A list by a mainstream media outlet. At least it includes some current faves of mine: Liars, Radio 4, Interpol, The French Kicks, and Ben Kweller.
Speaking of NYC new rock icons, I'm anxiously awaiting the new Yeah Yeah Yeahs album, more than I've anticipated a rekkid in several years.
Splendid reviews the wonderful new Elf Power covers record. Covers are always a highlight of an Elf Power show, the band has a knack for holding an audience captive with a well-chosen cover. Last year in Louisville, the band opened for Guided By Voices (never an easy task), and closed their show with a rousing, rocking version of "I Wanna Be Your Dog," which had the audience eating out of the palms of their hands.
Last week at the Orange Twin Music Festival, the Elves ripped through the Bad Brains "Pay to Cum", and closed out their set with the live cover that always has the audience hopping, Brian Eno's "Needle In The Camel's Eye". When these guys are on, there are few more entertaining acts in music.
An odd combination found here, from rathergood, who also brought you the White Stripes cat video.
<-- hotpoop
Chicklit lists their favorite books about baseball. I'd have to add Philip Roth's brilliant baseball farce, The Great American Novel, Robert Coover's novel about baseball boardgaming, The Universal Baseball Association, Inc. , and You Gotta Have Wa, a look at Japanese baseball and the cultural conflicts facing American ballplayers in Japan.
Is it just me, or does Edward (the new designer on Trading Spaces) look like Billy Bob Thornton's character from Slingblade? Unfortunately, he seems even less interesting, where's John Ritter when you need him to spice things up?
Check them out here, then browse the other lists, too.
Pitchfork reports Liz Phair is collaborating with the songwriting/production team that produced such critical hits "sk8er boi" and "complicated" for Avril Lavigne for her long-delayed Capitol release (yes, that's sarcasm). Read the article, Pitchfork is dead-on in their assessment.
Informative article about online radio streaming from WFMU's excellent magazine LCD. Be sure to check out the magazine for other quirky, well-written pieces.
American Heritage lists their picks for most underrated and overrated in twenty-one categories, from amendments to World War II generals, with food fads, teen idols and songwriters (among others) in between.
<-- metafilter
Take the quiz, according to it:
How indie are you? test by ridethefader
You're just too cool for school, aren't you? You're pretty narrow minded
and opinionated with regards to music (and probably most other things
as well). But you're allowed to be, because you really are better
than everyone else. You take pride in obscurity.
You probably prefer vinyl too, you elitist bitch.
I'm really much nicer and well-rounded than that...
<-- A Blander Blog
I love lists like this, even when I disagree. Here are the Top 90 Albums Of The 90's, according to unpop. It's hard to argue with Pavement's "Slanted And Enchanted" at the #1 spot, but I would have moved Liz Phair's "Exile In Guyville" and Neutral Milk Hotel's "In The Aeroplane Over The Sea" much higher, possibly even to #2 and 3.
Paul Westerberg is touring, and playing his usual assortmrnt of dolo, Replacements and amazing cover songs. Paul's Page is rotating some of his live songs in MP3 format. Current offerings are a Jackson Browne cover and several 'Mats songs.
One Chord is the comprehensive resource for pop bands from Finland, which I needed, because I have never intentionally listened to a Finnish band (out of ignorance, I admit).
Grab some MP3's here, currently available: some Jim O'Rourke, the Avalanches, the Shins, and many more...
Get your Kate Bush MP3's and video clips here. While downloading and playing several of these songs I was transported back to high school...
This is a film I'm looking forward to seeing, having sat through VH1's "Behind The Scenes" Tupac and Biggie episodes more times than I'll admit (to my wife, at least).
Of course, this movie's premise isn't valid (that Tupac was murdered), because we all know Tupac is still alive!
We spent last weekend at the Orange Twin Music Festival in Athens, Georgia, surrounded by good music, fun people and an aura of helping the environment. The bands were an interesting blend of country, punk, indie and emo, with personal favorites Elf Power and Masters of the Hemisphere putting on good shows, but the band that blew me (and most of the audience) away was the rocking set by Athens' own Gerbils.
This wasn't an ordinary music festival, as was evident from the start when Andrew Rieger and Laura Carter (both of Elf Power) respectively took our admission and hauled our camping gear the two miles of muddy road to the festival site. This was a worthy benefit for the Orange Twin Conservation Community, a pedestrian community based on one hundred and fifty acres of north Georgia woodland, and though it seemed that half the attendees were members of at least one of the bands playing, everyone had a good time.
