for: Album Review: Lou Reed & Metallica – Lulu

No comment. – Drew Litowitz

The Beach Boys

Artist: Drew Litowitz
Featured art for: Album Review: The Beach Boys – The Smile Sessions

With my SMiLE graphic, I took the concept of a “lost” album to its logical pop culture counter-part. Parodying the well-known promotional image for ABC’s Lost, instead of Matt Fox and Evangeline Lilly in front of the bold Typeface, the five Beach Boys walk ominously along a dark beach, surfboard in hands. The scene’s high contrast gives the image a somber tone, the board looking almost coffin-like, with the Boys Beach marching towards an answer to the mystery of one of pop’s greatest enigmas. I knew I could have gone with something more along the lines of the album’s iconic cover, but I wanted to try something different. There was darkness behind the scenes, and I wanted to get at the legend of it all. Surf’s Up, indeed. -Drew Litowitz

David Lynch

Artist: Cap Blackard
Featured art for: David Lynch’s 20 Weirdest Musical Moments

For this graphic, I wanted to juxtapose some well-loved Lynchian images. The central image is of Dennis Hopper’s deranged, blue velvet obsessed criminal, Frank Booth. Eleanor Edwards photographed me with her blue velvet bathing suit shoved in my mouth. The rest of the images are all Twin Peaks- the zig-zag floor of the Black Lodge, splattered with garmonbozia, and a forest of Douglas Firs showing through underneath. -Cap Blackard

Kate Bush – 50 Words for Snow

Artist: Cap Blackard
Featured art for: Album Review: Kate Bush – 50 Words For Snow

Kate Bush is among my shortlist of all-time favorite artists. She’s a magical being in a woman’s body – people say variations of that all the time. As far as I’ve been able to tell, it’s true. I was really excited to get to do some feature art for 50 Words for Snow.

The first thing I attempted to do for this was to commission a local ice sculptor to do a rendition of Bush’s face, which I would light and photograph. Unfortunately, and as expected, ice sculpting was too expensive to pull that off. The illustration was easily something I could’ve lost myself in, with intricate details and so on. If I had allowed more time for myself I may have gone there. I mean, it’s Kate Bush! Instead I went for a more guttural, organic approach: I started with a broad, wedged pen and went at it abstractly. After creating a template for the piece that way, I went over it with a white paint pen, giving Bush’s face more depth and detail. Then grey markers, then more paint, then smaller ink pens, then more grey, then more paint.

Someday I hope to make something more grand based on Bush’s work. But it’s a start. -Cap Blackard

“This is for people who are literate. This isn’t ‘I cry in my beer ’cause you fucked him and ran your truck through my bar.’ You can write 30 of those and move to Nashville. These words — every time I see them I get thrilled because it does it to me. It may do it to no one else, I don’t care. I can’t try any harder. I can’t do any better. And my heart was pure and my soul was pure, too. I went in there to make music with the best guys I could find. And we did.”

– In an interview with The Telegraph, Lou Reed once again attempted to rationalize Lulu. When that asked whether he considers himself “obnoxious and weirdly insecure,” he added:  ”You know a lot of time these guys that interview us, they think they’re more literate than I am. That would be a real bad mistake… Don’t kid yourself about me, you know what I’m saying? I’m not a good guy to f—- with.” He’s also a guy without any fans.

Two decades from now, how do you think 2011 will be remembered? As the year we lost Amy Winehouse? How about the year three of music’s most iconic outfits – The White Stripes, R.E.M., and LCD Soundsystem — all decided to call it quits? Maybe Lana Del Rey will prove a sustainable force and then we can all tell our children about the great collagen debate of 2011. Or try to explain to them how two rock and roll hall of famers came together to create the worst piece of music imaginable.

Yeah, 2011 was a fucking weird year. Like, a total mindfuck. We lost some great ones, both literally and figuratively, and we wrote or read about them in between stories about Wayne Coyne’s gummy fetus and Nick Oliveri’s standoff with a S.W.A.T. team. Along the way, we were presented with a legal way to listen to a jazilion songs for free, watched that dude from Nine Inch Nails win an Oscar, and witnessed the return of not just Kate Bush and Tom Waits, but Jeff Mangum as well. Yet, at the end of the day, Lana Del Rey’s collagen lips and Odd Future’s misogynistic tendencies won the award for stories with the longest shelf life on my Twitter feed.

Then again, four weeks from now it’ll be 2012′s turn and who knows what that year has in store. Maybe some scientist will be able to revive Jim Morrison’s frozen head so that we can have a true collaboration between The Doors and Skrillex. Whatever the case may be, Consequence of Sound will be here, 24/7/365, ready to bring you all the major headlines. Until then, though, we remember the last 12 months, categorized by themes, in the pages that follow. And, as always, thanks for reading.

– Alex Young
Publisher

R.I.P.: The Ones We Lost in 2011

Amy Winehouse (1983-2011): The soulful, sultry songstress was the first British female to win five Grammy awards. Unfortunately, she also became a member of the infamous “27 Club” when police found her dead in her London home on July 23rd. An autopsy later confirmed her death as the result of accidental alcohol poisoning.

Clarence Clemons (1942-2011): Founding member and saxophonist of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band, Clemons was a larger-than-life figure, and he’ll forever be remembered for his solos on “Jungleland” and “Born to Run”. Clemons died on June 18th from complications caused by a stroke. He was 69.

Bert Jansch (1943-2011): Acclaimed Scottish folk singer who was both a celebrated solo musician and member of the band Pentangle. Jansch died on October 5th following a lengthy battle with lung cancer. He was 67.

Gil Scott-Heron (1949-2011): A celebrated musician, poet, and author who was largely credited as one of the leading influences of hip-hop and neo soul. Scott-Heron died on May 27th. He was 62.

Heavy D (1967-2011): The founding member and leader of Heavy D & the Boyz helped bridge the worlds of hip-hop and R&B in the ’90s before transitioning to a career in film. Heavy D (born Dwight Arrington Myers) died on November 8th reportedly from complications of pneumonia. He was 44.

Nate Dogg (1969-2011): West coast crooner collaborated with Dr. Dre, Eminem, and Snoop Dogg. Nate Dogg (born Nathaniel Hale) died from complications of multiple strokes on March 15th. He was 41.

Poly Styrene (1957-2011): The former singer of X-Ray Spek was described as the “archetype for the modern-day feminist punk.” Styrene died on April 25th following a battle with breast cancer. She was 53.

Trish Keenan (1968-2011): Founding member and singer of British electronic band Broadcast. Keenan died from complications with pneumonia on January 14th. She was 42.

Hubert Sumlin (1931-2011): Legendary guitarist and longtime collaborator of blues icon Howlin’ Wolf is ranked at number forty-three in the Rolling Stone list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time. Sumlin died on December 4th. He was 80.

Cory Smoot: (1977-2011): Guitarist for the shock rock band GWAR was the longest-serving member to play the character Flattus Maximus. Smoot was found dead on the band’s tour bus on November 3rd; as of December 5th, his cause of death is still unknown. He was 34.

DJ Mehdi (1977-2011): French hip-hop and electro producer was a member of Ed Banger Records and collaborated with Chromeo, Cassius, and Carte Blanche. DJ Mehdi (born Mehdi Favéris-Essadi) died on September 13th when the roof of his Paris home collapsed during a friend’s birthday party. He was 34.

Michael “Würzel” Burston (1949-2011): The former Army corporal served as guitarist for Motörhead from 1984-1995. Würzel died from complications of heart disease on July 9th. He was 61.

Mike Starr (1966-2011): The founding member and bassist of Alice in Chains contributed to two studio albums — including the 1992 classic Dirt — before departing in 1993. Starr was found dead on March 8th, with an autopsy later finding traces of drugs in his system. He was 44.

Suze Rotolo (1943-2011): The former girlfriend of Bob Dylan inspired many of the songwriter’s early love songs and appeared on the iconic cover of his 1963 classic, The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan. Rotolo died of lung cancer on February 25th. She was 67.

Gerard Smith (1974-2011): The TV on the Radio bassist appeared on the band’s celebrated albums Return to Cookie Mountain, Dear Science, and Nine Types of Light. Smith died from lung cancer on April 20th. He was 36.

John Barry (1933-2011): The Academy Award-winning composer soundtracked 12 James Bond films between 1962 and 1987 in addition to Born Free, The Lion in Winter, and Out of Africa. Barry died of a heart attack on January 30th. He was 77.

Mikey Welsh (1971-2011): The former Weezer bassist appeared on the band’s 2001 The Green Album. Welsh was found dead on October 8th. He was 40.

Welcome Back: 2011′s Reunions

Photo by Colin Athens

While 2011 was a particularly harsh year for band breakups (see the next slide), at least Pulp came back. Long a dream on festival message boards, the legendary UK outfit finally reunited in the summer of 2011 for their first live performances in nine years. Our own Frank Mojica was at the band’s comeback show at Barcelona’s Primavera Sound and declared it “an explosive set that cemented Pulp’s status as the essential festival band of 2011 and will be remembered as fondly and regarded as definitive as their Glastonbury 1995 performance.”

However, Pulp wasn’t the only celebrated outfit to return in 2011. Buffalo Springfield — the folk rock supergroup comprised of Richie Furay, Stephen Stills, and Neil Young — reunited after 43 years for a brief West coast tour and headlining performance at Bonnaroo. Wrote our own Carson O’Shoney of their Bonnaroo appearance: “Even those who weren’t familiar with the band’s work were surely impressed. Seeing Neil Young wail on guitar is simply one of the better things in all of music. But the final three knockout punches of ‘Broken Arrow’, ‘For What It’s Worth’, and ‘Rockin’ in the Free World’ were what really solidified it as one of the best sets of the weekend.”

Other 2011 reunions:

After inciting a riot during their first live performance in five years at South by Southwest, hard-hitting Canadian outfit Death From Above 1979 played any and every summer festival, including Coachella, Sasquatch!, Quebec City Summer Fest, Lollapalooza, FYF Fest, ACL, and Treasure Island.

Post-punk icons New Order reunited after five years with a pair of benefit shows in Europe.

Mazzy Star unleashed a two-song single, their first pieces of new music in 15 years.

Ben Folds reunited Ben Folds Five for their first new material in a decade.

UK glam rock outfit The Darkness reunited for their first live performance since 2006 at UK’s Download Festival.

In celebration of their 45th anniversary, The Monkees hit the road for their first live performances since 1997. Unfortunately, the final eight dates of their trek were canceled “due to internal group issues and conflicts.”

Chicago’s own Hum delivered their first performance in a decade.

San Diego-based post-hardcore outfit Hot Snakes reunited at ATP’s Nightmare Before Christmas in December.

Austin, TX, noise rock pioneers Scratch Acid toured extensively for the first time in over two decades.

NYC punk band D-Generation hit the road in the fall for their first performances since 1999. A new album is also in the works.

Mexico City rock band Caifanes reunited after 15 years for a performance at Coachella.

The End of An Era: 2011′s Breakups

Bands, like trends, come and go. Some last for decades with deep catalogs, and others only survive a couple years with an album or two. Their presence has a lasting impact on our lives and ears, and thus their disbandment has the same. To the greats we lost this year: Thanks for the tunes. -Ben Kaye

R.E.M. (1981-2011): Seminal, legendary, and unequaled, Georgia’s alternative rock icons ended their career after three decades. From their 1983 debut, Murmur, to their 2011 finale, Collapse Into Now, to the world’s first GIF album cover, the band exemplified how to be successful, innovative, and cool while remaining uncompromising. Their legacy will be felt for decades more to come.

The White Stripes (1997-2011): One of the greatest bands of the era, this garage blues-rock duo left an indelible mark on music with six albums. Jack White will continue on in his myriad of forms, but The White Stripes will be remembered as the band that started it all and his most widely celebrated triumph.

LCD Soundsystem (2001-2011): These modern dance-punk virtuosos left us with three full-lengths and a year-long swan song, culminating in a finale at Madison Square Garden. And we still wish we were getting more.

Rilo Kiley (1998-2011): Fourteen years of indie rock ended rather unceremoniously. Regardless, their sophomore full-length, The Execution of All Things, will go down as one of the best albums of the last decade.

