Watch Video For Passion Pit’s “Little Secrets” (The One With All Those Kids Screaming “Higher and Higher! Yay!”); Video Looks a Lot Like Tron, But Not Nearly As Good (It’s Only Marginally Better Than Tron Legacy) [Youtube]
Someone Decided a Sleigh Bells/Weezy Mash-Up Was a Good Idea; We Bring You “Fireman on the Ground,” Which is Terrifyingly Abrasive. Elsewhere, Check Out Our Pictures of Sleigh Bells Playing Our October Feature Show [Prefix]
Stream Brooklyn’s Crystal Antlers Covering Bob Dylan’s “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue,” Which Is Great In a We-Sound-Like-High-Schoolers-Covering-Dylan Kind of Way [Fader]
Your Favorite Post-Collegiate, Post-Ironic, Afro-Bombastic Pop Band Vampire Weekend Announce Winter US Tour; Contra, In All It’s Fantastically Despised Glory, is Released January 17; Elsewhere, Stream New VW Track “Cousins,” Which I Despise Fantastically [NME]
King Khan and BBQ Show Issue Statement About the Band’s Arrest; All Interested Parties Remain Unphased and Unsurprised by Fact that These Guys Keep a Good Stock of Shrooms in Their Tour Van [Pitchfork]
Stream New Beach House, “Norway,” off the Upcoming LP Teen Dream, Released January 26 (I Know, Usually, at the Very Mention of Beach House, I Would Imply How Boring They Are. But, This Song Quite Gorg……. – Whoops, Fell Alseep Again (Kidding, It’s Really Good) [Gorilla vs. Bear]
Watch Possibly Seizure Inducing Video For Beyonce and Lady Gagas’ “Video Phone;” I Know You’ve Always Wanted to See Beyonce and Gaga Wield Enormous Guns…Give Into That Urge [Spin]
NME Releases Hilariously “NME-Esque” List of Their Top Albums of the Decade; Top Ten Includes the Strokes (at Number 1), Libertines (Number 2), Primal Scream (Number 3), The Streets (Number 9)…Well, You Get it. They Like Brit-Rock. A Lot [NME]
compiled by Max Sebela
Stream the Entirety of the Them Crooked Vultures Self-Titled Album, Which is, In My Opinion, a Bit of a Let Down (But, Hey, I Think Led Zeppelin’s Entire Career is a Bit of a Let Down…) [Youtube]
The Magnetic Fields Announce New Album, Realism, Set to be Released January 26; Stephen Merritt Remains Better at Naming Songs Than Just About Anyone, With Song Titles Like “We are Having a Hootenanny” and “Everything is One Big Christmas Tree” [Pitchfork]
Watch Claymation Video From anticon. Founders Themselves, “Roman is as Roman Does,” Which is Nearly as Frightening as Lady GaGa’s Video For “Bad Romance” [Prefix]
Stream Beck, Binki Shapiro, and Devendra Banharts’ Version of Leonard Cohen’s “One of Us Cannot Be Wrong;” Grow Frustrated When Finding Out That Banhart Still Shows a Lot of Talent Even Though What Will We Be Was Awful (And Self-Fulfilling: A Poorly Conceived Album is What We Will Be) [Gorilla vs. Bear]
British Electro Rockers Hot Chip Announce New Album, One Life Stand, Which is the Quality of Emo-Pun I’d Expect from the All American Rejects; Released Februrary 9 [Spin]
The Drums Announce New Single Release of “I Felt Stupid” from the JM Approved Summertime! EP; I Look Back Fondly On When the Drums Were Our July Featured Artist, and Encourage You All To Go See Home Video (Our Current Feature Artist) This Thursday [NME]
Stream Delorean Remixing Franz Ferdinand’s Tonight Track “Live Alone,”and Turns It Into One Big World Music Party Jam! Drinks All Around (Preferably Served Out of Some Kind of Exotic Balearic Fruit…Perhaps a Kiwi) [Pitchfork]
Stream New Single from that Swedish Glow-Fi Band jj, “Baby,” Which is Set to an Understated Montage of Graceful Horses, and is Deliciously Auto-tuned (As Much as a Song Can be Delicious, as Sound is Not Edible) [Gorilla vs. Bear]
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
The Wrens (That “Legendary” Jersey Emo-Punk Band Who Have Managed Legendary Status By Only Releasing Three Records Over 20 Years) To Play 2002’s The Meadowlands From Start to Finish; Elsewhere, The Wrens Probably Aren’t Releasing Anything Until Like 2016 [Brooklyn Vegan]
