IN THE NEWS

Jay Reatard doesn’t seem to be having much luck with people lately. It’s been only two months since his rhythm section defected to Wavves (who’s frontman Nathan Williams is also far from a people person) and last night during a gig in Austin, Jay got attacked by two fans, in a place called Emo’s no less. The drunken pair were perturbed when Reatard, only forty minutes in, announced that the next would be his final song (apparently they weren’t aware that the garage popster is notorious for his short shows) and decided to take matters into their own hands.

When the first one rushed the stage, he gave little trouble to the bouncers, and the band admirably kept playing (though it’s unlikely it was as impressive as this). However, after the first’s initial failure, another fan must have felt for his drunken comrade and blindsided Reatard, actually getting a hit in. Reatard, luckily, wasn’t seriously injured. He retaliated with his mic stand angrily ended the gig, reportedly flicking off the audience as security took the attacker off stage.

Strangely, the two aggressors were apprehended after the show as the rest of the audience was leaving the building, meaning they stuck around to see if the show was actually finished. What was going through their heads, the possibility of Jay returning with a black eye, playing an encore for the guy who tried to punch him in the face and the guy who successfully punched him in the face? That the crowd would go wild, and our heroes would be praised for keeping the punk spirit alive? Surprisingly, no, that’s not what happened. They were promptly arrested.

Also, why did they think that a Jay Reatard show was a good place to throw down? Although Reatard’s pop isn’t pristine or anything, (you can hear some Stooges and The Jam in there), it’s hardly bringing back the days of 77. Some would like to use this incident to attest otherwise, but if this had happened in, say, D.C. during the early 80’s, would anyone have cared? Besides, fighting bands was a stupid byproduct of punk’s aggression to begin with. Everybody knows that if you are drunk and needlessly aggressive at a show, the right thing to do is find an opponent that is equally as drunk and needlessly aggressive as you are, not the band you paid money to see – didn’t anyone learn anything from their moms?

by Geoff Anstey

Belle and Sebastian Tease at New Album On Their Website; Everything About this Tease is Completely Twee, From a Cute Little Pun, to a Cute Little Hat on Cute Little Stuart Murdoch’s Cute Little Head [Tiny Mix Tapes]

Stream Will “Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy” Oldham Playing I See a Darkness Highlight “Death to Everyone” Live; Oldham’s Live Album, Funtown Comedown, Released December 15, But Instead of Purchasing It, You Should Probably Just Re-Realize Just How Great I See a Darkness Is, Play it Several Times, Grow Depressed, and then Listen to Phoenix to Get Over It [Pitchfork]

Okkervil River Spin-off/Grandiose Folk Band Shearwater Announce Sixth Album, The Golden Archipelago, Released February 15 [Matablog]

Yeasayer Pioneer Technically Advanced Way of Making a NSFW Music Video, By Allowing You, the User, to Interact With Tripped Out Naked People; It’s Web 2.0, People…I Refuse to Be Impressed Until the Web Itself Conjures Up the Kind of Nudity I’d Like to Interact With While Listening to “Ambling Alp” (Hint, Internet: It’s Shania Twain) [Stereogum]

Jelly’s Pool Parties (Those Free Concerts at the Williamsburg Waterfront) Are in Trouble – But Where Else Will Jay, Solange, and Beyonce Go During Those Hot Summer Months? Where Else Can You See Music in Williamsburg?! Someone Think of the Children! (But Seriously, These Things are a Blast…Show Your Support and Email Senator Charles Schumer) [Brooklyn Vegan]

Watch Pleasantly Surreal Video for Beck and Charlotte Gainsbourgs’ “Heaven Can Wait,” Which Features Boxing, a Deformed Pygmy Gorilla, a Half-Shaved Beard, Astronaut Pancakes, and a Man Bathing in Fruity Pebbles (Perhaps Most Surprisingly, Proves Gainsbourg to Have Quite the Tennis Backhand; Good Form, Charlotte!) [Gorilla vs. Bear]

Lou Reed, Mo Tucker, Doug Yule, and David Fricke to Lead Discussion at New York Public Library on the History of The Velvet Underground on December 8, and Tickets Are Already Sold Out. This is All Well and Good, But Where’s John Cale? I’m Waiting For That Man (C’mon! Gimme a laugh; I’m Desperate Here) [NME]

