LALARRY

HaYom Yavo

That's mot speak for the day is coming.

After "chopping 'em down" at the reggae festival in Long Beach and  well deserved phenomenal success for the album Live at Stubbs , Matisyahu will be releasing his first major label (sony music) studio album, Youth on March 7 and doing 2 sold out dates in NY. March 9 he will give a free parking lot concert at Tower Records Northridge CA. Details here.

Right now you can get a free listen of the entire album at  mtvu

Conan O'brien show March 7

Jimmy Kimmel show March 8

You Must Check Out this New Music

KT Tunstall  Eye to The Telescope

audio and video clips of a live performance on the npr website available here.

Death of A Great One

Luther Vandross, a great R+B singer and a fav of mine died today at 54, after suffering a stroke in 2003. Two months after his stroke he released the great album "Dance With My Father" which one a Grammy Award.

If you don't know his music go out today and buy either his greatest hits album or the  Dance with My Father CD. Or download "Power of Love", "Here and Now" or "Dance With My Father" to your ipod. Luther will make your weekend a bit more enjoyable.

Rhapsody + Replay Music Software + Awesome

Replay - Music software gives you the ability to record any streaming audio. The only catch is that it records in real time. If your old enough to remember, it's like recording with a casette deck, it takes 90 minutes to record 90 mins. of audio. Thus, it allows you to record any music you hear over Rhapsody and then burn it onto a cd or put it on a portable player using musicmatch software which is free or equivalent . You can also use itunes to put it on your ipod. The company says this is kosher as long as it is for personal use since you are paying for a subscription service. You can also record it to record streaming audio like radio programs that stream or material that is available on any website. I use it to go to the npr website and record programs or segments I miss. I'm seldom near a radio when my second favorite satirist (after the Daily Show crew, of course), Harry Shearer is on our local npr station. So I record the program and listen at my leisure from a portable player or cd. It will also work with internet radio services like launch or aol .

Awesome

A Truly Great Rock Song

Every once in a while a rock song hits me and reminds me that I can't outgrow popular music. This is particularly the case since I'm hooked on Rhapsody. A top current hit is the collaboration of Rapper Jay - Z and rock group Linkin Park. particularly the single Numb/Encore. The "mash" album is great and spurred me to listen to Linkin Park's own music. Yes, I know I am way late to the party.

On their most recent album Meteora is their original version of numb. IMHO it is one of the best new rock songs I have heard in years. It has it all: great hooks, flailing guitars, angry vocals and excellent harmonies. And the lyrics are about as good an expression of teenage angst as I have ever heard:

"I'm tired of being what you want me to be , feeling so faithless, lost under the surface.I don't know what you're expecting of me put under the pressure of walking in your shoes (caught in the undertow, just caught in the undertow) every step that I take is another mistake to you. I've become so numb i can't feel you there...

all I want to be is more like me and less like you, holding too tightly afraid to lose control...but I know you were just like me with someone disappointed in you."

The collaboration with Rapper Jay-Z: Numb/Encore adds some great 'tude to the Linkin Park version music and is great too.

Oh, to be 17 again.

I'm not a parent. But if I had a teenage son or daughter, I would hope that I would let them close the door to their room and blast this song to their heart's content. Yes, even the "explicit" version of the Jay-Z collaboration... and the video is also pretty good .

oops I'm showing my age. No teenager has a stereo in the room anymore. They would download the song to their ipod, put on their headphones and walk around the house listening to the song and ignoring everyone else. Hopefully I would let my child do that too.

Yes, I know this a bit of a weird post.

And Linkin Park seem to be class guys; they have founded a group called music for relief to help tsunami victims.

I Know I'm Supposed to Be Way Too Old for This Kind of Music...

....but I think the cut: "Numb/Encore" from the collaboration of JAY Z and Linkin Park is incredibly good. The video is here.