The high singing and screaming is still relatively free, but I feel that it would be even more impactful if he would master a vocal technique that would enable him to better integrate all of these different things he does so well, primarily with the goal of incorporating the depth and resonance of his natural low sound into the high stuff. Really. -hendred via Metafilter
And Now For Something Completely DifferentThu Apr 8 2010
Two people have recently informed me that the Friday Carnival concert headliner is the Black Keys, who are, as many of you know, one of my favorite bands. I'd recommend signing up for a wristband (or two), if you're even remotely interested. Will I actually go? I have no idea; it would be the first time I've watched a Carnival band since the Clarks in 1997. Chances are, I'll forget about it. But it would be nice to have the option. All you have to do is email akriegel@andrew.cmu.edu to ask for them, and then you can pick them up from the UC any time Friday. -decker
Just in case you needed a reminder as to how awesome Journey's Separate Ways video is, here it is. Speaking of Journey, did you know that they replaced their lead singer with a guy they saw on youtube from the Philippines? -decker
From Derek: A look back at some of the stuff you missed: So there's a "new" root beer liquor on the scene, Root. It works well with rootbeer, cream soda, gingerale, straight, etc. Worth checking out.
From Red Tom: Since Bryan's friends seem exceptionally geeky. And by that, I mean, the coolest around, perhaps you can help. I'm looking for a easy to use, free m4a -> mp3 file converter. By easy, something my wife could use without yelling across the house for me to come help her, interrupting my Top Gear viewing. She has a bunch of iTune songs she bought and wants to put them on a CD for backup and to play in the car.
If you're young, you love them. If you're old, you remember how awesome they used to be and how much they suck now. And if you love Kenny G, now there's this.
I actually don't mind this one. Rivers seems to just want to go for Top 40 Sound by which I mean every particular sound on the top 40. Just check out the videos right below, one with Chamillionaire and one with the non-union Feist equivalent. -jm
Local Rhianna Scholar proclaims "(i)t's very well enunciated." Unfortunately the youtubes haven't gotten the full version of this. However, we were able to find this. I must also point out the wisdom of youtube commentor "SiLtOr999" when he/she states "(y)ou suck! Stop ruining good songs you little bitches!" -jm
It's like Lyme Diseas and AIDS - Two great flavors that go great together Fri Jun 19 2009
From derek:
It's that time of year again, time to fight Mystic Vibrosis Cystic Fibrosis through the power of music and outdoor drinking. The last Saturday of every month, they shut down Walnut Street in Shadyside for music and frivolity. You can check out the schedule here. Let me save you the trouble, though. June: Two crappy bands you've never heard of July: 1 Crappy band you've never heard of, and the Gin Blossoms (a band so forgettable that I had to look up their hits on Wikipedia. Hey, jealousy, (I) found out about you). August: Some crappy band and
It's a Bon-Jovi / Journey cover band. So if you're in Pittsburgh, and hate music - or like drinking in the middle of the street but hate getting hit by cars - you can't miss this.
What is your favorite new music artist you discovered in the past year? Wed May 6 2009
This request is from duck bill platypus:
I am mainly looking for new music to listen to (via www.pandora.com) whilst I write bugs... (ahem, I mean code).
My favorite I found this year (asking the same question to my co-workers), was Don Ross. He is a acoustic guitarist, and he writes some amazing stuff. Youtube-ing his videos is also good, if you are into watching peoples fingers move at incredible rates of speed.
Radio already pays royalties to songwriters and music publishers. This feels like an act of desperation by the labels, and I agree that radio is a promotional tool for them already. I guess they currently have no legal basis for trying to negotiate contracts with the broadcasters, which is why this has to be done via legislation. Most importantly, how will this affect Pandora? -decker
Is that the new Belle and Sebastian? Thu Apr 2 2009
Amazon's 100 great indie albums. Explanation of the criteria is over to the right. I sort of ignore the rankings and just look it as 'Here's a bunch of good music'. Am I the only one that just can't get into Stereolab or Sonic Youth? -hendred
The two surviving members of the band, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr -- as well as John Lennon's widow Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison, the widow of George Harrison -- have all been involved in conceiving the music game project.
