Music Report

I hope all is well in the midst of the CMJ festival this week. What follows are some recommendations for the next few weeks after the smoke clears.

The Rx Bandits will be bringing their Orange County stylings, slightly reminiscent of Sublime, to what’s now called The Blender Theater at Gramercy on Tuesday, November 13th. They do get their reggae jam on a little bit, but not nearly enough to be called a jam band. Rx Bandits tend to be popular in university circles but I think they are also able to safely transcend the Birkenstock, ultimate Frisbee scene.
http://www.rxbandits.com/

Opening for the Rx Bandits are Men Women and Children, a synthy six-piece whose music had been featured on short lived NBC drama Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, as if that were a credential. Their music pulsates, compelling all in the vicinity to the dance floor. In my experience, Men Women & Children walk the line between a fun, immersive experience and an over-the-top display of eccentricity, depending on the prevailing audience reaction in a given night.
http://www.menwomenandchildren.com/

I’m Not There, the upcoming Bob Dylan biopic (expected release date 11/21) in which he is played by about six different actors, both male and female, comes with a two-disc tribute soundtrack, available 10/30, in which his songs are covered by over 35 artists. Some portion of those artists will be performing the songs they’ve covered November 7th at the Beacon Theater in a benefit for Dave Eggers’ non-profit 826NYC.
Below is a link to a preview of around 4 songs from the album.
http://www.sonymusic.com/artists/BobDylan/imnotheremediaplayer/

Speaking of tributes, music blog Stereogum.com has commissioned, and offered for free download, takes by REM’s contemporaries on their classic album Automatic for the People for its fifteenth anniversary. Previously Stereogum has done the same for Radiohead’s OK Computer although that is only available for streaming at this point. Depending on your perspective, this all may be akin to blasphemy or a set of interesting experiments.
http://www.stereogum.com/drivexv/
http://www.stereogum.com/okx/

Finally, I’ll follow up on my previous bulletin about Radiohead allowing fans to set their own prices for the new album with the news that Oasis, Jamiroquai and Madness are considering doing the same as they are not currently involved in record deals for the release of their next albums.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/10/09/nradiohead108.xml