Xmas Podcast: 2014

It's Christmas time, there's much need to be afraid ... Merry Xmas from CTTB

Idina Menzel - Holiday Wishes

Seth McFarlane - Holiday for Swing

She & Him - Classics

McBusted - McBusted

Smashing Pumpkins - Monuments to an Elegy

Nicki Minaj - The Pink Print

Pete got the best Mic, we need to work on sound optimising!

Check out this episode!

Jungle 'Busy Earnin'

Time Out's Music team picked their tracks of 2014 and their runner up was this.

Jungle 'Busy Earnin'

Riding one giant synth riff that sounds beamed in from the galaxies, London duo Jungle more than justified the hype they'd created for themselves with their slick debut album. The standout track: this mix of rude boy soul and Todd Rundgren psychedelics.

Clarence Clarity & Energy Slime

The Guardian's regular, 'band of the Week' feature picked up this guy last week. He is an artist with a distinctive sound and a fully realised aesthetic. The songs on his March 2015 debut album, No Now, are funk warped and mangled, smothered in quixotic synths.

Paul Lester opines " It's not quite as radical as he probably thinks it is - anyone who has ever heard a Funkadelic or Parliament album will know that funk is no stranger to the strange and deranged, and the frenetic blipburst approach to fizzy sonics will be familiar to anyone who owns a 1973-5 Todd Rundgren album or a 2008 Max Tundra one… At its best, though - the controlled mayhem of Will to Believe, the mad maximalism of Hit Factory of Sadness, the blap-zap rat-a-tat of Let's Shoot Up and The Gospel Truth, which sounds like funk played by a swarm of bees - No Now is almost as good as Clarence Clarity thinks it is."

Meanwhile Postmedia Breaking News reviews a new album/EP from Energy Slime - the duo of Jay Arner and Jessica Delisle, whose New Dimensional is 11 songs fitted on a seven-inch disc. 

" Arner put out an LP on Mint last year whose layered, multi-textured power-pop was evocative of Todd Rundgren. Energy Slime takes that comparison further by recalling the shorter songs of Rundgren's A Wizard, A True Star. It's dense and the short entries could be developed into longer, fuller songs. Arner and Delisle could be making a point: If today's society has a short attention span and is overwhelmed by the volume of music, why bother going further once the point has been made?"

Albums of 2014

As per usual I have been tinkering and tweaking with this list constantly over the past week or so, but my top 5 are pretty solid.

1. Ryan Adams - Ryan Adams [ Give Me Something Good ]
2. Kelis - Food [ Jerk Ribs ]
3. The Hold Steady - Teeth Dreams [ Spinners ]
4. St Vincent – St Vincent [ Digital Witness ]
5. I Break Horses – Chiaroscuro [ You Burn ]
6. Royal Blood – Royal Blood [ Figure it Out ]
7. Angaleena Presley – American Middle Class [ American Middle Class ]
8. Prince & 3eyedgirl – Plectrumelectrum [ Funk & Roll ]
9. Taylor Swift – 1989 [ Shake it Off ]
10. Jenny Lewis – The Voyager [ She's Not Me ]
11. The Pretty Reckless - Going to Hell [ House on a hill ]
12. Pixies - Indie Cindy [ What Goes Boom ]
13. Deerhoof – La Isla Bonita [ Exit Only ]
14. Aphex Twin – Syro [ Minipops 67 ]
15. The Juan Maclean - In a dream [ A Simple Design ]
16. FKA Twiggs – LP1 [ Two Weeks ]
17. Foo Fighters – Sonic Highways [ I am A River ]
18. The Amazing Snakeheads - Amphetamine Blues [ Here it Comes Again ]
19. Body Count – Manslaughter [ Wanna be a Gangsta ]
20. Baby Metal – Baby Metal [ Megitsune ]

Billy Corgan showing he understands irony

""Dave is a great musician, a great songwriter and has done the work, but to me, my criticism of the Foo Fighters, if I’m being a music critic, is that they just haven’t evolved and that’s sort of the recent rap on them is, you know, making the same music." Billy Corgan

Cult of Personality

It his latest music notes column, Thom Jennings (Niagra Gazette), looks at Todd and Joe Bonamassa of examples of 'cult' artists showing how you can still make a living out of the music industry "Of the two, Bonamassa is playing larger venues and commanding a higher ticket price in spite of a complete lack of any commercial singles. What Bonamassa has done is put out a massive amount of recorded material, and offer up tons of high quality live albums and DVDs and merchandise. Bonamassa has a monthly newsletter, filled with tons of content, and he interacts with his fan base consistently. Like many successful groups from the 1960s and 1970s, Bonamassa makes it fun to follow his career because there is usually something new coming out on a regular basis. Rundgren built his cult following in the 1970s much the same way, by putting out a mass of unique material in a short period of time. Even though he no longer puts out new albums very often, he has been able to offer up a number of different live packages over the last 10 years, including album shows, greatest hits shows, symphony orchestra shows, an electronic dance show and an “unpredictable” show. In simplest terms, Rundgren keeps fans guessing, and makes following his career interesting."

Mash Up of US hits from 2014

This is very well done. Hat tipped for the skill go into this

Podcast Eleven: 2014

As Santa starts packing his sleigh we have the nicest man in Rock, Rock Gods, New Country, Banjos, Indie Rock and Deerhoof

Foo Fighters – Sonic Highways 
Pink Floyd – The Endless River

Angaleena Presley – American Middle Class

Béla Fleck & Abigail Washburn - Béla Fleck & Abigail Washburn

2:54 – The Other I

Deerhoof – La Isla Bonita

Check out this episode!

Make me Spin - London style

A local choir from London takes on Hodja

Todd Doc Needs Your Help (Money!!)

Just put my hand in my pocket to back this Kickstarter project to produce a full length documentary on Todd Rundgren.

Nick Drake Remembered

Nick Drake died on this date in 1974 aged 26. Here's 'Time Has Told Me' http://t.co/EWLF0J94po

— Billy Reeves (@TheBillyReeves) November 25, 2014

Rundgren: In praise of Spam ...

CBS covers the popularity of Spam and it's no Python joke, the Rundgren's love it

Best of 2014 - Some of my favourite tracks

Unpredictable can be exactly that

So The Columbus Dispatch and the Cleveland Plain Dealer have reviews of a recent Todd Gigs and the unpredictable grouchy Todd did not go down universally well with the reviewers -or indeed some of the commentators "He is so talented but can be patronizing. I do not bother going to see him live anymore, I don't know why he still tours, he doesn't seem to enjoy it".

