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Review: Crosses Live Debut

Posted 2/1/12 6:00 pm EST by in Bands We Like, Concerts, reviews


By Zachary Swickey

Pomona, California - Before Crosses took the stage at Pomona’s famous Glass House music venue – the air was already thick with anticipation and the crowd’s energy was wildly high well before the show even began. As the six band members slowly crept onstage with three illuminated Crosses as their backdrop, Chino Moreno, lead singer of the Deftones, grabbed the mic – rockin’ a black leather jacket with hood draped – the crowed went hysterical. (At this point, Moreno is essentially a legend in the California music scene and very well-respected by his musical peers).

The crowd certainly wasn't complaining when the band kicked things off with the subdued, dreamy “Thholyghost.” Fans hung on Moreno's every word – singing along with him (something that continued for the majority of the show). Next up was “This Is A Trick,” which is without a doubt one of Crosses strongest songs. Moreno showed signs of his Deftones alter-ego with his primal scream as he “sang” the song’s chorus. Lopez’s excellent production work and digital additions on the track were spot-on in a live setting, sounding like a maniacal emergency siren of the future.

When the band began playing a track off their second EP, Frontiers, Moreno hopped on the guard rail, which he is notoriously known for doing (and something fans adore him for). He draped his body over the clamoring fans as he sang, “I can take you even further,” as hands reached out – hoping to merely touch the icon. During “Telepathy” the three backdrop Crosses even began glowing a deep purple (eventually they covered every color in the spectrum). It was at this point that I realized how crazy talented bassist Chuck Doom is – his finger pluckin’ precision is right up there with RHCP’s Flea. Read More...

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'American Idol' Recap: Lacey Brown, Didi Benami And 'Countryleta' Aaron Kelly Have Potential

Posted 2/4/10 9:08 am EST by in Music, Television


On Wednesday night, the endless parade of costumed wannabes and ham-fisted sob stories came to an end as "American Idol" aired its final audition episode of the season. By my count, season nine has yielded two divorces, 26 foster families, two syndromes (Tourette's and Downs), one Alzheimer's, two cancer survivors, one Austistic child, one paralyzed face and a reformed bank robber, yet only one true breakout star: "Pants on the Ground" sensation General Larry Platt. And that dude isn't even eligible for the competition!

Gee, "Idol" producers, you think it's time to revamp these audition episodes?

Thankfully, Wednesday night's final helping — a hodgepodge of leftover tryouts from every city they visited — was packed with talented singers, some of whom I could even imagine at the Kodak Theater, singing a song about obstacles, fortitude and earthquakes.


My favorite was redhead crooner Lacey Brown, who made "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" sound like I was hearing it for the first time in my life. It was smoky, smooth and sophisticated, and I've re-watched it more than any other audition this season. (It also helps that Lacey looks like she could be the granddaughter of "Mad Men" character Joan Holloway.) Last year, it came down to Lacey and Megan Joy in the Top 36. Here's hoping Lacey's unique, jazzy voice will hold up more than Megan's quirky squawk should she make it past Hollywood this year.

Lacey wasn't the only familiar face returning to "Idol" land. I spotted Amy Winehouse wannabe Frankie Jordan (now with bangs!), a quick shot of hippie Rose Flack and some random tanorexic girl who was more orange than Snooki in a basketball costume. The most notable repeat customer was Jessica Furney, who sucked up to Simon by performing "Footprints in the Sand," a Leona Lewis song he co-wrote. I remember falling in love with Jessica in season eight, mostly because of hilarious Grandma Furney. But this year, Grandma Furney was nowhere to be found, and although Jessica showed off a great makeover, her audition was the equivalent to "Police Academy 5." In theory, you want to like it, but without Mahoney there, the magic's gone. (Jessica made it to Hollywood, so perhaps we'll at least get an explanation of Grandma Furney's whereabouts! I need to know!)

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Santigold Tourmate Amanda Blank Emerges From Friend's Shadow At New York Show

Posted 6/8/09 6:26 pm EST by in Concerts


By Daniela Capistrano, photos by Bashira Webb

It felt destined to be an uneventful, summer rain-drenched night this past Friday evening in the trendy Village section of Manhattan. But a few strokes before midnight, DJ Herbert Holler strongly advised the staff at Le Poisson Rouge to wrap up sound check, as a throng of Amanda Blank fans were waiting.

