IN THE TUBE
Yes, it stars a full cast of puppets. Yes, the majority of the eleven -minute duration is spent on these puppets speaking to each other, and almost nothing to do with a Dan Deacon song. Yes, the puppets almost exclusively speak with content that breaks down almost all possible metaphysical views. No, there is no sense trying to draw out literal meaning from the nonsense of what you are about to watch:

But, as with most Dan Deacon material, even if you viscerally hate the thing, you end up with the inevitable conclusion that it is brilliant. Because buried under all the pop fluff (here, the fluff is puppets and a tiger-costumed Deacon, who is simultaneously the devil), there is just more fluff. Deacon’s music is like a set of Russian stacking dolls. You approach it under the assumption that, if you just spend enough time unpacking, you’ll get to something deeper and more significant; there must be something behind how seemingly randomly intricate the mess of organs and sequencers is.

But there isn’t. It’s as fluff-filled as any pop song or children’s show, even if it seems like it shouldn’t be. Being a genius is great; being genius enough to make everyone think you’re a genius is way better.

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

DAILY NEWS PICKS

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

Hey Everyone!

We won’t be posting much this week because we are giving ourselves a little makeover, but don’t worry, we’ll be back in full force next Monday.

For now we’ll leave you with two of our favorite videos from August so you can hold on to that summer feeling a little longer.

Dan Deacon – “Paddling Ghost” | Carpark

Jay Reatard - “It Ain’t Gonna Save Me” | Matador

Weekly Review
A piece in the NYTimes today discusses Radiohead’s new “singles only” release policy and their guru-like status in the music marketing biz. Okay, true that Radiohead has mastered the ability to throw the blogosphere into a crazed, conjecturing frenzy, but they’re not the only trendsetters in this town. Just take a look at the number of new fabulous fads sure to come out of the activity of this past week: talent-show tour openers, finger-puppet impersonators, cemetery sets at sunrise, signing oneself to one’s own label, turning art rock success into art film stardom, holding Willy Wonka-style CD-release sweepstakes…who knows what these crazy kids will come up with next.

And later today, one of the biggest trailblazers of them all, Mr. Original Laptop DJ himself, plays the second-to-last Jelly NYC Pool Party of the summer – which I’m sure will result in a half-naked, sweat drenched Greg Gillis crowd-surfing for the better part of his set. But that’s nothing new.

by Elana Jacobs

DAILY NEWS PICKS

Rivers Cuomo Explains Crappy Name For New Weezer Album, Ratitude: His Friend Came Up With It! Swear! [SPIN]

Hitch A Ride To Rock Rock Rockaway Beach Tomorrow For A Whole Lotta Music and Art [The Tripwire] 

Dead Man’s Bones (Ryan Gosling and Zach Shields) Announce First Tour. Better Start Rehearsing: Each Opening Act Will Be A Talent Show! [Pitchfork] 

Watch New Dan Deacon Video, “Paddling Ghost.” The Finger Puppet Ghost Is Cute, But The Finger Puppet Dan Deacon Is Even Better [Stereogum]

Ooh Ooh! This Just In, New Yorkers: Insound’s Tenth Anniversary Party Tonight At Brooklyn Bowl Featuring The Drums, These Are Powers, Cymbals Eat Guitars, And Real Estate. Hot Damn, The Week Is Lookin’ Up [FREEWilliamsburg] 

Jimi Hendrix Biopic In The Works [Prefix] 

What With Inglorious Basterds Opening Today, Why Not Read What Tarantino Has To Say About Some Of His Career’s Key Soundtrack Picks? [Rolling Stone]

Willie Nelson Stayin’ Busy With Myspace Show and New Album of Jazz Standards, American Classic, Out On Aug. 25, Available To Stream Via Myspace Tomorrow [The Tripwire] 

Harlem, Yeasayer, Kid Sister Added to Fun Fun Fun Fest Lineup [Gorilla vs. Bear] 

Bon Iver Just Got Way Cooler In My Eyes. Why? Oh, Just A Little Show He’s Gonna Play At Sunrise. In A CEMETERY! [The Tripwire]

compiled by Erin Sheehy

Roger Daltrey of The Who to Go On Solo Tour, Talk About His Generation to the Youngsters [BrooklynVegan]

As You May Know, We Love Talking Heads. So Please Don’t Call On Oct. 13, When Stop Making Sense Comes Out On Blu-Ray Format [Pitchfork]

Bad Blood Between Matador Records and Victory Records Getting Worse In Wake of House Fire [Pitchfork]

No More Albums Don’t Mean No More Music! Listen to New Radiohead Track, “These Are My Twisted Words” [Consequence Of Sound]

Are You On The Bus? Dan Deacon’s Bus That Is. Watch This Mini Documentary About Deacon’s “Vantastic” School Bus [Pitchfork]

Dr. Dre to Rescue Your Ears From All Those Sad Tinny mp3s You’ve Been Listening To, Thus Saving the World of Digital Music! [Pitchfork]

What Dislocated Shoulder? Randy Randall and No Age Back On Tour, Hitting New York In October [Tiny Mix Tapes]

RIP Rashied Ali, Jazz Drummer, Coltrane Collaborator [NME]

compiled by Erin Sheehy

DAILY NEWS PICKS

Stream/Purchase New Radiohead Song, “Harry Patch (In Memory of);” All Proceeds Go To The Royal British Legion; Song Is a Dedication To The Last Remaining WWI Veteran Harry Patch, Who Passed Away Last Week [Brooklyn Vegan]

This Is Not News, But Music Go Music’s “Warm in the Shadows” Is The Best 9 Minute Disco Revival Track Of The Year Thus Far; Stream It (And Frontwoman Gala Bell Does A Mean Debbie Harry) [Gorilla vs. Bear]

NME Releases List Of 50 Things Pushing Music Forward – Animal Collective Named Number One, Which Means By “Forward,” NME Means “Most Aptly Revives Styles and Techniques Used In 1966” [NME]

Beastie Boys’ Adam Yauch, Better Known As MCA, Is Recovering Well From First Cancer Surgery; Will Undergo Radiation Therapy – With Jay Pushing For Him, MCA’s Got To Feel Pretty Good [Spin]

Jack White To Release Solo Single, “Farm Fly Blues;” Released August 11 [NME]

Foo Fighter Dave Grohl, Queens of the Stone Age’s Josh Homme, and Led Zeppelin’s Bassist John Paul Jones Announce Supergroup, Them Crooked Vultures (Which Couldn’t Be A Better Name Combination of Grunge, Sludge, and Blues, Repsectively) [Spin]

Stream (Allegedly; This Player Hasn’t Worked On Like Four Different Browsers Update: Player Works and EP Is Awesome) New No Age EP Losing Feeling Super Early; Released October 6 [Pitchfork]

Watch Deerhunter, Dan Deacon, and No Age Play Through 10-Minute Deerhunter Noise-Jam “Cryptograms” All Together – It’s Like A Really Filthy Looking Frankenstein of Noise Bands [Pitchfork]

Stream Folkie Guy William Fitzsimmons’s Smokey, Acoustic Cover of Kanye West’s 808s Single “Heartless” (Or, Better Yet, Stream This Version of “Heartless” – You Know 808s Is A Pretty Serious Album, And I Didn’t Realize How Serious It Was Until I Heard It Inappropriately Sung By A Small Army of Preschoolers) [Popmatters]

Stream All of Mount Eerie’s Loud, Abrasive, and Interesting New Album Wind’s Poem; Released August 18 [Stereogum]

by Max Sebela