David Bowie ChangesOneBowie Rhino/Parlophone Released: 5.20.16 Originally released: 5.76 Sincerely, Letters From A Tapehead

Pissed Jeans : "Ignorecam"  (via Sub Pop /YouTube) Laetitia Sadier Source Ensemble : "Undying Love for Humanity" (via mutante-inc./ Drag City /Soundcloud) Unearthly Trance : "Famine" (Earsplit PR/ Cvlt Nation / Relapse Records /Soundcloud) David Bowie : "No Plan" (via YouTube) Monolord : "Lord of Suffering" (Us-Them Group/ Metal Injection / RidingEasy Records /YouTube) Pharmakon : "Trasmission" (via Rarely Unable/ Sacred Bones Records /Soundcloud) Equinox : "Goodbye (feat. Dementio13 )" (via Shameless Promotion/Soundcloud) Ummagma : "Winter Tale" (via Shameless Promotion/Bandcamp) Winter Tale by Ummagma Sincerely, Letters From A Tapehead

July 4th.  If your ears aren't still ringing after lighting up all of your noisemakers in tribute to our independence, enjoy some of my "America" selections. Brian Eno/David Byrne : "America Is Waiting" Yes : "America ( Simon & Garfunkel cover)"   Primus : "American Life"   The Mothers of Invention : "America Drinks and Goes Home"   Black Flag : "American Waste"   R.E.M. : "Little America"   MC5 : "The American Ruse"   Bad Religion : "American Dream"   David Bowie : "I'm Afraid of Americans" Sincerely, Letters From A Tapehead

David Bowie ★ (a.k.a. Blackstar ) RCA/Columbia Released: 1.8.16 Since Monday, January 11 th , I’ve been listening to David Bowie ’s Blackstar nonstop, unable to separate it objectively from its context as the artist’s last and final effort.   I hang on every word, distilling phrases clearly meant to convey Bowie’s handling of his mortality, fascinated by his musical choices and his continued interest in extracting modern musical ideas and incorporating them into his design.   This “parting gift,” as longtime collaborator and producer Tony Visconti put it, is a tragic thrill, which makes it difficult to completely appreciate on one level and damn near impossible to criticize on another.   As many of us have over the past week since Bowie passed away, Sunday, January 10 th , a mere two days after turning 69 years of age and releasing Blackstar , I’ve been immersing myself in articles filled with Bowie-related remembrances and dedications, all-day radio...

Realization of some bad news was slow this morning as I scanned through social media, seeing picture upon picture of David Bowie , all his personalities and alter-egos through the years on display, captioned with variations of #RIP .  My ability to comprehend this information finally set in, followed by shock.  And now, like many, I’m sad and confused.  David Bowie, following a very private 18-month bout with cancer, has passed away.  He’d turned 69 on Friday, January 8th, the same day he’d released Blackstar , his latest and final album.  Producer Tony Visconti said the following: "He made Blackstar for us, his parting gift. I knew for a year this was the way it would be. I wasn't, however, prepared for it. He was an extraordinary man, full of love and life. He will always be with us. For now, it is appropriate to cry." It’s hard to know where to begin.  David Bowie, to me, stood as an iconoclast to every convention, remarking on the absurdity of...

Lorelei : "Hole Punch" (video provided by Force Field PR) Lorelei - Hole Punch from Slumberland Records on Vimeo . Tricky : "Nothing's Changed" (via Life Or Death PR & Management) Melody's Echo Chamber : "Crystallized" (video provided by Noisey) David Bowie : "The Stars (Are Out Tonight)" (Unsuitable for the cubicle!) Sincerely, Letters From A Tapehead

The occasion of David Bowie 's 66th birthday seemed a suitable time for him to release a new single. Here is the video for the song "Where Are We Now?," which is the first single he's released in 10 years.  Gotta hand it to him:  He managed to keep this music concealed and throw it online much to the surprise of... well, everyone. As far as the song goes, it expectedly possesses the elder Bowie's trademark tenderness and the melody of its hook seems to recall his 1999 single "Thursday's Child."  It's tad somber and there's possibly some mortality to it, the lines in his face almost enhanced and deepened through the projection of his visage, which is placed upon the head of a stuffed animal as a montage of Germanic footage is played. The upcoming album will be called The Next Day and check out the cover: Marring Bowie's very iconic "Heroes" cover, the designer, Jonathan Barnbrook , wrote an explanation of his design ...

