The Canon Logic Release Non-LP B-Side, "The Underground", as a Free Download

The Canon Logic have released a new non-LP B-side, "The Underground", as a free download. All you have to do is become a fan on Facebook.

The Canon Logic's debut full-length, FM Arcade, came out this past March and the band just released a limited edition vinyl version. If you missed the band's CD Release show at Mercury Lounge last month, here is a live video of "Nights at Armour Mansion" from the show.



The Canon Logic's next show is a Cross-Pollination show at Piano's on May 11th. The show is free (tip jar will be passed) and is 21+.

Links:
The Canon Logic

Melissa Etheridge's New CD, "Fearless Love", Available on Amazon as a $3.99 Download

Melissa Etheridge makes a welcome return to her rock roots with her 11th disc Fearless Love. The new disc came out this past Tuesday and is available as a digital download from Amazon.com for $3.99.

Melissa Etheridge’s new single, “Fearless Love,” a bold and soaring declaration for living - and loving - to the fullest, has struck a momentous chord as it soars inside the Top 30 this week on the Hot AC chart, and rises to #10 on the Triple A chart.



To make Fearless Love, Etheridge invited old friend John Shanks to produce and play guitar. “I like to tell people I discovered John Shanks,” she teases. “He toured as my guitar player on my very first tour and he worked with me from 1993 to 1999.” Shanks’ first production credit came when he co-produced Melissa’s 1999 effort, Breakdown. “ “After that he went on to produce Michelle Branch, Sheryl Crow, Alanis Morissette—he’s Mr. Pop guy now. He’s done quite well,” Notes Etheridge. The 2005 Grammy® winner for Producer of the Year has written with and produced an A+ list of stars including Carlos Santana, Celine Dion, Sting, Fleetwood Mac, Bon Jovi, Jewel, Robbie Robertson, Chris Isaak, Stevie Nicks, Keith Urban, Kelly Clarkson and Rod Stewart.

To promote the new disc, Melissa is making the round of network TV shows. Upcoming appearances include:

Apr 30 - Good Morning America ABC
Apr 30 - The View ABC
May 04 – Ellen

Links:
Melissa Etheridge

Sing Me To Sleep - Tanya Donelly, Jenny Owen Youngs, and Julie Peel perform at Joe’s Pub on June 13th to Launch New Children’s Charity CD

American Laundromat Records (ALR) is hosting a CD release party at Joe's Pub on June 13th to celebrate the release of ALR’s new charity CD Sing Me To Sleep - Indie Lullabies. The show features performances from Tanya Donelly, Jenny Owen Youngs, and Julie Peel, along with face-painting, balloons, crafts and more.

Sing Me To Sleep - Indie Lullabies features whimsical adaptations of popular songs and lullabies by various independent artists, including: Stars, Tanya Donelly, Neil Halstead, Dean & Britta, Telekinesis, and many more. American Laundromat’s goal with this album is not only to raise awareness and support for The Valerie Fund, but also to provide something of beauty for indie music appreciators to share with their kids.

100% of proceeds from the sale of Sing Me To Sleep are donated to The Valerie Fund, a NYC-based charity that supports the comprehensive care of children with cancer and blood disorders. Established in 1976 in memory of nine-year-old Valerie Goldstein, The Valerie Fund Children’s Centers, located at 7 major hospitals, comprise one of the nation’s largest networks of health care facilities for children with cancer and blood disorders.

This is an all-ages matinee show that runs from 12:00PM - 2:30PM. Tickets are $20 for adults and $12 for children under 12.

The Brute Chorus Announce New Album 'How The Caged Bird Sings'; Download New Single (Free)

DOWNLOAD: The Brute Chorus - "Could This Be Love" (from How the Caged Bird Sings)

Indie blue-rockers, The Brute Chorus are releasing their second disc, How The Caged Bird Sings, in August on the London indie label TAPE. The first single, "Could This Be Love", is available now as a free download.

The Brute Chorus' music is a mix of blues and rockabilly and is comparable to the Knoxville Girls or Heavy Trash. (The Cramps or Gun Club may be better comparisons for those outside of the New York area). The band built a reputation for their live shows at Camden's Hawley Arms (one-time home to Amy Winehouse) and recorded their self-titled debut album in front of a live audience at Camden's Roundhouse. The BBC described the band as "suckled on surf, old time blues and quiff-bouncing rockabilly, their music breathes and sweats; you can almost feel the saliva spray as frontman James Steel splutters lines about flooded tower blocks and duplicitous mythical heroes."

