• Best Week Ever dug up the above hilarious interpretation of A-Ha's "Take On Me." It's basically a narration of the action in the video, which underscores just how weird the video actually is.
• Britney Spears will be premiering her new video for "Womanizer" this Friday on ... 20/20. It's true.
• Pitchfork is streaming Andrew Bird's new single. His new album drops in January.
• Islands' Nick T. has yet another side project, Reefer. Hear a preview of this hip-hop influenced album, which will be out next week, here.
• Defamer has a great round-up of "7 MTV-Defining Stars Who Wouldn't Be Allowed on MTV Anymore". Music Television, which now relegates its music to between-show bumpers, has completely abandoned its original identity of the cool, angsty kid on the block, in favor of becoming the channel broadcasting a steady feed of spoiled rich kids who don't mind looking like complete brats on TV. Daria would hate these people. But then again, she hates everyone.
• Ms. Spears might be reuniting with her first love Justin Timberlake later this fall, reports Page Six. Just for an album, though.
• The new Deerhunter album is out now, by accident. Due to a glitch, frontman Bradford Cox leaked the whole album, "Microcastle," when he meant only to share a few other tracks online. Spinner has the story. iTunes has the (legit, profit-producing) album. Deerhunter's blog has Cox's mea culpa.
• Kanye's new video for "Champion" casts him as an Olympic athlete, instantly dating the video, as no one is going to care about the Olympics anymore in two weeks. Gabe, over at Videogum, takes a look into the process from whence this concept came. (Also, the sample Kanye uses in the song is "Kid Charlemagne" by your favorite band and mine, Steely Dan!)
• Anil Dash found on YouTube the documentary on KLF's "Burn a Million Quid" prank. It's really interesting. Also, the above video (by the KLF as The Timelords)is just because I've recently gotten really into "Doctor Who."
• Pitchfork has an interview with Big Boi about his forthcoming album. He comes off as a really down-to-earth guy.
• The Onion has figured out the least rocking song ever. The answer will surprise you, but then make sense.
• In other not rocking news, Gorilla vs. Bear has Grizzly Bear's cover of Paul Simon's "Mother and Child Reunion." When I was younger, I always thought that the lyrics were: "But the mother and child reunion is only a muffin away," which is kind of appropriate given the song (title, anyway) was reportedly inspired by a breakfast menu item. Here, of course, is the Chipmunk's cover of the song.
• Gothamist talks to Sarah Hooper of Jelly NYC, the group behind the McCarren Park Pool Parties. I interviewed her a couple of years ago, and she's super nice and super passionate about what she does. It's nice to see someone with such positivity thriving in the cooler-than-though hipster community.
• It may be summertime, but we're just three months away from the Grammy deadline. The LA Times blog breaks down some likely contenders in a continuing series. Part one, part two.
• Mini-Beckwatch: NY Mag has heard "Modern Guilt" and they like it: "All songwriting is sharp and the drums are, predictably, awesome." If you haven't already, hear the title track here.
• YouTube loves Aimee Mann. Apparently, up there with Chipmunking R&B songs and videotaping your kids singing, another YouTube thing is uploading videos of yourself playing Mann's "Save Me." So now Mann and her record label are having a contest: upload a video of yourself performing her new song "Freeway" for a chance to perform live with the singer. According to Spinner: "Mann is excited at the process of going through the 'Freeway' covers, but jokingly hopes that the contest isn't overly successful. 'I can't wait to have a little time to sit down and go through them all,' she says. 'Looking through hundreds of videos, however, would be a little daunting. Dozens would be ideal.' "
• NY Mag has invited five New York musicians to make summer MuxTapes -- among them, my favorite Stroke, Albert Hammond Jr. It's a good mix, themed around an upstate weekend vibe, although it would work on any road trip. He also has the cheek to include both Kraftwerk's "Autobahn" and George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue," both songs which clock in at over 8 minutes. A daring move for a mixtape, but it works.
• Over on Nerve's gaming blog, Cole Stryker has dug up the Pixies' cover of the theme from the '80s video game NARC. I like how they're doing something to the guitar (or whatever) to give it that 8-bit tinniness. Very authentic.
