Buzz Rant & Rave

A high-energy performance from The Walk Ons at Southpaw:

A mashup of Doctor Who and Monty Python: Doctor Who and the French Dalek

Was there auto-tune on Billy JOel's voice while he sang the national anthem? It sounded a bit processed with that characteristic digital flavor.

It really does seem like it's on autotune. You can see him turn something on before he starts playing as well, though that could be anything. But his voice sounds really weird.

Judge for yourself.

I didn't watch much of the Grammys-- missed The Police and got bored quickly. But the highlight of what I saw was not John Mayer's disturbing guitar solo face nor Gnarls Barkley playing the largo version of Crazy with a ginormous choir. Rather, it was Ornette Coleman in his snazzy suit introducing the nominees for best new artist. He did so by reading all of the lines on the teleprompter, including the cues, "Ornette:" and "Natalie:"

A saxophone-playing robot sorta mostly plays Giant Steps:

(via Boing Boing)

That's how old Kurt Cobain would have been today.

Tonight (2/21) Die Romantik @ Pianos

Tomorrow (2/22) The Walk Ons @ Pianos

Goes Cube plays three NYC shows before heading off to SXSW and a cross-country tour: 2/26 @ Pianos, 2/27 @ Cake Shop, 3/2 @ Pianos

3/2 Gritty Midi Gang, The Muggabears @ Sin-é

3/3 Die Romantik, Mancino @ Union Hall

3/8 Tigers and Monkeys @ Hiro Ballroom

3/8 The Walkmen @ Bowery Ballroom

3/10 The Bosch @ The Annex

3/12 Heavy Trash @ Europa

3/12 The Raveonettes @ Mercury Lounge

3/12 The Good, The Bad and The Queen @ Webster Hall

3/14 Scourge of the Sea @ Mercury Lounge

I'm not particularly excited by any of these "big" reunions rolling out this year. The Police were a great band, and theirs is one of the few reunions that includes all the original members, but they looked rather pathetic at the Grammys. They were supposedly crummy live back in the day anyway.

The Van Halen reunion is apparently now off. Too bad, since David Lee Roth actually looked somewhat human in the press photo. In the end, I don't think we'll ever see a real VH reunion. Eddie is just too nutty these days.

I couldn't care less about a Genesis reunion. I feel like they never truly went away, even if they offically broke up at some point. Phil Collins has had a major solo career since 1980, so the whole thing seems a little silly.

Speaking of reunions, check out this video showing (three-fourths of) Creedence playing their 20th year high school reunion. Based on the dancing on display here, it's safe to say that Creedence were the only cool dudes to emerge from their high school.

I have nothing against the metronome. I certainly could stand to use more time practing with one. And recording with a click track has been a established practice for a long time (though I'm not convinced one way or another whether it always (or never) results in a better-sounding song).

But since when has it been acceptable practice to have a drummer play to a click track during a live show? It's one thing if the band is using some kind of drum loop, an often-but-not-always dubious proposition (Radiohead has done it well). But just having a metronome keeping the time underneath seems wrong somehow. Not to mention that I've seen bands play where you could hear the thing ticking off between songs.

I assume advances in technology have allowed bands of all levels to utilize a computer to help keep the time. For all I know, this practice could have been around among big acts since the 80s. Still, it only seems like recently that I see drummers wearing headphones as they play. Might just be my musical snobbery emerging, but it seems a little weak.

And of course, I couldn't let this post end without a link to the song Metronome by some band called The Bosch.