Todd is God

The one where we ditch the ho ho ho's and instead talk about: Kiss, Pet Shop Boys, Fishbone, NIN, Spirit and David Bowie (and not a little drummer boy in sight). Check out this episode!

Dave Gahan & Soulsavers - Angels & Ghosts Little Mix - Get Weird Oneohtrix Point Never - Garden of Delete Derrhunter - Fading Frontier Anna Von Hausswolff - The Miraculous Grimes - Art Angels Check out this episode!

So, there I was watching the (rather patchy) A Very Murray Christmas on Nextflix last night when mid programme Jason Schwartzman and Rashida Jones (playing a couple who are meant to be getting married) launch into a duet of 'I Saw the Light'. Made me smile. The presence of Paul Shaffer and David Johansen (both artists produced by Todd) made this even funnier.

Davey Lane Spoke, guitarist with Aussie band  You am I was asked the following question in an interview (21 Nov) published in Townsvilleeye WHAT SONG ARE YOU JEALOUS OF? WHAT SONG DO YOU WISH YOU HAD WRITTEN? " One of my favourite songs of all time is a song called International Feel by Todd Rundgren and that's on his album A Wizard, A True Star. It's a pretty short song but just in terms of the song itself and the production. I've talked about it with the guys from Tame Impala because they're all big Todd Rundgren fans too and if there's anything that's a template for what I've set out to achieve it probably would start with that song."

Chvrches - Every Open Eye John Grant - Grey Tickles, Black Pressure New Order - Music Complete Deafheaven - New Bermuda Janet Jackson - Unbreakable Taylor Swift/Ryan Adams - 1989 Check out this episode!

This list of 50 Classic Albums of Nashville's Post-Dylan Era, Part I (1966-72) from the Nashville Scene has two mentions of  Todd: Dennis Linde, Linde Manor (Intrepid/Mercury, 1970) Today, the Texas-born Linde is probably best known for writing such hits as "Burning Love," definitively recorded by Elvis Presley. But Linde, who died in 2006, was Nashville's equivalent to Todd Rundgren — an experimental pop musician. Produced by Jerry Kennedy and Billy Swan at Wayne Moss' Cinderella Studios, Linde Manor features horn arrangements by Bergen White. DJ Shadow sampled the title track on his 1996 trip-hop classic Endtroducing. Great Speckled Bird, Great Speckled Bird (Ampex, 1970) Moderately famous as Todd Rundgren's first production credit, Great Speckled Bird was a Nashville version of the kind of folk-rock Fairport Convention was making at the same time. "Rio Grande" was about a cocaine bust, while "Smiling Wine" was straight cou...

S. Victor Aaron over at Something Else cast thoughts back to Arena, correctly describing it as ' unabashed, hook-filled fun.'

It's autumn or fall but the music is still coming. This month we cast our ears over The Libertines - Anthems for a Doomed Youth Craig Finn - Faith in the Future David Gilmour - Rattle that Lock Keith Richards - Crosseyed Heart Dam Funk - Invite the Light Duran Duran - Paper Gods Check out this episode!

"I just got off a tour with him. I learned a lot from the tour bus. He’s a little aloof, but he’s a genius. I didn’t realize he was a tough guy, but he’s a sensitive guy as well, by the lyrics that he’s written. There’s a lot of positive material; a lot of cynical stuff too. It just came about because a few people invited him to Funkosphere, which is my club. He ended up saying, “You know what? I can’t make it there, but are you interested in going on tour?” Because he wants to not take a band anymore, just go for a DJ type of vibe. I’m not even DJing, I just play keyboards and background vocals." What was the most surprising thing you learned on tour with him? That he’s really prompt. That’s what taught me about in the future, and even now with my band, staying on time, being in the lobby at the right time, starting the soundcheck at the right time. He’s very professional. He’s very methodical. Every set each night went the same way. And it was good because every audienc...

Feels like the end of summer doesn't it Frank Turner - Positive Songs for Negative People Foals - What Went Down Public Enemy - Man Plans God Laughs Ghostfaced Killah - Adrian Younge presents 12 Reasons to Die II Chelsea Wolfe - Abyss Wilco - StarWars Check out this episode!

