The Greatest American Band Debate: Weezer

SeedSing is filled with music lovers. We can not agree on who is the best band from the States. The Greatest American Band Debate will be a regular feature where we discuss and compare bands who started in the good old USA. If you have any suggestions of bands we should debate Contact us seedsing.rdk@gmail.com

My next entrant for our Greatest American Band debate on the website is Weezer.

I love Weezer. That's to say I love Weezer's first two albums. Their stuff after that is okay, they've even had mega hits like "Islands in the Sun" and "Beverly Hills". I love the song "Beverly Hills". It's really catchy and Rivers Cuomo plays some sweet guitar on the song. His solo at the end is epic. But, while I enjoy those albums, they don't come anywhere close to the "Blue Album" and the highly and undeservedly underrated "Pinkerton".

That's the case I will make for Weezer today. I feel like those first two albums are so excellent, catchy and memorable that they belong in the conversation. Weezer may be the greatest rock/pop group of all time and those two albums are Weezer at their peak. Cuomo is at his writing peak and his guitar playing is phenomenal. His band is at the top of their game as well. Let's first talk about the "Blue Album". This was the title given by the fans, it's actually a self titled record, but everyone knows it as the "Blue Album". From start to finish this album is rock/pop at its finest. The opening track, "My Name is Jonas" has a great guitar riff and the lyrics are so well written. For example, "buildings not going as we planned, the foreman had injured his hand, the driver says hey man we go all the way of course he knows we need to pay". That's pop music at its best. The song is so well known, it appeared on the very first Guitar Hero game for Playstation. The hits on the album are the unforgettable "Sweater Song", "Say it Ain't So" and the catchiest song I've ever heard "Buddy Holly". The "Sweater Song" is one of the coolest, most unique tunes I've ever heard. There's a real simple, real cool guitar riff that builds to a huge crescendo at the end. It's a great song, go listen to it right now, you'll love it. "Say it Ain't So" is super sad, but also great. It's about a falling out between a father and son. It's the millennial version of "Cat's in the Cradle". It's so sad, but it's great, great guitar and a real cool, almost up tempo bridge. It's a great song. Everyone knows the video for "Buddy Holly". Spike Jonze directed it and used "Happy Days" as the back drop. It was a super inventive idea at the time and it worked to perfection. The video is almost as memorable as the song. It's really cool. "Buddy Holly" is the quintessential rock/pop song. It's such a perfect pop song, with a sing a long chorus like no other song. The rock element is right there as well with distorted guitars and heavy drums. It was lightening in a bottle. It's such a great song. That would be enough to put them in this conversation. They also have other great songs on the "Blue Album". "Only in Dreams" is a seven minute gem of a rock song. "The World Has Turned" is another great track with awesome guitar. My personal favorite is "Surf Wax America". It has all the best elements of a 50's era surf song, but Weezer puts their touch to it and it's a home run. When they whisper sing, " you'll take your car to work, I'll take my board and when your out of fuel, I'm still afloat", I get giddy the louder and heavier it gets. It's a perfect song. I love it.

The highly anticipated follow up to the "Blue Album" was, at the time and still a bit today, the extremely underrated "Pinkerton". This album is a masterpiece. This record even has a myth to it. The story goes, Cuomo was obsessed with an Asian girl he met on tour, wrote this record for her, she basically rejected him and he, supposedly, wouldn't play any of the songs live. I thought this was still the case when I saw them in 2002, but not true. They played a couple of songs off the album much to my surprise. This is such a great, great album. The "hit", if there's one, would have to be "El Scorcho". This is a real cool, unique song. It has a very interesting, offbeat guitar riff and the Asian girl myth is at the forefront when the first lyric is sung. The lyric is as follows, "God damn you half Japanese girls do it to me every time". I think this is proof that, at least some of the myth is true. Other great songs on the album include, "Pink Triangle", "Across the Sea", "Tired of Sex" and "Falling for You". In "Pink Triangle", Cuomo comes to the realization that this girl he loves doesn't love him back because she's gay. He's totally fine with it, but it's a very sad, heartbreaking song. You can hear the pain in his voice when he sings the song. "Across the Sea" shows Cuomo pining for the girl that this whole album is about. He says he wants to be with her, but she's too far away and he doesn't want to do long distance. Another sad song. The guitar and drums are real good in this tune. "Tired of Sex" is a great rock song and a real good opener to the album. It's got fuzzy guitar and bass and real heavy, excellent drumming. The lyrics are very cynical and Cuomo sings them that way. "Falling for You" has Cuomo opening his heart to this girl and telling her that he's in love with her and he's literally falling for her. It's met by deaf ears, but he doesn't care. He needs to let this girl know he loves her and that's what he does on this song. "Pinkerton" is a great album and it's a must own for all Weezer fans.

The strength of these two albums is more than enough for me to put them in the Great American Band debate. They're still making music, but these first two albums are what you need to listen to when putting them in this debate.

Weezer is an awesome band and they definitely deserve consideration for Greatest American band.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the co-host of the X Millennial Man podcast. He looks nothing like Buddy Holly, but his wife can turn the world on with her smile. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

The Greatest American Band Debate: The Black Keys

In the Great American Band debate that we have ongoing on the website, I'd like to nominate my personal favorite band, the Black Keys.

Most people know who they are now, but that was not the case when I stumbled upon them in 2002. I was living with my brother at the time and watching an award show on MTV2. This was when MTV stopped showing music videos and only aired reality shows, but MTV2 still showed music videos and the award show I stumbled upon was giving awards to new and unheard of bands. I can't recall the name of the show, but I laid there on the couch watching late into the night and these two guys, one with a bushy beard and shaggy hair named Dan Auerbach and the other, a tall, lanky dorky looking guy named Patrick Carney, introduced me to the concept of a two piece rock band that actually rocked and rocked hard. I couldn't believe that just two guys could make that much sound and make it sound that good. It was like Led Zeppelin came back to perform as a two piece. They're that great.

The next day I immediately went out and purchased their first album, "The Big Come Up". I was in love. These two guys were so very, very awesome. Dan Auerbach is the lead singer and guitarist. He is, by far, the best user of distortion in the history of rock and roll music. The things he did and still does with reverb and distortion is like nothing I've ever heard before. He is a wizard. His voice, while gruff, but in the best possible way early on, has gotten better and better with each album they put out. Patrick Carney has his own make shift drum kit and he smacks the hell out of the skins. I've never seen anyone live that puts as much effort and excellence in their drumming. He's dripping sweat when they get off stage. He's the best drummer alive in my opinion. No one is even a close second.

