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
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
September 12, 2009
#1: A Prologue
THE NINETIES-IST
One Saturday night about six months ago, I was standing outside Academy Records in Williamsburg. It was one of those rare Saturday nights in New York, one where everyone you know decides to go out of town and, just as you get all set to go party, you find yourself in the middle of the perfect stay-at-home-and-catch-up-on-Grisham night. Not one to sit at home on a Saturday night, I found myself hanging around N. 6th Street, trying vainly to stir up a ruckus.
While smoking a cigarette on the street, I happened to overhear a snippet of conversation that set my teeth on edge. Two girls in their early twenties, obviously from money and most likely on vacation from some exclusive private college, walked past Academy. One girl said to the other, “So…do they still make records? And do people still buy…music?” The surprise and disdain in her voice were such that she might as well have been saying, “Remember when people thought the Earth was flat?”
My heart sank at the tone in her voice, because she’d illuminated the problem without even knowing there was one. The mainstream music industry, comically flawed since its inception, has been a creative wasteland for years. While I would posit that the old model for promoting and distributing mainstream music has been showing stress fractures since the fake “vinyl shortage” of the early 70s – in which albums by fringe bands like the Modern Lovers were shelved, the excuse being there wasn’t enough vinyl to meet production demands – it is my astute opinion that the old standard of modern pop music breathed its death rattle in 2003. Sometime after the White Stripes’ Elephant and before Radiohead’s Hail to the Thief (and, in fairness, the industry’s corpse may have kept flopping until Good News For People Who Love Bad News came out in April ’04) the rock-music-as-big-moneymaker model jumped the shark. The last wave of new, compelling rock music (aka the garage rock movement of ’01 – ’03) had failed to ignite: The Strokes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and their ilk had all somehow managed to follow up stunning debuts with tepid sophomore efforts. The lifers – bands with no real hits but respectable catalog sales and devoted followers – began jumping ship from their respective labels (either by necessity or design), many realizing the benefits of working with a small organization, many more marginalized by the continued consolidation of the big label infrastructure.
More on #1: A Prologue
Stream Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Frontwoman Karen O’s First Single Off Where The Wild Things Are Soundtrack – Features A Huge Children’s Sing-Along (Though, Those Kids Don’t Compete With Ryan Gosling’s) [MySpace]
Cult Singer-Songwriter Daniel Johnston Readies His First Album In Six Years Is And Always Was; Released October 6 (Get A First Listen Here) [Pitchfork]
Watch Brooklyn Electro-Pop Duo MGMT Discuss Their Upcoming Album Congratulations; For Up And Coming Pop Giants, These Guys Are Way Boring [NME]
Unheard Recordings By Folk Legend Woody Guthrie To Be Released As 4-Disc Boxed Set, My Dusty Road; Released August 25 [Brooklyn Vegan]
Brooklyn Lo-Fi Softies Times New Viking Announce New Album Born Again Revisited (Stream First Single, “Move to California”); Released September 22 [Prefix]
Watch Radiohead Premiere Their (Free) New Single “These Are My Twisted Words” Live…Is It Just Me, Or Does Thom Yorke Dance A Lot Like The Peanuts Gang? [Pitchfork]
50 Cent Announces New Album Before I Self-Destruct Will Be Released in November; Packaged With His Directorial/Screenwriting Debut…Also, 50 Seems Unsure of What Music He Enjoys [Prefix]