Here are the band's upcoming tour dates:

April 29th – London, UK – Bloody Awful Poetry @ Madam JoJo’s at 8pm
May 1st – Leeds, UK – Live @ Leeds, Elbow Rooms at 1pm
May 1st – London, UK – Camden Crawl @ The Hawley Arms at 8pm
May 20th – London, UK – Big Chill House @ 8pm
July 15th – Cheltenham, UK - 2000 Trees Festival
July 18th – Cockermouth, UK – Cock Rock Festival

Links:
The Brute Chorus

Jon Oliva's Pain: Festival CD Review (AFM Records)

As a long-time fan of Alice Cooper’s mid-70’s work, Jon Oliva’s newest disc struck a real positive chord with me. The ten tracks on Festival balance fist-pumping rockers with power ballads and it is hard not to think of “Only Women Bleed” when listening to the ballads. Strong production pushes to the front of the mix Oliva’s growling vocals along with the multi-faceted guitar work of Matt LaPorte and Tom McDyne, whose chops range from jazz licks to progressive breaks to shredding metal.

The CD cover is a ‘carnival of the damned’ picture and horror movies themes and sound effects run throughout the disc. The disc starts off strong and opens with creepy carnival sound effects before going into the driving and angry “Lies”. The power ballads are mostly guitar driven as Oliva says that he wrote most of this disc on the guitar.



Some of the stand-out cuts include the “big sounding” rockers: "The Evil Within", "Death Rides a Black Horse" (which has some cool symphonic keyboards) and "Living on the Edge of Time" (which is likely a remake of an old Savatage song). The ballads are up-tempo somewhat proggy affairs. “Afterglow” starts as an orchestral piano ballad before launching a metal attack and backs out of this mid-way for a jazz break, “Winter Haven” is a mellow, symphonic prog-rock tune and the contemplative “Now” ends the disc.

This disc clocks in at just under an hour and, while many of the above-mentioned musical themes are repeated across the different songs, this is a pleasant trip down a familiar road.

The band filmed a live DVD on their recent March/April European tour consisting of music from the four Jon Oliva's Pain CDs and a healthy dose of Savatage classics.

Commented Oliva: "This DVD is going to kick ass, and [it's] something that I have been looking forward to for many, many years. With the release of our new album in February and the vast back catalog of SAVATAGE material, we will have plenty of material to fill a two-plus-hour show... The band is great form and my voice is so ready for this. We're going to capture a great show with all the pyro, bells and whistles we can put on stage... and, of course, we will need all of you there to make it an over-the-top success."

Links:
Jon Oliva's Pain

Stranded Without A Phone - iPhone Game Review (Gilligames)

Stranded Without a Phone is a pretty cool desert island survival RPG game. The premise of the game is that you are the only survivor of a spaceship crash on a planet that is almost completely covered by ocean. You must develop survival skills and build shelter, find food and drink, and collect salvageable parts from the wreckage that washes ashore. The short-term goal of the game is to find enough food and water to survive past Day 3; the long-term goal is to use the parts that you find to build a radio and call for a rescue team (which wins the game).

The game play of Stranded Without a Phone should be very familiar to PC gamers. You move your character around the island by tapping the screen in the direction that you would like to go as you search for food, water and items that can help rescue you. Berry bushes are of immediate assistance as they can ward off hunger and you also need to search for items that can be used to construct more complex tools (rope, nets, radio parts, etc.) that can help with your rescue. There are over 70 potential inventory items and the game provides details on which items/parts you need to construct other, more complex tools. One of the challenges is that you can only carry six items in inventory unless you create the means to carry additional items.

The game has a day and night cycle so you need to manage your hydration, nutrition, injuries and health on a "daily" basis (see the right-hand corner of the screen for the health monitor). You also need to manage your sleep cycle and one of the challenges is that you can't get sufficient sleep if you aren't healthy.

Stranded Without a Phone takes a few tries to make your way through the game but it is addictive so you can easily spend a couple of hours with this game. Each time that you play the game, the island map is regenerated so the game (and its inherent challenges) don't get old quickly.