Back to their debut album. "The Big Come Up" came out in 2002. It has a few originals on it, but about half is covers. Except, they do the covers in their style, and it's awesome. They do the Beatles, "She Said, She Said" like it's an old blues/rock and roll song. Dan Auerbach, once again using his distortion wizardary, crushes the song on guitar and, with the gruff voice, almost makes it a brand new song in the best possible way. Patrick Carney attacks the drums like a machine and I think if Ringo Starr heard his version on the drums, he would be embarrassed by how much better a drummer Carney is. It's a great cover of a great Beatles song. Their version of Junior Kimborough's "Leavin Trunk" is a great homage to one of their biggest influences. It's a great blues song, made better with Carney's excellent drumming. Some of the originals are fantastic. "Heavy Soul" and the "Breaks" are two great introductions for any Black Keys virgins out there. Those two songs will tell you everything you need to know about the band. They're hard rocking, heavily distorted bluesy songs with very, very excellent drumming. My personal favorite Black Keys song is on "The Big Come Up". The song is called "Yearnin" and it's a masterpiece. The distortion, of course, is there but Auerbach's vocals are top notch and I love absolutely everything about this song.

A year later they released their second album, "Thickfreakness". This is my favorite Black Keys record. The story goes, they locked themselves in a studio and recorded the whole album in 14 hours. Holy cow, that's impressive! The opening track, "Thickfreakness" is phenomenal. It starts with a very loud, heavy guitar riff and morphs into a four minute gem of a song. The rest of the album follows suit, with Auerbach excelling on guitar and vocals and Carney rocking out on the drums. There's even two slower songs on the record. They do another Junior Kimborough cover, "Everywhere I Go" and turn it into an even more bluesier tune than I think Mr. Kimborough himself ever thought it could be. It's epic. The last track on the album, "I Cry Alone", has a very slow, repetitive guitar riff and quiet, sleek drums. It's a step in a different direction and it works for them.

The very next year, they released "Rubber Factory". This was the album that I first saw them touring live with. This album was recorded in an old rubber factory in their hometown of Akron Ohio. They started to get a little notice from critics and gained some new fans. Hell, David Cross directed and starred in a music video for the song, "10am Automatic". That is also the first Black Keys song I learned on guitar. It has a simple guitar riff, but there's an epic solo at the end. The drums are immediately noticeable as well. I could pick the song out if I only heard one tom or high hat being hit at the start of the song. "Rubber Factory" features other great songs like, "Girl is on my Mind", "The Lengths" and "Keep Me". Each song is uniquely a Black Keys song and each song shows growth in the band. They also cover The Kinks "Act Nice and Gentle" to perfection. It's a fitting cover to another UK 60's rock band, but the Black Keys still put their spin on it with Auerbach's signature distorted guitar. They also give us their version of an old blues standard, "Stack Shot Billy" with some phenomenal slide guitar being played.

They finally took a year off after releasing three albums in three years and in 2006 they released, "Magic Potion". Some may say that this was a disappointing effort, but I'd kindly disagree. I know every word to every song on this album. There's some great songs on it like, "Your Touch", "Elevator" and the best song on the album, "Goodbye Babylon". "Your Touch" has a cool guitar riff, it's fast and choppy and Carney shines on the drums. "Elevator" reminds me of something that could have been on the album "Thickfreakness". It's a hard driving, Zeppelin esque rock and roll song. It's very good. "Goodbye Babylon" has some of Auerbach's best vocals and the guitar and drums are top notch. It's an excellent song.

The year 2008 marked a big change in the band and they brought in a new producer. Luckily for the fans, that producer happened to be Danger Mouse. He helped them with their fifth album, "Attack and Release". This album showed the band taking big chances, like adding bass and keyboards to their sound, and it really pays off. The opening track, "All You Ever Wanted" is a slow song, accompanied by Danger Mouse on the keyboard. The keyboard is the main instrument on this song. That had never happened on a Black Keys song before, and it took me by surprise how much I loved it. I didn't even think about the guitar until many, many listens later. "I Got Mine" and "Strange Times" are a return to form, with heavy drums and guitar. But then songs like "Oceans and Streams" and "So He Won't Break" and "Psychotic Girl" show the band using bass, keyboards again and even flutes and banjos. "Attack and Release" showed me that the Black Keys still rocked, but they were taking chances and hitting home runs. I was pleased with the growth and the taking of chances.

In 2010, the Black Keys released the album "Brothers" and this was when they became famous. They started winning Grammy's and playing "Saturday Night Live". A younger me would have thought that they were selling out, but "Brothers" is so damn good, I didn't care. They were still doing their style of music, but made it a bit more accessible to all listeners. Check out songs like, "Next Girl", "Tighten Up" or "Howlin For You" and you can see the pop and hip hop influence in their music, but there is still heavily distorted guitars and Carney wailing away on the drums. Other great songs on the album include a slower ode to a brother never met called "Unknown Brother" and "Sinister Kid" that has a heavy hip hop sound with some excellent vocals by Auerbach and a cool drum groove from Carney.

Continuing their assault of great music, a year later the Black Keys returned to their rock roots and released the excellent, straight up rock and roll album, "El Camino". "Lonely Boy", the opening track, has the coolest, most innovative guitar effect I've ever heard. It sounds like the guitar is going in circles. It's so incredibly cool. "Gold on the Ceiling" is a true throwback to rock and roll from the 70's with the Black Keys putting their twist on it. "Little Black Submarines" has a two minute opening that's just Auerbach and an acoustic guitar and then, it turns into a heavy rocker with some of the best solos I've ever heard. "Dead and Gone" is a great singing in the car song on long road trips. It's awesome. The closer, "Mind Eraser", is a classic rock and roll song with expert drumming from Carney. Clearly, working with Danger Mouse opened the band up to trying new things.

Last year, with Danger Mouse once again back in the studio with them, they released their most ambitious album to date. Their eighth album, "Turn Blue" has them taking on an almost Pink Floydian type of sound. The opening track, "Weight of Love" has a trippy, psychedelic three minute instrumental that morphs into a rock and roll song and ends up back at the psychedelic beginning. The title track, "Turn Blue" is a lot like "Weight of Love". The lone exception being, "Turn Blue" has the psychedelic sound of the 70's throughout the entire song. It's spacey and awesome. The Black Keys still have bluesy rockers like "Fever" and "It's Up to You Now", but this record is not like any of their other albums to date. "Waiting on Words", "Bullet in the Brain" and "In our Prime" are all psychedelic rockers with cool bridges and insane solos, both on drums and guitar. I love this new direction they're taking.