Michael Austin in his Orlando Sentinel (Florida) article ' How to take wine just seriously enough' has one of my favourite throw away Todd mentions I've seen in a while: " Dogs are funny and wine culture can still be a little too serious, even today. For the people who make it, serve it and sell it, OK. It's your business -- you can be serious about that side of it. But for the rest of us who have no obligation other than to enjoy it and simply appreciate it for what it is, let's keep it fun. Even though wine is one of our greatest creations -- right up there with language, flight, medicine and the music of Rush and Todd Rundgren -- let's not fetishize it." Meanwhile another review for the Runddans album - this time from The Age in Australia. Todd Rundgren is mercurial. In his long career he's been a guitar-shredding rock star, a creator of sublime pop, recording studio wizard, pioneer in the use of synthesisers, he's dabble...

Seether is neither black nor white ... Yes, another helping of mimbling and rambling from your friends at CTTB Veruca Salt - Ghost Notes Jason Isbell - Somethinh More than Free Joy Williams - Venus Ashley Monroe -The Blade Tame Impala - Currents The Chemical Brothers - Born into the Echoes  Check out this episode!

The Onion's AVC Club spoke to John AVC: You’ve got a great story in  Anger Is An Energy  about how, while you were making  Psycho’s Path , you spent an evening sitting, drinking, and listening to music with Todd Rundgren. JL:  Yes! What a great fella he can be. And in a madhouse way, you would never expect a chap like him or me to get on with each other. Well, we did! I introduced him to things that he hadn’t heard. His music is very soulful, really. White soul, which is not to say invalid at all. It’s a very seriously interesting thing. But I played a Tim Buckley track to him that he hadn’t heard of called “ Sweet Surrender ,” and we hit it off musically. We’re sort of on the same page, but very different from each other. And he’s a  great  drinker. [Laughs.] You know, you’ve got to come fully prepared for the man! But more so than that, he’s a great  thinker . And I’m always—always!—happy in the company of thinkers. AVC: Could you imagine wo...

In the words of the great Billy Idol, it was hot in the city, hot in the city tonight for this recording. Studio fans set to hurricain. Kacey Musgaves - Pagaent Material Faith No MOre - Sol Invictus Giorgio Moroder - Deja Vu Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp a Butterfly Florence & The Machine - How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful Summer Camp - Bad Love Check out this episode!

John Lydon: "Oh, I really love Todd Rundgren. His whole attitude musically is thrilling. He does what he wants to do, therefore he gains maximum interest no matter what he gets up to, for me. I would say he was more punk than a lot of these wannabes because of the variances and the challenges he gives himself musically, which is massively entertaining. That's inspiring stuff to me. People that don't wear the uniform of genres will always thrill me." [Goldmine, July 2015]

Paste magazine talks to Todd and Dam about the tour.

The LA Record has a really enjoyable interview with Todd conducted by  Jonathan Rado   of  Foxygen Some good insight into the making of  Something / Anything   and comments about   Skrillex (and the longevity of atmospheric music) I agree with too.

We've come over all electronica this month. Whether or not that is a good thing or not, you'll need to listen and find out. Also do we REALLY need a new Blur album?  Blur – The Magic Whip MG – MG Rundgren /Nikolaisen/ Lindstrøm - Runddans Blanck Mass - Dumb Flesh Speedy Ortiz - Foil Deer Hot Chip - Why Make Sense? Check out this episode!

The Guardian review of the new ( v good) Paul Weller Album makes a mention of Todd. " Weller is a magpie in terms of where he finds inspiration. Long Time chugs along menacingly like the Stooges' I Wanna Be Your Dog, while Going My Way's simple refrain veers into a Todd Rundgren -meets-the Beach Boys stomp."