I recall his shows at Ronnie Scott's a few years back and my gf certainly thought he was a bit of an arse on one of those nights. Maybe it explains why usually he doesn't talk much at his gigs and just plays the songs.

It's All About the Books

Ok, it maybe that i'm a librarian by profession, but really loved this.

The Mount Desert Island High School version of Meghan Trainor's "All About The Bass" is rather splendid.




and, of course, the also splendid original - certainly one of the best pop records of 2014

Podcast Ten: 2014

Will there be any controversy in our views on Prince, Cannibal Corpse, Damien Rice, Primus or Empires? Join us for the usual helping of chaos and disorder

 

Prince – Art Official Age 
Prince & 3rdeyegirl -  Plectrumelctrum

Cannibal Corpse – A Skeletal Domain

Primus - Primus & The Chocolate Factory

Damien Rice – My Favourite Faded Fantasy

Empires – Orphan

Check out this episode!

Made me laugh

Chips: Luther College (6th Nove) has an article Industry review: "I'm sick of genre names"

It begins: I'm sick of genre names..."Chillwave," "dreampop" and "shoegaze" are all genres that describe the same thing.

The bit that made me laugh was:

"I'm actually being extremely sensitive; any given song is never played the same way twice. No two sounds are exactly the same (well, unless you're Foxygen ripping off Todd Rundgren). "

Kaz Interviewed

Mike Ragogna on Huffington Post  has a nice interview with Kasim Sulton, where he talks about his career and new album '3'.

Passing TR ref from Horror's front man

The San Francisco Chronicle (16 Oct) has an interview with The Horror's front man Faris Badwan, who mentioned Todd whilst talking about his own band's album making process:

"I find it quite hard to identify with bands that are good at planning things, the determinedly laconic Horrors vocalist, 28, says from London with escalating intensity. If a band can sit down before they make a record and say, We re going to make this kind of record, an album influenced by the Velvet Underground, Neil Young or Todd Rundgren we prefer not to do that. I don't know if it s better or worse."

It's very easy to 'Just Get Lost' in this album from Anju

I have also posted this on my main Information Overlord Blog.

A Few years ago I heard a song on Soundcloud that I immediately adored. It was a jazzy little number played on acoustic guitar and the accompanying vocal just hit that sweet spot - you know, that spot where you just stop everything you doing and listen. Here was a woman destined to sing jazz and lounge songs.

Many Soundcloud songs later, most of which repeated that initial connection I felt between style and songstress, there is a full debut album. [ Ok, so strictly speaking it's the second album as there was an acoustic album in 2012 called The Attic Sessions - four songs from which get the full band treatment on this new record]

And a delightful record it is too. A collection of twelve self penned songs that take in both American and European jazz influences, and sprinkles on soupcon of latin, bossa nova, and cool blues to add additional colour.

There isn't really a dud track on the whole record, and most of it is simply a delight. Whether it be the laid back and atmospheric piano driven English Afternoon or Like the Sea, or the foot tapping melodies of A Slow Night for Crime and When the Sun Comes up I'm Gone, or even the smokey Jazz club MMH MMH, MMH MMH, this is a great collection of self penned songs.

When I listen to the album I hear the influences of Kurt Weill, Sting, and New Orleans Jazz (and more). But it's not all that you'd expect, What would I Give for example actually has a has a touch of the Terry Jack's 'Season's in Sun' melody about it, but in a good way.

The album was recorded at Jambona Lab in Cascina, Italy. Anju produced it herself and it was well engineered by Antonio Castiello. She's brought together a great set of Tuscan musicians including: Silvia Bolognesi (double bass), Andrea Melani (drums), Piergiorgo Pirro (piano), and Tony Cattano (trombone) to help add colour and depth to her songs. They sound a great bunch of guys to play with.

Perhaps the only thing I have not mentioned about that first exposure to Anju was that I also sat there thinking how much I'd love to here her sing one of my songs . The only problem with that was that I didn't really have any material that was in either jazz or lounge that might tempt her. So I wrote one, purely in the hope she'd say yes. Luckily for me she did.

I don't mention this because it is on this album, it's not, but because the resultant song remains one of my proudest songwriting moments, and Anju was a delight to collaborate with. [Although my rather ham-fisted attempts to 'play' the instruments via synth - the bass, piano and brass elements - leave a lot to be desired, and only offer a sense of what the song is about]

You can buy the album on iTunes , or via her Bandcamp site [It's also available via Spotify]

Our track, Blue Lamp is embedded below.

Foxgen sounds like Rundgen

William Ruof at The State Press: Arizona State University reviews Foxygen's '...And Star Power' and comments on the Todd influences:

The album begins with "Side One, Part One: The Hits; What's the Hook?" full of songs that are easy going, catchy grooves. After a short intro, the album kicks into lead single, "How Can You Really?" a bouncy, organ-driven tune reminiscent of Rundgren's "I Saw the Light." …We then move into "Side One, Part Two: Star Power Suite" on which the influence of the Velvet Underground still feels heavy. "Star Power III: What Are We Good For?" sounds like it is sung by Lou Reed himself. "Star Power IV: Ooh Ooh" closes out the first side of the record with an intro straight off of Rundgren's "It Wouldn't Have Made Any Difference." The song leaves an eerie feeling behind as it fades into silence.

12 Rods return

Vitamn reports that 12 Rods are reuniting for gigs in the new year. It also passes comment of Todd's involvement with the band " recorded one album with Todd Rundgren as producer (mostly a disaster)".

This was Ryan Olcott at the time (via MTV ) on working with Rundgren:
 
According to pop legend, Rundgren has been known to play many of the instruments on the records he produces, as well as provide backing vocals. With 12 Rods, that wasn’t the case. “It was quite the opposite with us,” said Olcott. “He didn’t play a single instrument or sing a single note. He just engineered and enjoyed. “We had a really good time in the studio,” he continued. “He was really easy going. You just have to work at his level and we have good work ethics when it comes to working in the studio.”

