ChordStrike

Roskilde Festival

June 30-July 3, 2011

Roskilde, Denmark

Roskilde Festival is the largest North European music and camping festival and has existed since 1971 and it draws bands from far and wide to their yearly event. Artists from North America join those from Africa, Australia and Europe, with an emphasis on Danish groups. 2011 sees an eclectic lineup from Cuban jazz to American metal and all genres in between.

The festival is a non-profit organization consisting of about 25 full-time employees and thousands of volunteers. Each year, The Roskilde Festival Charity Society, which is the association behind Roskilde Festival, ensures that the profits from the festival are donated directly to humanitarian and cultural purposes.

Iron Maiden, Mastodon, Kings of Leon, PJ Harvey, Big Boi, M.I.A., Janelle Monae, Afrocubism, Autopsy, Beatsteaks, Anna Calvi, Congotronics vs. Rockers (feat. Konono No. 1, Deerhoof, Kasai Allstars, Juana Molina, Wildbirds & Peacedrums and Skeletons), De Eneste To, Matthew Dear, Destroyer, Daath, Eyehategod, How to Dress Well, Iceage, Jagwa Music, Kloster, Little Dragon, L.O.C., Lukestar, Parkway Drive, Shangaan Electro, Tame Impala, Terror, Veto, Kurt Vile & The Violators, Weekend

Roskilde Festival Official site

SoundUnwound's editorial team write about the latest big music news and quirky stories which catch the eye. We also post a selection of these news stories on Chordstrike; for much, much more, visit SoundUnwound.com, the new music site from IMDb and Amazon. Follow us at twitter.com/soundunwound.

R.I.P. Ronnie James Dio, 1942-2010

I'm currently camping in the Rockies, but on a brief foray down to buy supplies, I find that one of the monsters of hard rock, Ronnie James Dio, has died at the age of 67.

A superstar, regarded by many as the finest voice of heavy metal, Dio replaced Ozzy Osbourne as the singer in Black Sabbath, prior to which he sang for Richie Blackmore's Rainbow. His later career included Heaven & Hell, and the self-titled Dio.

The singer revealed last year that he was suffering from stomach cancer, shortly after finishing a US tour with his band.

Dio's wife, Wendy, said that her husband died on the morning of Sunday, May 16, adding her heartfelt comment that "Today my heart is broken."

Black Sabbath's ninth album, Heaven & Hell, which was released in 1980, is considered by many fans to be the finest heavy metal album ever recorded.

Lou's Metal Machine Hits The Road

Lou Reed has always gone against the grain. During 1967's so-called summer of love, his band The Velvet Underground released a debut album about prostitution and heroin addiction. Then, when the hippy revolution turned sour, the VU released their happy, trippy pop album, Loaded, starting with the decidedly hippyish "Who Loves The Sun."

But most contrary of all was Reed's 1975 solo album, Metal Machine Music (1975), four sides of unlistenable noise which divided fans: 99% hated it, while 1% considered it a challenging but worthwhile work of conceptual art. Last year a Rolling Stone reviewer described it live as "a continuous blaring fog that rose and decreased in its deafening intensity, marked by shrill electronic shrieks, long demented sax solos and Reed’s occasional yelling voice."

Warning: This video should not be listened to by anyone

Great news (!) - Lou Reed is taking his blaring fog, shrill shrieking and demented soloing on tour! So far only European dates have been announced, but the April shows will coincide with a full reissue program which will include Metal Machine Music on Blu-Ray for the first time. Perhaps a marginal improvement in audio clarity will make it an easier listen? Probably not.

April dates:

17 Cambridge, England - The Cambridge Junction
18 Oxford, England - O2 Academy
19 London, England - Royal Festival Hall
21 Paris, France - La Cigale
22 Brussels, Belgium - A/B (Domino Festival)
24 Copenhagen, Denmark - DR Koncerthuset
26 Oslo, Norway - Sentrum Scene
27 Bergen, Norway - Ole Bull Scene (Bergen Festival)
30 Mallorca, Spain - Teatre Principal de Palma

--Ally @ SoundUnwound

SoundUnwound's editorial team write about the latest big music news and quirky stories which catch the eye. We also post a selection of these news stories on Chordstrike; for much, much more, visit SoundUnwound.com, the new music site from IMDb and Amazon. Follow us at twitter.com/soundunwound.