Stranded Without a Phone is $1.99 in the iTunes Store.

Links:
Gilligames

Babeorella - iPhone Game Review (doublesix)

I was at a kid’s party a few weeks back and got to relive my youth with a number of arcade game from the 90’s. Babeorella is an arena-style shoot-em-up / survival game that is very similar to the arcade game Smash TV. The story line behind this game is that you (Babeorella) have crash-landed on a planet inhabited by killer robots. In your best Jane Fonda-cum-Barbarella outfit, you have to fight your way through numerous waves of robot attacks.

Each wave of robot attacks gets progressively harder as new robots come after you and their weapons increase in power. To counter this, you start the game with the ability to launch three kinds of attacks – close combat, long-range and a ‘special attack’. For the first few waves, your primary weapon is going to be the whip but you need to pick up the upgrades and power-ups that are scattered throughout arena to be able to survive the upper waves. doublesix plays on a tongue-in-cheek sense of humor throughout the game as one of your weapons is named a “Bimbo Bomb” (and this does the most damage of all of your weaponry).

The controls are very similar to a console game where you move Babeorella by sliding your finger around the virtual ‘joystick’ control. The attack buttons are on the right side of the screen and the type of attack is automatically selected based on distance from your enemy. The “Special” button allows you to dash by your enemies with a Bimbo Bomb attack.

Like Smash TV, there is just one arena, but a DLC option within the game implies that future game boards will be forthcoming. To keep things interesting, there are several challenge modes within the game which you can start via the occasional exclamation mark that pops up on the map. Successfully completing these challenges upgrades your skills (which can be a life saver) and unlocks new costumes (which is a bit of a ‘ho-hum’).

Babeorella is available for $2.99 in the iTunes AppStore.

Zio - iPhone Game Review (by Glenn Marshall)

Zio is an interactive, organic art application that was created by artist Glenn Marshall and this application was used to create the visualization for Glenn's collaboration with Peter Gabriel, "The Nest That Sailed The Sky".



The "basic" application is available in the iTunes store for $1.99 and allows you to interact with three preset Zio Worlds. You can drag and rotate the images on the screen and you can "pinch" to zoom-in on the image. Where it gets fun is that you can turn on the audio mic and the images respond to the sounds in your environment. You can also save snapshots of any of the images to the photo library. To switch between worlds, you simply shake your iPhone.

To get full use of this application, you are going to want to upgrade to the Zio Studio (which is available as an in-app purchase for an additional $1.99). The studio offers 60+ editable parameters and five interface screens which gives you total control over your images.

Here is an overview of the Studio feature set:
- Size, shape and growth of branches,
- Particle motion and dynamics,
- Colours, shading and special effects,
- Audio reaction settings for individual graphics,
- Alter the underlying math algorithms,
- Camera tracking and motion,
- Watch Zio react in real time as you make changes,
- 10 user preset slots to save your creations and
- Full visual instruction and built-in help guide.

Links:
Butterfly/Glenn Marshall

PandaMania - iPhone Game Review (FizzPow Games)

PandaMania is an extremely addiction tower defense game from FizzPow Games that has a great graphics, easy-to-use controls and solid story line. In PandaMania, someone has stolen your source of power, your Fu Manchu mustache, and you must go on an epic journey to retrieve it. Wielding your bow and arrows, you fight through five lands and fifty levels, all in the name of your mustache.



PandaMania has three difficulty levels and gives you three save-game slots. Each enemy that you hit with your bow both charges your Pandamania meter (on the bottom right of the screen) and gives you points which you can use at the end of a level to upgrade both your arrows, power-ups and your tower. Charging the Pandamania meter lets you launch a mass blitz-attack on your enemies and is great to use in a crunch.

Make sure that you have some time for this game as it is easy to get started with and more than enough here to keep you engaged. Each Land has nine - ten levels, introduces new, more challenging enemies and ends with a boss level. This is one of the few games that I didn't put down until I finished the first difficulty level.

PandaMania is $1.99 in the iTunes AppStore.

