What does one do when they need to “break free” you ask? Well, Freddie Mercury slips on his finest cleaning-the-house garb and dances around between fabulous tableaux scenes of housewife gone leather-pants-clad and shirtless human beast eating grapes with stage smoke and backup dancers. If there were such a thing as human print, then this video would be a great representation of just that.

It turns out coming in second place for American Idol may not be such a bad thing. For this season’s talent competition, finalists Adam Lambert and Kris Allen teamed up with British luminaries Queen for “We Are The Champions”. Although Allen ended up sweeping the vote to be crowned the next Idol, it turns out guitarist Brian May is open to the idea of more collaboration with Lambert.

“(Drummer Roger Taylor) and I are definitely hoping to have a meaningful conversation with (Lambert) at some point. It’s not like we, as Queen, would rush into coalescing with another singer just like that,” said May to Rolling Stone in an email. “It isn’t that easy. But I’d certainly like to work with Adam. That is one amazing instrument he has there.”

The 27 year-old Lambert would be following in the foot steps of Paul Rodgers, formerly of Bad Company and Free, should May and company decide they’d like a new singer. Rodgers has done vocals for Queen for the past four years until splitting with the band recently. There hasn’t been a steady replacement front man for the group since Freddie Mercury passed away in 1991.

In honor of the Memorial Day weekend, we took a very small poll asking a few friends to give us their ideal summer song. You know, the kind you would want to hear if you were outside driving around right now without a care in the world. Then we narrowed it down to seven eleven (an arbitrary number, who knows, it still may expand). So, here are seven eleven summer classics from Sister Nancy, Pavement, The Pharcyde, Donovan, Dizzee Rascal, Animal Collective, Screeching Weasel, People Under the Stairs, Dan Deacon, Queen and the one, the only, The Notorious B.I.G..

Sister Nancy – “Bam Bam”

Pavement – “Gold Soundz”

The Pharcyde – “Runnin”

Donovan – “There Is A Mountain”

Dizzee Rascal – “Bonkers”

Animal Collective – “My Girls”

Screeching Weasel – “Totally”

People Under The Stairs – “Acid Raindrops”

Dan Deacon – “Crystal Cat”

Queen – “Fat Bottomed Girls”

The Notorious B.I.G. – “Juicy”

There for a blessed moment we had bands that didn’t seem to care about image:  Black Flag, Husker Du, The Descendents, Beat Happening, Nirvana.  Yes, they all had an image but it didn’t seem as contrived as say, Vampire Weekend, The Shins or any number of “indie” bands playing the festival circuit this summer.
 
That is why it was so refreshing when I received a CD from the Wichita, Kansas-based band Black Gasoline.  No, they weren’t extremely original but the influences that ring through on their album, She Gave Us Magic, all mix well to create a 1970s heavy music lover’s equivalent of a giant hash brownie. This is indeed stoner rock. And what is wrong with that?
 
The band’s love of classic rock is entirely in your face.  They create a sound that is as thick as sludge and meddles into a sound that is reminiscent of Van Halen, The Who, and recent champions of the sound, Queens of The Stone Age.  Taking their name from a 1940s barely refined type of homemade fuel, the band (Bryan Seely on vocals, Paul DeCeglie on guitar, Larry Donaldson on keyboards, Kendall Newby on drums and Scott Mackey on bass) seem ready to make their namesake proud; using driving guitars, pounding drums and bowel loosing bass lines as accelerants, they’ll set the Midwest on fire.

I “spoke” with the band via MySpace.
 
When did Black gasoline come together?
 It’s been about four years now.
 
What music has had the biggest impact on you as a group? She Gave Us Magic sounds very rooted in 1970s rock to me…
I think we have stylistically gravitated to the feel of 70s hard rock, but I don’t think you could call that a genre or even say that that would make us any easier to explain if you did. I do think it would be correct in that during the 70s you saw bands like Deep Purple or Black Sabbath make increasingly diverse, ambitious and dynamic albums, so I hope that’s what you mean. But as we’ve continued developing and finding our artistic voice, we’ve moved towards a genre that really didn’t exist, in that most of your 70s era bands only made one or two heavy psych albums, a piece which was usually peppered with a lot of R&B and blues, whereas we’ve been attempting to make a career out of that era’s accidents instead of the easy “heavy metal” outs.

As far as what’s been getting our goat lately, and I hate to answer this for everyone else, but the last few years worth of Swedish hard rock like The Hellacopters, Graveyard, Baby Woodrose, Dungen, and Witchcraft are absolutely awesome. Black Mountain, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, High on Fire, The Flaming Lips, Midlake, and Dead Meadow are some American bands we’ve been into. Not surprisingly, a lot of oldies are in rotation: The Pretty Things, Grand Funk Railroad, Hawkwind, Blue Oyster Cult, Cheap Trick, E.L.O, Manfred Mann’s Earth Band, The Who, Queen, The Byrds, The Beatles. In the Ipod era, it’s almost more difficult to convey the logic of musical influence because after a point, and this is more likely for a musician, it gets almost more scholastic than it should be on the surface, because it is, after all, just pop music.
 
Is She Gave Us Magic your first full-length record?
 Yes it is, but we are more than half-way into a new record that will either make us or break us. I’m always appreciative of any interest in us, but it’s hard not to have more interest in the future than the past. So keep an eye on us; we’re hoping for summer or fall.
 
Is the process of songwriting a group effort or does one member take the reins more often?
I think one of our greatest strengths is our creative process. By the time a riff or a melody is filtered through the band as a whole, the original idea is, in many cases, unrecognizable. Without the collective input of all five of us, it just wouldn’t be the same.
 
