In this issue of Music You Should Be Listening To:

We’ll take a wondrous musical journey with New York based band, Alberta Cross. I’ll discuss their September release Broken Side of Time, as well as their recent set in the Daytrotter studios.  In one word… Amazing!

We’ve also got some big news this week including not one but two upcoming releases from New Jerseys own, Real Estate. In the next 30 days the band will release their highly anticipated debut album as well as a brand new EP.  Jack White is also making headlines as he gears up for a new project featuring one very unlikely pairing. He’ll put his producing skills to the test as he once again teams up with a rock and roll icon.

Finally, I’ll let you in on the upcoming schedule for MySBLT. On the docket we have the first in a series of interviews with up-and-coming bands as well as a few concert reviews. Big things, they are a-coming! Read the rest of this entry »

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Hello, and welcome to the first installment of Music You Should Be Listening To. This blog is your one stop shop for all things indie rock including album reviews, concert highlights and the latest news on the bands that no one has heard of… yet.

I had all intentions of using my first entry to review some great new album that is dropping in November, however, I encountered a bit of a problem… I’m still stuck on the early fall releases that are continuing to blow me away. So instead I’ll let you in on what I’ve been digging since September. I’ll also hit you with some news that will definitely help you get through those cold winter months (hint: January is going to be chalk full of new releases from some of the superstars in Indie!) Read the rest of this entry »

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     Many people probably wondered how Brand New was to follow up there 2003 Emo Rock masterpiece Deja Entendu. The album’s success was unheard of for a band of their genre, as the band landed the cover of Seventeen magazine, air time on TRL, and even the approval of veteran rock critic Rolling Stone magazine. To top this fairytale of an album release, they got a record deal with DreamWorks Entertainment, estimated at a worth of one million dollars. So come November 6^th, 2005 the release date of The Devil In and God Raging Inside of Me, a lot was resting on the shoulder’s of Brand New.

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The 2nd annual Record Store Day is this Saturday April 18, 2009! 

We here at Princeton Record Exchange are proud to be one of the largest remaining independent record stores in the country and are pleased to be participating in this exciting event. 

There are a lot of reasons to visit us and join the fun.  Read the rest of this entry »

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Blue Note Ridge is Roger Powell’s fourth solo album.  The largest difference between this album and the three preceding ones is that these previous albums were significantly synthesizer-based.  As his former band–mate, Todd Rundgren used to say, “you were born, to synthesize”, and this new CD on Fossil Poets Records is largely based on piano.  Plain old acoustic piano with maybe a synth note here and there.

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When I first heard about Utopia’s new bass player back in 1977, I wondered if he would last.  “Who is this Kaseem Sooltan?” I asked.  The answer is extraordinary talent, a level-headed sensibility and a close eye on Todd Rundgren have kept him working with industry names such as Mick Jagger, Joan Jett, Patti Smyth and most notably as musical director for Meatloaf, as well as being part of the foundation of the Bat Out Of Hell original album and a right-hand man to Rundgren since Utopia’s evaporation in 1992.

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The story behind the album Arena is simply a tale born out of situational necessity. You die-hard Rundgren fans remember a couple of years ago (around the time the movie CARS came out) Todd had replaced Ric Ocasek in The New Cars (the ‘New’ being added in light of the minority percentage of returning members, only Elliot Easton and Greg Hawkes returned). Also joining Easton and Hawkes were Utopia and long-time Rundgren bassist and vocalist Kasim Sulton alongside drummer for The Tubes, Jefferson Starship and also a long-time Rundgren band member Prairie Prince. During the New Cars tour, the tour bus was in an accident and Easton fell from an upper bunk and broke his shoulder/collar bone. The tour was cut short, the cross-promotion with the Pixar movie was cancelled, and Rundgren found himself with nothing to do for a summer. Not wanting to waste a prime touring season, Rundgren spoke with Tony Levin band and long-time Rundgren guitarist Jesse Gress who contacted Levin and recruited him along with Levin Band drummer Jerry Marotta to do a two guitars bass and drums tour. Less expensive than touring with Midi and keyboards, etc.

Seeing as how he was going to be touring with a guitar-oriented band, not only did he have to limit his repertoire to guitar based or guitar-oriented or guitar adaptable songs, he also had to rearrange some keyboard-oriented standards for guitar.

Necessity is the mother of invention.

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Technically, it’s still Sunday, making it my designated blog day here at prex.com. Good start, I know.

A little while ago, I found out that Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds were playing the Electric Factory on October 7th. While I’m from Bucks County, I go to school in Pittsburgh, and Nick is one of my favorites. Long story short, I flew home for 24 hours to catch this show and then turned around and came back.

Worth it? Yes. Hell yes. Read the rest of this entry »

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Chris Arduser is not now, nor will he ever be a household name. But I would rather keep this Chris Arduser in tact as opposed to some record label machination. I have come to know and love Deathy (as he is known in the inner circles of the Bear’s cave) through his work with Adrian Belew and the Bears, the Psychodots and later Raisins, Graveblankets and his own solo albums.
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Sorry folks, no nonsense about this recording, it’s all business with the Generator. It has to be. At least from Nick Oliveri’s point of view. After all, what do you do when you are asked to leave a band on the verge of breaking huge?
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What is it about lo-fi punk bands that drives everyone crazy [in the good way...] these days? What with the phenomenal debut full-length from LA’s No Age and the long-standing underground successes of garage noise punk a la Japanther, Mika Miko, Black Lips, etc, it’s almost as if the lo-fi recording quality of some upcoming bands serves as a “seal of approval” for listeners everywhere that says, or even screams: “This music is so raw…you’re going to listen to the shitty quality, and you’re going to loooove it.” But in the end, you have to admit that this lo-fi stuff actually sounds, well, kinda good…not in terms of clean engineering or production, maybe, but as a complement to the bands’ sounds and attitudes about not only how they record their music, but how they choose to perform it live as well. Times New Viking’s newest release “Rip It Off” is a perfect example of how maxed-out instrumentation/vocals can be made to just work. Read the rest of this entry »

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TO: Jeff Boule

FROM: Trent Reznor

RE: something new

Hey Jeff, I figured I would let you know the new disc is almost ready to go out, but here are some new tracks I came up with that you might get a chuckle out of.

Hoping for good things, try not to pan it too bad! Trent

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The Kills new album, “Midnight Boom”, is a great art rock follow up to their album “No Wow”. Fans of the Kills will not be disappointed in the single “Cheap and Cheerful”, which stays true the the Kills’ grungy, dirty style while still presenting new material. Read the rest of this entry »

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