Solomon Burke: The King of Procreation

December 30, 2008 11:12 AM

Solomon Burke is one of the greatest singers ever. His vocal performance on "Cry To Me" is one of the single greatest recordings in history, and we can't stop listening to his 2006 disc Nashville -- it's a classic.

So for the last couple years it has been our pleasure to receive holiday cards from the King of Rock & Soul.

This year he signed, "Greetings of the Season and best wishes for a happy New Year, SOLOMON AND ALL THE KIDS."

We've never received greetings from so many.

Because, of course, Solomon Burke has TWENTY-ONE children, EIGHTY-NINE grandchildren and NINETEEN grandchildren.

Does he have to buy them all presents?

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Love As Laughter Enter the S.S.

December 30, 2008 11:02 AM

Love As Laughter, the Brooklyn band fronted by rock troubador Sam Jayne, released one of our favorite albums of 2008, Holy. We were tipped off about L.A.L. early this year, after a conversation with Isaac Brock, who signed the band to his Epic imprint, Glacial Pace, and helped produce the disc.

An we also got to see them perform a bunch of killer gigs around New York City.

We were beyond stoked when L.A.L. joined us at the S.S. headquarters to perform our favorite song from Holy, "Crosseyed Beautiful Youngunz" and their newest track, "Cats."

Enjoy.

Love As Laughter - "Crosseyed Beautiful Youngunz"

[Video: Pete Maiden, Eric Helton & Caroline Acosta]

Love As Laughter - "Cats"

[Video: Pete Maiden, Eric Helton & Caroline Acosta]

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Zooey Gibbard? (Plus the Future of She & Him)

December 30, 2008 9:49 AM

This one has totally blindsided us.

MTV is reporting that Death Cab For Cutie frontman Ben Gibbard has proposed to Zooey Deschanel -- and she accepted!

When did they start doin' it?

In August, Gibbard and Deschanel performed together at an Obama fundraiser in Denver, duetting on the Everly Brothers classic "Dream," but until now they've kept their relationship under wraps.

Congrats!

(Let us add that we miss the chubby Ben Gibbard.)

In other Deschanel news, it seems that she and M. Ward are gearing up for She & Him, Vol. II. But you'll have to wait.

"If I had to estimate, I'd say 2010," Ward told us. "Zooey and I are starting to talk about our next record and we've been doing some demos. We've been trying out some new songs when we did a few shows recently and they went really well. We're excited about starting up another record." This year, though, Ward will be gigging behind his solo album, Hold Time, out in February.

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Lennon's Drunken Demo Earns Big Bucks!

December 22, 2008 11:38 AM

Another odd piece of Beatles memorabilia has sold big at auction.

A one-of-a-kind John Lennon recording from 1973 fetched $30,000 last weekend at the Bonhams and Butterfields auction house in Los Angeles.

Drunk off his ass, Lennon sings a cover of Lloyd Price's "Just Because." (Of course, a different version would appear on Lennon's 1975 collection of covers, Rock 'n' Roll.)

The recording is "six minutes, sixteen seconds long, with John singing very drunk and John ad-libbing his own lyrics into the song -- so it's actually a fun song to listen to," auction spokeswoman Margaret Barrett said.

FYI: Lloyd Price is a member of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, famous for his blockbuster Number One 1952 hit, "Lawdy Miss Clawdy." In '59, "Just Because" got Price back into the Top 40.

He currently manages a food company that sells delicious Southern-style treats like Lloyd Price's Soulful 'n' Smooth Grits.

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More: Industry News

Whose Children Are These?

December 19, 2008 1:18 PM

Photo: Hedi Slimane for PRADA

These two handsome young dudes -- Louis and Claude -- are the new faces of Prada. Neither has ever modeled before, but their photos are featured in the clothing company's spring ad campaign.

They are also the sons of a legendary rock star.

Can you guess who their dad is?

Click the jump for the answer!

Hint: He is one of the coolest motherfuckers ever!!!

(more...)

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Franz Meets Kanye, Hilarity Ensues

December 19, 2008 11:15 AM

Photo: Getty

The past few days we've been off in Southern California, following the trials and tribulations of Franz Ferdinand.

We were working on a story for an upcoming issue of Rolling Stone, coinciding with the late-January release of Tonight: Franz Ferdinand, their first disc in more than THREE YEARS. Tonight is worth the wait -- it's their best disc yet -- and while they might never top the pop perfection of "Take Me Out," their new single "Ulysses" (a song about getting high) comes pretty close.

Anyway, on Sunday we went to KROQ's Almost Acoustic Christmas spectacular at the Universal City Amphitheater, to check out a bill that included Franz, Vampire Weekend, Scott Weiland (who sucked balls), the Killers (who stole the show), and the Cure. A surprise guest was Kanye West, who came out on stage to do "Stronger" and that song with the weak Chris Martin hook, "Homecoming." Then, he sang.

