• Britney Spears is not the first one to implant "secret" profanity in her work ("If U Seek Amy," above). It's a trick as old as Shakespeare, and a favorite of that pervert James Joyce.
• Stereogum has new tracks by Bill Callahan (formerly Smog) and Voxtrot.
• VH1 is reviving "Behind the Music" ... with Lil' Wayne and Scott Weiland!
• And, just for fun, hard rock Mega Man:
• An 8-bit cover of MGMT's "Kids"? Yes, please.
• A Lily Allen and Lindsay Lohan collaboration? Hmm ...
• Yoko does "25 Things"? More interesting than yours.
• OK Go (aka that treadmill band) doing weddings? Only in the movies.
By eh
• I'll be reviewing this book in Wednesday's paper (preview: It's awesome), but while you wait, you can enjoy author Jesse Ball's soundtrack to "The Way Through Doors."
• Some Elliott Smith outtakes, including a Beatles cover, have leaked. Listen here.
• M.I.A. has had the baby.
By eh
Recently on Stereogum, the music blog has started running a twice-a-week feature called Progress Report where they catch up on bands we used to love.
Some of them are a little more obscure than others; Andrew Bird has been releasing albums pretty steadily for the past few years, so its not shocking (but not unwelcome!) to hear that his next album, "Noble Beasts," is out in Jan. Whereas The Boy Least Likely To ... made a big splash in 2005 and then all but disappeared after their tour (their new album is due in March).
But it's a pretty cool feature. I only wish that I had thought of it first.
By eh
• From Pitchfork: Stephen Malkmus and friends cover "Funk #49" by James Gang (above); Tom Waits collaborates with Kool Keith.
• From Stereogum: That cover of "Sheena is a Punk Rocker" you heard on "Gossip Girl" (Because you're all watching GG, right?) was Thurston Moore and Jemina Pearl; New Gnarls Barkley song; New Metric album!
• From Wired: Christian Guitar Hero exists.
By eh
• MTV has launched MTV Music (which, uninitialed, is Music television music), a Hulu-like service for music videos. Awesome! One whole day for play, indeed!
• BWE found this video which sets this old cartoon to a new TV on the Radio tune. It is oddly beautiful.
• NPR is streaming the Elephant 6 orchestra holiday concert.
• For the past few years, collaborators Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett have made beautiful music together as Gorillaz. They recently worked together again on a Chinese opera called "Monkey: Journey To The West." It is profoundly weird. Now Stereogum has a video "single" from the project.
• 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.
—eh
• 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.
• (via) More Decemberists coming soon!
• And finally, today is Kenny Rogers' birthday. Celebrate the man by browsing through his doppelgänger's at Men Who Look Like Kenny Rogers.
—eh
• 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!)
• The Jay-Z vs. Noel Gallagher feud is kind of awesome. Hear Jay's dis track here.
• The Walkmen's new album drops next week! Hear a preview at Spin. Also check out their Daytrotter session from last week.
(via)
• It's making the rounds, and it's awesome.
— eh
• 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."
• Via Idolator, never, ever believe Wikipedia.
• 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.
eh.www.amNY.com
First off, happy birthday Debbie Harry!
• 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.
eh.www.amNY.com
• 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 ...
eh.www.amNY.com
• 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?
eh.www.amNY.com
• 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?
• On a lighter note, Television Without Pity has an item on rapper Wale, who's made a mixtape about "Seinfeld."
THE BPA 'TOE JAM' FEAT. DAVID BYRNE & DIZZEE RASCAL
• (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.
eh.www.amNY.com
• 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.
eh.www.amNY.com
• 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.
• Also from the New Yorker, a list of 100 Essential Jazz Albums, jumping off from David Remnick's excellent piece on Phil Schaap a local jazz expert/historian.
• 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.
• Check out Aquarium Drunkard for some Replacements tracks.
• 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.
• New Beck! Maybe soon!
eh.www.amNY.com
• 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.
• The Walrus Magazine has a list of the 30 Saddest Songs, and boy, is it sad. They include Joni Mitchell's "River, " which I agree is the most depressing Christmas song ever.
• 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.
The 'Gum also has an interview with Elvis Costello.
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.
Thanks for the clarification.
• Scarlett Johansson has posted a few of her Tom Waits covers. They're ... interesting.
• New York Mag has Madonna's four worst videos. They're ... bad.
• 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.
eh.www.amNY.com
• Cat playing theremin! (via weekend Gawker)
• Ugh. This is painfully awful. The All for Nots are a fake Brooklyn band with an internet television show. It's as terrible as it sounds.
• The Hater hates on new New Kids on the Block.
Stronger Revisited from Kanye West on Vimeo.
• 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.
eh.www.amNY.com
• 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.
eh.www.amNY.com
• 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!
eh.www.amNY.com
• Kanye's video for "Homecoming" -- the song he did with Coldplay's Chris Martin -- is out. Idolator hates it.
• Over on Gawker, they discuss the ubiquitous reggaeton IO digital cable ads. There's one in Spanish as well. I kind of love these ads ...
• 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.
