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
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
Weekly Review
This weekend marks the 40th anniversary of Woodstock – that weekend in 1969 when a whole bunch of teens and 20- and 30-somethings (as well as a few outliers) convened in Bethel, New York for three days of “peace, love and rock ’n roll;” that weekend that our parents are constantly referencing to describe the greatness of their generation – the free love, the free spirits, the free music – and compare to the moral bereftness of ours. Except that Woodstock wasn’t even supposed to be free (it only became so when the crowd got so large that ticket sellers could no longer collect or keep track of tickets) and, let’s be real about it, all that free loving and free spiritedness? Must have been induced by something. Plus, out generation isn’t totally lacking. Just take a look at this past week’s news. We exemplify more communalism, feminism, and asceticism than their generation ever did. Pshh.
by Elana Jacobs
Weekly Review
Is there a stage doctor in the house? One woman was killed and at least 15 (though possibly as many as 75) were injured when the stage collapsed at the Big Valley Jamboree Festival in Canada this past week. This coming not too long after the stage being built for Madonna’s concert in Marseille caused a similar tragedy. Maybe that $40 million stage isn’t looking so bad after all…
In other slightly less serious, albeit still injurious stage-related news, Aerosmith’s tour was interrupted (yet again), when Steven Tyler tumbled off the stage at their show in South Dakota. Not nearly as entertaining as another stage fall reported on earlier this year.
Let’s hope that none of these stage shenanigans interrupt tonight’s much-anticipated hard-rock-trio debut. More to come on that (I’m sure) later this week.
by Elana Jacobs
Weekly Review
The loathing, the vitriol, the wrath…haven’t we all had enough of the hipster-hating already? I mean, really. Let’s acknowledge the fact that some people like to wear ironic tees and drink PBR and then get on with it. Seriously, people, there are many more useful things we could be doing with our time. Take Mariah Carey and Eminem, for example, who have taken to writing songs/shooting videos just to dis one another. Or Marilyn Manson, who has vowed to track down every last journalist who writes something false about him. Or Pearl Jam, who has scattered pieces of their new album artwork all over the web! Now, these are people doing something productive with their time.
Admittedly, I did just come across a story published earlier this week, which may in fact warrant a little hipster-hate. Way to fuel the fire(y furnaces). I wonder which one of them will purchase these to wear to their silent-record release.
by Elana Jacobs
Weekly Review
Thank god, finally, we can hear the Grateful Dead spliced and diced, backed by spastic jungle-cum-calypso beats. We never thought we’d see the day. Nor did we ever think we’d see a Manhattan prep-school girl make Top 40 history. But sometimes seeing (Paul McCartney playing on top of the Ed Sullivan Theater, Ne Yo sobbing on stage), or reading (Spencer Pratt’s offensive interview with SPIN), or eBay surfing (for posters of Stone Roses singer Ian Brown), or streaming (Modest Mouse’s new honky-tonk inspired single), is believing.
Speaking of streaming…we are out at Pitchfork’s annual music festival in Union Park and did you know that you can, yup, stream it, live? Catch today’s, the last day’s, acts right here, right now! We’re off to go check out the rest of the bands in the flesh (teeheehee, muhaha), but we’ll be happy to share with you are thoughts and reactions once we return to our fair city.
by Elana Jacobs
Weekly Review
For the small number of you not out at the first official Pool Party of the summer (or for the many of you waiting in the forever-long line with your iPhones and nothing to do), here’s a wrap-up of this week’s music news…
At the local level: 2009 Summer Park Jams (already underway) and Siren Festival (taking place next weekend), schedules finalized. Both promise to be rollicking good, sweaty summer times. Also, Sufjan (Brooklyn resident) reworking Enjoy Your Rabbit for the Brooklyn quartet Osso. Resulting LP will be called Run Rabbit Run.
At the state level: Shellac, Crystal Castles, and Sufjan (crossing local-state boundaries), have been added to All Tomorrow’s Parties lineup. Will take place from September 11th-13th in Monticello, NY.
At the national level, in order of importance: Foo Fighters played 4th of July party last Sunday for Obama, debuted new song; NIN has announced lineup of final shows; and Panic at the Disco now (again) Panic! At the Disco.
At the international level, Leonard Cohen has enforced strict no-more-“Hallelujah”-cover policy. And, the only piece of news to reach an intergalactic level, David Bowie will release new EP this month, featuring “Space Oddity,” to celebrate the 40th anniversary of man walking on the moon.
by Elana Jacobs
Weekly Review
Unless you have been living in a bunker since Thursday morning, you don’t need me to tell you what the topic of this review will be.
I signed onto Gmail Thursday, at around 5:15, to receive five almost-simultaneous chats. “Did you hear about MJ??” “Dude, Michael just croaked.” “Oh my god, Michael Jackson is dead.” “Should I believe this news? Is it just a hoax?” “Thriller is no more. Start writing.” Just 45 minutes or so after he had been rushed to a Los Angeles hospital and I was already the last to know.
Jackson’s death was sudden, shocking, bizarre. It was hard, at first, to believe because nothing had indicated that we should. The news on Jackson as of late – the training sessions, the comeback tour – had us expecting his revival, not his demise. But after a life and career filled with so many sudden, shocking, and bizarre behaviors, why should his death have been any different?
If the happenings in New York today are any indication, as the dissemination of news and information has quickened (demonstrated spectacularly by the speed with which news of Jackson’s death spread), so too has the mourning process. It seems to have taken only seconds for the world to go from denial to anger to grief to acceptance, and finally, for some, to celebration. The number of concerts, tributes, and parties that have already been organized is astounding. Sitting in my borrowed apartment, I must have heard at least ten different Jackson songs blaring from speakers on the floats that were part of today’s Gay Pride parade. The event is always a joyous one, but the fervor, the energy, the shouts, of the crowd were never as strong as when Michael was singing.
And I think that would make him happy. Jackson’s life was mired in controversy – the impetuous spending, the strange relationships with children, the multiple plastic surgeries – and there were many who, at times, despised him for his behaviors. But, from what I gather anyway, he is being remembered positively, for his contributions and his accomplishments, not for his offenses.
And so, we will look back on the week that just passed, as the one that marked the end of a music era. There were, of course, other newsworthy happenings, but none that made their way into the collective conscience quite like this one. And it will likely be some time before anything else will.
Stay tuned for the rememberances and reactions of some of our regular, and not-so-regular, writers tomorrow. For now, though you have probably already seen it nine times this weekend, I leave you with that famous clip:
by Elana Jacobs