Of course after a few years and the album bombed that had changed to:

Olcott told City Pages, “We all thought Todd was under-performing. He was the last person to show up at each session and the first one to leave. He didn’t care. He was just there to press record, read magazines and drink Foster’s. It was disheartening.” To make matters worse, the band’s relationship with drummer Christopher McGuire completely collapsed and it was decided that he would head back to Minnesota after only three weeks. Ev, Ryan and Bill soldiered on, finishing up recording in Hawaii and returning home defeated. The band was now broke, and the early mixes of Separation Anxieties were not at all what they had hoped for. “We thought he’d do some production and it’d blow my mind because he’s Todd Rundgren,” said Olcott. “He’d sprinkle the magic and we’d live happily ever after. But when it was done, we were the poster boys of major label failure.” [ The Current]

As for the man himself, he's said on many occasions that it was one of his favourite productions:

Here he is talking to Bullz Eye

"I have a lot of favorite productions. Some of the best records I’ve made have been so poorly handled by the labels that commissioned them that a lot of people have never heard them. And in some cases, the records never even got released! One of the biggest crimes in all of music, to me, was an album I did for an artist named Julie Christiansen that the label decided just not to put out. They made a purely commercial decision that had certainly nothing to do with the quality of the record, which I thought was, at least from my standpoint, the strength of the singer, the variety of the material she had, the quality of the musicianship was as good as anything I’d ever worked on…but the record never saw the light of day. And more recently, I did an album for a band called 12 Rods…"

BE: …which I also have, and I love.

TR: I thought that that was an incredible record…which the record (label) did absolutely nothing with. And that’s another band that’s broken up! So their ultimate potential will never be revealed. So there are favorites that I have, and I usually dote on them because they haven’t been fully appreciated.-

Podcast Nine :2014

Everybody dance now … Yes in the dance-tastic podcast we have the return of Aphex Twin, some Disco grooves, Down tempo chill out RnB, oh, and some doom metal

 

Aphex Twin  - Syro 

The Juan Mclean – In a Dream

Banks - Goddess

Death From above 1979 – The Physical World

Ryan Adams – Ryan Adams

Black Moth - Condemned to Hope

Check out this episode!

Ryan does Bryan (at last)

The new cuddly Ryan Adams continues to provide more joy with a cover of Bryan Adam's Run to You. There was a period were Ryan used to get rather touchy about folks calling out 'Summer of 69' at gigs and the like, but now he's embraced BA with a live cover - though not, you'll note, Summer of 69. Now if someone can get Bryan to repay the favour?

Todd mixes Nim

Todd has mixed and contributed guitar to a track on the new Nim Vind, formerly of Vincent Black Shadow, album. The Album, Saturday Night Séance Songs is out in a couple of weeks. The Track featuring Todd is called Astronomicon.

Squidbillies

Adult Swim’s animated series Squidbillies, has reached Season Nine, and the new season has a host of artists covering theme theme song, including Todd, according to Consequence of Sound. First up though is Neko Case.

Shaffer on loosing it over Todd

Paul Shaffer tells The Daily Beast how he thought Todd Rundgren might cost him his job on the Tonight Show:

“I really lost my temper,” he recalls, recounting how he vented at Letterman when frequent musical guest Todd Rundgren showed up at the studio too late to rehearse, and Dave (perhaps needling Paul) kept announcing that the band would play a string of completely unprepared Rundgren hits.        

“Well, I couldn’t play all his songs because we hadn’t had a chance to rehearse, but Dave kept coming back to it,” Shaffer recalls. “He just kept firing it in, and I lost it and I started yelling at him on the air. I said, ‘Listen, anything you want, I give you! You want a song by the Gin Blossoms, you got it!’  Then I felt terrible afterwards. "

Ryan Adams @ Shepherds Bush Empire 19/09/14

The welcome return of Adams to the stage and touring – following a hiatus cause by his suffering from Ménière's disease – gives us back one of the most talented songwriters of our generation. Anyone in any doubt of that fact should just check out the songs from the setlist below. Voice on top form, band tight and focussed and for those lucky enough to have been at the first night (thurs) – sadly not me -  a different set list.

Kicking off with the Gimme Something Good from his excellent current album, we went through a set which drew heavily on that album, but also drew in material from Love is Hell, Ashes and Fire, Easy Tiger, and my two favourite Cardinals albums, Cold Roses and Jacksonville City Nights. Not a dud song in the set and a man on stage who looked like he's really enjoying himself.

As was the case on the previous evening, Mr Depp made an appearance for the encore to play a bit of guitar -although I suspect Johnny may have ahead a few lemonades whilst waiting for his moment. Good fun though. 

Gimme Something Good

Fix It

This House Is Not For Sale

Dirty Rain

Stay With Me

Cold Roses

Am I Safe

Let It Ride

I Just Might

Political Scientist

Everybody Knows

Let Go

My Wrecking Ball

Jacksonville

Shadows

Trouble

Magnolia Mountain

Wolves

Rats in the Wall

Easy Plateau

Oh My Sweet Carolina

Encore:

Kim

(with Johnny Depp)

I Love You But I Don't Know What To Say

(with Johnny Depp)

Rather than post a shitty clip from someone's camera phone of the gig, he is Ryan on Later instead. 

Can We Still be Friends ? - No Rod, We Can't

The good folks over at Todd Rundren Arena posted this and it reminded juts how god damn awful this version by Rod is

Todd at the BBC

A new three disc set and accompanying DVD of Todd's BBC performances is out soon.

Disc 1
Radio One In Concert – Paris Theater, London, July 6, 1972 (solo)
I Saw The Light
It Wouldn’t Have Made Any Difference
Piss Aaron
Hello, It’s Me
Be Nice To Me
Black Maria
The Old Greay Whistle Test – October 14, 1975 (with Utopia)
Real Man
The Seven Rays

Disc 2
Hammersmith Odeon, October 9, 1975 (with Utopia)
Freedom Fighters
Mister Triskets
Something’s Coming
The Last Ride
Sunset Boulevard / Le Feel Internacionale
Heavy Metal Kids
The Wheel
Open My Eyes
Sons Of 1984
Do Ya
Couldn’t I Just Tell You

Disc 3
Oxford Polytechnic, January 25, 1977 (with Utopia)
Communion With The Sun
Love Of The Common Man
Sunburst Finish
Jealousy
Windows
Singring And The Glass Guitar
Utopia Theme

DVD
The Old Grey Whistle Test – October 14, 1975 (with Utopia)
Real Man
The Seven Rays
The Old Grey Whistle Test – May 2, 1978 (with Utopia)
Bearsville Picnic featuring Singring And The Glass Guitar
The Old Grey Whistle Test – June 3, 1982 (solo)
Love Of The Common Man
It Wouldn’t Have Made Any Difference
Too Far Gone
Can We Still Be Friends
The Song Of The Viking
Compassion
Lysistrata
Tiny Demons
Time Heals (promo video)
One World
A Dream Goes On Forever

Royal Blood

A track from my album of the Month from the @cttbmusic podcast below

Podcast Eight: 2014

Modern RnB, Indie retro pop and Sinead O'connor. That's the latest podcast.

