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Electioneering '08: Political Boss

by Matty Karas

It's hard to find the right Bruce Springsteen pun/link with which to introduce his just-announced presidential endorsement. The Boss was keenly averse to any kind of electioneering in the '80s, when he was at the peak of his popularity and his thoughts and intentions were being mangled by Republicans and Democrats alike. In recent years, he started to come around, but would he finally find a candidate who has the right magic? No, wrong kind of magic in that song. Does he know which one can return us to glory days? Um, no, them glory days will just pass you by in the wink of a young girl's eye anyway.

Leona Lewis Goes to the Movies

by Matty Karas 

When not exercising her dazzling Whitney-Mariah vocal cords, British pop sensation Leona Lewis bleeds love for the cinema. The winner of the 2006 edition of The X Factor, the British equivalent of American Idol, has found a lot of her favorite love songs on the soundtracks to movies ranging from the blockbuster Titanic to cult favorite Labyrinth.

SXSW: R.E.M. Live

by Matty Karas

To get to R.E.M.'s much-hyped SXSW performance late Wednesday night, you had to walk by a tent where the Lemonheads were performing the entirety of their 1992 power-pop classic It's a Shame About Ray, in order. You would have missed this if you had actually gotten to the R.E.M. show in time, but if you had actually gotten to the R.E.M show in time you would have never gotten in. The trick was to wait 45 minutes and stroll right in as people started walking out in droves.

SXSW: Clarinets, Guitars and Tings

by Matty Karas

Gather 17,481 bands (not the official number, just my estimate) in one small place, and you're bound to experience some strange currencies and coincidences. Wednesday night in Austin, Texas, you were able to shuffle, in a matter of minutes, between the serene St. David's Church, where pioneering classical/minimalist/electronic composer Steve Reich cheered on several acts executing pieces he wrote for combinations of live and taped instruments, and the cavernous Buffalo Billiards, where a Manchester, U.K., pop duo The Ting Tings tackled their own songs pretty much the same way -- but different.

"Idol" Chatter: Carly's Second Chance

by Matty Karas

There was a ring of familiarity when Simon Cowell accused the final contestant on Wednesday's "American Idol" of sounding "way too old-fashioned" and looking "very cabaret." Before she became one of 24 semi-finalists on "American Idol" season 7, Carly Smithson was better known (inasmuch as she was known at all) as Carly Hennessy, maker of one of the most notorious flops in pop history.

Best of 2007: Pop

by Matty Karas

Commercially speaking, 2007 was a worse year for pop music than 2006, which was worse than 2005. The Internet is ruining everything. As of this writing, exactly five albums have sold as many as two million copies this year. Two are Disney soundtracks, one a classic-rock album available only at Wal-Mart, one a Christmas album, and one a rock band that got its break on "American Idol" (thank god for "American Idol"). Fortunately, actual rock fans don't subscribe to Billboard or look at Soundscan every week. They just turn on the radio or go to clubs or surf YouTube and MySpace in search of Lil' Mama or Lil Wayne or a lil' techno or a lil' acoustic number. Or they actually watch "American Idol." Or make their own music. When everyone else is bitching about the rain, they simply open an umbrella and carry on. In all those ways and more, 2007 was a fantastic year for pop.

"Secret" Zeppelin

by Matty Karas

One of the upsides of being the Hugest Rock Band in the World is that you and your songs will be remembered forever. One of the downsides is that the world's collective memory seems to have a 20-song-per-band limit. If you are the Rolling Stones, your "Obsession" probably doesn't make the cut. If you are Van Halen, forget about being remembered as an "Ice Cream Man." These are the songs that don't show up on any greatest-hits collection, maybe not even on the four-disc box set. Celine Dion's new single has a better chance of getting played on rock radio. Or take, say, Led Zeppelin. "Dazed and Confused" you know. "Rock and Roll" of course. But what about their foray into power-pop? Or the synthesizer epics? Or the pretty acoustic tunes that don't erupt into heavy-metal thunder?