Great Interview in Rolling Stone with Hans-Peter, Emil and Todd   Runddans means "rondel" in Danish, "circular object," and the title of one track is "Rundt Rundt Rundt" – around, around, around. Rundgren: "That's the central theme. The chords keep repeating, and it's hard to tell where the beginning of the sequence is. It's like an aural illusion where the sound sounds like its continually ascending when it's really repeating a cycle of harmonics. It's like you're tuning in a cosmic radio that keeps playing the same song over and over again – but it comes out different every time. It's like Groundhog Day. We refer to it as "the beginning and end of all music."  Meanwhile, Angus Findlayson at Resident Advisor is not totally convinced: "Runddans is an intriguing and sometimes fun experiment, but it's not quite a meeting of great musical minds. A pessimist might say that they've missed one an...

Ben Beaumont-Thomas in Yesterday's Guardian called Runddans "A deliriously camp treat."

Onion/AV Club has a really nice interview with Todd about Runddans and other things. On Runddans: "It’s totally sideways. Actually we worked on this project over the past almost three years, I guess. It started out as something relatively small and concise and then it just kept spreading like a disease. I guess we finally got to the point where we couldn’t think of anything else to do with it anymore and decided to wrap it up and release it. So it is something that is different by today’s terms for the most part because it isn’t songs."

Pop Matters reviews Runddans and doesn't really get it: "Rundgren’s presence is mostly limited to some lyric-less chiming, and even those tracks—“Put Your Arms Around Me” and “Altar of Kauaian Six String”—the songs where his participation is most apparent, yield results that are, in an actual song sense, almost negligible. Fans of psychedelic soirees ala early Syd Barrett-led Pink Floyd will likely find satisfaction. As for everyone else, well, suffice it to say, drugs of another sort may indeed be needed." P.S. I gave it a listen this morning and I think it is one which will be a marmite album.

The Philadelphia Inquirer on Sunday reviewed the new album from Action Bronson – "Mr. Wonderful" saying " Bronson's back-and-forth between grainy, soulful singing and rapping comes across like a modern-day Todd Rundgren circa "I Saw the Light.""

XLR8R has a good interview with Hans-Peter Lindstrøm on what it was like working with Todd and Emil on the Runddans album and more detail son how it came about and who did what. "[I]t’s not the kind of album that you put on and do some work while it’s playing; you really have to concentrate, I think. And you’ll get different things out of it every time you listen—there are a lot of musical references to Todd’s past, for instance, and all kinds of things that are important to us, and that we hope listeners will enjoy as well. So, basically, it’s serious listening music."

The Guardian says of the collaboration "The vibe is more often trippy and transcendental than indulgent, whereas even the most far-out moments fail to disguise Rundgren’s pop nous, most evident in the synth rushes of Put Your Arms Around Me and the electrifying soloing that follows it."

PING! Yes, a new podcast and some Todd to talk about. But there is more with 3rd album's galore. The Prodigy - The Day is My Enemy Todd Rundgren - Global Halestorm - Into the Wild Laura Marling - Short Movie Marina & The Diamonds - Froot Waxahatchee - Ivy Tripp Check out this episode!

30 Years of Todd on Letterman Meanwhile John Mellencamp asks why Todd isn't in the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame

  Advance stream of Todd Rundgren’s quite straight version of “You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away,” from the forthcoming multi-artist Cleopatra album  Keep Calm and Salute the Beatles.

Q Magazine in a 2 star review says whilst Global is 'more cheery than 2013's State' it is 'less appealing'. Mojo Magazine too are not feeling the love, stating it lacks " the quality of songwriting in his best best work from the '70s" The Evening Telegraph's Kevin Bryan says: " It's not the most subtle offering that Rundgren has ever unleashed on his discerning devotees but as an exercise in rather superior synth-based dance music it fulfils its function more than adequately, with Evrybody, Blind and Terra Firma emerging as the best of the bunch." Meanwhile, Record Collector's Joseph Adair says: " Global   is as pastiche-y as the album’s cartoon-styled portrait sleeve, but no less enjoyable for that"   in its 3 star review.

There is an interview with Todd in the ClevelandPlain Dealer where he once again speaks up against artist that are obsessed with maintaining the album/CD cash cow    “The performing is what you’re there for,” he said. “Musicians have to be reminded that 120 years ago, there was no such thing as a record industry. Since then, artists have come to rely on album sales for the bulk of their income. But with today’s technology, where anyone can record and distribute a record via programs such as Pro Tools or Garage Band and sites such as Soundcloud and Reverbnation, it’s almost as if we’re going back to the good old days.The changes only highlight the fact that the live performance is the most essential part of a musician’s life, and the rest is all merchandise,” he said.

