Todd is God

Click HERE to get the new full-length nine inch nails record: the slip The message from Trent Reznor is " thank you for your continued and loyal support over the years - this one's on me"

The Hold Steady have confirmed the tracklist for their forthcoming LP Stay Positive due out July 15 on Vagrant. The band plans to launch a tour following the record's release. Stay Positive Track List: 1. Constructive Summer 2. Sequestered In Memphis 3. One For The Cutters 4. Navy Sheets 5. Lord, I'm Discouraged 6. Yeah Sapphire 7. Both Crosses 8. Stay Positive 9. Magazines 10. Joke About Jamaica 11. Slapped Actress

Buffallo News' Jeff Miers can't connect with Fee Waybill, so interviews himself playing waybill instead Meanwhile John Hood in the Maimi New Times explains why you should get yourself alkong to the Todd Gig. Hilary McRae , who has just put out her debut record, finds herself opening for Fergie, Natasha Beddingfield, Huey Lewis & The News And Todd Rundgren. A mixed bunch indeed, but after a quick listen, I think the Todd tie-up is a good one.

Chart Attack talk to the Al Doyle of HotChip about the new album and Todd Rundgren I read that you were the Todd Rundgren fan who introduced the band to the Rundgren spoken-word sample that appears on "Shake A Fist?" Alexis was a fan of that album, Something/Anything? too. We didn't know we were both fans until later. When we were soundchecking, I would go to the mic and do that sample and annoy the crap out of everybody in the room. You know, we're planning to go see Todd Rundgren in concert this year. Really? He lives in Hawaii. The label is trying to get us to go and do something with him. I'd love to. He sounds like a totally crazy dude.

Anthony Quinn is today's Independent has an article about screams in songs. "When I think of my favourite moments in pop and rock, it's surprising quite how many of them can be distilled to a singer throwing his or her head back and letting rip a lung-bursting scream". His list of his top 10 includes Todd: 'LOVE IS THE ANSWER' Todd Rundgren I owe a debt here to Giles Smith, whose magisterial essay on Rundgren in his memoir Lost in Music first alerted me to this formative moment. This pop hymn originates from his experimental sideline outfit Utopia, on their 1977 album Oops! Wrong Planet, and features one of those gospel clap-along endings that would usually make me duck for cover. This being Todd, however, he sings over the crescendo like a man possessed, and on the line "If you need a friend" his voice cracks into an impassioned scream (time 3:02) the likes of which could probably never be repeated: believe me, I've tried

Funny how you can almost forget about bands. I saw FSM a couple of times back at the start of the naughties. It was the Buffy the Vampire Slayer soundtrack that introduced me to them and a few others - Bik Naked, Splendid, Rasputina. Those first two gigs were both at the Garage in Islington, and I remember James Marsters (Spike from Buffy) joining the band on stage that first time. No TV guests this time around, and the band are now relegated to a much smaller venue. With a 4th album out last year, showing that they still knew how to craft catchy pop/rock tunes, this was the first chance in around three and a half years fro UK fans to see the band. The set mostly comprised new material from @Hello it's Me'  and songs from their classic ' Thrown to the Wolves'. Also nice to see that their cover of the Cars' 'Just what I needed' is still in the set too. Highlights for me were 'Dilate', 'Pain' and 'Long Way Down'. Good solid support was ...

It's been a while since I listed the latest purchases on the music front, so here's a few things I have bought so far in 2008: Johnny Flynn and The Sussex Wit - Tickle me Pink (EP) Fatally Yours - An Almost Sacred Triumph Laura Marling - Alas I Cannot Swim (Songbox edition) Dolly Parton - Backwoods Barbie Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend Aretha Franklin - The Best of Aretha Franklin Adele - 19 New Young Pony Club - Fantastic Playroom Ingrid Michaelson - Girls & Boys Laura Barrett - Earth Sciences (EP) Alison Moorer - Mockingbird Shelby Lynne - Bob Mould - District Line Motley Crue - Dr Feelgood SaraBeth Tucek - Sarabeth Tucek Sia - Some People Have Real Problems Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Dig Lazarus Dig Blogged with the Flock Browser

Jamebase reviews the debut album from Liam Finn, son of Crowded House's Neil Finn, as says Forget that his dad is Neil Finn and just listen. This is the whole panoply of pop displayed with peacock flair. Liam Finn's debut, I'll Be Lightning (Yep Roc), has the mix of unbridled imagination and tasteful restraint one associates with debuts like Todd Rundgren's Runt and Nick Lowe's Jesus of Cool. But unlike those artists, Finn doesn't have a Nazz or Brinsley Schwarz under his belt to help him with the fundamentals. Apparently, this youngster just gets hooks and heart-strong verses in the way most of us understand breathing or walking - a natural, largely unconscious rightness that keeps things moving along nicely.

Tim Cain at the Illinois Herald & Review joins those who think Todd should be in the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame. "The biggest problem with Rundgren’s career? He’s too talented ... Rundgren could have kept mining the “I Saw the Light”/”Hello It’s Me” style of song, and potentially been an American rival to Elton John on the pop charts for the rest of the 1970s. But he decided to go in other directions. Thus, he created an odd fan base - some loved his pop music, some loved the progressive rock direction he took, and a select few loved it all. (And if you get around any of those people - I know a couple of them - you’ll learn quickly that they love a lot of different kinds of music, and they’re extremely passionate about it.)" Yep...and I'm in that 'select few' group of people who have loved it all, and does - as those looking deeper into this blog would find - have very varied taste in music.