The Stills (2000-2011): These Canadian indie rockers released three albums over 10 years. They will likely be best remembered for 2008’s Juno Award-winning Oceans Will Rise.

The Academy Is… (2003-2011): These Warped Tour regulars dispersed while in the process of recording album #4. At least they got to tour with KISS before it ended.

Dear and the Headlights (2005-2011): Two full-lengths and extensive touring proved too much for this Arizona indie pop rock band. Scared by all the lights.

The Felix Culpa (2003-2011): Unsung heroes of the Midwest post-hardcore scene. Despite the success of last year’s self-released sophomore effort, Sever Your Roots, there will be no more happy mistakes.

Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon (1984-2011): Founding members of Sonic Youth and godparents of indie rock. What the power couple’s separation means for their iconic band is yet to be seen, though side projects abound.

Ben Gibbard and Zooey Deschanel (2009-2011): This pair of indie darlings split after only two years of marriage amidst heavy work schedules for each. While separations are always sad, we can’t help but swoon over the idea that Deschanel is technically available…

Digital Takeover

On July 14, 2011, millions of music fans sighed in relief: Spotify hit U.S. shores, and the end of the war on music drew closer to its end. Now, that’s not entirely true – the labels still aren’t too happy, neither are the artists – but the idea that “music is free” has never been more agreed upon until now. Thanks to Spotify, users can legally check out a variety of new releases in addition to a fully digestible catalog that spans everyone from ABBA to John Zorn, at any time — even on their phones, though that option will cost them. But it’s a price that many will pay, simply because it’s the way of the future.

It’s the death of the mp3 and the dawn of the truly, strictly digital age, where music listeners can immerse themselves in digital clouds of music. This year, Apple, Amazon, and Google Music all introduced similar formats, asking users to upload their collections into digital lockers, where they’ll always have access. Anywhere. Anytime. Where else can you go from there?

How about interactivity? Online forums evolved this year, too. “You should check this band out” is so passe. Instead, online users are opting for more media savvy formats, where they can turn their textual suggestions into aural delights. Through a service like Turntable.fm, which surfaced earlier this year, users now create rooms, throwing online soirees, where they DJ their own stations. All of this comes at little to no price and with zero trouble (although, there are always exceptions). So, it’s been a pretty transitive year in the music industry. A game changer, if you will. -Michael Roffman

An Odd Future, Indeed.

There’s that wonderful exchange at the end of Batman Begins, when Lt. Gordon digresses on The Caped Crusader’s influence over Gotham City, calling attention to like-minded criminals with a “taste for the theatrical,” stating plainly, “You really started something.” So true of the internet. Most of the time, you’ll find a chunky, melting pot of deep-seeded opinions, but sometimes, just sometimes, they all come together to agree on something. That’s when true change is had. And it can happen overnight.

Case in point: Odd Future and Lana Del Rey.

Controversy played a big role in the successes of these two – the former because of obscenities, the latter because of collagen – but, really, it only fueled it. The real credit, however, goes to the blogosphere. It’s the classic “she tells her friends” routine – only to an ungodly nth degree. One blog hypes a track, one site swears by another, and all of a sudden you’re trending on social networks nationwide, then worldwide, then… yeah, it sort of stops there. It’s nothing new. That’s the true nature of a fad (see: Trapper Keepers, Pogs, LA Gear). But, it’s never seen extremes such as this.

And as polarizing as these acts may be – “Aren’t they being misogynistic?”; “She’s not real! Her real name’s Lizzy Grant! OMFG, hate her!!1!” – it’s the way they came to fruition that’s far more interesting. It reveals a true power within the internet, one that may or may not be good. Regardless of its moral worth, though, it’s here to stay. As the Joker, essentially a by-product of Batman, ominously declared in the film’s follow-up, “There’s no going back. You’ve changed things… forever.” Yep. Deal with it, folks. -Michael Roffman

The Return of R&B

Some guy somewhere jokingly called it “PBR&B” and that gained traction for a little while — R&B for “hipsters.” If we take one thing away from this, let it be this: The resurgence and strength of R&B in 2011 had nothing to do with “hipsters,” a word I apologetically use here (and if I had two wishes for Christmas this year, it would be that I never hear that word again). The strength of The Weeknd, Frank Ocean, The-Dream, How To Dress Well, Active Child, and tangentially Drake this year was born from little else than a defibrillator to a dormant art form using a bit of indie sentiment.

The Weeknd’s sudden and (not so) mysterious arrival drew the highest peak in the EKG chart with the hedonistic, dripping-wet jams of his House of Balloons mixtape, sampling Beach House and Siouxsie and the Banshees, which of course reached across the aisle to white tumblrites more ostensibly than Aaliyah and R. Kelly ever did in the 90’s. From there, Frank Ocean bowed out of producing pop hits for Biebs and made known his association with OFWGKTA for his Nostalgia Ultra mixtape, a damp and druggy confessional. Kanye took a liking to him, as well.

The cross-cultural movement was just as strong for Active Child’s choir-boy jams and How To Dress Well’s shrouded pangs, both of whom collaborated with each other on the song “Playing House”. There are many more artists working with these tools: production rooted in current trends, voices like butter, beats like woah. Perhaps the response to the hidden vocals of last year’s genre de l’année Chillwave is that these artists are putting the spotlight back on the soul of the human voice.  -Jeremy D. Larson

The Return of the Legacy Act

It’s been seven years since Tom Waits released his 23rd album, six years since Kate Bush released her 9th, and 13 years since Jeff Mangum (as Neutral Milk Hotel) released his second. Not all acts that resurface have to have page-long catalogs, and like Mangum, not all comebacks have to include new material, but these three artists made the biggest impact in 2011 after some time away from the spotlight.

Not even just away from the spotlight, but in some cases purposefully reclusive. Before this year, Jeff Mangum appearances were becoming lore, like seeing the face of Mother Mary in a Crunchwrap Supreme. Mangum only did some one-off shows in barns or was seen looming backstage at some gig. But last January, he announced his reemergence for ATP New Jersey at the “I’ll Be Your Mirror” event — a festival! He went from barns to a major festival in like a year! He then went on a small U.S. tour and released a career-spanning Neutral Milk Hotel box set, and there are no signs of him stopping with tour dates already stretching into 2012.

For Kate Bush, pace is the trick. With 10 albums in over 30 years, we’re running on her press cycle — releasing her babies into the world only when they’re ready to leave the nest. With a flurry (ahem), she dropped two albums in 2011 — her self-explanatory Director’s Cut and her acclaimed new studio album, 50 Words for Snow. With no tour or late-night performances, Bush is still staying out of the limelight for now. But it’s not like she needs the press.

And then there’s the categorical Tom Waits, doing his thing for the 24th time with not a hint of phoning it in. Bad As Me is another trophy for his buckling shelf and his most commercially successful album to date, peaking at #6 on the U.S. Billboard charts. Twenty-four albums in 37 years with rarely a misstep or an eye roll, soundtracking movies, musicals, German surrealist plays, and with his release this year, he’s only further cementing himself as an American cultural icon. We await for “Waitsian” to be added to dictionaries. -Jeremy D. Larson

The Return of Radiohead

Photo by Nate Slevin

It’s a predicament: A member of Radiohead posts something online (e.g. new track, obscure art, a haiku-like blog entry, et al.), and you’re a.) out at lunch, b.) four hours into a deep sleep, or c.) at your own wedding. Whatever the situation, you’re finding the closest computer and fast. That sort of conundrum plagues every blogger’s life annually, but especially in 2011. As of today, Consequence of Sound has 10 pages of Radiohead-related news for this year alone. Quite a lot. To think, it all started in the eye-tweaking, early morning hours of February 14th, 2011. That’s when the group announced the release of their eighth LP, The King of Limbs, set to deliver only four days later. Naturally, the ‘net exploded soon after; in fact, as one reader put it that morning, “I just pooped my pants.”

That reaction turned sour (or just downright polarizing) when the LP eventually surfaced. Some complained about its length (a copious 37 minutes), speculating on a second part (which never materialized), while others wondered where the band went, calling it a Yorke-centric effort. A week after it was announced, Consequence of Sound awarded the album four stars, hailing it as “one of their most absorbing efforts to date.” (Currently, the album has a Metacritic score of 80.) Despite the general acclaim, critics everywhere levied their slight disappointment between their words.

But that hardly stalled the group. Since 2007′s event release of In Rainbows, the UK collective has stayed ahead of the curve, and this year was no different. Things just got weird. They issued a free newspaper, their “Lotus Flower” video sent dance enthusiasts on edge, and Yorke started hitting the DJ scene hard. But, on the other hand, they struck all the right nerves by releasing an exclusive Record Store Day 7″, “surprising” festivalgoers at Glastonbury, endorsing an album of remixes, and media blitzing NYC for a week (which included stops at Fallon, SNL, The Colbert Report, and two sold-out nights at The Roseland Ballroom). It doesn’t look like it’ll end for 2012, either, what with another LP and a proper tour on the way. That’s okay, though. Our stomachs, sleep schedules, and loved ones won’t appreciate it, but hey, more Radiohead, right? As the old adage with this group goes, “Stay tuned.” -Michael Roffman

The Day Trent Reznor Won An Oscar

When first approached by director David Fincher to score his film about the founding of Facebook, Trent Reznor had just wrapped up Nine Inch Nails’ lengthy farewell tour and was planning to take time off. However, as Reznor later explained, “When I actually read the script and realized what he was up to, I said goodbye to that free time I had planned.” Undoubtedly attracted by the film’s sentiments on isolation, greed, and entitlement (all familiar issues to the Nine Inch Nails frontman), Reznor graciously accepted his new role as film composer.

Teaming with longtime collaborator Atticus Ross, the duo would go on to create a masterpiece of “alternative-rock infused ambient electronic music” that as our Drew Litowitz writes, “mimics the anxious ambivalence that Sorkin’s script and Fincher’s direction convey so similarly.”  The score amplified the angst and turmoil that accompanied the success of Mark Zuckerberg. For a movie with no ostensible “action” sequences, the score built tension to great heights alongside Aaron Sorkin’s signature verbose script. One question remained: Would movie critics give praise to an outside artist who once sang, “God is dead and no one cares/ if there’s a hell, I’ll see you there”?

With 15 nominations for Best Original Score, it seemed Reznor and Ross had created a score that struck an international cord. Even after winning the Golden Globe, skeptics wondered if The Academy would give Reznor and Ross the Oscar over perennial favorites Hans Zimmer and Alexandre Desplat. All doubt dissipated when Nicole Kidman and the all-too-pleased Hugh Jackman called the duo up to accept each one’s first Academy Award. “Wow, is this really happening?” Reznor asked during his acceptance speech.

Reznor’s now working on the score for the Fincher-directed The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Will he need to make more room on his trophy shelf? Plus, with an alt-rock artist taking home the coveted award, might Reznor’s win, combined with the efforts of Daft Punk and The Chemical Brothers, be incentive for more contemporary artists to try their hand at composing film scores? We’d like to hope so. -Derek Staples

Who is Arcade Fire??!!?

Sunday, February 13, 2011. Talk about a tumultuous 24-hour news cycle: Hours before Radiohead resurfaced to wreak havoc on the ‘net with The King of Limbs (see page nine), Arcade Fire walked home with a Grammy for Album of the Year for their 2010 album, The Suburbs. As Win Butler & Co. cooked up an impromptu cut of “Ready to Start” over the ceremony’s closing credits, fingers raced across keyboards, mouses clicked, and emotions ran wild. Some praised the news – Kanye West tweeted, “#Arcade fire!!!!!!!!!! There is hope!!! I feel like we all won when something like this happens! FUCKING AWESOME!” – while others, many others, updated their Facebook and Twitter accounts in utter confusion. Thus, one of 2011′s most popular internet memes came to fruition: Who Is Arcade Fire??!!?

For days following the Grammys, the widely celebrated Tumblr account reposted countless social media updates from users everywhere, all of whom had no clue who these Canadian indie rockers were. Some were angry, some were frustrated, and some felt victimized – as if the Grammys robbed Lady Antebellum, Eminem, Lady Gaga, or Katy Perry of a truer win. Naturally, as with anything this insubstantial to normal, everyday life, the wake calmed and most of the anger turned to curiosity. This partly speaks for the thousands upon thousands of fans that arrived in droves to catch them headline festivals, or take over their nearby venues. Creation through chaos, so to speak.