Is there much of a rock scene around Wichita?
It ebbs and flows. I don’t want to be unfair to a core group of people that really do work hard to ensure that there’s always some sort of scene, but sometimes it’s music, sometimes it’s more like really loud fashioned. Like most American cities there’s a faction that is birthed from corporate radio and guitar stores which will always be shit, but there’s an underground that has no set sound but has been very interesting, for instance Wichita spawned Manilla Road, Split Lip Rayfield, so wrap your head around that!
 

What do you think of the current trend of bands becoming famous and getting signed to deals strictly from internet buzz?
It’s great if you don’t mind being famous and working a day job.
 
Do you think that it takes away from a band if they don’t have to tour the country and build their own fan base?
They certainly won’t be that cohesive. Making an ambitious record is not that hard in this day and age. Having taste is another matter, but neither will matter if you can’t pull it off live. You might have to play after us, and we won’t make it easy for you.
 
I saw your band play a club in Lawrence, Kansas, a few years ago and your energy was explosive. How do you stoke that fire every night?
Blood, sweat, practice, need for attention, energy drinks… Mostly practice, and all that energy that a good crowd reflects back to you.
 
With “indie rock” being the big thing as of this moment, do you think heavier bands like Black Gasoline suffer?
Do you mean any worse than it already has? Personally I think it’s great for a band like us; it makes us even more different. If we’re back to back with a really trendy indie band, we look like Viking plunderers when the reality is that, compared to modern metal bands, we’re not really that heavy, just louder. With music the way it is now we’re a mystery, and, personally, I think it works in our favor. Styles change, a few years ago it was that rap rock thing. How smart does that Limp Bizkit guy look now?
 
How is the tour in support of Magic going?
We’re still promoting it and selling it, but at this point, we’re really revving up to the next record.
 
What’s been the biggest crowd you’ve play for to date?
Probably The Riverfest in Wichita with fellow local luminaries Split Lip Rayfield. I think that was two or three thousand people.
 
What is your inspiration for songs like say, “Lady Iron Wing” and “The Boy That Destroyed The World”?
 
“Lady Iron Wing” starts off sounding like it’s another “dangerous chick” song, like Motley Crue’s “Looks that Kill or Deep Purple’s “Lady Double Dealer”,etc. but as the song moves along the listener hopefully” discovers that “The Lady” is actually a world war II bomber and as for “boy” your guess is as good as mine.
 
Do you think a band having an “image” is important at all?
That’s an interesting question in that we’re aware that our image is an absolute lack of image, which has its own hipster appeal. It’s interesting in that we are aware BG has this burnout image, but it’s not something that we think about because we would rather shop at thrift stores and have bad ass equipment then waste too much time really dwelling on it. If there’s any method to our image, it’s that so long as nothing dates you, your on the right track.

Dent May and his Magnificent Ukulele is quite a delicious listen, he plays tuneful ukulele-drenched retro pop that will definitely be appealing to any fans of Jens Lekman, Beirut or Sufjan Stevens. His music is a melting pot of influences mainly from the 50s drawing from vintage doo-wop, Tropicália, and a classic American crooner sensibility that is reminiscent of Glenn Campbell.

The Feel Good Music of Dent May is a perfect name for the album. Every song has a sunny ukulele composition and simple yet endearing lyrics that, when augmented by a band, produces a wonderfully laid back vibe. What better way to kick off such an accessible album than a song called “Welcome”? An acapella number where Dent May introduces you to his album and it’s themes, it’s a warm welcome that flows perfectly in to “Meet Me At The Garden” — which is one of the strongest and most charming songs on the record with it’s maracas, ukulele and marimba vibe. “Oh Paris” has Dent adding some horns to the mix, creating a quirky marching band quality that when incorporated with the ukulele and background shooby doobies, generates an appealing backdrop for his thoughtful croon of “I finally know/ That I belong here in this world.” In the bluesy, doo-wop number “Girls On The Square”, dual electric guitars solo together in Queen-like fashion that oddly meshes quite well with the melodramatic vocals of the song. “God Loves You Michael Chang” and “I’m An Alcoholic” are humorous songs that shows Dent’s funny-side and his ability to weave them into his delivery in a thoughtful manner.

Admittedly, the use of the ukulele does get a little repetitive by the end of the album, but the charming quality of Dent May’s composition holds my interest through the full CD. He definitely has a unique style that is as quirky as a Wes Anderson film. For those of you looking for a little feel good music to cheer you up, Dent May has revitalized the classic American crooner for the 21st century and given it a geeky hipster edge that makes this an extremely delightful listen.

Paw Tracks

Maybe it’s cliché, but it’s hard not to get a certain Queen song stuck in your head when headlines like today’s — Alpha Media closes popular music magazine Blender — just won’t stop coming. The magazine’s April issue, on stands now, will be its last.

Alpha Media delivered the news to the Blender staff in a meeting this morning. Alpha Media CEO Stephen Duggan said in a company memo that the fold was all bitter, and no sweet.

“Since 2001, Blender has provided unmatched music coverage and entertainment news in its unique voice to a profoundly dedicated audience of music enthusiasts,” Mr. Duggan wrote. “We are particularly grateful to the sales team and to the tremendously talented editorial staff for their hard work and commitment to Blender.”

The close was part of other big changes at Alpha Media, which also publishes Maxim. The former editor in chief of Blender, Joe Levy, will now be editor in chief of the newly combined Maxim/Maxim digital operation. Jim Kaminsky, Maxim magazine’s editor in chief, is leaving the company.

Thirty jobs were sliced in total. Paid subscriptions and newsstand stales had sharply declined at Blender, and ad pages had plunged 31 percent in the last year, and another 57 percent in the period of January to April. The closing is definitely yet another sign of the all-too-obvious signs, but we can’t help but wonder what music magazines will be able to make it out of this recession alive.