Stream New Liars, “Scissor,” Which, For the First Two Minutes, Sounds Like Tom Waits Singing a Waltzed Cover of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, and then Proceeds to Become a Speed Metal Track, Which is as Confusing, and Not Nearly as Great as It Should Be; Sisterworld Released March 9 [Gorilla vs. Bear]
Jeff Mangum, Indie Folk’s Howard Hughes, Emerges From Seclusion to Record Cover of Tall Dwarfs’ “Sign the Dotted Line” For a Chris Knox Charity Album (Stream 30-Second Sample); Mangum Most Likely Heavily Bearded, Pasty [Pitchfork]
Weezer Frontman Rivers Cuomo, Who Was in a Serious Bus Accident on Sunday, is Recovering Well; Elsewhere, Thousands of Bloggers Breathe Sigh of Relief After Making Slightly Morbid “Say it Ain’t So” Reference Toward the Accident Yesterday; I Instead Choose to Wonder Whether Any Muppets Will Visit Rivers in Hospital [Spin]
British Post-Punk Outfit The Horrors’ Primary Colours is Awarded NME’s Album of the Year, with The xx Taking Second Place; NME Stands Firm in Stance That Britain > U.S.A., Even Though U.S.A. > Britain in Revolutionary War [NME]
Apple Purchases Popular Streaming Media Site/Pitchfork’s Number One Main Squeeze Lala For $17 Million – All Who Purchased Music On Lala May Lose their Songs (But Not to Worry, It’s Mostly Just Copies of Owl City’s “Fireflies”) [Prefix]
Stream “The Old Graveyard” a Track From Gigi, a Canadian Duo Consisting of One of the Guys From No Kids, and Destroyer’s Producer – They Claim It’s Supposed to Sound Like Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound Stuff…I Think It Sounds Like an Olivia Tremor Control Cover Band, Which is a Good Thing; Debut LP Maintenant Released Early 2010 [Gorilla vs. Bear]
Wisconsin’s Eau Claire Memorial High School Jazz Band Announces Debut Album, A Decade With Duke; Released Today (And Cindy and Britney are So Excited that Justin Vernon is On the Album – He’s Like SUCH an Indie Heartthrob <333) [Pitchfork]
compiled by Max Sebela
19 Year Old Canadian Singer-Songwriter Taylor Mitchell Mauled by Coyotes at a National Park in Nova Scotia [Brooklyn Vegan]
Watch Video For New No Age, “Losing Feeling;” Contains a Surprising Amount of Motion For Being Shot From the Perspective of An Inanimate Mouse Toy (But Seriously Guys, Mouse Toys Don’t Move) [Gorilla vs. Bear]
As If Social Networking Hasn’t Begun to Simulate Enough of Your Former Life, Facebook Takes Away Foo Fighters (Foo Fighters Are Playing A Gig on Facebook…They Haven’t Been Absorbed Into Mark Zuckerberg’s Web Infrastructure) [NME]
Google Launches “Music Discovery Service” – Service Incapable of Providing Any Music Other Than Lady Gaga and Pet Sounds [Google]
Happy Birthday, Darling, We Got You Exactly What You Wanted: A Cartoonish Cake Recreation of Lil Wayne’s Skull…Yes, Honey, It Is Purple Drank Flavored. Yep, Daughter of Mine, It Scares Me Too [Idolator]
Stream New Four Tet Single, “Love Cry” – Is This a Return to Relevance From Kieran Hebden?! (No…No It Probably Isn’t) [Pitchfork]
Stream Rock Plaza Central (Which Rivals the Worst Band Name I’ve Ever Seen) Covering Bob Dylan’s Blonde on Blonde Classic “I Want You” – One of the Better Dylan Covers I’ve Heard [Prefix]
Goth-Brits The xx Cancel a Bunch of Dates on Their Tour; Say They are “Exhausted” After CMJ (City of Dreams, Make It Here, Make It Anywhere, You Got The Heart, You’ll Get Your Name In Lights, Other Vaudevillian Expressions) [Pitchfork]
Peter Gabriel Covers Radiohead, Magnetic Fields, Bon Iver, and Lou Reed on New Album, Scratch My Back; Released Spring 2010 – It Remains to be Seen Whether Peter Gabriel Will Be the First to Experience “The Vampire Weekend Effect” [NME]
compiled by Max Sebela
Watch New Girls Video For Girls Highlight “Laura,” Which Is Like a Really Hip, Joyous Version of the Opening to The Brady Bunch…Only With More Tattoos (Maybe; They Rarely Took of Their Shirts on That Show) [NME]
Dancey Portland Band Starfucker (Who, You May Remember, Was Unhappy With Their NSFW Band Name) Changes Name to PYRAMID; Elsewhere (Specifically in North Carolina), There Is Already a Band Called Pyramid [Brooklyn Vegan]
Brooding UK Indie Band Editors Launch Their Own Version of Google Street View, With Specific Locations Playing Songs From Their New Album, In This Light and On This Evening — This Is Probably A Lot Cooler For Someone Even Remotely Familiar With London’s Geography [NME]
