THE NINETIES-IST
Welcome to another edition of Brook Pridemore’s The Nineties-ist. This edition discusses 2002,  the melancholy mood of the year, exemplified in the album releases by Beck, Wilco, and the Flaming Lips (with a healthy dose of Brook’s own nostalgia thrown in, as he set off for the Big Apple to pursue his personal musical ambitions). For earlier installments, go here.

On September 1, 2002, I made good on my as-long-as-I-can-remember dream of leaving Michigan for New York City. Like senior year of high school, (and the subsequent summer) those final Midwest summer days crawled by, like sweet tea tectonic plates. I worked something like ninety hours a week, “saving” money—but really spending most of it on crazy record store finds, things only I could care about—like the Meat Purveyors’ “Madonna Trilogy.” A big part of my problem has always been that no one around me can match my enthusiasm for miniscule little records by cheeky, insurgent bluegrass bands (and, in fairness, I’ve come to realize that a bigger part of my problem is that I care less about the music than I do about the acquisition). I have long had a reputation for only caring about music, which until recently felt like a character flaw, something to be pilloried for. Unhealthy obsession with those twelve notes and the multitude of possibilities within has permeated every aspect of my life for as long as I can remember, and acquisition of music (and arcane knowledge of its minutiae) has taken precedence over friendships, food, shelter, education, you name it. The list goes on.

More on #19: 2002

IN THE NEWS
It’s nice to know that sometimes the actions of a fool can spur a response from someone clever. Take for instance, the latest head-fuck from Beck, “Harry Partch,” which is, most likely, a direct response to the inane rantings of Fiery Furnaces’ Matt Friedberger. A few weeks ago, Friedberger started one of the lamest rock feuds by going after Radiohead in a Spinner interview for their song “Harry Patch (in Memory of).” Friedberger, being as ignorant as he is, had misinterpreted the title as Harry Partch (the experimental composer) and lambasted the song as being pretentious even though a) he had never heard the song, and b) it’s about Harry Patch, the last surviving British WWI veteran.

After a million Radiohead fans pointed out the blunder, Friedberger was quick to respond. First with his publicist claiming that Friedberger had thought the interviewer was asking about Harry Partch, not Harry Patch, and then by releasing a statement claiming that he was quite aware that the song was about the last living “Tommy,” and that the whole interview was just harmless “‘riffing,’ or fooling around.” Though it’s possible that Friedberger was just fucking with us, it’s more likely he was being ignorant, especially when opening his release with: “Like most creative musicians, Matt Friedberger is not a fan of Radiohead and most of their chart busters.” He then blamed the media for the misunderstanding, made a Tommy pun, and ended with “Matt would have much preferred to insult Beck but he is too afraid of Scientologists.”

Well, the statement must have reached Beck (presumably via a derelict hippy servant while upon his freak-rock throne) since yesterday the ten minute epic about Harry Partch was released on his website. Described by Beck as a “peregrination across disparate territory to ascertain an unassumed frame of reference,” he either took the project extremely seriously, or has a very wry sense of humor; the quality, however, points to the former. It’s the musical equivalent of Jason Pollock’s throwing shit at a canvas, and with most of the myriad of musical ideas being good ones, it’s surprising digestible – even with the inclusion of Partch’s beloved microtones. Would you play it at your wedding? Not unless you were marrying Yoko Ono or something. But it is some fun, out-there musical shenanigans.
More on Matt Friedberger Vs. People Who Don’t Really Care What He Has To Say

Stream Alicia Keys Performing an Update to the Now Ubiquitous Jay Z Blueprint 3 Jam “Empire State of Mind,” Which, If Not Already Cliched Enough, Actually Includes the Line “If You Can Make It Here, You Can Make It Anywhere;” Still Lacks Proper Vaudevillian Accent [Idolator]

Beck, Never One to Turn Away From a Fight (I’m Not Sure This is Accurate, But Let’s Run With It) Posts a Song About Harry Partch After Fiery Furnaces Matt Friedberger Made a Crack About Him – Learn More “In the News” Later Tonight at JM.com [NME]

Interpol Announce Fourth Album, and Claim it Will Be Better Than 2007’s Our Love to Admire, Which In Itself, Really Needed to Be Better Than Antics…But I Have Faith Guys!…Maybe; Released Early 2010 [Paste]

Stream New Animal Collective, “Graze,” The Opener to the Upcoming Fall Be Kind EP; The Track Undoes a Lot of the “Brian-Wilson” Pop Steps Merriweather Pushed Forward, Moving Back To Sprawling Psychedelia ; Let’s Call It Animal Collective “Classic,” or Better Yet “Animal Classective” [Stereogum]

