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
Kele Okereke, Frontman of UK Post-Punk Outfit Bloc Party, Currently on a Hiatus (Read: Washed Up), Announces Solo Album…Working With Spank Rock – This Honestly Sounds Like My Own Personal Musical Hell [NME]
Stream New Spoon, “The Mystery Zone,” Which Sounds Literally Like Every Other Spoon Song Ever Written…But Still, Stream It Anyway, Because I’m Probably Going to Have to Take it Down in 5 Minutes. RIAA is Outside; Transference Released January 26 [Indiescreet]
Yeah Yeah Yeahs Are Playing a Secret Show in NYC this Weekend Celebrating the New Droid Phone; If You Buy a Droid, You Get a Free Ticket…So It’s Like Paying $200 to See the Yeah Yeah Yeahs (Plus a Data Plan; Data Costs a Lot) [Brooklyn Vegan]
Jack White’s Third Man Records is Releasing a 7-Inch Celebrating the Late Astronomer/Host of Cosmos/Generally Awesome Dude Carl Sagan, With a Guest Verse from Astrophysicist Stephen Hawking; Stream It Here [Youtube]
Stream Julian Casablancas’s Recording of the SNL Classic “I Wish It Was Christmas Today;” Better Yet, Do Yourself a Favor and Wait Until December 25 to Listen to it, Only So That You Can Actively Disagree With Julian Casablancas About Something [Myspace]
Four Tet Announces New Album, There Is Love in You; Stream First Single, “Love Cry” Here – Is This a Return to Form For Kieran Hebden? (No…No, Still Not Quite); Released January 26 [Pitchfork]
Blink 182’s Mark Hoppus Suggests People Listen to Canadian Pitchfork Darlings Japandroids; Claims to Have Been Suggested Band By His Barber…Actually Just Admitting to Reading Pitchfork (Congratulations, Mark, Welcome to Modern Music) [Spin]
Stream Fred Falke Remix of Possibly the Hottest Summer Jam of 2009, Music Go Music’s “Warm in the Shadows;” Fred Falke Forgets That, Though Track is Hot, the Weather is Not [Gorilla vs. Bear]
compiled by Max Sebela
UK Long-Retired, Now-Active UK Songstress Vashti Bunyan To Play One NightAt 92nd Street Y in Tribeca Tonight; Screening Her Documentary Vashti Bunyan: From Here to Before Both Tonight and Tomorrow Night [Brooklyn Vegan]
Stream New Brooklyn Duo Coasting’s First Song “Coasting” (It’s Solid Garage Fuzz, With More Sprawling Guitar Than Wavves); Hopefully Their Album Will Also Be Called Coasting, And They Just Make Videos of Them Skimboarding on the Atlantic Coast [Gorilla vs. Bear]
Vampire Weekend Play a Bunch of Songs off Upcoming LP Contra (Released January 12) at London Show; NME Gives No Indication of Whether Songs Were Good or Bad, Or What They Sounded Like…I Create Vendetta Against NME For Lacking Such Opinions [NME]
Stream New LCD Soundsystem Single (That Alan Vega Cover He Mentioned Last Week) “Bye Bye Bayou” – It Is Quite Disco…More Disco Than Usual (And That’s Pretty Disco) [22 Tracks]
Watch Pavement’s Spiral Stairs’ Video For “Stolen Pills”…Which Realy Just Consists of Uhh…Stealing Pills. Stairs’ The Real Feel Released October 20 [Pitchfork]
The Flaming Lips To Record Track by Track Cover of Dark Side of the Moon; Only One Appropriate Joke For the Occasion: Fucking Hippies. [Pitchfork]
Ticketmaster Prints “Free Denny’s Hamburger” Coupon on Morrissey Ticket; Morrissey Vegetarian (If Meat is Murder Wasn’t Convincing Enough For You); This Writer Laughs, Animal Ethicist Peter Singer Cries (Probably; I Do Not Know The Man) [Idolator]
Jack White’s Other Garage Rock Band Dead Weather Already Halfway Through Follow-Up To This Year’s Horehound; Expecting Release Before End of 2009…I Convinced Jack White’s Business Proof That Sleeping = Optional For Human Beings [Spin]
compiled by Max Sebela
Watch The Pixies Play “Hey” and “Monkey Gone to Heaven” on First Night of Playing Doolittle In Its Entirety – For Doolittle They Are Certainly DO-ing A Lot…Cough (I Am So Sorry); They Play New York November 23rd and 24th [Spin]
Kanye West and Lady Gaga Officially Cancel “Fame Kills” Tour; Somehow, Life Manages To Go On Smoothly [Idolator]
Irish 90s Girl-Mopers The Cranberries Reunite (Coming To a Raisin Bran Near You); Announce New York Date November 17th At Nokia Theater [Brooklyn Vegan]
Sufjan Stevens To Record Instrumental Album For Asthmatic Kitty’s Library Catalog With The National’s Bryce Dessner – Seriously, Who is This Sufjan Guy, and Why is He Making Headlines Every Fucking Day? Will Someone Just Shut Him Up?! (I’m Sorry Mr. Stevens, Please Don’t Go Away Again…We…We Love You) [Pitchfork]
Conservative Pundit Glenn Beck Praises Muse; Muse Asks Glenn Beck To Stop Praising Them…Listen Here; Elsewhere, Did You Hear What Glenn Beck May or May Not Have Done? [Stereogum]
Watch Jack White’s New Dead Weather Video For Horsehound Track “I Cut Like a Buffalo;” Instead of Watching This Video, I Analyzed How Much White Looks Like Willy Wonka in Its Still Frame [Spin]
compiled by Max Sebela
September 29, 2009
Dismantling Pitchfork’s Top Video of the Decade
IN THE TUBE
In case you haven’t heard, indie monolith and the hip’s go-to consumer guide/whipping boy Pitchfork.com has been running a long series of articles related to this decade in music, temporarily branded “the aughts.” They are calling it P2K (OMG I GET IT, LIKE P4K, ONLY WITH A TWO), and it pisses me off in so many ways. First of all, the decade isn’t over. Secondly, revisionist history demands that we will not know what this decade “meant” musically for another five years or so; attempting to throw together a list of important releases in the midst of the decade forgoes perspective, foresight, and fails to admit fallibility. Or, in laymen’s terms, no one knows shit enough about this decade to adequately comment on it, even Pitchfork (even though they knew about Death Cab waaaaay before you did).