As with most great bands, the Black Keys have changed record companies three times. They started at Alive Records, moved up to Fat Possum and are now with the heavy hitters at Nonesuch Records. As you get better, you have to be on bigger labels, that's the music industry. Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney have worked with other bands and have side projects, but they are best when it's the two of them(also really good with Danger Mouse) doing their thing. I love the Black Keys and will go to bat with them any day. They have a new, yet throwback sound to their music and they just keep getting better and better. All the things I've said should tell you how great of, not just an American band, but just a band, that they are. These dudes rock and will continue to for many years to come.

The Black Keys rule.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the co-host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. What he does is called rockin out and you are to old to get it. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

The Greatest American Band Debate: Fountains of Wayne

So what exactly is the Great American Band?  Is it just the best rock band that happens to be American?  If the Beatles or the Rolling Stones were American, would this conversation essentially be over?  I’m not convinced.  There’s a lot of talk in literary circles about the mythical Great American Novel, with the understanding that said novel is supposed to Say Something about The American Experience (a la The Great Gatsby or Huckleberry Finn).  If that’s the case, then the great American band should be not just a great band who happens to be American.  It should be a band that says something quintessentially American.

With that in mind, I’m going out on a limb to nominate Fountains of Wayne.  As in “Stacy’s Mom?”  Yes.  Hear me out.  Not to be one of those “but I knew them when” types, but I remember hearing their infectious first single “Radiation Vibe” on college radio, and instantly loving it.  A few years later, I heard the song “Troubled Times,” bought their first two albums, and was hooked.  All this is just to say that when I heard “Stacy’s Mom” on the radio, I had more context for it than most people.

Music first:  Most of their music is a mix of pop/rock styles.  It’s slightly off-kilter guitar driven power pop, sometimes with a little low-fi sheen.  There are rock, country, punk, and folk influences here, along with great harmonies and a little indie whine-rock thrown in for good measure.  More importantly, these guys write a hook like nobody’s business.  You’ve likely heard Adam Schlesinger’s songcraft in the movies.  He wrote the Wonders’ big hit, so you can blame him if you can’t get “That Thing You Do” out of your head.   If you’ve seen the film “Music and Lyrics” (which I don’t really recommend), you know that Schlesinger also has the chops to write a credible Wham! knockoff such as “Meaningless Kiss.”  (Look it up on YouTube right now.  I’ll wait.)  

But dig a little deeper, beyond the killer pop hooks, and you’ll hear Fountains of Wayne creating masterful songs about the suburban experience for Generation X America.  All the little details underscore the theme:  the power pop/punk melodies, the finely observed lyrical humor, and finally Chris Collingwood’s vocal performance, with its straightforward “everyman” delivery.  Part of the hip hop tradition is to talk about Gulfstream, the Palms, and Prada to seem glamorous and out of reach.  On the flip side, Fountains of Wayne name checks more prosaic and accessible brands like Subaru, La Quinta, and the Gap.  Even the seemingly fluffy “Stacy’s Mom” captures a sense of ennui, where the most exciting woman you know is your friend’s hot mom.  That whole album, the aptly titled Welcome Interstate Managers, is largely about the banal underpinnings of suburban life.  There’s a cheery song about a traveling salesman with an alcohol problem; another about waiting for a red notification light; and another about a Sunday morning with a significant other, drinking coffee while watching “Face the Nation.”

This theme runs through Fountains of Wayne’s entire catalog.  They’ve even done one of my favorite Christmas songs, “The Man in the Santa Suit,” which peers into the life of the poor schmuck who dons that red suit for the extra cash.  The image of a mall Santa who is “sweaty and smells like beer” is funny, but he’s been led there by his blue-collar cash strapped existence.  

Like most of us, as the band aged, the theme went from the youthful detachment of the mid-90’s to a little more fatalism in the post-9/11, post-Great Recession era.  Their latest album contains the elegiac song “Cemetery Guns,” about a military funeral on the Illinois plains.  The song focuses its attention on the grieving young widow, but it suggests that her life has been upended by a centuries-long cycle of military-industrial conquest.  While they aren’t raging, exactly, there is no mistaking the resignation of the lyric “Godspeed their reckless sons, who evermore play their forefathers’ hands on the foreign sands.”  Plus ça change, et cetera...

“Okay Tina, fine,” you say.  “They’re more than Stacy’s Mom.  But great American band?”  Fountains of Wayne’s music is a sardonic and melancholy reflection of middle class life disguised as upbeat power pop.  It’s the Reagan era’s sunny facade imperfectly plastered over that famous Gen X apathy.  What’s more American than that?

Tina S

Tina is an infrequent contributor, somewhat scientist, and tennis fan. She could not sit on the sidelines while we ignored great bands. Follow her lead and nominate your Greatest American Band.

The Greatest American Band Debate: Influencers

SeedSing is filled with music lovers. We can not agree on who is the best band from the States. The Greatest American Band Debate will be a regular feature where we discuss and compare bands who started in the good old USA. If you have any suggestions of bands we should debate Contact us seedsing.rdk@gmail.com

When  it comes to music, no one is completely unique.

Continuing our discussion on the website of the greatest American band, I want to focus on influential bands today. I'm not going to single out one specific band, I will give my readers many examples. The one problem I ran into doing research for this piece, it was hard to find American bands that were truly influential. It was easy to find bands from the UK that were influential. You can take Pink Floyd and see their influence on many current bands like Radiohead or Muse. You can take Led Zeppelin and see their influence on bands like the White Stripes and Black Keys. There's so many more from the UK that have influenced American bands. Doing further research, I found that these bands from the UK were influenced by American musicians, but not bands. Zeppelin and Cream were heavily influenced by guys like Robert Johnson and Son House. In fact, a lot of the UK musicians were very influenced by blues musicians from the 20's and 30's. So, like I said, it was tough, but with help from my father, we found a good number of influential American bands.

