Posts Tagged ‘the strokes’

Locked deep inside an unassuming Manhattan venue, a musician reminisces. “Eddie Vedder was hanging around with The Strokes one night, just hanging out drinking beer. This doesn’t happen in any place except New York City.”

Well, it is indeed a unique city; a world within a world where countless nationalities convalesce in an urban sprawl so packed with landmarks that some truly extraordinary places can be lost to the spectacular backdrop forever. Places which anywhere else on Earth would no doubt have a steady stream of wide-eyed locals flocking to its site, gazing on in wonder. The Music Building, situated not far from Times Square, is just one of those places. That unassuming Manhattan venue which since 1979 has been the mecca many an aspiring young musician has migrated to, maybe some having jumped off a Grey Hound Bus, guitar case in hand, at the nearby Port Authority Bus Depot., and whose doors today give way to a remarkable community of 69 rooms brimming with bands, students and raconteurs recounting an endless treasure trove of stories, folk tales and rock n roll mythology.

Live4ever’s Essential Listening end of year retrospective continues today with our pick of the tracks and EPs which have crossed the Live4ever Ezine‘s path during the past twelve months.

Featuring stand-out singles from some of the rock world’s best established artists, as well as plenty of impressive releases from a selection of our favourite new bands, we hope the rundown will inspire you to both check out the artists featured, and let us know of your own highlights from 2011 by leaving a comment below.

And if your nearest and dearest isn’t included today, be sure to check back next Wednesday to see if they are featured on the third and final instalment of our 2011 recap, Live4ever’s Essential Listening 2011 – The Albums.

Walking on to a festival site for the first time on its last day is a strange experience; not too dissimilar to that Simpsons episode in which Homer emerges from a bomb shelter having unwittingly missed a nuclear explosion.

You wander through a barren wasteland, aware that something epic has happened in your absence, but now only presented with an eerie mid-morning calm. A thick layer of half dried mud underfoot tells the story of previous heavy downpours, and the lingering smell of smoke and barbecued meat in the air offers traces of missed 3am camp fires. As the morning progresses, the number of bleary-eyed revellers emerging into the arena area starts to grow, as does the conspicuous feeling of having enjoyed the luxury of a warm shower just a couple of hours ago.

It’s 11am on the Sunday of the 2011 Leeds Festival, and after visits from headliners Muse and My Chemical Romance on the previous two nights, Pulp are due for a little promotion this evening when they make a long awaited return to their Yorkshire roots.

The Strokes‘ bass player Nikolai Fraiture has said the band are in a ‘better place now’, and has compared the group’s primary studio sessions for their fifth album to marriage therapy, following the struggles which dominated work on this year’s ‘Angles‘.

Quoted in the Daily Star, Fraiture gave fans an early update on recording progress as the band aim to quickly put right the delays and inter-band tensions which resulted in the patchy feel that dominates ‘Angles’.

When the Live4ever Ezine took some time out to sort through our essential albums of 2011 so far last June, we merely scratched at the surface of the countless impressive releases which have grabbed our attention during the course of the year to date. Be it due to career infancy, re-releases, EPs, late issue dates, or simply the pains of strong competition, there was just far too many bands remaining, worthy of a mention for their own brilliant contributions to the first half of the year, for us not to delve back into the archives once more…

Acts including The Morning Benders and Peter, Bjorn and John have contributed tracks to a new covers album celebrating the tenth anniversary of The Strokes‘ landmark debut ‘Is This It?‘.

The covers album has been compiled by Stereogum, and is available as a free download. The compilation also features Owen Pallet‘s take on ‘Hard To Explain‘, Frankie Rose‘s cover of ‘Soma‘ and Real Estate‘s version of ‘Barely Legal‘.

The Strokes performing Taken For A Fool. (C) 2011 RCA Records

The Strokes appear to be itching to put the delays and problems which affected their long-awaited 2011 album ‘Angles‘ behind them, and have said they want new material finished ‘as soon as possible’.

Arctic Monkeys guitarist Jamie Cook has said the band followed the lead of their long-time heroes The Strokes when they sat down to draw up their new setlist.

The Killers drummer Ronnie Vannucci is to follow his frontman Brandon Flowers‘ lead by releasing debut solo album ‘Big Talk‘ on July 11th.