z_News - Music

Glen Hansard announces solo album

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 14:40:00 GMT

Oscar-winner Glen Hansard announced the release of his first solo album, "Rhythm and Repose," on June 19. Hansard's currently enjoying success on Broadway where his songs from the indie hit "Once" make up a reconfiguration of the movie for the stage. We haven't heard from Hansard on record since 2009's "Strict Joy" with The Swell Season.

His Swell Season partner Marketa Irglova makes an appearance on the album that will feature the never-released fan favorite, "Races." A holdover from Hansard's original band, The Frames, the song has popped up at shows over the years.

Here is the full track listing:

1. You Will Become
2. Maybe Not Tonight
3. Talking with The Wolves
4. High Hope
5. Bird of Sorrow
6. The Storm, It's Coming
7. Love Don't Leave Me Waiting
8. What Are We Gonna Do
9. Races
10. Philander
11. Song of Good Hope

Hansard previewed songs during a showcase in Austin for the SXSW festival. Listen to the session HERE.

What is this 'Zoo Be Zoo Be Zoo' song all about?

Mon, 26 Mar 2012 14:44:00 GMT

After 17 months away, AMC’s “Mad Men” returned Sunday with Joan stranded on maternity-leave island, Peggy concerned by Don’s new found happiness, Roger resting on his laurels, Pete jockeying for prime office real estate and Don adjusting to remarried life.

Nothing really happened in the two-hour premiere and yet everything happened. Read Sarah J’s blog for a recap of the episode. This post is focused on the music. Megan serenaded Don as a sexy, if public, birthday present with “Zoo Be Zoo Be Zoo.” Vulture’s got the history of the tune. Sophia Loren sung the original in English, while Megan’s peek-a-boo rendition used Gillian Hill’s 1961 performance of “Zou Bisou Bisou” as inspiration.

If you can’t get the sultry song out of your head, AMC is selling Megan’s version on iTunes and on limited edition vinyl. Oui!

Lana Del Rey debuts 'Blue Jeans' video

Tue, 20 Mar 2012 14:54:00 GMT

Lana Del Rey is a bathing beauty in her video for "Blue Jeans," the latest single from her debut album, "Born To Die." The black-and-white clip finds Rey cavorting in a lavish swimming pool with a nameless tattooed hottie who morphs into an alligator at the first touch of water.

If you're looking for a colorless underwater siren without all of Rey's baggage, try Lisa Hannigan:

Ravinia 2012: Only the hits

Thu, 08 Mar 2012 17:12:00 GMT

Picnic season is on the horizon. The Ravinia Festival announced its 2012 summer schedule. The 15-week festival runs from June 7 to Sept. 9 at Ravinia Park and features an eclectic mix of classical offerings, breezy pop and a comedian-turned-banjo impresario. Tickets go on sale April 26.

Check out our best picks by month before you cook up the menu for your picnic spread and shop for the comfiest lawn chair.

June:

Iron & Wine with Dr. John

Saturday, June 10

$55-$27

One funk legend and one cooing indie rock legend in the making, both with beards that have a personality of their own.

Al Green

Friday, June 15

$60-$16

The honored reverend will turn Friday night into a hopping church revival, but not without a dose of a Joey Tribbiani-style “how you doin’? They always equate finding your soul mate to a religious experience.

Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers

Sunday, June 24

$80-$27

Don’t expect Mr. Martin to break out any of his “SNL” characters. The comedian is showing off his Grammy-winning musical chops. But, would a “King Tut” encore be too much to ask?

Glen Campbell

Thursday, June 28

$60-$27

File this under “last chance.” Campbell’s publicized battle with Alzheimer’s makes this go-around his last hurrah.

July:

Idina Menzel

Sunday, July 8

$90-$10

Expect a swarm of Gleeks and “Wicked” fans at this one and a lot of glass-breaking high notes.

Santana

Monday, July 9

$100-$38

The guitar whiz makes his Ravinia debut. Expect to shake your moneymaker.

The Blues Brothers starring Dan Aykroyd and Jim Belushi

Wednesday, July 11

$70-$27

Good for a dose of nostalgia. Remember to bring your shades.

Seal

Sunday, July 22

$80-$33

Fueled by heartache from his separation with super model wife, Heidi Klum, expect smooth-voiced Seal to up the ante.