Watch Ray Davies, Former Kink, Perform “You Really Got Me” on Letterman; The Most Surprising Part: Features an Enormous Choir of Middle Aged Men and Women. Least Suprising: Is a Bastardized Version of the Original, Sounding More Like Van Halen’s Awful Update [Prefix]

Myspace Buys Popular Social Network/Music Streaming Service Imeem, Meaning That Rupert Murdoch Probably Owns Songs You Haven’t Yet Recorded; Beware, Young Songwriters, Beware (But Please, Still Write Songs…I’d Be Out of Work Without You) [Brooklyn Vegan]

Stream L.A.’s Garage (Lolli)Pop Band the Dum Dum Girls Covering The Misfits’ “Last Caress,” Which is Just Alright, In My Opinion (But Don’t Trust My Opinion) [Myspace]

The Decemberists’ Turn 2009 Flop The Hazards of Love Into a Full Length Animated Film, Seemingly Still Determined to Prove That Listening to the 80-Minute Operatic Monstrosity is Somehow Worthwhile (It’s Not, Guys…There’s Petticoats, Outdated Literary Tropes, and Prog Breakdowns…and Somehow It Wound Up Not Awesome. Lick Your Wounds, Move on); Watch the Trailer Here [Pitchfork]

Watch Vampire Weekend’s Video For Contra Cut “Cousins;” Contra, Which I’m Already Declaring Both the Best and Worst Album of 2010-2020, Released January 12 [Stereogum]

compiled by Max Sebela

Belle and Sebastian Tease at New Album On Their Website; Everything About this Tease is Completely Twee, From a Cute Little Pun, to a Cute Little Hat on Cute Little Stuart Murdoch’s Cute Little Head [Tiny Mix Tapes]

Stream Will “Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy” Oldham Playing I See a Darkness Highlight “Death to Everyone” Live; Oldham’s Live Album, Funtown Comedown, Released December 15, But Instead of Purchasing It, You Should Probably Just Re-Realize Just How Great I See a Darkness Is, Play it Several Times, Grow Depressed, and then Listen to Phoenix to Get Over It [Pitchfork]

Okkervil River Spin-off/Grandiose Folk Band Shearwater Announce Sixth Album, The Golden Archipelago, Released February 15 [Matablog]

Yeasayer Pioneer Technically Advanced Way of Making a NSFW Music Video, By Allowing You, the User, to Interact With Tripped Out Naked People; It’s Web 2.0, People…I Refuse to Be Impressed Until the Web Itself Conjures Up the Kind of Nudity I’d Like to Interact With While Listening to “Ambling Alp” (Hint, Internet: It’s Shania Twain) [Stereogum]

Jelly’s Pool Parties (Those Free Concerts at the Williamsburg Waterfront) Are in Trouble – But Where Else Will Jay, Solange, and Beyonce Go During Those Hot Summer Months? Where Else Can You See Music in Williamsburg?! Someone Think of the Children! (But Seriously, These Things are a Blast…Show Your Support and Email Senator Charles Schumer) [Brooklyn Vegan]

Watch Pleasantly Surreal Video for Beck and Charlotte Gainsbourgs’ “Heaven Can Wait,” Which Features Boxing, a Deformed Pygmy Gorilla, a Half-Shaved Beard, Astronaut Pancakes, and a Man Bathing in Fruity Pebbles (Perhaps Most Surprisingly, Proves Gainsbourg to Have Quite the Tennis Backhand; Good Form, Charlotte!) [Gorilla vs. Bear]

Lou Reed, Mo Tucker, Doug Yule, and David Fricke to Lead Discussion at New York Public Library on the History of The Velvet Underground on December 8, and Tickets Are Already Sold Out. This is All Well and Good, But Where’s John Cale? I’m Waiting For That Man (C’mon! Gimme a laugh; I’m Desperate Here) [NME]

Remember Those Poor Members of Jay Reatard’s Band Who Left Due to Jay’s Tyrannically Obnoxious Personality? They Joined Equally Tyrannical and Obnoxious Wavves. Elsewhere, I Believe I Have Proof of an Innate Human Desire for Masochism. [Pitchfork]

compiled by Max Sebela

Stream the Entirety of the Them Crooked Vultures Self-Titled Album, Which is, In My Opinion, a Bit of a Let Down (But, Hey, I Think Led Zeppelin’s Entire Career is a Bit of a Let Down…) [Youtube]

The Magnetic Fields Announce New Album, Realism, Set to be Released January 26; Stephen Merritt Remains Better at Naming Songs Than Just About Anyone, With Song Titles Like “We are Having a Hootenanny” and “Everything is One Big Christmas Tree” [Pitchfork]