So, while recent Grammy-nominee Justin Vernon (of Bon Iver) might think otherwise, the Grammys proved that they do still hold some weight, turning an indie rock icon into a household name. Admittedly, you might not appreciate your mother keeping The Suburbs on rotation with Taylor Swift, but hey, it’s an improvement, right? Yep, Jimbo: “Strange days have found us.” -Michael Roffman

Lulu and more WTF collaborations

We’re generally all for unique, head-turning collaborations, but some instances of teamwork insanity in 2011 really had us going “WTF?” For instance, just last week director Darren Aronofsky glorified Lou Reed and Metallica’s Lulu, which our own Jeremy D. Larson so bluntly described as ”a complete failure on every tangible and intangible level of its existence,” with a music video for “The View”. But not even a video by a top-notch director can save an album doomed by its concept and only further hindered by poor production that awkwardly abandons Reed’s vocals on top of the mix

If Metallica and Lou Reed would have spent a bit more time exploring other odd collabos of 2011, they possibly could have avoided their joint tragedy all together. Back in July, SuperHeavy, the supergroup made up of Mick Jagger, Joss Stone, Dave Stewart, A. R. Rahman, and Damian Marley, dropped their first single, “Miracle Worker”. The bloated, inorganic track felt stapled together, with many critics and listeners calling it a marketing ploy by Warner Music Group.

Then in August, profanities flew left and right when we were presented with this picture of Jack White and Insane Clown Posse. If the pic wasn’t awful enough, whoever chose to listen to the White-produced “Leck Mich Im Arsch” and “Mountain Girls” were subjected to ICP at their crudest and most bizarre. Once again, we were left with two very important questions: Was this some maniacal plan each shared during their days in Michigan, or was this collaboration the strange payoff of a backroom bet?

Arguably, Re:Generation takes the prize for most “WTF”-worthy collaboration. Presented by the Hyundai Volster, the concept of Re:Generation was to explore jazz, R&B, country, classical, and rock through the eyes of five modern DJ/producers. Pairings included the Crystal Method and Martha Reeves, Pretty Lights, Leann Rimes, and Ralph Stanley, and the most noteworthy, Skrillex and the remaining members of The Doors. All that bass resonating from “Breakin’ a Sweat” had Jim Morrison rolling in his Parisian grave.

Here’s hoping 2012 finally brings us that Celebrity: Apprentice-inspired boy band featuring Meat Loaf, Lil Jon, and Mark McGrath. -Derek Staples

The Year of the Gummy Fetus

This past January, the often-unconventional Flaming Lips did something decidedly conventional: re-sign with Warner Bros. Records for a multi-year deal. However, with the deal came a newfound level of creative freedom, which Wayne Coyne and co. used to build their wildest and wackiest year to date. Seriously, some weird stuff’s ahead.

The band’s 2011 was marked by decidedly gimmicky ploys to sell music. If they weren’t schlepping tunes inside of gummy skulls or gummy female anatomy, they were creating songs that were six and 24 hours long (though proceeds from those massive, massive “songs” did go toward charity). That, or the group was busy crafting tunes about copulating blobs with the use of YouTube. Some of their releases, like where they wrote people’s name into songs, were decidedly hokey (even if, once again, they were for a good cause). If there were any legit music-making endeavors, like collabos with Prefuse 73, Neon Indian, and Lightning Bolt, not to mention super-shows with Weezer and Yeasayer, they were outshined by graveyard gigs and playing human Whack-A-Mole with SUNY students. If it made headlines while generating mass confusion this year, The Flaming Lips were undoubtedly behind it.

There’s no way to catalog these decisions and projects as true artistic exploration. If anything, nearly everything the band did this year were either jokes and goofs or absurd, almost harebrained marketing schemes. But when someone gives the inmates the keys to the asylum, should anyone be surprised when they smear the walls in green paint and dress up like penguins? We, for one, applaud Wayne Coyne and company for doing what they do best: entertaining us with their increasingly batshit hijinks. Here’s to the kooky things the band will cook up in 2012. -Chris Coplan

Stage Collapses

In the span of two months between July and August 2011, a freak trend hit the music world. Four stages in three separate countries collapsed, killing a total of 11 and injuring many more. The first collapse occurred on July 17th at the Ottawa Bluesfest, where strong winds caused the festival’s main stage to implode 20 minutes into Cheap Trick’s set. Gusts blew the stage backwards, which pushed the scaffold to teeter under the force. Three people were reported injured, and the remainder of the fest – one headlining spot by Death Cab for Cutie – was canceled.

Then, just weeks later on August 7th, a similar occurrence befell Tulsa, Oklahoma’s Brady District Block Party. Moments before local heroes The Flaming Lips were scheduled to go on, a lighting rig was struck by wind and fell into the stage. Though the stage was evacuated beforehand, preventing injury to fans, band members, and road crew, some $800,000 worth of the Lips’ equipment was damaged or destroyed.

The summer festival circuit’s worst incident occurred six days later during country duo Sugarland’s set at the Indiana State Fair. A massive gust of wind toppled the stage, sending steel scaffolding, lighting, and sound equipment into the audience. The destruction of the stage had come just minutes after organizers had announced the storm and outlined evacuation plans. Seven people died as a result of the collapse, with another 44 receiving treatment for various injuries at nearby hospitals.

The fourth and final collapse took place on August 18th at the Pukkelpop festival in Hasselt, Belgium. As Chicago-based indie rock band Smith Westerns were playing on The Chateau Stage, bursts of wind uprooted trees and collapsed several festival tents. The band was evacuated offstage just prior to its collapse. (A second construct, the Shelter stage, was also damaged by weather.) Four people were killed, with another 75 reported injured. The festival, scheduled to run until the 20th, was canceled Friday morning (August 19th).

Late last month, in the aftermath of the incident in Indiana, 51 individuals connected to the collapse sued Sugarland, concert promoters, and those who built the stage for breach of reasonable care. The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages. A state-sponsored investigation of the collapse will be completed before the case moves forward.

On a more positive note, following the tragedies, fans, musicians, journalists, and festival promoters alike have all emerged to sound the call for increased safety measures, demanding better crowd accommodation and weather preparedness. While festivals will always contend with X-factors, better preparation can only benefit subsequent summer festival seasons. -Chris Coplan

And the Rest…

Clearly, as you’ve just read, a lot of things happened to the musical landscape in 2011. Some occurrences, though, were so darn awesome, head-turning, or just downright strange that they can’t be classified anywhere else. So, here they are, the rest of the biggest news stories of the year. -Ben Kaye

Kanye: The Musical: Ya know, this was probably bound to happen. Students at Australia’s Sydney University told the tale of Ye, from making beats for Jay-Z to his solo ascension, in this September production “about a guy who took a shot at the throne and didn’t miss.”

Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks hold a “blowjob” contest: Seems the lyrics to “Senator” weren’t exactly FCC-approved. The line “I know what the senator wants/what the senator wants is a blowjob” needed a rewrite for the radio, so Malkmus reached out to fans for help. Turns out the senator actually wanted a corndog (who doesn’t?).

Bon Iver Day: Even a perfunctory listen to Bon Iver’s music reveals Justin Vernon’s strong affections for Wisconsin. That love was returned on July 22nd when Milwaukee’s Mayor Tom Barrett christened the day “Bon Iver Day” in celebration of Bon Iver’s WI ties, musical accomplishments, and the beginning of their world tour.

Beavis and Butt-Head: America’s favorite slackers/social commentators returned to MTV this year for all-new animated episodes. With a whole new slew of modern musicians and pop-culture to mock, this news… hee… errm.. uhh huhuhuh… rules.

2011: A Rock Odyssey featuring Jack White: For three epic nights, Stephen Colbert joined Jack White at the musician’s Third Man Records. The goal was to revive Colbert’s “music career,” and it ended up giving us three awesome segments, a Catholicism-off, and a duet of The Star-Spangled Banner.

Nick Oliveri arrested after S.W.A.T. standoff: When his girlfriend called the police, ex-Queens of the Stoneage/current Kyuss Lives! bassist Nick Oliveri refused to let her leave the residence or let the cops in. Four hours and a L.A. county S.W.A.T. team later, he was arrested for felony domestic violence. While the case awaits trial, Kyuss still lives, though Oliveri, out on $100,000 bail, won’t be joining them for any international tour dates.

Mic Todd arrested for armed robbery: On tour with Soundgarden, Coheed and Cambria bassist Mic Todd went out and robbed a Walgreens in Attleboro, MA, by telling the pharmacist he had a bomb. He was arrested that night at the Comcast Center on charges of armed robbery and unlawful possession of prescription narcotics. A month later, he was looking for a new band.

Courtney Love dates SALEM’s Jack Donoghue: So, Courtney Love thinks Dave Grohl is a dick, but witch-house is sexy. You know, sometimes I just don’t understand that woman.

Metallica Monopoly: Because nothing says “metal” like family game night.

Luther Campbell runs for mayor of Miami-Dade County: Admittedly, it takes some cajones to choose the eighth-most populous county in the country as your first foray into politics. Probably takes more to try to tax strippers. He lost, by the way.

Joe Jonas says he’s influenced by Daft Punk: The middle Jo Bro cites Daft Punk’s Tron: Legacy work as an influence on his solo debut. So, in essence, you’re saying this led to this.

Well, it’s here. Below, you can watch the Darren Aronofsky-directed music video for “The View”, from Lou Reed and Metallica‘s joint LP Lulu (via IFC). It is, according to Reed, “possibly the best video ever made.”

The video was originally supposed to be for “Iced Honey”, a track considered by our Jeremy Larson as one of the lone highlights on Lulu. However, according to a press release, “it became obvious” ‘The View’ was the way to go” when Reed, Metallica, and Aronofsky met up in San Francisco last month.

Said Aronofsky: “The first time I heard ‘The View’ I was stunned. I had never heard anything like it. Half was all Lou. The other half all Metallica. It was a marriage that on the surface made no sense, but the fusion changed the way I thought about both artists and morphed into something completely fresh and new. I couldn’t stop listening to it. Lou’s crushing lyrics, and the band’s incredible licks. It’s so original and that’s why I wanted to work on it.”

Added Lou: ”I am very excited about working with Darren Aronofsky on our powerful video ‘The View’. I feel Darren understood the power and range of the emotions fueled by the fire of Metallica. His strength and spirit are on display in every frame and I think he has caught the anger, rage and anguish at the bottom of the soul of real rock. A literate man for a literate song. As exciting as the music and that’s a big compliment. Possibly the best video ever made. Black and white filmic noir”.

Metallica’s Lars Ulrich also chimed in: “To have a song like ‘The View’ visualized through the eyes and magic touch of Darren Aronofsky is beyond my wildest dream. The marriage between images, music, and words in this video is indescribably thrilling and I am so next level psyched to be involved in a project that brings together the creative minds of Darren Aronofsky, Lou Reed . . . and The ‘Tallica.”

Lulu is out now.

There has been no shortage of support within the music community for the ongoing Occupy movements. Jeff Mangum, Talib Kweli, Tom Morello, and Crosby Stills and Nash have all delivered performances, and Kanye West an appearance at Occupy Wall Street, and Rage Against the Machine’s Zach De La Rocha recently showed his support with a poem. Now, a number of prominent musicians have bonded together and launched their own movement called Occupy Musicians.

According to an issued press release, “Occupy Musicians will serve as a resource to facilitate performances at Occupy spaces and events. Provide links to media wishing to interview Occupy-supporting musicians. Host testimony and other writings of musicians for why they support the 99 percent. Host embedded media to Occupy-related songs and music videos and network musicians to Occupy locations and Occupy fund raisers.”

As Occupy Musicians’ website points out, co-signers include Lou Reed, Talib Kweli, Tom Morello, Fugazi’s Ian MacKaye, Dead Kennedy’s Jello Biafra, Amanda Palmer, John Zorn, Dan Deacon, My Brightest Diamond’s Shara Worden, tUnE-yArDs’ Merill Garbus, Sharon Van Etten, former Titus Andronicus guitarist Amy Klein, Xiu Xiu’s Jamie Stewart, Kimya Dawson, and Mirah, among others.