Masters of the Hemisphere mp3 mp3 mp3
Get out and support Banned Books Week by reading, reviewing or just talking about a frequently banned book.
A funny and true story about banned books: a good friend is a teacher, and a fervent supporter of the Harry Potter series. One day the entire faculty found a dingy photocopy in their school mailboxes (anonymously, of course) denouncing the books with all manner of statistics and surveys. The irony: the statistics were all taken from an Onion article.
The Dismemberment Plan's new album, Change, is due for release October 22nd, but you can check out three mp3's (or stream the entire album in RealAudio) on their website.
D-Plan is chaotic, diverse and wonderful, and produced one of my favorite holiday songs, The Ice Of Boston.
The band's ten greatest songs of all time (right now), lifted from their website:
1. Long-Distance Runner - Fugazi
2. Like I Love You - Justin Timberlake
3. Weekend In L.A. - The Toasters
4. Have You Ever Had It Blue? - Style Council
5. Heart of Glass - Blondie
6. Amazing Grace - traditional
7. Groove Me - Guy
8. Driveway to Driveway - Superchunk
9. Eight Mile Drop - Durian
10. Boom Boom - John Lee Hooker
Dismemberment Plan mp3 mp3 mp3
Rondellus covers Black Sabbath with medieval music and Latin lyrics. "Sabbatum – the most unique sounding Black Sabbath tribute album," I'm sure this advertising is true.
Truly a monster piece of hardware! Of course, this is pretty redundant, with most Firewire devices capable of daisy-chaining, but so is the terra-cotta frog (wearing a crown) that guards my computer desk!
Santa Claus is the richest fictional character, according to Forbes magazine, with Richie Rich and Daddy Warbucks coming in second and third. It's nice to see Montgomery Burns on the list.
Don't approve of GW's handling of the war on terror? Join the John Cusack For President campaign.
Listen to streaming Frank Zappa bootlegs here.
<-- hotpoop
Fabchannel.com has a video of the recent Guided By Voices' Amsterdam show. Catch the magical legendary live show, if only in a small video window and in retrospect.
Two guys in Seattle have endeavored to visit every bar in Seattle, all 570 of them (hence their website www.570bars.com). They're keeping a weblog and a best-of list. A valuable reference for our next trip to the northwest.
The Recording Artists Coalition is fighting the big five record companies and RIAA for basic musicians' rights.
Keith Richards was revived long enough to sum it up for us: "The time where accountants decide what music people hear is coming to an end. Accountants may be good at numbers, but they have terrible taste in music."
Carolyn and Mary Jane DeZurik made up the Cackle Sisters during the 40's heyday of yodeling, even appearing on the Grand Ole Opry for several years with their unique chickenlike yodels. Not exactly outsider music, but a unique snippet of American musical history (for better or worse).
Alton Brown is interviewed by those loveable geeks at Slashdot. His Food Network show, Good Eats, is always fun and informative, explaining the scientific principles of cooking in a goofy, irreverent but fun manner.
Hot on the release of his Sea Change album, Beck announced tour dates with Flaming Lips as support.
Beck has been performing solo this year, alternating guitar and keyboard self-accompaniment with self-deprecating stories and entertaining the crowd with his storytelling. The Lips have always amazed me with their live show. Their musicianship and flair for unexpected covers always produce an unforgettable concert experience, catch these guys if they're in your area.
Dfactor calls them the coolest band to come out if Germany since the Silver Beatles, I'll say they're the most fun since The Monks. Joey Lennon, Sid McCartney, Dee Dee Harrison and Markey Starkey put a remarkably fresh punk spin on Beatles' songs. Led into history by their manager Malcolm McEpstein, these guys are a fun listen.
Here's a list of fears faced by a college football fan. Here in the deep south, college football is tied with Nascar as the national pastime, with Auburn and Alabama football news reported year-round. I'm not a fan of racing, and watch little football, but I know enough true college football fans to make this list entertaining.
The finalists for the Shortlist Music Prize have been announced.
Since the Shortlist Prize was founded to "expose and illuminate the most creative and adventurous albums of the year," my vote would have to go to the Doves, for their creative and adventurous effort, The Last Broadcast.
Britt Daniel doesn't talk about love and sex in his interview with Nerve.
Britt's been busy, with the excellent Kill The Moonlight album recently released, not to mention the brilliant 7" with Bright Eyes.
