Normally when you think of steel guitar, especially pedal steel guitar, the last thing in the world that’s going to come to mind is African American gospel music. A country gospel tune like “Will The Circle Be Unbroken” sure, but you don’t ever expect to hear one playing in one of those earth shaking, hip swinging gospel choirs that inspired today’s funk, soul, and blues musicians. Yet if you were a congregation member of The House Of God, Keith Dominion churches, steel guitar in shape or another is exactly what you’d have been hearing since the 1930’s. Sacred steel music was born out of the popularity of the Hawaiian Steel guitar in the early part of the twentieth century. Two brothers, Troman and Willie Eason were responsible for bringing the steel guitar to the House of God services in the 1930’s. While Troman had learned how to play in the Hawaiian style, Willie had not had any formal training and simply played the music he was familiar with on this guitar. From such humble beginnings a genre was born. The Lee Boys are a family group consisting of three brothers; Alvin (guitar), Derrick, and Keith (vocals) and three nephews; Roosevelt Collier (pedal steel guitar), Alvin Cordy Jr. (7 string bass), and Earl Walker (drums). They each grew up making music in a House of God congregation in Perrine Fl. where the brother’s father was pastor and steel player. Having been playing together, or individually, in the church since they were seven they’ve not only developed into proficient musicians but have also learned the key elements for staging a successful show. You don’t need to look any further than their new DVD release Live At Bonnaroo for evidence of just how impressive they are. Sunday mornings at folk festivals were reserved for gospel groups from all over, and I guess Bonnaroo is keeping up that tradition as this recording is of a Sunday morning performance The Lee Boys gave at last year’s festival. Now I can’t think of a tougher time, or a harder audience to play for, than the Sunday morning of a festival. Half the crowd is either recovering from the night before, if they’ve even gone to bed yet, and the other half are just wandering onto the site and getting their bearings. A band has to be pretty special and be able to deliver a red hot performance in order to first grab, and then hold, this type of audience’s attention for the length of the concert.

More so than movies or books, music can sometimes be seasonal. That's not to suggest that a given album can't be enjoyed off-season, but rather that there's a certain added pleasure to listening to it when the time is right. As suggested by the pumpkin-orange artwork that adorns the cover of shoegaze alt-rockers Asobi Seksu's sophomore full-length, 2006's Citrus, this is an album for the fall. Both the lyrical content of the set (that which can be made out, and is in English), as well as the dense and layered arrangements, exude a palpable haziness and melancholia. Yet, there's a warmth too — found in the bouncy, chiming textures of these monolithic rockers — which keeps things from seeming too cold and distant. Citrus is an album that's perfect for the autumnal months, when hot summer days awkwardly (and often abruptly) transition into frigid winter nights. Blustery hurricanes of low-end and distortion dominate the atmosphere, but not without a fight from lead singer Yuki Chikudate's quivering and ethereal voice, which occasionally breaks through the din, only to be swallowed whole by a colossal wall of sound once more. Take lead single "New Years," for example, which finds Yuki's fragile whisper riding atop a mountain of titanic distortion and trebling bass, eventually dispelling the noise long enough to croon the track's gorgeous bridge, only to be drown out moments later by an even greater sonic assault; it's an auditory struggle akin to the push-and-pull of the seasonal weather. But that's as hectic as it gets, which is important to point out, lest I undersell the tunefulness of this album. Cuts like "Lions And Tigers," which skimps on none of the band's requisite amounts of low-end, but tempers the intensity with Yuki's lullaby-sung verses and playful jingling during the subdued (at least by this band's standards) chorus. Of course, even this song eventually builds to a symphonic, eardrum-shattering climax, but that's more a testament to the restless nature of these sprawling compositions.page 1 | 2

