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25 Nov 2009 11:43

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Music: It’s Pitchfork reviewing Animal Collective. You know the score.

  • 8.9 for their new EP, “Fall Be Kind”; they’re on a roll source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

22 Nov 2009 12:24

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Music: Before they were stars: Meet Lady Gaga, a.k.a. Stefani Germanotta

  • Would we care about Lady Gaga if she was still like this? Short answer: No. Long answer: Probably not.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

21 Nov 2009 18:47

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Music: Our Saturday Mixtape looks back at rock history’s greatest badasses

  • 1. Lou Reed is a badass because he managed to make a song like “Pale Blue Eyes” – an exercise in emotional nudity which few artists of his stature are willing to try – seem brave, not pansyish. It worked to strong effect in this year’s “Adventureland,” by the way.
  • 2. Marc Bolan is a badass because he lived fast, died young, and still managed to have a career full of badass moves. From his start as an off-kilter folkie (Tyrannosaurus Rex) to his peak as a glam god (T. Rex) who directly inspired the previous badass, his badassness set a pretty high bar.
  • 3. Paul Westerberg is a badass because he never gave into the mainstream when he was creating his greatest work. “Bastards of Young” is perhaps The Replacements’ catchiest tune, but instead of actively trying to push it on MTV, they made this video to go with it. That’s badass.
  • 4. Josh Homme is a badass because he released this song as a single. And then his band, Queens of the Stone Age, played it at a drug rehab center last year. It really is the feel-good hit of the summer. Or any year, really.
  • 5. James Murphy is a badass because he knows how to get down even though he’s getting old. Really, we could’ve picked any song Murphy did as LCD Soundsystem over the last five years and nailed it as evidence. But “Daft Punk is Playing at My House” works as both a sneering homage to Daft Punk and a homage to being a badass. So it wins. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

21 Nov 2009 14:14

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Music: Jason Segel’s singing for the LAAA-DIES, complete with digits.

Hey baby, want to call me? Judd Apatow acolyte and “I Love You, Man” star Jason Segel has the right idea. At a Swell Season (i.e. actors from “Once“) show last week, Segel dropped his number to ladies in the middle of a song. Julius has been having trouble with the ladies lately, so he might try it, too. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

14 Nov 2009 13:51

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Music: Saturday Mixtape: Our decade in review goes all the way to 2006

  • 1. Tokyo Police Club may have ushered in the era of the blog-buzz band, but that doesn’t mean their first mini-album doesn’t hold up. These Canadians, who weren’t even old enough to drink (in Canada!) at the time, brought a lot of energy to their post-punk stylings, if not a lot to say. Unfortunately, the Black Kids/Pitchfork fiasco can probably be blamed partially on their success.
    2. In 2006, TV on the Radio finally lived up to the potential of their first EP thanks to their amazing second album, “Return to Cookie Mountain,” which is on the shortlist for best album of the decade. “Wolf Like Me” is on the shortlist for their best song. If “Staring at the Sun” didn’t already exist, there’d be no contest.
    3. While Girl Talk’s “Night Ripper” is definitely of a single amazing piece of cloth, “Hold Up” deserves mention simply because it features the best single use of a Weezer song since 1997 – including by Weezer themselves.
    4. The great thing about The Thermals? They sound like a bunch of goofy grown-up kids playing punk rock, but (unlike Tokyo Police Club) the subject matter they tackle is dead serious. On “A Pillar of Salt,” Hutch Harris tackles religion with lyrical book smarts but with the energy of a six-year-old.
    5. If girl-group pop was slowed down to just before the point where the life was completely sucked out of it, you’d have Grizzly Bear’s “Knife,” their calling card into the top tier of indie rock.source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 4 Comments • Permalink

13 Nov 2009 17:59

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Music: Liam Gallagher has a new band, but something’s missing

  • Everybody that was in Oasis at the time of the breakup except Noel Gallagher. source
  • Noel Gallagher. Hmm, see a disturbing trend here, guys? We sure do. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

10 Nov 2009 19:58

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Music: My Morning Jacket works indie cred into Seth MacFarlane jokes

Must say … My Morning Jacket would not be our first choice to base an entire episode of “American Dad” around. But that just makes it more awesome. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

10 Nov 2009 11:20

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Music: Daily poll: Rock bands, Morrissey, concerts and jerk fans

  • Former Smiths lead singer Morrissey is many things – sly, witty, amusing, awesome. But he can be very sensitive, as a huge crowd of fans learned in London over the weekend when Moz left a show immediately after a jerk threw a plastic water bottle at his head. Fans were not happy. So, our question, in general, wonders if he made the right move here. Should one jerk be allowed to ruin everything? Vote here.source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

09 Nov 2009 22:21

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Music: Like supergroups? Check out Them Crooked Vultures. Now.

  • The hardest drummer in rock. One of modern guitar’s greatest heroes. One of classic rock’s greatest bassists. Them Crooked Vultures gets the best of Dave Grohl, Josh Homme and John Paul Jones to create a truly compelling mix of modern rock. Their full album comes out next week, but listen to the full thing at NME.source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 4 Comments • Permalink

07 Nov 2009 18:58

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Music: Saturday Mixtape: Taking in the possible death of Aerosmith



But, but … how? Why now? Aerosmith has been together almost 40 years, and had two solid, strong stretches of success. There were a few years in the early '80s where it seemed like the band was done. But they came back. Now? Well, Steven Tyler wants to do a solo album, and the band's considering going on without him. WHAT!? Without him? We have no words for such a strange ending for an always-there band. So anyway, this week's mixtape focuses on what we want to remember for one of classic rock's iconic bands.
  • The playlist
  • On the songs Aerosmith is a defining, iconic rock band for two separate generations – those from the ’70s and those from the ’90s. Despite the band’s diminishing returns in recent years, they were an impressive singles band with at least a dozen genuine classics to their name (and megahit “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing,” which isn’t one of them). They’ve given into commercial schlock before, but when they stick to their bluesy rock roots, they rank as one of the best bands of the rock era. It’d be sad to see them break up. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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