 

Ariana Grande - My Everything

Childhood - Lacuna

Spider Bags - Frozen Letter

Royal Blood - Royal Blood

Alvvays - Alvvays

Sinead O'Connor - I'm not Bossy, I'm the Boss

Check out this episode!

Blow Me

Todd and Red Peters duet on Blow Me

R.I.P Jimi Jamison

UK Album charts comes over all BUSH

It seems Kate Bush's run of gigs has sparked some serious sales of the back catalogue if the UK's albums chart is anything to go by this week. 11 albums in the Top 50.

6. The Whole Story (Rhino)
9. Hounds Of Love (Fish People)
20. 50 Words For Snow (Fish People)
24. The Kick Inside (Rhino)
26. The Sensual World (Fish People)
37. The Dreaming (Fish People)
38. Never For Ever (Rhino)
40. Lionheart (Rhino)
43. Aerial (Fish People)
44. Director's Cut (Fish People)
49. The Red Shoes (Fish People)

Latest Todd Mentions

Broke Radke of the Las Vegas Weekly (27 Aug) talked to Questlove Roots founder/drummer about The Tonight Show gig and DJ-ing. "… our networking game is just on steroids right now. I can cut out the middleman and go right to the artist, and the magic of that is getting to work with our favorite artists and collaborate. That’s how the Elvis Costello record came to be, and we’re messing with Todd Rundgren right now."

 Matt Stamm's sixth studio album, Lines and Waves, garnered the review: " Not since Todd Rundgren has an artist so completely made someone else's songs his own. This is absolutely beautiful," from Audio Fuzz 


Childhood (whose debut album 'Lacuna' will be reviewed on my next CTTB Music Podcast) are interviewed in The Independent (26 Aug)
8. Who were your biggest music influences? 
We all have lots of different influences from different genres. In no particular order: Stereolab, Air, Shuggie Otis, The Wailers, Cocteau Twins, Spacemen 3, Spritualized, Marvin Gaye, Hall & Oates, Love, The Chills, Deerhunter, Flaming Lips, A.R Kane, Todd Rundgren etc

New Todd Album

(Unconfirmed)Whispers out of Esoteric say that there will be a new Todd album in Spring 2015.

Fishing with Todd?

Vice magazine website posts a video by Author/journalist/fisherman Michael Patrick Welch as he interviews legendary musician/performer/producer Todd Rundgren at ToddStock, Rundgren's 6-day-long 65th birthday party at Nottoway Mansion in White Castle, LA. June 2013. Amusing.

Podcast seven: 2014

Meat maybe murder, but is listening to the new Morrissey album tasty or tasteless?

Morrissey - World Peace is None of your Business

5 Seconds of Summer - 5 Seconds of Summer

Yes - Heaven & Earth

La Roux - Trouble in Paradise

Cut/Copy - Free Your Mind

Jenny Lewis - The Voyager 

Check out this episode!

New Ryan Adams Single

Can't wait for the album next month (and another chance to see him live too)

Kasim Plays I saw the Light

Nice.

"Just one victory" by bank over todd rundgren in foreclosure fight

It's not often [Ok, it's never] that i get to blog about the law AND Todd Rundgren, but yesterday I came across this legal update from Peter J. Gallagher of Porzio Bromberg & Newman PC on the US the Financial Institutions Reform, Recover, and Enforcement Act of 1989 ("FIRREA"). In it he looks at a lawsuit arising out of JPMorgan Chase Bank's efforts to foreclose on his and Michelle's home having decided the couple had defaulted on the loan for the property. Rundgren v. Washington Mutual Bank, FA, 12-15368

Podcast Six: 2014

We worked twice as hard for this one

 

Chrissie Hynde - Stockholm

Mastodon - Once More around the Sun

Bob Mould - Beauty & Rain

Bodycount - Manslaughter

Sharon Van Etten - Are We There

Lana Del Ray - Ultraviolence

Check out this episode!

Round Up

The Vancouver Sun has a Q&A with Erika Forster of Au Revoir Simone which talks about the Todd remix on their recent EP Q: Apparently there's a remix EP with contributions from David Lynch and Todd Rundgren. How did the Todd Rundgren remix come about? A: We're huge fans. We've watched a bunch of his old videos, we've DJ'd a lot of songs on DJ nights. I think it came up that our label, Instant Records, is part of a distribution company, and it just came up that he was looking to do some remix trade. It was like, Do you guys want Todd Rundgren to remix a song? And we were like, Uhm, yes, obviously. We haven't actually met him yet. Maybe we'll see him when he's on tour in New York next time. Meanwhile NUVO (Indianapolis) has an Interview with Coven lead singer Jinx Dawson by Jilly Weiss of We Are Hex, where she mentions that various members of Utopia had played with Coven over the years.

The Cave man cometh

I'm really looking forward to the release next month of 20,000 Days on Earth a new film about 'the day in the life' of  Nick Cave that takes a fictionalized documentary-style approach to exploring the day. Film was co-written by Cave and directed by Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard, and looks fantastic.

First Song

My daughter's first play with a DAW and during the 7 minutes of noise and keyboard hitting we accidentally hit on a tune via a rhythmic snyth - added a badsic drum beat and some random vox, to create this 23 second masterpiece.

Albums of the Year - The halfway point

Considering how excited I was about the quality of records released during 2013, I have to say that overall I have felt a bit underwhelmed by the releases I've heard thus far in 2014. BUT, if I had to pick the ten that have given me something, then these would be them. The top 3 are indeed the three records I've enjoyed most, the other 7 are in no particular order.

