Kristi Kates

Music Kristi Kates Timbaland - Shock Value II - Blackground
Timbaland’s usual genre mix of collaborators, his ear for a great hook, and his skillful way around a recording studio is evident on his newest set, on which he works with a remarkably lengthy roster of almost a dozen guest musicians, including The Fray, Brandy, Chris Daughtry, Drake, and a return visit from previous collaborator Justin Timberlake. Unfortunately, Timbaland seems to rely a little too much on the ol’ Auto-Tune, which gives a flat, overproduced feel to otherwise catchy-cool tracks like “Undertow” (with The Fray and Esthero) and Timberlake’s “Carry On.”

Modern Rock Kristi Kates C’mon and Listen to the Music of The Who
There’s one modern rockin’ concert scheduled for New York City’s Carnegie Hall on March 2 - producer Michael Dorf has assembled quite an impressive list of performers for Music of The Who, which will pay tribute to the influential British rock band. No word yet on if Pete Townshend or Roger Daltrey will show up - but attendees will get to hear Who songs interpreted by the likes of The Gaslight Anthem, The Smithereens, Living Colour, Sondre Lerche, The Postelles, Gov’t Mule, and Robyn Hitchcock, among others. Dorf - who’s staged similar events to honor Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, and R.E.M. - says the Who tribute performance will be “one of the most memorable shows yet.” For more info, check out www.carnegiewho.com...

Music Kristi Kates Owl City - Ocean Eyes - Republic
Recorded entirely in a cold basement in the middle of winter in Minnesota, where Owl City, aka Adam Young, had to contend with the ceiling freezing (literally - into icicles) whenever he turned off the noisy furnace to get a vocal recording, these songs belie their chilly location with warm synths, vibrant production, and earnest vocals. Simple lyrically but executed prettily, each track is polished with interesting synth work and beat loops, from the romantic “The Saltwater Room” and “Vanilla Twilight” to the more festive “The Tip of the Iceberg” and “Hello Seattle.”

Modern Rock Kristi Kates You’ll Really Get The Kinks New Movie
Acclaimed music vid/film director Julien Temple, who’s helmed music videos for everyone from Duran Duran and ABC to Blur, David Bowie, and Neil Young as well as documentaries on the Glastonbury Fest and the Sex Pistols, will soon be tackling a new movie about Brit band The Kinks. The Kinks’ Ray Davies himself will be involved at the project, which will focus on the relationship between bandmate brothers Ray and Dave Davies, complete with the sibling rivalry and love/hate dynamic seen in more recent years in fellow Brit band Oasis. A cast or release date has yet to be announced, but the film’s tentative title borrows from one of The Kinks’ very own songs - it’ll be dubbed You Really Got Me...
Speaking of movies, Detroit band The White Stripes’ concert film Under Great White Northern Lights premiered summer 2009 at the Toronto International Film Festival, and now everyone else will get a chance to see the movie, too, when it arrives in box set format on March 16. The limited edition set includes a DVD of the film plus a whole lot more - a DVD of The White Stripes Under Nova Scotian Lights

Music Kristi Kates Editors - In This Light and On This Evening - Fader/Sony
Giant washes of guitars and even more fervent vocals from frontman Tom Smith are the hallmarks of Editors’ latest set, as are topics ranging from conspiracies and hushed message-sends to man vs. machine scenarios. The songs themselves are perfect fits for the lyrics in most cases, most notably the mysterious and urgent “Papillon,” the somber military drums and darkened, low-tone vox of “The Big Exit,” and the Ultravox-reminiscent instrumentals of “The Boxer” and “Like Treasure.” It may be a somewhat post-apocalyptic set, but it’s certainly an impressive one.

Modern Rock Kristi Kates The Return of McLachlan and Lilith Fair
Sarah McLachlan is stepping back into the music scene to revive the late ‘90s music festival Lilith Fair, which was the first modern concert event to feature primarily female singer-songwriters all on one festival bill (the early Lilith Fairs included performances from McLachlan along with the likes of the Dixie Chicks, Lauryn Hill, and Christina Aguilera.) The summer of 2010 will see the return of the Lilith Fair event, which has already booked its first round of performers, among them Sheryl Crow, Erykah Badu, Belinda Carlisle, Metric, Chairlift, and Emmylou Harris; for more info, keep an eye on www.lilithfair.com...
Elbow’s Guy Garvey has moved from Manchester back to his hometown of Bury, England, and has been working hard on songwriting sessions for Elbow’s next album. Garvey recently mentioned that he’s actually been including tales of his hometown in some of the lyrics for Elbow’s new songs, and that the band is also experimenting with psychedelia and shoegaze sounds in their music, complete with Moogs and Mellotrons. The band already has almost two dozen song ideas for the new set, which will be their fifth album and will serve as follow-up to 2008’s The Seldom Seen Kid...