Weezer Frontman Rivers Cuomo To Sit Down and Write Songs With Katy Perry Next Week; Possible Results: “I Kissed a God Damn Half-Japanese Girl,” “Only In Ur Dreams,” “Waking Up In The Garage (If You Want To Destroy My Career)” [Pitchfork]
Courtney Love Owes Over $300,000 In Back Taxes, Shuts Down Her Twitter Account – Two Stories Unrelated, As Twitter Is Free Service [Prefix]
New Zealand Innocuously Good Indie Poppers The Ruby Suns Announce New Album; Fight Softly Released March, 2010 [You Ain’t No Picasso]
Stream Bon Iver’s Final Concert; In Other News, Bon Iver’s Hiatus Very Temporary, I Get Bombastic In Attempt to Cause Controversy On Our Website [Radio Milwaukee]
Stream Title Track From Brooklyn’s Acrylics’ Upcoming EP All of the Fire; Produced by Grizzly Bear’s Chris Taylor (And Released on Terrible Records, His Label), EP Released October 28 [Jezebel Music]
Deerhunter’s Bradford Cox To Release Bonus EP With Atlas Sound LP Logos When Ordered From Rough Trade; I Haven’t Looked Into Yet, But Knowing Cox’s Security Practices, EP Probably Leaked Before It Was Even Recorded [Pitchfork]
Guard Arrested For Assaulting a Fan Taking Pictures at House of Blues Chicago; Weirdly, Assault Took Place at Hanson Concert – And What Else Is There To Do When Seeing Hanson, Except Twittering Pictures of Hanson, Still In Disbelief They Have Songs Other Than “Mmmbop” [Idolator]
Baritone California Mope-Folker Mark Everett, AKA Eels, AKA Mr. E, AKA E, To Release Basement Tapes Album; End Times Released January 18 [NME]
compiled by Max Sebela
Doveman Announces New Album The Conformist Featuring Nico Muhly, Most of The National, Martha Wainwright, and Norah Jones (Sounds Like a Really Crooning Version of “We Are the World”); Released October 20 [Brooklyn Vegan]
Watch BLAKROC, the Black Keys and Mos Def/Raekwon/RZA/[Insert Meaningful MC Here] Supergroup, Perform In the Studio; Sounds Pretty Much Exactly Like What We Were Expecting [Spin]
Stream Really Early Nirvana Live Cut, “Scoff” Off the Upcoming Bleach Reissue; Released November 3 [Pitchfork]
Andrew W.K., After Experiencing Some Kind of Sexual Religious Experience, Cancels Concert Dates With Calder Quartet, As Apparently Sex and Religion Don’t Mix Well (Tell That Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s “Ecstasy of St. Theresa”) [Idolator]
James Murphy Drops Hint On Facebook About Upcoming LCD Soundsytem LP Possibly Due Out New March ; Elsewhere, Music News Is Really Fucking Slow Today [Pitchfork]
Watch Beach House’s Victoria Legrand Perform New Moon Track “Slow Life” With Grizzly Bear; Get Bored Fast, And Then Imagine How This Song Sounds Anything Like a Vampire/Werewolf Teen Crossover Novel Turned Film [You Ain’t No Picasso]
Stream New Grouper (Moniker of Noise Musician Liz Harris) Tracks, “Vessel” and “Hold the Way” – They Are Really Sad (Which is Good Because It’s Really Cold) [Gorilla vs. Bear]
Watch New Volcano Choir (Bon Iver’s Psych-Side Project) Video For Unmap Highlight “Island, IS” – It’s Pretty Much Nothing But Lights Moving Around…So Uh…It’s a Really Sweet Video [Prefix]
compiled by Max Sebela
Watch Yoko Ono Duet With Antony and the Johnsons’ Antony Hegarty; Feel Melancholy [Pitchfork]
Jay Z Finally Discusses The Whole Little Mama Crashing The VMAs Thing…Contrary To Popular Belief, Jay Believes Fighting Mama Not The Solution (C’mon Jay, That’s What You ALWAYS Say) [Prefix]
Stream Little Joy’s Binki Shapiro Singing a Cute Little Lullaby, “Kids Song” – If Only Kids Listened To This Instead of Stuff Like This…Or, To Take Things One Step Further Into Pseudo-Reality, This. [Gorilla vs. Bear]
Stream Los Angeles Dub-Glitch Guy Flying Lotus’s New Song “Satelllliiiiitteeeeeee” – Wandering, Glitchy, and Lovely [Myspace]
Dan Deacon Announces Fall Tour; Promotes It With Ridiculous Cartoon-Character Naming Contest (Just Spotted The Michelin Man) [Pitchfork]
Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon Announces Hiatus For Bon Iver; Luckily, Unmap, The Recent LP From Vernon’s Side Project Volcano Choir Is Haunting, Sprawling, and Provides Vernon in the Meantime [Prefix]
Blur/Gorillaz Frontman Damon Albarn In Running For London Olympics’ Artistic Director (My Guess: Albarn Replaces All Athletes With Cartoon Characters, Who Perform As Avatars of Real Athletes, A La Those Food Races at Basketball Games) [NME]