As Much As I Don’t Like 50 Cent, The Album Cover to Before I Self Destruct Is Fucking Awesome, and Makes a Good Case For 50 Taking Up Arnold’s Role in the Next Train Wreck Terminator Sequel [Idolator]
Watch Bruce Springsteen Debut New Song, “Wrecking Ball” At Giants Stadium; Going Against All Odds, Springsteen Surprises Fans By Writing a Song About Life in New Jersey….WHAAAAA? [Spin]
Fatboy Slim Announces Sideproject With David Byrne, Martha Wainwright, and…Cyndi Lauper?; Here Lies Love (Apparenty A Concept Album About Former First Lady of the Phillipines…To Whom None of the Above Most Likely Have Any Connection, Especially Lauper) Released Sometime in 2010 [NME]
Stream Another New Devendra Banhart Song, “Angelika;” Sounds Like a Donovan Song, Suddenly Overtaken By Buena Vista Social Club, Which is Not As Awesome As It Sounds; What Will We Be Released October 27 [Pitchfork]
Kanye West’s and Lady’s Gaga’s Fame Kills Tour MAY Be Cancelled ALLEGEDLY Due to RUMORS that Kanye POSSIBLY Is Checking Into Rehab For HYPOTHETICAL Alcoholism; In Other News, This Is An Unsubstantiated Rumor [Prefix]
The Compact Disc Celebrates Its 27th Birthday; Like Many 27 Year Olds, The CD Will Be Mourning Its Seemingly Imminent Death By Looking At More Youthful Versions of Itself Online (Hopefully Via Lala…What a Great Service) [Idolator]
Stream Animal Collective’s Remix of Phoenix’s “Love Like a Sunset” – Tribal, Glitchy, Airy; How Does Animal Collective Manage To Make Every Song They Remix Sound Like ANY Animal Collective Song? [Gorilla vs. Bear]
Watch New Black Lips Video For 200 Million Thousand Cut “Let It Grow;” Starts Pretty Normal, Buffalo 66 Style…Ends With a Lot of Aliens, And Slightly Necrophilia-Centric Images [Stereogum]
The Hold Steady’s Franz Nicolay To Release a Collection of Short Stories, Entitled Complicated Gardening Techniques In January; I Make Vow To Report Any Hold Steady News No Matter How Seemingly Insignificant [Pitchfork]
compiled by Max Sebela
Devastatingly Earnest Punk Rocker Ted Leo Signs To Matador; Announces It Via Devastatingly Earnest Blog Post ; New Ted Leo Album Due Out “Sometime In the Coming Spring” – Chances Are It Will Be Devastatingly Earnest [Brooklyn Vegan]
Justin Timberlake Set to Star As Napster Co-Founder Sean Parker in The Social Network, A Movie About The History of Social Networks…In a Post-Modern Twist, Since Justin Timberlake’s Music Was Downloaded On Napster, His Character May Have To Mention Downloading N*Sync Tracks; Brains Hurt [NME]
Kanye West and Lady Gaga Release Teaser Video For Upcoming “Fame Kills” Tour; Features What Looks Like Kanyes Hand Doing Unspeakable Things To Lady Gaga (Yeah, It is a Must-View) [Pitchfork]
Watch Video For Danish Rockers Mew’s “Repeaterbeater” – It’s Uhh…Really Weird (But It’s Got Ghosts! And Air Guitar!); No More Stories In Stores Now [Prefix]
Stream “Bad Lover,” A New Track From (REALLY REALLY GOOD) Brooklyn Duo Small Black (Did I Mention They Are Like…REALLY REALLY GOOD?); Small Black EP Released October 13 [Stereogum]
Philadelphia Dream Pop Act Sunny Day in Glasgow Looking For Another Singer, Even Though From the Sounds of Their Albums, They Already Have 30; Ashes Grammar In Stores Now [Brooklyn Vegan]
Stream Ben Gibbard’s and Son Volt Frontman Jay Farrar’s Collaboration, “These Roads Don’t Move,” Supposedly Based on Jack Kerouac’s Big Sur; Search For Kerouac References, Realize There Are None, And Accept That It’s Just a Twangy Death Cab Song [NPR]
Watch Trailer For Some Days are Better than Others, Starring Shins Frontman James Mercer and Sleater-Kinner Guitarist Carrie Brownstein; Better Yet, Watch This…It’ll Change Your Life, And Is Ostensibly The Same Thing [Pitchfork]