When we talked, the first band that came up was the Paul Butterfield Blues Band. If you listen to our most recent podcast, you know that's my dad's favorite band. What makes them so influential, they had great musicians playing great, rocking blues music. Their writing was top notch. You take a band like the Black Keys, and as much as Zeppelin influenced them, the Paul Butterfield Blues Band was just as important to shaping their music. The same could be said for a band like Buffalo Springfield. This is another band that had great musicians and wrote great songs, and members of Buffalo Springfield would break away and do some really big things in the music industry. Stephen Stills and David Crosby were in Buffalo Springfield before they were Crosby, Stills and Nash. I love music that has distortion in it. It's my favorite effect on guitar. That's where a band like Ike Turner's Rockin 88's come into play. The story goes, while traveling, their amps fell off the car and were sliced. Ike and the band didn't know what to do or where to get new amps, so they used them. While playing, the guitar sounded gruff, but they all liked it. Distortion was born. Look at any number of rock bands, be it RATM or Soundgarden or Alabama Shakes, and you can hear how important distortion is to their music. Another, bigger band, Sly and the Family Stone, brought the concept of playing funky rock and roll, while having a big band feel. The way they injected horns and funk in their music reminds me a lot of what a band like Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears are doing right now. You can take bands like the Eagles and Three Dog Night and see the influence they have on bands that focus on the vocals and harmonies in their music. Take a band like the Killers and see how much the Eagles and Three Dog Night meant to them getting started in music. A band I never really listened to until my dad told me about and have recently listened to and kind of enjoy is ELO. They have a unique electric sound and most of their music is all instrumental. I can see how a band like Ratatat was influenced by ELO. Some of their songs sound identical. It's uncanny.

Even bands from the 80's have influenced current bands. Look at Blondie, they had a cute blonde girl as their lead singer, and a bunch of dudes begin her. Tell me Grace Potter and the Nocturnals weren't influenced by that. They have the exact same makeup to their band. The Talking Heads were this avant garde, take all kinds of risks kind of band. If you just listened to them, I bet you wouldn't be able to guess what they looked like. I look at someone like Har Mar Superstar and feel the same way. He and his band play funky, R&B music, but Har Mar looks exactly like Ron Jeremy. When I first heard him and the Talking Heads, I felt the same. I loved the music, but I had no idea what these musicians looked like. Devo had a big influence on electronic/rock music. They took big chances and hit home runs every time. I look at a current band like TV on the Radio and see they were heavily influenced by Devo. Aerosmith, with their accessible to all ages rock music reminds me a lot of the Foo Fighters. Even a band like Nirvana has influenced younger musicians. I look at Conor Oberst and I just know that he listened to a ton of Nirvana. His lyrics are almost as poetic as Kurt Cobain and just as sad sometimes.

So, there are a lot of influential American bands. You have to do some research, but you can see how influential a lot of the bands from the 60's and 70's are on current day musicians. Go check out some of the bands I've mentioned today and compare them to who you are currently listening too, it may surprise you.

Go out and seek older music too, you will see the influence, I promise you.

Ty (With a little help from his dad)

Ty is the Pop Culture Editor for SeedSing and the co-host of The X Millennial Man Podcast. The biggest musical influence in his life is Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

The Greatest American Band Debate: Wilco

You do not know who Wilco is? Well let me introduce you to a candidate for the Greatest American Band. You know who Wilco is and you think I am crazy to submit them as the Greatest American Band. Well let me kindly show you why you are so very wrong in your wrong opinion you wrong person.

Many people unfairly loop Wilco in with bands like The Eagles, country rock. No, no, and double no, Wilco is not a country-rock band (plus I do not like The Eagles and would never nominate anyone in the same ballpark as that drivel). It is true that all music needs to fit a category, and Wilco's early work put them in the realm of alternative country. There is no way that their music could be lowered to the "good time easy feelings" of The Eagles. Jeff Tweedy wanted to create his own sound, and he was well on the way.

Wilco was a band formed out of the disagreement between two leading members of the alternative country group Uncle Tupelo. Singer Jay Farrar created Son Volt, and the rest of the band created Wilco. Jeff Tweedy immediately continued the sound of Uncle Tupelo with albums like A.M. and Being There. The spark of the country alternative music world was founded in these albums. The die hard Wilco fans will still listen to these albums, but Wilco was not even close to becoming one of the greatest american bands.

Yankee Hotel Foxtrot was the album that moved Wilco from the cult category into the bound for greatness fast lane. The story about how the album was bought twice by the label is great in its own right. Go see the movie I Am Trying to Break Your Heart, it is an incredibly fascinating look at why the corporate music culture is so messed up. The story behind the release of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is awesome, but the album itself is way more awesomer (that is a word).  The opening track, "I am trying to break your heart", is the call of a band moving from alternative country into a realm of music that has yet to be inventive. The rest of the album is kinetic and inventive in a way not seen in american music.

Wilco followed up the groundbreaking Yankee Hotel Foxtrot with two more great albums. A Ghost is Born and Sky Blue Sky both continued to grow the Wilco sound. Any time I hear the song "Spiders (Kidsmoke)" and I am immediately transported to time when I had to drive directly through the city of Chicago during rush hour. That song gave me the soundtrack for my montage of tolls and waiting. "The Late Greats" is one of the few songs I know every word, and belt them out when the song gets picked in my roulette of random tunes on my phone. "Impossible Germany" is the complete package of great music with great lyrics. "Hate it Here" is a comfortable tune to listen to during my moments of doubt. The songs are great, but that is not why Wilco is considered one of the greatest american bands.

During this prolific time Wilco not only became a great band, they created the iconic Wilco sound. Their later works just grew this sound, including their exceptional recent album Star Wars (best album cover art ever). This sound is uniquely Wilco, it is uniquely american. Many artists have embraced the idea of country alternative (Drive-By Truckers, The Avett Brothers, and The Decemberists are just a few examples). All of these bands are just following in the footsteps created by Wilco. 

What makes the greatest american band? Early discord amongst the band, check. Issues with record lables, check. Having a run of one great album after another, check. Creating great songs, check. Incredible album art (you really need to see  the cover of Star Wars and download the album). Inventing a unique and defining sound, check plus.The total of the parts prove that Wilco is one of, if not The, greatest american rock band.

Prove me wrong.

RD Kulik

RD Kulik is the Head Editor for SeedSing. He is really not trying to break your heart. Give your voice by writing for SeedSing.

The Greatest American Band Debate: Rage Against the Machine

SeedSing is filled with music lovers. We can not agree on who is the best band from the States. The Greatest American Band Debate will be a regular feature where we discuss and compare bands who started in the good old USA. If you have any suggestions of bands we should debate Contact us seedsing.rdk@gmail.com

With our ongoing debate about the greatest American rock bands continuing, I want to talk about one of my personal favorites today, Rage Against the Machine.

