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

Fiery Furnaces Will Release an Album of Covers. The Covers Will All Be Covering Fiery Furnaces Songs, Meaning Fiery Furnaces Remain the Most Despicably Annoying Band in All of New York [Pitchfork]

!!!, Maserati, and Holy Ghost! Drummer Gerhardt Fuchs Passes Away, Falling to the Bottom of a Brooklyn Elevator Shaft [NY Times]

Stream L.A. Girly Girls Best Coast’s New Single “When I’m With You,” Which Could Honestly Pass For the Vivian Girls, Only More Jangly, and Less Jersey (Also, Contains Simpler Chorus Than “Be My Baby” — “When I’m With You, I Have Fun”) [Gorilla vs. Bear]

Pavement Will Headline the Sasquatch! Festival in Washington; I Make Vow to Not Create Headlines Out of Pavement Headlining Festivals, as They Will Obviously Be Playing Almost Every One…Let This Sasquatch! Headline Blanket All Other Headlines [Pitchfork]

Watch Video For Blakroc (The Black Keys + MCs) Single “Ain’t Nothing Like You,” Which Is Appropriate to the Name, If the “You” They’re Referencing is a Remotely Entertaining Music Video; Also, C’mon Guys, Double Negatives Are So Not In [Prefix]

The Stooges Are Set to Record Unrecorded Material From the 70s, Which is Awesome Because Uhh…The Stooges, Fun House, and Raw Power Are Really Good Albums (Like REALLY Good!) [NME]

Thom Yorke Posts Blog Entry Against British Government’s Proposal For More Nuclear Power Plants, Under Extremely Inane Headline “Nuclear Power No Thanks;” Elsewhere, Remember When Thom Was Super Vague and Strange, and Consumed With Cartoon Cubes?…I Miss That Thom [Radiohead]

Watch the Pixies Perform Doolittle’s “Here Comes Your Man” on The Tonight Show, Which Sounds Exactly Like the Version on Doolittle, Except With Some Adult Contemporary Flourish; Speaking of the Pixies, Here’s a Free Pixies EP [NBC]

compiled by Max Sebela

FRESH BAKED
in NYC
This Frontier Needs Heroes
This Frontier Needs Heroes
2009 | Self-Released
C

Brooklyn-based brother-sister duo This Frontier Needs Heroes do not sound like city folk. Their self-titled debut LP is all open air, broken hearts, and quaint countryside. It’s the Old West by way of Williamsburg; it’s more Bonnie and Clyde than Eleanor and Matthew Friedberger. But their outer borough address sabotages the whole thing.

Their Myspace page rattles off a list of “authentic” American influences (Townes Van Zandt, Woody Guthrie, and Roy Orbison, to name a few) but namedropping can’t stand in for sincerity.

Lead singer Brad Lauretti’s vocals are touching – his voice seems to crack at just the right moments – but his simple lyrics and predictable rhymes (“Something’s gonna strike you down/ Something’s gonna turn you around/ Something’s gonna make you feel like everyone’s around”) are just disappointing. The album’s centerpiece, “I Can’t Do It All By Myself,” suits the limp lyrics, but only because it sounds like a lullaby.

This Frontier Needs Heroes just seem a little disingenuous, like two kids playing pretend. They label themselves as outlaws and revolutionaries, but aside from occasionally featuring the flute, their songs are pretty safe. “Long Gone” tries to swagger like a lone ranger, but it’s sung by a gentleman.

Opening track “Firefly” is a fitting introduction to the album: brother Brad wonders when he’ll have a hate-free heart while sister Jessica harmonizes over simple guitar-picking and tense strings. It’s pretty, but it’s all presentation. And for one moment, Brad’s lyrics don’t need any polishing: “I’m not gonna sit here and tell you that I’m right.”

by Kyle McGovern

LIVE JOURNAL
JezebelMusic.com @ JellyNYC Pool Party
August 9, 2009 | Fiery Furnaces, Dark Meat, The Netherlands, Simian Mobile Disco

What Sunday’s edition of the Jelly NYC Pool Parties lacked in pool, it made up for in party (although the slip ‘n’ slide is still sorely missed).

Sunday’s musical acts included The Netherlands, Dark Meat, Fiery Furnaces and a DJ set by Simian Mobile Disco. But the event was not all about the music. On the contrary, party-goers were entrenched in distractions. Locals threw on their most vintage shorts and patriotic U.S.A. paraphernalia before jumping into the classic JellyNYC tradition: dangerously competitive dodgeball. Others took to the Converse-sponsored basketball court. Others taunted messy-haired hipsters with their miniature water guns, a hand-out from the Mavi Jeans tent. And those who weren’t amusing themselves with one sponsored diversion or another were either lingering in the beer garden or scattered at a comfortable distance from the stage.
More on Fiery Furnaces, Dark Meat, The Netherlands, Simian Mobile Disco @ The JellyNYC Pool Party | 8.9.09

SEE IT LIVE
JezebelMusic.com @ The JellyNYC Pool Party
August 9, 2009 | Fiery Furnaces, Dark Meat, The Netherlands, Simian Mobile Disco

[All images copyright 2009 Veronica Thew]

Fiery Furnaces

Dark Meat

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

DAILY NEWS PICKS

Time Magazine Runs Hilarious Hipster Exposé; Says Hipsters Hate Coldplay (And Gets It Wrong; True Hipsters Are Way Into Defending Coldplay Now) [Time]

K Records Regular Karl Blau Announces New Album, Zebra; Released October 6 (And If You Want To Snuggle Up Next To Mr. Blau, Buy Tickets For This) [Gorilla vs. Bear]

Kanye West Believes Fame May Cause Cancer; Does Not Consider Himself New King of Pop [Idolator]

Eminem Calls Out Mariah Carey On New Track – More Importantly, Eminem Raps In Song Worth Listening To [Spin]

The Verve’s Nick McCabe and Simon Jones Team Up With Goldfrapp’s Davide Rossi For New Band The Black Ships (Stream Their First Song – It’s Unsurprisingly Dreamy) [NME]

Fiery Furnaces Announce New “Album,” The Silent Album; New Album Is Not An Album and Contains No Music – Fiery Furnaces Define New Level of Pretension [Pitchfork]

More New Wu: Stream Ghostface Killah’s New Mixtape and First Track Off Ghostface’s R&B Album Wizard of Poetry; Ghostface Sounds Surprisingly Sultry [Rolling Stone]

Download New Raekwon Track Off The Uber-Delayed Only Built 4 Cuban Linx II First Impression: Eh. [Pitchfork]

Doom Drone Metal Guys Sunn O))) Soundtracks A Swedish Jean Advertisement; Result Is Frightening And In No Way Makes Me Want To Purchase Jeans [Stereogum]

compiled by Max Sebela