Remember Those Poor Members of Jay Reatard’s Band Who Left Due to Jay’s Tyrannically Obnoxious Personality? They Joined Equally Tyrannical and Obnoxious Wavves. Elsewhere, I Believe I Have Proof of an Innate Human Desire for Masochism. [Pitchfork]

compiled by Max Sebela

The Second Annual Beatles Complete Ukulele Festival Will Take Place on December 5 and 6 in Williamsburg; Every Beatles Song Will Be Played on the Ukulele…And All Money Goes to Yoko Ono (Last Year, It Went to Warren Buffet); All Reading This Ought Be As Confused As I Am [Jezebel Music]

Stream a Re-Recording of Wavvves Cut “To the Dregs,” and a New Wavves Song “Horse Sholes” – Have an Existential Crisis Over the Fact that You Don’t Really Hate Wavves Anymore, As Zach Hill Brings Much-Needed Chops to the Project; Feel Dejected; Claim to Hate Wavves Anyway [Gorilla vs. Bear]

Brooklyn Over-Hyped But Endlessly Catchy Dance-Pop Duo MGMT Title Upcoming LP Congratulations, As In: Congratulations, MGMT, You’ve Succeeded in Making a Typically Boring Album Title [Pitchfork]

Watch The Flaming Lips Cover Pink Floyd’s “Eclipse;” You Decide What’s More Entertaining: The Cover, or Wayne Coyne’s Self-Absorbed, Convinced-He’s-Funny Babbling [Stereogum]

Cash Money Records Says Lil Wayne Will Release Two Albums Before The End of 2009; The Rebirth, The Much-Delayed Weezy-Goes-Rock Album, and Tha Carter 4, The Follow-Up to Wayne’s Lauded 2008 Offering…My Guess: Neither Will Come Out and I Just Wasted Time Writing These Sentences [Pitchfork]

Beyonce Cancels a Show in Malaysia Due to Malaysia’s Islamic Conservative Party’s Concerns That She Might Promote “Western Sexy Performances;” I’m Outraged Over Use of the Word “Might” in That Sentence. All The Woman Does is Western Sexy Performances [Billboard]

U2 Frontman Bono Believes President Obama is Having Difficult Time, Realizes the Harsh Reactions Obama Faced When Accepting the Nobel Peace Prize, Doesn’t Know No One Gives a Shit About His Political Opinions, and Just Wants Him to Sing “With or Without You” In Front of Some Starving Kids [Idolator]

Watch Spike Jonze’s New Short Film Starring Kanye West, We Were Once a Fairytale; Features Kanye Being Hilariously Douche-y, Getting Really Drunk, And Then Vomiting Rose Petals With This Little Monster…So It’s Just Like the Real Kanye [NME]

No Age, Rain Machine (TV on the Radio’s Kyp Malone), Mew, and Jay Reatard All Opening for Pixies Doolittle Shows; Universal Agreement Made That This Concert Will Be “Very Good” (Alternatively, “Beyond Satisfactory”) [CMJ]

compiled by Max Sebela

DAILY NEWS PICKS

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

THIS WEEK IN SHOWS

Whoa, this is one of those weeks where we’ll need to carefully balance our stimulants and disco naps in order to show-hop without crashing till Sunday night. I have a feeling that some of our writers will be trying to see The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart at Webster Hall, while others will be headed to WFMU Fest, but these are the shows that I want to check out most:

WEDS, SEPT. 30

Thomas Function, Yussef Jerusalem, Liquor Store, Pink Reason
Silent Barn
10:00 PM, ALL AGES
Ever since I got “Belly Of The Beast” stuck in my head for like a month sometime in 2008, I’ve wanted to see these bouncy southern guys, Thomas Function, live. They’re playing a few shows this week with Yussuf Jerusalem of France, who I’m equally excited about, but I dig mid-week shows, and I think that the one at Silent Barn will have a lot of energy, especially with Pink Reason and Liquor Store as openers. (Lord knows Liquor Store likes to rock out.)

THURS, OCT. 1

Jay Reatard, Nobunny, Hunx and His Punx…and more!
(le) poisson rouge
11:00 PM, $15a/$18d, 21+
Jay Reatard is a wild sweaty performer, but really, if you listen to his music it’s hard to imagine how he couldn’t be. So this would be a cool show no matter what, but the openers this time are exciting too. In case you haven’t heard of Nobunny, he performs catchy punk very much inspired by 50s rock ‘n roll. But that’s really not the interesting part. He also wears this gnarled up, gross bunny mask and likes to strip down to his underwear. Well alright!
More on This Week In Shows

Hey Everyone!

We won’t be posting much this week because we are giving ourselves a little makeover, but don’t worry, we’ll be back in full force next Monday.

For now we’ll leave you with two of our favorite videos from August so you can hold on to that summer feeling a little longer.