1. The Hold Steady – Teeth Dreams .
2. St Vincent – St Vincent.
3. The Pretty Reckless – Going to Hell.
4. Pixies – Indie Cindie.
5. The Both – The Both.
6. Kelis - Food.  
7. The Amazing Snakeheads – Amphetamine Ballads .
8. I Break Horses – Chiaroscuro .
9. Baby Metal - Baby Metal.
10. Lana Del Rey - Ultraviolence.

Fox-Clore - Bang The Drum All Day

A techno style take on Todd's "Bang The Drum All Day"

‘Light My Fire – A Classic Rock Salute to The Doors.’

Ultimate Classic Rock are reporting that Todd is one of a host of famous artists would appears on a soon to be released tribute album to the Doors.

Todd joins Geoff Downes and Zoot Horn Rollo on 'Alabama Song (Whiskey Bar)’

Nile Rogers - Nuclear scientist?

Vibe talked to Nile Rogers about his career and when it went off on a tangent Todd got mentioned too.

Where would you be now had you never been in music?
I’d have gone into science. In our days, we called it thermonuclear hydro-dynamics. That was my thing, in our clique at school we were trying to figure out how take nuclear energy, make it safe, and power the planet.

Nile Rodgers would’ve been a nuclear scientist?
You would not believe how many famous musicians were into this. My friend Reggie Lucas was in the same school, he was on Madonna’s album. He and Todd Rundgren developed the very first screensaver. My other partner, Tom Murray, he went on to invent all sorts of digital applications, way before laptops. I love science. As part of my charity, we brought in Gza from the Wu Tang to give a talk on magnetism and gravity.

What went wrong Nile?!
Back then, we all knew from a very young age the government weren’t going to use our research for good stuff!

No Talking, Just Head

Interesting  interview with Johnette Napolitano in the Dallas Observer. I always liked Concrete Blonde, esp their second album FREE. 

Anyway, here she talks about her time in the Talking Heads (sort of) and TR gets mentioned in relation to The Cars.

You were in the Heads with members of the Talking Heads, but that band was sued by David Byrne.

I can relate to how David felt about that project. Being in that band was like being in the middle of a war. It was just brutal. I got death threats. I had to have armed security. Fans of David Byrne were just not digging it. It was a drag. That band was mismanaged from the ground up. It was a brilliant record that nobody will probably hear.

What record is that?

We were working on two records at that time. We had finished one record and then did another called No Talking, Just Head. It had a lot of different singers on it. What they should have done was release the other album first because we could have established an identity without David Byrne. That one that wasn't released is genius. It was a brilliant record. It was a marketing mistake. I blame the management for that, but as far as being in the band and playing, how many people can say they've sung with the Talking Heads?

The fan reaction was odd considering Todd Rundgren replaced Ric Ocasek in the Cars and I don't believe he got death threats.

Well, you are talking about a whole generation who has never even seen the Cars. It just doesn't matter because Todd has his own legion of fans. How many people went to see the Cars and how many went to see Todd?

Even more Bourgeois?

We have had the new album from Brent, so how about one from Adrian – his son?: Pop/Art

Blog Critics has the interview

In listening to Pop/Art, I would think that you were influenced by The Beatles (especially Paul McCartney), Brian Wilson, Todd Rundgren, Elton John, Tom Petty, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, and Bruce Springsteen. Are there others that you would like to mention or acknowledge?
All of the above are definitely big influences. Probably the biggest one not mentioned is Elvis Costello, whom I'd call the greatest solo singer/songwriter. Simon and Garfunkel, Velvet Underground, U2, Ben Folds, David Bowie, Michael Jackson, The Rascals, Tom Waits, Roy Orbison, Eisley, Hanson, Rufus Wainwright, Jeff Lynne, Big Star, Elliott Smith, George Gershwin, Chuck Berry, and others have influenced and inspired me. I would consider my best friend Ricky Berger as big a musical influence on me as anyone.

Speaking of Mr. Rundgren, you have a song 'Everybody Knows It Was Me,' that sounds as though it might have been included on Todd's Something/Anything? album from 1972. It's a good commercial song. What can you tell us about it?
Maybe commercial for 1972! But thanks. Yes, Something/Anything? was definitely another big influence on this record as Todd recorded it mainly at home and played most of the instruments himself as I did. 'Everybody Knows It Was Me' is probably the most reflective of that album. I don't know what it was about. I refer to these kinds of songs as 'template songs' where you just come up with a template or concept like, 'It could have been this, it could have been that, but everybody knows it was me…' and then you just fill in the blanks.

Get Some Oats

Mike Greenblatt, at Goldmine [Pg. 36 Vol. 40 No. 7 ] talks to John Oats about Hall of Fame and career and of course Todd gets a mention

GM: Then you go and turn around and work some hard rock with Todd Rundgren on your very next album, "War Babies" [1974].

JO: Here again, that's another trademark of our careers: We weren't afraid to experiment. If you take it in the context of the times, "Abandoned Luncheonette" wasn't really that successful. The hit on that album, "She's Gone," only went into the Top 20 or 30, I think. That album didn't really reinforce to either us or the record company that, "Hey, you guys should make 'Abandoned Luncheonette 2.'" There was no thinking on those terms. So, because of that fact, we had no reason to think that was our style or what we should be doing for the rest of our lives. So we said, "OK, we made a good record. A lot of people liked it. Let's do something different." I think if you take "Abandoned Luncheonette" and you take "War Babies" and you put them together, you'll see that it opened up a door for us to be able to do all sorts of things going forward. The music we made in the '80s was some combination of our experimental rock credibility, plus our R&B and folkie credibility that we could draw upon.

Bourgeois back with some added Todd

Brent Bourgeois is back ... and so are ex member or Bourgeois Tagg and Mr Rundgren for Brent's new album 'Don't Look Back'. Brent has a page about Todd and the album. Todd and Kasim feature on the VERY Todd-like 'Poor me'

The New Jersey Stage also talks about the new album. 

Podcast Five: 2014

It's Summer ... well, as good as, ... so how about some music to listen to whilst in the sun. We review -

Pixies - Indie Cindy

Lily Allen - Sheezus

Anastacia - Resurrection

Damon Albarn - Everyday Robots

Kelis - Food

Paul Heaton - What Have we Become

We're having a break during June, but should be back with you sometime in July.

Check out this episode!

Hartmut Esslinger - "Keep It Simple: The Early Design Years of Apple."