• NKOTB reunite. For reals!
eh.www.amNY.com
• "Well, if you walk along McCarren Park it feels like Manhattan now. There’s nightlife and beautiful hipsters." Stephen Malkmus misses NYC. (Also, indie rock on FOX here.)
• Regina Spektor plays a free show later this month.
• Stereogum pays tribute to my favorite artist, Bjork.
eh.www.amNY.com
• I can't hear this song without thinking of Guitar Hero, but it's still a great song. I forget what made me think of it, but there you go.
• LA Times talks to Rick Astley about Rickrolling. He seems like a pretty cool guy, actually.
• This Gawker headline pretty much speaks for itself: 18th Century Pop Music Sounds Remarkably Like Joanna Newsome.
• 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.
eh.www.amNY.com
(via)
• 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.
eh.www.amNY.com
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.
eh.www.amNY.com
(Via Stereogum)
• 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.
eh.www.amNY.com
• This is awesome. It's exactly what Bowie meant.
• 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.
• And speaking of "Hey Ya," Cats and Beer put together a list of "The Top 10 Rap Songs White People Love" ("Hey Ya" only gets an honorable mention, which I'd quibble with). And in the spirit of equal time, they also have "The Top 10 Rock Songs Black People Love, A Post Written By A Black Person", in which they invoke their own version of the Steely Dan principle: "All black people like Steely Dan. Any black folk who claims he doesn’t hasn’t heard them yet."
eh.www.amNY.com
Asian Baby Sings Hey Jude - Watch more free videos
• How cute is that? The guitar is largely a prop, but it totally makes the video.
• The Modern Age does a Commercial Watch of their own, on that annoying Old Navy "My arms get cold" ad.
• 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.
eh.www.amNY.com
Michael Showalter Plug Awards Mixtape Doc, pt.1 from Super!Alright! on Vimeo.
• 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.
eh.www.amNY.com
• 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."
eh.www.amNY.com
• 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.
eh.www.amNY.com
• Stereogum points out new videos by Robbers on High Street (who do sound a lot like Spoon) and We Are Scientists. WAS's video is funny, but their sound seems to be lacking the something that made their debut album so vital and fun.
• Jezebel talks to Sharon Jones. She's awesome.
• NY Mag has a slew of new music.
• Aqua Teen Hunger Force gets even more awesome this season with cameos by Neko Case, Josh Homme, T-Pain and others, Pitchfork reports. If you don't have the mental maturity of a 14-year-old-boy, then you probably don't care. Lucky for me, I think talking meatballs are funny.
• Gawker has some fun perusing iTunes' celebrity iMixes. Katie Holmes' taste apparently matches her soccer mom hair cut. The Beatrice Inn's (venues have playlists?) selections tend towards songs that you love but have to publicly deride.
Me First and the Gimme Gimmes cover Hall & Oates' "Rich Girl." (What is this parent trying to say about their child?!)
• NY Mag was at Mars Volta at Terminal 5. Over-indulgent prog rock in a post-apocalyptic cavernous dungeon? And, they didn't like it? Shocking. I like their earlier stuff — I had "De-Loused In The Comatorium" on repeat for like 6 months in 2004 — but, eh, they're just not doing it for me anymore. And, apparently they opened the concert with a big "F-you" to people who wanted to hear anything old.
• Coachella comes east. Stereogum has the news.
• (Via Idolator, via Variety) The Grammys have asked the WGA for an interim agreement. The union said they'll think about it. Idolommentor Dennisobell: "... and - c'mon - you really think anything would get between Kanye West and a possible nationally televised award?"
Also, Idolator Pop '07 (formerly Jackin' Pop, until the Village Voice complained) results are in.
eh.www.amNY.com
Sit Down Stand Up has a good collection of videos taken at last weekend's Wu Tang show at Hammerstein. They're playing again Thursday. Good luck getting tickets.
Rahzel loves Wu Tang too!
eh.www.amNY.com
• Idolator reminds us it's Rod Stewart's birthday.
• The Onion AV Club has a list of movies that lean heavily on one artist or song. No "Juno," but perhaps the editors haven't seen it yet.
• Radiohead is kicking ass in the real world, with meatspace sales out pacing everyone else's, according to the LA Times.
• Brooklyn Vegan has the news that ex-Shudder to Think's Craig Wedren is hosting a benefit concert for Obama.
Getupandvote.com presents: "Barack Rock" Hosted by Stella: Michael Ian Black, Michael Showalter and David Wain OK GO Craig Wedren (of Shudder to Think) Nathan Larson (of Shudder to Think) Nina Persson (of The Cardigans) Joan As Police Woman & other special guests
It's Feb. 4 at Bowery Ballroom. Kind of an awesome lineup, don't you think?
• Danger Mouse is up to his old tricks again, producing an album for The Black Keys. Yes, please! Pitchfork has the deets, including a track listing.
• Stereogum talks to one of our new favorites, Bon Iver. (They've also got some news on the new Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds album.)
• If you haven't already downloaded it for free (or whatever you wished to pay), Spinner is streaming Radioheads "In Rainbows."
