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
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
Now a Monster of Folk, Conor Oberst Says Goodbye to Bright Eyes with Final LP [Prefix]
Leonard Cohen Announces Fall US Tour, Playing MSG [Pitchfork]
Jay-Z’s The Blueprint 3 to Feature MGMT, Inexplicably [Stereogum]
Stream New Times New Viking Track — Now with More Tape Hiss! [The Tripwire]
Modest Mouse Set August 4th Release Date for Long Awaited Odds-and-Ends EP [Pitchfork]
Os Mutantes to Release First Album in 35 Years on ANTI- [BrooklynVegan]
Yo La Tengo Announce Fall Tour, NYC Date with Black Lips [Prefix]
compiled by Sean Hallarman
Weekly Review
For the small number of you not out at the first official Pool Party of the summer (or for the many of you waiting in the forever-long line with your iPhones and nothing to do), here’s a wrap-up of this week’s music news…
At the local level: 2009 Summer Park Jams (already underway) and Siren Festival (taking place next weekend), schedules finalized. Both promise to be rollicking good, sweaty summer times. Also, Sufjan (Brooklyn resident) reworking Enjoy Your Rabbit for the Brooklyn quartet Osso. Resulting LP will be called Run Rabbit Run.
At the state level: Shellac, Crystal Castles, and Sufjan (crossing local-state boundaries), have been added to All Tomorrow’s Parties lineup. Will take place from September 11th-13th in Monticello, NY.
At the national level, in order of importance: Foo Fighters played 4th of July party last Sunday for Obama, debuted new song; NIN has announced lineup of final shows; and Panic at the Disco now (again) Panic! At the Disco.
At the international level, Leonard Cohen has enforced strict no-more-“Hallelujah”-cover policy. And, the only piece of news to reach an intergalactic level, David Bowie will release new EP this month, featuring “Space Oddity,” to celebrate the 40th anniversary of man walking on the moon.
by Elana Jacobs
Nas Writing New Album; Claims Hip-Hop Has Responsibility To “Keep Shit Crunchy” [Billboard]
Jay Reatard Thinks Pains of Being Pure at Heart is Boring and Therefore Hates Entirety of Brooklyn [Brooklyn Vegan]
Bring a Can of Squirt and See Girl Talk For Free (Wait, They Still Make Squirt?) [Pitchfork]
Nine Inch Nails’ Final Tour Announced – Four Confirmed New York Dates in August [Brooklyn Vegan]
Most Banal News Story of the Day: Panic at the Disco Re-Rename Themselves Panic! At the Disco [Idolator]
Scottland’s The Swell Season Record Announce New Album The Strict Joy [Spin]
Shellac(!), Crystal Castles(!), and Sufjan Stevens (!!!!) Added to All Tomorrow’s Parties New York [Brooklyn Vegan]
Leonard Cohen Feels “Hallelujah” Has Been Covered Too Many Times; Meanwhile, Some Highschooler Covers “Hallelujah” For Girlfriend [NME]Leon
Dinosaur Jr.’s Farm Recalled For Rocking Too Hard; Causing Deafness [Pitchfork]
Jay-Z Possibly To Release Book of Lyrical Explanations [Prefix]
Madonna Performs With Sunn O)); Picture is Unbelievably Awesome [Tripwire]
compiled by Max Sebela
Stream Austin Garage Rockers White Denim’s New Album Fits From NME [NME]
Leonard Cohen, Wolf Parade, Japandroids, and Fucked Up (?!) Long-Listed For Polaris Prize [Idolator]
Sigur Rós Wins Icelandic Game Show “Poppunktur;” Are Now Returning Champs [Pitchfork]
The Boss’s Blue Collar Looks a Little White, Withholding the Best Tickets From His Shows [NJ.Com]
Virgin Megastores Across the Country Officially Closed [Idolator]
Hip-Hop May Not Be Dead: Beastie Boys Duet With Nas at Bonnaroo [Pitchfork]
Lil Wayne Announces “Young Money Presents: America’s Most Wanted Music Festival” [SPIN]
Trent Reznor Retires From Live Music in the U.S. [NME]
Blur Finally Return to Live Stage [Pitchfork]
Michael Jackson Hires Lou Ferrigno, the 70s Incredible Hulk, as Trainer [Prefix]
compiled by Max Sebela
April 13, 2009
The Reverend John DeLore
LOCAL SPOTLIGHT NYC
I would advise you never to underestimate the power of a pop chord progression. But when you’re listening to The Reverend John DeLore, you’re probably not qualifying anything anyway. You’re probably too busy drumming the steering wheel of your Chevy pickup, flying, windows down, across some prairie. Or if, like me, you’re stuck in front your computer in your apartment in Brooklyn, then put on his latest album Ode to an American Urn and you’ll be transported to said prairie real fast. The album is an arsenal of some of the catchiest hooks and lead riffs this side of Ryan Adams. And if you don’t like Ryan Adams, just hold out for the grittier ballads and love songs later in the album.
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March 26, 2009
Leonard Cohen | Death of a Ladies’ Man
HIDDEN GEM
Leonard Cohen
Death of a Ladies’ Man
1997 | Sony
Having only “Everybody Knows” as a reference point to the world of Leonard Cohen, I was quite surprised when I dropped the needle on Death of a Ladies’ Man. A collaboration with Phil Spector, the 1977 album contains none of the Cohen classics that have been covered (and in the case of Jeff Buckley’s version of “Hallelujah,” strangled) numerous times over the years. Indeed, the album was hated by Cohen fans and didn’t sell particularly well, either.
The discovery that Leonard Cohen’s body of work exists beyond the guttural, too-many-Pall-Malls voice on “Everybody Knows” is a welcome one. Wrapped tightly in Phil Spector’s massive Wall of Sound, Cohen’s croon is reminiscent of John Wesley Harding-era Bob Dylan (who sings backup on “Don’t Go Home With Your Hard-On”), and vaguely bored, not unlike the innoculated, adenoidal singing style that typified 80s New Wave bands like Captain Sensible and the Buggles. “Paper Thin Hotel” is a slow, languid ballad about a jilted lover listening to his woman, making love to another man in the next room. When Cohen sings, “You ran your bath and you began to sing/I felt so good I couldn’t feel a thing,” it is apparent that the narrator pines for the woman in the other room, despite the cuckholdry she’s committing. Later, on the devastatingly achy title track, Cohen describes meeting his love: “‘I never even knew how much I wanted you,” she said/His muscles they were numbered and his style was obsolete/‘O baby, I have come too late.’/She knelt beside his feet.” Cohen’s narrator has found his ideal woman, but after too many years of wanting and loss, and he can’t keep her with only the sex games that he’s perfected on others.
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