Now, we love Kanye. We've spent a lot of time talking to him over the years, and he's one of the most unique musicians we've ever met. And we love a lot of the songs on 808s and Heartbreak. We don't even give a shit about the vocoder stuff. We think it takes a lot of balls to do what Kanye did, to completely shift gears like that. We hope he takes more insane risks, etc.

But, the dude just can't sing live. Even though the crowd at Universal was going apeshit, it was painful to watch Kanye chase the elusive melodies.

Singing is a fine art. It takes years of practice. Just because you think you sound good in the shower, doesn't mean you should do it in front of other people.

Before the show, Kanye was backstage with the guys in Franz going on about how much he loved those Motown melodies, and his general love of great melodies in pop music.

Now, the guys in the band have such high esteem for Kanye...but we must say, Kanye did ask Franz singer Alex Kapranos for some singing tips. Alex told him to not to have conversations in noisy places, to not smoke, and to stay away from the spirits.

"Spirits?" Kanye said. "Like, ghosts?"

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Animal Collective Fan Gets Crafty

December 18, 2008 10:58 AM

Photo: Gries/Getty

Watch out, there are some sneaky little bitches out there.

Here's the story: In January, Baltimore-based noise-rockers Animal Collective will release Merriweather Post Pavilion, their highly anticipated follow-up to 2007's genius Strawberry Jam.

Two tracks from Merriweather Post Pavilion -- "My Girls" and "Brothersport" -- have been leaked onto the internet, making the band very sad.

But the tease of those two tracks was just too much for one Animal Collective fan, who hacked into the band's email account to send out the following message. He or she impersonated the Collective's Brian Weitz, AKA Geologist:

"it has come to my attention that 2 full length tracks off of our upcoming album, merriweather post pavilion have surfaced online. david, noah, and I please ask that someone assist us and leak all of the remaining tracks on the album.

the album is intended to be heard as a whole, and nothing bothers us more than individual tracks leaking and ruining the the overall album experience

-brian Geologist"

Lesson: Even if you're a fucking moron, you just might be smart enough to hack into somebody's email account.

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More: Drama

Little Joy Enters the S.S.

December 17, 2008 6:05 PM

[Video: Pete Maiden/Andrew Flynn; Editing by Pete Maiden]

One of the most pleasant musical surprises of 2008 was the debut album by Little Joy, the Brazilian-heavy trio featuring the Strokes' Fabrizio Moretti, Los Hermanos frontman Rodrigo Amarante and singer Binki Shapiro.

We were all quite hung over after LJ's New York debut at Mercury Lounge, but that morning they were kind enough to drop into the S.S. headquarters and play a few tunes.

Dig an awesome performance of "Unattainable" above, and click the jump for "No One's Better Sake" and "The Next Time Around."

(more...)

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More: Exclusive, Video

Worst Album Covers Ever

December 17, 2008 3:05 PM

Photo: Sasha Vine

Here's a new feature we're introducing for our online edition of the Smoking Section: Worst Album Covers.

One of the pleasures of our job is receiving heaps of CD's every day, and every once in a while a certain album will arrive on our desk with a cover image that leaves us aghast, wondering, "Why? Why, Lord? Why?"

This week's winner is Mike Bones, who exposes his upper-regional chest-fur on his new disc, A Fool For Everyone.

Congratulations, Mike!

We're not easy to offend, but you've succeeded!

(more...)

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More: Bad Album Covers

Spencer Tweedy, Boy Genius

December 17, 2008 12:47 PM

Photo: Kohen/Wireimage

While the blockbuster tour featuring Neil Young and Wilco wound to a close last night at Madison Square Garden, Spencer Tweedy was celebrating his coming-out party.

Spencer -- son of Jeff Tweedy -- celebrated his 13th birthday last night, playing drums on the A Ghost Is Born gem "The Late Greats" during Wilco's set. Then, the entirety of MSG sang "Happy Birthday" to him.

Spencer has been playing drums since he was two! He formed his first band when he was six -- their repertoire consisted of one song, Wilco's "Heavy Metal Drummer." The band was called the Blisters, then changed their name to Tullymonster. (They discovered that there's another band called Tullymonster, so Tweedy's trio is currently nameless.) "Hopefully we'll have our #1 album out by next year," he says.

When he's not performing, Tweedy enjoys reading -- he's almost done with the Christopher Paolini's fantastical novel Brisingr -- and venting on his blog. In fact prior to his trip to New York, he wrote:

"On my birthday, I will be with my family for a hopefully and surely amazing rock concert. My dad, Jeff Tweedy, and his band, Wilco, will be performing before the iconic rock legend, Neil Young, takes the stage. I absolutely can't wait."

Yes!

Check out this video of young Tweedy rocking a killer drum solo at Lolla two years ago!

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