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23 Mar 2010 10:34

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Music: Good night, sweet WOXY: Great internet radio station in flux

  • A sad day for internet radio. WOXY, an internet station run by Future Sounds (which notably went from terrestrial to online-only), was forced to shut down live broadcasts today. While they could come back to life, it doesn’t sound super-promising based on the message left here. *sigh* If only they were charmed, like Pandora. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

17 Mar 2010 22:33

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Music: R.I.P. dude: Four ways you know Memphis rocker Alex Chilton

  • Sadly, Alex Chilton is the second Memphis music legend to die this year. The first, Jay Reatard, was a still-growing legend greatly inspired by him. And he had good reason to be inspired. Chilton was one of the principals behind Big Star, a band that ALWAYS comes up in conversations about underrated bands. Chilton died today at 59, reportedly of a heart attack. Here’s how you should remember him.

  • 1. At the tender age of 16, Chilton peaked commercially. His band, The Box Tops, scored a No. 1 hit with “The Letter,” a tune known more for its prominence than who sang it.  The band had more hits, but none as lasting as this soul-tinged classic.
  • 2. You know this song in a different form. For nearly a decade, it was the theme song to “That 70s Show,” but before that, it was a Big Star tune. And well, it still is. Know what a popular TV show theme song gives you? Financial security.
  • 3. “Remember what we said about ‘Paint it Black.'” “Thirteen” may be the best song ever written about adolescence, and it’s a tune that’s covered often, most notably by the also-deceased Elliott Smith.
  • 4. You know you’ve made it when Paul Westerberg writes a song about you, and it’s really freaking good. “Alex Chilton” was immortalized as a Replacements single, and Chilton himself played on the band’s “Can’t Hardly Wait.”
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

17 Mar 2010 22:09

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Music: A Big Star flames out: Alex Chilton dead. Twitter takes it in.



Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

16 Mar 2010 22:59

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Music: One-word album reviews: Fang Island and lots of holding patterns

Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

14 Mar 2010 11:57

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Music: Acrassicauda: Yes, there is a heavy metal band in Iraq

See these dudes here? They’re the only band in Iraq that plays heavy metal. You know you have to be hard and heavy if you can avoid IEDs. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

13 Mar 2010 14:00

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Music: Saturday Mixtape: Is Titus Andronicus the best of 2010 so far?

  • 1. It’s big, it’s messy, and it’s not really about the Civil War. But man, is it a lot of fun. “Four Score and Seven,” an eight minute track off Titus Andronicus‘ excellent second album, “The Monitor,” has a lot of everything, but doesn’t feel like a dirge. That says a lot.
  • 2. It’s pretty awesome to see Lou Reed used this well this late in his career. This Gorillaz tune, “Some Kind of Nature,” is one of the Velvet Underground singer’s best performances – guest or otherwise – in years. It’s a credit to Damon Albarn that he fits in so well.
  • 3. Man, we missed Ted Leo. Leo isn’t at the height of his “Ballad of the Sin Eater” powers, but he feels a lot closer to that point on “Even Heroes Have to Die” than he has in a while.
  • 4. And now for something different. We stumbled upon German pianist Nils Frahm earlier this week, and while his neo-classical solo piano improvisations aren’t exactly the kind of thing that will burn up the charts, they’re always interesting.
  • 5. Both James Mercer and Danger Mouse sounded like they were in dire need of a side project, and Broken Bells has proven to be the exact tone both were looking for. “The Mall & Misery” has a little of everything in modest servings – pretty pensive synths, calming strings, a little slide guitar, a little more surf guitar, and a few riffs that cut through the middle like a New Order song. It’s full of ideas, but none that scream at you.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

12 Mar 2010 11:27

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Music: The Drive-By Truckers make a “Big To-Do” on record

  • For some reason, this skipped under our radar, but here it is – the new Drive-By Truckers album. It comes out Tuesday, two years after the solid “Brighter Than Creation’s Dark,” which may have been the band’s peak. And that’s saying a lot.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

12 Mar 2010 10:54

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Music: Lady Gaga’s new video, “Telephone” might as well be porn

  • We’re not sure what offends us more about this video – the obvious advertising (we counted Diet Coke, Virgin Mobile, PlentyOfFish.com, Little Debbie, Wonder Bread and Miracle Whip), the use of trash as clothing accessory, the use of Quentin Tarantino’s famous “#*#*@ Wagon,” the awful dialogue between Gaga and Beyonce halfway through the video, the bizarre shot of Gaga making a sandwich, Beyonce’s dreadful “I knew you’d take all my honey, you selfish mother(#(&@#” line, the fact that Lady Gaga poisoned a room full of people, or the fact that the title font is the same font as our logo font. Actually, that last part offends us most.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 3 Comments • Permalink

11 Mar 2010 22:40

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Music: Dark Side of the download: EMI can’t split up Pink Floyd’s albums

A court told EMI that they couldn’t take Pink Floyd’s beam of light and turn it into a rainbow using the prism of the iTunes Music Store. Bad news, guys. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 1 Comment • Permalink

09 Mar 2010 23:08

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Music: One-word album reviews: A bunch of massive releases this week

Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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