In the midst of their recklessly irresponsible feature, they released a “Top 50 Music Videos Of The 2000s,” and gave “Fell in Love With a Girl” by the White Stripes the coveted #1. You’ve all seen it: it’s the one with the Legos. Jack White shreds guitar, Meg White sucks at drums, and they both get into a variety of hijinks…as Legos. Yeah, it’s pretty simple: a music video…only instead of real stuff, there are Legos. You get the point. In any case, here’s the video:
Now, I’m not here to trash this thing – I love it. I think that it is incredibly entertaining, and I love the Stripes’ seminal White Blood Cells as much as any self-respecting fan of electric guitar. The way colors wash out on Legos when they are shot up close, and the soft pastel swatch Michel Gondry filters everything through work very well with the song’s barebones garage rock. Jack and Meg are both pasty enough to actually have their faces reconstructed in white blocks. And I love Legos – sure, I admit I went through a Duplo phase from the ages of three to six, but out of all standardized systems of multicolored blocks, I feel Lego reigns supreme (yeah, fuck you Mega Bloks).
More on Dismantling Pitchfork’s Top Video of the Decade
Stream New Almighty Defenders Track (That Doo-Wop Supergroup Consisting of Black Lips, King Khan, and BBQ Show) “Bow Down and Die” (Or Better Yet, Stream This One…It’s Better); The Almighty Defenders Released September 22 [Brooklyn Vegan]
Watch 45-Second Clip of Michael Jackson Staging “Human Nature” For The Ill-Fated “This is It” Tour; Jackson Documentary This Is It Released October 28 [Idolator]
Stream Clips From Bob Dylan’s (Who, Let’s Remember, Is Jewish) Upcoming Christmas Album; Feel Unsettled As Dylan Leads You Through the Yuletide Season With The Voice of a Buzzsaw, Harmonies of Yore, and a Christmas Polka; Christmas in the Heart Released October 13 [Youtube]
Legendary Singer-Songwriter Leonard Cohen Collapses On Stage, Allegedly Due to Food Poisoning – Recovering Fine, Resuming World Tour Tonight [Pitchfork]
Stream New Devendra Banhart Song “Baby”…Then Feel Disappointed, Because “Baby” Is A Pretty Shitty Song, Then Grow Confused Figuring Out Why Banhart Went Funk, Then Turn Song Off and Do Something Else; What Will We Be Released October 27 [Pitchfork]
Pavement’s Scott Kannberg, Better Known As Spiral Stairs, Announces Solo Album, The Real Feel (Stream The First Track); Released October 20. Elsewhere, Did You All Hear Pavement Reunited? Yeah, That One Went Under the Radar [Brooklyn Vegan]
Watch Jack White “Pull A Kanye” – Interrupting White Stripes Documentary Director Emmett Malloy, Saying “I’mma Let You Finish, But Orson Welles Had One of The Great—,“ Jack, I’mma Let You Finish, But I’mmaLetYouFinish.com Has Some of The Best “I’mma Let You Finish”-es Of All Time [Spin]
Stream New T-Pain Track “Dope,” Recorded Without Autotune; In Other News, T-Pain Shouldn’t Record Songs Without Autotune [Prefix]
Jay Z Feels Rappers Are “The Poets of Our Generation,” Leaving Poets of Our Generation Confused As To What They Are (Perhaps Jewelers? Handymen? Cobblers?) [NME]
compiled by Max Sebela
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
Strokes Singer Julian Casablancas To Sing About Ludlow Street on Solo Album [SPIN]
Check Out the IFC Music Movie Nights: “Film and the Folk/Punk Connection” [The Tripwire]
Today’s Piece of Bizarre News: Harry Potter’s Emma Watson to Star in Marilyn Manson Musical [IMDb]
One Week Only! The Dodos Streaming New Album, Time To Die, Online [NME]
The Dead Weather Playing at Jack White’s Third Man Record Store This Thursday in NYC [Prefix]
Wavves Broke His Wrist Skateboarding, But Still Playing Skateboard Benefit Show [Brooklyn Vegan]
New York Times Company Sells Radio Station WQXR to WNYC Radio [New York Times]
Black Keys Drummer Goes For The Obvious, Starts Side Project Called Drummer [Tiny Mix Tapes]
EMI Cutting Costs, Cutting Off Independent Record Stores [Prefix]
compiled by Erin Sheehy
