NME Releases List of Top 20 Songs of the Decade, With Beyonce’s “Crazy in Love” Topping the List; Elsewhere, News Slow, I Commit to Making Lots of Thanksgiving References in Honor of the Holiday (And am Very Thankful That Underappreciated In Rainbows Track “Reckoner” Made NME’s List) [NME]
Watch WHY?’s Two-Song Music Video For Eskimo Snow Tracks “These Hands” and “January Twentysomething,” Which Features a Father With a Bunch of Arrows in His Back Dragging a Child from a Car Crash (Whether or Not He Was Playing a Celebratory Game of “Pilgrims and Indians” Remains to Be Seen) [Pitchfork]
Stream Grizzly Bear Remixing German Electro-Mopers the Notwist’s Oft-Remixed Track “Boneless” – I’m Fairly Convinced that this is Better Than the Entirety of Veckatimest (But That’s Because Veckatimest is Weak-(Cranberry)Sauce) [Gorilla vs. Bear]
Inversely, Stream Neon Indian Remixing Grizzly Bear’s Veckatimest Track “Cheerleader” (And Stream Another Neon Indian Version Here); Veckatimest May Have Been a Little Lacking, as I Just Mentioned, But These Remixes are Strong (Like Good Gravy?) [Gorilla vs. Bear]
Watch the Pixies Play Doolittle Opener “Debaser” on Fallon, then Watch them Play “Hey;” Both of Which Seem Pretty Restrained – But Not as Restrained as Your Usually Drunk Uncle Will Be at the Dinner Table This Year (Aunt Laura Probably Lectured Him in the Car After Last Year’s “Incident”) [Stereogum]
Former Spaceman Jason Pierce AKA J. Spaceman Announces New Spiritualized Album for 2010, and Re-releasing His Classic Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space; Expect It to Be as Woozy as the Rest of Spiritualized’s Albums (Tryptophan Woozy?!) [NME]
Portland Emo-Punks the Thermals Announce New Album, and Give it a Preemptive Release Date of September 7, 2010; Meanwhile, Pull on Your Thermal Underwear Because This Thanksgiving Weather is Cold (Okay, That’s a Stretch, But C’mon, Only So Many Thanksgiving References are Possible) [Pitchfork]
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
Grizzly Bear Multi-Instrumentalist (Isn’t That How You’d Have To Describe Every Member Of Grizzly Bear?) Chris Taylor Releases First Solo Single As CANT, Called “Ghosts;” Stream It Here – Sounds Like Yellow House [Gorilla vs. Bear]
Pavement Drummer Bob Nastovich Says There Will Be No New Material During Next Year’s Reunion Tour; Somehow, Nastovich Manages To Come Off As Apathetic As a 15 Year Old Pavement Fan Circa 1996 [The Quietus]
Watch Sonic Youth’s Gossip Girl Cameo; My Reaction: “OHGODMYEYES I’VEBEENWATCHINGGOSSIPGIRLFORLIKEAMINUTENOW— Phew, Sonic Youth is On” [Videogum]
Broken Social Scene and Stars To Play 2010 Vancouver Olympics; International Musicians Like Wilco (HA!) and Iron & Wine (HAHA!) Also On the Bill – U.S. and Canada Being Independent Nations Realized For First Time; In Canada, Wilco = Exotic [Stereogum]
Watch Grizzly Bear and Beach House’s Victoria Legrand Perform “Two Weeks” Live on Conan; Legrand, Who Usually Causes Me To Become Temporarily Narcaleptic, Sounds Amazing [Pitchfork]
Tom Waits Announces Live Album Documenting Last Year’s “Glitter and Doom” Tour; First Disc: 16 Tracks. Second Disc: An Hour of Edited Together “Between Song” Banter, Which, Knowing Waits, Will Be Incredibly Unsettling; Released November 24 [NME]
Pete Doherty Hospitalized With Breathing Problems; Cancels Irish tour – Coincidentally, Heroin Causes Physical Damage [Prefix]
So You Already Own Some of Elvis’s Hair, But Want To Complete The “King of…” Collection? Well, Have a Single £1,000 Strand of Michael Jackson’s Hair. Elsewhere, I Stalk “King of Country” George Strait Around With a Pair of Scissors, Hoping to Retire Early [Idolator]
Stream Outkast’s (Better?) Hal Big Boi’s “Shine Blockas;” The Uber-Anticipated Sir Luscious Left Foot: The Song of Chico Dusty To Be Released Sometime This Year (Will Detox Be The Only Uber-Anticpated Rap Album Left Standing By the End of 2009? (Yes)) [Gorilla vs. Bear]
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
Danger Mouse (DJ From Gnarls Barkley) and James Mercer (Megalomaniacal Frontman of The Shins) Team Up For New Band, Broken Bells; Debut Released Early Next Year [Pitchfork]
Whoa, British Post-Punk Legends Echo & The Bunnymen Are Playing New York’s Tiny Lower East Side Club the Mercury Lounge On October 17; Tickets On Sale Friday – It’s Sure to Be One Mopey Evening [Brooklyn Vegan]
Lil Wayne To Appear On Weezer Track, “Can’t Stop Partying,” Off Upcoming Raditude; A Copy Of Pinkerton Rests At My Feet, As Smashed and Broken As My Once Youthful Heart (See, Rivers? Melodrama is Still Awesome…Go Back to It) [Spin]
Stream Pivot Covering Grizzly Bear’s Yellow House Closer “Colorado” – It’s Uhh…Really Slow. Slower Than the Original. Which Was Also Really Slow [Stereogum]