• Soulja Boy vs. Ice-T: If you haven't been following, the two are in a bit of a tiff. Fortunately Videogum has been following the feud: 1,2. The language is VERY NSFW, BTW. Now, V'gum reports, the feud has hit the cartoon world! If the video not working there, here's a link. Soulja Boy's strategy is all about calling Ice T old, but it seems to be effective. Ice T is maaad. Although Ice T's barbs are a little more pointed. In the end, sadly, I think Soulja Boy might be right about the fact that Ice T is just stirring up trouble to promote his new album ...
• New York Magazine points out this New York Times editorial positing that Weird Al Yankovic is the best representative of American values we've got. Actually, the article is quite moving as the author talks about bringing up his boys to be individuals and think for themselves while living in a culture that encourages conformity (they live in Egypt, BTW).
• Wolf Parade's new album is out and it's awesome. Download a free MP3 at Spinner. Also, frontman Dan Boeckner gives an interview over at Pitchfork, where we learn that his ringtone is the theme from "Dr. Who."
• Death Cab's music generally annoys the crap out of me, but the band members themselves seem to be pretty fun guys. Apparently they're doing some guest spot on MTV this week, and they've got some new videos of them horsing around. Check it, at Stereogum.
• The NYTimes Arts blog (I know!) has some pretty thorough coverage of Bonnarroo, if you didn't make it down to Tennessee this past weekend. But I thought that this post brought up an interesting point: attending a concert as a member of the press is a different experience than just going as a normal person. Which, I guess, seems obvious now that I've typed it up...
• Idolator (which, and it might be my computer, looks like it's blogging from the year 1996 today) rounds up critical opinion on Coldplay's new album. Unsurprisingly, reception is lukewarm.
• Also, NME is reporting that Duffy may have been tapped to write the newest James Bond theme. Who the hell is Duffy?
• Gawker reports on a new Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young documentary which looks at the band's fans who go to concerts and boo CSNY's anti-war songs. Seriously? What's wrong with people?
• (via Stereogum) Fatboy Slim, hiding under the name BPA, has a new video out with David Byrne and Dizzee Rascal: "Toe Jam." The song is maybe a skosh too long, but it's catchy. The video features some shenanigans with nudity and those censorship bars. My favorite part is when they re-enact Pong.
• Gorilla vs. Bear has some new output by the RZA from his new project as Bobby Digital.
• Best Week Ever dug up this Italian version of the theme song from "The Fresh Pince of Bel Air." Watch it. It's awesome. (They also have some Japanese "Diff'rent Strokes" featuring Mr. T.)
• Music nerds love showing off their music knowledge. Quantify your musical geekery at this new quiz. (I got 111/180.)
• Yesterday we brought you New York Magazine's song of the summer musings. Today we have Idolator's Summer Jam Tournament. Go vote for Fergie. You know you want to.
• Brooklyn Vegan has the line up for the Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival.
• Stereogum has a new Tricky video. You probably remember Tricky, even if you think you don't. He was trip-hopping all over everywhere at the turn of the century.
• Scarlett Johansson's album is out today, and Idoator rounds up the critical reaction. Pretty mediocre, everyone seems to be saying. Hear for yourself here.
• In better music, download a new Aimee Mann track at Brooklyn Vegan. She is so awesomely awesome and she totally downplays it, making her awesomer still. The song is a lament for turning 31 and she totally nails the slacker depression of a tail-end Gen Xer. Also, she was recently part of a New Yorker article about L.A. club Largo, that made me alternately want to be in with that crowd and punch them in the face.
• Spinner.com has their own Commercial Watch: Kraft Salad Dressing with "The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song," by the Flaming Lips.
• Today on Stereogum, Death Cab for Cutie guest blogs. First up, a long-winded discussion of Roger Waters and "Dark Side of the Moon." It's the kind of thing that's deeply interesting to a specific audience, and impenetrable to everyone else.
• Beck gives us a taste of his forthcoming Danger Mouse-produced album with the single "Chemtrails." It sounds like something (not Beck), but I just can't place it. The bass line is really nice.
• Spinner has a list of 20 bad songs by good bands. For the most part, it seems they just picked notable singles by bands we've all heard of and arbitrarily anointed them bad. Because Blondie's "Rapture" (no. 20) is awesome. As is Paul Simon's"50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" (no. 12) (I have an uncle Gus, so as a child, me and my sisters found endless amusement in this song). I'll give them Weezer's "Beverly Hills" (no. 16) and Madonna's "American Life" (no. 4), though.