I'm a millennial, as most of you know by now, so 80's music wasn't really on my radar until I discovered it at an older age. Nineties music however, that's when I was coming into my own, both as a person and my musical taste. I still remember, albeit vaguely, when MTV still showed music videos and not crappy, mindless reality shows. This was where I would find out about new artists and hear new songs and see new videos of the bands I was beginning to listen to and enjoy. When I first saw a Rage Against the Machine video, or heard one of their songs on the radio, it was hard for me to like because, it was completely different from the version on the record. They used profane lyrics and took very strong political stands, and you can bet, MTV or the radio wasn't in the business of losing out on sponsors, so they edited their music. That was quite a bummer.

 One summer, a great friend of mine, who happens to be one of the biggest Rage Against the Machine fans that I've ever met, let me borrow me his copy of their album, "Evil Empire". I took it from him, begrudgingly, and told him I'd give it another shot, but from what I heard on the radio, I assumed I wasn't going to enjoy the album. He told me to trust him, make sure I didn't listen with my folks because of the profanity and he promised I'd like it. He was 100 percent correct. "Evil Empire" opened me up to a whole new world of some of the best music I'd ever heard. I've always been a fan of rap and hip hop music, so I naturally enjoyed Zack De La Rocha's delivery on the microphone. Throw in Tom Morello's perfect guitar playing and two other decent musicians and I was hooked. The fact that I could hear everything he said and sang was revelatory. No edits, I got all the curse words, which for a 14 year old, was pretty nifty. I didn't understand their political message until I was older, but I'd like to think a part of me at that time agreed with what they were talking about. I know for a fact now that I agree with about 95 percent of their political beliefs.

Back to "Evil Empire". When I first heard "People of the Sun", the opening track, I was sucked right in. Morello's guitar playing on that song, and for that case the whole album, is impeccable. The next track on the record is probably their most famous song, "Bulls on Parade". This song introduced me to a wah wah pedal and I will forever be grateful and indebted to RATM for that. Lyrics like, "rally around the family, with a pocket full of shells" being said over and over again at the end of the song made me feel scared, but in a good way.. The best lyric, and probably my favorite song in RATM's catalog, is "Yeah, I'm walking down Rodeo with a shotgun, these people ain't seen a brown skinned man since they grandparents bought one" from their song "Down Rodeo" is epic on so many levels. De La Rocha calls out a bunch of rich, coddled white kids in a fancy Californian town and claims that their families were garbage people in the past. He is such an awesome and fearless writer. He has no problem calling out anyone anywhere. He's great.

After listening to this record on repeat for about a month straight, I had to get all their other records. Fortunately that was easy for me since they, unfortunately for me, only put out four records. Their first album, which is self titled, is a pretty great first record. Some songs on it include, "Bombtrack", "Bullet to the Head, "Fistful of Steel" and "Killing in the Name" These are four, epic rock songs. "Killing in the Name" has a lyric, "some of those who work forces, are the same that burn crosses". Not only are they saying that police a corrupt, but they also do horrible, awful things when off duty. I couldn't agree more with them. That's not to say all cops are evil, but the majority of them are extremely evil. "Fistful of Steel" has some of the most innovative, cool guitar I've ever heard in my entire life. Tom Morello is a GENIUS and all the things he does on guitar, be it, playing expertly, making it sound like a slide guitar by just muting strings and sliding his hand up and down the guitar, using his whammy bar at the exact right time every time or any other number of things he does is so impressive. This guy is a LEGEND. I got the chance to see him perform a live, acoustic set when he was touring and calling himself, "The Nightwatchman" and it was awesome. He's the best. Their third album, "The Battle of Los Angeles" came out in 1999. A lot of people say this is their weakest album, but I still think it's pretty damn awesome. Songs on this album include, "Testify", "Calm Like a Bomb", "War Within a Breath" and "Guerilla Radio". Those are four classics if you ask me. "War Within a Breath" hearkens back to their heavy political stuff. "Calm Like a Bomb" is a great song about being so angry at the government that you want to explode on it and take over the broken, rundown system that it truly is. "Guerilla Radio" is classic RATM, once again, accompanied by Morello doing some crazy, awesome, unheard of shit on his guitar. "Born of a Broken Man" is another great track on this album about, what I assume, is a strained relationship with De La Rocha's father. It's a great, but pretty depressing song. Lyrically that is.

They released their fourth and final album "Renegades" in 2000. Rumors were going around that they weren't getting along and that this would be their final record. I was, at first, bummed out when I heard it was going to be an album of covers. But, after listening to it, I changed my mind immediately. Yeah, they're covering songs, but they're doing it in their style. They do Bob Dylan's "Maggie's Farm", but turn it into this funky, distortion heavy, hugely epic rock song. It's pretty great. They also do Eric B and Rakim's "Microphone Fiend". This was a perfect cover for them, because it let De La Rocha do what he does best and rap. The music is pretty awesome as well. Other covers include, Bruce Springsteen's "Ghost of Tom Joad", Rolling Stones "Street Fighting Man" Cypress Hill's "How I Could Just Kill a Man", amongst many others. The best song on "Renegades", in my opinion, is "Renegades of Funk", one of Afika Bambaataa's best songs. This was a great song for them because the lyrics are progressive and have heavy political overtones. It may be blasphemous, but I prefer RATM's version over Afrika Bambaataa's. "Renegades" is a very good record of covers.

Rage Against the Machine was, and still is, very important to me. When I was still playing in a "band", one of our favorite songs to play was "Bulls on Parade". I even got to play the solo. I still listen to them on my way to play basketball to get myself pumped up. RATM was my pump up music before football games in high school. I will be forever grateful to my friend for me pushing and pushing me to give them a second try.

It was one of the best decisions I've ever made.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the co-host of The X-Millennial Man Podcast. To get pumped down he usually listens to slow covers of Air Supply. Follow him on twitter @tykulik

The Greatest American Band Debate: Green Day

SeedSing is filled with music lovers. We can not agree on who is the best band from the States. The Greatest American Band Debate will be a regular feature where we discuss and compare bands who started in the good old USA. If you have any suggestions of bands we should debate Contact us seedsing.rdk@gmail.com

Time to get this party started.

Is Green Day the greatest american rock band? Many people will immediately laugh at the idea, but I think there is an argument to be made that Green Day is in contention for the greatest band of american roots. If they are not the greatest band, they have made one of the greatest albums by an american rock band.

Let me explain by looking at the history of Green Day.

The band started it's ascent to greatness with the release of 1994's Dookie. That was not Green Day's first album, but it was the one to put them on the map. I was in college at the time and felt that Dookie was a low level punk rock album. I was very pretentious. My money was not going to Green Day, but they were doing ok considering Dookie was everywhere. The album not only expanded on the band's punk influence, but it showed musical growth (and talent) with the song "When I Come Around".