If you ever wondered what Lou Reed was hearing in his ears when was recording Lulu, wonder no more. Following in the footsteps of Dr. Dre and Daft Punk, Reed has partnered with Klipsch for his own variation on their X10i line of earbuds (via Exclaim!).

Available next month for the price of $399.99, Lou’s earbuds come with a three-button remote and 360-degree microphone. In addition, every package includes a Lou Reed autograph, and the first 50 buyers will receive an unidentified album, also signed by Reed. Presumably it will be one of Lou Reed’s albums, but here’s wishing it’s absolutely not one of Lou Reed’s albums.

Says Reed in an issued statement: “I have been a fan of Klipsch for eons. I enjoy the beauty of the unhyped bass — the clarity and depth of detail and extraordinary comfort of the headphones. These are my Klipsch. Serious headphones for the serious listener.”

Pre-orders for the earbuds are now ongoing via Klipsch’s website.

Following their appearance on Later… with Jools Holland, Lou Reed and Metallica traveled to Germany on Friday night for a live radio broadcast/webcast on 1LIVE. 2011′s oddest bedfellows performed five songs from their joint LP Lulu — “Iced Honey”, “The View”, “Mistress Dread”, “Dragon”, and “Junior Dad” (which was shorted from 19-and-a-half minutes to a more manageable 10-and-a-half) — as well as their already infamous cover of The Velvet Underground’s “White Light/White Heat”. In addition, both Reed and Metallica took a break midway through the performance to participate in a lengthy interview regarding their project. Now, via the wonders of the world wide web, you can watch a replay of the entire thing below.

Lulu is out now.

In the thrilling conclusion to Lou Reed and Metallica’s appearance on Later… with Jools Holland, the eccentric collaborators performed Lulu‘s “The View” before Lou and Lars sat down with Jools to discuss the project. Watch the video clips below; click here for part 1.

“The View”:

Interview:

Lulu is out now.

Modern historians often speculate on the idea of witnessing past historic tragedies: the Bubonic plague, the sinking of the Titanic, the Hindenberg disaster, etc. But on Wednesday night, Later… with Jools Holland captured the most recent tragedy, this time on-stage: Lou Reed and Metallica. Their first live performance in support of Lulu, the eccentric collective dished out a rendition of the album track “Iced Honey”. Watch the video replay below.

Update: How’s this for a surprise: Lou and Metallica also performed a cover of The Velvet Underground’s “White Light/White Heat”. Check out the video below.

Lulu is out now.

Metallica and Lou Reed‘s Lulu: Some call it a polarizing album, others just consider it a bad album. We’ve offered our two cents, and we’ve collated others’. Regardless of public opinion, though, cult director Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan, The Wrestler) will direct a music video for the album’s track, “Iced Honey”. As the Associated Press reports, “the clip will be shot in the San Francisco Bay area and will be available for viewing later this month.” AP even pulled some quotes from both musical parties. The metal collective says they’re “living the dream” with all these collaborations, while Reed hopes the director will craft “his Black Swan.” Fingers crossed Aronofsky tags an ol’ pal like Mickey Rourke. Could you imagine that? Stay tuned for the video; naturally, we’ll post it the second it wreaks havoc on Earth.

Lulu is currently available in stores.

Theory of a Dead Man, Young Rebel Set, Puddle of Mud, Limp Bizkit, Kevin Federline. These are some of the only bands who released albums this year that have an aggregated score lower than Lou Reed and Metallica’s ambitious and unsightly Lulu. But before we unshackle Lou Reed and Metallica from the gallows located in the internet’s town square, we sought out various writers’ similes — the most dubious and snarky of all literary devices — regarding the collaborative clusterfuck.

———

Lulu is like a bad haircut: it makes you want to blow your head off.

– Shane Mack, Tiny Mix Tapes

Lulu sounds like my little brother’s garage band finally fell for that senile old poet’s “Hey boys, I have some lollipops” bribe.

– Ray Roa, Suburban Apologist

Listening to Lulu is like watching The Challenger take off.

– Kenny Bloggins, The Decibel Tolls

To borrow from Seinfeld, Lulu is like listening to an old man trying to send back soup at a deli while a radio in the background plays a cut from Death Magnetic.

– Dan Reilly, Spinner

Like the chugging wheeze of an irony-clad, bile-powered locomotive.

– Andrew Flanagan, The Daily Swarm

It sounds like your drunk uncle boasting about his sexcapades during the War, as the radio from the garage bleeds into the “conversation,” and all you wanted was a pleasant Thanksgiving for once, foronce in your adult life, dammit.

– Katie Hasty, HitFix

Lulu is like Songs For Drella plus electric guitars minus any subtlety or nuance or any sense of an emotional core. It’s not as bad as people say it is, but it ain’t good either. It’s biggest crime is in just being boring.

–Tankboy, Chicagoist

Lulu is as enjoyable as trepanning and caresses the ears like the bug placed in Chekov’s ear in Wrath of Khan.

– Mikala Taylor, The Backstage Rider

Listening to Lulu is like eating sand and washing it down with saltwater. It’s the audible form of extreme dehydration.

– Zach Hart, We Listen For You

I read a really great article earlier this year, back around the beginning of baseball season, about the art of throwing batting practice in the Major Leagues. It focused on St. Louis Cardinals first base coach and regular BP pitcher Dave McKay, who’s performed the task for everyone from Mark McGwire and Albert Pujols to… well, lots of people no one’s ever heard of. It goes into what makes someone good at it–the ideal arm angle and release point, the ideal location for each pitch, and the importance of consistency. The goal, essentially, is to throw time and time again what in a game situation would be the worst possible pitch, but in batting practice lets the hitter take stock of his fundamentals–his mechanics, his timing–and it allows everyone around him to spot flaws and gauge the potential of the hitter. Lulu is like the perfect batting practice pitcher, but for rock critics.

 – Mike Conklin, The L Magazine

“I don’t have any fans left. After Metal Machine Music, they all fled. Who cares? I’m essentially in this for the fun of it.”

– Speaking with USA Today, Lou Reed explained the logic behind Lulu – and its possible sequel. He added: “No one wants Lulu Part 2, but on Radio Lou, in my head where I hear these songs, I want more of it.”

Fail? Yes. Bad? Not always. This kind of failure is such a glorious, mythic, supernova failure that it’s worthwhile to hear it happen. After aging artist playtime is over, what’s left are a few slivers of good, boldly highlighted like a few flecks of gold in a bag of discarded colored dicks, used tampons, and dried semen. Oh, you weren’t ready for that just then? Too bad. Neither was I when I heard those lines spoken on Lulu. Suit up.

Lulu is essentially a piece of shock art that’s littered with vulgarity both lyrical and musical. It reads like a misguided Bukowski impersonation and sounds like field recordings taken from Guitar Centers across America. Its source material are two 19th century plays by German playwright Frank Wedekind. Together, they spin a lovely tale about a girl, Lulu, who is sexually abused by her father, becomes a teenaged prostitute, marries a bevy of men (most of whom wind up dead), and then . . . falls in love with and is murdered by, purportedly, Jack the Ripper. It’s bananas, and, as a non-theatrical musical adaption, completely untenable.

The whole concept-heavy album thing — so, so predictably — blocks any empathy with Reed over the course of the 90+ minutes of Lulu. Knowing that the majority of lyrics aren’t originating from Reed’s addled-as-hell mind/soul is not only disheartening, but stymies the pathos a concept album with plot and characters seeks to create. Though maybe it’s good to temper bons mots like “her Kotex jukebox” and “sperm-less like a girl” and “the taste of your vulva and everything on it” with a 3rd person narrative.

These stretches of obtuse and icky lyricism eventually become at best a wash of caustic anger and at worse, hilarious. This wound goes unaided by producers (Reed, Metallica, et al.), as Reed’s voice is awkwardly abandoned on top of the mix, adding to the tonnage of proof that this Metallica/Lou Reed project is more orange juice/toothpaste than anyone had ever imagined. The most egregious stretches of the album come when Reed is at his most verbose, stumbling around a melody for minutes at a time, spouting off psycho-sexual lyrics about Wedekind’s story above tedious and boilerplate Metallica riffs. The gears grind loudest on “Pumping Blood” and “Dragon”, which simply cannot be tolerated more than once.

Finding solace in the music won’t get you anywhere, either. It’s worlds apart from melodic orchestral experimentation of Berlin, White Light/White Heat, or any Reed album, Metal Machine Music included (and preferred!). And in this corner, Metallica lolls around in an extended palm-muted parody that is neither dynamic nor trance-like. The riffage coming from Hetfield and Hammett is tired, and you’d think under the auspices of Reed, Metallica would grab the opportunity to remind us that they’re musicians that can exist out of the corner they’ve Metallica’d themselves into. You’d think so, but the best-of riffs they trot out would prove you wrong.

Those flecks of gold though? It’s mostly on “Junior Dad”, the coda to this sordid affair, the 20-minute, open-5ths finale, where Reed transcends Lulu and writes a beautiful song about insecurity, age, love, and trust. “The greatest disappointment/age withered him and changed him,” he sings, before repeating “the greatest disappointment.” Reed is finally relaxed. It’s just about the saddest song to come out this year, especially in the context of the previous 70 minutes of Lulu, Reed’s career, the universe…just everything. They always say to leave them with a fantastic final scene and they’ll forget about the rest of the movie, but Lulu will not get off that easy.

You’ll hear commentators from Reed’s camp and Metallica’s camp say that “The worst part about this [Metallica/Lou Reed] album is that [Metallica/Lou Reed] is also on the album.” They are absolutely correct. The failure spawned in the elevator pitch and never took its leave until the orchestral drones of the final track had subsided. It’s a remarkable album in that Reed and Metallica just did whatever the hell they wanted to and put it out there, and it takes more risks than the majority of music that has come out this year. It’s a shame it never even had a chance.

Essential Tracks: “Junior Dad”, “Iced Honey”

Feature artwork by Drew Litowitz.

Ladies and gentlemen, the time has come. Lulu, the collaborative album between Velvet Underground great Lou Reed and metal legends Metallica, is streaming in full at lourreedmetallica.com. The 10-track, 90-minute long album, which Reed describes as “the best thing done by anyone, ever,” officially arrives in the U.S. on November 1st via Warner Bros.

Other new releases available for an early spin:

– The new EP from Florida alt-rockers Surfer Blood, Tarot Classics, is out October 25th via Kanine Records. Right now, you can stream the four-track effort on SoundCloud.

– Brooklyn indie-pop outfit North Highlands released their debut LP, Wild One, this week. You can stream the 11-track effort on Spinner.

–  Nashville rock outfit PUJOL released their new EP, Nasty, Brutish, And Short, on Tuesday via Saddle Creek Records. The EP is now streaming in full on Noisey.com.

p.s.- North Highlands will play our CMJ showcase at Pianos on Friday, and PUJOL will be play our October Party at Southpaw on Saturday. See you there!

Good news, everyone. You can now stream 30 second snippets of all 10 tracks included on Lou Reed and Metallica’s collaborative album, Lulu, in the SoundCloud widget below.

Remember, Lulu spans 90 minutes total, so you’ve still only heard 9.5% of the album. Visit your favorite record store retailer beginning November 1st to hear the rest of it.

The first full-length taste of Lou Reed and Metallica’s collaborative album, Lulu, is here. Rock It Out! Blog points us to a SoundCloud stream of the album track “The View”, which you can check out below. If you’d like to sing along, we have the song’s lyrics further down the page.

Lulu is out November 1st via Warner Bros.