Links:
FizzPow Games

Adam Green's "Teen Tech" Art Show Opens April 23rd / Headlining Shows at Bowery Ballroom on April 23 - 24

Former Moldy Peaches singer/songwriter, Adam Green’s debut art show, Teen Tech, will open at the Morrison Hotel Gallery (313 Bowery / former location of CBGB Gallery) on Friday, April 24th. Teen Tech showcases another side of Green, who has had a prolific (six albums in eight years) career as a solo musician and for his work as half of the band Moldy Peaches. Last year, he composed the soundtrack for a German theatrical adaptation of Paul Auster’s novel Timbuktu, which he titled Musik For A Play. Fat Possum Records released Green’s most recent solo album, Minor Love, in February.

The exhibition will consist of original works by Green: 12 sculptures of plaster, papier-mâché, or papier-mâché and mixed materials; 18 large-scale (30” x 40”) acrylic or watercolor paintings; 19 drawings; and 20 collages (created together with model Cory Kennedy). The art will be for sale and a portion of the proceeds will be donated to the charitable organization Artists for Peace and Justice, which directs 100% of all funds raised towards rebuilding and maintaining long-term sustainability in Haiti.

Green says of the exhibition, “Teen Tech is an art show I've prepared over the last year and a half. Perhaps because I'm an entertainer in showbiz, I found myself trying to make this art show more entertaining than average. It focuses on cartoon subjects. I don't often read comics but I've always liked to draw cartoons. I contend that all artists work in caricature. The pieces in Teen Tech are caricatures of cartoons, which I feel distill the subjects down to their bare essence.”

Teen Tech coincides with Green’s two-night headlining stand at the Bowery Ballroom. These two shows, April 23rd and 24th, will be the final of his current U.S. tour in support of Minor Love. Green is playing with Nickel Eye and The Dead Trees on Friday night and Savoir Adore and The Dead Trees on Saturday night. Tickets for each night's show is $15 and doors are at 8PM.

Links:
Adam Green

JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound Play Southpaw on May 7th (Chicago Soul)

DOWNLOAD: JC Brooks & the Uptown Sound - "Get It Together"
DOWNLOAD: JC Brooks & the Uptown Sound - "I Am Trying To Break Your Heart"

JC Brooks & the Uptown Sound had me at "hello" - fresh sounding soul from a young Chicago band that has a sound that is one part Booker T and one part James Brown; all with a little garage rock thrown in on the side. Mojo Magazine calls the band “one of the hottest US soul acts right now”.

JC Brooks & the Uptown Sound released their debut CD Beat of Our Own Drum (Vampisoul/Rabbit Factory) last year and have followed it with a new 7" single.

"Get It Together" is razor-sharp in the groove department -- lots of funky riffing guitar, hard-hitting bass, and badass horns -- all a perfect setting for JC's raw soul vocals! "I Am Trying" is great too -- a cut that starts out with a bit of a trippy start, then moves into some hard-stepping funk right away -- a killer, kickass groove that's mighty nice!

JC Brooks is headlining a show at Southpaw on May 7th with The Revelations and Ex Caminos. Advance tickets are $10 and the show starts at 9PM.

Links:
JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound

Earache Records Presents 'Smell the Glove' Tomorrow Night at St. Jerome's (155 Rivington)

Earache Records and Brooklyn Ski Club present "Smell The Glove" tomorrow night - the second installment of NYC's only hair metal, hard rock, and glam punk party. The party is at St. Jerome's (155 Rivington) and starts at 9PM. Admission is free - 21+ to drink.

The evening starts at 9PM with free PBR and a listening party for the new disc from Ratt, Infestation (which hits stores tomorrow). There will also be giveaways, go-go girls, DJs (with Cauldron and White Wizzard on the playlist) and more.



Links:
Smell the Glove @ Twitter

Masterplan - "Far From the End of the World" CD EP Review

German progressive/power metal band Masterplan has released a new CD EP, "Far From the End of the World", as an advance 'teaser' for their forthcoming fourth album Time To Be King. Time To Be King will be released on May 21st (on AFM Records) and features the return of original vocalist Jørn Lande.

There are two new tracks on the single "Far From the End of the World" and "Lonely Winds of War" along with a radio edit of "Far From the End of the World". I haven't heard any of the earlier Masterplan releases so - to compare to other bands - these two songs fall closely in line with the Dio-era of Rainbow. "Far from the End of the World" is a rocker that is driven by Lande's vocals and complemented by some clean guitar lines, soaring solos and a swirling, proggy keyboard. "Lonely Winds of War" falls clearly in the Rainbow camp and starts with a acoustic guitar and flute before moving into a riff-oriented power ballad.



