March 31, 2006
Former Stylus contributor Rollie Pemberton recaps his SXSW experience.
- have two chicken fajitas before rapping with subtitle and noah 23 at islands show, i am totally hammered, but do a good job.
- complain for the rest of the night about spicy fajitas. go into a drunken spice-based dementia. won’t fucking shut up about spicy fajitas. say something like ’spice holocaust in my mouth’.
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Michael Bay will be directing a live action version of Transformers, but something tells us they won’t beat the original version, which featured the voice of Orson Welles and the music of Weird Al.
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There is nothing more uncomfortable then watching a rock band perform on a late night talk show. The sound is terrible, the band is stiff, the host barely knows who he is introducing - it’s a dead format that begs to be revised. Prefix Mag just posted three recent late night gigs from Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Strokes and Jose Gonzalez, which walk that thin line between enjoyable and blah. See for yourself, and let me know who you think pulled it off the best.
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Mocking Music has a nice post on the genre-not-genre C86.
C86 is a type of music, but what it describes is a contentious point. Its original meaning can be agreed upon at least. What it began as was a free cassette that came with issues of the British magazine NME in 1986 (hence, cassette 1986), later available for purchase as an LP through Rough Trade. Like its predecessor, C81, it featured a slew of up and coming indie acts. Unlike C81, this cassette’s indie acts were far more indie and less established.
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Stylus writer Al Shipley has some further notes on Baltimore club music, along with a few MP3s.
Unruly is pretty much the most important label in the history of Baltimore club music, and though they’ve put out some fairly big local records in the past year (like Mullyman’s album and K-Swift’s Vol. 6 mix), this new Club Classics double CD comp, which I believe just came out today, is really shaping up to be their big push to re-establish themselves now that there’s actually a booming market for club music outside Bmore.
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Hip Hop Music reports that Los Angeles will be cutting a check for $1.1 million to the family and estate of Notorious B.I.G. “for legal costs incurred during the botched civil case brought against the City of Los Angeles.”
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The Detroit Electronic Music Festival this year has been taken over by a new promotions team: Paxahau Promotions Group. It’s a passing of the torch, so to speak, from the old guard (Saunderson, May, etc.) to the new one (m-nus, carl craig, UR, Ghostly, etc.).
This list of artists that the group has brought to Detroit in the recent past should give you an idea of where the festival might be headed this year, when it rolls around on Memorial Day weekend:
Mathew Jonson / Dan Bell / Zip / Luomo / Superpitcher / Metope / Steve Bug / Ada / Luciano / Monolake / Richie Hawtin / Thomas Fehlmann / Akufen / Michael Mayer / Steve Bug / Stewart Walker / Troy Pierce / Sammy Dee / Isolee / Pheek / Funkstorung / Biosphere / Green Velvet
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Greencine Daily has a post with a number of links devoted to the new movie Brick.
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All the news that’s fit to print…
Pitchfork Media
-Oldham, Johnston, Wolf Pay Tribute to Pet Sounds [LINK]
-The Replacements Return! [LINK]
-Kurt Cobain Immortalized/Desecrated as Action Figure [LINK]
-Interpol talk photos, Stipe, Interscope [LINK]
NME
-Dirty Pretty Things expand tour [LINK]
-Siouxsie And The Banshees classics get new look [LINK]
-Muse to ’shock’ fans [LINK]
-Prince achieves first US Number One LP debut [LINK]
CMJ
-The Concretes Bring ‘Colour’ To North America [LINK]
-DJ Shadow Preps New Album [LINK]
-Rainer Maria On Tour [LINK]
-Annie Enlists Famous Friends For New Album [LINK]
Tiny Mixtapes
-On the Subject of Digital Download Singles [LINK]
-”Tickle-me Kurt Cobain” [LINK]
-Paul Simon Surprise [LINK]
-Billy Bragg Signs With Anti Records [LINK]
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March 30, 2006
Man Without Ties, a Paul Westerberg fansite, passes along the news that the surviving Replacements will be recording two new songs for a single-disc best-of (Don’t You Know Who I Think I Was?: The Best of the Replacements) due in 2007 on Rhino Records.
Also to be released, with a tentative date of “sometime before the end of the year,” are remasters of the Minnesotans’ catalog.
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Kelefa Sanneh has an article in today’s Times talking about the unlikely comeback of Bubba Sparxxx.
Five years ago, Bubba Sparxxx unveiled his career plan. He was a white rapper from La Grange, Ga., who suddenly — which is to say, finally — found himself headed toward the pop charts. After years of hustling he had acquired the one thing every aspiring hip-hop star wants: a big-name mentor.
