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20060428

Neil Young | Living With War
Everyone in the Rhapsody office is quite excited to bring the world early streaming access to Neil Young's explosive new album, Living with War. Young recorded this record in just 2 weeks, and every song is a timely diatribe about the war in Iraq and the current bungling administration. The music is classic stripped down Neil, augmented with a trumpet or a choir on certain songs. The lyrics are powerful, chanting "don't need no more lies!" and explicitly asking America to get rid of our blunderful commander-in-chief on the anthemic "Let's Impeach The President."
Let’s impeach the president for lying / And leading our country into war
Abusing all the power that we gave him / And shipping all our money out the door

He’s the man who hired all the criminals
The White House shadows who hide behind closed doors
And bend the facts to fit with their new stories
Of why we have to send our men to war

Let’s impeach the president for spying / On citizens inside their own homes
Breaking every law in the country / By tapping our computers and telephones

What if Al Qaeda blew up the levees?
Would New Orleans have been safer that way?
Sheltered by our government’s protection
Or was someone just not home that day?

Let’s impeach the president / For hijacking our religion and using it to get elected Dividing our country into colors / And still leaving black people neglected

Thank god he’s cracking down on steroids / Since he sold his old baseball team
There’s lot of people looking at big trouble / But of course the president is clean
Please listen closely to Dubya's own statements, the clips on that song and pass this Rhaplink around. Neil goes further than to just bitch, he begs for some American to rise up and lead on "Looking for a Leader," referencing Barack Obama or Colin Powell, "to right what he's done wrong." I'm with Neil when he says "I join the multitudes/I raise my hand in peace/I never bow to the laws of the thought police." If an album like this does not help our generation wake up and do something about the direction of this country, we sit idly by and watch the empire crumble while we fight to spread "democracy" in a desert I never want to visit. - TK

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20060427

The Go! Team | Thunder, Lightening, Strike
I've been shuffling over this band in my Creative Zen "play all" for a few months now. Today, however, The Go! Team has made the finals and I have been won over. Ironically, I hit this new favorite jackpot 24 hours too late and missed their performance at the Great American last night. Please tell me that the sold-out crowd danced to this music; standing still for The Go! Team would be like falling asleep at the homecoming football game. The album Thunder, Lightening, Strike is fun, bouncy, triumphant and exciting with each song reminiscent of youthful sunny days, bike rides, soccer games, roller skating parties and early 80's theme songs. Check out the track, "Bottle Rocket"- its a bit groovy, a bit catchy and totally J.J. Fad meets Hawaii 5-0. Track titles such as "Friendship Update" and "Everyone's a VIP to Someone" warm my social worker, camp counselor, best friend-loving heart and the songs themselves are worthy of blasting in the car with the windows down on a sunny afternoon's drive. This album is celebratory and cheerful while also tough and a little obnoxious; this is music that will bring out the Sporty Spice in all of us. Next chance I get to experience them live, I'm throwing on my Kangaroos and cheering for The Go! Team. - Julie B.

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20060423

The Real Tuesday Weld | The Return Of The Clerkenwell Kid
(Today, we are featuring my mom's first blog! - TK)
The Real Tuesday Weld (aka Stephen Coates) is a Brit who named himself after the 1950’s actress. He’s combined music from 1930's with ambient electronic sounds. This blend is dark, romantic, whimsical and lyrical. This is a catchy album, many of the tracks keep creeping into my consciousness throughout the day. I have several favorite tracks, but "I Love the Rain" will give you an idea of his style. Let me know what you think! - Francine
(me mum's email is Fran at kartzman dot com if you want to tell her how much you liked the record and how impressed you are that she's an indie rocker at 60 ;-)

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20060420

Apollo Sunshine | Katonah
Holy Smokes. Apollo Sunshine's Katonah finally sunk in today for the first time after about 3 listens. It finally connected in that way that makes you wonder, "what the hell was I hearing before" and "how is this not the biggest band in the 'semi-popular music' world right now". The album has so much of what I love in music. The quirky beauty of the best baroque pop (a la The Flaming Lips), harmonies that remind me of Queen, complexity and technical proficiency used in a tasteful way that ADDS to the music (a la Frank Zappa), and emotive vocals and catchy hooks (a la Ben Folds), all with an underlying Beatles influence throughout. All of this wrapped up into one tight trio (now a quartet). And usually all within the same song. Some of the highlights on the album include: Anyways, like I said, this album honestly took about 3 listens for me to totally fall head over heels in love with it. If any or all of these influences sound good to you though, give this album a shot as it will likely do the same to you. - G$H