Sincerely, Letters From A Tapehead

Iggy & The Stooges Raw Power Live: In the Hands of the Fans MVD Entertainment Group Released: 4.5.11 Stereokiller review Sincerely, Letters From A Tapehead

2010 hasn't, for the most part, been the best year in terms of financial nonchalance. It would be safe to say that, if not for the generosity of record labels and PR reps, I'd have nothing to review and Letters From A Tapehead would probably shrink to irrelevance and ultimately disappear. But, I did manage to score a couple opportunities this year to hit the record stores, and though I sort of lagged as far as detailing my purchases, many of them have been 2010 albums that I've been meaning to discuss. So, my first record store trip happened in May as I was armed with some gift certificates. Chester County Book & Music Company , West Chester, PA: Butthole Surfers Hairway To Steven Latino Bugger Veil Originally Released: 4.11.88 (on Touch & Go) Michael Azerrad 's Our Band Could Be Your Life: Scenes from the American Indie Underground, 1981-1991 is still, for me, music literature's wish list for pre-Alternative independents and Hairway To Steven was one of...

David Bowie Station To Station (Special Edition) Virgin/EMI Originally released: 1.23.76 Reissued: 9.28.10 No Ripcord review Sincerely, Letters From A Tapehead

The first David Bowie album I ever bought was a used copy of Station To Station , its edges lovingly sealed with Scotch tape, yellow with age, Bowie’s black and white outward gaze fading. I liked the simplicity of the album’s appearance; red type on white, capitalized and bold, the words running into each other. The package did more than suggest that the album would crackle and fizz like a Pop Rock once I dropped the needle, but I wanted to hear it. Since then, Station To Station is gospel I’ve had no trouble preaching. Aware of the awesome that is Bowie’s tale of “The Thin White Duke” and the influential nose candy that courses through his soul, EMI is delivering a very expanded version of the album. Via EMI Press Release (and it's a lot to take in): DAVID BOWIE ‘STATION TO STATION’ - SPECIAL & DELUXE EDITIONS - INCLUDING THE PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED AND MUCH SOUGHT-AFTER CONCERT LIVE NASSAU COLISEUM ‘76’ RELEASE DATE: SEPTEMBER 28, 2010 - PLUS NEW LINER NOTES BY CAMERON CRO...

Raw Power ? Yeah, Raw Power . I can't imagine a bigger or more important reissue to be hitting the shelves this year. What little would exist without the brutality, energy or pure sexuality of Iggy & The Stooges ' brilliant Raw Power ? Those who've listened understand. Those who haven't listened need to so they can understand. Those who've listened and don't understand... well, you're a lost cause. Sincerely, Letters From A Tapehead

Can you feel the reissue gods getting all seminal on your asses? Legacy/Columbia is releasing a Deluxe Edition of the very necessary Iggy and The Stooges classic, Raw Power . The release date is April 27th. From iggyandthestoogesmusic.com : — The long out-of-print original David Bowie mix of the album, newly-remastered for maximum impact! — Georgia Peaches, an 8-song, one-hour performance at Atlanta’s notorious rock club Richards in October 1973 — A full disc of Rarities, Outtakes, & Alternates from the Raw Power Era. — 48 page softcover book with essays by Henry Rollins, Brian J. Bowe and Kris Needs + testimonials by Tom Morello, Lou Reed, Cheetah Chrome, Jim Reid, Perry Farrell, Hugo Burnham and more. — A TON of previously unseen Raw Power-era shots. — 5 exquisite 5x7-inch prints, suitable for framing. — Japanese pic-sleeve 45 single repro: "Raw Power" b/w "Search And Destroy" — The Making of Raw Power documentary by Morgan Neville featuring NEW inter...

TV On The Radio Return to Cookie Mountain Interscope Released 9.12.06 Rating: 4 out of 4 Media is one thread of humanity that we all share. As much as we may love or hate television, we’ve all seen the same shows, watched the same news program, caught the same commercials. We all buy advertised goods, believe paranoia-inducing news spots on the potential dangers of cell phone radiation, and somehow get involved in celebrity break-ups. Television’s glowing realities are viral, nesting into brain cells and creating legions of channel surfers that always, ALWAYS, have something to discuss the next day over stationary water coolers and coffee makers. The same can be said for radio, whose monotonous and unimaginative playlists only accent the DJ’s morning banter which, a lot of times, is about what they saw on TV. Not to say that television and radio rarely inform, but their rafts of often mind-numbing programming are sought and uploaded with gusto, overtaking a large percentage of the...