am/fm

By Hal Bienstock
Special to amNewYork
• Twisted Sister is at Nokia Theater Times Square Fri-Sat, 7:30pm, $40-$140.

In the 1980s, Twisted Sister was considered a threat to America’s children. Singer Dee Snider was even called before Congress to testify at hearings into sex, drugs and violence in song lyrics. Twenty-five years later, Snider has taken his place alongside people like Bing Crosby and Jim Nabors by recording Christmas music.

Snider says he originally had the idea of recording heavy metal versions of Christmas songs nearly 20 years ago, but never got around to it. While trying to figure out what to do after the band’s 2003 reunion tour, he finally decided to give it a shot.

“A lot of people said ‘You can’t do that, it’ll kill your career,’” Snider remembered. “I said, ‘What career? We’re not on the radio. We don’t make new records.’ It turned out to be the best-selling thing we’ve done since the ’80s.”

More after the jump.

Continue reading "Twisted Sister takes on Christmas" »

By Ed Condran
Special to amNewYork
• Michael Bublé appears Friday at Madison Square Garden. $67-$120. 8pm.

Michael Bublé appears to be the epitome of cool. The successful Canadian crooner, who will perform Friday at Madison Square Garden, has the looks, the pipes and even a sense of humor.

The suave entertainer, however, recently admitted that he was terrified while making “Call Me Irresponsible,” his follow up to his mega-platinum breakthrough disc, 2005’s “It’s Time.”

amNewYork spoke to the candid Bublé about his music career.

Continue reading "Michael Bublé happily crooning" »

By eh

I saw this commercial several times this weekend, and was very struck by the jingle (we'll leave aside the fact that this product is a Polly Pocket rip; this isn't a toy blog). It's obviously an original jingle, with a heavy Latin influence. But it actually reminded me a lot of Manu Chao's "Me gustas tu" (below). I thought it was really interesting. And I don't think that jingle is ever going to leave my head.

By eh

Recently on Stereogum, the music blog has started running a twice-a-week feature called Progress Report where they catch up on bands we used to love.

Some of them are a little more obscure than others; Andrew Bird has been releasing albums pretty steadily for the past few years, so its not shocking (but not unwelcome!) to hear that his next album, "Noble Beasts," is out in Jan. Whereas The Boy Least Likely To ... made a big splash in 2005 and then all but disappeared after their tour (their new album is due in March).

But it's a pretty cool feature. I only wish that I had thought of it first.

By eh

Imeem is sponsoring a contest in which you! could win a date with a member of Pavement to go shopping at IKEA. The prize includes a $500 shopping spree and a Swedish Meatball lunch. The contest closes Dec. 6, and the winner is announced Dec. 9.

Why the heck not?

By Hal Bienstock
Special to amNewYork
• Gang Gang Dance is at Music Hall of Williamsburg Friday, 9 p.m., $15
• They play Santos Party House Saturday, 11 p.m., $15 adv/$18 day of show

Like many seemingly overnight sensations, Gang Gang Dance have spent the better part of a decade creating their unique soundscapes that encompass techno, hip-hop, punk, dance, world music and more. Yet it wasn’t until this year that the Manhattan-based band began to get the attention afforded to fellow musicians living across the river in Williamsburg.

The fact that Gang Gang’s latest album, "Saint Dymphna," is its poppiest to date is a big reason why. But rather than a new direction, the band members see it as a culmination of a process that began in 2002 when their friend and collaborator Nathan Maddox was struck by lightning and killed while watching a storm on the roof of his apartment building.

“We first got serious when Nathan passed away,” said singer Lizzie Bougatsos. “We felt like everything we were doing was a homage to him and that spreading his message was an important job of ours.”

More after the jump.

Continue reading "Gang Gang Dance" »

By eh

Recently, the Rough Guides book "The Best Music You've Never Heard" came across my desk. To a music geek, that sure sounds like a challenge.

I wondered how obscure these treasures really were. On a quick flip through the book, there were definitely bands I recognize, some of whom were already my favorites. But there were also bands, that true to the title, I had never heard of.

But music is part of my job, and I'd been kind of a geek for free before that. I wondered what the average person would make of this book. So I rounded up a few of my friends and tested them on 20 bands chosen at random. The results, in spreadsheet form, here.

Everyone, from casual listeners to music journalists, had heard of someone. No one had heard of all of them.

Some more analysis after the jump.