• Idolator has a shorter and more accurate list of Five Bad Album Titles.
• Are you sick of Britney yet? Me neither! Here are some unreleased tracks. Apparently, she tried to go a funkier, R&B route ("Baby Boy") and was denied.
• The Mountain Goats, John Oliver, Rock Plaza Central, Dave Hill and more in one show? Yes, please. Brooklyn Vegan has the details on this benefit concert for AIDS Walk NY.
• Stereogum has news of a new single by Miles Kurosky. Who's Miles Kurosky, you ask? Why, the ex-lead singer of Beulah, of course. Who's Beulah, you ask? Oh, honey. You're missing out ...
• Over at 17 Dots, they're explaining the "Brooklyn Scene" to a baffled Minnesotan. Go add your voice.
• She and Him was on Conan last night, with Yo La Tengo as backing band. Zooey Deschanel's voice is really pleasant. Kind of old fashioned and almost Judy Garland-sounding.
• Idolator has a list of the most popular ringtones downloaded in Spain. I was pleased to see Estopa on there. I studied abroad in Seville for a year, and Estopa was a band I really got to like, and I'm glad to see they're still around.
• Stereogum has a new video by REM. It's a cool take off, it seems, of all those videos people post where they just write out the lyrics of the song using MS Paint.
Number One, on Page One of daft interview questions is, "Why is it called Momofuku?
Well, obviously the title is a tribute to Momofuku Ando, the inventor of the Cup Noodle. Like so many things in this world of wonders, all we had to do to make this record was add water.
Now, I understand that there is also a fancy eatery in New York City that has made the same connection with Ando-San. So, just in case anybody is inclined to mistake our record for something edible, we've added a disclaimer to the record jacket. I like saying, "record jacket" again.
• Merry Swankster has an interview with Nick Thorburn of Islands. It's one of my favorite groups, but I've gotten the impression over the years that Nick may be a little difficult to work with (as evidenced by the departure of several band members). This interview does little to dispell that. To wit:
Jeff Klingman: How's your Pitchfork.tv VJ gig going?
Nick Thorburn: Um, didn't work out so well. It turns out Fred Armisen is a total asshole. I got fired.
• And finally, Les Savy Fav and Zach Galifianakis are the main attraction at NY Mag's forthcoming indie trivia night. Sounds fun.
• Some music that doesn't suck ... the above video is a mini-doc on Kanye and the production of "Stronger," a song they mixed and remixed, evidently, 10+ times. It may be that Kanye is a little difficult to work with ...
• Also, Gnarls Barkley was on SNL last night. I can't find any video, but you can download "The Odd Couple" backwards here. It's kind of hypnotic.
• New Tokyo Police Club video. Those Canadians are so cool.
• Alright, this game is awesome. "You Have to Burn the Rope." I love it when things are named exactly what they are. Music blog connection? Get all the music (by Henrik Nåmark, who totally Rickrolled me, btw) from the game here. (Do you need more dorkitude? Chamber rock sextet Estradasphere plays video game theme songs.)
• Gothamist talks to Shirley Braha, one of the coolest kids on the scene today, and the creator of New York Noise, which just kicked off its latest season.
• Via Brooklyn Vegan, Radiohead just announced their North American tour dates. The closeset they come: All Points West Music & Arts Festival/Liberty State Park - Jersey City, NJ, August 8 & 9. I just learned last night that Jersey's not as far as you think (more on that later), when I went to see the Dirtbombs at Maxwell's (though Hoboken may be closer than Jersey City ... I'm sorry, I have a Manhattanite's grasp of geography), where coincidentally, they were playing the latest Radiohead between sets. I always kind of forget how good Radiohead always is. My loss, I guess.
• Colbert interviewed R.E.M. last night, calling them "the first bona fide rock band we've had on the show." Really? (OK, I guess that was only Chris Funke, The Decemberists' guitarist, not the full band; but Peter Frampton was there! As was Eliot Spitzer!) "People are calling this your 'come back album.' When you hear people say that, do you want to tell people to go f[beep] themselves?" Also, Colbert uses the album as a "codpiece."
• NY Mag was at the Stephen Malkmus show last night. I'm jealous, though I don't much care for the Music Hall of W'burg. Apparently they brought down the house with "Baltimore."
