February 14, 2010
#18: 2001
THE NINETIES-IST
Welcome to another edition of Brook Pridemore’s The Nineties-ist. This edition discusses 2001, specifically 9/11/2001, and the significance of four albums released on that day. For earlier installments, go here.
So, our exploration of music in the 1990s has come to a close. Things were “bad” for creative rock music at the beginning of the 90s, then they were “good” for a while, then by decade’s end, things were “bad” again. The modern record industry didn’t die entirely on January 1, 2000, though; things crutched along for another couple of years, and so we’re still here, trying to figure out exactly when the industry hit critical mass.
Rather than do a serial exploration of 2001, as we have about other years in this column, I’d like to talk about one specific date: September 11. Many New Yorkers who were living here on the day have insinuated to me over the years that all things New York City can be divided into two categories: “pre”-9/11 and “post”-9/11. I was still living in Kalamazoo, MI, at the time, staring at my watch through my last year of college, obsessing over alt. country, and doing my small part to run one of the nation’s few remaining freeform independent radio stations, 89.1FM WIDR Kalamazoo.
WIDR’s director’s staff, myself included, were booked and all set to attend that fall’s CMJ Music Marathon, four days of music and conference all across Manhattan’s greatest clubs and shitty bars. Sure, it’s corny now, but we’d attended the year previous (my first visit to the city), and I’d gotten to meet some of my heroes (David Lowery, John Flansburgh), see shows that I still talk about to this day (Low, PJ Harvey, Sean Na Na) and left what was supposed to be my last pack of cigarettes on the bar at CBGB (the actual physical sight of the marquee made my breath stop in my throat). I was hooked, and my (then) girlfriend and I swore we’d be living in New York as soon as we could.
Watch Video For Passion Pit’s “Little Secrets” (The One With All Those Kids Screaming “Higher and Higher! Yay!”); Video Looks a Lot Like Tron, But Not Nearly As Good (It’s Only Marginally Better Than Tron Legacy) [Youtube]
Someone Decided a Sleigh Bells/Weezy Mash-Up Was a Good Idea; We Bring You “Fireman on the Ground,” Which is Terrifyingly Abrasive. Elsewhere, Check Out Our Pictures of Sleigh Bells Playing Our October Feature Show [Prefix]
Stream Brooklyn’s Crystal Antlers Covering Bob Dylan’s “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue,” Which Is Great In a We-Sound-Like-High-Schoolers-Covering-Dylan Kind of Way [Fader]
Your Favorite Post-Collegiate, Post-Ironic, Afro-Bombastic Pop Band Vampire Weekend Announce Winter US Tour; Contra, In All It’s Fantastically Despised Glory, is Released January 17; Elsewhere, Stream New VW Track “Cousins,” Which I Despise Fantastically [NME]
King Khan and BBQ Show Issue Statement About the Band’s Arrest; All Interested Parties Remain Unphased and Unsurprised by Fact that These Guys Keep a Good Stock of Shrooms in Their Tour Van [Pitchfork]
Stream New Beach House, “Norway,” off the Upcoming LP Teen Dream, Released January 26 (I Know, Usually, at the Very Mention of Beach House, I Would Imply How Boring They Are. But, This Song Quite Gorg……. – Whoops, Fell Alseep Again (Kidding, It’s Really Good) [Gorilla vs. Bear]
Watch Possibly Seizure Inducing Video For Beyonce and Lady Gagas’ “Video Phone;” I Know You’ve Always Wanted to See Beyonce and Gaga Wield Enormous Guns…Give Into That Urge [Spin]
NME Releases Hilariously “NME-Esque” List of Their Top Albums of the Decade; Top Ten Includes the Strokes (at Number 1), Libertines (Number 2), Primal Scream (Number 3), The Streets (Number 9)…Well, You Get it. They Like Brit-Rock. A Lot [NME]
compiled by Max Sebela
Dan Deacon Went to the Hospital and Cancelled Shows Due to Extreme Pain in His Leg From Nonstop Touring; He’s Feeling Better, and Hopes to Reschedule All of His Shows. We’re Rootin’ For You Dan! C’mon, You Can Do It! [Pitchfork]
Watch Bob Dylan’s Video For Christmas in the Heart Cut “Must Be Santa,” In Which Dylan Adorns a Santa Hat and Resembles an Intoxicated Member of Twisted Sister…So, Uhh, Ring in the Holiday Cheer, the Bob Dylan Way, I Guess [Rolling Stone]
Extremely Authentic Scottish Emo Band The Twilight Sad Robbed at Gun Point While on Tour…Robbers Most Likely Confused Band With Frightened Rabbit, as that Band Sounds Identical to Twilight Sad, But Are Probably Asking For Some Petty Theft (That’s Right Frightened Rabbit Frontman Scott Hutchison, I’m Calling You Out) [Stereogum]
