It hit me by surprise, to say the least. Guided by Voices are by far my most beloved band in the world. Seriously, in my humble opinion Bee Thousand is probably the best album in the world.

Credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/billl/5623522392/

By some cosmic coincident I just checked their official tour page. I really hoped to see them live one day in the not so far suture so I was looking to hopefully find some brand new European tour. I lost my only chance to see them at a real live gig since they canceled their Primavera sound and ATP shows back in 2012.

Guided by Voices is over (for the second time). Thank you for the great music.

See their statement below:

“Guided By Voices has come to an end. With 4 years of great shows and six killer albums, it was a hell of a comeback run. The remaining shows in the next two months are unfortunately canceled. Our sincere apologies to those that have purchased tickets and made travel plans. Thanks to everyone who has supported GBV.”

 

Up to now, their twitter account is still not up to date.

Update: Now it’s official.

Guided By Voices has come to an end. All remaining shows are unfortunately canceled. Thanks to all: http://t.co/2wBYofsWdq

— Guided By Voices (@GBVTweets) September 18, 2014

Update #2 – See the Facebook statement as well-

The post Guided By Voices has Broken Up – What a Sad Day appeared first on Music Charger.

Disclaimer – this is a personal list but I would love to hear – what is your personal wish list? What have I’ve missed in here?

(This post will be updated from time to time – stay tuned!)

Headliners

Radiohead
PJ Harvey
The Flaming Lips
Sigur Rós
The Decemberists
David Bowie

Main stages:

Wilco
Modest Mouse
Belle and Sebastian
The Replacements
Spiritualized
The New Pornographers
M83
Janelle Monáe
Tame Impala
Fleet Foxes
Grinderman
The Shins

The Classic Albums

Kleenex Girl Wonder performing Ponyoak
Guided by Voices performing Bee Thousand & Alien Lanes
(an update – very unlikely according to their break up)
Iggy Pop & the Stooges performing Raw Power
Joni Mitchell performing Blue
Bonnie “Prince” Billy performing I see Darkness
Granddady performing The Sophtware Slump

Auditorium

Kate Bush
Sufjan Stevenes
The Microphones
Moonface
Sun Kil Moon
Bill Callahan
Scout Niblett
Joanna Newsom
Antony and the Johnsons
Shearwater

ATP STAGE

The Jesus Lizard
Os Mutantes
Sleep
The Wrens
Built to Spill
J Mascis
Fuck Buttons
Death From Above 1979
Ex Hex
Goat
Alcest
Sleigh Bells
Japandroids
The Twilight Sad (yes – again please!)

Ray-Ban Stage

Apples in Stereo
The Antlers
Strand Of Oaks
Alt-J
Stereolab
Bear in Heaven
Jon Hopkins
Mikal Cronin
Low
Of Montreal
Todd Terje

Pitchfork Stage

Ariel Pink
Cass McCombs
Flying Lotus
Ought
Kavinsky
Childish Gambino
Panda Bear
Diiv
Broadcast
White Lung

Vice Stage

Menomena
Mew
Mastodon
The Mountain Goats
Against Me!
Lantlôs
Anna Calvi
Protomartyr
Avi Buffalo

The post Primavera Sound 2015 Lineup – Our ultimate wish list appeared first on Music Charger.

Probably one on the first rule in Economics is that every items or service we buy comes with a price (literally). The price is the alternative cost – what can we gain for the price of one sole Stones ticket?

Enjoy and don’t forget to share the love!

(courtesy of danitski.com )

The post What a Rolling Stones ticket would buy you around the world? appeared first on Music Charger.

“Among six billion people
I want the ones who never wanted me”

That’s probably the most devastating and sincere line that I’ve heard for years. There is no hope for a future healthy relationships with the father, only a monologue of a defeated son who’s sought all his life for his father’s approval. The adjective heavy fits perfectly in here, when dealing with such a great deal of emotion evolving in our family complexity and the constant insecurity and loneliness, even throughout the adulthood.

2. The Twilight Sad – That Summer, At Home I Had Become the Invisible Boy

This is an interesting choice for a song title and it serves well its atmosphere and tension. We can see a dysfunctional home with “a strong father figure” but in contrary to Menomena, this lyrics is terrifying and the images could be taken out of a horror movie.

“Kids are on fire, in the bedroom”

This text can be very enigmatic and elusive, but the primal emotion is out there and you can feel it in every word and note.