Goldmine magazine spoke to Todd and have him on the cover of the latest issue (April) . Things he talks about include: The new album: With "Global," there's a song called "Flesh and Blood," and that's about the phenomenon if you create the right sort atmosphere and the right music and the right place you can turn tens of thousands of people into a single organism. And that's kind of what you need to accomplish the stuff that we need to accomplish. We need to be able to unify people in that way, and music is one of those things that in some way short circuits people's brains (laughs) and makes them stop thinking about other things and focus on the thing that you're dealing with right now.  The Beatles ( and Deface the Music): The reason why we did that record wasn't really because we had some long standing desire to make a Beatles-style record; we were kind of contrarians. The Knack was really hot at the time with "My Sharona....

Asbury Park Press (New Jersey) has an interview with Blues Magoos' Peppy Castro, and Todd gets a mention. Castro discussed the prospect of revisiting his band's signature song. "When we were really young, I remember thinking to myself I loved a guy like Todd Rundgren who always re-invented himself and always went on to new things," he recalled. "And I said, 'Oh God, please don't let me have to keep playing "We Ain't Got Nothin' Yet" for the next 40 years and beat it to death and become an imitation of myself. Well, due to circumstances beyond my control and the band being a one-hit wonder, that was never the case."  Personally the thing that always struck me about the song was how blatant a rip off Deep Purple's Black Night was

Timothy Finn at the Kansas City Star gave the new tour a big thumbs up. In his review "[H]e concentrated on his 25th solo album, “Global,” and performed against a backdrop of throbbing synthesizers and programmed drums.  It could easily have been a mess. It was enthralling." Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/ent-columns-blogs/back-to-rockville/article18849894.html#storylink=cpy

I Wanna Thank You (For Steppin' Into My Life) - (performed by Dam Funk) Evrybody Flesh and Blood Rise Truth Secret Society Ping Me Earth Mother Skyscraper Party Liquor Blind Smoke Holyland Terra Firma Today One World Future Global Nation Soothe Can We Still Be Friends / I Saw the Light / Hello It's Me Worldwide Epiphany This Island Earth Encore: International Feel Just One Victory

Soothe International Feel & Just One Victory

The Straits Times (Singapore)has an article (behind paywall) 'An Eden where time stands still' on the the music of Ralegh Long stating "his magic-realist ideas are more aligned with those of English originals Nick Drake, early Todd Rundgren and Vashti Bunyan, rather than the more urbane musings of his contemporaries."

First video from the new Todd tour from mrtrips99 on YouTube

Here's a video interview with Todd and Dam Funk. So when did you guys meet ... 'This morning' Classic.

Howard Whitman at Technology Tell  gives the album a thumbs up. He gives us a track by track break down of the album and concludes (correctly in my view) that  " the hits far outweigh the misses." Sam Moore at Drowned in Sound gives the album six out of ten in a review that says "   it’s a credit to Rundgren that he can still make this 20-something listener sit up and take notice" and concludes   " Global isn’t a bad album – it’s just the product of a gifted artist who’s remaining true to the now-dispended-with culture of being able to make a record out of every creative idea he has. "   Lee Zimmerman at Blurt gives the album a three star (out of five) rating and calls it " a welcome return."

So, it's here. The 25 th solo album from Mr Rundgren. Let's start off by saying that Global is a continuation of musical ideas explored on the last album State . The main problem with State (which has good stuff on it) was it felt like the gimmick of adding more EDM into the mix resulted in that often leading and overwhelming the songs, rather than the songs leading the need for the addition of an EDM feel. I think this has been addressed on Global , where (regardless of whether you think it works or not) it's the songs that seem dictate the need for the musical style. This makes Global a much more accessible and ultimately more enjoyable than State . It all kicks off with a Evrybody , a silly, frothy pop song. It's a catchy sing-a-long that is hard not to want to join in with. From there on in we move from straight out EDM ( Global Nation, Flesh and Blood ) a throw back to 80s Utopia and ' So' era Peter Gabriel ( Skyscraper ), some funk pop ( Earth...