Watch Claymation Video From anticon. Founders Themselves, “Roman is as Roman Does,” Which is Nearly as Frightening as Lady GaGa’s Video For “Bad Romance” [Prefix]

Stream Beck, Binki Shapiro, and Devendra Banharts’ Version of Leonard Cohen’s “One of Us Cannot Be Wrong;” Grow Frustrated When Finding Out That Banhart Still Shows a Lot of Talent Even Though What Will We Be Was Awful (And Self-Fulfilling: A Poorly Conceived Album is What We Will Be) [Gorilla vs. Bear]

British Electro Rockers Hot Chip Announce New Album, One Life Stand, Which is the Quality of Emo-Pun I’d Expect from the All American Rejects; Released Februrary 9 [Spin]

The Drums Announce New Single Release of “I Felt Stupid” from the JM Approved Summertime! EP; I Look Back Fondly On When the Drums Were Our July Featured Artist, and Encourage You All To Go See Home Video (Our Current Feature Artist) This Thursday [NME]

Stream Delorean Remixing Franz Ferdinand’s Tonight Track “Live Alone,”and Turns It Into One Big World Music Party Jam! Drinks All Around (Preferably Served Out of Some Kind of Exotic Balearic Fruit…Perhaps a Kiwi) [Pitchfork]

Stream New Single from that Swedish Glow-Fi Band jj, “Baby,” Which is Set to an Understated Montage of Graceful Horses, and is Deliciously Auto-tuned (As Much as a Song Can be Delicious, as Sound is Not Edible) [Gorilla vs. Bear]

compiled by Max Sebela

New Jersey Punks Titus Andronicus Had a Really Miserable Time at the Vice Halloween Party (Headlined by Bad Brains and the Jesus Lizard) – Frontman Patrick Stickles Was Thrown on the Street for Dressing Like Ulysses S. Grant; More Importantly, Photos of Stickles as Grant Unavailable [Titus Andronicus]

Watch Gossip Girl Star Leighton Meester Perform Weezer’s “(If You’re Wondering if I Want You To) I Want You To;” “Did R.C. Sleep With L. After the Show? How Pissed Was C., When It Happened…Tune In to Find Out xoxo, Gossip Girl” [Spin]

New York Experimental Post Punk Blah Blah Liars Announce New Album, Sisterworld; Band Name Would Suggest That They Actually Did Not Announce New Album – Liars Definitively Untrustworthy [Pitchfork]

Lil Wayne and Birdman Getting Sued by Spoken Word Artist Thomas Marasciullo for Allegedly Sampling His Vocals Without Permission; Meanwhile, Wayne is Both Going to Jail, and Got Baked at Alec Baldwin’s Daughter’s Birthday Party (Yay Puns!) [NME]

Charlotte Gainsbourg’s “Heaven Can Wait” Featuring and Recorded With Beck; Gainsbourg’s Third Album IRM Released January (And It Sounds Like a Wes Anderson Soundtrack) [The Playlist]

Original Stooges Guitarist James Williamson To Rejoin The Stooges After Death of Ron Asheton [Spin]

compiled by Max Sebela

DAILY NEWS PICKS

Michael Jackson’s Death Officially Ruled Homicide [Rolling Stone]

Official Nirvana Live At Reading CD/DVD Due Out November 3 [Pitchfork]

The Doors’ Final Four New York Concerts To Be Released In Six-Disc Set [Rolling Stone]

Those Metallica Copycats Weezer Get Their Own Web Radio Station [The Tripwire]

Get The Deets On New Beck/Charlotte Gainsbourg Album [Pitchfork]

Blackalicious’ Gift Of Gab To Drop Solo LP, Escape to Mars [Pitchfork]

Watch Live Set From The Dodos [Stereogum]

Listen To Previously Undiscovered Elliott Smith Song, “Grand Mal” [Pitchfork]

And, For Something To Think About After An Unusually Pitchfork-Heavy News Day: Buddyhead Gives Pitchfork’s “Top 500 Tracks Of The 2000s” A 0.0 [Prefix]

compiled by Erin Sheehy

VIRTUAL JUNGLE
Nearly one month ago, Beck’s web site launched Record Club, a weekly venture in which Beck and friends cover an album’s worth of music. Since then, Beck has added three more sections, further expanding his digital footprint.

Unlike Beck’s former minimalistic approach, his site now has weekly updates in many categories. For starters, Beck created Irrelevant Topics, a weekly interview series, and chose Tom Waits as his first interviewee. In the conversation, topics ranged from Japan’s $700 orange to terrible Frank Sinatra songs: nonchalant talk lacking any real focus. Rather, it’s just two musicians mulling over life in what seems like an additional to chapter to Coffee & Cigarettes.
More on Beck’s Website Goes Big