Unofficial Apple blog TUAW has a nice article on Esslinger's design work for Apple, and include a photo of  the 1979 tablet that ran on Todd's computer paint program "Utopia Graphics System."  

The Burning of Rome

The San Diego Union-Tribune has a brief item on the new album from Adam Traub's  The Burning of Rome. Made with indie-rock legend Paul Leary (ex Butthole Surfers) at the helm, the piece says:

The result is The Burning of Rome’s most varied and accomplished work to date. At its best, “Ox” is a left-field, neo-art-rock opus, minus the prog-fueled pomp and sonic overkill. Its songs draw from pop, punk, psychedelia and early ’70s glam, along with the music of Todd Rundgren in his creative prime and early Queen at its least ostentatious.

“I love Todd Rundgren, and so does Paul,” said Traub.

Here is the first single off said album - I Like it.

Latest Todd

Josh Rotter at Download.com has interviewed Todd. Mostly a rehash of stuff he has said many times before, but has an interesting comment on his recent forays into EDM based remixes for other people and his approach to doing so


"When I get involved, it's often to focus on the lyrics or see if there's a lyrical idea. But if you're going to do justice to an EDM song, you have to transcend the limitations of lyrics and build something from it."

Speaking of remixes, I'd missed this one. Au Revoir Simone released a remix EP, Brightness/Contrast, back in February featuring Move in Spectrums tracks reworked by David Lynch ,Etienne Daho and Todd Rundgren. [Later can be streamed if in USA http://www.brooklynvegan.com/archives/2014/05/au_revoir_simon_13.html ]

Podcast Four: 2014

Spring has sprug and we have some music to go with it: This month we cast a critical eye at:

The Hold Steady - Teeth Dreams

Hurrah for the Riff Raff - Small Town Heroes

Liars - Mess

Baby Metal - Baby Metal

The Amazing Snakeheads - Amphetamine Ballads

EMA - The Future's Void

Check out this episode!

God gave rock 'n roll to ya

So Nirvana, Kiss, Peter Gabriel, Cat Stevens (Yusuf Islam), Linda Ronstadt, Hall & Oats all added into the Hall of Fame. Todd got a mention too, from Mr Hall, who noted the band were the first Philadelphia band that has ever gone into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He then went on to name-check a long list of deserving Philly acts, including Todd, the Stylistics, the Delfonics, Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes, and Chubby Checker. I'm guessing the 'induction process' politics and Mr R's comments about the HoF are why he is unlikely to be inducted whilst alive.

Anyway, this is an excuse for a bit of Yusuf

It's big city there's a lot of love ...

The new The Hold Steady album is now out and its a really good record. Probably their most 'polished' sounding record. The lead single is also one of the album's highlights for me. Here's Spinners ...

Also here is a great piece in The Vulture where Tad and Craig pick their favourite The Hold Steady songs from each of their albums.

Pop Hall of Fame

“It’s not rock ‘n’ roll anymore anyway,’’ he said. “What we used to call rock ‘n’ roll – the original term, defined by DJ Alan Freed – meant to refer to a certain kind of music that Chuck Berry and Little Richard and Elvis [Presley] were playing, and it was distinguishable from ‘popular music’ at that time ...What you have now is a pop music hall of fame, and I don’t care if I’m in the Pop Music Hall of Fame or not’’ 

Todd on why he's not especially a fan of the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame as told to the Plain Dealer

Theme Tune of Your Life Meme

OK. I give in. The 'meme' of the week it is: The theme tune of your life is the song that was UK Chart/ Billboard #1 on day born, 12th, 14th, 16th, 18th or 21st birthday. 

Given that I was born at end of year I already knew this could be bad as I was looking at a long of Xmas number ones, but how bad could it be when you kick off with The Scaffold – Lily the pink in '68 Have always loved this tune. How bad can it get? 

How about this bad: 

12th birthday: St Winifred's School Choir -There's no one quite like Grandma

14th Birthday: Renee and Renato – Save your Love

16th Band Aid

18th Jackie Wilson – Reet Petite [Thank Christ a decent tune at last] 

21st, soddin Band Aid (II) AGAIN. 

The UK having clearly failed me, I set sail for the US of A and found things much more to my liking ...

O = Marvin Gaye – I Heard it Through the Grapevine
12 = John Lennon – (Just Like) Starting Over
14 = Hall & Oats – Maneater
16 = Madonna – Like a Virgin
18 = The Bangles – Walk Like an Egyptian
And just when it was getting too good to be true ..
21 = Phil Collins – Another day in Paradise

I'm happy to take The Scaffold and Marvin Gaye as songs that perfectly represent my love of the quirky and of true class. 

Podcast Three: 2014

Hello listeners. Apologises for the delay in gettin podcast three out, but at last it is here: This time around its the following in our reviewing sights:

Elbow - The Take off and Landing of Everything

Drive by Truckers - English Oceans

Pharell Williams - GIRL

Kylie - Kiss me Once

Real Estate - Atlas

Blood Red Shoes - Blood Red Shoes

 

Check out this episode!

Good Reads

Not very often I mention books on here, but then again don't read a great deal of music books, but I want to mention two.

The first one I haven't read yet, but is written by the friend of a friend of mine - Daryl Easlea

Without Frontiers: The Life & Music of Peter Gabriel

I've read the first few pages and it looks good [Todd mentioned 5 times] Daryl has previously written books on Sparks, Chic and Beyonce. Read the Chic one and it was very good.

The second book is one that EVERY pop music fan should read. 

Yeah Yeah Yeah: The Story of Modern Pop

Written by Bob Stanley (from the band Saint Etienne) it is a chronological trip through the history of 'the pop single' in the UK/US, and is a pure delight from start to finish. If you have access to a streaming music service such as Spotify etc you'll also find yourself checking out LOTS of stuff you didn't know or had somehow forgotten about. Brilliant.

BabyMetal

Like me, you must have often sat down and pondered just why no one had ever thought to blend Japanese Jpop with Heavy Metal. Well, my friends, wonder no more.

This will be the best AND/OR worst thing you heard this week. I have to admit, I kind of like it. Truely bonkers.

Baskery - A Swedish country delight

Diane had a night off so we decided to go out and catch some live music. Wasn't a great deal of choice so we decided to head to one of my favourite venues The Borderline to check out Swedish alt country band Baskery. Made up of three sisters, they have been going for six years or so and describe their sound as 'killbilly'.