Really good interview with Todd in Rock Cellar magazine, where he talks about the album and the current state of music. And Todd doesn't hold back in his dislike for some of pop music's current top artists: "I can’t stand the modern generation of young pop artists pretty much. So your Taylor Swifts and your Katy Perrys, just “neener-neener-neener,” I’d stick my fingers into my ears...so many of these people have no talent. Or they just get produced up the freaking wazoo. And you don’t know whether they actually can do any of the things that they supposedly do." He also talks about the lyrical inspirations of the album including global warming etc "Probably the biggest bane to us dealing with these problems is the human potential for inertia. The fact that people just hate changing – which is the essence of conservatism. Conservatism means to resist change, to hold onto the past for as long as possible.Unfortunately, that past is gone. There is no past to...

Todd was a guest lecturer for a week at the University of Colorado Denver's School of Music, and this was from the concert Thursday evening of that week:

The Park Record has an interview with Todd about the new album and production in general. "It's the reason why I never developed a particular style as a producer. My reputation is that I could take a new artist who wasn't sure of what they wanted or an established artist who had hit a dead end and be able to get something different out of them." There is a really good interview on Songfacts about the new album and some old stuff too, including this on my fav The Psychedelic Furs track: Songfacts: Todd, "Love My Way." Whose idea was the marimbas? Todd: They had a demo of the song, and I don't remember what the instrument was that they were using. It might've been just a guitar. But I happened to have the marimbas in the studio. I happened to have owned a set of marimbas. So I thought, Well, let's see what it sounds like with the marimbas. And it turned out that the little musical theme just sounded perfect with the marimbas, and b...

"Apart from rollicking opener Evrybody, much of this doesn't bear comparison with his 70s pomp." - Scottish Express (10 Apr) "Global sounds more like the work of a teenage bedroom DJ than a 66-year-old veteran with 25 albums under his belt, but this is a poor showcase for a man of his talent and originality." - The Times (10 Apr) "Global" sounds sterile. Even the clever moments simply sound like Rundgren having a good old time with the Garage Band app. The exceptions are the beautiful ballad "Soothe," a yearning-infused piece with a killer melody and pathos-drenched lyrics; and the album-concluding one-two punch of "Skyscraper" (power-pop masquerading as EDM with soul overtones) and "This Island Earth," which would've been at home on Rundgren's far more successful electronic music collection "Liars." - Buffalo News (NY) 12th Apr

Don't know about elsewhere but in UK, the release of the new Todd album has slipped until next week - was originally due out today. Slightly annoying. 

Martin Townsend of the Sunday Express Newspaper says of Global:- "EVEN a partial return to form by Rundgren, one of the finest singer/songwriters of the past 40 years, would have been a revelation. But Global, his 25th solo album, turns out to be a gem."

Tidal launched or (re)launched yesterday - here's  my take on my other blog, and here's a reason why you might want to, at least, trial it for a month: According to NME "there are playlists curated by Arcade Fire, Jay Z, Beyoncé and Coldplay, plus a preview of Todd Rundgren’s new collaboration with Lindstrøm and Emil Nikolaisen." maybe a reason to sign up for the free month and then cancel. There is a press release too with more on the album  “It’s almost like a train ride, going through little towns, big cities and rural fields, giant thresholds over great valleys, through mountain tunnels and things like that. The only way I can characterize it is like this journey, and it’s of such a character that it doesn’t have the typical linearity to it.” - TR In other news the latest issue of Q Magazine does NOT have a review of the new Todd album (unless it was well hidden) .

Black Sabbath: Symptom of the Universe Mick Wall St. Martin’s Press Pub Date : Apr 14 2015 This book seems to have originally come out back in 2013, so I’m not totally sure if this is just a re-issue or just a new version? Not sure. Anyway. Growing up in the midlands during the 1970’s and early 80’s it was impossible not to be aware of Black Sabbath. My first exposure to them was through my brother who owned their first few albums. It was initially a bit too bleak for my then young ears, and it wasn’t until  Paranoid  that I saw anything to like –  WarPigs, Iron Man  and  NIB  would then quickly become favourites. However, if I’m honest my first real ‘love’ in Sabbath terms was when Ronnie James Dio joined the band, and Heaven and Hell and Mob Rules came out. I loved both of these records. It was only later that I really stated to get into the original Ozzy period more earnestly and diligently. I came to this book knowing some of the story ...

