Review: Radiohead, Mary J. Blige

Review: Radiohead, Mary J. Blige

Radiohead 'In Rainbows': Aidin Vaziri | Because our Commodore 64 computer starts blowing smoke every time we attempt to download something that doesn't involve funny pictures, we reserved judgment on Radiohead's pay-what-you-want "In Rainbows" until it actually arrived in stores, for homeless people, illiterates and technologically stunted music journalists. That was a mistake. After slowly losing hope in the genre-busting British band after its past few lackluster releases (only by its own lofty standards, of course), we found that Radiohead has returned with a collection of songs that represents a beautiful reawakening. "Nude" and "House of Cards" are soulful and sweet, driven along by the starry-eyed falsetto of Thom Yorke, left, and gleefully broken melodies. "Weird Fishes/Arpeggi" is the kind of tune that makes you pull the car off the road and break down in tears. "Videotape" is a heartrending tribute to ... outdated technology. It doesn't shock the system in the same way as "OK Computer," but the fact that the album works best as a whole in an era of 99-cent downloads isn't just a testament to the daring musicians at the controls, it's also a challenge to all the other bands out there that believe they can build a career out of a couple of ringtones and Linda Perry nursery rhymes. That's priceless.

Mary J. Blige 'Growing Pains': Aidin Vaziri | With Mary J. Blige's colorful past, highlighted by cocaine abuse, deadbeat boyfriends and random violence, it's no wonder her best work is also her most personal. She delivered a one-two punch with the no-nonsense autobiographical marvels "Mary" (1999) and "No More Drama" (2001), but has since chased a less personal, more lucrative sound. On her eighth studio outing, she offers fans a compromise. Blige is still working out her issues in public, but production is king. So "Just Fine" sounds like old-school Michael Jackson as played by Daft Punk, "Hurt Again" is the grand '70s soul ballad Alicia Keys was desperately seeking on her latest album, and "Work That" isn't just a catchy iPod jingle but an earnest feminist anthem. It doesn't always work - "Smoke" gets lost in the swirl of synthetic instruments - but for the most part, the queen of hip-hop soul is back in form.

Pop Quiz: The Mars Volta

Pop Quiz: The Mars Volta

Aidin Vaziri | Most bands call Rick Rubin when they need a creative boost, but the members of the Mars Volta got help on their new album from an old Ouija board they picked up on tour in Jerusalem. When it wasn't causing floods, power outages or their longtime engineer to have a nervous breakdown, the talking board fed front man Cedric Bixler-Zavala and guitarist Omar Rodríguez-López thematic inspiration for their fourth release, "The Bedlam in Goliath," due Jan. 29. But fans can preview the band's collaboration with the psycho-spiritual force at a seven-hour New Year's Eve concert.


Omar Rodríguez-López of the Mars Volta
Q: So you hauled this Oujia board back and all hell broke loose?
A: In a manner of speaking. It was very gradual. I got two weeks of work done for the album, and all of a sudden my engineer, who I've seen more than my girlfriend in the past 15 years, says, "I'm not going to help you finish this record. I know what you're trying to do to me, and I'm not going to let you do it." He accused me of making him go crazy with my music. He said he's not going to let me affect other people with the record and that he's going to burn the drives that are storing the songs. It was complete madness.
Q: At least it will make for a fun New Year's Eve party. Right?
A: Luckily, we don't think of it that way. I'm not forcing anyone to go, but I can't imagine a better situation than playing onstage with these people on New Year's Eve.
Q: Does the new album happen to have any party jams on it?
A: It's all party jams. Actually, it's about the stories that Cedric was writing down that he was getting from the Ouija board.
Q: That doesn't sound like fun. When it's close to midnight, do you think you might play "Celebration" or "Ladies Night"?
A: Yeah, and we'll do it on roller skates.
Q: I'm going to hold you to that. Continue reading.

The 2007 Feddy Awards

The 2007 Feddy Awards

The 2007 Feddy Awards: Aidin Vaziri | When we came up with the idea to christen our annual list of dubious celebrity honors after Kevin Federline last year, we had no idea that a mere 12 months later he would come out looking like the last upstanding citizen in Hollywood. This month, Fed-Ex even made the cover of Details magazine's Power and Influence Issue, where he was named the seventh most powerful man under 45, a full six spots ahead of YouTube founders Steven Chen and Chad Hurley. As if this year wasn't already crazy enough. So before anyone else goes to rehab, gets arrested or pregnant, we give you the 2007 Feddy Awards:

BRITNEY SPEARS She shaved her head, went nuts on a paparazzo's car with an umbrella, sleepwalked through her big comeback performance on TV, lost custody of her children and fell out with her mom. Wait a minute, doesn't that resemble Anna Nicole Smith's to-do list from 2006?

LINDSAY LOHAN A relatively quiet year for Lindsay, with only three visits to rehab, two arrests and one felony charge, for which she spent exactly 84 minutes in jail. We have no complaints - anything that took attention away from "Georgia Rule" was fine by us.

PARIS HILTONShe was in jail, out of jail, back in, then out again ... in, out, in, out, in, out. So, really, this year was just like any other for Paris. Except that now that her grandfather has decided to give 97 percent of his fortune to charity, Paris may have to return to her career. Um, what is it exactly that she's qualified to do? Wait. It'll come to us. Continue reading.

Pop Quiz: Greatest Hits 2007

Pop Quiz: Greatest Hits 2007

Aidin Vaziri | Here's a look back at some of our favorite conversations from the past year.


Feist
Q: Are you posing topless on the album cover because you are using sex to sell your music?
A: Americans get right to the dirt. No, I am wearing a shirt. It was the summertime, so it's one of those shirts that just wraps around your body. Sorry to disappoint you, you sensationalist journalistic pervert.

