Month: April 2010

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TIVO PARTY TONIGHT

TiVo Party Tonight: Jakob Dylan, Natalie Merchant, Rob Zombie, Silversun Pickups

TIVOjakobdylan4244Ever wonder what will happen during the last five minutes of late-night TV talk shows? Here are tonight’s notable performers:

The Late Show With David Letterman (CBS): Jakob Dylan
The son of a legend has just released new LP Women + Country and will be performing with Three Legs (featuring Neko Case and Kelly Hogan).

The Tonight Show With Jay Leno (NBC): Natalie Merchant
Woah! Who remembers Natalie Merchant? Former member of 10,000 Maniacs and singer of such notable 90s hits as “Carnival,” “Wonder” and “Jealousy,” Merchant is promoting her first studio album in seven years, Leave Your Sleep.

Jimmy Kimmel Live! (ABC): Rob Zombie
Baddest of asses Rob Zombie is supporting new album Hellbilly Deluxe 2.

Late Night With Jimmy Fallon (NBC): Silversun Pickups
 Rerun from March 4. Silversun Pickups played “The Royal We.”

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GUEST EDITOR

Sweet Apple’s Dave Sweetapple Remembers: Laphroaig 15-Year-Old Single-Malt Scotch

sweetapplelogoSweet Apple is more than just a question of Cobra Verde’s John Petkovic and Tim Parnin having some teenage kicks with Dinosaur Jr’s J Mascis and Witch’s Dave Sweetapple. It’s the answer to the heartache, grief and depression that led Petkovic to drive from Cleveland to Vermont, where he rediscovered the healing powers of rock ‘n’ roll with some help from his friends. Love & Desperation (Tee Pee) isn’t a fountain of youth, but it’ll do in a pinch: a combination of stomping ’70s arena-rock riffs, Petkovic’s well-honed T Rex swagger and Mascis’ hard-wired guitar leads servicing lurid tales of sex, drugs and vampires. The members of Sweet Apple will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our Q&A with Petkovic.

Laphroaig15-yrSweetapple: Not to sound like an elitist asshole (or like some Chicagoan indie-rocker against all things not Chicago or rock), but I keep coming back to the 15-year-old Laphroaig single-malt Scotch as my drink of choice when selecting a tasty sipping beverage. I remember the first time I tasted this more mature brother of the common 10-year-old version: I was attending an Abbey Lincoln performance at the Charles Hotel in Cambridge, Mass. Boston hero Billy Ruane had purchased drinks for half the room—the friends-and-family deal. What an evening it was: Hearing the live performance of “Tears For Johannesburg” while enjoying my new friend from Islay.

Video after the jump.

Continue reading “Sweet Apple’s Dave Sweetapple Remembers: Laphroaig 15-Year-Old Single-Malt Scotch”
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FREE MP3s

MP3 At 3PM: The Cush

thecush5152Listening to the smooth vocal melodies and harmonies of “The Vigilant Ones” by the Cush is like floating in space. Inspired by vintage tape delays and psych/pop mini-suites, the husband-and-wife duo of Burette and Gabrielle Douglas formed in Dallas in 2000. The Cush is now based in Burlington, Vt., where the band completed its self-released third album, Between The Leaves. “The Vigilant Ones” is a solid representation of the Cush’s raw but well-tuned talent.

“The Vigilant Ones” (download):
https://magnetmagazine.com/audio/TheVigilantOnes.mp3

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TAKE COVER!

Take Cover! R.E.M. Vs. The Troggs

When is a cover song better than the original? Only you can decide. This week R.E.M. takes on the Troggs’ “Love Is All Around.” MAGNET’s Edward Fairchild pulls the pin. Take cover!

Mike Mills’ singing has always been R.E.M.’s secret weapon. His understated, tender and honest delivery—mostly by way of background harmony—fills out the band’s sound and helps pull the hooks of Michael Stipe’s lead. It’s what takes R.E.M. from being a good band to being one of the best ever. It’s a rare treat for Mills to take the lead vocal on a song, as he did for this cover of the Troggs’ “Love Is All Around” filmed in 1991 for MTV’s Unplugged series. Later that year, Mills, Peter Buck and Bill Berry collaborated with the Troggs on Athens Andover.

The Cover:

The Original:

Categories
GUEST EDITOR

Sweet Apple’s John Petkovic Remembers: “Songs Of Leonard Cohen”

Sweet Apple is more than just a question of Cobra Verde’s John Petkovic and Tim Parnin having some teenage kicks with Dinosaur Jr’s J Mascis and Witch’s Dave Sweetapple. It’s the answer to the heartache, grief and depression that led Petkovic to drive from Cleveland to Vermont, where he rediscovered the healing powers of rock ‘n’ roll with some help from his friends. Love & Desperation (Tee Pee) isn’t a fountain of youth, but it’ll do in a pinch: a combination of stomping ’70s arena-rock riffs, Petkovic’s well-honed T Rex swagger and Mascis’ hard-wired guitar leads servicing lurid tales of sex, drugs and vampires. The members of Sweet Apple will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our Q&A with Petkovic.

leonardcohen

Petkovic: Leonard Cohen‘s debut is one of my all-time favorite albums, and it still leaves me in awe every time I put it on. But it’s also a litmus test: If you don’t get it, then do we really have anything else to talk about? The thought has run through my head a number of times when I’ve been around people who have dismissed it as “sad” or “boring” or “depressing.” I acted upon this urge once, when I was with someone who asked me to take it off the turntable just as the record was hitting the end of side one, which is one of the greatest sides on record. I give her credit for sitting through “Master Song” (which is 5:59). But she tried to get me to take it off in the middle of “Sisters Of Mercy”—and right before side two, which opens brilliantly with “So Long, Marianne” and “Hey, That’s No Way To Say Goodbye.” I didn’t know if that was no way to say goodbye to her, but I did anyway. She should’ve known better than to tell me to take off that record.