Even Lady Gaga’s most loyal fans haven’t met Joanne.
Named after her late aunt, Lady Gaga used her middle name as the namesake for her fifth album, which unlike past albums, challenges her voice to the edge of its diversity and skill. Released late October, Joanne successfully treads across genres in a journey of self-reflection and illustration.
Her early work is mostly pop with a few ballads, eventually expanding to R&B, disco and other genres that are equally as outlying.
Fans from all over New York experience Lady Gaga give one of her unforgettable "Monster Ball" tour performances.
A teenager casually took his seat before the Lady Gaga show, wearing a long-sleeve, button-up plaid shirt. He looked like any other high school boy.
Then he took off his shirt. Beneath the average plaid was a see-through, fishnet top covering his entire upper body. Around his waist hung circles of yellow caution tape. Underneath his nonchalant exterior was one of Lady Gaga's “little monsters” in disguise.
It's the end of the year and all anyone can talk about are the best albums of the year, but that's bunk, because so many individual great songs on mediocre albums get left out of the conversation. It's time to count down the top 10 songs of 2009 before the ball drops.
People aren't going to like my list, mostly because it doesn't inlclude any Animal Collective, Grizzly Bear or Girls. Sorry, go slobber over SPIN's list--which was predictable and incredibly obnoxious. My list isn't about album recognition. This list complies the top 10 songs that rocked my year from beginning to end. That's it--cut and dry.
[**NOTE** The List is not ranked in order of awesome-ness]
Musically, this week has really me bummed out -- from music videos to canceled shows. I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore.
It's bad enough I broke my fifth pair of headphones this year, but it's a whole other kind of torture when so many things have sucked in music news this week. Canceled shows top the list, but lazy music videos and sheer WTF? moments also demand attention.
Being a part of a concert audience is an art form. In light of the upcoming St. Vincent show in Ithaca this Thursday, here's some tips on how to get the most out of your concert trip.
Just like any college football game, there's a lot of different elements that going into the preparation, viewing and reflection of a concert. It's more than just about going and standing idly as the music swoops in one ear and out the other. For the people who really love going to live concerts, they have a technique to get the most out of the experience. Fortunately, most of it is just a head game. Concerts embody a wild spirit that can only be harnessed with the right state of mind.