Here is the full track list for Time to Be King:

01. Time To Be King
02. Fiddle Of Time
03. Lonely Winds of War
04. Blue Europa
05. Far From The End Of The World
06. The Dark Road
07. Under The Moon
08. Blow Your Winds
09. The Black One
10. The Sun Is In Your Hands
11. Kisses From You (bonus track)
12. Never Walk Alone (Japanese bonus track)

Links:
Masterplan

Abigail Williams Working on Second Full-Length Disc (Candlelight Records)

Black metal band Abigail Willaims have completed recording of individual performances for their still untitled second full-length. Recorded at Conquistador Studios in Cleveland, Ohio, eight new songs were laid down with vocalist/guitarist Ken Sorceron and engineer Cole Martinez controlling the audio takes. The songs are currently being mixed by Peter Tagtgren (Dimmu Borgir, Immortal, Celtic Frost) and are expected to be completed later this month.

Commenting briefly on the new material, Sorceron notes, "There are a lot less keyboards on the new songs. They are far more guitar-driven and have a bit more of a traditional sound in some ways but still very Abigail Williams sounding. We let ourselves have much more room with writing this album; kind of a more open, free environment than any we have employed before. The studio experience this time round was very natural to us. We recorded everything with much more ease and I think it has helped in capturing a very honest vibe."

Due to a injury to drummer Ken Meyers back in January, Abigail Williams canceled their planned tour with Nile. With Ken Bedene (Blood of Cain) behind the skins, the band is heading out on their first trip to Australia in May touring alongside Nile.

While the finishes touches are ongoing for the new album, Sorceron and drummer Ken Bedene are touring in Europe with Aborted (Sorceron contributed to the band’s latest album) while guitarist Ian Jekelis is keeping busy touring in the US with God Dethroned. In the Shadow of a Thousand Suns (which was released as a deluxe edition earlier this year with previously unreleased tracks) and the band’s 2007 "Legend" EP are available on iTunes.

Links:
Abigail Williams

Barn Burner - Bangers CD Review (Metal Blade)

The New Wave of Traditional Heavy Metal continues to shine with the debut release from Montreal’s Barn Burner. The new disc, Bangers, was released on Metal Blade last month and the band combines the clean, melodic sounds of bands like Thin Lizzy and Iron Maiden with the feedback-drenched, stoner grooves of Kyuss and Fu Manchu.

The disc starts out strong with the track “Holy Smokes” which captures the 70’s rock vibe so perfectly that it sounds like it could have come off Lizzy’s Thunder & Lightening. Singer/guitarist K. Keaglesmith’s vocals also bear more than a passing resemblance to Philo’s.



The Thin Lizzy comparison isn't to say that Barn Burner are revisionists though. Across this eleven-track disc, the band takes elements of punk, hardcore and 70's metal to create a unique, yet familiar sound, that is more than just the sum of its parts. The band captures a live vibe on this disc and producer Adrian Popovich gives the band a thick, meaty sound which has much of the same "warmth" that vinyl had back in the pre-digital age.

With songs like "Beer Today, Bong Tomorrow" and "Brohemoth", there is little doubt that this is a party band. Here is how the band described their music in a recent interview:

"The impetus for starting the band was initially to write and play tunes that made people want to drink excessively and high-five a lot. What came with that thrust was also the desire to write tunes that sort of compiled everything we like to listen to, from the harshest of death metal to catchy 70’s metal and rock."

This is a solid disc that will hopefully get the attention it deserves. The band is planning on spending a lot of time on the road this year which will hopefully include a stop-over in the NYC area.

Links:
Barn Burner

Today Show Announces 2010 Summer Concert Series

The Today Show 2010 Summer Concert series kicks off on May 14th with a set from Sting. Sting will play a thirty minute greatest hits set which is the forerunner to his forthcoming world tour with the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra.



