Although radio singles like “Bullet with Butterfly Wings” are not my favorite live Pumpkins songs, this is a thundering version from the 2000 Sacred and Profane Tour. It’s angry and fast and the tension within the band is palpable. The Atlanta stop was near the end of what was to be their final tour. “BWBW” is a crowd pleaser, but delivered in such an aggressive manner that it alienates strict radio fans. On this leg of the tour, the song was melded with The Talking Heads “Once in a Lifetime.”¬† This wasn’t so much a cover as a launching pad for improvisational shredding and Billy’s maniacal free-form poetry. In Orlando at The Hard Rock Live, he stopped the show and ended a meandering 10 minute conversation with fans by making the crowd chant, “What the fuck is going on! What the fuck is going on!”
At The Tabernacle, there was a crazy vibe. I think a good portion of the audience was on ecstasy, making James Iha comment at one point, “I see a lot of people have their eyes closed.” The crowd was surging with misguided energy. In this version of “BWBW” in Atlanta, the music stopped at the same point, then Billy begins the poetic ramblings then James Iha revs up the crowd in a sarcastic arena chant. Billy brings the music back around by screaming “YES” until the walls shook and the hair on my arm stood up.
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Set:
- Pale Scales
- The Everlasting Gaze
- Heavy Metal Machine
- Blue Skies Bring Tears
- Blew Away
- Stand Inside Your Love
- Glass and the Ghost Children
- I of the Mourning
- To Sheila
- Raindrops + Sunshowers
- Disarm
- Jellybelly (tease)
- Try, Try, Try
- Rock On [Essex]
- Zero
- Today
- Perfect
- Bullet with Butterfly Wings
> Once in a Lifetime [Talking Heads]
Encore 1:
- Blank Page
- Cherub Rock
Encore 2:
- Transmission [Joy Division] (tease)
- Drown
Brooklyn by way of Florida band, Sleigh Bells, is a two-person “noise pop” act. This song, “Crown on the Ground,” pretty much sums up noise pop with its catchy melodies drowning in piles of distorted music and modulated vocals. They are a 2-person guy/ girl act – a less musical, more experimental White Stripes with Derek Miller (Miami’s Poison the Well) on guitar and the ferociously energetic Alexis Krauss doing the vocal work. They crushed audiences and critics during their 2009 CMJ performances and were hailed as one of the “undeniable breakouts” by Stereogum and Pitchfork among many others. It was recently announced in a Tweet by Diplo that Sleigh Bells are in the studio working with M.I.A on her next album.
I heard their other song “In Love with a Ripper” ad nauseam on Sirius XMU and it kind of irritated me, but their sound was interesting enough for me to check them out at last year’s 
The second release from Billy Corgan’s epic endeavor Teargarden by Kaleidyscope is a fun, catchy little rock song. It is reminiscent of ZWAN in it’s looser, more upbeat direction. Mike Byrne gets to flex a little more drum muscle in his journey to fill the biggest shoes ever. “Widow Wake my Mind” is song number two of the 44 to be released over the next three years.
Before stem cells were saving lives they were the subject of awesome metal songs. “Dead Embryonic Cells” is from Sepultura’s 1991 album, Arise. It’s¬† a bad ass skull crusher of a song and embodies what I like in metal; Satanic and /or death references, scary voices, vicious guitar, aggressive double-bass drumming and and a teeth-grinding guitar breakdown in the middle. There’s a riff change at exactly 3:15 in the song and if you don’t turn around and punch the nearest person directly in the face, well, then there is something really wrong with you.
The word “super group” gets thrown around a lot – so I won’t use it. Them Crooked Vultures is a near perfect union of 3 monster talents: Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age), Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters), and John Paul Jones (from this little band called Led Zeppelin). Josh’s buzzsaw guitar attack and smooth, cocky vocals marry up with Jones’ crushing bass lines and Dave’s pounding drums perfectly. It actually sounds much like a QOTSA album with a little more wiggle room for playing outside the stoner riff-rock that they mastered. Dave Grohl is at his best behind the drum kit and even better when drumming with Queens or the Vultures. Foo Fighter’s are OK, but bland and mediocre when compared to QOTSA and Nirvana’s best stuff. The Foo’s are just mainstream, meathead arena rock. QOTSA’s albums are all great, but the most powerful delivery was Songs for the Deaf with Dave playing the drums. Them Crooked Vultures self-titled album is an unrelenting, visceral attack of coolness. “No One Loves Me and Neither Do I” is the first track on the album and a good introduction. It’s raw, grinding and has a nasty little riff change towards the end.
I stumbled across this song while making a mixtape for someone (that’s what you give for Christmas when you’re poor). Kid Cudi’s “Pursuit of Happiness” caught me by surprise and I listened to it so much that I nearly missed this song, “As Simple as …” With production help from MGMT and Ratatat among others, this song as well as most of Man on the Moon come across dark and edgy. A hip hop core with some smooth electronica lines and rough rock edges makes this sound fresh.