Spoon has always been a band that I could listen to for hours, their well-crafted pop songs are ideal background music for work or home, but I've never been moved by their live show. Of course, I've only seen them as openers for more rocking acts, and wasn't in the mindset for mellow pop. I'll have to give them another chance.
Looking for something to listen to? I've been listening to Left Of The Dial, a Live365 stream of the best indie songs of the '80's, 90's and 00's. Recently played artists include Chameleons UK, Pere Ubu, and of course, Guided By Voices. The station brings back many memories, as well as exposes me to bands I somehow missed in the crazed days of my youth. Listen in, and relive the not-so-distant past, the present, and possibly the future of rock and roll.
Warren Zevon has been diagnosed with untreatable lung cancer. He's one of America's strongest songwriters, do yourself a favor and pick up his first greatest hits anthology: A Quiet Normal Life: The Best Of Warren Zevon, and listen to an American genius.
While watching GW address the United Nations today, and hearing him constantly pronounce nuclear as "nucular," I had to giggle. I was reminded of Homer Simpson in the "Simpson Tide" episode, where he is assigned to a nuclear submarine (because of his nuclear power plant experience). Homer repeatedly and stubbornly corrects the officer with a shout of "nucular" every time "nuclear is mentioned.
Rob Morse of the San Francisco Gate gives usTop Ten Better Things To Do Today instead of wallowing in the media or politician's self-serving remembrances of September 11th.
The White Stripes and the Strokes, who have been touring together, are planning a split single, according to NME.
Mark your calendars and head to Athens, Georgia for the Orange Twin Records' music festival September 21st and 22nd.
Tentatively scheduled to perform are:
3:00 - SVA
4:00 - Audition With Max Reinhardt
5:00 - Art & Margo Rosenbaum
6:00 - (dinner break w/ DJ Eric Harris)
7:00 - Village
8:00 - Dixie Blood Mustache
8:15 - Lovers
9:00 - The Good Ship
10:00 - Don Chambers
11:00 - Scott Spillane (Gerbils)
12:00 - Pipes You See, Pipes You Don't
1:00 - Garbage Island
Sunday
12:00 - What?
1:00 - Visitations
2:00 - Late B.P Helium
3:00 - The Boy's Star Library
4:00 - Masters of the Hemisphere
5:00 - (dinner break w/ DJ Eric Harris)
6:00 - Summer Hymns
7:00 - Elf Power
8:00 - Je Suis France
9:00 - Possibilities/ Jack Logan
10:00 - Zumm Zumm
Bring your tents, sleeping bags, and food and drinks, although spaghetti will be served Saturday evening and hash browns Sunday morning. Direct any further questions to orangetwin@yahoo.com. Mmmm... Elf Power...
Morrissey is touring, hooray! However, here are his thoughts on a Smiths reunion (and former bandmate Johnny Marr):
"We don't like each other at all. We couldn't bear to be in a room for five minutes with each other. And money doesn't come into that at all."
If the story (and crumbling) of the Smiths interests you, I recommend Morrissey and Marr, The Severed Alliance, the controversial rock biography that evoked Morrissey's comment about the author: "Personally, I hope Johnny Rogan ends his days very soon in an M3 pile-up".
If you have a chance, step out and see the Moz. I've seen him five times on his infrequent U.S. tours, and left giddy as the proverbial schoolgirl every time.
You have to love a site that lists their "Top 6 Indie Sites For Babies". I'll be checking in with a little bean inside often to see if we have a riot grrl or indie boy on the way. I particularly liked their lists last week of cool baby clothes and baby stuff, especially the Grateful Dead One-sy.
Guided By Voices played London last night, here are some photos.
Wilco's Jeff Tweedy and Glen Kotche are joined again by Jim O'Rourke in an upcoming release on Drag City under the moniker, Loose Fur. I've listened to the Noise Pop show mentioned in the article, it's as lively and impromptu as a Tweedy solo show, and three times as fascinating. This album of folk songs will be much anticipated.
This isn't a movie pitch, it's an archive (in .wav format) of an interview Stern did with Zappa in 1987, covering topics from politics to music. Also on the panel interviewing Zappa are Bobcat Goldthwait, Joe Walsh and REO Speedwagon member Kevin Cronan.
<-- hotpoop
tinymixtapes explains their creation and clashes.
If this article is true, Ira Kaplan (of Yo La Tengo) must be envious of himself.
What do you get when you cross album covers with cross-stitch? Sewkits, of course!
An enterprising home brewer and Guided By Voices fan has produced Beer Thousand, an English Brown Ale named after the band's classic album.