Didn't really know what to expect. Venue was only about a quarter to a third full, so like us the knowledge of the band didn't seem great to London's masses.  On the evidence of this gig, this is a shame as Greta, Stella and Sunniva Bondesso are a delightful and engaging trio who know put on a show.  Great songs, great harmonies, great musicianship left us scratching our heads to figure out why they were not already HUGE. They have recently relocated to Nashville and even with the local competition that will bring I'd be surprised if these girls didn't make their mark (just need a good support slot on someone's tour). They write strong commercial material and deliver it live with gusto. They've headed off the Germany now for a few dates. If you get a chance to see them, take it.

Todd 'Get's Lucky'

It seems An Unpredictable Evening with Todd Rundgren is just that ...

Setting the early pace ...

So, we are already into month three of 2014, so has any album yet staked a claim to be an early contender for album of the year?

I'm still waiting for an album to really make me sit up and take notice, but the closest so far is the latest album from St Vincent - St Vincent.  It is a eclectic and inventive album that reminds me of listening to Prince at his best, and you can also hear the influence of Talking Heads/Art of Noise I have a feeling this will have the staying power to be in the mix come the end of the year, as it is a record that gives up more on each listen.

Todd Who - An Aussie Documentary

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Todd joins the Pack

David Pack latest album  "David Pack's Napa Crossroads" apparently features Todd among others (Alan Parsons, Ray Manzarek.)

For those who don't remember Pack, he used to lead the band Ambrosia.

)

Ted Zed

The Guardian's regular New Band of the Day feature featured a guy called Ted Zed last week. He is a young British guy trying to make adventurous pop. He sounds quite interesting - oh, and he's a HUGE todd fan.

Podcast two:2014

February Blues? or name Carole? - if so, we recorded a podcast on your birthday esp for you - Country, Death Metal and Grime/Dub you say? We got 'em. New albums from @thedavidcrosby @rosannecash @BehemothBand @WTofficial @KatyB @Ibreakhorses

Check out this episode!

Bright Light Fever

So pleased to see the wondeful Roddy Hart and the Lonesome Fire get their US TV debut. Great band, great record and Roddy's a lovely bloke too

What a gay day

Ok, so this isn't anything to do with music at all, but I don't think it is possible for this clip of Dallas sportscaster Dale Hansen to be over posted/promoted. Without a doubt one of the best moments of broadcasting from any country for a long time. All hail Dale.

Runddans

Pitchfork have news of Runddans to new collaborative album coming our way this summer. It is the result of a link up between Todd and Norwegian DJ and producer Lindstrøm and felow Norwegian Emil Nikolaisen of alt-rock band Serena-Maneesh. Sounds like they will be doing some of the European festivals this summer too.

Boys and Girls in America

Pitchfork has a great piece celebrating Ten years of The Hold Steady, including the obvious tensions between Tad Kubler and Craig Finn. A great read and really looking forward to Teeth Dreams coming out nexy month. Also, I love the cover of Kiss's Hard Luck Woman off the Recent Covers EP

Whatcha listening too?

Jason Isbell – Southeastern The 4th solo record from the ex Drive by Trucker. It is a beautiful record. Songs about cancer, sex abuse and other little ditties. It passed me by during 2013 but its appearance on many of the top 50 albums of year lists (often in the top 20) drew it to my attention. Well worth checking out. Dum Dum Girls – Too True Think this is the 3rd album from Dee Dee Penny and the girls. This sort of sub Blondie pop-rock always appeals to me. Short and sweet songs, album done in 30 minutes. Doesn't outstay its welcome. Hailstorm - The Strange Case Of... Think this album came out either early 2013 or late 2012. It's not perfect but has just enough fun metal with strong riffs to make it worthwhile. Lizzy Hale is an engaging front woman too.

Girls Chase Boys - The return of Ingrid

Been a fan of Ingrid Michaelson for quite a while as she knows how to write clever catchy pop tunes. Her latest continues that trend. You may want to hate this but after a couple of listens resistance is futile. You will find yourself humming it. The sly dig at the old Robert Palmer videos is also as nice touch. Official Music Video for Ingrid's Single "Girls Chase Boys" from the upcoming album "Lights Out"

Ten Years

It seems I missed the Blog's 10th Birthday last month. I started this blog back on the 18th Jan 2004. I started off with a moan about Patronet and news of a new album - Liars. So, let's have some Todd to celebrate

Wolfman Jack (Intersection)

Bizarre promo for Todd

Uploaded by RundgrenRadio to YouTube

This is from a 1972 movie called "Intersection" that to our knowledge was never released. It's about a 20 minute movie and this is the only part Todd is in and it's just a video.

Little Steven on South Africa and Mr Simon

Great interview on backstreets.com with Steven Van Zandt ahead of Bruce Springsteen and E Street band's South Africa gigs - the first time Bruce has played there.

It is a great interview and very revelaing when he talks about Paul Simon

And he says, “What are you doing defending this guy Mandela?! He’s obviously a communist. My friend Henry Kissinger told me about where all of the money’s coming from,” and all of this. I was, like, all due respect, Paul…

But he had that attitude, and he knowingly and consciously violated the boycott to publicize his record....Yeah, and he actually had the nerve to say, “Well, I paid everybody double-scale.” Remember that one? Oh, that’s nice... no arrogance in that statement, huh?

Three recent Todd mentions in the Press

Robin Zander tell Roger Hillis of the Daily Times that Todd might produce a few tracks ion the next Cheap Trick record: "Actually, I was just talking to Todd Rundgren, and he may do a few tracks. I've been talking to Julian Raymond, too," Zander said. "What I'd like to do is have a bunch of the producers we've worked with in the past produce a couple songs each. We've worked with so many incredible producers, like Roy Thomas Baker and George Martin. Unfortunately, George has retired from doing studio work, but we've also done stuff with Geoff Emerick. We've also talked about possibly doing a 'guests' record where we invite some of our musician friends like Dave Grohl to play with us."

The Wire has a review of the new album from Zanois - "Selfie" which mentioned Todd: "Prog-pop is unjustly overlooked and it's a shame. Zanois may be the genre's only practitioners in New Hampshire, and despite a lack of attention, they keep on producing finely crafted anthems that reach new plateaus of pop bliss. "Selfie," their most recent album, leans heavily toward the accessible end of the pop spectrum, not quite as heavy as Todd Rundgren's "The Ever Popular Tortured Artist Effect," but with the meticulous oddities that fans of the band have come to expect."

