Archive for August, 2009

A day after 36-year-old Adam Goldstein, known as DJ AM, was found dead in his New York apartment, frequent collaborator Travis Barker of Blink-182 paid tribute to his fallen friend on Twitter and onstage. The pair performed together as TRV$DJAM and survived a Learjet crash last September that killed the flight’s four other passengers.

“Don’t know how i am gonna play 2night but i am for AM,” Barker tweeted this afternoon. “My brother is gone.i love u and miss u, i’ll never forget all the good times we had.” He later added, “I’ll never forget everything we’ve been thru and every time i play the drums i’ll think of you. U were an amazing friend/DJ/human being” and “Rest In Peace my brother, this really fucks me up.”

To read the complete article and to see footage visit ROLLING STONE

NEW YORK — DJ AM, the sought-after disc jockey who became a celebrity in his own right with high-profile romances and a glamorous lifestyle and survived a plane crash just months ago, was found dead in his apartment Friday. He had a history of drug problems.

Police found a crack pipe and prescription pills in the Manhattan apartment, said a law enforcement official, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the investigation was ongoing. Paramedics had to break down the door before they found him, shirtless and wearing sweatpants, in his bed around 5:20 p.m., the official said.

To read complete article visit THE HUFFINGTON POST

Hayley Williams didn’t spend her adolescence stalking the halls of a New England prep school. And her Christian faith probably precludes her from using the word goddamn like an indefinite article. But the flame-haired Paramore frontwoman is, without question, rock’s Holden Caulfield: There’s no limit to Williams’ disgust with phoniness in all its forms.

After building a devoted fan base through tours with the B-list emo likes of Bayside and Cute Is What We Aim For, her young suburban Nashville quintet busted out in a major way with 2007’s Riot!, a powerful little smart bomb of righteous-babe rhetoric that earned Paramore a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist alongside Taylor Swift and Amy Winehouse.

In “Misery Business,” the album’s crossover hit, Williams described a routine instance of alpha-chick warfare with the laser-guided insight of a tattooed Tina Fey. Her reward? Platinum sales and a worldwide army of Manic Panic’d lookalikes.

To read complete review visit  SPIN

Conventional wisdom marks 2006’s Pearl Jam as the grunge outfit’s reignition point after years without a spark. If that’s true, then the first three songs on their ninth full-length are the explosion at the end of an extremely long fuse. The band hasn’t put together a trifecta this energized and from-the-gut in a decade, and though the rest of  Backspacer doesn’t match that opening salvo, it has a terrific time trying.

“Gonna See My Friend,” “Got Some,” and “The Fixer” nearly upend each other rushing out the gate, exploiting Pearl Jam’s leanest, punkest tendencies. And those traits carry through the album’s 36 minutes. No time to waste and Obama in the White House mean no political bellyaching, so when Eddie Vedder pulls out that indignant yet inclusive snarl and proclaims, “When something’s gone, I wanna fight to get it back again,” you can probably assume “it” is his band’s mojo.

To read complete review visit SPIN

Madonna is unveiling two new tracks on her best-of collection Celebration, and now there’s word Foo Fighters are doing the same. November 3rd’s Foo Fighters Greatest Hits will include “Wheels” and “Word Forward,” a pair of fresh tracks from Dave Grohl and Co. The band debuted “Wheels” in Washington, DC, over July Fourth weekend, when they performed at the USO’s bash honoring military heroes. A press release confirms “Word Forward” was recorded with Butch Vig at the band’s 606 Studios.

The band has yet to release a full track list for their first-ever best-of, but “The Pretender,” “All My Life,” “Learn To Fly,” “Best Of You,” “Times Like These,” “My Hero” and “Everlong” will make the cut.

To read the complete article visit ROLLING STONE

Smashing Pumpkins main man Billy Corgan launched his latest endeavor, Spirits in the Sky, last night at the tiny, 225-capacity Cellar Door in Visalia, California, with Jane’s Addiction axeman Dave Navarro, fresh from his band’s massive tour with Nine Inch Nails, joining in on guitar.

There’s very little information available about the new songs Corgan played last night, save for a few bad cellphone videos and a diligent live-blog account over at Pumpkins fansite Hipsters Unite. The band played 17 songs, with the only familiar jams being “Song for a Son,” which the Pumpkins played on tour last year, and a cover of the Velvet Underground’s “Femme Fatale.”

To read the complete article visit SPIN