Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#865 in the Series) is Black Sabbath, 13 Black Sabbath are not merely just one of the founding fathers of heavy metal music, they totally made it their own by making it incredibly doomy and gloomy while still staying true to its bluesy roots and even sounding very optimistic through the shadows. Their latest outing, 13, stays very true to that form and marks the triumphant studio return of original lead singer, Ozzy Osbourne, for the first time in 38 years. The band has had some really nice albums with various other singers, most notably the Ronnie James Dio years of the early ’80’s, but hardcore fans have always yearned for the...

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Always” by Yeah Yeah Yeahs Yeah Yeah Yeah’s last album It’s Blitz was the group’s most mainstream effort, garnering them a much wider audience than they previously had. In contrast, their latest album, Mosquito is much less dancefloor friendly and hearkens back to their earlier electro trash sound. Although, the dense, layered atmospheric production makes the record initially far less satisfying than its predecessor, with repeated spins the songs begin to insinuate themselves and you begin to realize just how great this record is. Yeah Yeah Yeahs consist of Karen O (aka Karen Orzolek) on vocals, Nick Zinner on guitar and Brian Chase on drums. Karen O met Chase while attending...

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Keep Your Children In A Coma” by Future Bible Heroes Stephin Merritt is one of today’s greatest songwriters. Whether solo or with groups like Magnetic Fields, The Gothic Archies, The 6ths or Future Bible Heroes, Merritt has given us hundreds of great songs over the years with a Broadway sensibility, deadpan delivery and a droll sense of humor. He’s even released a soundtrack to the A Series Of Unfortunate Events books composed with none other than author Lemony Snicket. Future Bible Heroes, which has served as one of several outlets for Stephin Merritt’s prolific songwriting abilities, features Chris Ewen of Figures On The Beach (who co-writes all of the songs here...

  Listen to Black Sabbath 13 For Free So you’d like to hear Black Sabbath’s new album 13 before it’s official release date of  June 11th? Well you can by visiting the official Black Sabbath iTunes page. To get there click this link: iTunes artist page, once your there then you must click on “View in iTunes” to access the stream to 13 in its entirety. This is the first Black Sabbath studio album with Ozzy Osbourne since 1978’s Never Say  Die. Bill Ward is not part of the project. Toni Iommi was asked about it by Rolling Stone Magazine. “I didn’t know Bill was having these issues when we got together – he never even mentioned it to us. It was quite confusing. We...

  Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Lose Yourself To Dance” by Daft Punk So Daft Punk has released a ‘70s Disco album and everybody is going nuts. Daft Punk fans are going nuts because there are real instruments and, gasp, real voices on this record. Critics are going nuts because the group has made a ‘70s disco album, and a ‘70s disco album stands out because it’s the antithesis of the loud-soft dynamic of today’s EDM. This gives critics something to write about, which in turn makes them excited, resulting in amazingly positive reviews. Mind you, these are some of the same critics who back in the ‘70s, wouldn’t have been caught dead listening to a...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#860 in the Series) is Black Star Riders, All Hell Breaks Loose Sometime around Christmas 2005 I caught a taxi in my hometown of Belfast and happened to be wearing a Thin Lizzy T-shirt. The surly driver, spotting this young whipper-snapper wearing his beloved band’s logo, struck up a conversation. “So, you’re a Lizzy fan, yeah?” he asked. When I replied in the affirmative, he decided to test me, guessing I was one of those people who wear band shirts because they’re “cool”, but have no idea about the band, like the endless numbers of kids sporting Ramones shirts these days. “What album is this the first song from, then?” he asked, as...

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Turn To White” by She & Him Music critics crack me up. They’re always looking for something to dis about a record in order to validate their jobs as critics. And, I suppose at times I am no different than the rest. Nothing is ever just great, some fault must be found in order to have something to say. I guess without criticism, you’re just not a critic. The rap critics usually give Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward every time they release a new She & Him record is that the music is too lightweight and twee with no heft whatsoever.  And to this, I find myself asking what exactly do...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#858 in the Series) is Telekinesis, Dormarion (Merge Records) It is May 3rd, and I’m just saying it right now. This will be the album of the summer. Hailing from Seattle, Telekinesis (Michael Benjamin Lerner’s one-man show) has just rocked my life with the new album Dormarion. Sometimes I struggle with writing the same thing about all the bands I like. They’re all good for pretty much the same reasons: folksy, rootsy, soulful, rooted, vintage, twangy, jangly, whatever. Telekinesis is different, and not necessarily my usual fare. But man is it good. They’ve got driving, bright acoustic guitar, a bit of gravel in the voice, an oh-ohoh-oh right away. Right away I know...

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Waiting Is Forbidden” by Rudresh Mahanthappa Welcome to the sonic space where Ornette Coleman’s Prime Time meets King Crimson. Sound intriguing? If it doesn’t, read no further because today’s Song Of The Day is not for the faint of heart or those of closed mind. Despite his exotic name, Rudresh Mahanthappa was born in Italy of Indian descent, but raised in Boulder Colorado from a very young age. He studied music at Berklee in California and earned his Master Of Fine Arts degree at DePaul University in Chicago. While at Berklee, he was introduced to Indian saxophonist Kadri Gopalnath, and the two traveled to India to play concerts between 2005 and...

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Just Dropped In” by Tom Jones Tom Jones just released his 40th album this week called Spirit In The Room. It was released last May in England and has finally gained a release stateside. It is also the second “mortality” album he’s released in a row. The “mortality album” occurs when a rapidly aging heritage artist is matched with a hip (younger) producer, who in this case is Ethan Johns. (Johns was also at the helm for his last “mortality album” Praise And Blame.) The producer acts as a mentor to the artist and who curates the record by choosing the songs that not only will give the artist credibility with...