And finally, Australia's The Courier Mail has a review by Noel Mengel of the new album by Stephen Malkmus and The Jicks: " The album opens with Planetary Motion's twin lead guitars, a technique so out of fashion that it sounds fresh again, before left-turning into a psych haze somewhere between Todd Rundgren and XTC."

Todd winning the Les Paul Award

Kate McGarry and Keith Ganz: Genevieve & Ferdinand

Kate McGarry's latest record (with Keith Ganz) features a cover of Todd Rundgren's 'Pretending to Care' featuring Gian Slater and Theo Bleckmann on vocals.

Podcast One: 2014

A new year begins and Pete and Scott are stiil talking about albums from 2013 ... until Bruce

Vampire Weekend - Modern Vampires of the City
Placebo - Loud like Love
Bruce Springsteen - High Hopes

BBC Sound of 2014: Sam Smith, Ella Eyre, Banks, Sampha, George Ezra. 

Check out this episode!

Sampha channels Rundgren

I may be the only person to point this out, but London artist Sampha (co-wrote and sang on half of producer SBTRKT’s acclaimed debut album in 2012) has a sound on his recent DUAL Ep that is very reminiscent musically and production-wise/arrangement-wise of early 70s Todd Rundgren.

Here is an example of what I'm talking about -
 

I like this EP a lot.

Spirit of Harmony: Ringo and Co talk about music education

Todd and the members of Ringo's All Star Band on the importance of music education in schools. As part of support for Todd's new Spirit of Harmony charity project to help schools access musical instruments and teaching again.

Google Music Timeline

Google introduces Music Timeline. Fun, althougfh not sure what the popularity based on. Here is the graph for Todd

Todd Who?

A guy called Gavin Bond has created a mini-documentary about Todd , a man who Bond describes as “criminally underrated.” Hopefully it will be made available elsewhere/online soon.

Music Biogs - Very Special and Very Young

Have started the year with two music memoirs / autobiographies: - 

Horace Panter's - Ska'd for Life and Neil Young's - Waging Heavy Peace

Panter's book tells of how he became the bass player in The Specials . It is very good on the UK music scene in the late 70s and early 80s, and on the little niggles that can cause bands to split up.

Here's the masterful, Ghost Town



Young's book is an odd beast. It is almost compulsivley digressive and thus, at times, infuriating. The structure being more a 'stream of consciousness, what shall I write today'. This makes it engaging and infuriating in equal measure. But there are enough heartfelt nuggets and insights within its pages to make it all worthwhile in the end. It is also strangley compelling.

From the album Landing on Water  - his first after he settled the case brought against by Geffen Records for submitting albums that were non-commercial and 'musically uncharacteristic' - Here is Touch the Night.

Jonatha Brooke's Perfect Song

American Songwriter has an interview with Jonatha Brooke formerly of The Story, about her new album, My Mother Has Four Noses, and about other things such as:

What do you consider to be the perfect song, and why?

(With the caveat that this changes pretty frequently….) Today? “Pretending to Care” by Todd Rundgren. It rips my heart out every time. The a cappella arrangement is crazy and powerful. I love how his voice is on the edge in the chorus. All the things I crave are there.

 

[I have to say I agree. Beautiful song]

Podcast Thirteen: 2013 - Albums of 2013

Yes, an excuse to waffle about some of the records that came out in 2013. Best and wost gigs and albums, best song, and more. 

Check out this episode!

Albums of 2013

2013 was the best year for new music in a long time. The general quality of records released was at a level not seen for many a year, so much so that just picking 20 albums proved quite difficult, and picking a top 5 almost imposssible (and the order of my top 3 changes depending on what time of day you ask me). This year I discoverd the music of John Grant, Kacey Musgraves, Brandy Clark, Speedy Ortiz, Chvrches and Laura Mvula, and saw the return of two greats after a long absesne - Bowie and Sabbath.

The Bowie album was, of course, the most unexpected. It is still amazing (considering the world we live in) that he managed to keep not only the album a secret but also the fact that he was even MAKING an album secret. That, when it arrived, it was also very good was a bonus. It is the album I have listened to most in 2013 - which is why it eventually won out over Musgraves and Grant. It plays like a best of album, taking as it does elements of 70s, 80s and 90s bowie in its arrangement and writing, but never feeling like self pastiche. It is a record of 2013. In the post 1980 cut off from Bowie at his faultless best it stands alongside Heathen, Outside, Tin Machine, and Let's Dance as essential Bowie.

Whilst I knew of the Czars and heard a few tracks, and I was also aware of the very positive critical reception that his bebut solo album Queen of Denmark had recieved, I had never really sat down and listen to John Grant until Pale Green Ghosts came out. To say I was hooked immediatley is an understatement. It's quirky blend of electronica and brilliant lyrics had me from the opening track. There is hurt and humour in his songs and a truthfulness that I really love. A beaqutiful songwriter.

Also winning me over with her storytelling was the quite delightful Kacey Musgraves. Modern country music at its best. Taking the essence of the music, placing one foot in the pop pool (although I hope she doesn't do a Taylor Swift and just become a pop act) and wring some wry and well observed lyrics. As for the other 17, all really great records. I hope 2014 can be as good.


1. David Bowie – The Next Day 2. John Grant – Pale Green Ghosts 3. Kacey Musgraves – Same Trailer, Different Park 4. Speedy Ortiz – Major Arcana 5=. Summer Camp – Summer Camp 5=. Chvrches – The Bones of What you Believe 7. The Leisure Society – Alone Board the Ark 8. The Joy Formidable – Wolfs Law 9. Brandy Clark – 12 Stories 10. Duckworth Lewis Method – Sticky Wicket 11. Daft Punk – RAM 12. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Push Away the Sky 13. Haim – Days are Gone 14. The Civil Wars – The Civil Wars 15. Steve Earle & The Dukes and the Duchesses – The Low Highway 16. Roddy Hart & The Lonesome Fire – RH&LF 17. QOTSA - …Like Clockwork 18. Arctic Monkeys - AM 19. Laura Mvula – Sing to the Moon 20. Black Sabbath - 13