• Also, I love Will Arnett so I was delighted to discover him talking about music so that I have a chance to post this interview with Radar. He even quotes Ben Folds!
• Best Week Ever question's Morrissey's habit of releasing a "Best of" album every two years.
• The Onion's Noel Murray continues his record collection examination in his Popless column. I don't know what it is, but I really enjoy his writing. Also, he's dead on about the press kit thing. I don't even read them any more.
• Oh no! Kim Deal and Stephen Malkmus, two of my musical heroes, are in a feud, kinda.
• We just had a convo in the office the other day about how everyone should know Bob Mould but they don't. Well, study up guys, The Onion AV Club delves into his iPod. Apparently he's so influential his own songs come up on shuffle.
• I don't know if even the Kanye factor saves this. This guy's shtick is that he paints while music is playing. OK.
• A new Al Green track! Produced by ?uestlove!! Unfortunately, it's kind of meh. Good beats, but Al seems kind of, I don't know, underutilized ... misutilized. He sounds like he's trying for a James Brown impression or something. After all these years, Al Green, you should be OK with being yourself.
• I've never actually been on Facebook, but I've been sick of hearing about it for quite some time. I also enjoy this song's appropriation of Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire."
• Elvis Costello has named his latest album, Momofuku after either, Best Week Ever speculates, the inventor of ramen or a series of local restaurants named after the inventor of ramen. BWE misses the fact, though, that momofuku also means "lucky peach" (according to David Chang, owner of Momofuku Noodle Bar et al.; I cannot find a translation, however, that doesn't mention Chang or his restaurants).
• Nah Right has a new Big Boi track, which features Andre 3000, but is not an Outkast tune. They also have some videos from Kanye's "Graduation" release.
• We were just talking in the office Thursday about the fact that due to KISS' theatricality, the band lends itself to the tribute band treatment more naturally than others (Do we really need more than one Bono?). It could be anyone underneath all that make-up, and the performance seems more like a piece of musical theater rather than just a rock show. Paul Stanley seems to think the same thing. Talking about a possible impending retirement, he says, "I think Kiss is more about a point of view, about a respect for fans and about a loyalty and a direction much more than it is the people in the band."
• Finally, NY Mag makes a list of the Ten Greatest Albums Made by Actors. They only come up with three. Surprisingly, this isn't one of them.
The Onion AV club breaks down the 5 stages of Lou Reed. Which include: Factory Boy, Glam-Rock Monster, Smug Asshole, Sellout and Elder Statesman. It's pretty funny.
(Sweet glamor in Paris, that is some blond hair!)
Pitchfork waited for the man (I'm sorry, I just couldn't help it) this past September, and had a cordial interview with the noted curmudgeon. Also, I had a co-worker who used to run into Reed at a coffee shop by his apartment, and reported that he was actually a pretty decent guy. So maybe the jerkface routine is kind of a put on. Or not.
But you know what? Even if he is kind of mean, I don't really care. I don't need my musical heroes to be my friends, I need them to make good music. And I don't think that Reed could have made the music he did if he wasn't an asshole. You don't get the dismissive sneer of, say, "Beginning to See the Light" or whatever, from a man who smiles candy bars and rainbows. So ... yeah.
• Did ya catch the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction last night? Yeah, me neither. Idolator put together a great cheat sheet, if you want to fake it.
• The PLUG Awards were last week, and I shared my experience, but I neglected to mention any of the winners. Also, our sister site, Metromix, has a pretty cool photographic breakdown of the ceremony.
• Though everyone is pretty much more familiar with covers of Leonard Cohen than his actual recordings, the man goes on tour later this year, Brooklyn Vegan is reporting.
• I just caught an episode of this "Lil' Bush" show last weekend, and it's pretty funny. No "South Park," but still mildly amusing. What I didn't realize is that some of my favorite rock stars are involved with the show, most notably Iggy Pop as Lil' Donald Rumsfeld and Kevin Federline as Lil' Karl Rove! Learn more at Pitchfork.
• Eddie Argos (Art Brut) is a freaking nut! In a good way!