• Prompted by an article in the Chicago Tribune on the death of the television theme song, Idolator looks at the sitcom openers of our youth. Man, "Perfect Strangers" was cheesy. Coincidently, Aquarium Drunkard just launched their Retro TV Themes Revisited feature.
• My Old Kentucky Blog sets his New Year's resolutions to music.
• Dance away your winter blues with Slap You in Public's "Winter in San Trincha" mix.
• South by Southwest is just around the corner. No bands announced yet, but Thurston Moore and Lou Reed have been confirmed as speakers. It always creeps up on me, and I always say that "next year I'll actually go," but I've got to admit, this year's looking no different.
• Spin has a video interview/performance with Shins frontman James Mercer. He usually comes off as a jerk in interviews (but by no means does someone have to be likable to produce quality work), but the performance clips are cool. I am slowly being won over by the latest album (very slowly). It's not a bad album, I guess, but it wasn't by accident that I left it off my Top 10 for this year. Nothing on it grabbed me the same way that "Caring is Creepy" or "So Says I".
• Also, I found a new blog: Hipster Please. First off, the name is just awesome. Secondly, its focus: all geek rock all the time.
eh.www.amNY.com
If you're out there, here's a few more lists to contemplate...
• Accentuate the negative over at The Onion AV Club with the Worst Band Names of 2007. My personal favorite: Cornish Gay Men.
• Make fun of mainstream mediocrity at Best Week Ever with their list of the Least Essential Albums of 2007.
• And finally, shake off the snark for a more positive New Year. Stereogum looks at forthcoming releases for 2008. The 25th anniversary edition of Thriller comes out in February.
BWE tells it like it is, introducing the Sinceys. For the record, I was, in fact, considering Rihanna for my own top 10 (Which may be out as soon as tonight!), although I never liked Kelly Clarkson.
eh.www.amNY.com
• Fluxblog is hot on Kate Nash. I think she sounds a little like Lily Allen, accent-wise. According to this random reviewer on Amazon, Kate did the accent first (both of them are playing up lower class London accents that don't come naturally to these middle class girls), but Lily and Kate were (and possibly still are) friends.
• I'm a fan of pretty much anything Amy Sedaris is involved in. She and Dolly Parton collaborated on a music video here.
• Even old punk rockers aren't punk rock any more, but John Lydon (the man formerly known as Johnny Rotten) curses up a storm at a recent Guitar Hero promotion. That's gotta count for something, right?
• If you've seen "Love, Actually," you're at least familiar with the concept of the "Christmas #1" on "Top of The Pops." (That's what Bill Nighy's character Billy Mack is striving for with his version of "Christmas Is All Around.") Well Stereogum has compiled a list of Christmas no. 1's since 1952. This one might be my favorite, for reasons of sheer absurdity.
eh.www.amNY.com
One of my Newsday colleagues made a video for Jam Master Jay.
eh.www.amNY.com
• I never watch "The Simpsons," so the fact that I caught this clip Sunday really must have been fate! Anyway, the yellow animated folk pay tribute to OK Go.
• A few weeks ago This American Life contributor Starlee Kine wrote her own break-up song in an attempt to soothe an aching heart. (And she discussed songwriting with Phil Collins!) This week, TAL posted remixes of her original song, and they're pretty awesome. I have to agree with the consensus and say that this one is one of my faves too.
• Dudes! A surprising amount of people have covered Peter, Bjorn and John's "Young Folks." Including James Blunt. Ugh!
• This is everything that's wrong with boomers, hipsters and cultural fetishization, all in one AP story.
eh.www.amNY.com
P.S. Like the new layout? I don't!
• Stereogum takes a look at some songs that have been repurposed for commercials.
• BWE defines the Kraft Single.
• Rolling Stone has a pretty difficult trivia quiz. I did quite poorly.
eh.www.amNY.com
• Oh, yeah. Pete Doherty is in a band sometimes, too. (via)
• BWE has some trenchant analysis of the new Eagles album.
• Gothamist has an interesting interview with one Matthew Houck of Phosphorescent.
Behind the Scenes: Dance Off! from Human Giant on Vimeo.
• Human Giant is a comedy program, yes, but it's on MTV, so it's fair game — also, I like those guys a lot and it's my blog. So above, Aziz gets schooled by a child extra in a dance competition. I've also decided we need more cute children on the blog. So deal with it.
• RZA talks to Wired about his love of Kung Fu movies.
• Spinner shows the Budos Band some love. As you may already know, I really hope these guys catch on.
• NY Magazine was at the weekend's Gogol Bordello show.
• I love Canada, and Canadians make some good music. I Heart Music shows our northern neighbors some love with their list of the 33 Hottest Canadian Bands of 2007. They show us some love with plenty of MP3s.
• Argh. Christmas music.
• Aww. We Are Scientists' drummer quits. But the show goes on.
eh.www.amNY.com
• Man vs. Machine: the music geeks at Spinner.com go head to head with Pandora.com to see who's better at recommending music. Interesting experiment, although I wonder if the results would have been different if the lists were blind, i.e., if the person evaluating the recommendations didn't know from whence they came until after the experiment. The second guy in particular seemed biased against Pandora from the start. I think it makes sense that Pandora won because (and I think this is part of their mission statement, IIRC) the algorithm doesn't have all the baggage that a human does in recommending bands that are "uncool" or in seeking out groups with a particular cultural relevance.