Cock Rock: A Definition

The world needs more music critics like Charles Shaar Murray. Looking forward to the release of Jimi Hendrix's Valleys of Neptune (yes, a new Hendrix album!), I've been reading Murray's Crosstown Traffic. It's brilliant writing. Hendrix is the book's centerpiece, but there's a load to learn here for anyone who likes books about music. The subtitle of its best chapter yet asks, "So was Jimi Hendrix a sexist pig or what?"

Murray argues that "the sexuality expressed through the blues gradually mutated into the penile dementia of heavy-metal rock." And with what fervor. He exemplifies the point by comparing Muddy Waters' "You Need Love" -- warm, avuncular, intimate, relaxed, utterly sensual -- with Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love":

"Led Zeppelin, by contrast, come on like thermonuclear gang rape. The woman -- who, in Muddy Waters' song, is evoked as a real person with real emotions in a real situation -- is here reduced to a mere receptacle; an entirely passive presence whose sole function is to receive the Great Zeppelin (as depicted on the group's first two album covers: lumbering facetiousness posing as irony) with a suitable degree of veneration and gratitude. Even her response is superfluous: Zeppelin's vocalist Robert Plant virtually has her orgasm for her. After all, the satisfaction of the woman in the case is not intended for her benefit, but for his: it is the validation of his masculine prowess and the price of his admission to the alpha-male society. The stud-strut of heavy metal is a ritual by which men celebrate each other; it is not primarily intended for women, who -- at British metals shows, if not at their American counterparts -- demonstrate their understanding of the nature of the event by not showing up."

As Murray goes on to say, "The technical term for this stuff is 'cock rock'."

Read it and weep.

     -- Jason Kirk

Pink Floyd and Seattle: Another Decade in The Wall

Seems hard to believe, but The Wall by Pink Floyd was released 30 years ago today, November 30, 1979.

And, even harder to believe, the WTO protests in Seattle, also known fondly as The Battle in Seattle or N30, started 10 years ago today, November 30, 1999.

Both of these N30 anti-establishment zeitgeists featured elements of rioting, burning rubbish, and gas masks. Coincidence? I think not.

Pink Floyd, 1979:

Seattle, 1999:

--Lucas Hilbert

The 100 Greatest Live Albums of All Time

There are plenty of live albums issued solely as afterthoughts or contract fulfillments, but there are plenty that are as transcendent as the best in-person concert experiences, only with zero lines at the bathroom. For this particular list we came up with the following criteria:

• Only one album per artist.
• Albums were been performed live in front of an audience, but don't necessarily have to be culled from a single performance.
• No EPs or singles—this list is about albums
• We decided to limit this list to music, which means no comedy. We wanted to save those records for a separate list for laffers.

Of course, we exercise their judgment regarding quality and/or historical significance. If you disagree with our choices (and there's a good chance you will), let us know in the comments.

Here goes:

1. James Brown - Live At The Apollo, 1962
2. Johnny Cash - At Folsom Prison
3. Frank Sinatra - Sinatra at the Sands
4. Bill Withers - Live at Carnegie Hall
5. Judy Garland - Judy At Carnegie Hall
6. Bob Dylan - The Bootleg Series, Vol. 4: Live, 1966: The Royal Albert Hall Concert
7. Ella Fitzgerald - Ella in Rome: The Birthday Concert
8. Led Zeppelin - How The West Was Won
9. MC5 - Kick Out the Jams
10. Keith Jarrett - The Koln Concert
11. Neil Young - Live Rust
12. Otis Redding - Live in Europe
13. Talking Heads - Stop Making Sense
14. Nirvana - MTV Unplugged In New York
15. Bob Marley - Live
16. The Rolling Stones - Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out
17. Roy Orbison - Black and White Night
18. The Who - Live at Leeds
19. Simon and Garfunkel - The Concert in Central Park
20. Jimi Hendrix - Live at Monterey
21. Cheap Trick - At Budokan
22. John Coltrane & Thelonious Monk - At Carnegie Hall
23. Paco de Lucia, Rodrigo, and Orchestra De Cadaques - Concierto de Aranjuez
24. Maceo Parker - Life On Planet Groove
25. Portishead - Live: Roseland NYC
26. Elvis Presley - From Elvis in Memphis
27. Leonard Cohen - Live in London
28. Kiss - Alive!
29. Eric Clapton - Unplugged
30. Queen - Live Killers
31. Nina Simone - Nina Simone at Town Hall
32. Gram Parsons - Live 1973
33. Jeff Buckley - Live at Sin-é
34. U2 - Under a Blood Red Sky
35. Lucinda Williams - Live at the Fillmore
36. Thin Lizzy - Live and Dangerous
37. Dead Can Dance - Toward the Within
38. Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band - Live in New York City
39. BB King - Live at the Regal
40. Aretha Franklin - Live at Fillmore West
41. David Bowie - Stage
42. Miles Davis - Miles Davis at Fillmore: Live At The Fillmore East
43. Art Blakey - A Night At Birdland, Vol. 1
44. Ani Difranco - Living in Clip
45. Mavis Staples - Live: Hope at the Hideout
46. Muddy Waters - At Newport 1960
47. Depeche Mode - 101
48. Deep Purple - Made in Japan
49. Isaac Hayes - Live at Wattstax
50. Sam Cooke - At the Copa
51. Parliament - Live: P-funk Earth Tour
52. Grateful Dead - Europe '72
53. Laurie Anderson - United States Live
54. Alison Krauss and Union Station - Live
55. Velvet Underground - 1969
56. Pink Floyd - Pulse
57. The Roots - Come Alive
58. Bill Evans Trio - Sunday at the Village Vanguard
59. Sarah Vaughn - Live At The 1971 Monterey Jazz Festival
60. George Harrison - Live in Japan
61. Peter Gabriel - Plays Live
62. Erroll Garner - Concert by the Sea
63. Thelonius Monk - Thelonious in Action: Live at the Five Spot Cafe
64. Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds - Live at Luther College
65. Janis Joplin - Janis in Concert
66. Peter Frampton - Frampton Comes Alive
67. Willie Nelson - Stars and Guitars
68. John Coltrane - Live at the Village Vanguard
69. The Clash - From Here To Eternity Live
70. Eartha Kitt - Live from the Café Carlyle
71. Ravi Shankar - Live: Ravi Shankar at the Monteray International Pop Festival
72. Wilco - Kicking Television: Live In Chicago
73. Neko Case - The Tigers Have Spoken
74. Judas Priest - Unleashed in the East
75. Jay-Z - Unplugged
76. The Orb - Live '93
77. The Ramones - It's Alive
78. Etta James - Rocks the House
79. Soweto Gospel Choir - Live at Nelson Mandela Theatre
80. Pearl Jam - Live on Two Legs
81. Björk - Live Box Set
82. Kraftwerk - Minimum-Maximum
83. Radiohead - I Might Be Wrong: Live Recordings
84. Lou Reed - Rock 'n' Roll Animal
85. Jill Scott - Live in Paris
86. Carole King - Carole King The Carnegie Hall Concert June 18, 1971
87. Alice in Chains - Live
88. John Denver - The Wildlife Concert
89. Eva Cassidy - Live at Blues Alley
90. Stevie Ray Vaughan - Live at Carnegie Hall
91. Rush - Rush in Rio
92. Police - Live!
93. Daft Punk - Alive 2007
94. James Taylor - James Taylor Live
95. Neil Diamond - Hot August Night
96. Guns N' Roses - Live Era '87-'93
97. Lyle Lovett - Lyle Lovett Live In Texas
98. Blue Oyster Cult - Extraterrestrial Live
99. Aerosmith - Live! Bootleg
100. J. Geils Band - Live: Blow Your Face Out

-- Jeff Reguilon

Aerosmith's Steven Tyler Injured Again

After 61 year old AC/DC frontman Brian Johnson announced his impending retirement, Lady Luck seems to be suggestively digging her elbow into various aging members of Aerosmith, not least 61 year old frontman Steven Tyler, to think about following suit. Tyler was airlifted to hospital on Wednesday night after sustaining minor head, neck and shoulder injuries falling off-stage at a concert in South Dakota. An onlooker told the Rapid City Journal “I’ve never seen that happen before. But you could kind of see it coming because he was dancing all over the stage.” It's the latest in a long line of injuries and setbacks that have hit the band recently. In May last year, Tyler checked into rehab to recover from an operation on his foot. In February concerts were canceled when guitarist Joe Perry required emergency surgery to deal with an infection in his knee. In March Tyler contracted pneumonia, delaying plans to record a new album, and last month more shows were canceled after Tyler injured his hamstring on-stage. Guitarist Brad Whitford missed several shows after he required surgery, reportedly due to bumping his head really hard as he exited his Ferrari. Then, bassist Tom Hamilton had to take time off to recover from some unspecified "non-invasive surgery." Although Tyler's latest injuries are not serious, there's only so many hits a man can take before he thinks about throwing in the towel.

--Ally @ SoundUnwound

SoundUnwound's editorial team write about the latest big music news and quirky stories which catch the eye. We'll be posting a selection of these news stories on Chordstrike every week; for much, much more, visit SoundUnwound.com, the new music site from IMDb and Amazon.