Lyrics:

I AM A CHORUS OF THE VOICES
THAT GATHER UP THE MAGNETS
SET BEFORE ME

I ATTRACT YOU AND REPEL YOU
A SCIENCE OF THE HEART
AND BLOOD AND MEANING

THE COLDNESS OF MOST BEAUTIES
IS A CHALLENGE THAT OUR YOUTH
MUST QUICKLY CONQUER

THERE IS NO TIME FOR GUILT
OR SECOND GUESSING, SECOND GUESSING
BASED ON FEELING

I AM THE TRUTH, THE BEAUTY
THAT CAUSES YOU TO CROSS
YOUR SACRED BOUNDARIES

I HAVE NO MORALS
SOME THINK ME CHEAP
AND SOMEONE WHO DESPISES
THE NORMALCY OF HEARTBREAK
THE PURITY OF LOVE

BUT I WORSHIP THE YOUNG
AND JUST FORMED ANGEL

WHO SITS UPON THE PIN OF LUST
EVERYTHING ELSE
BORES ME

I WANT TO SEE YOUR SUICIDE
I WANT TO SEE YOU GIVE IT UP
YOUR LIFE OF REASON
I WANT YOU ON THE FLOOR
AND IN A COFFIN YOUR SOUL SHAKING
I WANT TO HAVE YOU DOUBTING
EVERY MEANING YOU’VE AMASSED
LIKE A FORTUNE

OH THROW IT AWAY

FOR WORSHIP SOMEONE
WHO ACTIVELY DESPISES YOU

FOR WORSHIP SOMEONE
WHO ACTIVELY DESPISES YOU

I AM THE ROOT
I AM THE PROGRESS
I’M THE AGGRESSOR
I AM THE TABLET
THESE TEN STORIES

WORSHIP
WORSHIP

PAIN AND EVIL HAVE THEIR PLACE
SITTING HERE BESIDE ME
I OFFER THEM TO YOU AS SERVANTS
OF THE GOLD THAT YOU MUST GIVE

PAIN AND EVIL HAVE THEIR PLACE
SITTING HERE BESIDE ME
AND I’LL OFFER THEM, I OFFER THEM TO YOU
AS SERVANTS OF THE GOLD
THAT YOU MUST GIVE TO ME

I WANT TO SEE YOUR SUICIDE
I WANT TO SEE YOU GIVE IT UP, GIVE IT UP
YOUR YOUR LIFE OF REASON

I WANT TO SEE YOU ON THE FLOOR

AND IN A COFFIN, SOUL SHAKING
SOUL SHAKING
I WANT TO HAVE YOU DOUBTING
EVERY MEANING YOU’VE AMASSED
LIKE A FORTUNE, LIKE A FORTUNE
THROW IT AWAY

FOR WORSHIP OF SOMEONE WHO ACTIVELY DESPISES YOU

WHO ACTIVELY DESPISES YOU

For the second straight weekend, we awake to the sounds of Lou Reed and Metallica’s collaborative album, Lulu. That 30-second snippet of the album track “The View” has been extended to 90 seconds. Maybe you’ll enjoy it more?

Lulu is due out November 1st via Warner Bros.

And we now have sound! Rock It Out Blog! points to our first taste of Lou Reed and Metallica’s insane collaborative album, Lulu. It comes in the form of a 30-second snippet of the track called “The View” and it hears Reed supplying a spoken word verse alongside Metallica’s metal fury. Please draw your own conclusions now.

Lulu is due out November 1st via Warner Bros.

Lulu Tracklist:
01. Brandenburg Gate (4:19)
02. The View (5:17)
03. Pumping Blood (7:24)
04. Mistress Dread (6:52)
05. Iced Honey (4:36)
06. Cheat On Me (11:26)
07. Frustration (8:33)
08. Little Dog (8:01)
09. Dragon (11:08)
10. Junior Dad (19:28)

Four isn’t five, but it’s also not three. One is the loneliest number, yet two is for hipsters. Seven is considered lucky, while six is the result of dividing 666 by 111. We’re okay with four — at least for now. This week — check it, September 15th, 2011 — marked the fourth anniversary of Consequence of Sound. Back in 2007, on one lazy Saturday afternoon in New York, Alex Young decided to start a blog. What you see here today is the ongoing result.

But it’s not the result that’s mind-boggling. It’s the journey. Covering four years of every major music festival — from the barbecue-laced heartburn in SXSW to the muddy confines of Bonnaroo to the concrete jungle that is Lollapalooza — or chopping out block after block of news stories or checking off each season’s album release schedule or… you get the picture. The steps count. The turns matter. The articles entertain.

Since its inception in 2007, Consequence of Sound has published nearly 17,000 articles. We’ve worked with over 100 different writers, editors, and photographers. We’ve been to almost every state in America, and elsewhere. Like we said, it’s the journey that’s mind-boggling.

And that’s why we’re okay with four — simply because we’ll be at five, six, and seven in no time. For now, though, let’s have some fun with the number, starting with four thoughts from our CEO/Publisher Alex Young and President/Editor-in-Chief Michael Roffman…

Four Thoughts From Alex Young…

4. My dream of a collaborative album between Jay-Z and Kanye West came to fruition this year.

3. My dream of a collaborative album between Jay-Z, Kanye West, and Jack White remains just that — a dream.

2. We Listen For You’s Soundcast is the best thing to hit the Internet in 2011.

1. Sorry, Chuck, but The Wire is the greatest television show ever.

Four Thoughts From Michael Roffman…

4. I’ve fallen in love with four women over the past four years: Bethany Cosentino (Best Coast), Annie Clark (St. Vincent), Lykke Li, and Heather Kaplan (CoS photographer). No particular order there. Just kidding.

3. I still subscribe to Rolling Stone. Though, when it comes to print, the best writing is in Vanity Fair or Playboy. No lie.

2. My ideal article remains to be written: Paul Westerberg announces fall tour.

1. Regardless of all the music I’ve discovered over the past four years, I still haven’t found a better song to sing along to in the shower than Toto’s “Africa”. I am open to suggestions.

Four Most Influential 4th Movements

By: Jake Cohen

4. “Mahler, Symphony No. 5, fourth movement, Adagietto”

Mahler’s output is full of stunning and painfully delicate strains. But the slow movement of his fifth symphony, purportedly written as a love letter to his new wife, may be his most sublime melody. He approaches a very classical melody with modern sound colors: A low harp accompanies low strings, which carry the tune. Mahler’s ability to express the entire emotional spectrum in his music appears in this short movement, as he traffics with joy, heartbreak, hope, pathos, and love.

3. Berlioz, Symphonie Fantastique, fourth movement, “March to the Scaffold”

How could anyone write a symphony after what Beethoven did in his ninth? Well, for starters, you could give your symphony a story: A love-struck artist is ultimately rebuked by the woman he loves, takes a massive amount of opium to kill himself, but instead, he just trips his face off and watches his own execution by guillotine. Berlioz was writing a perfectly nice symphony until he fell down the rabbit hole in the fourth movement, with martial drums, bone-rattling violins, celebratory crowds, and one last isolated thought of his beloved before the guillotine offs with his head. Romanticism, indeed.

2. Schoenberg, String Quartet No. 2, fourth movement

Arguably, this is the moment when classical music lost its grasp on tonality, the harmonic system that had endured for more than two centuries and on which our modern pop music is still based. Schoenberg took Wagner’s progressive harmonic language and went even further, shattering the system of keys. A soprano voice, itself an anomaly for a string quartet, sings the German words “I feel the air of another planet.” It was, quite literally, the opening to a new world of musical opportunities.

1. Beethoven, Symphony No. 9 “Choral”, fourth movement

Beethoven mind-fucked the entire 19th century when he inserted a chorus singing Schiller’s “Ode to Joy” in the final movement of his final symphony. All hyperbole aside, it’s the moment when everything changed for every composer who came later. Turning his simple tune into a fugue, a Turkish march, and a solemn chorale, Beethoven proclaimed the brotherhood of all humanity in one sweeping 25-minute masterpiece.

Four Best Songs Suited for the Fantastic Four

By: Ben Kaye

4. Genesis - “Invisible Touch” (Invisible Woman)

Sue Storm has always deceived casual FF fans who just see a sexy blonde chick in skintight spandex. The truth is that she’s probably the most powerful member on the team. While Collins was speaking figuratively, Invisible Woman literally could “[reach] in and [grab] right hold of your heart.” And squeeze it ’til it popped. Her invisible force fields have almost limitless applications, and even the space gods known as Celestials have “fallen, fallen for her.” Sue used to be called “Invisible Girl”, but she adopted the “Woman” right around the time this song came out. Her massive power could really “mess up your life” and more than warrants the change.

3. Queen – “We Will Rock You” (The Thing)

A classic fight song for a classic brawler. Queen unwittingly wrote a mini-biography for Ben Grimm with this track. Growing up a poor Jewish kid in New York’s Lower East Side, Grimm was made a “hard man” at an early age by the gang murder of his older brother. After gaining his rocky visage, he turned the anger over his monstrous form into the fuel to “take on the world” as the FF’s heavy hitter. Yet still, even after decades of adventuring and super-heroing, even after time as an Avenger, deep down, The Thing just wants a bit of “peace some day” and to be regular Ben Grimm again. Until then, though, it’s clobberin’ time.

2. Boysetsfire - “Rocket Man” (Elton John cover) (Mr. Fantastic)

As it was his own theories, stubbornness, and rocket that got the team cosmically irradiated on that “timeless flight,” Reed Richards has always carried a self-alienating, lonely weight of guilt. Occasional attempts to “cure” his teammates and a preoccupation with bettering the world through science frequently ostracize his wife, Sue, and put his children, Franklin and Valeria, at great risk. Add on the family’s adventuring lifestyle, and there’s practically been “no one there to raise” the kids. In the end, Richards’ greatest flaw is his need to “[burn] out his fuse up here alone,” despite being surrounded by a loving, capable family. So why the cover version? It drives far harder than the original, and he’s still a superhero who can pack a (very enlarged) punch, after all.

James Taylor – “Fire and Rain” (Human Torch)

In memoriam: Johnny Storm, November 1965 – January 2011. The Human Torch met his death recently in Fantastic Four #587 at the hands of Annihilus and his hordes of Negative Zone aliens, marking the end of an era and the end of the team. At his own request, Torch was replaced by Spider-Man on what is now the Future Foundation. Though odds are he’ll rise from the ashes (see what happened there?) in typical comic book fashion before too long, may he rest in peace for now. This one’s for you, Johnny. Just change “Suzanne” and picture it sung in The Thing’s craggily voice.

Four Best Quartets of the Last Four Years

By: Dan Caffrey

4. Wild Flag

This may be a tad unfair in that Wild Flag is more or less a super-group consisting of Riot Grrrl matriarchs, but the all-female quartet is bar-none one of the most exciting quartets of late. With one LP, Carrie Brownstein, Janet Weiss, Mary Timony, and Rebecca Cole culled the best parts of their time from the alt-90′s and blended them into the catchiest rock record of 2011. Wild Flag never sound lazy or indulgent as many supergroups do. Their 2011 debut showed a band working together and highlighting the best in each other’s work to form a professionally balanced album with succulent rock bombs.

3. Surfer Blood

Randy Newman’s ode to Los Angeles “I Love L.A.” works so well because it embraces the City of Angels as much as it satirizes it. Surfer Blood must view Florida in the same way. With a beach bag full of catchy guitar riffage and alienated lyrics, the West Palm Beach natives clearly don’t fit in with the inherent hip-hop and death metal in the southern region of the Sunshine State, but they also can’t deny the appeal of bright harmonies and nautical imagery, which swirl all over their stellar debut, Astro Coast. In a way, perhaps they’re the most Floridian band of all, celebrating the state’s environment while sonically breaking through the cliches of its music scene.

2. Bon Iver

The locked-in-a-cabin mythology of Justin Vernon’s debut, For Emma, Forever Ago, has since been decried by its creator, who insists his recording environment wasn’t as secluded and destitute as people believe. He did, after all, have the entire series of Northern Exposure with him on DVD, which led to the Bon Iver moniker. With his second full-length, Vernon seemed determined to debunk any misconceptions, expanding his lineup to a proper four-piece and drenching the record in a lovelorn wall of sound teeming with complex traditional orchestration and even maudlin synthesizers on the closing track, which has no right to work but somehow does. The subject matter may be the same, but make no mistake: These guys are a band.

1. Vampire Weekend

With afro-percussion, a singer with a fake Spanish accent, and lyrics about the joys of Ivy League, Vampire Weekend looked destined to fail when they arrived on the scene in 2008. But they haven’t. After a whimsical yet surprisingly deep debut, the quartet of Columbia alumni avoided the sophomore slump by a landslide with their second album, Contra, shrugging off the bad vibes of their detractors by continuing to crank out thoughtful pop with sincerity, whimsy, and a lack of pretension, regardless of their backgrounds. Bonus points for rhyming horchata with balaclava.