• Evidently, Britney's album drops tomorrow. Idolator rounds up the reviews.
• Also, Neil Young. All Songs Considered had some interesting commentary a few weeks ago (starting at about 18:23). Robert Christgau is especially lovably curmudgeony.
• Oh, yeah. Go Sox! That's all I'll say.
• And Pitchfork has a few goodies: Videos by The Go! Team and Stephen Malkmus. News: New Magnetic Fields due Jan. 15; Le Loup gets a UK distributor, is back in NYC Dec. 13. And a Devendra Banhart interview that is really interesting. That guy is totally weird, but the more I read about him, the more I think that's actually who he is. He's not just being quirky for quirks own sake. He's also insanely smart and thoughtful, and really knows his music history. I particularly liked this digression (redatcted curse words all on this end):
But I'll use the example of the Nick Drake Volkswagen commercials. So many people had this attitude: They've taken something that is mine and f***ed it up. "Now everybody knows about this thing that's my secret. It was my thing, the music I turned to when I was alone and needed it. It's what helps me get through these times. It's just between me and music, and now it's been shared with the world." Everyone felt really hurt by it.
At the same time, f***, man, that's really a snobby attitude. It's a human one. But, f***, everyone gets to hear it now! This is wonderful! Nick deserved it. Nick deserved it during his lifetime! It's so exciting, too, to think of the f***ing horrible s*** you hear in commercials and at the mall, then suddenly Nick Drake comes on. It only takes one profound experience to change somebody's life. I know Nick's records went up in sales because of that. There's something totally positive about that.
eh.www.amNY.com
• New Jose Gonzalez cover of Massive Attack's "Teardrop," (via).
• It's not just now, popular music kind of always sucks. Vote on the worst hits of the late '90s-early '00s.
• Paul McCartney in convo with PETE DOHERTY!
• Zep goes digital.
eh.www.amNY.com
While I did stay up until about 2 am this morning, it wasn't to listen to the new Radiohead album. Sorry guys, just listening to it now. But, thanks to the power of the internet, I can direct you to the tons of people that have listened to it, and already have Opinions! The overwhelming consensus seems to be. "It's different, but we love it. (Some fans might be unhappy.)" Seriously, everyone is saying that some people won't like it, but I haven't found anyone who says that they themselves don't like it.
Anyway:
• Pitchfork — track-by-track review.
• Rolling Stone — minute-by-minute live-blog review.
• Brooklyn Vegan — Making-Of video.
• Stereogum — Promise of a review later today; commenter discussion/war on who paid what.
• Idolator — snark with a side of positivity (that one's for you, Jon).
• Kids Pushing Kids — track-by-track with streaming samples.
• Puddlegum — conspiracy theory.
• Three Pints and a Towel — track-by-track with MP3s.
eh.www.amNY.com
• NY Times Mag had a story Sunday about Todd Haynes' unconventional Dylan biopic, "I'm Not There." I haven't read it (or seen it) yet, but I'm excited for the film, and I'd like to see what the Times has to say about it.
• Tomorrow the great Radiohead pay-what-you-wish experiment begins. Best Week Ever has an early review which pokes fun (with love) at the band and its fans. Pitchfork reports that British radio station Xfm is streaming the album tomorrow at noon local time (about 7 a.m. here).
• Eric Clapton talks about "Layla" at Spinner.com.
• Wyclef and Paul Simon (and a possible Kanye shout out)! Check it at Stereogum.
eh.www.amNY.com
• NY Mag has the 10 Most Incomprehensible Bob Dylan Interviews of All Time.
• Ian McKaye is not dead.
• Wu-Tang's "The Heart Gently Weeps" is out now.
• CMJ sched is up.
• Lily Allen to conquer the big screen.
• Brooklyn Vegan, in praise of Sharon Jones.
eh.www.amNY.com
• Britney's "Gimme More" is number one on iTunes! I knew she could do it. Whatz-New has a "leak" of a new song, "Piece of Me." The actual sound quality is pretty crappy — it's a bootleg rather than the actual file itself, and, really, who does that anymore? Also, the fanboy enthusing over the track sounds less than genuine. Something about this smells like a stunt ...
• Radiohead's new album is out Oct. 10. Yay! And, will be available as part of an approximately $81 set. Boo! But, if you go for digital download only, it's pay-what-you-wish. Seriously yay! More news here.
• And, Stereogum obsessively tracks music on TV shows so we don't have to.
eh.www.amNY.com
• Spinner has the new Pinback video. I love these guys.
They also have a list of Rock's Hardest Partiers:
11. Sid Vicious
Sid was basically hired to be the world's biggest burnout. His antics generated so much press for the Sex Pistols that no one noticed he was the worst bassist on the planet.
I recently read Simon Reynolds' "Rip It Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978-1984," which had a nice summation of the Sex Pistols' antics. I recommend it. The book, that is; although if you're feeling antics, go nuts.
• More videos over at Stereogum. Two marvels of stop-motion animation for videos by They Might Be Giants.
