On This Day..
1967 Brian Wilson returned to performing live with The Beach Boys in Honolulu after a 2 year hiatus. The group had just released “Heroes and Villains” in the US.
1970 Elton John made his US live debut when he kicked off a 17-date tour at the Troubadour in Los Angeles. In the audience that night were Don Henley, Quincy Jones and Leon Russell. Elton’s latest single ‘Border Song’ had just debuted at number 92 on the US chart.
1981 R.E.M. appeared at The Scorpio, Charlotte, North Carolina. This show was billed as “Charlotte’s First Gay New Wave Disco and Costume Party”, with the $3 tickets benefiting various gay-lesbian charities.
R.E.M. – 1981-02-20 Atlanta from Matt King on Vimeo.
2001 American singer, actress Aaliyah was killed in a plane crash in the Bahamas aged 22. The small Cessna plane crashed a few minutes after take off killing everyone on board with exception to four passengers who were pulled from the wreckage but later died. Aaliyah had been filming a video for her latest release ‘Rock The Boat’ on the island.
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Brand New Music
Reviews by Craig Clemens and Jonathan Knox
The War on Drugs | A Deeper Understanding
This an LP that is so immaculately put together that it’s hard to find flaws. This is a shining case of Adam Granduciel creating a meticulous world of heaviness and depression to a point where the band is almost teaching a master class on widening scope and pushing musical boundaries. This is another giant step forward for the group and is their most consistent, ambitious and emotionally scarring works to date.
Vijay Iyer Sextet | Far From Over
I absolutely love to have the opportunity to review contemporary jazz albums. Unfortunately, since the rise of Michael Buble the idea of ‘mainstream’ jazz has completely changed. Rarely to you find an album full of original compositions that is as ambitious, thrilling and experimental as this one. Easily the best jazz album since Kamasi Washington’s epic from 2016, Vijay Iyer sets the bar high for pianists and jazz artists still creating new music.
Queens of the Stone Age | Villains
What do you get when one of the biggest Rock bands going, steps onto the dance floor? The answer seems to be Queens of the Stone Age’s latest release, the dance-y and very accessible Villains. Brows were admittedly raised when it was announced that Adele and Bruno Mars hit-maker, Mark Ronson would be behind the boards, though frontman Joshua Homme has openly explained his reasons and has never denied being drawn to the dance floor, so the joining of these two makes sense. Excellent riffage (“The Evil Has Landed”) as well as rockers (“Head Like a Haunted House,” “Un-Reborn Again”) remain, but as a whole, Villains is much more up-tempo than anything Queens have done before, and at only nine-tracks, is a sharp blast of tail-shaking fun.