Here is the rest of the Summer line-up:

MAY
14 Sting
21 The Script

JUNE
4 Justin Bieber
8 Christina Aguilera
11 Rascal Flatts
18 James Taylor and Carole King
25 Maxwell

JULY
2 Maroon 5
9 Lady Gaga
16 Enrique Iglesias
23 John Mayer
30 Carrie Underwood

AUGUST
6 Train
13 Ke$ha
20 Keith Urban
27 Katy Perry

Links:
The Today Show

Gang of Four Launch Pledgemusic Campaign for New CD 'Content'

Post-punk band Gang of Four are readying the release of their first set of new songs since 1995's Shrinkwrapped with a Pledgemusic campaign to support the release of their new album Content.

Pledge gifts range from signed CDs, limited edition white label LPs and hand-written lyrics to a private concert, copies of the band's first show (Leeds '77) and Andy Gill's mixing services.



Here is Andy & John's posting from the band's MySpace page:

"Making an album, you focus on the creative process, on exactly what you want to do and how to get there. Jon and I have been working on this new material for three years. It’s only as we came close to the end of the process that we began to think in practical terms, about how to make our music available. The traditional route, via the majors, doesn’t make sense any more. In fact, the whole architecture of the music industry doesn’t make sense any more. Record companies are taking more than ever before from artists and giving less than ever before to the people who want to listen to their music.

We decided to work with Pledge Music as a direct and innovative way to get our music out there. Towards the end of the summer, the album will be released and sold in record shops and as a download, but Pledge Music makes it possible for Gang of Four aficionados to get involved ahead of the release and to get a deeper insight into the making of the album and our ongoing work, through special pages on the site with daily updates of videos, gigs, conversations, demos, rough mixes, previously unreleased songs from the archives, and also words and photos.

We look forward to seeing you at our forthcoming gigs."

Andy and Jon

Links:
Gang of Four

Waking Lights Kick Off WP 88.7 Brave-A-Thon Fundraiser this Friday / May Show at Rockwood Music Hall

DOWNLOAD: Waking Lights - "Where It All Began" (from The Rabbit Hole)

NJ-based indie/folk band Waking Lights are kicking off the 2nd annual fundraiser for William Paterson University's 88.7FM Radio Station. The Brave-A-Thon fundraiser starts on Friday morning, April 23rd, and 15 bands will be playing live on-air at the studios. Waking Lights kicks off this event with a 9AM live set.

Waking Lights released an impressive EP, "The Rabbit Hole", at the end of last year that is available as a limited edition vinyl 7" (which comes with a digital download card). On this release, the band's sound ranges from indie-folk to 70's-style county/rock and I haven't quite made up my mind whether the band sounds more like Motel Motel or Steely Dan. Either way, it is engaging stuff that translates well to the live stage (check out the live video below).



Here is the band's upcoming tour dates, which includes a show at Rockwood Music Hall next month.

Apr. 23, 2010 -- WP 88.7 FM, Wayne, New Jersey (Note: 9AM set time)
Apr. 30, 2010 -- Wayne Firehouse, Wayne, New Jersey
May 19, 2010 -- Rockwood Music Hall, New York

Links:
Waking Lights

Melissa Etheridge Releases 11th Album, Fearless Love, on April 27th

Melissa Etheridge hit the East Coast in 1989 after the release of her self-titled debut and quickly built a reputation for her raw, high-energy rock n' roll shows that were one part Janis Joplin and one part Bruce Springsteen. As I dated women who thought there was music out there other than hardcore and alt-rock, I saw Melissa Etheridge a few times in the late 80's through mid 90's as she moved from club shows to headlining large amphitheaters. I lost touch with what Melissa was doing after the mid-90's but, what I heard in passing of her later-day material, struck me as "adult contemporary" (i.e. pure schmaltz).

Melissa's new album, Fearless Love, which comes out on April 27th, marks a welcome return to her roots-rock sounds of the early 90's. Check out the live video for the title cut and try not to think of Springsteen while watching.



To make Fearless Love, Etheridge invited old friend John Shanks to produce and play guitar. “I like to tell people I discovered John Shanks,” she teases. “He toured as my guitar player on my very first tour and he worked with me from 1993 to 1999.” Shanks’ first production credit came when he co-produced Melissa’s 1999 effort, Breakdown. “ “After that he went on to produce Michelle Branch, Sheryl Crow, Alanis Morissette—he’s Mr. Pop guy now. He’s done quite well,” Notes Etheridge. The 2005 Grammy® winner for Producer of the Year has written with and produced an A+ list of stars including Carlos Santana, Celine Dion, Sting, Fleetwood Mac, Bon Jovi, Jewel, Robbie Robertson, Chris Isaak, Stevie Nicks, Keith Urban, Kelly Clarkson and Rod Stewart.

