On his new album, Changing Horses, indie singer-songwriter Ben Kweller goes country. Due out Tuesday, the disc commences with “Gypsy Rose,” a twangy, harmonica-driven tune that sounds like something Wilco or Son Volt might have recorded. Kweller’s nasally voice is perfectly suited to the material as he croons “I got no friend/I got no keys/and I got no kin.” Backed by an extensive ensemble of studio musicians, Kweller moved back to his Texas home state earlier this year and now lives in Austin. But he wanted to go country before that, writing several of the tunes while he was still living in Brooklyn. The album’s a terrific piece of work, too.

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Right now Bruce Springsteen is taking a lot of grief for playing the Super Bowl.  He should—his participation condones one of the most overindulgent American institutions.  I hope Super Bowl overkill and petulance isn’t what Springsteen means when he speaks of  “The American Promise,” but now you can’t be sure.

But that’s Springsteen’s choice—it’s his call if his integrity has a price (hey, U2′s had a price).  What is more problematic is Springsteen’s business strategy on his latest greatest hits package: it was released exclusively only through Wal-Mart.  (more…)

To anyone born after 1980, the movie “Xanadu” doesn’t likely register on their radar, while those who actually lived through it have since filed it in the “camp classic” category. The post-”Grease” Olivia Newton-John teamed up with Gene Kelly to tell a tale of a young artist hoping to open a “roller disco” who gains inspiration from several muses on a mural. But when one of those portraits he draws pops to life, it puts the already over the top tale into romantic overdrive. (more…)

Went to a screening today of Coraline, the new animated movie based on a Neil Gaiman graphic novel that opens next Friday, Feb. 6. In it, the ubiquitous Dakota Fanning provides the voice of Coraline, a girl who discovers that a secret door in her new home, a rural house in the middle of nowhere, leads to an alternate universe of sorts.

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This very website regularly offers a slew of autographed CDs, instruments and posters from musicians and celebrities, though with Black History Month right around the corner, there’s an even more exciting prize prospect, coupled with some socially conscious dialogue. Long story short, you could win a Sony PS3 by submitting an essay that tackles the following topic: “How has the political and social environment affected the music of certain eras, and how does this directly or indirectly influence you?” (more…)

Just saw an early screening of the thriller Taken, which opens wide this Friday. In it, Liam Neeson plays Byran Miller, a former spy of sorts who calls himself a “preventor.” While he’s retired from his days of staging US-backed coups in the Middle East because he wants to re-connect with his 17-year-old daughter Kim (Maggie Grace), he’s still got the skills to take down a veritable army of Armenian bad guys who abduct his daughter while she’s vacationing in Paris. (more…)

When Fall Out Boy announced its latest tour would hit arenas, it sent skepticism through the touring industry, particularly given the rough economy and uncertainly in sales across the board. Though the pop/punk foursome has never had trouble moving seats before this grim cloud enveloped the concert climate, having the same results circa 2009 would require additional effort, particularly on the packaging and promotion ends. (more…)

I only took a few economic classes in college, so NPR’s Planet Money has become indispensable to my understanding (however limited) to the current financial crisis.  The website and podcast started last year, right around the time of the sub-prime mortgage problems; Planet Money’s audience increased significantly when a show detailing the financial crisis aired on This American Life in October 2008 (stream available at http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio_episode.aspx?episode=365 ).

Planet Money present economic issues of the day with the assumption the listener is intelligent but has a limited understanding of economic theory.  Their explanations of the issues are thorough, deliberate and—unusual for such a currently gloomy topic—often entertaining.

But what concerns us here are the musical picks for the show by its editor, Laura Conaway.  (more…)

I’m not one of those My Chemical Romance haters. Sure, its last album, 2006’s Welcome to the Black Parade, was rather pretentious as it attempted to be a concept album at a time when the concept album thing has been done to death. Still, I think the guys pulled it off, thanks in part to dynamic singer Gerard Way, whose vocals have nearly as much range as the late, great Freddie Mercury. But as much as I think MyChem is legitimate and not just an overnight screamo sensation, I can’t same the same for Leathermouth, guitarist Frank Iero’s side project.

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Not only has Jackson, Tennessee’s Union University successfully rebuilt after a devistating tornado touched down on campus last year, but it also opened a brand new venue in the form of Barefoot Joes. The intimate coffehouse has already hosted the applauded indie rock likes of Denison Witmer, Matthew Perryman Jones, Katie Herzig and Bill Mallonee with the calendar beefing up for the spring semester.

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