They also have an Of Montreal cover of the Zombies.
• Of Montreal is especially coverlicious today, as Pitchfork has the band's take on Love Is All's "Make Out, Fall Out, Make Up." It's a pretty, stripped down version that sounds nothing like the original:
• Gothamist has a Q&A with members of Beirut, an interview that they did over email that really could have been more informative. See, they thought they were getting Zach Condon, but instead they got answers back from Jason Poranski and Paul Collins. I really sympathize. I hate doing email interviews, because there's always the chance that whoever your emailing will just take three seconds to toss off really not-engaged answers. Which seems to be what happened to them. Although, some people are really more communicative over email than phone. It helps when their publicist knows this; I was hepped to that tip when I talked to writer Sarah Vowell and the Long Winters' John Roderick, and those were two of the best email interviews I ever did. The worst was probably with the notoriously reticent Alec Ounsworth of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah.
• Tom Breihan, over at Status Ain't Hood, reviews a Black Lips appearance last week that was really more indie BS than anything good. It's an example of how blogs-gone-wild can create a monster.
eh.www.amNY.com
I'm retiring the "Linkies" category, because I've kind of started hating that name. So, while I'm thinking of a new super name for link dump-type posts, we're calling it "On the blogs." Anywho...
• Pitchfork has a very process-oriented interview with Angus Andrew of Liars. It's a pretty deep look at how the band put the latest album together.
• Stereogum unearthed this gem of a fan made video for Beck's new single, "Timebomb." It's awesome, and definitely emphasizes the Dan Deacon-feel of the song that one commenter pointed out. I especially like the random hamsters. Also on the 'gum, there's a pretty interesting debate in the comments of this entry about rock bands licensing their music to commercials, and who actually is seeing that money.
• Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley talk toothbrushes with New York Mag.
• NPR's All Songs Considered featured Rotary Downs on their podcast a few weeks ago (scroll down to the last song). These kids rock! In case NPRs player doesn't work for you — it doesn't for me either — you can sample the band's wares on their MySpace page. The lead singer's voice and laid-back delivery really reminds me of They Might Be Giants, in a totally awesome way.
Gawker's Intern Sheila crunches some numbers to find:
Pitchfork Has Way More Reviews Written By Guys Named Mark Than By Ladies With Any Name
On average, from their admittedly small four-month sample size, women writers make up about 5.5 percent of review authors (the number has increased slightly over time). Yeah, that's not so cool, but is it really that surprising? If they crunched the numbers for any other publication, would it come out any differently? (I honestly don't know and would be curious to see.) Rock and roll is stereotypically a man's game; full-blown music nerdery even more so. I know when I go to shows that I'm one of only a very few women there. (I'm also getting to be among some of the older people there, which is frightening.) I kind of think that caring obsessively about music is not something that most grown-up women do.
Then again, who's to say Pitchfork isn't one big boy's club? That's entirely possible, too. Even if a girl is lucky enough to be blessed with the inclination towards music-nerdiness, hanging out with (often femme-fearing/loathing) boy music nerds is not really that fun.
Anyway, something to think about. Bravo, Gawker. We want more.
eh.www.amNY.com
• (Via Gorilla vs. Bear) St. Vincent performs "Dig a Pony" in a black cab in London. Pretty good guitar work.
• Idolator has the news that Pop-up Video is back! Yay! But only for your mobile phone. Boo.
• WSJ has an interesting article on foreign artists and their visa woes. Its good to know Homeland Security is cracking down on Brit-pop and defending our shores from nu-rave.
• Pitchfork has a somewhat meandering interview with Lou Reed (I'll tell you, my editors would have cut that weird name thing, for sure). But Reed does have some interesting things to say about "Metal Machine Music." To wit:
Pitchfork: There's always been considerable chatter about whether or not Metal Machine Music was intended as a joke, or a stab at the record industry-- do you think the continuing conjecture about your intentions for the record is, now, as much a part of the art as the music?
Reed: The myth-- depends on how you look at it, but the myth is sort of better than the truth. The myth is that I made it to get out of a recording contract. OK, but the truth is that I wouldn't do that, because I wouldn't want you to buy a record that I didn't really like, that I was just trying to do a legal thing with. I wouldn't do something like that. The truth is that I really, really, really loved it. I was in a position where I could have it come out. I just didn't want it to come out and have the audience think it was more rock songs. It was only on the market for three weeks anyway. Then they took it away.
Pitchfork: Right, I read that it was the most returned record at that time...
Reed: It still may be the all-time champ.
eh.www.amNY.com
• Brooklyn Vegan has tour dates up for Q-Tip. Q-Tip was my first celebrity sighting after moving to New York. My favorite celeb sighting? The Upper East Side's man who goes jogging in women's lingerie. I've seen him TWICE!
• Brit Brit may do a redo on tonight's Emmy Awards. "Gimme More" may quite possibly become a hit, says the analysts over at Entertainment Weekly. Idolator breaks it down.
• NY Mag has their top 10 Beatles covers. Good list, but missing Al Green's "I Want to Hold Your Hand."