One of the hardest-working R&B stars to come out of the New Orleans area during the Oldies era would have to be Lloyd Price, who even today — after more than fifty years of performing — still has a few irons in the fire. Growing up in nearby Kenner, young Lloyd's education in the music of New Orleans included everything from singing in his church choir to hanging around the jukebox in his mother's small restaurant. While still in his teens, he joined with his brother Leo to form a local musical group that eventually began to draw wider attention, leading to a 1952 recording session — one of historical significance. With a moonlighting Fats Domino handling the piano, Lloyd sang what would become one of the all-time classics of New Orleans R&B music, "Lawdy Miss Clawdy." It made the young singer a star, and when he followed up with several other good songs, including "Tell Me Pretty Baby" and "Ain't It a Shame," he appeared to be on his way to a long career. Unfortunately, the Korean War — and the draft — was next for Lloyd, and when he finally got back to music in 1954 he found that the ever-fickle public had moved on to singers like Little Richard and others. But Lloyd began rebuilding his career and making recordings, first for his own newly-formed company and later through a tie-in with ABC-Paramount. By 1958, he'd generated a huge Number One hit with "Stagger Lee," an updated version of the old song "Stack-A-Lee" made more appealing to mainstream audiences. As the years passed, Price continued to veer toward a more pop-oriented sound, selling a lot of records with songs such as "I'm Gonna Get Married," and one of his biggest, "Personality." (Video below.) He also continued to follow his business sense, re-forming his own recording company and finding success not only with his own music but also by promoting newcomer Wilson Pickett. But trouble was right around the corner. Price's longtime business partner Harold Logan met a violent death, and music began to seem less important. Over the last couple of decades, Price has still found the time to sing once in a while, but has become more and more involved in business investments and opportunities. For one thing, he's very involved in a specialty food company that might have its roots in a childhood spent at his momma's restaurant. In any case, he's still workin' hard.

First off this week I want to apologize to you, my loyal readers. Things are patchy right now due to the fact that my father is at his end and things are a bit unpredictable round the place. (Not that unpredictable is abnormal for me, but at times it's minute to minute.) However that does not mean I haven’t had the chance to listen to the latest batch of releases of all types. In fact some of the output for the land of the Norse has been perfectly suited to the current mood. Ted Nugent: Nugent, Spirit of the Wild & If You Can’t Lick em’, Lick Em” The last of the current crop of Nugent re-issues like the first lot is a bit of a mixed bag. There is something for everyone here however and “mixed” for Ted is a pretty good standard. The man is always in the shadow of his 70s hits because they were so good and so huge. Probably realizing that with the album Nugent, Ted reunited with his ole’ sparing partner Derek St. Holmes who does most of the lead singing on the CD. He also has the drumming power-house of Carmine Appice along for the ride. This is a very strong album that could have been supported by the track “Bound & Gagged” alone. The track is another one of Ted’s observational rants about the state of the U.S. and its governance. Listening to the words, it's as poignant today as it was then. One thing you got to say about Uncle Ted is that he is consistent in his views and beliefs. “Good & Ready” is another strong track as is the final statement of “Tailgunner”. This is a good album that shows what he is capable of when firing on all cylinders. Spirit of the Wild sees Ted teaming up again with Derek with Denny Carmassi on drums another journeyman sticksman who played with Ted in Damn Yankees, probably Ted’s great post-70s collection of music. You gotta love tracks like “I shoot back” and “Tooth, fang & claw”. It's always amusing to note that Ted, who just got inducted into the bow hunters hall of fame, thanks his ammo suppliers on his albums. His 13th solo effort If you Can’t Like Em’…Lick Em is a testament to all that was naff about the 80s from the cover to the daft as a brush name of the album. He even teamed up with Bon Jovi and Sambora for the track “That’s the Story of Love.” This album summed everything good and bad about the 80s as Ted headed off into a new decade. It was his last CD before hooking up with Tommy Shaw and Jack Blades in the uber-successful hard rock supergroup Damn Yankees. page 1 | 2