After the success of Dookie Green Day seemed to fall out of the popular conscience. Their only viewed success was the ballad "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life). If you are a young gen xer or an old millennial you will know that song as your prom theme. I personally believe that the late 90's were a strong period for Green Day. The band was not trying to replicate Dookie, they were making their music better. Albums like Nimrod, and especially Warning, show how a good band was starting to become a great one.

In 2004 Green Day released American Idiot, in my opinion the most important album of two generations. The baby boomers had outstanding music to highlight their fears, hopes, and frustration with the social discord of the day. The gen xers had a seemingly peaceful society, and our music reflected that malaise. American Idiot captured the isolation and anger of the gen xers, and it gave the millennials a primal scream to make people notice their existence. With a presidential election approaching, George W Bush looked inevitable, and that was maddening. We suffered the wound of September 11th, only to have a bunch of rich white men lie us into war. Classmates were dying for Dick Cheney's stock portfolio. John Kerry and the Democratic party were more interested in capturing the spirit of the 70's. Anyone under the age of fifty was pissed at our government and at our media. Green Day became our voice, American Idiot was our platform. We were all "the sons of rage and love".

In 2004 I was doing work related to the Kerry campaign. He was not the most inspiring candidate, but he was not George W Bush. My girlfriend at the time told me about this rock opera Green Day was going to release. I had never purchased a Green Day Album (see me being pretentious), but I did like my rock operas. During that period of my life I was travelling quite a bit. When I put American Idiot into my CD player, I was hooked. This was my Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. The girlfriend who recommended American Idiot is now my wife. She remembers the cathartic anger that American Idiot embodied, and will listen to the album when she feels like her attitude about society has become complacent. That is a mark of a great band.

American Idiot is one of the greatest albums that came from a great band. Green Day has continued their success with a string of hit records and memorable songs ("The Static Age" on 21st Century Breakdown may be my favorite Green Day tune). Their 2015 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame was well deserved. They are one of the most important bands to all generation Xers and most millennials. Making the greatest album may not be enough to be considered the greatest american band.

Sorry Green Day. Greatest record from a great band is your consolation prize for not being the Greatest American Band.

Not yet at least. Keep making great music and I may change my mind.

RD Kulik

RD Kulik is the creator and Head Editor for SeedSing. He wants you to add your voice to the debate while he continues to pour through great music. Write for SeedSing.

The Greatest American Band Debate: The Introduction

Time to get the records out.

SeedSing is filled with music lovers. We can not agree on who is the best band from the States. The Greatest American Band Debate will be a regular feature where we discuss and compare bands who started in the good old USA. If you have any suggestions of bands we should debate Contact us seedsing.rdk@gmail.com

I'm a lover of all music.

All music except for jazz and new age country that is. People often pose the question to me, "Who's the best band"? There is any number of answers to give. Some may say The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, etcetera. The one thing you may have noticed in those answers is, those are all bands from overseas. Mainly the United Kingdom. Why no American bands? Is it because most great American musicians are solo artists? We have Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin, Robert Johnson, BB King, Miles Davis and Woody Guthrie just to name a few. And before I get yelled at online, I don't count Janis Joplin's backing band, The Holding Company, or Bob Dylan playing with The Band(who are all Canadian except for Levon Helm) as great American bands. They're very good, but not great.

So, let's break it down. Who is the greatest American band? Do they come from the 50's, 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's or 2000's? Is there even an American band that can hold a card to the great bands from overseas? I don't know that for sure, but I'm going to throw out a lot of great American bands today and we can all decide together.

Let's take the 50's. One band that comes to mind for me is The Crickets. You may know them as Buddy Holly and the Crickets. The Crickets played on some of the greatest songs in the history of music and were just as important to Buddy Holly's music as Buddy Holly was. Some people may put The Crickets into The Holding Company category, but go back and listen to some of their stuff and you will see how influential they were on modern day rock and roll.

In the 60's, we got some more psychedelic rock bands from America, but I'm not too crazy about some of these bands. First, we have The Doors. I am not a fan of the Doors, but they were hugely popular and definitely put their stamp on rock music. Jim Morrison was fine as a poet and songwriter, albeit super overrated in my opinion, but his band was really pretty good. They just had an unfortunate choice in picking their lead singer and were stuck with Jim Morrison. Then there's the Beach Boys. I CANNOT stand the Beach Boys. They made crappy pop music and are an abomination to rock and roll. That being said, they are in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and a lot of people not only like the Beach Boys, they love them. Their fans will also defend Brian Wilson to the heavens, no matter how difficult of a person he is to work and deal with. My favorite American bad from the sixties, by far, is Creedance Clearwater Revival. Their brand of rock music, mixed with blues and soul is undeniably great. They've had a ton of hits and a ton of fans, are in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and John Fogerty is still making pretty good music as a solo artist.

The 70's brought along a lot of great talent to American rock and roll. We got the Eagles, Aerosmith, ZZ Top and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Each one is great in their own right, and in the case of Aerosmith and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers they are still making music. In Tom Petty's case, he is still making great music. Many people might even say that The Eagles are the greatest American rock band of all time. I disagree. The 70's did put out some great music from all corners. We also got KISS, the Ramones and Sly and the Family Stone. Another band from the 70's that people love is Grateful Dead. Not me though. In my opinion, they are a jam band that has no structure to their jams. I don't want to hear one song that's usually three and a half minutes long turn into a 30 minute song. no thanks. My older brothers will be pretty upset at me for trashing the Grateful Dead, but I just don't like them. When it comes to 70's American bands, it gets no better than the Allman Brothers Band. They played great songs with a beautiful mixture of rock and blues. Robert Johnson introduced me to the blues and Son House introduced me to slide guitar, but the Allman Brothers made slide guitar and rock/blues music cool. They are not just one of the best American bands, they're one of the greatest bands of all time period.

The 80's changed what rock music could be in America. Bands like Heart and The Runaways showed that girls can rock just as hard as guys. Blondie blended all different types of music, and did it very well. And yes, Blondie is the band name, Debbie Harry is their lead singer's name. But, when it comes to 80's rock bands in America, the Talking Heads are the greatest. David Byrne is a genius and still making fantastic music. The Talking Heads were innovators and way ahead of their time. They tried so many different things with their music and, more times than not, hit it out of the park.