• Stereogum reports that Marilyn Manson has created his own brand of 66.6% proof absinthe. According to this episode of public radio show Radio Lab, ancient documents recovered from a site in Oxyrhynchus, Egypt reveal the number of the beast is actually 616.
• Rolling Stone has the skinny on a Bing Crosby-David Bowie-style holiday special by Anthony Bourdain and Queens of the Stone Age.
eh.www.amNY.com
• Um ... Dane cook sings. For real.
• It's a few days old, but still pretty funny, Trapped in a Men's Room on "The Daily Show."
• Devendra Banhart on "CRIBS"!
eh.www.amNY.com
And these are the last words I'll say about the VMAs.
• Here's what happened with Kid Rock and Tommy Lee.
• Kanye did, in fact, flip his wig.
• NYT agrees that it was probably much more fun to be there than watch the ceremony on TV.
eh.www.amNY.com
• I am currently working on a fall-themed mixtape for a friend, but over at The Rawking Refuses to Stop (which is an excellent blog, btw) has an "end of summer" (a subtle but important difference in tone) mixtape good to go. "Where's Summer B?" is an especially inspired choice. I love Ben Folds.
• The Onion AV club has an interesting roundup of stage banter-ers, complete with audio files.
• New York Mag's Vulture blog has a little bit of everything, from JT and Andy Samberg refusing to censor themselves at the Emmys, to a review of Against Me! and Matt & Kim at the Music Hall of Williamsburg (dude, that really is an unwieldy name).
eh.www.amNY.com
• Dave Matthews has a new single out. I recently made fun of someone for attending a DMB concert recently. Are these two events related? No, probably not. But it seems Matthews is trying to cool up his image a bit. As Stereogum put it, "you loved him high school but now he's totally not cool." So the wacky new video for unalbumed single "Eh Hee" is available for FREE on iTunes for the next week. It's typical Dave, with a little world-music spice thrown in for excitement.
• K, this is from a month ago, but Sonic Youth and Yo La Tengo versions of the Simpsons theme song in the same place! Also there's Spider Pig.
• Prince Paul and David Byrne at Sit Down Stand Up. Awesome.
• Yesterday was a holiday, but the folks at Spinner still had albums to stream. Pinback, Liars, and, new amfm favorite, Clare and the Reasons.
eh. www.amNY.com
(This has nothing to do with music. I just love Yoda Cat.)
• More Kanye! The album's leaked and everyone's talking about "Good Life."
• David Bowie may appear on Dr. Who.
• For my UK reader (also, from my UK reader) a new database of songs used in British commercials. Now we can all be international commercial watchers!
• Heart on a Stick remembers Hilly Kristal and CBs with some live tracks from back in the day.
• And, finally, surprise! MTV isn't running this year's VMAs once and only once after all.
eh. www.amNY.com
• RIP Hilly Kristal. I have conflicted feelings about the closing of CGBG — who needs more luxury condos on the LES vs. the club hadn't been relevant in years — but no doubt, it, and Hilly, was an important part of NYC rock history.
• Radar talks with British rapper M.I.A. about her visa troubles, politics and what being an outspoken woman gets you in today's social climate (nothing good).
• Kanye has teamed up with just about everyone in the world for "Graduation," including Coldplay's Chris Martin. Stereogum has some advance analysis. They also send me back to the drawing board with my theory that everyone who mentions Daft Punk in the next few years will have to also bring up James Murphy. Although, if we include the stipulation that the Daft Punk/LCD Soundsystem connection must be made IF AND ONLY IF Daft Punk is the primary subject of a given post, the theory holds true.
Per their comments on Steely Dan, the Steely Dan Principle is still intact: People who like music like Steely Dan, even if they admit it only reluctantly. If you think this is untrue, you're lying to yourself or you've never heard Steely Dan.
• Spinner has an eclectic list of the top 25 best opening lyrics. Prince, Elvis Costello, Pavement and Merle Haggard!
• The Modern Age has some Radiohead synchronization shenanigans.
• Gothamist has a really cool interview up with the Beastie Boys' Adam Horovitz. And he talks about Willa Sands! I used to love her cable access show, but I've never met anyone else who's ever heard of it.
And ... that's all I've got, for now. I've been at TRL (seriously) all morning. I'll tell you about it later.
eh, www.amNY.com
• You can buy her Umbrella-ella-ella ... (Rhianna not included).
• Commercial Watch supreme: An interesting look at the decisions artists make to bring their music to a 30 spot near you, and how the fans react.
• A soundtrack by which to read Harry Potter.
eh, www.amNY.com
• Just two weeks after, thanks to my 14-year-old cousin, I played Guitar Hero for the very first time, I'm seeing it everywhere. Just yesterday, the Times examined the phenomenon of bars hosting GH nights (apparently ANTM's Shanthrax is a regular at Pianos!). And today, The DL pits David Cross against Dinosaur Jr.'s J.Mascis in a shred-off. If Cross had a luxurious, flowing silver wig, he and Mascis could be twins.
• Idolator has up a really thoughtful segment from the Today show on just what is wrong with rap today. I'm not being sarcastic. Matt Lauer's interview with Michael Eric Dyson is illuminating and intelligent, and not at all knee-jerk "what's the matter with kids today?"