UK Music mag Mojo reviews the new album 'Global' giving it just two stars and comments "Rundgren remains unpredictable, Impressively so, but he is better than this." Meanwhile Todd tell's Billboard (who have a stream of the track Rise) where the album was coming from lyrically:- "Most of my albums have been insular and about self-examination, and this is a little more about the collective and the issues that face everybody. I wanted to make a record that was sort of simultaneously like a cheerleading record but at the same time not letting anyone forget that we have issues that can only be addressed collectively."

Apr 26, 2015, 7:30 p.m. ET   Hard Rock Rocksino Northfield Park - Hard Rock Live, Northfield, OH https://screen.yahoo.com/live/event/todd-rundgren Promoted with a great clip of Black Maria 

Toro Y Moi releases What For?  this week an album the record's press release describes as . “The music is influenced by bands like Big Star, Talking Heads, Tim Maia, Todd Rundgren, but it doesn’t quite sound like any of them in particular. And it isn’t trying to. It has that special something that Chaz imbues in every Toro Y Moi album, his personal filter on the world he experiences”

These are the five albums that have made the most impression on me so far in 2015. Female voices to the fore, and still waiting for first real 'rock' fix. BC Camplight - How to Die in the North Susanne Sundfor -   10 Love Songs Nathalie Prass - Nathalie Prass Allison Moorer - Down To Believing The Unthanks - Mount the Air

Loring Wirbel from the Colorado Springs Independent describes parts of the new Kendrick Lamar album - To Pimp a Butterfly -   to Todd.  "The keyboards and wild sax riffs add a collage-like quality that sometimes suggests a hip-hop version of Todd Rundgren's A Wizard, A True Star.... A genuine magnum opus."

Erol Alkan , London-based electro DJ , is already working on a remix of the Runddans album 

New Book : It's a collection of 55 essays previously featured in Epiphanies, a column which has been running in magazine the Wire since 1998, and over that time its contributors have each written about singular moments of musical realisations.  The Collection includes an essay by Edwin Pouncey (AKA Savage Pencil ) on Todd Rundgren's sweet soul music.  Pouncey, as well as being in bands in his youth, was also responsible for album covers for bands such as the Fall and Sonic Youth  

Pop, Rock and Country all in the mix this month. Susanne Sundfor - 10 Love Songs Father John Misty - I love You, Honeybear Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds - Chasing Yesterday Charli XCX - Sucker The Shires - Brave Black Star Riders - The Killer Instinct       Check out this episode!

There is a piece on Todd and a review of Global in the May edition of Uncut Magazine. In the article he mentions that he's been working on a collaboration with The Roots (their music , his vocals and guitar), and signing on as choir-master forthe stage adaptation of Bat out of Hell. Of Global he says sees it "like an '80s record, at the point where new wave moves into synth pop, like Depeche Mode or something." The review of the album gives it 6/10 saying 'he always wants to explore idiosyncratic digital terrains:admirable but ... not always convincing" Singles out Earth Mother, Soothe, Blind and Holyland as highlights.

Reuters reports that the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to revive a lawsuit by singer-songwriter Todd Rundgren and his wife Michele accusing JPMorgan Chase of wrongfully attempting to foreclose on the couple's Kilauea, Hawaii home.  The court's rejection of the couple's appeal lets stand a lower court's dismissal of their claims for damages and an order to stop a foreclosure sale.

This one comes from BAM South and concludes: “Global” is a strange, but vital, mix of party anthems, dance tracks and foreboding warnings. I believe this particular record has a very good chance of being one of Rundgren’s most successful in years because it is accessible while simultaneously retaining the quirky and brilliant individuality which is the modus operandi of all Todd Rundgren work."

A Limited edition 12" single of Todd Rundgren / Lindstrom / Emil Nikolaisen - Put Your Arms Around Me will be released for this year's RSD.