Adam Levine of Maroon 5
Q: Are most of the songs on this album inspired by prostitutes?
A: Watch it, buddy. Be nice.
Q: Wait, you're still with this girl?
A: Yes.
Q: Oh, I'm sorry. I thought you just met her in the lobby bar of Caesars Palace and it was like, "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas."
A: Caesars Palace? Do they even have Caesars Palace anymore? Man, you're out of the Vegas loop.
Q: I know. I need to go meet some prostitutes.

Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance
Q: You recorded "The Black Parade" in a haunted house.
A: Right.
Q: You lost your girlfriend of six years.
A: Right.
Q: Your brother nearly had a mental breakdown.
A: Right.
Q: And you pretty much became homeless.
A: Yeah.
Q: Was it worth it?
A: That's a really interesting question.

Continue reading.

Live Review: Alicia Keys at Ruby Skye, 12/17/07

Live Review: Alicia Keys at Ruby Skye, 12/17/07

Alicia Keys lets fans in for a close-up but turns energy down too low: Aidin Vaziri | Flanked by a full live band and a pair of gigantic, oddly shaped trees, the Grammy-winning songwriter bound out waving her arms and twirling her hair in time with the slap-bass-heavy soundtrack. The well-lubricated audience seemed to appreciate the gesture, especially the part where she stopped the music and announced, "The whole Bay Area is one of my favorite places in the world!" Taking her place behind a stand-up keyboard, the classically trained pianist dipped into her back catalog with an eloquent reading of "A Woman's Worth," reminding the crowd why they keep giving her Grammys and Bob Dylan felt it necessary to send her a shout-out on his most recent album. All slow-motion soul with just a touch of drama, the song had everyone singing along until Keys abruptly decided to smush it into a medley that included a big chunk of "Unbreakable," an oddity from her "MTV Unplugged" album, that somehow worked its way into "Teenage Love Affair," a song from the latest release in which she mainlines the Jackson Five with just about all the required maturity: "Hey boy/ You know I really like being with you/ Just hanging out is fine/ So maybe we can go to first base." Continue reading.

Review: Smokey Robinson

Review: Smokey Robinson

Smokey Robinson 'Being With You': Aidin Vaziri | Right up front we'll tell you that watching a man in a striped velour sweater walk around a swanky beach house touching plants and playing really bad pool isn't going to improve your day - not even the bit at the end where he wanders outside and puts on his BluBlocker sunglasses. But the video for Smokey Robinson's quiet-storm masterpiece "Being With You," originally released in 1981, had to be tame by design because the song itself is such a colossal mind-bender - a bitterly defiant love letter ("I don't care about anything else/ But being with you") set to a supremely sweet backdrop of shimmering post-disco funk guitars, oceanic harmonies and a slightly sleazy saxophone solo. We dare you not to be moved. Oh, and why are we bringing this up now? Because anything is better than talking about the new Celine Dion album.

Pop Quiz: Goo Goo Dolls

Pop Quiz: Goo Goo Dolls

Aidin Vaziri | For everyone who thought we were just hearing the same Goo Goo Dolls song over and over all this time, the band has just helpfully released "Greatest Hits Volume One: The Singles." In case the title doesn't make it clear, the disc contains a dozen of the New York trio's biggest songs, many of which simply happen to be string-driven, midtempo epics with one-word titles ("Name," "Slide," "Iris"). With that cleared up, we spoke with front man Johnny Rzeznik, who is also a judge on the new Fox reality show "The Next Great American Band."


Johnny Rzeznik of the Goo Goo Dolls
Q: Coming out of the whole '80s college radio thing, did you ever feel like a sellout?
A: Absolutely. It was one of those things like, it happened and you would be an idiot not to accept it and not have gratitude for it. I got a lot of s- from friends in bands and other musicians. People would write letters saying I was a sellout. But you have to brush that off.
Q: I think the general point of starting a band is to play in front of a lot of people, not just 20 of your friends in the back of a pizza restaurant.
A: There's nothing wrong with that either. There are times I want to do a side band and just play some gigs and have fun.
Q: Maybe you'll finally get a good review.
A: I've taken a lot of crap. That's just the way life is. There are going to be writers who like you and writers who despise you. I'm getting older, so I don't really give a s-.
Q: During the past 20 years, which singer have you been mistaken for most often: Simon Le Bon or Jon Bon Jovi?
A: Jon Bon Jovi, by far. Occasionally, when people are drunk, they think I'm Simon Le Bon. But when they're sober, it's always Jon Bon Jovi.
Q: I hope you use that to your full advantage.
A: I don't, but that would be hilarious: "Don't forget my name!" Continue reading.

Review: The Killers

Review: The Killers

The Killers 'Sawdust': Aidin Vaziri | Ever wanted to hear Lou Reed sound like a stuffed barn owl reciting fifth-grade poetry? Look no further than "Tranquilize," the opening track from the Killers' new odds-and-ends collection, in which the former Velvet Underground front man trades plodding verses with an agonizingly tense Brandon Flowers. Just how far out of its depth is the eyeliner-wearing Las Vegas quartet on "Sawdust"? Well, considering the band has been together for only about five years and released two mediocre albums, the disc isn't exactly spilling over with lost treasures. Instead, a couple of genuine collectibles ("Leave the Bourbon on the Shelf," "Under the Gun") are heavily padded with pointless covers (Dire Straits' "Romeo and Juliet"), soundtrack flotsam ("Spider-Man 3's" "Move Away") and a nine-minute dance remix of "Mr. Brightside." That's right: It's all filler, no killer.