August:

Tony Bennett

Saturday, August 18

$91-$28

It’s not summer without Mr. Bennett’s annual trek to Ravinia.

Arlo Guthrie and Mary Chapin Carpenter

Sunday, August 19

$52-$22

These folkies celebrate the 100^th birthday of the ultimate folk singer, Woody Guthrie.

Duran Duran

Wednesday, August 29

$85-$38

Save your appetite for these 80’s icons. You don’t want to be hungry like a wolf when they hit the stage.

First peek at the reshuffled E Street Band

Janine Schaults — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 16:00:00 GMT

Bruce Springsteen gave us a peek at the retooled E Street Band during a rousing performance on "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon."

What do you think? Does the brass section assauge your fears about the band post Clarence Clemons? His nephew Jake Clemons is looking good.

Davy Jones: My first love

Janine Schaults — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 00:22:00 GMT

Davy Jones was my first love and the source of my earliest memories.

Thanks to an aunt who wore her pre-teen Monkees fandom like a badge of honor well into her child-rearing days, MTV’s spat of reruns and vinyl re-issues of the band’s chart toppers, I thought that cherubic face and exotic accent was the latest teen dream. Although, I was still trying to master coloring within the lines at this point.

The Monkees came to Chicago and my aunt and uncle toddled off to see them in concert, having the nerve not to buy three tickets. Imagine my abject horror upon discovering through an overpriced souvenir program that Jones belonged to generations past. The crow’s feet surrounding his twinkling eyes looked foreign on the face I’d memorized. Simply, he was…OLD.

My mother encouraged the infatuation. She found it easier to push Jones’ impish charm than support my swelling fascination with that other paramour of my youth – Boy George. When Jim Henson’s “Labyrinth” arrived and David Bowie’s goblin king bewitched my heart, I took great comfort in the fact that Bowie changed his birth name when starting out so nobody would confuse him with the already-famous Jones. Surely fate had a hand in putting these two on my musical roadmap.

I used to scoot off into the dining room, setting up camp in the corner that housed the stereo to flip through my aunt and uncle’s record collection. I’d sit mooning over Jones’ mug on the covers of “The Monkees,” “More of The Monkees” and “Headquaters.” In these stolen moments, I didn’t listen to them, just looked. Stereo privileges came later with the onset of CDS. I lingered the longest on “Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd.” The album art made your imagination work overtime with its faceless, sketching of the band’s familiar silhouettes. But, the backside featured Jones strumming a guitar. Shirtless. How scandalous! How inexplicably alluring!

When we did play the songs, mini-movies of strapping on a cherry red electric guitar and joining the band played through my mind over and over. The sweet fantasy of standing on stage, sharing a mic with Jones while he shook his tambourine in time to my impeccable solos never materialized. Neither did the adoring crowds feeding off our insatiable chemistry or the other fellas (Peter Tork, Mike Nesmith and Mickey Dolenz) handing out congrats on a job well done. These flights of fancy all took place before countless lessons rendered the ugly truth: my hands only work in conjunction with one another when typing.

In fourth grade, my mother offered up a choice: see Davy Jones live or attend a performance of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Phantom of the Opera” on its first national tour. She was probably gauging my commitment to the musical before paying the steep ticket prices. I chose the masked man figuring Jones would return. And he did. Countless times. But, I always had some other obligation and with news of his death at 66 from a heart attack, I regret missing the chance to see him in person.

Vampire Weekend to play Pitchfork Music Fest

Janine Schaults — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 17:18:00 GMT

Pitchfork announced the initial lineup for its annual summer festival. I'm sold on these acts alone (hello, Hot Chip and Vampire Weekend), but the online mag's set to reveal 30 more bands.

On the bill so far:

- Vampire Weekend
- Feist
- Godspeed You! Black Emperor
- Hot Chip
- AraabMUZIK
- A$AP Rocky
- The Field
- Schoolboy Q
- Kendrick Lamar
- Grimes
- Cloud Nothings
- Tim Hecker
- Willis Earl Beal

The Pitchfork Music Festival will take place on July 13 to 15 in Chicago's Union Park. Tickets go onsale March 9 at noon. Single day tickets are $45 with three-day passes going for $110.

Degrassi stars sit down for a chat

Janine Schaults — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 20:32:00 GMT

"Degrassi" kicked off a new batch of episodes on Monday. Did you tune in to the drama on TeenNick?