"People are outside getting wet, man" he gently prodded.

While the petite MC wrapped up interviews backstage, DJ Herbert quickly warmed up the crowd with his blend of '80s top 40, hip-hop, house, rock, Motown and soca rhythms. The turnout was notably eclectic: A middle-aged man in a black suit gyrated on a small stage without much notice, while a preppy couple in Converse pogo'd nearby. Across the club, a group of ladies in almost identical jean skirts and flip flops mouthed lyrics to Naughty by Nature.

Though Santigold has been appearing on this tour (in support of Blank's new album I Love You), this show belonged soley to Amanda, and the fans seemed eager to get a taste of her not as a supporting character or hype woman, but as the main act.
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'American Idol' Expert Jim Cantiello Thinks Allison Iraheta Is On Her Way Out

Posted 4/29/09 12:38 am EST by in American Idol


Allison Iraheta Rat Pack standards night on "American Idol" had almost everyone bringing their A-game. The top five are all in it to win it, even if Simon Cowell thinks some are hungrier than others. (Don't get me started ... )

But even though there are only five singers left, tomorrow night's results shows still means the contestants will have to face one thing: awful Ford commercials. Oh yeah, it also brings the dreaded bottom three. Although I can't see into the future like Paula Abdul, who can somehow judge performances before she even sees them, I'm going to take a crack and predict which contestants I see sitting on those sterile stools in less than 24 hours.

Spot #3: Kris Allen
Kris opened the show, which is never a good thing. (Last week, Lil had the opening spot, and now she's doing press appearances on "Live With Regis & Kelly." 'Nuff said.) And his "The Way You Look Tonight" didn't pack the punch of his past two star-making performances on the show. Personally, I thought he looked unrehearsed. And Simon didn't have much love for him, comparing the dude to a well-trained dog. But his loyal teen-girl fanbase will text enough votes to have Seacrest say, "Sit, Ubu, sit! Good dog."

(Check out the rest of Jim's predictions, after the jump!)
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A Short Ida Maria Live Show Is Better Than None At All

Posted 4/28/09 7:17 pm EST by in Behind The Scenes


By Daniela Capistrano

When I heard Scandinavian songbird Ida Maria was performing a set for MTV staff at 1515 Broadway today, I immediately dropped what I was doing and ran towards the elevator. It was that serious.

For the uninitiated, you might have already been exposed to Ida Maria via this season's "Gossip Girl" promos — she's the throaty voice behind "Oh My God," possibly the best song ever created for screaming at the top of your lungs after a breakup (or so I've heard).

Comparisons to Janis Joplin or Chrissie Hynde might be intimidating for some young artists, but 24-year-old Ida Maria takes it all in stride. She's a punk princess who isn't afraid to wear her heart on her sleeve.

Upon entering the grafittied performance space on the 24th floor, I was surprised to find the entire front row available. I discreetly plopped into the seat directly in front of the mic for optimum tune absorption.

Ida Maria waited patiently on the sidelines (in a fierce military jacket and Adidas kicks) while a rep from Mercury Records sang her praises. (This was not necessary, since anyone with taste knows she rules, but I digress.)

I don't know if it was the amazing view of the Hudson shimmering directly behind her with the sun blotting out her profile in silhouette, but the whole experience served to remind me how powerful a live show can be. We can play on the Web and download as many albums as we'd like, but nothing equates to someone making music in front of you, in real time.

Ida Maria's set was unfortunately super-short. She only played three songs — a track I hadn't heard before that is on her debut album Fortress Round My Heart, and "I Like You Such Much Better When You're Naked," another fave of mine.

The last song was a new piece that she hasn't recorded yet, "Loud." Because of technical difficulties, Ida Maria rocked it unplugged and sans mic, which ended up being a perfect companion to the performance because the song is about being overwhelmed in a harried, over-stimulated world. As my silenced BlackBerry angrily vibrated near my thigh, I could definitely relate.