Electro-Hip-Hop Artist RJD2 Announces Follow-Up to 2007s God Awful The Third Hand; The Colossus Released January 19 (And Apparently Be Largely Sample Based…And Will Hopefully Not Feature RJ Singing; That Was a Bad Idea) [Pitchfork]
Watch Dirty Projectors Debut New Song Jimmy Fallon; Then Watch Them Do An A Capella Jam Backstage For ?uestlove; ?uestlove Recorded the Thing And Gets Pretty Liberal With His Excitement Over the Performance (i.e. Camera Shaking) [Brooklyn Vegan]
Stream New Burial Track “Fostercare,” From Upcoming 5 Years of Hyperdub Compilation; Feel Uncomfortable, Ghostly, and Surreal, and Then Get Psyched, Because How Else Should a New Burial Track Sound [Youtube]
compiled by Max Sebela
Former Replacements Frontman Paul Westerberg Releases Surprise EP, P.W. & The Ghost Gloves Cat Wing Joy Boys; Buy It! It’s Probably Got Songs About Youth! [Pitchfork]
Keyboardist From the Now-Defunct Harlem Shakes (Two News Stories at Once!) Records Entirety of Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Fever to Tell, Using Only a Beat-Up Piano, a Drum Machine, and a Case of Sparks; Dude From Harlem Shakes Is Unquestionably The Fucking Man (Download It Here) [Brooklyn Vegan]
Watch New Flaming Lips Video For Embryonic Cut, “I Can Be a Frog” Featuring Karen O (It’s Pretty Standard Lips – Girl In Bikini, Girl Laughs, Girl Gets Animals Drawn Over Her With the John Madden Pen); Embryonic Released October 13 [Gorilla vs. Bear]
Watch Thom Yorke Perform In Rainbows Highlight “Reckoner” at The Age of Stupid Premiere; All Conclude Song Should Have Been Recorded Completely Acoustically – This Shit is Gorgeous [Stereogum]
Stream Of Montreal Covering Diana Ross’s “Love Hangover” Live in New York (This Is Pretty Sweet Even If You Actively Despise Of Montreal) [You Ain’t No Picasso]
Jay Z Says No One Is Afraid Of 50 Cent; Jay Doesn’t Speak For Me, Or My Gangly, Indie Rock Brethren, As Mr. Cent Is Significantly Bigger Than Us [Prefix]
Fucked Up Wins Polaris Music Prize For Chemistry of Common Life (You Made the Right Choice, Canada); Read Frontman Damian “Pink Eyes” Abraham’s Provactive and Heartfelt Response in the Torontoist [Brooklyn Vegan]
Grizzly Bear Multi-Instrumentalist Chris Taylor Launches Record Label, Terrible Records; Pitchfork Runs Headline: “Grizzly Bear’s Chris Taylor Launches Terrible Record Label (No, Really)” – I Steal Pitchfork’s Joke, As No Other Joke Immediately Available [Pitchfork]
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
September 15, 2009
IN THE TUBE: Battle of the Bizarre
IN THE TUBE
So I got to thinking: what, exactly, is the purpose of In the Tube? This may seem like a simple question (“tube” implies “relating to television, i.e., a video; “in the” implies “contained within”), but as I go back through the installments of ITT over the weeks, it really isn’t that easy. Is this space for discussing upcoming albums? Exchanging on current events? Providing a review of a song or album through its video? Drawing an overly intellectualized conclusion about pop culture? Delivering uncensored, unfiltered, sweet, sweet “LOLZ”?
In the Tube has been used for all those things, but I think we all know what this space is really for: watching and discussing music videos that are absolutely bizarre, and trying to make sense of them. So this week, JM.com brings you what possibly could become a regular feature on the website: IN THE TUBE: Battle of the Bizarre. Two videos released over the past week or so are posted, and you, our lovely reader (you really are quite lovely) suggests what in the blue fuck we are supposed to get out of them, and which one, based on the interpretations, is more bizarre.
The Contenders:
Grizzly Bear | “While You Wait for the Others”
This video contains clocks, rabbits, Victorian statues, a seemingly anthropomorphized red ball, babies’ heads, spinning disembodied appendages, a lot of stop motion, and a single dog head puppet, the entire thing looking like one of those “Penny” segments from Pee-Wee’s Playhouse after huffing a bunch of paint. This is all well and good, but for some elusive reason, the protagonist is a fencer. A particularly lonely fencer. A fencer who is rarely seen fencing. This does not make sense.
Sunset Rubdown | “Black Swan”
Lots of skeleton pajamas, death masks, and seizure inducing Rorchach tests. Everything is in black, the skeleton pajamas stab, and the moon goes through a full lunar eclipse, which uhhh…is a lot of scope for a video. But, again, based on the army of skeleton pajama wearing murderers and 30-seconds of flames, followed by what could only be the devil’s eyes (and not to give anything away) but I’m pretty sure this thing has something to do with death. Maybe.
Well faithful readers, go forth and interpret. I have no idea what either of these videos are supposed to mean, and honestly want to figure it out – a FENCER? WHY?!
by Max Sebela