(Also, apologies to Scott R., Adam U.; I had your answers, and then my email ate them. Groupwise!)

Continue reading ""The Best Music You've Never Heard"?" »

By eh

You didn't even know you were missing them, but electronic ravers The Prodigy are releasing their fifth studio album, "Invaders Must Die" ... March 3rd.

But starting tomorrow (7:30pm U.K. time, 2:30pm EST), for one week they're giving away the title track on their home page. Get excited.

By Scott A. Rosenberg
• “The Pitchfork 500” release party is at The Gutter Bar Wednesday. 9pm.

Forget Rolling Stone, Spin and any other music publication. When it comes to music writing these days, it’s the Web site PitchforkMedia.com that sets the standard today.

The site, which has been known to jump-start a music career with a 9.2 rating out of 10.0 (Broken Social Scene’s “You Forget It In People”) and slaughter musicians hopes with a 0.0 stab (Travis Morrison’s “Travistan”), has taken its online dominance to the printed page with its new book, “The Pitchfork 500: Our Guide to the Greatest Songs From Punk to the Present” edited by current Pitchfork editor Scott Plagenhoef and the site’s creator, Ryan Schreiber.

Continue reading "Pitchfork picks it's top 500 singles since 1977" »

By Scott A. Rosenberg

Shuffle down a little bit on the blog here and you'll find an interview with Miles Zuniga of Fastball, who's performing at Bowery Ballroom on Tuesday night.

I jumped on to YouTube to grab a video of the band's infectious single "The Way," and the related videos section was like a cross section of my high school years where, I loathe to admit, I was a slave to the radio.

After the jump, you can experience what I was going through in the mid- to late-'90s with a video retrospective I call "Songs I can Sing in Karaoke Without Looking at the Words That I Don't Want Anyone to Know About."

OK, in all fairness, I actually still like some of these songs, but do people really need to know that I'm very familiar with Verve Pipe's "The Freshman"?

Continue reading "I unfortunately have been reminded of the nineties" »

By Charles Devilbiss
Special to amNewYork
• Castanets are at Union Hall Wednesday. 7pm, $10

Ray Raposa, the creative magus behind Castanets, recorded “City of Refuge” all by his lonesome in an Overton, Nev., motel room, holed up with nothing but his thoughts to keep him company.

“It was very helpful to have a concrete lack of distractions,” Raposa says regarding the solitude of the Western town. “I didn’t have a vehicle or a means of getting out of the five-block radius, so there was just very little else to focus on.”

Continue reading "Castanets find "Refuge" through music" »

By Ed Condran
Special to amNewYork
• Fastball is at Bowery Ballroom Tuesday. 8pm, $15.

Trends in rock can change faster than Sarah Palin’s popularity.

A decade ago, power-pop bands, such as Fastball and Semisonic, enjoyed a brief period of success. The former rose out of oblivion when its ultra-catchy “The Way” reached the Top Five of Billboard’s pop chart.

Continue reading "Fastball still knows how to find "The Way"" »

By eh

Thanksgiving is Thursday, which means it's time to start looking ahead to Christmas. Black Friday is the traditional day when radio stations switch to an all Christmas format, so the assault is coming soon.

ASCAP today has released their top 25 most performed in the past five years, and if trends hold, this is what we can expect to hear a lot of in the next month. (Listen to the full list here.)

1. Winter Wonderland
Written by: Felix Bernard, Richard B. Smith
Performed by: Eurythmics

2. The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)
Written by: Mel Tormé, Robert Wells
Performed by: Nat "King" Cole

3. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
Written by: Ralph Blane, Hugh Martin
Performed by: The Pretenders

4. Sleigh Ride
Written by: Leroy Anderson, Mitchell Parish
Performed by: The Ronettes

5. Santa Claus Is Coming To Town
Written by: Fred Coots, Haven Gillespie
Performed by: Frank Sinatra

The rest after the jump.

Continue reading "ASCAP's top 25 for Christmas" »

By eh

Imeem has the lock on these advance releases. It was Kanye's CD last week, and today they have Britney Spears' "Circus," which is due in stores Dec. 2.

I'm still listening to the album, but so far, "Womanizer" sounds a little sped up from the leaked version and the video.

By eh

Today's the day, people. "Chinese Democracy" is out, and Dr. Pepper is giving away free sodas. Apparently, in this economic climate, people really like free, as the Dr. Pepper website was down for part of the day. But you can claim your coupon now at the above link (by 6pm, hurray!).