As the show came to a close, Ida Maria strummed the last note of "Loud" just as a cell phone in the audience let out a shrill bleep. I cringed, but Ida Maria just smiled and murmured, "That was perfect," and gracefully turned to make her exit.

Luckily I grabbed her before she took off and she was kind enough to let me snap this photo. Check the hair! Insane.

Ida Maria at MTV

(View our exclusive photo shoot with Ida Maria here.)

Ida Maria is MTV's current Discover and Download artist, which hopefully exposes her painfully truthful-but-beautiful-to-hear melodies to the world.


Her debut album Fortress Round My Heart is available now.

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Usher's Confessions Still Holds Up After Five Years

Posted 3/24/09 6:40 pm EST by in Usher


Five years ago this week, Usher dropped one of the biggest R&B albums of the decade, Confessions. I was actually in the studio that summer in New York when Ush was recording the title track with Jermaine Dupri — throwback jerseys were still in, Ush had the San Francisco jacket and JD still had his braids!

Listening to the music, on which Ush sang about everything in his relationship, I knew I would hear — hell, the world would hear — something different this time. He was already a star, but with this joint, you had the feeling it was going to be different. Usher would be talking about realer things that older cats could also relate to.

Then he dropped the megaton bomb with “Yeah!” I remember hearing the record on a mixtape — I wanna say it was a Big Mike R&B mixtape. I told my brother Ari it was going to be huge — it just felt pop and 'hood at the same time, like nothing else that was on the radio — and Luda put the nail in the coffin with his verse at the end. We just listened to the mixtape all that weekend — it had to be close to Christmastime — and “Yeah!” in particular. As the album release date neared, I had the chance to hear more material and do more interviews and really get a chance to know more about Usher as a person. He really let his guard down and got pretty personal.
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Pearl Jam's Ten Sounds Even Better 17 Years Later

Posted 3/24/09 12:00 pm EST by in pearl-jam


Though strongly counseled against it, I will admit here and now that I don't believe I've ever consciously sat down and listened to Pearl Jam's debut album, Ten, from beginning to end.

It's not that I don't like PJ — in fact, they've grown to be one of my favorite live bands over the past decade or so. But before I started writing about music for a living, I was much more regimented about my listening habits. I'd devour everything I could, but for some reason PJ's music just didn't grab me back in my Nirvana-centric days.

Which is why listening to the remixed reissue of Ten that hits stores Tuesday (March 24) is something of a revelation. I've been spinning it almost exclusively for the past few weeks and each time I give a song like "Once" or the ominously alluring "Garden" another try, I'm newly blown away at their power, punch and the intensity of singer Eddie Vedder's voice. I'm not telling anyone who's already a big fan anything new, but even if you've listened 1,000 times, the crispness of these tracks is like someone grabbing you from the back row and pushing you up to the sweaty pit, pulling your ear plugs out and shoving you up against the speaker as the seasick guitars start swaying crazily during "Deep."

Of course "Even Flow," "Alive" and "Jeremy" still pack a wallop — and the band continues to tear into them like they're brand new in concert to this day — but these other songs, the ones I hadn't really investigated fully before ... wow.

The remixed songs crackle with a jazzy, swinging energy I began to remember from the time I saw PJ play in a dumpy little off-campus bar in Madison, Wisconsin — called the R&R Station — in March 1992. Mike McCready's feral guitar playing on "Why Go," all coiled energy and chicken scratching bursts of ominous noise; bassist Jeff Ament's finger popping, deep funk bass and Vedder's dog snarl bellow of "Why go home!" are like my own personal discovery of a 12-million selling Rosetta Stone my friends have been trying to tell me about for more than 15 years.

Listening to the undulating, Jane's Addiction-like "Oceans" now, you can clearly see the through line to Vedder's pastoral solo soundtrack to "Into the Wild," which makes all the bizarre twists and turns the band has taken between then and now even more fascinating. The set has been remixed by producer Brendan O'Brien, who didn't work on PJ's debut, but helmed their next four albums and, for a while, was practically a sixth member of the group.