The irony of Merriweather Post Pavilion, Animal Collective's eighth full-length, named after the ubiquitous outdoor stage in Columbia, Maryland, is that it's the band's least live-sounding album they've made thus far. It's this stylistically different approach to recording — there are more filters on the vocals here, the soundscapes much thicker and layered — that makes this collection of songs, most likely the best batch that the greatest contemporary band on the planet has yet put together, fall just short of classic status. Truthfully, though, only time will tell. Big words, I know. But any modern rock critic worth his salt will cop to being in awe of this band, even if not everything they've done thrills them. Pretty much everything does it for me though, excepting some very early, particularly indulgent live recordings, and a few tracks off odd LPs over the years. Also, both critics and hardcore fans alike (and there are many) have probably heard most of the cuts on Merriweather (all but the bouncy pop of "Blueish," which debuts on this album) either performed live at concerts, or at concerts on Youtube. That, coupled with interviews with the band stating that this is their "best album yet," and a particularly enthusiastic review from one of the music world's most reputable publications (Uncut), created an almost unbearable strain of hype preceding its release, that which almost any album would buckle under, and couldn't possibly live up to. It's to the great credit of this extraordinary band that they come damn close. The first sign of greatness reveals itself in the impeccable construction of Merriweather: The album kicks off with "In The Flowers," the most atmospheric track of the set and (next to later cut "No More Runnin'") the most subdued. At least until it suddenly erupts with buzzing synth stabs, before quieting down again for the lead-out, establishing a loud-quiet-loud aesthetic which will remain prevalent throughout. 'Flowers' finds one of the band's two principal vocalists, Avey Tare (real name Dave Portner), waxing euphorically in the name of love about "leaving [his] body for a night." It's a peculiar ballad, for sure, but one that displays a maturity (welcome or not) which contrasts Tare's gorgeously animalistic love song "Purple Bottle," off 2005s Feels. This sense of gravity and responsibility, a theme that subtly weaves itself into every song on the album, seems appropriate, as a lot has changed since 2005. For instance, one member, Panda Bear (real name Noah Lennox), has become a father, which adds a certain credibility to the powerful lead single (though the band would never call it that) "My Girls." Here, Tare and Panda Bear simply and earnestly proclaim, in unison, "I don't mean / to seem like I care about material things / like a social status / I just want / four walls and adobe slabs / for my girls." The sentiments are felt not only on a human level, but relatable in this time of economic instability, where one can find the most gratifying aspects of life in the love and nurturing of others. Not all the content here is heavy though; in fact much of it is abstract at best. Lazy, spell-binding Panda Bear cut "Daily Routine" drifts along on skittering break-beats and a vaguely hand-clap-sounding percussive rhythm. Then, halfway through, it slams on the breaks and endlessly repeats its dreamlike refrain, "just one sec more / in my bed," as if to savor that moment in the morning before starting the day. Or maybe coercing someone to stay with him for a while? The ambiguity only empowers the track, and even here we find traces of that nurturing paternal maturity in lyrics like "make sure my kid's got a jacket." Elsewhere, the most catchy track Tare has ever written, "Summertime Clothes," finds the band in a state of freewheeling bliss. "I want to walk around with you," Tare sings, later repeatedly chanting the track's makeshift bridge, "when the sun comes up we'll go out again." The act of being caught up in a moment, or a musical/lyrical stanza, is one of many binding thematic concerns here.page 1 | 2

Valentine’s Day — you either love it or hate it. It makes sweethearts swoon and others want to stab fat cherubs with a bow and arrow. Between the chocolate hearts, the red roses and the teddy bears shoved in our faces, the holiday stirs up a cocktail of emotions: happiness, despair, jealousy, grief, sadness, desire … MTV News has all your mood swings covered. In honor of this beloved and dreaded holiday, we’re rolling out the Best Love Songs, Best Breakup Songs, Best Makeout Songs and Worst Love Songs in recent memory. It’s our Valentine’s Day gift to you, minus the dinner-and-a-movie part. So slip into something comfortable, and stay for a while. Love songs tend to get dusted off and put on display at weddings. And it’s hard to take any song seriously right after doing the chicken dance. Our favorite artists know what’s up: They express those deepest, darkest emotions without the help of cheesy lyrics or a soprano-saxophone player. Give it up to Justin, the Jonas Brothers and these other winged matchmakers for making us all a little weak in the knees. 10. Jonas Brothers – “Lovebug” This is about the only “lovebug” we ever want to catch. Let’s leave it at that … 9. Alicia Keys – “No One” In this soulful song, Alicia belts out her emotions so we don’t have to. 8. The Postal Service – “Such Great Heights” Despite never uttering those three magic words, this 2003 hit puts us on cloud nine. 7. Jason Mraz (featuring Colbie Caillat) – “Lucky” This duet is bound to make the wedding-day rounds. Still, the old-timey lyrics are cute. 6. Miley Cyrus – “7 Things” This isn’t a typo. This certainly isn’t a typical love song, considering that Miley sings about hating someone. But listen a little closer, and you’ll see the teen queen taps into the heart of a relationship — the bad that also comes with the good. 5. Beyoncé – “Crazy in Love” Ms. Sasha Fierce escorts us over the edge of love and back again in her 2003 smash single. Uh-oh! 4. Taylor Swift – “Love Story” With the sweet melody and fairy-tale references, this teen songstress gives us hope there will be a castle and a lover in a low-cut top in all our futures. Give in and “say yes” to Taylor’s catchy chorus. 3. Gym Class Heroes – “Cupid’s Chokehold” Travis McCoy joins forces with Fall Out Boy’s Patrick Stump to talk pancakes, secret handshakes and other shared moments with a string of girls. You gotta love a guy (and a song) with a sense of humor. 2. U2 – “With or Without You” After all these years, Bono still melts our hearts. This 1987 classic addresses the question: What the hell would I do without you? That never gets old. 1. Justin Timberlake – “My Love” With the help of Timbaland and T.I., Justin Timberlake nabs the top spot with his 2006 hit. JT redefines the concept of the love song, proving it can belong in both the club and next to a roaring fireplace.