3. Johnny Cash – A Boy Named Sue

Mr. Cash was always a great storyteller. This song is a developing tale, somewhere in the middle between a grotesque comedy and an old time western. In a nutshell, the boy named Sue suffers from being a laughing stock because his girly name. He sees it as a sick joke from his abandon old man. After years to come he decides to have his revenge. Look out for the live version in Folsom part and you’ll understand it’s much more than a song – it’s a story only someone like Johnny Case can tell without being boring for a second.

4. Neil Young – Old Man

I put this in here only because I think many people still believe this song is about Young’s father, Scott Young – will it isn’t. On his infamous acoustic show at Massey Hall in 1971, Neil introduced a first version of this song to the audience. He told about the ranch he just bought around that time. There was an awkward moment when his father asked him if this song is actually a tribute to him. When he heard the actual story his comment had only one vowel: “oh”.

5. Wolf Parade – You Are a Runner and I Am My Father’s Son

Following Menomena’s song there’s a line:
“You ate up all my breadcrumbs,
Now I’m lost alone inside your cave”

The son feels he’s got nowhere to go or follow because his father hadn’t left any trials. In here the vibe is a bit different but not as different as you may think – the son hints he’s going to follow his father’s footsteps blindly, although his father already had left his family. The title suggests the narrator is no different from his father now.

The post Songs about Fathers and Sons appeared first on Music Charger.

Here the most interesting names that already have been announced:

Kasabian – probably the first headliner and probably the only actual headliner on the fake poster.

Tame Impala/Of Montreal – What a pleasant surprise.

M.I.A

Klaxons

The Charlatans

Maniac Street Preachers

The President of the United States Of America – Really? Who cares?

That’s in a nut shell. But what really have caught my eye when I saw the poster?

You can’t go wrong with the illustrations in there – many more confirmations to come are hidden in there!

Here are the names that should be confirmed (TBC):

Kraftwerk – Do you see the four Men in red suits? Here is the real infamous image:

Iggy Pop – See the half-naked guy dancing on the beach? It can’t be missed –

Massive Attack – The sign on the left with the red flame is a famous Massive Attack album (Blue Lines).

Here are our strong speculations (strongly rumored):

Beach Boys – three surfboards + a few farm animals around (Pet Sounds anybody?)

Paul Waller – strongly rumored on Facebook and other forums.

Last but not least, I’m not sure about the man in the black suite but that image looks quite similar, right?

The post Benicassim 2014 – a few unexpected lineup additions to be confirmed appeared first on Music Charger.

To say the least, the lineup is quite underwhelming: , Muse, Skrillex, Beady Eye , Lena Del Rey and the list can go on and on.

If we rule out all the really bad music how would the 2014 poster would look like?

Don’t hold your breath, it’s going to be a short one -

Please feel free to send us your angry comments and hate letters. See you in California!

The post How Coachella 2014 poster would look like without the lame bands? appeared first on Music Charger.

Let’s start with the first poster –

Somehow, this poster seems very legit. Prince and Kanye West would be a huge headliners but it’s a long shot (especially there isn’t any scheduled European tour for them in the near future) but it’s defiantly a possibility.

Raz Gat is running

However, here’s the catch –Benicassim lineup never shares the same artists with Primavera Sound for obvious reasons (competition between the two, although the target audience is completely different).  That’s why I was surprised to find here Haim, The Black Lips, Disclosure and Chvrches. I would be very surprise to see them as well on the actual poster. Next!

The Second Poster -

Although it looks like a Photoshop, it does makes sense. Kasbian and Kings of Leon are a classic headliners for Benicassim and because Outkast won’t eventually be in Barcelona, I guess the only explanation is they were booked for Beni. Other names such as Elbow, Broken Bells and Bombay Bicycle Club won’t be much of a surprise. Yet again, Kanye West? Let’s wait and see.

Raz Gat is Happy

The Third Poster -

And this is the last one I found, with a minor changes:

Let me skeptical again, Foals will be in the Primavera Sound lineup as well.

How long should we wait? Days? Weeks? Months? With so many exceptions I won’t dare to take the festival’s promoters place at the moment.

Raz Gat at Work

The post Benicassim 2014 rumors and posters are all over the place appeared first on Music Charger.

Having said that, my parents always told me don’t judge a book by its cover. Even if this cover is pretty damn awesome it can be really pretentious trying to map all the music genres in the world. But who would notice you ask? It’s an ungrateful job but someone has to do it!

1. Indie Music – the definition for indie music can be quite elusive. According to Wikipedia, Indie music (derived from the word independent) produced independently from major commercial record labels or their subsidiaries. Let’s have a reality check for part of the bands on Google’s list:

Muse – Warner Bros.