The band are also offering up all the master tracks from Ten for download at the "Rock Band" music store for use on Xbox 360 and PS3. And, if you dare, drummer Matt Cameron is playing "Rock Band 2" with Xbox Live Gold members on March 27 at 7 p.m. EST.

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Don't Go To Atlanta If You're On A Diet -- The Food Is Too Good

Posted 3/23/09 3:08 pm EST by in Atlanta Week


One of the last places in the world you want to go if you're trying to watch what you eat is Atlanta, Georgia — there is way too much temptation. A down-home Southern meal in the A will knock you off your feet and have you floating on cloud nine; you're probably going to want to take a nap right after. Working for MTV News, I'm down in the A quite often. The city is a music mecca, so we have to go to where the stars make it happen. There are so many things I love about what I call my "third hometown," that I can't fit them all into one blog. I'll be checking in throughout the week to tell you about some of my other faves, but for today, let's stick to the food. Here are my top five places to eat in A-Town.

» Magic City - OK, it's a strip club, but they do have a kitchen. The scenery at Magic can't be matched by any eatery and, no joke, they have some great chicken wings up in there. Big up to my homie Young Jeezy, who've I've been there with quite a few times over the years.

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What We've Learned From 'Rockville, CA'

Posted 3/18/09 6:55 pm EST by in reviews, web series


By Matt Elias

Yesterday, we brought you a clip from the new Web series "Rockville, CA." After watching the first four "Rockville" shows — er, "webisodes" — here's what we've learned about life in an indie-rock club:

» Any media type that's on the guest list will breeze through the front door, while paying fans have to wait in line. (This is pretty true, for the most part.)

» While a band is playing onstage, you can have a normal conversation without having to shout into someone's ear.

» All concertgoers speak in a witty, "Dawson's Creek"-type style, and their vocabularies know no limits.

» Drinking water at the bar is lame.

» Every club has a resident mute, who speaks only through her photography.

So maybe this show isn't really a gritty exposé on the indie-rock world; it's more what someone thinks it's like to live and breath the indie life. And maybe I'm out of the target demographic (although I listen to the bands featured on the show), but the characters seem over-exaggerated — like they're, well, TV characters.

While these episodes featured indie faves like the Duke Spirit and the Kooks, the music didn't have the same draw I was hoping for. What made the music so captivating in other shows from this creative team was that it lifted key scenes. Snow Patrol's "Chasing Cars" was as integral a part of the "Grey's Anatomy" season-one finale as the dialogue. But I guess we were much more invested in the "Grey's" characters at that point, and music brought the emotions to a whole other level. In "Rockville," the band onstage just serves as a backdrop to the action. Yes, the music plays underneath the scene, but it's not really driving an emotional moment.

We'll have to see what's next for "Rockville" and whether it really can become the next indie-rock launching pad.

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Janet Jackson Fans Not Buying Her Brand Of Discipline At MSG Show

Posted 11/3/08 3:29 pm EST by in Concerts, Janet-Jackson


Janet Jackson

By Daniela Capistrano

Despite canceling nine shows on her Rock Witchu Tour due to vestibular migraines, Janet was present and full of energy for her Saturday performance at Madison Square Garden. She left the packed house standing and cheering for more when she closed with her top-five hit "Runaway," but received mixed reactions throughout the night to tracks from her latest album, Discipline.

Janet Jackson

(Check out more pics from the concert here.)

Although the LP is Janet's least successful album to date (as of September, record sales stood at 415,000 copies in the U.S.), the turnout at Madison Square Garden probably convinced Midtown onlookers otherwise. Hundreds of Janet fans of all ages and backgrounds spilled onto the streets, clutching merchandise and congregating outside the venue as if unwilling to leave, still glowing and chattering excitedly about the show they had just experienced. "Did you see her dancing the entire time?" shouted a middle-age mother to her group of friends, teenage daughters in tow. "It was flawless!" Other fans expressed similar sentiments. "Oh my God, that was hot," a male teen crowed to his similarly well-coiffed associates. “Janet is timeless, right?" Responses to the new album, however, were decidedly mixed. Words used by the crowd to describe her latest release ranged from "pretty good, but not great" to "disappointing." Read More...

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