Read a little. Learn a lot. • Tightly-written news, views and stuff • Follow us on Twitter • Be a Facebook Fan • Tumble us!

03 Apr 2010 21:50

tags

Music: Saturday Mixtape: What comes next after the split?

  • OK, they aren’t exactly hip. Doesn’t matter. The Barenaked Ladies are a fascinating band to watch right now. After lead singer Steven Page (who sang, among other hits, “Brian Wilson”) was arrested on drug possession charges in 2008, the band quickly started falling apart, which led to Page’s departure last year. The band continued on as a four-piece and just released a new album, “All in Good Time.” So what comes next for them, and other bands in their spot? We examine.

  • 1. Well, this doesn’t sound like the cheeky band that did rapid-fire hit “One Week” 12 years ago. The Barenaked Ladies sound like weary warriors, trying to get past the one truly controversial moment of their career. It’s traditional pop-rock, but not without bite.
  • 2. The Pixies: Greatest band of the last 25 years probably, right? Well, yeah, but one thing evaded them while they were together – an inescapable hit. Fortunately for Kim Deal, she had another highly-regarded band with her sister Kelley Deal, The Breeders, and they had a major hit right away with “Cannonball.” Frank Black probably wished he had a hit of this caliber after the break-up.
  • 3. Maybe Gorillaz is a better fit for Damon Albarn. After a falling out with Graham Coxon, Blur’s lead singer had to take the lead on the band’s “Think Tank,” an album which notably got a 9.0 on Pitchfork, a C+ in Entertainment Weekly and 2 stars on Allmusic. Albarn hasn’t made another Blur album since, with or without Coxon.
  • 4. At the Drive-in were looking like the great punk heroes of the last decade when, all of a sudden, they split. The love child from this divorce? The Mars Volta, a band which took the crazy, interesting parts of the band’s sound and held on tight. Oh, and Sparta. But nobody remembers Sparta.
  • 5. Jay Farrar’s career didn’t exactly live up to that of Jeff Tweedy’s, but the breakup of Uncle Tupelo sixteen years ago was a huge blow to the alt-country scene. Wilco’s first album, “A.M.,” was a lot of going through the motions, but Farrar’s band Son Volt hit it out of the park with “Trace,” a true classic which they never replicated. Wilco is now a stadium act.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

02 Apr 2010 20:18

tags

Music: Erykah Badu’s $500 fine for naked video a drop in the bucket

  • crime Erykah Badu shot a controversial music video in which she stripped to her skivvies and evoked JFK by getting shot. It drew a huge amount of press and publicity.
  • punishment Badu was charged with disorderly conduct today and was punished with a whopping $500 fine, one which she joked she could pay in merch sales alone. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

02 Apr 2010 17:46

tags

Music: Lil’ Wayne from jail: Thanks, fans, for sticking behind me

Lil’ Wayne has been getting letters while in jail, and he has an official blog to respond to his fans so he doesn’t go crazy and can avoid getting shivved. Weezy thanks you. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

02 Apr 2010 12:41

tags

Music: Dark Side of the NES: Is 8-bit Pink Floyd clever or annoying?

  • Pink Floyd, as you might know, prefers that people listen to their albums in full form, but they never said anything about re-imagined versions of the tunes from “Dark Side of the Moon” thrown together in Famitracker. Above is “Money,” which has a very whiny vocal part. What do you guys think? There’s a whole album available to download. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

01 Apr 2010 00:59

tags

Music: One-word album reviews: Erykah Badu isn’t naked in this post

Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

29 Mar 2010 22:30

tags

Music: Cool bands like The Knife, brought to you by socialism

  • From the outside, there seem to be some people in America afraid of the state. But we’re not. Because Norway is divided: There’s the state, and there’s private ownership of stuff. I think there’s a perfect mix. It’s not communism, but it’s not the U.S. We’re somewhere in between.
  • Smalltown Supersound label runner Joakim Haugland • Regarding his native country, Norway’s, generous financial setup for the arts. In the U.S., rock bands don’t even get health insurance unless they pay for it themselves, while Scandinavian countries (along with Canada and the U.K.) can give their artists money to tour. Some fairly popular indie acts, including Sweden’s The Knife, Norway’s Annie and Canada’s Wolf Parade , have been able to record and tour thanks to the extra help. In the U.S., it’s a different story. Punk rocker Ted Leo nearly had to give up full-time music-making after a loved one got sick. Which is really depressing, especially considering he’s fairly famous. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 1 Comment • Permalink

28 Mar 2010 22:48

tags

Music: Beyonce’s “Irreplaceable” easily replaced by Korean girl on iPhones

  • She shows you how she does it, then she does it. And then you watch it and it makes you feel inferior. Don’t you feel inferior? We know we do.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

27 Mar 2010 19:11

tags

Music: Saturday Mixtape: We’re suckers for a hazy, summery vibe

  • Summer can’t come soon enough for indie rockers, it seems, because the sound du jour at the moment is a hazy brand of indie rock, much less abrasive than 2008’s noisy lo-fi model (we’re looking at you, No Age and Wavves). Guitars, synths, doesn’t matter: The vibe is key here. And it started with some guy named Ariel Pink.

  • 1. The sad, whining tone of the guitar intro on The Morning Benders’ “Excuses” gives way to a fairly clean sound, but it’s one clearly informed by the calming fuzz of a warm summer day. The Beach Boys wrote the outline, but not the plot, here.
  • 2. They like Neon Indian, they really like him. Last year, the Nintendo-baked project actually drew a degree of success that put it in the forefront of the “chillwave” movement. It’s a lot more accessible than some of the other stuff here. In a good way.
  • 3. A buddy of Animal Collective, Ariel Pink never got the critical praise of his mentors, until it became clear that indie’s path was colliding into his often-bizarre, noise-worn sounds. This song, one of the hundreds he’s recorded over the years, had a proper release way back in 2004, yet it fits in perfectly here. Hm. With the extra attention (he recently signed to big indie 4AD), expect him to have a solid 2010.
  • 4. Bradford Cox, too, has been around a while between Deerhunter and Atlas Sound, but his last Atlas Sound album “Logos,” has a definite worn-out-summer vibe that fits perfectly here. It’s one not reflected in any of his previous albums, but seems to nail the moment perfectly. When we hear “My Halo,” want to laze out. Seriously.
  • 5. Somewhere, below the layers of noise covering up Best Coast’s “Sun Was High (So Was I),” is a killer hook in a killer female vocal. Like the best hooks, it cuts through, saying “listen to me again.” And usually, we’re forced to comply.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

27 Mar 2010 17:10

tags

Music: YouTube idiocy: Beyonce accused of violating her own copyright

Dear Sony, and heck, YouTube: Do you actually read the DMCA complaints before submitting them? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

23 Mar 2010 21:32

tags

Music: One-word album reviews: We hate Justin Bieber and his new album

Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
<< newer 
top tags
older >>