Stream Battles Weirdo Tyondai Braxton’s Second Solo Single, “Platinum Rows” (It Sounds Like A Charlie Chaplin Film Soundtracked By A Speed Addict); Braxton’s Debut LP Central Market Released September 15 [Pitchfork]
compiled by Max Sebela
Jay Reatard To Play Solely Free Record Store Shows on August Tour. (I Don’t Like That He’s Only Playing the West Coast, The Old Folks Don’t Like Him Period) [Pitchfork]
Yargh! One Third Of Us Be Pirates, Research Says [Tiny Mix Tapes]
Melted Barbie Dolls? I Love It. Watch Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Short Film Snakesweat [The Tripwire]
Panic! At the Disco Announces Two New Members [Rolling Stone]
The Soft Pack To Tour This Fall, Hit Bowery Ballroom October 2, and Now I Am “Beside Myself!” [NME]
Drake Gets His Own Sitcom: “about best buddies – and polar opposites – trying to make their way in the entertainment industry.” Original. [Idolator]
What Does It Sound Like When 7 Worlds Collide? Well, Two Parts Radiohead, One Part Wilco…Just Check Out This Supergroup [Stereogum]
Yes, We Know Who You Are. Check Out “Do You Know Who I Am,” The First Available Track From Echo & The Bunnymen’s New Album [Stereogum]
compiled by Erin Sheehy
We Still Wish He’d Made “G Train” Instead: Sufjan Stevens to Release “BQE” Multimedia Set [Pitchfork]
Legendary “Nasty Gal” Betty Davis to Rerelease Two Albums. Funk Yeah! [The Tripwire]
Yeah Yeah Yeahs Replace Beastie Boys at Lollapalooza, No No No Word on Replacement for All Points West [Stereogum]
Yo La Tengo, Bill Callahan, Jay Reatard and More Contribute to Chris Knox Covers Compilation [Pitchfork]
Watch Our New Favorite Joy Division Cover: Steel Drum Band Plays “Transmission” [The Tripwire]
And For A Couple of Not-So-Good Covers: Ian Brown Covers Michael Jackson, Releases Jackson-Inspired Album [Prefix]
Jimi Hendrix’s Doctor Says It’s Plausible That He Was Murdered [NME]
Mmmm…Casper & The Cookies On Tour and in Town Tonight! [Brooklyn Vegan]
New Jarvis Cocker! (Gives Ya Enough Time To Learn The Words And Sing Along At MHOW Next Week) [Stereogum]
Check Out Tour Dates, Download Demos From Raveonettes [SPIN]
compiled by Erin Sheehy
Janet Jackson and Michael’s Brothers May Do Tribute Tour [Billboard]
Historic Lower East Side Punk Collective “ABC No Rio” Gets a Ton of Government Money! Wait…Isn’t That Not Punk? [NYTimes]
Erykah Badu and the Roots Lay Down Quick Cover of Jackson’s “I Wanna Be Where You Are”; Stream It! [Gorilla vs. Bear]
Jay Z Debuts Official “Death of Auto-Tune” Video; Co-Starring LeBron James and Harvey Keitel Getting Hova-ed [Spin]
Pixies To Play All of Seminal Album Doolittle on Tour…Pixies Fans “Gone to Heaven” [NME]
Springsteen Opens With Clash’s “London Calling” At Glastonbury Festival [NME]
Yoko Ono and Sean Lennon to Release Between My Head and the Sky as Plastic Ono Band [Pitchfork]
Slayer Announces Typically-Bad-Ass-Named Album World Painted Blood [Billboard]
MGMT and Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Karen O Guest on Flaming Lips’ Upcoming Embryonic [Pitchfork]
Stream Scotland’s Twlight Sad’s New Single “I Became a Prostitute” [MySpace]
Neil Young and Paul McCartney Play Sgt. Pepper’s “A Day in the Life” at Glastonbury [The Tripwire]
San Francisco’s Recently In the Tube-d Girls Sign to Matador [Tiny Mix Tapes]
compiled by Max Sebela
Yeah Yeah Yeahs It’s Blitz! Tour Won’t Hit Brooklyn [The Tripwire]
The Scoop on Snoop [NYTimes Arts]
Rihanna Tries to Reclaim Rocks [Rolling Stone]
New iPhone Apps Search Blogs [CNET] and Spin Records [Prefix]
Village Voice Siren Fest Still at Coney Island – Initial Lineup Announced [Brooklyn Vegan]
Eminem’s Relapse Track List Leaked [Prefix]
No Age, Deerhunter, and Dan Deacon, Oh My! [Pitchfork]
Decemberists Appear on Colbert Report [Videogum]
Destroyer and Sunset Rubdown Schedule (Separate) NYC Shows [Brooklyn Vegan]
Sonic Youth Summer Tour [Prefix]
Rooftop Films Returns [Brooklyn Vegan]
compiled by Elana Jacobs
