Nisha on the rocks
Every week, Scoreboard brings The Knockturnal readers the 411 on who is moving up and down the charts in the U.S., with an artist feature and a check-in on the international Scoreboard.
Only in America can one buy a high-capacity weapon such as the Sig Sauer MCX .223-caliber semi-automatic rifle, a weapon of destruction that comes with an adjustable stock, or handle, that allows its wielder to fold it up and carry it in a compact manner.
Summer is finally here and you know what that means: super cool gigs taking place all over the city, all of the time.
The great will forever be remembered.
You don’t have to work in a restaurant to be moved by this musical.
I expected Black Milk to come through with an energetic show. His music exudes intensity, and you’d be hard pressed to see someone perform a track like “Detroit’s New Dance Show” without conviction. However, Black Milk and the Nat Turner Band left me doubled over with exhaustion. From the minute they took the stage, it was clear the rapper and band were going to play until they were left looking like the bad guys in Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Black killed the scheduled songs, and finessed the second half of their set which was basically jamming and freestyles. You would think that’s a lazy choice, and maybe it is for a good number of artists, but certainly not for these guys. The Nat Turner Band and Black Milk rushed around the stage improvising as though every note and bar of the freestyle were meticulously planned out, even though it was coming off the top of their heads.
The jam session included a cover of a Prince song and an instrumental freestyle off the end of “Detroit’s New Dance Show” that damn near turned the venue into a dance floor. The team really pumped in as much passion as they physically could for the show, and got the whole crowd vibing for the hour long set.
If you haven’t gotten a chance to catch Black Milk and The Nat Turner Band on tour yet, most definitely try and make it when they come to your city.
6/15/2016 Pittsburgh – Spirit
6/16/2016 Philadelphia – Johnny Brenda’s
6/17/2016 New York Studio – The Studio at Webster Hall
6/18/2016 Burlington – Signal Kitchen
6/19/2016 Buffalo – Iron Works
6/22/2016 Minneapolis – 7th St Entry
6/23/2016 Milwaukee – Cactus Club
6/24/2016 Nashville – Foobar
6/25/2016 Atlanta – Aisle 5
6/27/2016 Asheville – The Mothlight
6/28/2016 Charlotte – Snug Harbor
6/30/2016 DC – Rock & Roll Hotel
7/08/2016 Lansing – Common Ground Festival
7/09/2016 Chicago – Subterranean
7/25/2016 San Diego – Soda Bar
7/26/2016 Santa Ana – Underground
7/27/2016 Las Vegas – Beauty Bar
7/28/2016 San Francisco – Brick & Mortar
7/29/2016 Los Angeles – The Echoplex
7/30/2016 Fresno – Summer Sweat Festival
7/31/2016 Sacramento – Harlow’s
8/01/2016 Portland – Doug Fir
8/02/2016 Boise – Neurolux
8/03/2016 Denver – Cervantes’ Other Side
8/04/2016 Albuquerque – Sister Bar
8/06/2016 Phoneix – Monarch Theatre
A quick search through the reviews for The Red Hot Chili Peppers brand new album The Getaway reveal a few common threads; while the overall feeling is that it’s good but not great, the other common theme is the age of the Peppers. Except for recent guitar addition Josh Klinghoffer, the rest of the “boys” are all in their early-to-mid 50’s, and one of the snarkier comments claims they’re promoting Dad Rock. It’s easy to say that age isn’t anything but a number, and even easier to say that’s something old people tell themselves to feel young. But then you remember that David Bowie released vital music almost until the day he died at nearly 70 years old, Bruce Springsteen and Stevie Wonder still perform marathon-length concerts, and Rod Stewart didn’t miss a beat when Asap Rocky crashed his Carpool Karaoke session. So the days when the Peppers would pose wearing nothing but a single sock may be over, but does the party still go on?
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The answer is yes, kind of. The Peppers discography is full of gear shifts, from the wild punk funk of the early albums (sounding practically like a different band), to the commercial breakthrough of Blood Sugar Sex Magik, to the more pensive but still rather hard charging later years of By The Way. On The Getaway, longtime producer Rick Rubin is gone and ever-prolific Danger Mouse is on board, Elton John also stops by to play piano for a song. The result is a far more mellow, slinkier Chili Peppers record than ever before. Opening with the tight title track, then brooding first single “Dark Necessities” and the bottom-heavy stomp of “We Turn Red,” it takes a while to get to the more frenetic moments. Towards the end of the record it’s a downright shock when the shredding riffs of “This Ticonderoga” kick in. Another glorious moment is when everything except the bass drops out on the end of “Goodbye Angels,” shining even more of a spotlight on what an amazing bass player Flea is.
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The thing is, even if their hardest partying days are over (the chorus for “Dark Necessities” goes “You don’t know my mind/You don’t know my kind/Dark necessities are part of my design,” making it perhaps the best feel-bad song of the summer), and even if they’re more serious than ever, there is still both fun and funk here. “Illusionary is so damn scary/I call my best friend Flea” sings Anthony Kiedis on “This Ticonderoga;” how cool is an in-song, in-band shout out to your best bud of several decades? This one’s definitely a grower, but after it sinks in you’ll be singing along. Dad rock be damned, even if The Getaway won’t get the party started, you sure will enjoy listening to it on the ride home.
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-Jason T. Jaskot
Apparently rapper Tyler the Creator and former One Direction member Zayn Malik were supposed to collaborate on a remix of “Pillowtalk” nearly eight months ago.
On June 12th, 2016, The American Theatre Wing announced the major new national Andrew Lloyd Webber Initiative.