Four Best Four-Track Recordings

By: Michael Roffman

4. Daniel Johnston – “Worried Shoes”

You can’t talk about four-track recordings without mentioning Daniel Johnston. He’s the heir to the process. To date, the bipolar songwriter has written 18 full-length albums, in addition to hundreds of songs he’s recorded solely on the four-track recorder. It’s quite a chore to listen to each one, but one particular album comes to mind: 1983′s Yip/Jump Music, namely because it’s drawn so much attention. But with good reason. It contains one of Johnston’s most iconic songs in his exhaustive back catalogue: “Worried Shoes”. It’s rough. Really rough. Some might consider it grating, but they’d be missing the point. What separates Johnston from most artists is his inherent need to do this. And with “Worried Shoes”, the melody and the lurching chord organ feel as if Johnston’s wringing out his soul. You’ve probably cried to it, but most likely when Karen O sang it for the Where the Wild Things Are soundtrack. Still…

3. The Beatles – “Strawberry Fields Forever”

Chills. Just sugar-laced chills. Believe it or not, but the Fab Four actually recorded on a four-track, and for one of their most landmark releases: 1967′s Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Okay, so technically they taped over a few four-track recorders, but nonetheless, they were four-tracks. Now, some might argue that “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” would be a more fitting selection, especially since it contains a 4/4 beat. However, the encapsulating (and always stuffy) “Strawberry Fields Forever” shines more — at least in this particular format. The layers, the amount of scruffy detail, and its lo-fi psychedelia just coat the ceiling, man. When the cello hits during the chorus, it sounds like it was recorded in the bow of a sinking ship. And Paul McCartney’s introduction on the Mellotron! It still feels like it was carved out on some bedroom floor one soggy, foggy morning — November 24, 1966, to be exact.

2. Bruce Springsteen – “Atlantic City”

As Bruce Springsteen wrote on the liner notes of his Greatest Hits release, “Atlantic City” ran The Boss’s bill up to “…..$1050 (the cost of the 4 track Tascam recorder), mixed through an old Gibson guitar unit to a beat box.” To this day, it still feels like that. (And what do you know, it’s also four minutes long, too! Double-hitter.) Though the song tells the tale of a man’s inevitable death through organized crime, the images this track conjure up hardly bring that story to mind. Blame it on its album’s iconic production. In 1982, the great Jersey bard locked himself away in his home, where he carved out the eight tracks that would make up 1982′s Nebraska. Shortly after, he tried re-recording the album with the E Street band in a studio, but even the producers understood its raw, intimate power. Take one listen to “Atlantic City”, and you will, too. If you get a chance, though, pick it up on vinyl. There’s nothing like it. If anything, you’ll be forever haunted by the eerie black-and-white photo of Springsteen standing alone in his hallway.

1. Elliott Smith – “No Name #3″

Elliott Smith’s 1994 debut, Roman Candle, was recorded on a four-track in his basement. With the exception of a couple of tracks, it’s really just Smith alone to himself, and that’s what the end result sounded like. It’s hard to listen to Smith nowadays, not only because his tragic suicide lingers around every chord progression and Lennon-like melody, but because his music just hurts. It’s filled with aching pain, it feels isolated. So many artists attempt to commit their hearts to tape day after day, but Smith figured it out on his first attempt. “No Name #3″ acts as the dark, lonely tunnel. The tender songwriter croons so lightly that at times it’s easier to just listen to the grainy chords. It stings. It taps at the eyes. It sours the tear ducts. And if it weren’t for its lo-fi nature, it just wouldn’t work. Smith just wouldn’t be the same. In some ways, his recordings felt more human than the man himself. Very tragic.

Four Best Songs Containing the Word “Four”

By: Chris Coplan

4. Led Zeppelin – “Four Sticks”

For whatever reason, becoming a fan of Led Zeppelin is some kind of unspoken rite of passage into manhood for boys the world over. Perhaps some of us missed out on that train to chest hair and adult-sized worries. Even those people, brave souls with equally valid music tastes that they are, can still enjoy a track like “Four Sticks”. It’s the very sound even the most proud non-fan conjures up when thinking of the Zep (that’s a nickname, right?): a grand, rollicking fury that is as sonically diverse as it is prog-ish and nerdy. Thank you, rock gods, for this offering, though we never have worshipped you.

3. CAKE – “Friend Is a Four Letter Word”

CAKE have made a career out of being weird. But they drop all the goofy, borderline comical pretenses entirely on “Friend Is a Four Letter Word”. Mysterious and aloof, the track is missing on some crucial details (like, all of them) of the friendship being portrayed. Even still, it’s as powerful and stirring as any other demonstration of betrayal ever outlined in pop music format. They’ve got a great talent for illustrating painful emotional concepts, but this one takes the band’s name for most effective and haunting. Plus, who didn’t try to figure which specific four-letter word the band was referring to? My money is on, and will always be on, “shit.”

2. Feist – “1234″

Canadian singer-songwriter Leslie Feist knows the power of simplicity. Shortening her stage name to simply Feist, she made a hugely popular song simply by counting. And she didn’t even need to go into double digits! “1234″ is elegant in its minimalism, simple enough to be on Sesame Street. Call it Feist’s voice, the strummy nature of the whole effort, the grandiose chorus, or some magic combination of each, but the track is mesmerizing despite how very little was heaped together to make it. That may speak to some greater truth about songs with numbers in them: They’re basic because, at least sometimes, that core essence and bare-bones approach is all you need in a truly great song.

1. The Beatles – “When I’m Sixty-Four”

Love is a truly beautiful and wonderful thing. It’s also scary, confusing, and, at times, violent. We all want to know if we have it or not and whether or not it’ll be here to stay with us for good. In aiding folks in that eternal struggle, the Beatles laid out the perfect thought experiment for lovers everywhere to pose to one another: Will you still be with me when I’m an old fart, needing 24-hour care and support? It’s the ultimate litmus test of romance and devotion, arguably expressed in the most bubbly, fun-loving pop song the Fab Four ever crafted. As far as Beatles songs go, it’s one of the more popular of all the popular ones (and there are a lot of ‘em), but it deserves its distinction not only for its catchy-ness but for how truly succinct it is. Vera, Chuck, and Dave would be proud for sure.

Four Best LPs With Four Tracks

By: Paul de Revere

4. Lou Reed – Metal Machine Music

“Anyone who gets to side four is dumber than I am,” Lou Reed famously snarked about this 1975 release. Which means it’s a prank and a cathartic “fuck you” to his label at the time RCA… right? If so, it’s the most accidentally significant prank in experimental music history. The careers of gritty New York experimental mavens Suicide and Glenn Branca, Steve Albini’s Big Black, and every young-and-restless noise band ever owes pretty much everything to Metal Machine Music. Personally, I side with dean of American rock critics Robert Christgau on this one. “For white noise,” Christgau said. “I’ll still take ‘Sister Ray’.”

3. Can – Future Days

Krautrock milestone makers Can don’t get enough credit for being, essentially, a funk band. Sure, Future Days and Can’s four peak-era releases with vocalist Damo Suzuki are better known as antecedents to Radiohead, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Flaming Lips, and any number of indie, electronica, post-rock, shoegaze, and post-punk bands preceding them. But “Moonshake” stands up to all of the well-produced ‘70s funk from American bands. It’s just a lot more subtle. But a jittery, improvisational German “funk” band with a Japanese vocalist whispering and muttering barely comprehensible lyrics doesn’t really sell in the States. But Future Days is funk — weird, lo-fi funk. It was Suzuki’s fourth and final record with the band, which came to a more minimalist sound than ever before. After leaving the band soon after the recording of Future Days, Suzuki took a wife, a German Jehovah’s Witness, and married into her faith. Though, I’m not sure that’s any weirder than the whispered, barely comprehensible lyrics “You hide behind a borrowed chase/For the sake of future days” off the album’s title track. Play weird, live weird, I guess.

2. Tangerine Dream – Phaedra

On 1974’s Phaedra, Tangerine Dream pioneered virtually every cool electronica sound effect with Moogs and Mellotrons we take for granted today, perhaps most notably of all: some of electronica’s first arpeggiation melodies over washes of synth, which almost every electronica act since 1980 has done. And Tangerine did this in the early ‘70s! But the band is German (Berliners, no less), so, you know, it’s not that unusual. The band started in 1970, but Phaedra, Tangerine’s fifth album, defined its sound, defying the standard Krautrock motorik of its day, leaving ambient space in its Terry Reilly-esque staid melodies. Truly, when this came out, everyone from Brian Eno (who released two classics, Here Come the Warm Jets and Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy), in the same year Phaedra was released) to Robert Fripp to Giorgio Moroder perked their ears up and listened carefully.

1. Godspeed You! Black Emperor – Lift Yr Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven

I’m 26 years old, and I’ve written about Lift Yr Skinny Fists.. at least a dozen different ways and listened to it dozens more. It’s been a soundtrack to key points in my life over the last decade. It’s somehow both personal to me and bigger than myself and my own personal interpretation. I’ve proselytized to friends (okay, and strangers) about how amazing it is if you just “give it a chance, man.” I’ve used the words “bruising,” “cathartic,” “maudlin,” “washes of sound”, and so on to describe its dystopic, aural beauty. But it must be listened to, nay experienced (ideally with eyes closed, good headphones, a comfortable resting place, and an uninterrupted 1:27:22), to be understood. The martial first movement of the first disc’s first track, “Storm”, is a triumphant, hopeful, and gorgeous open salvo to a black-and-white feature film never made: somewhere in the creative ether between Gillo Pontecorvo’s Battle of Algiers (and its rickety-clack score by Ennio Morricone) and Jean-Pierre Melville’s Army of Shadows. In a word: bleak. Godspeed You! Black Emperor may never cut another record again, but Lift Yr Skinny Fists will influence decades of not just post-rock but all epic music to come. Count on it.

Four Fourth Tracks From Each of the Top Four Selling Albums of All Time (In Order of Sales, from Lowest to Highest)

By: Joe Marvilli

4. Whitney Houston – “Run To You” from The Bodyguard (44 million)

Surprised yet? That’s right, Whitney Houston’s soundtrack for 1992’s The Bodyguard is the fourth best-selling album of all time. A good portion of those sales were carried on the mega-success of “I Will Always Love You”. But there’s more to this soundtrack than one smash hit. The fourth song of this album, “Run To You”, fits Houston’s style wonderfully. Originally written as a breakup song, it was transformed by the movie’s production into a love ballad instead. True, those swelling strings may seem somewhat cheesy by today’s standards, but Houston’s passionate performance is a saving grace.

3. Pink Floyd – “Time” from The Dark Side of the Moon (45 million)

While many songs can be considered Pink Floyd’s magnum opus, “Time” has a lot going in its favor. It’s the centerpiece of The Dark Side of the Moon, it’s the only song on the album credited to all four band members, and it features vocals from David Gilmour, Richard Wright, and Roger Waters. That’s before we even dive into the music. It starts with an introductory passage of chiming clocks, recorded by engineer Alan Parsons, and a two-minute drum solo by Nick Mason. Gilmour’s defiant vocals follow, channeling Waters’ refusal to succumb to time or be led by destiny. Oh, and then there’s the astoundingly powerful guitar solo that seems made to rip through time itself. While the band would run into plenty of issues down the line, this effort is the work of Pink Floyd as a whole.

2. AC/DC – “Given the Dog a Bone” from Back in Black (49 million)

Back in Black is a musical miracle when you think about it. How many bands have been forced to replace their frontman and keep their previous level of success? AC/DC not only met their past heights but greatly surpassed them with this album. There are so many classic hard rock hits here that the other tracks get overlooked. Some may think of “Given the Dog a Bone” as one of those songs after “Shoot to Thrill” and before “Back in Black”. But it’s pretty damn enjoyable when you stop and listen to it. Angus Young’s dirty guitar riff is worthy of head-banging and Brian Johnson’s vocals alternate between an elated shout and a nasty growl. How can you go wrong with a song like that?