Former Neutral Milk Hotel Multi-Instrumentalist Julian Koster is Willing to Come to Your House and Sing Christmas Songs…With a Saw (I’m Ever So Tempted to Call them “Sawngs,” But That Sounds More Like a Gucci Mane Thing Than a Whimsical Holiday Treat) [Brooklyn Vegan]
Spin Puts up Sweet Photos From the First Stateside Cranberries Reunion Show; I Wonder If I’m Strangely Fascinated With the Cranberries, or Just Really Appreciate Yodeling [Spin]
Jack White Announces Plan to Produce An Album for Reigning “Queen of Rockabilly” Wanda Jackson (You Know, I Got to Thinking About It, and I Don’t Think She’s a Real Queen) [NME]
Bjork Writing Song About Moomins, Moomin Ancestry, and General Moomin Culture (Hopefully Loaded With Moomin Hi-Jinks…You Are Right to Be Confused as to What Moomins Are) [Pitchfork]
Stream Girls Playing a Bunch of Songs in Dallas, Finally Realize Band Called “Girls” Features Not a Single Female Performer, Look to Friends For Confirmation of the Humor in This, Realize You Are Mind Bendingly Unobservant [Gorilla vs. Bear]
Stream New Song From New York’s Own (Via New Jersey) Real Estate, “Dumb Luck,” Whjich is As Excellent a Song as Any Other Real Estate Track (I Have No Joke Here. Real Estate is a Great Band) [Stereogum]
compiled by Max Sebela
Stream New Almighty Defenders Track (That Doo-Wop Supergroup Consisting of Black Lips, King Khan, and BBQ Show) “Bow Down and Die” (Or Better Yet, Stream This One…It’s Better); The Almighty Defenders Released September 22 [Brooklyn Vegan]
Watch 45-Second Clip of Michael Jackson Staging “Human Nature” For The Ill-Fated “This is It” Tour; Jackson Documentary This Is It Released October 28 [Idolator]
Stream Clips From Bob Dylan’s (Who, Let’s Remember, Is Jewish) Upcoming Christmas Album; Feel Unsettled As Dylan Leads You Through the Yuletide Season With The Voice of a Buzzsaw, Harmonies of Yore, and a Christmas Polka; Christmas in the Heart Released October 13 [Youtube]
Legendary Singer-Songwriter Leonard Cohen Collapses On Stage, Allegedly Due to Food Poisoning – Recovering Fine, Resuming World Tour Tonight [Pitchfork]
Stream New Devendra Banhart Song “Baby”…Then Feel Disappointed, Because “Baby” Is A Pretty Shitty Song, Then Grow Confused Figuring Out Why Banhart Went Funk, Then Turn Song Off and Do Something Else; What Will We Be Released October 27 [Pitchfork]
Pavement’s Scott Kannberg, Better Known As Spiral Stairs, Announces Solo Album, The Real Feel (Stream The First Track); Released October 20. Elsewhere, Did You All Hear Pavement Reunited? Yeah, That One Went Under the Radar [Brooklyn Vegan]
Watch Jack White “Pull A Kanye” – Interrupting White Stripes Documentary Director Emmett Malloy, Saying “I’mma Let You Finish, But Orson Welles Had One of The Great—,“ Jack, I’mma Let You Finish, But I’mmaLetYouFinish.com Has Some of The Best “I’mma Let You Finish”-es Of All Time [Spin]
Stream New T-Pain Track “Dope,” Recorded Without Autotune; In Other News, T-Pain Shouldn’t Record Songs Without Autotune [Prefix]
Jay Z Feels Rappers Are “The Poets of Our Generation,” Leaving Poets of Our Generation Confused As To What They Are (Perhaps Jewelers? Handymen? Cobblers?) [NME]
compiled by Max Sebela
Stream First Song From TV on the Radio Frontman Kyp Malone’s Solo Project Rain Machine – First Impressions: Soulful and Very Bowie-Esque; Rain Machine Released September 22 [Brooklyn Vegan]
TLC To Play First Show In Seven Years In Vegas – Now, It’s Not So Much That I Don’t Want “No Scrubs;” I Just Can’t Fathom Anyone Using The Word “Scrub” (Definition: Guy Who Considers Self “Fly”) In 2009 [Idolator]
Jay Z Announces Plans To Play Massive 9/11 Benefit Show At Madison Square Garden [Spin]
British Rockers Muse Stream The Entirety Of Their Upcoming LP The Resistance (Only Catch: You Have To Register For Their Site); Released September 14 [NME]
Watch Bill O’Reilly Insult Jay Z On The O’Reilly Factor; Describes Jay As “A Regular Otis Redding” – Funny Enough, Jay Has Fused Rock, Hip-Hop, And Jazz Similarly To Redding’s Rock-Gospel Fusion, Making O’Reilly Sort Of…Right [Idolator]
Popular Lower East Side Venue The Annex Closing Down And Becoming A Sports Bar; This Writer Confused As To When There Became A Demand For Sports Bars On The Lower East Side [Brooklyn Vegan]