When you are as used to the structure imposed on music by the demands of style and the market place, it leaves us woefully unprepared for listening to and appreciating the work of contemporary composers in the field of electronic music. Even those of us familiar with orchestral music or avant-garde jazz are ill-prepared for the demands of the genre. For even within the apparent anarchy of the wildest jazz there are still sounds which we can identify. No matter how far afield the music might drift from any rhythmic pattern we recognize, the fact that we can still distinguish the sound of a drum, or other instrument we know, gives us a comfort level that we can build from in order to obtain a level of comprehension when listening to the music. So when faced with the electronically produced sounds of the modern composition we become close to illiterate as our brains have no understanding of the language being used by the composer. For most of us, the harder we try and understand what a piece might be, the more we frustrate ourselves as we continue to try and impose what we know onto something alien. Like somebody learning to appreciate abstract art after years of only looking at realism and portraiture, we have to forget what we know and try and appreciate the experience on an emotional instead of a intellectual level. Take for example Turkish composer Erdem Helvacioglu's latest release, Wounded Breath, on Aucourant Records. At first listen the five compositions on the disc might sound to you like little more than a collection of electronic noises that have no meaning. Squeaks, squawks, and Gods know what other sounds issue forth from your speakers following no pattern that you can understand and not forming anything that you would even dream of calling a melody. The key to listening to this music is to try and get past your preconceived notions of what music is and then to go forward from there. Anyway, you'll soon find that there are recognizable patterns and rhythms in the music, it's just a matter of learning what to listen for. Now I don't mean to make it sound like it's work to listen to Helvacioglu, because although it does require more of a commitment than listening to your average pop tune, that doesn't mean it's hard work. Unfortunately for many of us the act of listening has become a passive activity and we have forgotten how it can also make us active participants in the music being played.page 1 | 2 | 3

Written by Sombra Blanca If your rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle, like mine, can only be lived vicariously, the Justice documentary A Cross the Universe packs in a few years’ worth. Despite the fact the documentary’s subjects, Frenchmen Gaspard Augé and Xavier de Rosnay, don’t play rock ‘n’ roll at all, at least not in the traditional sense. Whether their brand of banging electronic house music is “the new rock ‘n’ roll,” as one fan proclaims, I’ll defer to others. But A Cross the Universe, a summary of their three-week North American tour in early 2008, reveals enough antics to rival the legends of any hesher hero. At 64 minutes (shorter than the accompanying audio CD in the two-disc set), Filmmakers Romain Gavras and So-Me haven’t the time to delve into the duo’s history, why they make music, or any other biographical sketches. A little airport confusion, a stock shot of a plane in the air, and the film is off, fueled by the frenzied, over-the-top music from Justice’s first and only full album so far, Cross. (Not the word but the symbol, kind of like what Prince did). Naturally a documentary about touring is going to include some live footage of the shows, and the directors include plenty of it, or at least a generous amount of fan footage. Crowd surfing in every clip, crazy costumes among the concertgoers, hands in the air as if they didn’t care, and an almost painful amount of strobe lights. Seriously. I understand the intent is to match the “thump-thump-thump” of the beat, but how their uninspired lighting tech avoided seizures, I have no idea. The lighting is the main reason it’s a good thing A Cross the Universe isn’t a straight live show. If I had a gripe about the live footage, it would be that the close-up crowd shots dominated any clips of Augé and de Rosnay actually “playing” their instruments, even if it would horrify purists by showing a couple of CD players among other equipment. And especially because one of the gigs, the 2008 Coachella Festival, was purportedly their first performance with a live PA setup. It would’ve been nice to see trial-and-error (or success) footage from that show alone. Instead, the directors never let the film linger too long in any one moment, and constantly flip back and forth between on- and off-stage. The duo, their tour manager Bouchon, and other members of the entourage find themselves in a hotel room filled with pantily clad ladies one night, watching a marriage on another night, and peppered along the with way with arrests, celebrities, and bottles both emptied and broken on purpose.page 1 | 2 | 3