Frank Black has two new albums out, and Kim Deal's Title TK (with the Breeders) is a critical hit, so what better time is there to look at the history of the band that spawned these indie gods, the Pixies?
This archive of video game commercials took me back to wasted days playing Intellivision with my high school buddies, all the while arguing about music, girls, politics and drinking beer.
My video game experience started with an Atari 2600 while I was in high school. My brother and I would play for hours in our den until our fingers hurt. From there (several years later, in 1989) I would pick up my first console, the Sega Genesis, if only to play EA Sports' wonderful NHL series. That held me for about ten years, until my wife bought me a Sony Playstation soon after our wedding. I thought it would replace the PC for most gaming, but I rarely play anything but Gallop Racer (which is a fascinating horseracing game).
Nerve interviews Neko Case about her lyrics, musical comparisons and lack of frilly undergarments.
I'm enjoying her latest album, Blacklisted. Think country music with heart, soul, and drive, with a touch of bluegrass added here and there. Case's voice is powerful and haunting and classically showcased on this record, her best yet.
According to Princeton's WPRB, here are the top albums of the summer. Surprisingly, my #1 album of the year (the Breeders "Title TK") didn't make the list, though I do have 38 of these (thank god for bargain bins).
Read on if interested in the list...
WPRB's All-Summer Top 121 Albums
(Compiled September 2002 from Weekly Charts from 6/1 to 8/31, by WPRB's
truly, Jannon)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Rank Band Album
