I also felt compelled to continue yet another semi-annual tradition here — in which I posted John Lennon’s “Happy Christmas (War Is Over)” with the sincerest hopes that one day there may be peace, equality, understanding and true brotherhood and sisterhood among all. After all war, hatred and strife can be over — if we all want it to be.
In the meantime, I wish all of you a wonderful and peaceful holiday season.
Interestingly, over the past week Sharon’s family, friends and fans gathered in Brooklyn and Augusta, GA to remember her and celebrate her life. And in an almost prescient sense of timing, the Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer-styled Claymation video for “Please Come Home For Christmas” was posthumously released — although it was finished and planned for release before Jones’ death last month. Arguably because of Jones’ death, the ache, longing and loneliness and the narrator’s hope that her suffering and loneliness will soon to be over, the song just manages to possess a deeper and visceral heartbreak.
Adding to the song’s ache, the video follows a profoundly lonely old man, who is constantly reminded that doing the holiday season that out of some occurrence of fate or bad luck is alone — that is until he takes a chance and is warmly welcomed by the one person, he desperately missed the most. God, it’s kind of dusty in here.
Continuing with the holiday spirit around here, as many of you would likely recall, a couple of years ago, DMX was being interviewed by the folks at Power 105.1 when someone asked him if he […]
More than enough ink has been spilled on Run DMC and their legendary and influential careers and time together, as well as what they meant to expanding hip-hop from a mostly local and regional thing […]
Since their breakup following a massive series of farewell shows at Terminal 5 and Madison Square Garden in 2011, the members of New York-based dance punk act LCD Soundsystem have spent the past few years […]
So if you’ve been frequenting the site over the last few months, you’d likely be familiar with the Los Angeles-based quintet Lady Low have become something of a mainstay, as I’ve written about the band a handful of times over the past few months. Of course, because there are almost always new folks to the site — or some folks who need their memories refreshed, let’s discuss some backstory: Comprised of founding member Jimmy Sweet (guitar, vocals), who as once a member of the San Francisco, CA-based punk band Richmond Sluts and a touring member of Hot Hot Heat, Rachel Maxann (vocals, synth and bass), Eden Lee (vocals, drums), Kaitlin Wolfberg (violin) and Hannah Blumenfeld (violin), the quintet have received quite a bit of attention from this site and across the blogosphere for a sound that the members of the band has dubbed “Romance rock.” Sonically, they combines s straightforward, old-school, rock ‘n’ roll three chord, 12-bar blues approach with gorgeously lush string arrangements which gives their material a gritty yet swooning (and of course, dramatic) feel that also manages to indirectly channel Phil Spector’s classic “Wall of Sound.”
They’ve recently released a moody and swooning Christmas-inspired song that sounds as though it could have been released in 1962 as soaring strings are paired with layers of plaintive harmonies. Lyrically, the song concerns itself with a relationship ending right around the holiday and how miserable the holiday season can be when you’re single and heartbroken. Although kitschy as most Christmas-inspired pop songs are, it possesses a heartfelt sentiment that should be familiar to anyone who actually has been heartbroken during the holidays when everyone else seems to be happy.
If you’ve been following JOVM for the past few months, you’d come across a post or two about the California-based duo OYLS. Formed a little over a year ago, electronic music duo OYLS can trace their formative moment to […]
Released in 2012 to critical acclaim from the likes of NPR, Washington City Paper, The Vinyl District and Head Underwater, Day Light Savings, the debut effort from the Washington, DC-based quartet of Young Rapids managed […]
Some time ago, the folks at the Nashville, TN-based soul label, G.E.D Soul Records released a compilation of Christmas originals featuring several of their most known and beloved acts including DeRobert and the Half-Truths, The […]
If you’ve been following JOVM over the past few years, you might remember that several years ago, I wrote about a Minneapolis, MN-based band BNLX. The trio which consists of husband and wife team (and […]
Power 105.1FM here in NYC had invited DMX to their studios for what turned out to be a rather hilarious interview that included him expressing his frustration with computers. I can still hear him saying […]
Each of the members of the Asheville, NC-based quartet of River Whyless – Ryan O’Keefe (guitars, vocals), Halli Anderson (violin, vocals), Alex McWalters (drums, percussion and Daniel Shearin (bass, vocals, harmonium, cello, harp) – have […]
If there are only a few things that you should immediately take away from this site, it’d be this – I’m a huge fan of The Verve, who I was extremely lucky to catch live […]
Although it’s early October, and many of us have just started getting our fall wardrobes out. Christmas is practically around the corner. Yes, the year has just flown by – and this has been the […]
Writing and performing under the moniker of Victory, the Los Angeles, CA-based artist Robert Fleming’s debut effort, Victory Is Music was released to critical praise for Fleming’s self-described “sun bleached rock ‘n’ roll with a pop sensibility.” […]