The first new song [from Fearless Love], a dramatic number called “To be Loved,” came out much darker than the album as a whole. As more songs were written, potential singles began to emerge: “Indiana,” a ballad-cum-monster-of-a-rocker that relates the story of a girl who has overcome a difficult childhood in the Heartland; “The Wanting of You,” a classic Etheridge rocker based on the story of a small-town, Midwestern girl who lives in fear of the life-changing choices she’s made; and “Company,” a mid-tempo rocker that will all undoubtedly amass plenty of airplay in 2010. The big Pete Townshend-inspired power chords in “Company” are an example of Etheridge’s propensity for proudly displaying her influences on Fearless Love; listen carefully and you’ll hear a U2-like guitar line here, a ZZ Top-like lick there, some Led Zeppelin-style rock for all to hear. “I wanted to unabashedly use the influences I’ve had all my life,” Etheridge explains, “I wanted to present them in this album, and honor them and respect them.”

Amazon is taking pre-orders for Fearless Love (click on the photo above) for $7.99 and the first two singles ("Fearless Love" and "The Wanting of You") are currently available on iTunes.

Melissa is playing a limited set of live dates over the next few months:

May 22, 2010 -- KFOG’s KaBoom @ Candlestick Point San Francisco, California
Jun 26, 2010 -- Hard Rock Calling in Hyde Park with Stevie Wonder, London
Jun 27, 2010 -- Paradiso, Amsterdam, Noord-Holland
Jun 29, 2010 -- O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, London
Jun 30, 2010 -- Astra Kulturhaus, Berlin

Links:
Melissa Etheridge

Joan Osborne - City Winery, NYC 4-14-10

I made my first visit to City Winery earlier this week to catch the second of two sold-out shows by Joan Osborne.

I haven't seen Joan Osborne live since an early club show when Relish was first released (and "One of Us" was getting played to death on the local 'modern rock' station). In watching Joan's live show now fifteen years later, the radio stations back in the 90's may have latched onto the 'wrong' song. Joan's set on Wednesday night featured more roots/blues oriented songs which were closer in comparison to artists like Bonnie Raitt than anything 'modern rock'. If anything, Joan's voice has gotten stronger over the years and she has a solid band that complements her vocal stylings well.



I didn't keep a set list during the 90+ minute set but noted some of the highlights:
- "Brokedown Palace"; a Grateful Dead cover which Joan introduced as a song she rehearsed with the Dead but never sang live
- "Long Black Coat"; a Bob Dylan cover which is back in the setlist after a multi-year absence
- "St. Theresa"; one of my favorites from Relish
- "Spiderweb"; played as a slow, funky jam
- "Hallelujah in the City"; incredible vocals
- "What Became of the Brokenhearted"; a Jimmy Ruffin/Motown cover from the mid-60's

Joan also road-testing some new material and had two new songs in the set.

I really enjoyed City Winery as well as both the sound and the sight lines were great. What I especially appreciated is that the service was attentive without being intrusive. As such, I've subsequently joined City Winery's Vinofile club (which gets you no service fees on tickets) and have bought tickets for the upcoming Suzanne Vega/Lloyd Cole show next month.

Joan Osborne is playing a limited set of shows over the next few months and here are the upcoming tour dates:

Apr. 16, 2010 -- Tupelo Music Hall Londonerry, New Hampshire
Apr. 17, 2010 -- Blue Ocean Music Hall, Salisbury, Massachusetts
Apr. 24, 2010 -- Edmonds Center for the Arts, Edmonds, Washington
Jun. 13, 2010 -- Riverbend Festival: Tennesse Valley Stage, Chattanooga, Tennessee
Jul. 10, 2010 -- Vancouver Island Musicfest: Courtenay Exhibition Grounds, Courtenay, British Columbia
Jul. 24, 2010 -- Churchill Downs - HullaBalou Festival, Louisville, Kentucky

Links:
Joan Osborne