• This video is pretty neat. I've seen that damn pinwheel more times than makes me happy.
• And, finally, for the Anglophiles out there, the Mercury Prize shortlist is out.
eh, www.amNY.com
• Built to Spill goes reggae over at Idolator.
• Get psyched for the new John Vanderslice with a new video over at Pitchfork.
• Stereogum has a new (well, new to the general public) Nick Drake video.
• The Modern Age tipped us off to this video, a summary of the White Stripes Canadian tour, secret bus shows and all.
Jack White may be a pompous ass sometimes, but that bit about the kids in the hospital is seriously touching.
• Pick your Battles over at Spinner.
eh, www.amNY.com
• I didn't go to Live Earth (I was forced to spend my weekend swimming at the beach, how awful), but Stereogum has some highlights.
• Brit Brit may be, we hear, quite possibly, according to rumor, premiering a new single on some radio station at noon today!
• Confession: Although I subscribe to WOXY's Lounge Acts pod cast, I usually don't listen. I don't know why, because I love the station itself, but the bands that they have in the studio ... I find them insufferable. It's generally the pastiest, blandest exemplar of indie rock today. Not so Hot IQs. I gave their session a listen this morning, and they're totally charming and awesome.
• For the Cornelius superfan, if such a thing exists (I'm not knocking the band, I just don't imagine their fans are so rabid): Threadless is holding a t-shirt design contest.
The winning design gets put into production and sold on Threadless.com and the winning designer gets a whole heap of great prizes including $1,500 in cash, a Theremin, an unlocked MOTO ROKR mobile phone, lots of kickass Cornelius loot and more!
Can you spot the prize in there that I would love love love to have?
eh, www.amNY.com
• This is the randomest top 10 I've ever seen. I do love Pavement with all my heart and soul, but I never would have classified them as "summer music." That's the "wisdom of crowds" for ya, I guess. Here's some clarification of the results by a guy behind the poll. I definitely agree that hip-hop makes excellent summer music.
• I'm not very patriotic myself, but I do appreciate a day off. So in honor of the coming holiday, I present some other guy's list of America music.
• New Of Montreal.
• New Stars.
• Virtual concerts? This is just weird. I thought the point of live music was the actual interplay between fan and band. Does anyone do anything in real life anymore? Am I seventy-three years old?
eh, www.amNY.com
• You Ain't No Picasso, in honor of his 21st birthday, has got a track listing up for his perfect musical education mixtape. And, if you act now, he's still got all the MP3s up.
• Grizzly Bear is playing an Urban Outfitters in-store July 14 to benefit radio station WNHU — which is in New Haven, but still, free Grizzly Bear. (via)
• The Walkmen have a new instrumental track up on their MySpace.
• 17 Dots has the scoop on the new Arcade Fire.
• I really wish that the song in this commercial was real.
He hates 'em. Stereogum dug up The Long Winters frontman's thoughts on Craig Finn and co., and they are amusingly full of vitrol. The context: Roderick was invited to liveblog Bonnaroo for MSNBC, and apparently he thought the Hold Steady's set sounded like "a medley of the greatest hits of the E Street Band, Bad Company, Foreigner and Styx. As played by your uncle’s friends."
I totally enjoyed his takedown (and happen to agree with it), and am definitely a "If you don't have anything nice to say, come sit next to me" kind of girl (which by the way, I always thought that quote was Dorothy Parker, but it's actually attributed to Alice Roosevelt Longworth, the wild child First Daughter of Teddy R.). Sometimes my own criticism veers into angry evisceration. But I was also reminded of something Martin Amis said in his amazing collection of literary criticism "The War Against Cliche". He too fell prey to the lure of the slam early in his career. It's easy to be provocative while you're putting someone down, and he says (in the intro to the book, I think) he regrets some of his meaner reviews now that he's a more mature writer. It's an interesting perspective.
I don't have any amazing insight here. Just: John Roderick = Funny; Hold Steady = Average; Martin Amis = Darn good writer. Well, and: Writing mean things about people = immature but delightful.
eh, www.amNY.com
• Thurston Moore has some interesting news re: Starbucks.
• I like this song. Maybe you will too.
eh, www.amNY.com
Best Week Ever has a link to a website that has the Billboard number one songs for every week since 1890. This must have taken him forever.
Also, a sidebar on the phrase "with a bullet": It seems obvious now that I know the answer, but the bullet refers to, not ammo, but the notation that would indicate that the record had made significant gains on the chart from the week prior. A-duh!
—eh, www.amNY.com
Best Week Ever takes a look at the current iTunes Top 40. They thoughtfully break down the hits for the older and less with-it folks, for example: "Thnks Fr Th Mmrs - Fall Out Boy: We’re pretty sure this title reads “Thanks for the Mallomars”, in which case, No Nd 2 Thnk Us, Thy Wr On Sale."
They also call out Lil' Mama's "Lip Gloss," a track that, thanks to its annoyingly catchy beat, is going to be with us for a long time to come.