The 90's brought on the grunge era in American rock music. We got great bands like Green Day, Soundgarden and Pearl Jam. Each band is great in it's own way. Green Day brought back punk/pop music. Soundgarden brought back the psychedelic rock from the 60's and 70's and Pearl Jam was dark a brooding. A very cool version of emo. Then came Nirvana. Kurt Cobain was a musical genius. Especially as a lyricist. His lyrics are profound and prolific. He died way too young and became way too famous too fast. His two band mates, Kris Novaselic and Dave Grohl were excellent. Most people know Dave Grohl and all the work he's doing right now and Kris Novaselic has played bass for many different bands. When it comes to 90's American rock for me, it gets no better than Weezer. I love Weezer. Rivers Cuomo is a great writer and very excellent, very underrated guitar player. Their first album, "The Blue Album" is a work of art. Then, they released "Pinkerton" which is just as good and maybe even a bit better than "The Blue Album" Weezer is awesome.

Which brings me to the 2000's. Time will have to tell with this era. It's only been 15 years and these bands still need a bit more seasoning. That being said, there are some bands on their way to greatness for sure. The White Stripes could've been on their way if they were still making music. Jack White has also become an unfavorable character and a shell of his former self as a musician. He's also a well known asshole too. Bands like the Black Keys and TV on the Radio still need time, but in the Black Keys case, they are well on their way. There are other bands such as, Alabama Shakes and The Shins, but like I said earlier. Time will tell.

See, in this long piece I couldn't single out just one American band. There's a lot to choose from and if I was told that I had to name one right now, I'd pick the Black Keys, strictly because they're my favorite band. I didn't even touch on rap groups and yes, rap groups can be considered great American bands. I'll leave that for a future piece. So people out there reading this, let me know which American bands are great in your eyes. Who did I leave out or who did I bash that you like. Or, do you agree with me. Leave a comment and until later, keep listening to good rock and roll music.

Be it American rock or otherwise.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the co-host of the X-Millennial Man Podcast. He is eager to write another 1000 words on music. Follow him on twitter @tykulik

Do you know what stinks? Radio really stinks.

Back when I had true choice over the music playing

I want to take my time today to talk about the state of pop music currently playing on the radio.

It's terrible and way too repetitive. I swear, they're playing the same songs from a year ago. I guess there's very little in the way of new pop music. On the rare occasion they do play a new song, it's from a band from last year and their new song sounds exactly like every other song they play. I know not a lot of people still listen to the radio since we have ipods, iphones, androids, windows phones, so on and so forth, but, some people still do listen to the radio in their cars.

My wife and son are two of these people. I can't really listen to a lot of the stuff on my devices because I'm a stay at home dad and I have my son with me 99 percent of the time. I listen to a lot of hip hop, so the curse words make it impossible for me to listen while he's in the car. He does like some of the rock music I listen to, but it's usually the same couple of songs over and over again. A lot like the radio. My wife only likes about half of my music, so when we are all in the car together, I'm not going to make the two of them listen to my music, it's not fair to them. This leaves us listening to the radio.

I've had it up to here with song selection and the DJ's that host their respective shows. Most of these DJ's are just terrible. The song selection is just as bad, if not worse. I'm sick and tired of hearing the same Taylor Swift songs over and over and over again. I don't like her as a musician AT ALL and as far as her personal life goes, she's a terrible girlfriend to her many different, famous musician boyfriends. I swear, she only dates these poor guys so she can get new writing material for her next album. She's a bad person and really annoying. If I have to listen to a "pop" star on the radio, I'd much rather hear Meghan Trainor. At least Meghan Trainor's music is fun and danceable. I'm sure she's a better person too. Taylor Swift is UNBEARABLE!

Which brings me to one of her ex boyfriends, whose songs have been playing on the radio for over a year now, and I'm done with them, they're awful. I'm of course talking about Ed Sheerhan. I swear, if I have to hear "Thinking Out Loud" or "Don't" one more time, I'm going to rip my stereo out of my car. Those songs are very, very bad and have been played WAY too much. I feel like George Ezra, the new "pop" star, song "Budapest" is heading towards Ed Sheerhan level. This makes me upset for him. George Ezra has a unique voice and he writes his own stuff, but "Budapest" is getting into the repetitive play on the radio, and I'm getting sick of this song already. The single came out about 3 to 4 months ago, but just recently it's getting over played. The other day, while in the car for less than an hour, I'm pretty sure I heard "Budapest" three times. THREE TIMES IN LESS THAN AN HOUR! THAT'S TOO MUCH!

Lastly, I'm so done with the band Maroon 5. Every single one of their songs sound exactly alike. I can't tell the difference between, "Sugar", "Animals", or any other song they may have on the radio right now. Adam Levine is no Freddie Mercury, no matter how much he might think he is. His band looks like a bunch of rejects from the Foo Fighters. The Foo Fighters also happen to be a much better band than Maroon 5. Dave Grohl is ten thousand times cooler than Adam Levine. He's a much, much better musician too. Oh, by the way, I'm not even a fan of the Foo Fighters. It upsets me that a band like the Black Keys, equally as famous as Maroon 5 or the Foo Fighters, has grammy awards, plays arenas, just like those two bands do, get little to no air play. Their songs are way better and different. Their songs actually make an album because, each song is unique in it's own way. Each song doesn't sound the same. Revelatory, right? But, if you're just a bit different, play your own instruments and write your own songs and have your own style, no radio play for you because you don't fall in line with the rest of the pack. You're unique and radio stations are afraid of that. Another band, TV on the Radio, falls into this unique territory. They write and play songs that are radio friendly, but do they get air play? Of course not, they're too different and that scares these dumb ass radio execs. That's a crying shame. I just hope in the future, for my son's case, radio changes it's way and starts to get some original people with original ideas working there.

Diversify and you will get new listeners. The very same listeners who are fed up with your playlist right now.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing. He is this close to paying for a streaming music service, but is afraid they will pull the same crap as traditional radio. Follow him on twitter @tykulik.

Cloves and Fedoras: Ty gives praise to Leon Bridges, the new voice of soul.

Cloves and Fedoras is Seed Sings reviews for little known pieces of pop culture (or older pieces).  Feel free to contact us with your own submissions of undiscovered gems that must be known. 

This is a follow up an earlier blog post about Leon Bridges.  You can find it here.

The sound of Sixties soul music is back today.