1. Michael Jackson – “Thriller” from Thriller (110 million)

While some albums on this list may come as a surprise, Thriller definitely isn’t one of them. The sixth studio album from Michael Jackson is one of the most legendary releases in modern history. Everyone knows about it and everyone has heard at least one song from it. The record has permeated our culture in a way that few other pieces of art ever do. So what better song to look at than the title track? “Thriller” is the song that sets off the string of hits on Jackson’s masterpiece, as it’s followed by “Beat It” and “Billie Jean”. There’s not a stronger trilogy in pop music. The track itself combines a slippery bass with explosive horns and Jackson’s playful, almost dangerous vocals. Then there’s the 14-minute short film that passes as the song’s music video, proving that these promotional tools could be an art form as well. The peak of success? Yeah, it deserves this title.

Four Best Studio Guitar Solos Over Four Minutes Long

By: David Buchanan

4. The Smashing Pumpkins – “Starla”

Rarely do the Smashing Pumpkins get much credit in the lengthy solo department, especially given the lack of popularity such a technique really had during the early ’90s alternative era. This squelching Pisces Iscariot B-side leads on the first six minutes in standard melancholy before clawing steel nails on chalkboard come the last five–a certifiable audio nutshell of the band’s best phase, according to some.

3. Stevie Ray Vaughan – “Little Wing” (Jimi Hendrix cover)

When Jimi Hendrix covers a song, he expertly makes it his own to soaring applause; when a Hendrix song is covered by a late Texas bluesman, the lyrics disappear and we receive something akin to stringed instrument serenity. Heavenly harps never sounded this pleasant.

2. Santana – “Samba Pa Ti”

Carlos Santana, believe it or not, was once a highly respected and revered Latin-American guitarist. Before the shameful plugging and collaboration-weighted Supernatural, Santana made a mark via the soulful dance of “Samba Pa Ti”, and people could practically find God behind these chords (or a little black magic).

1. Lynyrd Skynyrd – “Free Bird”

An in-joke at other artists’ expense is to mockingly shout out a request for “Free Bird” at any given concert performance. Despite having lost its humorous luster in recent years, this almost irritatingly popular cut from Lynyrd Skynyrd’s debut LP gets name-dropped on many lists for many reasons – soloing is one.

Four Best Albums Named Primarily “Four”

By: Jeremy D. Larson

4. Blues Traveler - four

If you only know the Blues Traveler singles, you may think the only thing that separated Blues Traveler from those other 90’s bands who all may or may not have written the theme song for Friends, is John Popper and his harmonica. Lead single “Run Around” does actually sound like “Roll To Me” does actually sound like “Two Princes” does actually sound like a plasticine fart. But four [stylized as such] is more than the honkey pop that Spin Doctor Hazel Del Amitri trafficked in. Part blues stomp, part post-hippie jam band, and part radio-pop, Blues Traveler turn in a solid fourth (yup) album of their career with a fun album to drink beer in a barn to. “Hook” remains a staple of advance karaoke artists to this day.

3. Foreigner – 4

Speaking of karaoke, Foreigner’s 4 locks in at least three singles for the memories, but its Mick Jones (not of The Clash fame) whose compositional chops are on display. The frayed, acid-washed rock and roll on 4 that blasted out of Dodge Chargers everywhere in 1981 is a timepiece for one of the better AOR albums, and that’s not just indulgent riffs couched inside of greeting-card choruses. OK, there’s some of that here, but those moments are especially justified on the way-better-than-any-Bon-Jovi-rock-and-roll-dream-song “Juke Box Hero” and a precursor to new wave rock with the groovy “Urgent” which features Junior Walker sax and none other than Thomas Dolby on synths!

2. Scott Walker – Scott 4

Scott Walker still sits proudly high atop the Brit-pop family tree. Walker’s hyper-literate baroque and chamber pop still plumes through the speakers like fine London tobacco. The Smiths, Pulp, Belle & Sebastian, The Divine Comedy, and so many others are all cut from this velvet. His fourth album from 1969, Scott 4 , is Walker at his most dark, personal, and forthcoming — and still includes a song about Ingmar Bergman’s “The Seventh Seal” backed by spaghetti western strings. After all these years, his burgundy baritone on “Duchess” as he sings at the very end “I’m lying, she’s crying” is a good litmus test to see if your heart works properly. (Neko Case does a fantastic cover it as well.)

1. Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin IV

In spades. I’m not entirely sure Zeppelin IV is even an album anymore — it’s an epoch unto itself. It’s a symbol of something personal for me and historical for music. Its legendary status as the best rock album of all time has grown so absurdly out of proportion that the album itself has become immune to any sort of glib take-down essays or contrarian think-pieces. It’s a fortress of rock & roll that after years of sieges still stands as powerful as the day it was built. Plus it’s even got “Four Sticks” on it just to really nail it home.

Four Historic Fourth Albums

By: Mike Madden

4. Bob Dylan – Another Side of Bob Dylan

“There aren’t any finger-pointing songs here,” Bob Dylan once said of Another Side. Yup: There’s a surreal, romantic quality to nearly every track here, contrasting the accusative nature of some of Dylan’s first three albums. A lot of people complained about that, but they shouldn’t have – this is one of Dylan’s best and most underappreciated efforts. Though certainly not by artists. Following its release, Johnny Cash, The Turtles, and The Byrds all took stabs at the album’s songs, proving that there really is no side to Dylan that anyone’s opposed to – which only makes him that much more sacred.

3. Bruce Springsteen – Darkness on the Edge of Town

Follow ups can be difficult. Carving out something after an album like  Born to Run is an exercise of the mind, body, and soul – a thousand times over. Due to some legal mumbo jumbo between The Boss and his sometime manager and producer Mike Appel, Darkness on the Edge of Town arrived a long three years after its ambitious, head-turning predecessor. In that time, the band took on a different approach to writing and recording. Many of the songs were captured with the full band together, and at times immediately after Springsteen had finished writing them. Blame it on the surrounding support, but the New Jersey legend didn’t just follow up Born to Run, he delivered an LP that gave its predecessor’s title a new meaning. To this day, fans continue debating on which album is better. Springsteen certainly made it difficult for them, what with “Badlands”, “Racing in the Street”, and “Candy’s Room” to chew on. And to think, that’s hardly scratching the album’s surface, too.

2. Outkast – Stankonia

Sonically falling somewhere between raw Dixie rap and the playfulness of, say, The Pharcyde, Stankonia was Outkast’s grandest breakthrough. It also remains their most focused and ambitious effort to date. Singles “Ms. Jackson”, “B.O.B.”, and “So Fresh, So Clean” were three of the most ubiquitous radio hits of the early aughts. In addition to the cosmic, genre-bending production, this 73-minute album found Big Boi and André 3000 rhyming with unheard of charisma, versatility, and technical deftness if not from the genre, then definitely in their career. It’s arguable that this sort of breakthrough creativity cracked them – given that they’ve never truly delivered a proper, concrete follow up that didn’t feel like a solo-album-titled-something-else – yet nevertheless their influence here is paramount. History schmistory, Stankonia is the sound of rap realizing its creative potential. Break!

1. The Replacements – Tim

Tim was The Mats’ major-label debut, and also their most frenetic, at least structurally-speaking. It would be the last album fans would hear from the original line up, as lead guitarist Bob Stinson would be kicked out the following year. And while that happened following the album’s release, those sort of “bad vibes”, if you will, carried onto the album. But it didn’t stunt it. In fact, it made for a better LP, especially one to follow up the group’s diamond LP, 1984′s Let It Be. There are two angst-ridden anthems (“Left of the Dial”, “Bastards of Young”), two drunken shakedowns (“I’ll Buy”, “Dose of Thunder”), two cynical portraits of one’s heart on a sleeve (“Hold My Life”, “Kiss Me on the Bus”), two lonely melodies (“Swingin’ Party”, “Little Mascara”), one mandatory road-rock crooner (“Lay It Down Clown”), one “You bastard!” inclusion (“Waitress in the Sky”), and one final goodbye (“Here Comes a Regular”). Similar to how early Hold Steady records sound to our generation today, Tim acts a framed portait of the band at play. It just probably could have benefited from some less-than-tidier production, and yeah, this album’s version of “Can’t Hardly Wait” is still the best.

Four Strings: Four Unbelievable Bass Solos

By: Winston Robbins

4. Rush – “YYZ”

When you write a song without any lyrics and still get stadiums full of people to sing along with you, that’s usually a pretty good indicator that you’ve written quite a piece of music. Geddy Lee’s bass extravaganza on “YYZ” is nothing short of awe-inspiring. The man shreds with such speed it’s nearly impossible for your ears to keep up. Unless you know Morse code, that is.

3. Led Zeppelin – “The Lemon Song”

Here’s how good John Paul Jones is at plucking the bass: We literally could have chosen any one of three dozen songs and made a well-founded argument as to why it’s his best. But we went with “The Lemon Song”, because, well, have you heard it? It’s a song completely surrounded by Jones’ mind-numbing bass. Heaps of adoration are given to Bonham, Plant, and Page, deservedly so, but Jones was the unsung hero of Led Zeppelin. See: the last minute of this song where he goes out of his mind shredding up and down that fretboard.

2. Metallica – “Anesthesia (Pulling Teeth)”

Cliff Burton was an active member of Metallica for only four years due to his tragic and untimely death, but his legacy is long from forgotten because of early pieces such as this. Burton was as talented a bassist as rock and roll has ever seen, and “(Anesthesia) Pulling Teeth”, was written for the express purpose of showcasing that fact.

1. The Beatles – “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)”

Paul McCartney is all too often overlooked when it comes to fundamentally great bassists. “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)” is a reminder of why that shouldn’t ever happen. In essence, the song is just eight minutes of Macca doing whatever the hell he wants on his bass while the song goes on behind him, and never does it once fall anything short of superb.

Four Best Performances at the Big Four Festivals

By: Harley Brown

Coachella

Daft Punk (2006) – It’s Daft Punk, come on. This appearance marked their first performance on American soil in almost 10 years, and the French duo proved that they’re more than Human After All (I couldn’t help myself, I’m still dehydrated from dancing to “Around the World”). But seriously, no encore?

Rage Against the Machine (2007) – The year before Bush was ousted in a legendary election, Rage Against the Machine reunited at Coachella for the first time since the festival’s beginning in 1999. Frontman Zach de la Rocha proclaimed that the current political environment needed them, and boy, were they right.

Roger Waters (2008) – Pink Floyd’s founding member played Dark Side Of the Moon in its entirety. ‘Nuff said. (Well, it should probably also be said that he performed other Floyd hits like “Mother”, “Shine On You Crazy Diamond”, and “Wish You Were Here” with the aid of a giant, Democratic inflatable pig and a dazzling pyrotechnic display.)

Paul McCartney (2009) – Participants in 2009’s Coachella were encouraged to “take comfort in knowing… there’s a Beatle here.” And when you can’t have the whole band, Paul McCartney proved himself a more than acceptable, sporting substitute, playing a handful of Beatles songs and more than a few encores.

Bonnaroo

Photo by Max Blau

Neil Young (2003) – Almost 70 years old, Neil Young proved he’s still more than willing and able to rock the free worlds of 80,000 people in the middle of a hot-as-expletive Tennessee summer under a full moon, playing half-hour versions of hits like “Cinnamon Girl” and “Cortez the Killer” for three hours.

Radiohead (2006) –  Radiohead probably could have stopped after the opening drum rolls of “There There (The Boney King Of Nowhere)” and still have put on one of the best, if not the best, shows I’ve ever seen. You just had to be there (there).

My Morning Jacket (2008) – “It feels awesome to be bathed in beautiful golden rain.” Well-said, Jim James. Bonnaroo stalwarts My Morning Jacket played for four hours in intermittent rain in the wee hours of the morning, making up for the wet, late set with an Erykah Badu cover and a guest appearance by Zach Galifianakis.

Phish (2009) – This one’s a toss-up between their official set with Bruce Springsteen and their late-night jam session. Never-ending experiential music arguments aside, Phish’s reunion, after years of solo appearances at Bonnaroo by Trey Anastasio and other members, warranted both outstanding sets.

Lollapalooza

Photo by Ashley Garmon

Pearl Jam (1992) – It’s almost cliché how Pearl Jam is the quintessential band to see live: helping avoid Lolla’s sophomore slump, Pearl Jam’s band members smashed guitars Pete-Townsend style, jumped off monitors, and stage dived. The audience got in on the action, too, jumping onstage and throwing mud.

