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 Single From Brooklyn’s Own Psyched-Out Tearjerkers Suckers, “Save Your Love For Me,” Which I Continually Feel Is Going to Bust into a Warrant-esque Guitar Solo, With David Lee Roth Yowling Over It – Oh Wait, That’s Basically How it Ends [Pitchfork]
American Idol Runner Up Adam Lambert’s Album Cover May Be Worst Idea of All Time; Looks Like Brown Haired Version of 80s Cartoon Icon Jem; Jem Considers Suing For Identify Theft [Idolator]
Texas Quiet Rockers Midlake Announce Third Album; I Confuse Midlake With New Jersey Pop-Punk Outfit “Midtown”…Decide Midtown Should Announce New Album; The Courage of Others Released February 1 [Gorilla vs. Bear]
Watch Almost Disturbingly Earnest Punk Ted Leo Run Through a Folk Rendition of New Jam, “One Polaroid a Day,” Which I Believe is Some Kind of Dated Hipster Reference (Polaroids Are Out; Carnival Caricatures, In (Make it Happen, Williamsburg)) [You Ain’t No Picasso]
Stream Snippets of the Long Anticipated Follow-Up to Madlib/DOOM Collaboration Madvilliany; I Usually Avoid Hyperbole, But “I Sip a Hot Tea Watchin Archie Flippin’ Meathead” Is the Best Line Ever Spoken in Hip-Hop [Pitchfork]
The Killers To Release Cover of the Eagles’ “Hotel California;” By Comparing Selves to the Eagles, Killers Determine Fate to Continue to Sell Massive Amounts of Music, and Be Despised for Generations to Come [NME]
Good Music Journalism Prevails! Jarvis Cocker Never Meant to Claim That Pulp Is Getting Back Together at Glastonbury…That’s Right, People, As Little Pulp at Glastonbury as There is In My Orange Juice [Idolator]
Watch Porn New, Extremely Naked Video For Girls Single “Lust for Life;” Less Arousing and More…Just, Really, Really NSFW (What Kind of Microphone is…Hey, Wait a Second. That’s Not a Microphone. Put That Down!) [Stereogum]
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
Garage Punk Jay Reatard’s Entire Band Quits; Jay Responds With “Band quit ! Fuck them ! They are boring rich kids who can’t play for ahit anyways .. Say hello to your ugly and boring wifes opps I mean …” – Jay Joins Billy Corgan As Musicians Most Unwilling To Admit Their Own Douchey-ness, In Light of Most Obviously Being Douche [Brooklyn Vegan]
Watch San Francisco’s Girls’ Frontman Christopher Owens Cover Daniel Johnston’s “True Love Will Find You In The End” – Match Made In Neurotically Depressed Heaven (Which I’d Imagine Looks a Lot Like An American Apparel) [Gorilla vs. Bear]
Stream Brooklyn’s The Antlers Covering Dark Side of the Moon Track “Breathe” With Holly Miranda; Can You Get More Haunting Than The Original? (No, You Can’t…Not Even You, Peter Silberman) [NYC Taper]
Joy Division/New Order Bassist Peter Hook Confuses Himself With More Sinister Hook; Admits To Faking Legendary Joy Division Frontman Ian Curtis’s Signature On Memorabilia [Pitchfork]
Fox News’s Glenn Beck Did Not Get Contacted By Muse to Retract His Praise; Elsewhere, This Story Irritates Me [NME]
German Electro Artist Ulrich Schnauss Sues Axl Rose For Ripping Off Two of His Compositions – I Somehow Feel Bad For Rose, Like a Lost Puppy, How Could He Know Any Better? [Idolator]
Stream an Unreleased Jackson 5 Track “That’s How Love Is;” I Want You Back! Unreleased Masters, A Collection of Unreleased J5 Cuts, Released November 12 [NME]
Brooklyn Self Proclaimed “Poet Laureat of Generation Y” Tao Lin, And Hipster Runoff Blogger Carles Release First Single As “Jesus Christ The Indie Band” – Stream It, Feel Ironic, Feel Self Aware, Feel Nothing, Realize That’s About As Deep As Mr. Lin Goes, Chuckle At Their Website [Gorilla vs. Bear]
compiled by Max Sebela
Yesss!!! Listen To Big Boi’s New Song With George Clinton and Too $hort. Though Honestly, It’s Not As Crazy As We’d Hope [Prefix]
Getting Bored With Your Buddha Machine? No Worries, Throbbing Gristle Has Made Their Own Version: Helloo Gristleism! [Pitchfork]
Listen To New Best Coast, “Wish He Was You.” You May Be Sick Of These Lo-Fi Beachy Songs, But We Who’re Already Dreading Winter Need This! [Gorilla vs. Bear]
Morrissey To Release B-Sides Album, Tour West Coast [The Tripwire]
Whaaaa? FAC Supports Lily Allen After All. We’ll See What This Means For Our Theory On The Whole Debacle… [Pitchfork]
San Francisco’s Girls New Single Due In November. Watch Them Perform It Here! [Pitchfork]
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers To Release Fatty, Four-Disc Live Anthology [Rolling Stone]
Have You Ever Wondered What The Inside Of Kyp Malone’s Apartment Looks Like? Don’t Worry, We Have Too. You Can Get All the Mundane (and Exciting) Details Here [NY Post]
Hells Yeah. Mos Def Making Punk Documentary [The Tripwire]
Stream All Of Ghostface’s Wizard Of Poetry Here [Prefix]
In More Wizard And Music-Related News, ?uestlove and Friends To Play Free Screening Of Wizard Of Oz in Central Park Next Week [Brooklyn Vegan]
compiled by Erin Sheehy