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20060418

The Drive-By Truckers | A Blessing And A Curse
There is an air of positivity to this record, which is the Drive-By Truckers' seventh LP already. From the get go of "Feb. 14", Patterson Hood asks to "be my valentine" and at the end, Hood admits learning "that maybe I should find a way to make this world work out for me" on "A World Of Hurt." This record is clear and concise, they say everything they need to in 2006 on 11 tracks, under 50 minutes. The three axes of DBT are definitely more of a blessing than a curse. -TK
One Track Recommendation: Easy on Yourself"

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20060417

Bob Marley | Live in In Gabon, Africa (1980)
Today, another 6 live albums by the Legend of Legend went live in Rhapsody. That takes Bob's total entries on Rhapsody over the 100 mark, this natty legend appears on 104 albums in the Rhapsody system at this point. These new shows are not the most top-quality soundboard ever, but they are live and raw and you can chant down babylon via the internet.
Check 'em out mon:
  • Live In Connecticut
  • Live in In Gabon, Africa (1980)
  • At The Apollo, NYC (1979)
  • Rastaman Vibration Tour, Philadelphia (1975)
  • Live in Portland, OR (1978)
  • Also, a new trick, when you want to start streaming any Rhapsody artist through web-based Rhapsody, just type in this style of URL: http://play.rhapsody.com/bobmarley.
    It's easy skankin' from here on in... andit works for any artist, try it! - TK

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    20060413

    The Black Angels | Passover
    It's passover and I'm working, the least I could do is blog about Passover. So I will. The Black Angels hail from Seattle, they have a hot blonde chick playing drums like it's a death march, and probably the coolest looking album cover I've seen all year. About the music, well, it is nothing short of hard and rocking, in a neo-psychedelic-garage-rock kinda way. Get your brain into the chanting, droned-out lyrics and you'll see it goes even deeper. Starting out with "Young Men Dead," this band does not let you forget the world is not a place, and your fucking government thinks it's a good idea to invade other countries when we've got abject poverty, debt, hunger and our own shitstorm at home.

    Oh wait, isn't that what Passover is all about? Realizing that although we are free men now, there are others in this world who are enslaved? Saying "next year in Jerusalem" is more of a state of mind, a spiritual ideal, the place we *all* want to be, living in harmony with all the other peoples, not fighting religious wars definding your parents' religion. Is there not a completely obvious parallel between the jews who were enslaved in Egypt and the way some of the Iraqis live right now next door? Is there a religious jew around that can make a case for this war on this holiday? Thanks, Black Angels, for reminding me what it's all about.

    On the bright side, I saw that IODA's Promonet has a free MP3 of "Bloodhounds On My Trail," that link should work for you if you still listen to MP3. Either way, think about it for a second, and let this album be a Call to Arms (the song is about a mother who receives a telegram letting her know that her son was just killed fighting in Iraq, The Black Angels are asking you to wake up, wake up, and do something about your government before we are all dragged off to hell. Heavy, but someone's got to talk sense to America. - TK

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    20060411

    Built to Spill | You in Reverse
    I would rather wait five years from one of my favorite bands to get a masterpiece than have schlock delivered just to get a product out the door. Chalk up another ten reasons to love and respect Doug Martsch and Built to Spill. You in Reverse is wonderfully underproduced swirling guitar rock from start "Goin' Against Your Mind" to finish ("The Wait"). "Conventional Wisdom" is easily one of the catchiest songs I've heard since "Carry the Zero." As Michelle K-Tel eloquently wrote, "The track ('Conventional Wisdom') is so crisscrossed with guitar solos that it evolves into a mighty indie jam that approximates a modern day "Layla". Don't hesitate, listen now...and later. - TK

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    20060408

    Hotel Lights | Hotel Lights
    Set Hotel Lights frontman Darren Jessee's past as drummer with the Ben Folds Five to one side for a moment and tune into this dreamy, ever-so-slightly world weary set of songs seemingly tailor-made to raise a rueful smirk amid moments of mundane collegiate angst (perhaps best summed up in "Small Town Sh*t"). HL has a bit of a World Party feel to it as well. - Jamie Dolling

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    20060405

    Umphrey's McGee | Safety In Numbers
    Always musically proficient, this CD proves that Umphrey's McGee can sound full of spontaneous vigor whether recording songs contained in three-minute doses or jamming for more than a half hour on stage. Their third studio release (of the Cinninger era) features special guest performances from Huey Lewis (sharing his harmonica blues on "Women, Wine and Song") and neo-bop saxophonist Joshua Redman. - Michele K-Tel

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    20060404

    Flaming Lips | At War With The Mystics
    More heartfelt flamboyance from the consistently weird, constantly brilliant Flaming Lips. As usual, they disguise mind-blowing observations with seemingly simple lyrics, then hide those inside odd orchestras of electric strings, thumping drums, heavenly voices, things that go bzzzzt, and anything else that happens to be lying around. Prepare to be moved. - Tim Quirk

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