Billy Idol (2005) – What better way to ring in Lolla’s first year in Grant Park but with Billy Idol? Even though it rained again (that’s the thing about summer thunderstorms) during Idol’s set, “Rebel Yell” managed to get everyone riled up. It’s Billy fucking Idol, baby!

Arcade Fire (2010) – Riding high after The Suburbs’ release earlier in the week, Arcade Fire was “Ready To Start” (again, it was just too easy). Their spectacular show finished with thousands of concertgoers—hell, maybe even some pedestrians – singing “Wake Up” at the top of their lungs in the streets of Chicago.

Foo Fighters (2011) – A universal CoS fave, Foo Fighters played for three hours on Saturday night at the Metro in addition to their official set the next day. Like Phish at Bonnaroo, it’s hard to pick just one as the better performance. Dave “I don’t give a fuck if it’s raining tonight!” Grohl gives it his all each and every time.

Austin City Limits

Ween (2002) - Gene and Dean Ween cemented their status as Austin City Limits perennials at the festival’s inauguration in 2002, with their always dependably weird, spectacular performance helping to keep jam bands represented at future ACL’s.

R.E.M. (2003) – With Michael Stipe’s famous words, “We’re R.E.M., and this is what we do,” the threesome proceeded to rip through two hours of hits and obscurities dedicated to Ben Harper and Johnny and June Carter Cash. With an inexplicable blue stripe painted across Stipe’s face.

Elvis Costello (2009) – Even though he had just released Secret, Profane, and Sugarcane, Elvis Costello pleasantly surprised listeners with more than a few songs from his debut My Aim Is True. And on a few songs from his newest album, Costello sang duets with country maven Patty Griffin, bowling over an audience already impressed with his warm persona and talented musicianship.

Muse (2010) – I would say Muse were brown-nosing when they declared Texas their favorite state, but after seamlessly moving from the national anthem to “Hysteria” to The Doors’ “House of the Rising Sun” as an opener, they pretty much schooled those other American bands in the ways of British arena rock.

Since I already used the phrase ‘Holy Shit…’ to begin the story about Lulu‘s album art, let’s start this one off with a good ol’ Weezy-esque WTF. Lou Reed and Metallica have fully revealed the tracklist for their forthcoming joint album and, well, it features a nineteen minute-long closer titled “Junior Dad”! Other shorter tracks include “Cheat on Me” (11:26), “Dragon” (11:08), and the sparse “Frustration” (8:33). In all, the 10-track album spans a mind-numbing 90 minutes, though, that’s still some 270 minutes less than what Wayne Coyne and co. have planned.

Pick up Lulu beginning November 1st.

Lulu Tracklist:
01. Brandenburg Gate (4:19)
02. The View (5:17)
03. Pumping Blood (7:24)
04. Mistress Dread (6:52)
05. Iced Honey (4:36)
06. Cheat On Me (11:26)
07. Frustration (8:33)
08. Little Dog (8:01)
09. Dragon (11:08)
10. Junior Dad (19:28)

Holy shit.. right above, you’ll find the cover art for Lou Reed and Metallica’s hotly anticipated joint LP, Lulu. Even if this thing sucks, at least it’ll look good in your iTunes.

Reed and Metallica have also begun to detail the tracklist for the 10-track effort. So far, five titles have been unveiled, with the remaining five to be announced through their website in the hours ahead.

Lulu hits stores in the UK on October 31st and the U.S. on November 1st.

Lulu *partial* Tracklist:
01.
02.
03. Frustration
04.
05.
06. Junior Dad
07. Little Dog
08. Mistress Dread
09. Pumping Blood
10.

Lou Reed and Metallica’s collaborative LP arrives in North America on November 1st and everywhere else the day before. Since we last spoke a mere 60 hours ago, they’ve unveiled the album’s title: the 10-track effort will be titled Lulu.

Here’s the rationale:

“Lulu” was inspired by German expressionist writer Frank Wededkind’s plays “Earth Spirit” and “Pandora’s Box,” which tell a story of a young abused dancer’s life and relationships and are now collectively known as the “Lulu Plays.” Since their publication in the early 1900′s, the plays have been the inspiration for a silent film (“Pandora’s Box,” 1929), an opera, and countless other creative endeavors. Originally the lyrics and musical landscape were sketched out by Lou for a theatrical production in Berlin, but after coming together with the ‘Tallica boys for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame concerts in New York in 2009 all guilty parties knew they wanted to make more music together. Lou was inspired enough by that performance to recently ask the band to join him in taking his theatrical “Lulu” piece to the next level and so starting in early May of this year we were all camped out recording at HQ studios in Northern California, bringing us to today and ten complete songs.”

This week alone has seen a track from Matt & Kim, Soulja Boy, and Andrew WK and Kasabian’s LL Cool J-featuring remix, but when it comes to 2011 collaborations, not much else is more anticipated than Metallica and Lou Reed’s joint LP. Now, we can finally begin to count down to the release date: the as yet titled LP will be released in North America on November 1st (and everywhere else on October 31st.)

As previously reported, Metallica’s partnership with Reed came to fruition following their performance together at the 25th Anniversary of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame back in 2009. Reed composed the record’s 10 songs, while Metallica made “significant arrangement contributions.” Tracks include a 7-minute opener called “Pumping Blood” and “Mistress Dread”.

Reed is already calling it “the best thing done by anyone, ever.” Strong words from the dude behind “European Son”. So, get ready.

Given his reputation as somewhat of an alcoholic, Strokes frontman Julian Casablancas was an appropriate choice to sing “Rave On” for the title alone. High-pitched and grungy guitars bolster his tragic falsetto for layers of texture, and the minor chords in the chorus tug at the listener’s heartstrings. Similarly, Cee Lo Green of “F-ck You” fame was an apt pick to sing the backhanded compliments on “(You’re So Square) Baby I Don’t Care”. He brings out the song’s sweetness with a calypso beat, but his clear tenor elucidates how, frankly, insulting the lyrics can be: “I wonder why I love you, baby/I guess that’s just because you’re so square”. Karen Elson’s ensuing version of “Crying, Waiting, Hoping” conveys the original song’s insane optimism and desperation with galloping fiddles. Even though she ostensibly recorded this song before her celebrated divorce from Jack White, that fact adds irony that probably never crossed Holly’s aching heart.

His songs almost always address a girl he wants but can’t have; so whenever female vocalists sing Buddy Holly, their versions respond to him. Jenny O. challenges Holly’s futile quest for affection with her sugary “I’m Gonna Love You Too”. By changing the gender in the song—“After all, another girl took you up” instead of “guy”—she wonders if he truly, madly, deeply wants to be with her or if she’s just another song title. Florence and the Machine twists that same sentiment on “Not Fade Away”: Her sexy, borderline sinister voice coaxes, “I’m gonna tell you how it’s gonna be/You’re going to give your love to me.” Backed by tubas and mechanical drum taps, Florence’s version is meaty and compelling (I’m more inclined to listen to her telling me what to do than Buddy Holly). On the more innocent “Everyday”, Jon Brion and Fiona Apple sing the only duet on the album. Their complementary voices mitigate the longing behind the album’s boys versus girls theme. The xylophone and handclaps in the background give one of Holly’s most popular songs a new, almost nursery-rhyme quality.

And let’s not leave the male vocalists out. Kid Rock’s soulful vocals on “Well All Right”, backed by Motown-worthy horns and bass, reminds the listener why Buddy Holly’s music famously won over an all-black audience at the Apollo Theater in the 1950′s. My Morning Jacket’s Jim James trades his full-throated yowl for a sweet warble on “True Love Ways” and Graham Nash takes depression to new heights on “Raining In My Heart”. Both artists eschew contemporary instrumental arrangements for, respectively, romantic 1940’s violins and piano chords that belong in a Nora Ephron montage. All the musicians on Rave On Buddy Holly run such a gamut that it’s hard to dispute Buddy Holly’s continuously far-reaching influence in music. At the same time, if these songs weren’t on a covers album, it would be easy to mistake them for a Lou Reed original or an old Modest Mouse track. Whether that speaks more for Holly’s talent as a lasting songwriter or these artists’ ability to contemporize classic pop will remain unknown. Until the Lou Reed covers album, of course.

(Finally, I can use this link!)

Announcing the news, Metallica explained that their partnership with Reed came to fruition following their performance together at the 25th Anniversary of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame back in 2009. “In what would be lightning speed for a Metallica related project, we recorded ten songs,” the band writes, “and while at this moment we’re not exactly sure when you’ll hear it, we’re beyond excited to share with you that the recording sessions wrapped up last week.”

Rolling Stone has additional details on the currently untitled effort, which is said to be “90% finished.” Reed composed the record’s 10 songs, while Metallica made “significant arrangement contributions.” Tracks include a 7-minute opener called “Pumping Blood” and “Mistress Dread”.

As of now, there is no confirmed release date, but Rolling Stone reports that both Reed and Metallica are currently without record contracts. “We are free to go wherever,” Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich explained. “I’m obviously psyched for people to hear this, in whatever way we feel is right.”

While we wait for more details, revisit Metallica and Reed’s aforementioned on-stage collaboration at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the video below. And just for kicks, let’s do it again.

The 188-page hardcover book, done as a collaboration with Italian illustrator Lorenzo Mattotti, will add another layer to Reed’s reworking of Edgar Allan Poe’s words by giving the songs “vivid, abstracted and enigmatic paintings.” The collection is due for release July 13th and you can can pre-order it at fantagraphics.com.

Along with the two new releases, Reed is also scheduled to embark on a European tour starting July 2nd. Find the complete itinerary below.

Lou Reed 2011 Tour Dates
07/02 – Paddock Wood, UK @ Hop Farm Music Festival
07/04 – London, UK @ HMV Hammersmith Apollo
07/05 – Paris, FR @ Le Grand Rex
07/08 – Milan, IT @ Arena Civica
07/10 – Pistoia, IT @ Piazza Duomo
07/16 – Lecce, IT @ Italia Wave Love Festival
07/17 – Carhaix, FR @ Les Vieilles Charrues Festival
07/18 – Taormina, IT @ Greek Theatre
07/20 – Pescara, IT @ International Jazz Festival
07/22 – Gardone Riviera, IT @ Nuovo Festival Del Vittoriale
07/23 – Solgliano Al Rubicone, IT @ Piazza Matteotti
07/25 – Rome, IT @ Luglio Suona Bene, Parco della Musica Cavea
07/26 – Lyon, FR @ Les Nuits de Fourviere Festival

Image by Robert Leslie

On August 9th, 2009, Lou Reed took to Lollapalooza’s Budweiser Stage and worked a set that began with Velvet Underground’s legendary “Sweet Jane” and closed with his own fan-favorite “Walk on the Wild Side”. Thanks to the power of YouTube, fans already have no problem accessing live footage (check out both of the previously mentioned tracks below). But, this July, Reed will commemorate the 8-song performance with the worldwide release of a live DVD.

While no an exact release date is still forthcoming, the release will coincide with a new round of European dates. After playing Hop Farm Fest on July 2nd and headlining London’s Hammersmith Apollo on the 4th, Reed will continue the tour throughout France and Italy. The entire list of dates can be found below

“Sweet Jane”

“Walk on the Wild Side”

Lou Reed 2011 Tour Dates
07/02 – Paddock Wood, UK @ Hop Farm Music Festival
07/04 – London, UK @ HMV Hammersmith Apollo
07/05 – Paris, FR @ Le Grand Rex
07/08 – Milan, IT @ Arena Civica
07/10 – Pistoia, IT @ Piazza Duomo
07/16 – Lecce, IT @ Italia Wave Love Festival
07/17 – Carhaix, FR @ Les Vieilles Charrues Festival
07/18 – Taormina, IT @ Greek Theatre
07/20 – Pescara, IT @ International Jazz Festival
07/22 – Gardone Riviera, IT @ Nuovo Festival Del Vittoriale
07/23 – Solgliano Al Rubicone, IT @ Piazza Matteotti
07/25 – Rome, IT @ Luglio Suona Bene, Parco della Musica Cavea
07/26 – Lyon, FR @ Les Nuits de Fourviere Festival