This cover looks like the kind of cover Bob Dylan would use for a Christmas album – traditional, with the air of a tongue implanted firmly in cheek. May we just say that we're actually excited about the prospect of "Christmas of the Heart" (which hits in October)? It has that appeal that the Scarlett Johansson album of Tom Waits covers did for us. source
Playing Gorf is like getting wasted, or what I remember about getting wasted: It’s loud, it’s confusing, there are a bunch of lights going off, people (robots) are shooting at you, you need pizza, etc., then its game over.
“D.R. Adams” • In a blog post for The Awl, where he discusses being a teenager, playing “Gorf” and listening to Danzig. A reference to “Moonlighting” gets in there, too. You know, Ryan Adams might be an overcreative screw-up, but he’s sure an entertaining one. • source
Don’t tell that to Chad Smith’s unwitting fans, though. The Red Hot Chili Peppers are arguably as famous, if not moreso, than Will Ferrell. But drum-pounder Chad Smith still suffers from mistaken identity. “I’m nice to these people,” Smith says. “(I say) ‘No, I’m not.’ But they’re like, ‘I loved you in Old School. You’re so funny.'” We suggest that Smith get a more distinct persona, like Flea. Now that guy you wouldn’t mistake for a movie star. source
A word of warning: This is not a top songs of the year list for us. Rather, these are five good songs from 2000 that are worth your time. And yes, we plan on doing this with every year of the decade over the next few months. Agree with these choices? Disagree? Debate here.
1. Elliott Smith’s later period is one highly debated by fans. He went big around the time of “XO” and went even bigger around the time of 2000’s “Figure 8.” For some fans, this made the album a bit of a wash, but the single, “Son of Sam,” still holds strong nearly a decade later. 2. It’s easy to forget, but The Mars Volta started from the split of the At the Drive-In, a band which did more to justify Thursday’s existence than it did The Mars Volta. A precursor to screamo, “One-Armed Scissor” is far less embarrassing than that descripiton sounds. 3. What a shame. Grandaddy’s “The Sophtware Slump” is a great album best known as the answer to a trivia question. The question: “What album was Jason Lee’s son, Pilot Inspektor, named for?” A damn shame for a great album. “Jed the Humanoid” is a definite highlight for sure. 4. Yo La Tengo will likely never break out of its cult audience, but they make great musical arguments why they should. “And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out” is one of the band’s peaks, and “You Can Have it All” is a quiet triumph. 5. For us, hearing Radiohead’s “Nude” on 2007’s “In Rainbows” gave “Motion Picture Soundtrack” context. Many superfans were spoiled by a spare acoustic version of the song that made the “Kid A” version seem overly grand. But in the context of “Nude,” you see exactly what the band was going for. Worth revisiting for sure.source
He has a super-rock persona. When it came time to find a title for the Weezer album, I asked him what he thought the ultimate album title would be and he said ‘Raditude.’
Weezer frontman RIvers Cuomo • Discussing Rainn Wilson’s role in creating the kinda-lame, kinda awesome title for “Raditude,” the next mediocre album from Weezer. We can see this title working if Rainn Wilson is saying it. But nobody else. • source
Pitchfork just spent a week going through the list of the top 500 songs of the decade, and its winner was a song which came out in late 2000, didn’t crack the Bilboard 100 (despite the fact that the act had multiple number one hits), and topped the site’s mid-decade list, too. But, as the site argues, Outkast’s “B.O.B.” is a killer song loaded with prophecy of what was to come in the ensuing decade. Other songs in the top ten include some of the decade’s best and brightest (though we say that Animal Collective’s “Fireworks,” which still ranked high, was better than “My Girls”) and LCD Soundsystem’s “All My Friends” would’ve made a killer best-song-of-the-decade if Outkast hadn’t gotten there first.source
R. Kelly is so over-the-top that you can’t really take him as anything but an ironic icon who’s in on his own joke. He’s so cool that Bonnie “Prince” Billy regularly does covers of his songs. In this song he compares his love prowess to making a hit single. When we become famous R&B singers one day, we’re going to compare our love prowess to running a blog.source
He doesn’t like me and I don’t like him, that’s it. He hasn’t told me what he thinks of anything this year. We’ve got nothing to say to each other at the moment. … The only time I see him is onstage and we’re a little bit busy (at) that time to be (#&(ing scratching each other.
Oasis singer Liam Gallagher • Discussing the hate-hate relationship between the two creative beacons of Britpop’s greatest icons (if not the ones with the strongestlegacy). And really, we’d be sad if they weren’t fighting. • source
Pitchfork nudged us towards Weezer’s new single, “(If You’re Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To,” from their new album “Raditude.” It sucks.
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