Ryan Adams Has First Art Gallery Opening At New York’s Morrison Hotel; In Other News, Ryan Adams Doesn’t Seem A Very Talented Artistl; Should Probably Stick To Releasing 30 Albums a Year and Hanging With Elton John [Spin]
compiled by Max Sebela
Mary Travers, Known For Her Work in Classic Folk Group Peter, Paul, and Mary, Passes Away at 72 [Brooklyn Vegan]
Billy Corgan Announces 44-Track Smashing Pumpkins Album Called Teargarden by Kaleidyscope; I Set Fire to a Copy of Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness In Attempt to Feel Something [Spin]
Stream Animal Collective’s “Banshee Beat” vs. Beach Boys’ “I’m Waiting for the Day” – If Animal Collective Won That Fight, They Would Still Lose, As They Would Cease To Exist In That Back To The Future Paradox Way [Gorilla vs. Bear]
Kermit the Frog Tells People That He Is Not Dating Lady Gaga; People Fails at Differentiating Between “People” and Fuzzy, Marionette Puppets (Due to Deteriorating Eyesight of Journalism? Eh?!) [Idolator]
Ever Increasingly Irrelevant College Rockers Weezer Announce Ratitude Tracklist; Includes Song Title “In the Mall,” Which Pretty Aptly Describes Why They Ought Go Back to Garage [Spin]
Watch Chicago’s Andrew Bird and Brooklyn’s St. Vincent Collaborate in La Blogotheque; Experience Long Performance of Pure, Unadulterated Pleasantness; Feel Kind of Sick Afterward [Pitchfork]
The Clash’s Mick Jones and Topper Headon Rerecord The Clash’s “Jail Guitar Doors” With Billy Bragg and Prison Inmates – Headline Gets Progressively More Awesome Every Word Added [NME]
Activision Claims That Kurt Cobain Guitar Hero Avatar Sound and Legal; Real Nirvana Fans Still Feel That Problem Not Cobain’s Appearance, But Rather Features Cobain Smiling On Stage [Pitchfork]
Grizzly Bear Joins Bon Iver, Thom Yorke, and Death Cab for Cutie on Twilight Sequel New Moon’s Soundtrack; “Cool” Listeners Finally Forced to Admit That The Bands Are Listened to By Shit Tons of People (Note Again: Distinction Between People And Puppets) [Prefix]
compiled by Max Sebela
Weekly Review
The end of August is inevitably a slow time of year. People, en masse, seem to start dragging their feet, trying to stop summer from coming to a halt. But not in the music biz. As this past week shows, musicians, big and small, are ready and raring to go for the fall. Announcements of new album releases were abundant. Ready for a listen the first day the leaves begin turning gold and brown will be Kyp Malone’s first release as a solo artist and Bon Iver’s first release as a non-solo artist, Daniel Johnston and Massive Attack are prepping albums for October, and November will bring us new material from 50 Cent, Nirvana, and many more. So see, summer’s impending end ain’t so bad after all…
by Elana Jacobs
So It’s Actually Coming Out: Wu-Tang Member Raekwon To Play Two Nights At Manhattan’s Santos Party House To Celebrate The Long Anticipated Release of Only Built 4 Cuban Linx… Pt. II [Brooklyn Vegan]
Watch A Ridiculously Shoddy Video of “Michael Jackson” Allegedly Still Alive, Entering The Coroner’s Office…Tupac, Biggie, John Hughes, Andy Kaufman, and Jesus All Sighted on the Premises As Well [Idolator]
The Ronettes’ “Be My Baby” Scribe Ellie Greenwich Passes Away At 68 [Pitchfork]
Watch Goth Legend Bauhaus’s Peter Murphy Join Nine Inch Nails On Stage At NIN’s Farewell Show At New York’s Terminal 5 [Spin]
The Who’s Pete Townshend Announces A New Rock Opera Floss, Along With A New Who Album To Be Released Sometime In 2010 – Floss Is About A Bar Musician, Who The Who Couldn’t Have Possibly Related To In Like 20 Years [NME]
Noisy Brooklynites Gang Gang Dance’s Drummer Jesse Lee Attacked By Security At Belgium’s Pukkelpop Festival [Brooklyn Vegan]
Former Hüsker Dü Drummer Grant Heart Readies His First Solo Album In A Decade (Sidenote: Hell Yeah!); Hot Wax Released October 6 [Prefix]
UK Extravaganza, The Reading And Leeds Festival, Announces They Will Have Zero Tolerance Toward Crowd Surfing (Read: Fun) [Prefix]
Watch Rapper Lil Wayne’s Pro School PSA; The Sentiment Good…The Ad (And Trying To Consider The “Syrup” Addicted, Face Tattooed Lil Wayne A Role Model) Confusing [Videogum]
Stream The Second Song Of The Bon Iver/Collections of Colonies of Bees Collaboration Volcano Choir, “Youlogy” (It’s Dark, Brooding, And Decidedly Boring); Unmap Released September 22 [NPR]
compiled by Max Sebela