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Nominees Announced; Among the Crappy Ones (cough Kiss), Are The Stooges, Donna Summer, and Laura Nyro; If Red Hot Chili Peppers Are Inducted Before The Stooges, Rock and Roll Has Lost All Meaning [Spin]
Remember The Last 48 Hours, As You Had To Cope With T-Pain Giving Up Autotune? Well, Breathe Easy…And Then Proceed To Take Your Shirt Off (T-Pain Said So) [Nappy Boy Online]
compiled by Max Sebela
September 22, 2009
Lady Gaga |“Paparazzi” at the VMAs
IN THE TUBE
It’s amazing how successful the recent VMAs have been at making people forget that MTV isn’t very cool (or musically relevant). Because, beyond Kanye’s goof, Beyonce and Lady Gaga offered up some pretty revelatory performances, and it seems like the VMAs, right now, are one of the most important forums for musical innovation. Beyonce’s “Single Ladies,” briefly, was one of the best classic pop-performances, insofar as pop and spectacle can and should be married, that I’ve ever seen. It was like a maniacal, hyper-sexed, de-geometrized Busby Berkeley production. Beyonce is a super good dancer and just, you know, really hot. And my favorite part of the whole bit is that she doesn’t even really try to pretend like she’s not lip synching. What a cool girl.
But it’s Lady Gaga’s “Paparazzi” that really surprised me. I’d neither seen nor heard Gaga until my buddy Pete showed me her VMA performance, and I was pretty blown away. Call me an old-timer, but I just don’t recall there being anything like this when I was young enough to even want to watch the VMAs. Madonna is an obvious precursor, however, Madonna was clearly a pop starlet first and foremost; she may have pushed the limits of public and performative sexual expression but I don’t honestly think she ever intended anything other than the amplification of “Madonna” as a brand. Lady Gaga, staring blankly at the camera, hanging dead and covered with blood, just seems to be psyched to fuck with me. I don’t even think I like the song, although it’s a serviceable enough pop song. I just get the distinct impression that Gaga’s a calculated prankster, that her intentions are more the dissolution of pop celebrity than her own star power. Between this performance of “Paparazzi” and its official video, her WTF factor is epic. I’m clearly behind the buzz on this one, but the choreographed cripple dance? The martyrdom? The crazy? There are totally a million seven-year-olds soaking this stuff up. Which is kind of amazing and way more radical than Madonna having sex with Jesus [Editor’s note: not that Jesus]. Well, maybe not. But… wait for it…THERE’S BLOOD IN HER EYEBALL. That’s dedication.
by Chris Kiehne
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
Listen to New Built To Spill Track, “Hindsight,” Off Their Upcoming LP (Good To Have You Back, Guys); There Is No Enemy Released October 6 [Pitchfork]
Vivian Girls, Titus Andronicus, and Andrew W.K. Will Be Part of Canadian Punks Fucked Up For One Night…Meanwhile, Here’s A Video of Fucked Up Frontman Pinkeyes Eating Beach Balls [Brooklyn Vegan]
Hear Swedish Pitchfork-Darlings jj Cover Welcome Back Kotter’s Theme Song…If You Don’t, Up You’re Nose With A Rubber Hose [Gorilla vs. Bear]
Listen to “Bangarang,” A Song Composed Of Almost Nothing But Samples From Spielberg Classic Hook – Honestly, This Is The First Contender Pogo Has Had As The Reigning King Of Kids-Movie-Electro [The Daily Swarm]
Hear New Deerhunter Track “Vox Celeste 5” Appearing On A Limited Edition Sub Pop Singles Club…It’s Spacey, Noisy, and Decidedly Cheeful [Hype Machine]
Lady Gaga Self Proclaimed “Hardest-Working Woman In Pop;” Admits To Licking The Cover Of Green Day’s Dookie (Which I’d Believe, Because Her Mouth Reeks Of It) [NME]
Ziggy Stardust and The Endangered Spiders From Malaysia: German Biologist Names New Species of Spider Heteropoda davidbowie. Now We Need Scientists To Name An Iguana Iguanidae agingkeithrichards [Daily Swarm]
compiled by Max Sebela