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The Boston Phoenix’s blog, On the Download, has a nice look back at the recently departed Nikki Sudden.
Nearly every other news source in the indie-sphere will tell you all about Sudden’s time in the hair-raising, Fall-esque Swell Maps, or of his subsequent bands the Jacobites and the Last Bandits. But I will always remember Nikki Sudden for the one week I spent with him in April of 2003…well, sort of spent with him.
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The new way to generate traffic on a blog is by giving stuff away. Stereogum and Chromewaves always run a ton of contests, and now Gorilla vs. Bear is following suit. Check out two giveaways that take no effort, but could produce a nice little reward.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs giveaway (scroll down to get to post)
Destroyer giveaway
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Pop Justice has a collection of YouTube videos of the KLF, reconfirming their genius.
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The good people at Videoteque have The Streets’ nearly comple videography available for your perusal.
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Elliott Wilson breaks down every sample used on Ghostface’s newest album with sound samples included.
ew MC’s have a finer taster’s choice of picking the proper beats to back-up their formidable flows. Ghost is truly a soul baby and anything he busts his larynx over I must possess. It’s the reason why I’ve feverishly over the past week been gathering all the songs that have been used in the creation of his latest incredible LP, Fishcale.
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Psych!
I hope you’ve pre-registered for the 2006 National Postal Forum in Orlando, Florida, because this is your chance to take in Little Feat with fellow postalphiliacs:
Rock the Night Away . . . at Wednesday night’s exciting closing gala. Meet us for dinner and a private concert with country music sensation Little Feat, a freewheeling fusion of California rock and Dixie-inflected funk-boogie! Time has loved these musical heroes for more than three decades, and we are sure you will too.
But it’s not all Dixie-inflected funk-boogie and freewheeling fusion: oh no! You absolutely cannot miss the two-part ‘Address Quality Symposium,’ and when the new four-state barcode is unveiled, I guarantee that the Gaylord Palms Resort and Convention Center will go batshit fucking crazy.
Walk-up registration begins April 1st.
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Greencine’s David D’Arcy has a comprehensive interview with David Cronenberg, covering nearly his entire career.
What I really wanted to do [with History of Violence] was replicate the kind of emotional roller coaster that you have in the course of a normal day. You read something tragic, and you’re upset; then something funny happens in your office, and then someone calls you in a panic. All of these things happen. Why can’t a movie have that many moods within it? The template for movies these days is very clunky. Normal movies - that is to say, Hollywood movies and those that follow that pattern - tend to be “now it’s sad, and the music is sad, and the lighting is sad, and everything’s sad,” so you know it’s sad. And then you can move on to something that’s funny. There’s never any mixed scene of tones and moods. People can get confused. They can think that they’re supposed to be solemn, because it’s a Cronenberg movie, and they think that’s a serious thing. But I’ve never made a movie that’s not funny. They’re all funny.
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Did I really expect it to last? For Three 6 Mafia to remain untainted? With three-fourths of the current incarnation coming off a GMU-like Oscar win, Jordan, Paul and Cedric were a bit like astronauts: they touched the face of God for a few days, but when they re-entered the pull of Earth, they got moon-germs and shit on ‘em. Now, normally they would have to sit in a tent for a day or something; instead, they’ve given the moon-germs studio time. Paris Hilton and Three 6 Mafia? Sounds as unlikely as “Academy Award-winners Three 6 Mafia,” I guess.
But on Saturday, thought of square-headed heiresses will fade like fog when Memphis declares “Three 6 Mafia Day” and hands over the key to the city.
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Star-Telegram film critic Christopher Kelly celebrates the recent spate of horror films and their function in today’s society.
What has emerged, instead, is a modern strain of horror that takes us straight back to the politically conscious, deeply despairing 1970s classics like The Last House on the Left, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, and the original Hills Have Eyes. The often hopeless message of these movies is, “Your life may seem perfect right now, but the other shoe is about to drop, at which point there will be no one around to save you.” And it’s a message that seems scarily appropriate for a generation of teens and twentysomethings who were mostly raised in privilege but whose lives have had a pall cast over them — first by the omnipresent threat of terrorist attacks and now by an ongoing war in Iraq.
