Como te Llama Review from RS

Albert Hammond Jr.

Como te Llama

View Albert Hammond Jr.'s page on Rhapsody

It must be a challenging time to be a Stroke. Since the band first spearheaded a garage-rock revival in the early '00s, indie-rock fans have turned toward groups like Vampire Weekend and Animal Collective, who canoodle with folk, world music and various sorts of experimentalism. On his second solo record, guitarist Albert Hammond Jr. hedges his bets with familiar guitar-pop exercises alongside tracks that find him stretching into uncharacteristic territory. The gentle instrumental "Spooky Couch" flickers with Zimbabwe-style guitar-plinking and a string section. And the tough reggae-rock joint "Borrowed Time" turns into shiny Shins pop on the chorus. There's also a fondness for early Bowie here; check out the opener, "Bargain of the Century," which is juiced by Hammond's churning strum and a Pantone book of lead-guitar colors, and "In My Room," a soured-love lament with brittle, Clash-like riffs and lyrical drama that recalls both Julian Casablancas and the Thin White Duke. May Hammond bring this interesting stuff to the next Strokes planning session.

WILL HERMES

Listen to Handpicked Music from the Black Keys' Upcoming Projects

from Rolling Stone:

Smoking Section Exclusive

Photograph by Michael Buckner/Getty Images

The Black Keys' Patrick Carney and Dan Auerbach dished to the Smoking Section's Austin Scaggs about the slew of upcoming albums they're working on in Issue 1053, and the duo went so far as to handpick tracks from a half-dozen of their projects to share exclusively with RollingStone.com

Check it out HERE

from Rolling Stone's 50 albums of '07

36 Alicia Keys
As I Am (J. Records)
Keys' ever-deepening vocal power is the first thing you notice on As I Am. When she's on, she makes all the other girls on the radio sound like they're yakking away on The Hills. As I Am, her third album and the third she's named after herself, is predictably introspective and mellow. It sounds like she's spent quality time lately with Aretha's Spirit in the Dark and decided to make her own version. "Wreckless Love" floats on soul clouds, "Teenage Love Affair" gives new meaning to "feeling you," and "Go Ahead" is a killer. But for most of the album, Keys is happy to get over on her voice, and that's exactly what makes As I Am such a physical pleasure.

[Origin of the Species]

STONE TEMPLE PILOTS

Scott Weiland and Co. Break Out the Hits at Ohio's Rock on the Range

“Good to see you again,” said a casual Scott Weiland on Saturday, as if delivering a greeting to an intimate cocktail party rather than 30,000 people in a soccer stadium. Luckily, the feeling was mutual as the newly reunited Stone Temple Pilots headlined the first night of the Rock on the Range festival in Columbus, Ohio Saturday night, their first full-scale show together in nearly eight years...Read the rest at RollingStone.com

Tour Tracker, from RollingStone.com

Tour Tracker: Modest Mouse, Spoon and Built To Spill

5/5/08, 5:10 pm EST

Modest Mouse set dates for a headlining trek after holding down opening duties on R.E.M.’s tour, Spoon schedule a few more shows and Built To Spill promise to play the entirety of Perfect From Now On for two of their eight dates. Each band’s complete itinerary awaits after the jump.

Modest Mouse
June 23 - Miami, FL @ Fillmore Miami Beach
June 24 - Orlando, FL @ Hard Rock Live
June 25 - St Augustine, FL @ St. Augustine Theater
June 26 - Myrtle Beach, SC @ House of Blues
June 28 - Norfolk, VA @ The NorVa
June 29 - Charlottesville, VA @ Charlottesville Pavilion
June 30 - Rostraver, PA @ Ice Garden
July 1 - St. Louis, MO @ The Pageant
July 2 - Cincinnati, OH @ Bogarts
July 4 - Rothbury, MI @ Rothbury Festival

Spoon
May 3 - Solana Beach, CA @ Belly Up
June 13 - Troutdale, OR @ Edgefield Amphitheater
July 15 - Brooklyn, NY @ Prospect Park
July 19 - Denver, CO @ Mile High Festival
July 20 - Chicago, IL @ Music Festival
September 20 - Hollywood, CA @ Hollywood Bowl
September 22 - San Francisco, CA @ Fillmore Theatre
September 23 – San Francisco, CA @ Fillmore Theatre
September 24 - San Francisco, CA @ Fillmore Theatre

[Origin of the Species]

The Stones' Old Bones rattle and hum on "Shine a Light"

They can definitely still rock- but how much can they roll? Director Martin Scorsese's new music documentary "Shine a Light" finds Jagger and the boys not getting any younger, but certainly still holding their own (urine)(while on stage)(except for that leakage Charlie Watts experienced during Lovin' Cup).

Scorsese's a venerable film veteran, and while you may have known that, you might not have known that he is a straight up music aficionado gangster. Couldn't you tell with the inclusion of Bad Finger, John Lennon and Nas in "The Departed?" Who else could masterfully embed the likes of the Bad Finger suicide club, The Plastic Ono Band, and the Nas-thug-life, beat-right into the backdrop of the Boston landscape during a gangster shoot-em up and have it go on without a hitch? Martin Scorsese, that's who.

Check out Rolling Stone's review...