Joe Satriani’s Lawsuit Against Coldplay, Claiming That “Viva La Vida” Had Ripped-Off “If I Could Fly” Dropped, Most Likely Due To Out of Court Settlement (Too Bad – Satriani v. Coldplay Could’ve Split As Many Lines As Roe v. Wade [Brooklyn Vegan]
Stream “N/A,” A Track By Seattle Locals Naomi Punk, All Sung By Rwandan Children (Meanwhile, Ryan Gosling Feels He Loves Children More…But Not In That Way) [Gorilla vs. Bear]
Stream a Piece of Sufjan Stevens’ Indie-Orchestra Suite The BQE, Entitled “Movement VI – Isorhythmic Night Dance with Interchanges” (First Impression: Eh, It’s Not Tha — Oh! So Pretty!) [Asthmatic Kitty]
Wu-Tang Clan’s Ghostface Killah Records Lewdest Song Possibly Ever Recorded; Watch Video (Read: Pornography); You’ve Been Dethroned, Three 6 Mafia, Your “Knobs” Will Be “Slobbed” No More [Videogum]
Stream New Times New Viking LP Born Again Revisited In Its Entirety; Released September 22 [Matablog]
San Francisco’s In the Tube-d Girls Announce Fall Tour; Album Released October 22 (And I Promise It’s Really, Really Good! Stream It Here!) [Brooklyn Vegan]
Masked Rapper DOOM, Formerly Known As MF DOOM, Announces Odds and Ends Compilation Unexpected Guests; Allegedly Working With TV on the Radio’s Dave Sitek [Pitchfork]
Scarlett Johanson, Courtney Love, and U2 To Headline AIDS Benefit Concert At Carnegie Hall…(Not) More Importantly, Spin Calls The Trio “Music’s Biggest Stars;” Blows Last Vestige Street Cred [Spin]
New York’s Favorite Ivy-Leage Post-Afro-Poppers (New York Hates You, Chester French) Vampire Weekend Formerly Announce Sophomore Album Contra; Released January 12, 2010 [Spin]
Stream Jim James’, Conor Oberst’s, and M. Ward’s Supergroup Monsters of Folk’s Debut Self-Titled LP; Released October 22 [Stereogum]
compiled by Max Sebela
Janet Jackson and Michael’s Brothers May Do Tribute Tour [Billboard]
Historic Lower East Side Punk Collective “ABC No Rio” Gets a Ton of Government Money! Wait…Isn’t That Not Punk? [NYTimes]
Erykah Badu and the Roots Lay Down Quick Cover of Jackson’s “I Wanna Be Where You Are”; Stream It! [Gorilla vs. Bear]
Jay Z Debuts Official “Death of Auto-Tune” Video; Co-Starring LeBron James and Harvey Keitel Getting Hova-ed [Spin]
Pixies To Play All of Seminal Album Doolittle on Tour…Pixies Fans “Gone to Heaven” [NME]
Springsteen Opens With Clash’s “London Calling” At Glastonbury Festival [NME]
Yoko Ono and Sean Lennon to Release Between My Head and the Sky as Plastic Ono Band [Pitchfork]
Slayer Announces Typically-Bad-Ass-Named Album World Painted Blood [Billboard]
MGMT and Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Karen O Guest on Flaming Lips’ Upcoming Embryonic [Pitchfork]
Stream Scotland’s Twlight Sad’s New Single “I Became a Prostitute” [MySpace]
Neil Young and Paul McCartney Play Sgt. Pepper’s “A Day in the Life” at Glastonbury [The Tripwire]
San Francisco’s Recently In the Tube-d Girls Sign to Matador [Tiny Mix Tapes]
compiled by Max Sebela
IN THE TUBE
Hipsters get a lot of shit. In Brooklyn, they are accused of ruining shows, neighborhoods, culture, art, music, fashion – anything. The anti-hipster ethos runs deeper as the music scene gets trendier and trendier, galleries and coffee shops open where small businesses once thrived, and every bar offers a can of PBR and a shot of well whiskey as a Happy Hour special.
What does the hipster stand for? Nothing. The stereotype is artistic apathy; style removed from substance. Moustaches grow long, turning from ironic-chique, to post-ironic chique, to genuinely “in.” V-necks grow deeper and deeper, till barely an inch of fabric binds the shirt at the bottom. Sure, they listen to music, but with bored, expressionless faces, cross-armed, slacking, and an occasional exaggerated closed-eyed sway. They are inactive, a generation of politics-less, issue-tired, sleepy-eyed nothings. New York (or LA, Chicago, San Francisco, whatever) dies, and it’s their fault. At least, this is the stereotype.
San Francisco’s Girls, mindful of it or not, offers a counterpoint to all this in their recent video for the blog-adored single “Hellhole Ratrace.” Here, we are given familiar hipster party fare: wine from the bottle, brown bagged 40s of malt liquor, artfully slopped apartments, and, of course, PBR. And yet, the entire thing is so celebratory. These kids look genuinely in love with each other. They carelessly kiss, smile, drink, dance, and laugh in the way we’ve expected of youth since Fast Times at Ridgemont High or Dazed and Confused. Wandering aimlessly from party to diner to convenience store, unmindful of anything but each other, and the fun that’s bound to come along wherever. For most of the song, the line repeats: “I don’t want to die without shaking up a thing or two/ Yeah, I want to do some dancing too/ So come on, come on, come on, dance with me.” It’s a simple sentiment; working is hard, life moves fast, spend it enjoying yourself.
More on Girls | “Hellhole Ratrace”