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All the news that’s fit to print…
Pitchfork Media
-Exclusive: Interpol on Photos, Michael Stipe, Interscope [LINK]
-Surprise! Brian Eno Collaborates With Paul Simon [LINK]
-Seu Jorge tours North America [LINK]
-Melt-Banana, Ex Models honor the Birthday Party [LINK]
NME
-Apple responds to iPod volume fears [LINK]
-Britney Spears nude birth sculpture causes storm [LINK]
-Bloc Party unveil second album [LINK]
-Three teenagers stabbed following Lethal Bizzle gig [LINK]
CMJ
-The Roots To Honor J Dilla With Benefit [LINK]
-An Albatross Tour Even More [LINK]
-Tool Prepares Fans For ‘10,000 Days’ [LINK]
-Vetiver Prep Album For Fat Cat [LINK]
Tiny Mixtapes
-Konono No. 1 Tour [LINK]
-A Whisper in the Noise Attacked [LINK]
-Canada Gets It Right [LINK]
-Grizzly Bear Tour [LINK]
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March 29, 2006
The Onion AV Club has a nice interview with Janet Weiss, the drummer for Sleater-Kinney and Quasi, talking about what’s on her iPod these days.
David Bowie, “Running Gun Blues”
JW: I’m getting pretty lucky here. There’s all my crap songs, and I’m surprised that none of my guilty pleasures have come up.
The A.V. Club: What were some of your guilty pleasures?
JW: I’m not going to tell you! Do I have to? Let’s just say no Justin Timberlake or poppy stuff. I won’t totally blow my cover. That’s a great song too, “Running Gun Blues.” I remember in fifth grade having arguments with my best friend about who was better, The Rolling Stones or David Bowie. And at that point, I thought David Bowie was better. Now I’m not so sure. David Bowie was my first concert in fifth grade, like a huge stadium concert. I think it was the one after Diamond Dogs. I remember when Diamond Dogs came to town, I was really little and not allowed to go. I went with my friend, and my two older sisters went too, but they didn’t sit with us.
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Tim Young has set up a group podcast from a variety of mp3 bloggers and podcasters, entitled the “Contrast Podcast.” The first episode centers around the theme of “One.”
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I hope the guys (and gals) at YouTube are making a ton of money, because they sure deserve it for making such a kickass site. If you want to see a really bizarre Flaming Lips video for their cover of Bohemian Rhapsody, check it out here.
I love how Wanye has to compose himself after the naked girl walks by (yes I said naked girl… oh so now you’re going to watch it - real mature).
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New York comedy uber-Boswell The Apiary points us towards musical comedy duo Stuckey and Murray’s new single and video: “Unicorn in C Major.” Not work-safe.
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Clipse’s new album still hasn’t come out yet, but XXL still has some details to whet the appetite.
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Buddyhead points out that the video to Depeche Mode’s “Suffer Well” from their latest, Playing the Angel is slightly insane. Agreed.
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IFC’s blog has a nice round-up of some recent concert documentaries, including the Beastie Boys’ Awesome; I Fuckin’ Shot That! and the upcoming Glastonbury. In addition, they’ve imagined some possible future subjects for the camera’s eye.
“Rock ‘n’ Roll Star: Oasis in Los Angeles”
A thirteen-hour documentary on Oasis’ legendarily testy Los Angeles show on their first US tour (leading to the band’s temporary break-up). Subject piles into a Honda Civic with three other concert-goers and takes a five-hour ride to LA. Arriving at the club, subject is denied entrance despite presenting as evidence of her having reached legal drinking age an expired passport belonging to her friend’s boyfriend’s Korean cousin. Subject waits outside the venue until the concert is over, at which point the four embark on the drive back home.
Highlight: At a rest stop Denny’s, one concert-goer places french fries in his nostrils and proceeds to do a passable walrus imitation.
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Cinematical points us towards a plot leak of Spiderman 3 that seems reasonable.
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All the news that’s fit to print…
Pitchfork Media
-Neko Case Kicks Off Tour Tonight [LINK]
-Grizzly Bear to Release Demos, Tour [LINK]
-José González plays “Conan”; re-releases LP [LINK]
-Placebo bring Meds to the States [LINK]
NME
-Gnarls Barkley set to make UK chart history [LINK]
-DJ Shadow previews new album [LINK]
-Wolfmother declare The Darkness ‘hams’ [LINK]
-Annie ropes in famous pals on new album [LINK]
CMJ
-Kurt Cobain Becomes Action Figure [LINK]
-Morrissey Boycotts Canada [LINK]
-Os Mutantes Reunite [LINK]
-Lidell’s ‘Multiply’ Gets Additions [LINK]
Tiny Mixtapes
-Lightning Bolt Tour [LINK]
-Warner Music Group “Acquires” Ryko Corporation for $67.5 Million [LINK]
-Regina Spektor! Album! Tour! [LINK]
-Classical Downloads [LINK]
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