Rolling Stone (Australia) has an interview with Tobias Jesso Jr. , a Canadian singer songwriter (who he counts Taylor Swift and Adele as fans) whose debut album, Goon , they claim is one of the most anticipated of the year. Clearly if I am mentioning this at all you know that he must mention Todd, and he does. With its sunny melodies and heartsick subject matter, Goon earned comparisons to Harry Nilsson, Nick Drake, Randy Newman and Todd Rundgren – artists Jesso wasn't even familiar with. "I wasn't a big music-digger," he admits. "When it came to oldies stuff, I didn't know Todd Rundgren and Harry Nilsson and stuff like that, but when I was writing, J.R. [White] would say, 'I get this Todd Rundgren vibe.' He would send me those songs, and then I'd learn the chords." Still, Jesso says, he wants a contemporary record and plans to move away from the throwback.

The Yahoo Music blog has one of the best discussions on the terrible 'Blurred Lines' court decision yesterday (now being appealed), and mentioned Todd in doing so: "Was Christina Aguilera paying tribute to or stealing from the Andrews Sisters with “Candyman”? Should the Beatles have sued the Knickerbockers for “Lies”? Or the Rutles, the Dukes of Stratosphere, and Todd Rundgren’s Utopia, all of whom recorded delectable Beatles soundalike albums, with varying degrees of straight faces? " In case you missed it, Blurred Lines songwriters – Pharrell Wiliams, TI and Thicke – have already been ordered to pay Marvin Gaye’s family $7.3m in damages for the infringement. Now lawyers say they want to stop sales of the song altogether. Now it seems the lawyers representing Gaye’s family, want to prevent further sales of the song until songwriting/future royalties sorted out. They told Rolling Stone: “We’ll be asking the court to enter an injunction prohibiting the fur...

Tuesday's The Albany Herald (Georgia) had a nice interview with Ernie Isley of the Isley Brothers, where he mentioned Todd. Does it bother you that some of your songs may be better known by other artists’ versions? "It’s a feather in our cap. It’s just like us doing Seals and Crofts’ “Summer Breeze” or Todd Rundgren’s “Hello It’s Me.” We all like that. I ran into Todd in California when he was doing an interview and stuck my head in the door. I said, “Hello, it’s me.” We both had a big laugh at that."

Todd gets a passing mention in a review of new Taylor Locke album - Time Stands Still. According to Scottish Daily Express today the influences included The Beatles and The Cars. "But there is also a Laurel Canyon vibe going on, especially on breezy opener Burbank Woman, which has a Jackson Browne/Todd Rundgren feel to it."

Pitchfork has details about the Runddans album including some snippets behind a Todd interview explaining how it came about. Sounds like a throw back to 70s experimental Todd. Billed as a "spiritual magnum opus," it is one single (sub divided) track that spans 39 minutes, and is said to fuse Rundgren's "trippy. blue-eyed soul" with Lindstrom's "disco epics" and Nikolaisen's "studio trickery" to result in a "cosmic mix of soul, synth, pop, and disco". Going to be interesting this one.

All Music reviews the new Todd album , and awards it three and a half stars (out of five). "[I]t's perched at a point between the past and the present, protest and satire, and that inscrutability is often where Rundgren does interesting work."

" Global is essentially what I learned making State , merged with my more traditional approaches to songwriting and album production." Vintage Rock talks to Todd about the new album and the writing process. Good interview. Todd points to a couple of his favourite album:  "I think two of the best records of my career came out of that period, Nearly Human and 2nd Wind. Those two records I am especially fond of." Meanwhile, Argentinian publication Pagina/12 has an brief interview with Todd too (think done a while back)

British singer Rumer, who has previously covered Todd's 'Be Nice to Me' , is currently doing a version of 'Love is the Answer' in her live set.

There's seventies mood over a large slice of this month's podcast.   The Decemberists - What a Terrible World, What a Beautiful World Belle & Sebastian - Girls in Peacetime Want to Dance BC Camplight - How to Die in the North Nathalie Prass - Nathalie Prass Meghan Trainor - Title Gaz Coombs - Matador Check out this episode!