---------------------------------------------------------------------
1 HOT SNAKES, Suicide Invoice
2 MISS, THE, No Radio
3 CONSONANT, S/T
4 LUNA, Romantica
5 SONIC YOUTH, Murray Street
6 PERE UBU, St. Arkansas
7 EL-P, Fantastic Damage
8 GOSSIP, THE, Arkansas Heat
9 THAI ELEPANT ORCHESTRA, S/T
10 GOGOGO AIRHEART, Exitheuxa
11 PEACOCKS, Peacock Party
12 DEERHOOF, Reveille
13 X, At Home With You
14 WAITS, TOM, Alice
15 DALEK, From Filthy Tongue of Gods and Griots
16 V/A, Fields and Streams (KRS)
17 OXES, Oxxxes
18 WOLF EYES, Dread
19 BROTZMANN, PETER, For Adolphe Sax
20 EX MODELS/SECONDS, Split Cd
21 SWEEP THE LEG JOHNNY, Going Down Swingin'
22 ENON, High Society
23 COUNTRY TEASERS, Science Hat, Artistic Cube, Moral Nosebleed Empire
24 V/A, Don't Shoot the Toy Piano Player:Live From WFMU (WFMU)
25 V/A, Total Lee!: The Songs of Lee Hazlewood
26 DJ SHADOW, The Private Press
27 HOWLAND, DON, Land Beyond The Mountains
28 V/A, For a Few Fuzz Guitars More (DMT)
29 FLAMING LIPS, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
30 FRENCH KICKS, One Time Bells
31 ELF POWER, Creatures
32 RAPTURE, THE, 12"
33 ORTHRELM/TOUCHDOWN, Split Cd
34 DILLINGER 4, Situationist Comedy
35 WAITS, TOM, Blood Money
36 DJ SPOOKY, Optometry
37 WILCO, Yankee Foxtrot Hotel
38 RADAR BROTHERS, And the Surrounding Mountains
39 BLACKALICIOUS, Blazing Arrow
40 PIXIES, THE, S/T
41 SUBTONIX, Tarantism
42 SPEEDKING, The Fist and the Laurels
43 ANTIPOP CONSORTIUM, Arrhythmia
44 GIRLS AGAINST BOYS, You Can't Fight What You Can't See
45 FAST FORWARD, S/T
46 SCHNALL, JOHN, More Songs From Midnight Matinee
47 V/A, Africa Raps (Trikont)
48 SUN RA, Strange Strings
49 TIMONY, MARY, The Golden Dove
50 CLARINET TRIO TWO, Translucent Tones
51 FRITH, FRED, Accidental
52 HUON, Hungupovernight
53 THE RESIDENTS, Petting Zoo
54 I AM THE WORLD TRADE CENTER, Tight Connection
55 BLOOD BROTHERS, March on Electric Children
56 GUIDED BY VOICES, Universal Truths and Cyclones
57 CATO SALSA EXPERIENCE, A Good Tip for a Good Time
58 INTERPOL, Interpol
59 LORD HIGH FIXERS, The Beginning of the End...the End of the Beginning
60 ROCKET FROM THE CRYPT, Hot Charity
61 VAN RONK, DAVE, Two Sides of...
62 V/A, Dynamite with a Laserbeam: The Queen Tribute (3-1-G)
63 V/A, Greasy Kid Stuff (Greasy Kid Stuff)
64 TTC, Ceci N'est Pas un Disque
65 NERVE GENERATOR, Erasing our Minds
66 PALOMAR, II
67 CUL DE SAC, Immortality Lessons
68 YEAH YEAH YEAHS, S/T
69 V/A, Deeper Polka (Smithsonian Folkways)
70 ATOM & HIS PACKAGE, Hamburgers
71 GUAPO, EL, Super/System
72 SILKWORM, Italian Platinum
73 CHATHAM, RHYS, A Rhys Chatham Compendium
74 YEAH, THE, The Yeah
75 PRETTY GIRLS MAKE GRAVES, Good Health
76 SOFT MACHINE, Backwards
77 MAKALE, Kingztanbul
78 APPLES IN STEREO, Let's Go
79 FLYING LUTTENBACHERS, Infection and Decline
80 NATURAL HISTORY, THE, S/T
81 MOUNTAIN GOATS, Ghana
82 COMETS ON FIRE, Field Recordings from the Sun
83 V/A, The Silk Road: A Musical Caravan (Smithsonian)
84 V/A, Misery Loves Company (Ersatz Audio)
85 V/A, Pop Goes Punk (Fearless)
86 V/A, Afro Rock Vol. 1 (Kona)
87 SHIPP, MATTHEW, Songs
88 V/A, How We Rock (Burning Heart)
89 BURKE, SOLOMON, Don't Give Up On Me
90 SPACEWAYS INC, Version Soul
91 ERASE ERRATA / NUMBERS, split 3"
92 L'ALTRA, In The Afternoon
93 BRIGHT EYES, There is No Beginning to the Story
94 BARDO POND, Dilate
95 V/A, The Very Best of Punk & Disorderly (Anagram)
96 PABLO, AUGUSTUS East of the River Nile
97 764-HERO, Nobody Knows This Is Everywhere
98 V/A, La Musica Della Mafia (PIAS)
99 DAG NASTY, Minority of One
100 CANNANES, THE, Trouble Seemed So Far Away
101 V/A Circuits of Steel (SSS)
102 FLOGGING MOLLY, Drunken Lullabies
103 CARLOS, WENDY, Beauty in the Beast
104 GOGOL BORDELLO, Voi-la Intruder
105 WELLS, KITTY, The Best of...
106 MUM, Finally We Are No One
107 MENSTRUATION SISTERS, Dead at Slugs
108 SOUL JUNK, 1957
109 FANTOMAS / MELVINS, Millennium Masterwork
110 ASS BABOONS OF VENUS, Phuket a la Bum Bum
111 MUJICIAN, Spacetime
112 AN ALBATROSS, S/T
113 DIANOGAH, Millions of Brazilians
114 GALLO, VINCENT, Recordings of Music for Film
115 MARSHMALLOW COAST, Ride the Lightning
116 GOLD SPARKLE BAND, Fugues and Flowers
117 CONSUMERS, All My Friends Are Dead
118 LIARS, They Threw Us All In A Trench and Stuck a Monument On Top
119 TOEDLICHE DORIS, DIE, Kinderringellreihen Fuer Wahren Toren Des Grals
120 FURY, Resurrection
121 COMBATWOUNDEDVETERAN, Duck Down for the History
Notes: Ranking was based on cumulative placement in WPRB's weekly charts
over the course of the summer. 60 points were allotted for every #1
showing, 59 for every week at #2, and so on. Every band on the Top 121
garnered at least 60 points - the equivalent of being #1 for one week.
The #1 record of the summer, The Hot Snakes, finished off with 350 points, a
full 36 points more than their nearest competitor. There were two releases
with more than 300 points, thirteen with more than 200, and fifty-eight with
more than 100 points.
The always wonderful Making Insomnia Fun Again is going on (temporary?) hiatus. Always keeping us up-to-date with city photos, mp3 links and commentary on the indie music world, his blog was an eagerly awaited daily read. Good luck, Tim...
Guided By Voices, of course, crowned in the Volkskrant's review of the band's recent Amsterdam show.
Another version of the White Stripes' "Fell In Love With A Girl" video, it's furrrr-tastic!