The second release date 50 Cent had chosen for Before I Self Destruct — February 3 — has come and gone. Fif said he doesn’t have a new date for his album yet, but he’s just about done and is mixing songs for the LP. “Crack a Bottle,” featuring Eminem and Dr. Dre (which has been blowing up, especially in California) will be on Self Destruct. 50 said there are plans to shoot an animated video for it, as well as a live-action clip for “I Get It In.” But the real headline hog for 50 has been his beef with Rick Ross. There’s no stopping the runaway freight train that is the 50/Ross back-and-forth. After a few days in Venezuela, 50 Cent promised MTV News that he’s going to turn the heat up on his new rivalry. “It’s interesting. It’ll get worse,” said 50, sitting with Lloyd Banks, Tony Yayo and DJ Whoo Kid. Fif said he’s purchased court transcripts from Rick Ross’ child-support case. According to 50, the documents state that the Miami rapper’s income is $200,000 a year and the jewelry he wears isn’t real. 50 said Ross is lying in his raps or to the courts, and if that’s the case, he’s a “deadbeat dad.” “Because he was disrespectful, I found it in my heart to get the transcripts,” 50 laughed. Ross’ attorney, Allan Zamren, released a statement Friday (February 6) about the court case. “Mr. Ross is currently involved in a child support/ paternity case with a woman who is claiming he is the father of a 3-year-old male child,” the statement read. “There are statements being made alleging Mr. Ross is the father of this child but not taking care of the child financially or otherwise; that is absolutely not true. As a matter of fact and for the record, every month on or about the first of the month, Mr. Ross pays a substantial amount of money, in excess of state of Florida child-support guidelines to this child’s mother for the support of the child.” Last week, 50 launched a salvo some called below-the-belt when he flew Tia Kemp, the woman involved in Ross’ child support/ paternity case, to New York for an interview and shopping spree. Fif posted pictures of himself and Kemp all over ThisIs50.com. The Web site is also advertising a tell-all book by Kemp called “Tia’s Diary: Deeper Than Rap,” which is slated for March. “She was a really nice person,” 50 told MTV News. 50 said he was shocked that Ross took back a truck he was letting her drive. Zamren also explained why Kemp no longer has the truck. “A motion to return the motor vehicle that has been the subject on various Internet Web sites was provided to the mother prior to 2009 for various reasons, including but not limited to being charged for aggravated battery, battery and contributing to the delinquency of a minor when the mother used the vehicle as a deadly weapon,” Ross’ attorney stated. “The mother failed to put the child in a car seat and purposely drove the vehicle into another while the young child was in the car.” On Thursday, a Web site called OfficerRicky.com was launched. The site features T-shirts for sale and several Photoshopped pictures of Rick Ross as a police officer. The G-Unit general has not taken responsibility for the site. Ross released a video called “Gang Related” on Thursday, in which he pours out Formula 50 Vitamin Water, much like someone would do when they are paying homage to a dead homie. “He depreciates the value of Dr. Dre’s production,” Ross told radio station 95.7 the Beat on Saturday. “He smears Dre’s legacy. He hurts the anticipation of Detox by Dre giving this artist beats that can’t rap. “I don’t get sidelined with monkey talk,” he continued. “That’s my response: a #1 hit.” Make sure to check out Mixtape Monday on February 9 for more from 50’s interview in Venezuela. Fif and the Unit explain a dis toward another MC.

It's rare to find a pop artist who can also write convincing lyrics in a sophomore album. So many new artists have managed to pull together amazing freshman releases — the contents of everything in their lives leading up to that point. But to be able to pull together a solid second album sometimes seems too difficult and quality falls to the wayside. Tough to cram a lifetime into a year or two, with so many other things screaming for attention – producers, concerts, press, fans… So to listen to Tyrone Wells' Remain and hear so many solid songs with thought- and emotion-provoking lyrics… it just doesn't happen often. Wells worked with a variety of artists, songwriters, and musicians to craft a set of twelve solid tracks. In the UK, he worked with Martin Terefe (who has worked with Jason Mraz, KT Tunstall, and James Morrison) and Iain Archer (UK artist and Snow Patrol songsmith). In the US, he worked with Tim Myers (former member of OneRepublic), David Hodges (former member of Evanescence), and Matt Scannell (Vertical Horizon). As a fan of Mraz, Tunstall, Snow Patrol, Evanescence, and Vertical Horizon — I have to say this is quite a pedigree of talent. In 2007, Universal Republic released his album Hold On, which was originally his first independent record (following Snapshot in 2003 and Close: Live at McClain's in 2005. Universal Republic saw the opportunity to release the album more widely as his first major label record. Songs from these albums have found their way into film and television soundtracks as well, so he's getting some great exposure. So far he's had tracks show up in One Tree Hill, Everyone's Hero, Rescue Me, Ghost Whisperer, Numb3rs and many others. I suspect that we'll hear many of the tracks from Remain in popular media as well. For me, what works for Wells on Remain is first and foremost the lyrics. And with those impressive lyrics, you then have his solid soulful voice that just lends each word credence. Add to that great arrangements utilizing acoustic and electric guitar, keyboards, and a well engineered pop feel, and you have a heck of a musical offering.