Dan Deacon – “Paddling Ghost” | Carpark

Jay Reatard - “It Ain’t Gonna Save Me” | Matador

The Beatles Get Their Own QVC Store; Weirdest Shop Item: Four Yellow Submarine Themed Baseballs. QVC: Get Authentic. I Want A Set Of Hard Day’s Night Styled Cricket Wickets [Idolator]

Queens of the Stone Age’s Josh Homme, Foo Fighter’s Dave Grohl and Led Zepellin’s John Paul Jones Debuted Their Very Original Sludge-Rock Band, Them Crooked Vultures (And Apparently, It Was Good) [Spin]

Stream Garage Punk Jay Reatard’s Upcoming Matador Debut LP Watch Me Fall; Released August 18 [NME]

The Upcoming $45 Million Dollar Spiderman Musical, With Music By U2’s Bono and The Edge, Facing Budget Problems “Mary Jane, My Spider Sense Is Tingling – Maybe This Is The Wrong Time To Put On A $45 Million Dollar Musical…Wait, No…That’s My Common Sense” [NME]

Watch New Video “I’m Good” From Virginia Rap Heroes Clipse (Pharrell Sings Really Poorly On It, and I’ve Never Seen Ex-Coke Dealers Having So Much Leisurely Fun); Till The Casket Drops Released October 20 [Pitchfork]

Microphones/Mount Eerie Guy Phil Elverum Does Really Great Interview In Village Voice; Calls Upcoming LP Wind’s Poem Loudest Album He’s Done (Also Has Called It His Best), Expresses Love Of Loud Things In General [Village Voice]

Arcade Fire Multi-Instrumentalist Owen Pallett, AKA Final Fantasy, Signs To Domino, Announces New LP, Heartland; Released “The First Week Of 2010” [Pitchfork]

Stream Brooklyn Garage Pop Trio Vivian Girls’ Two New Songs, “The End” and “Can’t Get Over You”; New LP Everything Goes Wrong Released September 8 [Myspace]

Popular Music Magazine Pitchfork.com Announces Plans To Present “The Decade In Music” Starting Next Week…Four Months Before Decade Ends. Well, So Much For Journalistic Perspective [Pitchfork]

Sufjan Stevens Announces Fall Tour (!!!!); Four New York Dates In October (!!!!); Fans Giggle Like School Girls [Asthmatic Kitty]

Stream Black Lips/King Khan & BBQ Show Supergroup, The Almighty Defenders’ First Song, “Cone Of Light” – This Track Is Throwback, Handclap Soul And Will Be On Repeat For Several Hours; The Almighty Defenders Released September 22 [Pitchfork]

by Max Sebela

DAILY NEWS PICKS

Cymbals Eat Guitars, Real Estate, and JM.Com’s July Feature Band The Drums All Set To Play Online Record Store Insound’s 10th Anniversary Party at Brooklyn Bowl [Brooklyn Vegan]

John Hughes, Director of The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles, Ferris Buehler’s Day Off, And a Major Force In Popularizing New Wave, Passes Away at 59 [New York Times]

All Tomorrow’s Parties NY Finalizes Its Line-Up; Hüsker Dü’s Bob Mould, Black Moth Super Rainbow, and Menomena Join the Already Bomb-Ass 3-Day Extravaganza [Brooklyn Vegan]

San Francisco’s Outside Lands Music Festival Replaces Headliners Beastie Boys With Tenacious D (Man, There’s Going To Be a Stark Contrast Between Hearing Beasties Highlight “No Sleep Till Brooklyn” and Hearing Tenacious D’s Highlight “Fuck Her Gently”) [Spin]

Purchase Everlasting Punk Force Iggy Pop’s New Album Preliminaries For $3.99 Today Only [Spin]

Bob Dylan, A Jewish American and Cultural Legend, Slated To Release A Christmas Album This Winter – How Is It That Bob Dylan Can Be In Recorded Music For 50 Years, And Still Be Really, Really Weird? [Billboard]

Watch Garage Punk Jay Reatard’s 20-Minute Documentary Waiting For Something; Dude Hilariously Insults Just About Everything, From Thievery, To Audiences, To Effort [Prefix]

UK House Duo Basement Jaxx Announce New LP, Debut New Video For Single, “Raindrops” (This Video Is Absolutely Batshit; It’s As If The Mummy Was Set In Moulin Rouge…Only With Techno); Scars Released October 6 [The Tripwire]

Willy DeVille, Frontman Of Early New York Punk Band Mink DeVille Passes Away At 58 [ABC]

by Max Sebela