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I love this album - still available free on their website a year after I bought it. But to be honest, it is worth buying.

She may only be 18 but Laura Marling hit upon an interesting idea for the release of her debut album, Alas I can Swim. Why not offer a version that contained a free exclusive gig ticket, the cd and other goodies. Tonight's gig was the second London show to allow those in the south of the country redeem their free ticket, and on tonight's form I don't think she'll have much trouble selling tickets in the old fashioned way, even if her stage presence could do with a little work - she does seem to be staring intensely at a spot on the floor for most of her short set (surely not her lyrics?). But what matters most is the music, and as she reels off the tunes form her debut album one by one, it is hard not to reach the conclusion that you are witnessing someone with a lot of talent and frightening potential. Whilst her voice may lack some variety of emotion perhaps that it may find in a few years, it is still quietly powerful. The likes of Adele and Duffy may be taking m...

I thought this was kind of nice.

First gig of 2008, and it is hard to imagine a more enjoyable one than spending a few hours with Mr & Mrs Earle, some guitars, and a guy with a set of decks. Alison Moorer (Mrs E) kicks off things with a shortish, but wonderful set consisting of a couple of old songs, and a few numbers from her latest album of covers, including good versions of Joni Michell's, 'Both Sides Now' and Patti Smith's, 'Dancing Barefoot' (as originally produced by Todd on the album, Wave). I like Moorer's voive. Like that of her sister Shelby - whose new album is also due in the next couple of months - it has a clean soulful quality. This is particularly highlighted by her choice of finishing song, Sam Cooke's 'A Change Is Gonna Come'. That she does it justice and then some with just voice and guitar sets the bar high for husband Steve. This is the third time, I have seen Earle, but the first time without the Dukes. Can he hold his own just acoustically? Hell yes. W...

Another good interview with Todd, this time from Jam He talks more about the problem with The New Cars "We had an essential problem and that was the member of The Cars who opted not to go on the road also opted not to use the name The Cars," he says. "If we were called The Cars, people would've said, 'Oh, we know who they are. But who the hell are The New Cars?' It just didn't make any sense. It didn't make sense to go to a place and sell fewer tickets than if I was there by myself." About how he is not a big fan of justin timberlake "Nowadays, the price of admission for a new artist is so huge and spent on such stupid things like dance lessons and hiring six keyboard players," he says. "And it's kind of pitiful because the music is awful. I mean Justin Timberlake? Give me a break. He writes a verse, that's it. He writes a verse and the verse becomes the chorus and it just goes on forever." And in still firmly believi...

Just after Christmas I heard about Sarabeth Tucek, and how Bob Dylan liked her etc, so I thought I'd check out her debut album co-produced by Ethan Johns (Kings of Leon/Ryan Adams) and Luther Russell. I was impressed. Impressed enough to take this opportunity to catch her in one of a number of small venue gigs in the uk this month. For my £6, I also got two support acts, who are also worthy of a mention. First up was Helen Boulding - a piano based singer songwriter, who actually reminded me at times of Jill Sobule. Youth produced her debut album - New Red Dress - which comes out on 11th February Next up was Tom McKean And The Emperors. Tom is a Scotish cross between Nick Cave and Tom Waits, with a fine collection of Folk tinged tunes, and is another artist who will be one to watch over the next few years. And so to Sarabeth. When she was good - Holy Smoke, Come Back Baloon, Blowing Kisses, Nobody Cares, Hot Tears, and Something for You, she was very good. BUT, she is quiet - too qu...

Billboard talks to Todd about the new album and the New Cars: On the new 'arena rock' album: Rundgren says he's got "a few" songs already written for the project, and he plans to start working in earnest on it in early February, after he finishes his current North American concert tour. "I write in a very strange way," he explains. "Things are very fragmentary for a very long time, and then they come together very quickly near the end of the process. I don't even write the lyrics to the songs until immediately before I (record) them." On the New Cars: "We couldn't get the rights to use the name the Cars, and the New Cars just confused everybody," Rundgren explains. "We didn't want to have to start all over again. And I've got my own music and my own audience; I had no reason to start trying to begin a new career with another band."

My regular reader - yes, that's you Mr Marquis - will be interested in this one from the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. Rundgren's voting Hillary Clinton, because Barack Obama's brand of hope "can't get us out of this mess. "I look at politics as a subset of sociology," he says. "It's about this aspect of people's behavior that involves empowerment, where people are essentially motivated by things that all human beings possess inside them, and is moderated by the social contract." In other words, if our behavior is wired to allow for the Gordon Gecko credo of "greed is good," as the 1987 film Wall Street famously illustrated, "then people will be greedy," Rundgren says. "You can see it in the chipmunk who seems about to make its head explode with the number of acorns in its mouth, and still it's trying to get another one in. "If you are on the right side of the capitalistic equation, you can talk a lo...

Sam Richards in yesterday's Guardian Guide put out a call to 'Rescue Todd Rundgren from AOR purgatory' "1973's A Wizard, A True Star: an astonishing Technicolor carnival that touched on psych rock, bubblegum pop, prog, Broadway show tunes and Philly soul. It was harmonically richer and more ambitiously deranged than The White Album and prefigured Prince's Purple Rain by a decade, but Rolling Stone called it a "campy catastrophe" and Rundgren was branded a pasticheur" Todd is God