—eh, www.amNY.com
• Enjoy the Summertime, (although Gothamist says it's going to be cloudy and wet for the next couple of days).
• Everyone's posting about the new Kanye/John Mayer collab. Stereogum has a behind the scenes video. You know, I cannot stand JM's sensitive-guy soft pop, but I do admire the kid's ability to poke fun at himself. I also quite enjoy his blog.
• Brooklyn Vegan was at the We Are Scientists secret show this weekend. Apparently bassist Chis Cain shaved his head and signature mustache. With hair, he reminded me a lot a lot a lot of a younger version of my dad, so this is all kinds of weird for me. Just so you know.
—eh, www.amNY.com
(P.S. We're doing bullets now, if you haven't noticed.)
Stereogum is on fire today! What are you doing over here? You should be reading over there.
First up, they have the above AOL video which takes Mo Rocca back to his fish-out-of-water "Daily Show" roots when he interviews a bunch of hipsters about Broadway musicals. I really enjoy that the girl in the blue (there actually is more than one girl at Other Music in this video) is visibly uncomfortable talking to Mo. She cannot get farther from that microphone and still be in the shot.
The 'gum also has a bunch of new music videos (mostly covers, but cool ones.) I like this live version of "My Doorbell" with Jools Holland...
And for the trifecta, they have this story on Jailbird Hilton, whose label is now being sued (remember, she was a singer for, like, a minute last summer) by UB40 for breach of musical copyright. I hesitate to bring her even more attention, but I did always think there was something a little too familiar about that "Stars Are Blind" song, and I like being right.
—eh, www.amNY.com
Idolator makes a good case against the blog-hype machine.
Stereogum has up an interview between Zach Galafinakis and Fiona Apple. It's heavy on the weird.
Pitchfork interviews Sir Paul McCartney. I don't often get starstruck, but I think I would have a hard time even forming words talking to McCartney.
Adult Swim goes indie and offers a CD full of music for free download. The TV on the Radio track is a tad disappointing, but the rest is pretty cool. Les Savy Fav's contribution kicks ass.
—eh, www.amNY.com
Sketch comedy group The Human Giant — featuring local comedians Paul Scheer, Aziz Ansari and Rob Huebel — recently took over the airwaves at MTV for a 24-hour marathon of, basically, whatever the heck they wanted. MTV has up the in-studio performances they hosted with the likes of Ted Leo and Albert Hammond Jr. Check it out.
I spoke with Paul Scheer when their sketch show debut on MTV a month or so ago, and one of the things we talked about that didn't make it into the article was the synergistic relationship between music and comedy these days.
Here's the lost Q&A:
Q: To come back to SXSW [The boys had just gotten back from SXSW], it seems like the past couple of years there's been this association between independent rock and, for lack of a better word, alternative comedy [it seems no one who practices what could be called this likes this term], would you say that's true?
A: I would totally agree with that, I feel like it's the same audience for the most part. We find out a lot of times that the musicians in those bands are huge comedy fans, we were hanging out with Death Cab for Cutie in Bumbershoot, and they had seen all of our stuff ... and not even our stuff, they knew everything about "Mr. Show," and just knew everything little cool thing, and you know I think the fans are the same way, I think the excitement of independent music is people finding things before other people do, and that's kind of the way the comedy scene is in New York right now, Upright Citizens Brigade has the same kind of music feel, it's black box theater, it's not a cheesy two drink minimum kind of standup place. It feels like you're gonna go see a show, or something.
—eh, www.amNY.com
Gothamist has up a delightful interview with Andrew Bird.
Some highlights:
On chickens:
Yeah, I had 26 chickens and now I have zero chickens. I wasn’t able to keep the raccoons away from the chickens. And then for a year after that happened the chicken feathers are still around from the massacre. There’s just hundreds and hundreds of sparrows around my barn and they were taking the chicken feathers and stuffing my chimney with them to make nests. And then I would have a fire and I would see the smoke coming out and I would see little feathers reminding me of how I let down the chickens.
On commercial licensing:
I’ve never said this publicly but when that car commercial comes around I’m going to have to say no. That’s where I’m going to have to draw the line. But Italian chewing gum? I’m okay with that. But car culture? I don’t to really contribute to that.
On socks:
Sometimes people give them to me, which is nice. Who doesn’t need a new pair of socks? We’re actually working on making our own socks instead of T-shirts.
He also talks about the band's recent Letterman appearance, which is below.
Bird plays Webster Hall tomorrow. The show is sold out, but those who look may find what they need.
—eh, www.amNY.com
This is almost unlistenable, combining as it does the tragic (albeit it ironic) whining of Alanis with the inanity of Fergie's "masterpiece," but it's pretty funny.
-- EH, www.amNY.com
I've always enjoyed The Morning News for their hipster literary content, but only recently have I discovered their music coverage. The MP3 digest has some really interesting stuff. This week's is very classic rock- and jazz-heavy, focusing on lost recordings by Hendrix and others. But they always have some neat stuff that isn't anywhere else.
Also on TMN today, "South by South BEST," a piece to make you less jealous that you didn't go to Austin this weekend. It didn't work, but it's still funny.
-- Emily Hulme, www.amNY.com