OK, this is interesting. The new Whitesnake  album [out  in Europe on May 15th, the UK on May 18th and in North America on May 19th] is called The Purple Album  and   is a re-imagining/covers album of Deep Purple songs from David Coverdale’s time as lead singer. 

The AV Club has a review of   Dan Deacon's new album Gliss Riffer " "The first half of the record plays to the cheap seats, with slices of catchy, hummable melodies and baldly commercial vocals seemingly designed for maximum pop appeal. This isn’t shocking—Deacon has always been a populist, especially in his live shows—but it still feels a bit off-putting to hear the first single, “ Feel The Lightning ,” come across like the love child of Daft Punk and Todd Rundgren." I'm often Told I hear 'Todd' everywhere, but it wasn't especially something that came to mind with this. Brit synth pop of the 80s and 90s, yes, Todd not so much.

Rundgren Radio spoke to Todd and got the low down on the new record and the tour.  As I mentioned last week Dam Funk is going to be the tour DJ, and he will essentially be 'the band' on this tour.  Also of interest was that Todd doesn't rule out a possible Utopia reunion tour for 2016. Says he and Kaz have talked about it but that it would need to be for a proper tour with proper rehearsal time so that it wasn't just a going through the motions exercise. 

The Smalltown Supersound label Instagram account has a visual update on the collaborative album between Todd and Norwegian DJ and producer Lindstrøm and fellow Norwegian Emil Nikolaisen of alt-rock band Serena-Maneesh, that I first mentioned on the blog a year ago. The intragram shows a white label vinyl with the caption: "Testpressing approved" So it looks like we'll have two 'Todd' albums this year.

Todd Rundgren shares his thoughts on his own music educational experience - as well as his Spirit of Harmony Foundation - as well as the strong need to bring back a dynamic music educational program in our schools on Storytime from PRX.

According to Paul Lester at The Guardian, Dâm-Funk is due to be the DJ on Todd's summer tour. That sounds cool. A great DJ and a man who if you check out his interviews over the years mentions Todd a lot.

The lead track off the new Todd album (very much a 'State' style dance track) is out today. Simple repetative beat and lyrics, but after a couple of listens I think I'm sold. Full preview of album is also available via iTunes

Since I was talking about Kasim the other day,  thought I'd also share this interview with him from Goldmine - lot of interesting stuff including read between the lines answers such as: GM:  Richie Sambora. KS:  You don’t get any nicer than Richie. You just don’t. GM:  Then what the hell happened with him and Bon Jovi? KS:  I don’t know if I should say this … GM:  Oh, c’mon … KS:  You work with someone enough and you contribute to them enough over the years, through the course of your career, and you’re still second fiddle, when, in reality, they would not be who they are were it not for you. That’s when you go, “Y’know what? I got my millions. I’m OK. I don’t necessarily need to be in this position anymore. It’s painful. So I’m just going to take my toys, and you go have a good time without me.”

Over at the Guardian, Paul Lester (who can see Todd anywhere - bit like me) comments on new band Swim Mountain and says their sound "draws on “60s studio ethics and modern production techniques … the harmony-heavy songwriters of the 60s and 70s (Rod Argent and Colin Blunstone, Rundgren, Nilsson and the Wilson brothers) "

The Guardian yesterday published a powerpop - ten of the best list and quite rightly Todd was on it. 1  Todd Rundgren - Couldn’t I Just Tell You Powerpop, some say, began with  Emitt Rhodes ’s 1970 debut album or Badfinger’s  Magic Christian Music  (also 1970), but really those were more like late Beatles works. Powerpop may have drawn on the 60s – in fact, there is a school of thought that has the Beatles, the Beach Boys, the Who and the Small Faces as original powerpoppers – but powerpop is really a 70s invention. It’s about young musicians missing the 60s but taking its sound in new directions. In its insistence on brevity, energy and melody, powerpop was not just an alternative to prog and the hippy troubadours, but a cousin to glam. And like glam, it has a claim to being one of the first postmodern genres. This is largely a 70s list because powerpop is era-specific. You can re-create it outside the time from which it came, but it becomes something diffe...