Bob Dylan Apparently In Talks To Become The Voice On Navigation Systems – Just What You Need In An Emergency: Dylan Leading You Nowhere Through A Series of Unconnected Allusions To A Jester [NME]
Stream Psych Poppers Islands’ New Song “Vapours” – It’s Weirdly Reminiscent of Ted Leo; Vapours Released September 22 [Pitchfork]
TV on the Radio’s Tunde Adebimbe To Appear As Vocalist On Trip-Hop Pioneers Massive Attack’s Upcoming EP, Splitting the Atom; Released October 5 [Pitchfork]
Guitar Hero 5 Lets Players Perform As Kurt Cobain (Well, At Least That’s The Only Dead, Drug Addicted Legend Appeari — Oh…Oh God, Really?) [Prefix]
compiled by Max Sebela
Bob Dylan Picked Up By Police While Wandering Into A Jersey Front Yard, Mistaken For Vagrant; ABC Makes Unreported Conjecture That Dylan May Have Been Looking For The House Where Springsteen Wrote Born To Run [ABC News]
Radiohead Officially Releases “These Are My Twisted Words” As Free, High Quality MP3 Download; But What About WallofIce.Com? (Every Time You Hit That Link, Thom Yorke Cries) [Dead Air Space]
Watch Pulp Fiction Director Quentin Tarantino Talk Inglourious Basterds Soundtrack/Explain How He Picks a Good “Rape Scene” Song [Spin]
Brooklyn’s Dirty Projectors Announce Temecula Sunrise EP With Two Unreleased Songs; Released September 28 [Domino]
Weezer Announces Single “(If You Are Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To;” Premiers August 25 (But If You Look Hard Enough, You May Be Able To Stream It Early) [Stereogum]
San Diego’s Wavves Releases Another Zach Hill Collaboration, “Hula Hoop;” It’s Not As Good As This One, But Hill Looks Like He’s In A Hilarious Amount of Pain When He’s Drumming [Wavves Blog]
Memphis Session Musician Legend Jim Dickinson Passes Away [Pitchfork]
Stream Brooklyn’s Woods/Vivian Girls Side Project The Babies’ First Tracks: “All Things Come to Pass” and “Meet Me in the City” [Myspace]
L.A. Noise Band HEALTH Announces Most Awesome Contest Ever…Seriously, Buy Their Album – You Can Win A Bag of Their Cat’s Hair, Or Conference Prank Call A Prominent Indie Rocker [Prefix]
Stream Epic New Lightning Bolt Song, “Colossus;” Earthly Delights Released October 13 [Pitchfork]
compiled by Max Sebela
Cymbals Eat Guitars, Real Estate, and JM.Com’s July Feature Band The Drums All Set To Play Online Record Store Insound’s 10th Anniversary Party at Brooklyn Bowl [Brooklyn Vegan]
John Hughes, Director of The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles, Ferris Buehler’s Day Off, And a Major Force In Popularizing New Wave, Passes Away at 59 [New York Times]
All Tomorrow’s Parties NY Finalizes Its Line-Up; Hüsker Dü’s Bob Mould, Black Moth Super Rainbow, and Menomena Join the Already Bomb-Ass 3-Day Extravaganza [Brooklyn Vegan]
San Francisco’s Outside Lands Music Festival Replaces Headliners Beastie Boys With Tenacious D (Man, There’s Going To Be a Stark Contrast Between Hearing Beasties Highlight “No Sleep Till Brooklyn” and Hearing Tenacious D’s Highlight “Fuck Her Gently”) [Spin]
Purchase Everlasting Punk Force Iggy Pop’s New Album Preliminaries For $3.99 Today Only [Spin]
Bob Dylan, A Jewish American and Cultural Legend, Slated To Release A Christmas Album This Winter – How Is It That Bob Dylan Can Be In Recorded Music For 50 Years, And Still Be Really, Really Weird? [Billboard]
Watch Garage Punk Jay Reatard’s 20-Minute Documentary Waiting For Something; Dude Hilariously Insults Just About Everything, From Thievery, To Audiences, To Effort [Prefix]
UK House Duo Basement Jaxx Announce New LP, Debut New Video For Single, “Raindrops” (This Video Is Absolutely Batshit; It’s As If The Mummy Was Set In Moulin Rouge…Only With Techno); Scars Released October 6 [The Tripwire]
Willy DeVille, Frontman Of Early New York Punk Band Mink DeVille Passes Away At 58 [ABC]
by Max Sebela
VIBE Magazine Out Of Business [Pitchfork]
More Changes in East Side Punk History: Morrison Hotel Leaving CBGB Location [Brooklyn Vegan]
“Question Time”: Jarvis Cocker on Panel for Political TV Show [Pitchfork]
Michael Jackson’s Body for View at Neverland Ranch [NME]
Jay-Z’s Roc Nation Making Moves: Deals With Sony, Atlantic [Billboard]
No, It’s Not Another Weird Supergroup: Bob Dylan on Beastie Boys’ Album [NME]
Gang Gang Dance To Tour North America [The Tripwire]
Brooklyn to Jamaica! Slew of Brooklyn Musicians in New Film, “Wah Do Dem” [The Tripwire]
Wavves’ Nathan Williams Talks to Pitchfork About “The Freakout” [Pitchfork]
Beck Announces “Planned Obsolescence,” Another Online Project [Prefix]
compiled by Erin Sheehy