I sat down with the stars of the long-running show (Jahmil French, (Luke Bilyk, Aislinn Paul and Melinda Shankar)

Listen to the full interview below:

Karl Denson's got the moves like Jagger

Janine Schaults — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 01:41:00 GMT

Karl Denson proves on his latest project that he's got the rock 'n' roll swagger of a certain Mick Jagger. Sure, it might seem like a stretch for the hulking sax man to prance around like a peacock, but something about the music of the Rolling Stones makes your body do naughty things. Denson's on the road with his band, the Tiny Universe, playing the Stones' seminal 1971 album "Sticky Fingers" in its entirety. He's stopping in Chicago on Friday at the Park West.

Take a listen to my full conversation with the funkmaster below, where he shares how Jethro Tull was his first choice when deciding on which album to interpret.

Here's a jam-heavy sample of what to expect at Friday's show:

Andy Warhol conceptualized the cover art for "Sticky Fingers" with a working zipper. If only Denson's reimagining was as interactive.

Adele sweeps the Grammys and other observations

Janine Schaults — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 08:02:00 GMT

The memory of Whitney Houston hung over the 54^th Annual Grammy Awards, but the night belonged to Adele. The 23-year-old ended the telecast six for six. Most importantly she nabbed the Big Three: Song and Record of the year for “Rolling in the Deep” and Album of the year for her second release, “21.”

She turned in a transcendent performance of “Rolling in the Deep” her first public outing since undergoing vocal cord surgery. When she executed that chilling rendition of “Someone Like You” at the MTV Video Music Awards, she seemed nervous and a bit timid about the song and her gift. Not tonight. She owned that stage:

Chicago’s own Jennifer Hudson tip-toed between sorrow and gratitude on a shortened version of “I Will Always Love You.”

Worst Performance: Nicki Minaj didn’t know if she was crashing Sunday mass or auditioning for a part in “The Exorcist” with “Roman Holiday.” You can pull out all the crazy stops, but if the song falls flat, you just look foolish. The chorus sounded like a cockney outtake from “My Fair Lady” and the inclusion of “I Feel Pretty” from “West Side Story” and “O Come All Ye Faithful” didn’t make any sense. The whole thing seemed like a lost scene from the 1986 Sean Connery flick, "The Name of the Rose."

Best Jam: Paul McCartney traded guitar licks with Bruce Springsteen, Jeff Beck, Joe Walsh and Dave Grohl. It was worth the three-plus hour wait.

Best Surprise: Searing duo The Civil Wars got 60 seconds to show the world why they picked up two statuettes (one for Best Folk Album and the other for Best Country Duo/Group Performance) before ceding the stage to country princess Taylor Swift. As much as I enjoy watching Swift’s theatrical shenanigans, her vocal shortcomings were only amplified following even a snippet of Joy Williams and John Paul White’s “Barton Hollow.”

Worst intro: The reunited Beach Boys sounded as sweet as ever, but Ryan Seacrest's intro made the three-song medley (including appearances by Maroon 5 and Foster for the People) seem like part of a Time Life infomercial.

Best victory lap: Glen Campbell, who is packing it on after this tour because of an Alzheimer’s diagnosis, smiled his way through “Rhinestone Cowboy.” Not all artists get to say goodbye -- case in point Whitney Houston -- which made this fond farewell potent.

Worst pairing: Rihanna and Colplay. Chris Martin turned this mashup into a snooze fest. It's hard to kill the momentum brought on by Rihanna's addictive, pulsating "We Found Love." Coldplay's "Paradise" managed to do the trick. Give us "Vida la Vida." Rihanna's leather and mesh outfit screamed "Cold Hearted Snake"-era Paula Abdul.

In poor taste: Chris Brown got more air time than any other artist. He performed twice and took home the award for Best R&B album for "F.A.M.E." Folks chiming in on Twitter did not take to this fact kindly. It seems Brown's arrest three years prior for roughing up then-girlfriend Rihanna on Grammy weekend is still a sore point. Do you think he has every right to move ahead with his career and be honored for his work or he needs to stay out of the limelight in order to repair his image?

Best Midwesterner: Bon Iver's Justin Vernon won Best New Artist and took the stage looking like a nice Wisconsin boy who wore exactly what his mother laid out for him.

What did you think? Which performance was your favorite? What was your biggest upset. Let us know in the comments.

Follow me on Twitter: @jschau2