The sound comes in the form of a young man that was born thirty years after Stax Records and guys like Otis Redding and Rufus Thomas were making their strides in the soul music world. He's a twenty five year old music genius named Leon Bridges. His first album "Coming Home" was released today and it is so perfectly a throwback to the golden age of soul/R&B. This record is phenomenal. I didn't think I'd hear an album the rest of 2015 that I liked as much as Alabama Shakes "Sound and Color", but I've already listened to "Coming Home" two and a half times and I've got to say, it's now my album to beat for the year. Leon Bridges vocals are so damn smooth. I like to call this type of music "baby making music". He sounds like a much better version of Raphael Saadiq, and I love me some Raphael Saadiq. His guitar playing and his band are really tight. I seems like they've been perfecting this sound for sometime now, and they hit a grand slam. This may sound like it's from the Sixties because Leon Bridges asked to record on vintage equipment. He was taking a huge chance doing this because, in my opinion, you have to be one hundred percent committed to the equipment being used and you can't succumb to the technology today. That's got to be pretty difficult. But they did a wonderfully masterful job. It sounds like a recording from Stax in it's heyday. I've mentioned Leon Bridges on this site before, stating that I thought he would be the next great soul star, and today has not changed my mind at all. In fact, I feel even stronger about this prediction after listening to his record. He is going to be HUGE. There's ten songs on the album, with the longest being about four and a half minutes. This is great because that's how songs were back in the day. Singers back then only needed two to three minutes per track and they packed each song with as much soul as possible. Leon Bridges is no exception. He effortlessly flows from upbeat, drums and guitar heavy songs to slower songs with horns being his main background music. For example, for the more up beat songs, check out "Smooth Sailin" or "Twistin and Groovin". Both these songs are powered by Bridges vocals and his excellent guitar work. His drummer is superb with the groove of these songs too. With songs like "Shine" he lets the keyboardist take front stage and, accompanied by his vocals, they sing a sweet, slow soul song. My favorite song on the record is a slow song, which is very unlike me. But, "River" is a beautiful closer to this excellent album. It starts out with strumming from an acoustic guitar and soft vocals. It builds until the last minute of the song and it's just Leon Bridges and an all female chorus singing "take me to your river, I want to go". It's beautiful. I literally got goose bumps while listening. I hope his tour brings him to Saint Louis. I'd love to see him perform live. "Coming Home" by Leon Bridges is fantastic.

Go out and get this album as soon as possible.

Ty 

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for Seed Sing. He has made two babies, we do not know what kind of music was on. Follow him on twitter @tykulik.

Cloves and Fedoras: Is Leon Bridges poised to be the next great soul singer?

Cloves and Fedoras is Seed Sings reviews for little known pieces of pop culture.  Feel free to contact us with your own submissions of undiscovered gems that must be known.

I'm always on the hunt for new music that sounds like old music. By this I mean it sounds like a throwback to older music. For example, I started listening to the Black Keys because they sounded a little like Led Zeppelin to me. I started listening to Gary Clark Jr because he had that old blues feel to his music. Saint Paul and the Broken Bones sounded as if they'd just recorded with Rufus Thomas. Well, I think I may have heard the next Otis Redding, or dare I say Marvin Gaye. He's a 25 year old soul singer named Leon Bridges. His music sounds like he just got done recording at Stax Records in the 60s. This guy is legit. He writes and plays, on guitar, all of his own music and he uses vintage equipment to record. How cool is that. This guy is going to be a star. I know comparing him to an Otis Redding or Marvin Gaye is a bit much, but this guy has the chops. His album doesn't come out until June 23rd, but do yourself a favor and go check out his stuff on YouTube. That's where I found out about him. So, next month, go out and buy his album "Coming Home".

Remember the name Leon Bridges. He's the next big thing in soul music.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture Editor for Seed Sing.  He likes listening to the musical styling of his parents generation being sung by people of his generation.

Cloves and Fedoras: Alabama Shakes refuses to submit to a sophomore slump.

I just recently bought the new Alabama Shakes album "Sound and Color."

This is a work of art. People and critics talk about sophomore slumps when bands put out their second album after the first was a surprise success, but let me tell you, Alabama Shakes knocked it out of the park with "Sound and Color." You can really hear the growth and exploration of the band through all twelve songs. They are taking chances and stretching limits more than most rock bands making music right now. Their first single off the album "Don't Wanna Fight" is a great rock/pop song with Brittany Howard's beautifully gritty singing voice driving it home. Her guitar playing on the song, and throughout the whole album, is a distorted, crunchy pleasure to the listener. The opening track, "Sound and Color" is a very trippy, slowish tune with, what I believe to be a marimba, accompanying the whole song. It's a great tune. I love every song on the record. This is an album you can put on, press play and let the whole thing go with no skips. If they continue to grow and explore on forth coming albums like they do on "Sound and Color" the sky is the limit for them. Last year they were playing small rock clubs, now theaters. Keep this up and they'll be selling out arenas in two to three years.

Very, very good album. Check it out.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture Editor for Seed Sing.  He is eagerly anticipating the next great album from Alabama Shakes.

Cloves and Fedoras: Favorite artist Saul Williams does a not so favorite live show

I attend a lot of live shows. Most are good, some great and some not that good.(I don't like to say bad, because these people are performers and I'm sure they work very hard) Recently I unfortunately saw a not so good show.

Saul Williams was playing the Duck Room in Saint Louis last month. I was very excited when the show was announced and got my tickets immediately. I did this because I'm a huge fan of Saul Williams. I've seen him do his poetry live, I've read all his books, I own all his music and I've seen pretty much every movie he's been in.(The best being "Slam" in my opinion)

My problem with the recent concert was, it wasn't really a concert. In his own words, it was a "workshop". This had me off guard from the get go. I went there expecting to hear music, but all I got was a damn "workshop". He would move back and forth between doing half a song and then reading poetry and then just talking to the crowd. Another problem, this must have been the sound and video people's first live show. They did not know what in the hell they were doing. First, their video playing on the screen froze before Saul Williams even got on stage. And then, the sound mix was so bad, Saul Williams himself had to tell the guys to turn the bass down and turn his microphone up. He was impossible to hear at times. It was unbearable.

There was another thing that had me frustrated. The show started at 9pm with two openers and Saul Williams didn't even get on stage until 11:30pm.  Once on stage he only performed for about an hour. Two and a half hours of standing around and the payoff was a "workshop". Even after seeing this, I will still probably see him if he comes back to Saint Louis, but I will definitely think long and hard before purchasing tickets.

Still a big fan, but this "workshop" was a huge disappointment.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture Editor for Seed Sing.  Look for him around St. Louis at any number of live shows.  Do not expect him to attend anymore workshops.