Music Kristi Kates Dashboard Confessional - Alter the Ending - Interscope
You’ll get two CDs instead of the usual one with DC’s latest offering - CD one presents full-band versions of all of the songs, while CD two is frontman Chris Carrabba performing acoustically. It’s interesting to present the album this way, as it showcases very definitively which songs are strongly written and which aren’t. Standouts include the synth-inflected “Until Morning,” “Get Me Right,” “Everybody Learns from Disaster,” the familiar-sounding, melancholy “Even Now,” and the title track. There are no great new sounds here, but decently solid songs from a solid band.

Modern Rock Kristi Kates Fiery Furnaces Craft A Sound of Silence
The Fiery Furnaces are striking out to take a stand on file-sharing - although given the obscure wording of their recent press announcement, it’s a little difficult to tell which side they’re on - by making the production of their next album a “Silent Record” that will “consist of instruction, conventional music notation, graphic music notation...” and a good half-dozen other items. Once the album is released, the Furnaces will reportedly organize a series of “Fan-Band Concerts,” via which groups of Furnaces fans will “perform, interpret, contradict, ignore, and so on” the compositions that make up the Silent Record. Fans can write to the band at thefieryfurnacesemail@gmail.com to nominate their local venue (“post office break room, truck stop parking lot, municipal arts center, etc.) for one of the shows. Should be interesting...

Features Kristi Kates Dogsledding for everyone at Boyne Highlands
By Kristi Kates
The annual Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race begins on March 6, and will see mushers and 16-dog teams race a whopping 1,161 miles across Alaska in around two weeks.
These hardy dogs and their drivers will one-up the postal service’s motto: “Neither rain, nor snow, nor sleet, nor hail shall keep the postmen from their appointed rounds,” by trekking through everything from sleet to blizzards to gale-force winds as they travel from Anchorage to Nome.

Music Kristi Kates Alicia Keys - The Element of Freedom - J Records
After 12 Grammy Awards and three albums, Keys is back with her fourth CD,
which melds pop, soul, and hip-hop and includes contributions from the
likes of Linda Perry and John Mayer. That said, the set seems to be trying
to cram too much into one album, vacillating back and forth between
street-smart, catchy tracks (“Empire State of Mind (Part II)”), repetitive
popsters (“Doesn’t Mean Anything”), and midtempo power ballads (“No One,”
“Go Ahead.”) Keys also collaborates with Beyonce on “Put It In a Love
Song,” but it’s more novelty than anything else.

Modern Rock Kristi Kates Austin City Limits Celebrates 35 Years
PBS TV music show “Austin City Limits” just kicked off their 35th year on the air this past fall, and are celebrating in part by booking their first hip-hop acts in addition to the rest of their standout performance roster for 2010. In addition, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame have just designated the Austin City Limits studio “landmark status,” due to their longevity with a format that probably would’ve been cancelled years ago on fickle commercial television. The January-February schedule includes plenty of acts that help solidify why ACL is one of the best and most interesting performance shows on TV, with shows including Allen Toussaint (1/9), Mos Def (1/16), Them Crooked Vultures (2/6), and Madeleine Peyroux (2/13)...

Music Kristi Kates Duran Duran - Decade: Greatest Hits - EMI
Duran’s been around for several decades, of course, but this
particular set rounds up the singles recorded between 1981 and 1989,
which includes most of their biggest songs and probably the ones most
recognizable to both D2 fans and those new to the band. From New Wave
to New Romantic and on to their more rock/dance experiments, you’ll
get early Duran classics “Rio” and “Hungry Like the Wolf,” the
still-pretty-in-spite-of-all-those-’80s-synths “Save a Prayer,” and
later tracks such as the James Bond theme “A View to a Kill” and the
oh-so-funky “Notorious.”

Modern Rock Kristi Kates Cash, Lewis, Presley, Perkins Worth a Million Bucks
“Million Dollar Quartet” is the title of a new musical that’s been test-running in Chicago before it heads to New York for a planned Broadway run in spring of 2010. The musical focuses on the real-life 1956 gathering of rock legends Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis Presley, and Carl Perkins, who were brought together for a jam session at Memphis’ Sun Records by producer Sam Phillips.

Features Kristi Kates Mackinac Island: a winter excursion
By Kristi Kates
Winter has turned Mackinac Island white. From the boat docks to the
benches, the ports to the porch of the Grand Hotel, the island looks
very different from its bright and festive summer persona.

Features Kristi Kates Winter Fashions/What to wear as the season changes?
By Kristi Kates
A quintet of looks are the subject of predictions for this winter’s
fashion hit list. From Vogue to CIFF (the Copenhagen International
Fashion Fair), from the runways to the previews at retail, this winter
is set to be all about texture, lush fabrics, asymmetric layering, and
colors both earthy and bright.