• And, of course, we're always on the look out for good pop music scholarship, so we were delighted to find this map of where exactly the area codes were where Ludacris' hos reside. Evidently, he's familiar with some ladies in the Midway and Wake Islands. According to Strangemaps (the above-linked site): "Only scientists are allowed to inhabit the Midway Islands, and only military personnel may inhabit the Wake Islands. Draw your own conclusion.” Although, 808 also encompasses Hawaii, so that datum is more sensational than anything else.
I was going to try to make this into a post about songs that mention area codes prominently, but the only other one I could think of was 2 Skinnee J's "718." Know any others? Leave 'em in the comments.
• NPR's Robin Hilton, a while ago, pointed out this cover of Outkast's Hey Ya, done as a plaintive indie rock ballad. It really highlights the fact that despite the song's upbeat gloss, the words are really kind of hopeless and sad. "So why oh why oh are we so in denial when we know we're not happy here?" Here's the original.
• Rolling Stone has a brand new B52s single for download. So hurry up and bring your jukebox money, because this track has plenty of Fred Schneider's trademark monotone yelling. Incidentally, The B52s have to be the best group to ever mention the narwhal in song. (Also, this is the best letter to the editor of the Times about narwhals.)
• Gawker ceases with the hate to bring us some pretty neat follow ups to the "Daft Hands" video. This one is awesome.
• Nah Right has a new Roots track from their forthcoming "Rising Down." It drops the N-bomb pretty liberally and is generally pretty raunchy, which might be NSF your W. But it's a cool tune.
• Stereogum has this duo of videos, the first, Michael Showalter plugging the Plug Awards, in his way. And I'm a sucker for contemporary videos made from 8-bit nintendo game footage. (Not music related, but BWE points us to "Fear and Loathing in Hyrule.")
• Remember when Scarlett Johansson said she was going to do a Tom Waits covers album? Whatever happened to that? Well, I'll tell you. Or, Gawker will: It's still on. S'gum (hello again!) has a less alarmist take on it, pointing out that TVotR 's Dave Sitek is producing.
• Just for Ryan, Brooklyn Vegan rounds up the week in metal.
• NY Mag reports on this weird spat between Aretha and Beyonce. When one-named divas get feisty, get out of the way.
• Idolator has an odd story on Lennon Murphy, a young woman (yes, named after John Lennon) who is being sued by Yoko Ono. It's odd.
• New Yacht Rock! Possibly the best part of the video (in a video jam-packed with best parts) is at the end when Jason Lee as Kevin Bacon utters the phrase "Care for a me-L-T?" Yeah, you want to watch it. Also, I'd like a sandwich. (via)
• Oh, yeah! New Gnarls Barkley! Mission Freak has "Run," a new single off the forthcoming album due in April. It's awesomely catchy, and I'm just going to dispense altogether with the qualifier INCB ("It's no "Crazy," but ...") which I'm sure we'll be seeing in every review of the track to come. It's also no "Necromancing," which is only a good thing. Also, Idolator has a timeline of the hype so far.
• The Onion AV Club ranks the best (worst) prog rock album covers. Steely Dan makes the grade!
• Apparently we were early with this post. According to Ear Farm, today is National Kazoo Day. Sounds annoying. They have a kazoo-song top ten that has a few entries in common with our list from a month ago, but evidently there's enough kazoo to go around. Though we didn't have to resort to Weird Al.
• And in case you were worried, Hollywood Reporter has the story that the Grammys asked for and were granted a waiver from the WGA. Thank goodness. Although this quote makes it seem the union's approval was a little after the fact: "The announcement last week that the WGA would not picket the show came on the heels of high-profile talent, including SAG member Beyonce and Foo Fighters, saying that they would perform at the show regardless of whether it was officially labeled a struck work."
• Tim Fite is a recent office discovery. He's funny and angry and funny about being angry.
• Best Week Ever plays "Where's Waldo" with Erykah Badu's new album cover.
• Bon Iver is another new office favorite. More Cowbell has a nice round up of links about the artist, who is coming to NYC Feb. 22.
• Kanye played a surprise set at the American Museum of Natural History's One Step Beyond this past Friday. Brooklyn Vegan has pictures (and haters; seriously, the commenters over there get really nasty. I guess that's the internet for you).
• NY Mag has the news that Karen O is signed on to score Spike Jonze's adaptation of "Where the Wild Things Are." I am really excited for this film.
• And Popdose has started running a Name That Tune contest each Friday. It looks awesome. I wish I had thought of it first.