Linkin Park – Warner Bros.

Fall Out Boy – Island Records (they had Justin Bieber as well)

Pretty Indie, right?

 2. Britpop– according to Wikipedia Britpop bands positioning themselves as opposing musical forces, referencing British guitar music of the past and writing about uniquely British topics and concerns. While some major influential bands such as Elastica and Sleeper are missing, we can find some random bands that their only connection to Britain is their hometown. Are bands as Coldplay and Keane really relevant in here? They could write their songs in Mexico and it probably won’t matter. Britpop is not only a geographical genre, it’s a cultural movement and let me rephrase the infamous Groucho Marx quote: “I refuse to join any club that would have Coldplay as a member”.

3. Punk – I know that Fall Out Boy, The Offspring and Nofx are technically considered as punk bands. But to put them on the same line with the Ramones and the Clash? What a sacrilegious act.

4. Metal – can you connect the dots between the following bands: Led Zeppelin, rage Against The Machine, Incubus and Korn? Perhaps Electric guitars? I rest my case.

5. Chrisitan/Gospel – I consider Owl City as the really bad version of The Postal Service. Call it Indietronica, call it teenagers pop but Christian/Gospel? Hell no!

6. Techno – Maybe in another parallel universe Moby is a Techno musician but not in my world, to say the least.

7. Vocal/Easy Listening – I dare you to play Serge Gainsbourg’s songs for your next family gathering. It is sleazy, it’s sophisticated and it sometimes can be overwhelming. Easy is probably not the best adjective to describe it.

8. Disco – disco one was a legitimate genre. Aqua was never a legitimate band and it’s not disco for crying out loud!

9. World Music – it’s hard to define World Music without being Ethnocentric. Let’s put it that way – you can somehow tag Bob Marley’s music as world music just because he came from Jamaica. It’s half legitimate but it’s still acceptable. But what about Matisyahu? He was born and raised in the USA so what’s the point in here? Perhaps maybe he was an orthodox Jew? Only god knows.

10. Last but not least – there is no option to search by genre. How can I find now my favorite music genre?

The post 10 reasons why Google’s music timeline sucks appeared first on Music Charger.

The post Leaked Primavera Sound 2014 poster appeared first on Music Charger.

What more can I write about Daniel Johnston that haven’t been written? Johnston is both a musical genius and a sad story. He has been diagnosed with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. On top of that he took way too many drugs than he could ever handle, which unsurprisingly only made his mental condition even worse.

Johnston was deeply in love with Laurie Allen, which was his long-time muse and obsession. He had never denied that a great deal of his song are greatly inspired by her.

His love to Laurie was indeed an impossible love. Here are a few words from the documentary – Daniel Johnston and the devil:
“He started following her around with a tape recorder and begging Laruie to say ‘I love you Dan’ which eventually she does. She has no idea he is massively obsessed with her. That’s the kind of love that he needed to have. He needed to have a love which he couldn’t successfully connect up with. He had to have a thing he can chase but couldn’t have. So when she marries someone else it was even better because then he can really pine, she was gone.”

2. The Decembrists – We Both Go Down Together

This one is a modern Romeo and Juliet story – two lovers from a different background and an impossible love which is not meant to be. The song title implies for the tragic ending – a possible suicide of the two.

3. Nick Cave – Mermaids

On his last tour (2013) Nick Cave used to host kids choir for a few of his songs. One of these songs was Mermaids. Unfortunately he had a really hard time finding kids for his European tour. Unsurprisingly most of the kids parents weren’t zeal to hear their kids singing lines such as: “I was the match that would fire up her snatch”. Cave is infamous for his graphic and sexual themed lyrics and this song is no exception. I won’t linger about this lyrics because any attempt to interpret Cave’s lyrics will be futile.

4. The Smiths – Hand in Glove

Homosexuality, strangeness, loneliness (all over again). Yada Yada Yada.

5. The Beautiful South – Don’t Marry Her

This song had two small but profound modifications from its original for the radio friendly version. First, the original line was ‘don’t marry her fuck me’. That fact is well-known and It was censored and substituted by ‘have me’. To say the least, the song lost its meaning with only one word. Second the line - ”She’ll grab your sweaty bollocks” Was changed to - ”She’ll grab your Sandra Bullocks”

To be honest, in this case I think the change is even better.

The post Songs about forbidden and impossible love appeared first on Music Charger.