The State of OK has chosen The Flaming Lips song Do You Realize as its state song. In other music news, if you're into redheaded singers, Neko Case(NSFW) just put out her latest, Middle Cyclone, which in the very least has the cover of the year. If you're biding your time until the inevitable helicopters sell out, it might be worth checking out. -jm
Vote for Helicopters. Oh crap... having a bad flashback. Wed Feb 18 2009
From Caldeira: Okay this is nothing like the Lollapalooza craziness. But if you could take one sec to log in a quick vote (on the right side) we could win some kickin' music software.
Thanks!
Quick UpdateThere's only one click involved. No login, no email, no nothing. -hendred
Quick Update IILink's been changed. Commence re-voting. -hendred
Coldplay profile from 60 Minutes. I didn't really know much about them aside from their songs, but this was really entertaining. I found myself laughing out loud several times. If you can, take the 12 minutes to watch the video rather than reading the transcript. Chris Martin's personality doesn't come through when it's written down. -hendred
Eddie Van Halen interview. A few interesting bits about touring, a new guitar he's developed and his son playing bass for the band. The reason for the post is this bit, though:
I'm blessed with a good pair of ears. That's how I fooled my piano teacher. I'd watch his fingers and I'd listen to it, and I just kind of basically learned it by myself.
I can't read music. Instead, I'd do stuff inside the piano, do harmonics and all kinds of crazy things. They used to put me in these annual piano contests down at Long Beach City College, and two years in a row, I won first prize -- out of like 5,000 kids! The judges were like, "Very interesting interpretation!" I thought I was playing it right.
If anyone's read the Gladwell book and can comment on why he isn't just a Natural Talent, I'd be interested to find out. He's obviously put in the time to practice, but there's definitely something that makes him unique. -hendred
50 Greatest Guitar Solos It's from Guitar World, so it has a few tech-ish details mixed in with some great stories.
44) "Alive" (Mike McCready) - Pearl Jam Ten, 1991 “Basically, I copied Ace Frehley’s solo from ‘She,’ ” says Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready. “Which, of course, was copied from Robby Krieger’s solo in the Doors’ ‘Five to One.’ ”
34) "Paranoid Android" (Johnny Greenwood) - Radiohead OK Computer, 1997 Radiohead consciously patterned their sprawling, epic song, “Paranoid Android,” after the Beatles’ “Happiness Is a Warm Gun.” “It really started out as three separate songs and we didn’t know what to do with them,” explains singer/rhythm guitarist Thom Yorke.
“Then we thought of ‘Happiness’—which was obviously three different bits that John Lennon put together—and said, ‘Why don’t we try that?’ “ Still, the song wasn’t really complete until lead player Jonny Greenwood added a fourth section as a fade out—a lengthy, intense solo, which alternates between being backwards and forwards. “It was something I had floating around for a while and the song needed a certain burn,” recalls Greenwood. “I don’t usually have stockpiles of riffs lying around, but this happened to be the right key and the right speed and it fit right in.”
A ton of these have appeared on the Guitar Hero series at some point. Not sure if it's coincidence or cross-marketing. Have your iPod standing by for things like verification of the glockenspiel on Little Wing.
I still for the life of me can't believe that far and away the most lasting and successful member of Nirvana is the drummer. It's a crazy world. -hendred
From Caldeira: Anyone here still in the 'Burgh? If so, we're playing at Garfield Artworks on Wednesday, August 6th. (With one of the best named bands ever: Natalie Portman's Shaved Head.)
Pro drummers need fitness similar to a pro soccer player. I 'd like to see the numbers, but it's pretty interesting. They should hook up Travis Barker for a real eye-opener. Glad to see Edward Winter found something to fill his time. -hendred
...assuming you live in Philly, NYC or Troy, NY (our DC show was cancelled). I'd love to see y'all, so if you can drag your asses off your couches and the Wii controllers out of your hands (that IS a Wii controller, right?) then come on out to one of our shows and say yo'. We'll need all the love we can get, so bring friends. (Preferably female with morally casual attitudes.) -j
So there's this dude Girl Talk, a Pittsburgh based DJ (believe he works at UPMC) who's kind of the toast of the indie scene. His gig is to essentially make these super mashups. Mostly, it will have the vocal of a more modern rap with layers of pop underneath. It's actually pretty decent. This particular video does a good job of syncing the samples. I chose this one, for Jim. -jm
Tim McGraw kicks some ass. I'm really only posting this 'cause he's a Pike. Which is basically the same as me being a badass. So I got that goin' for me. Which is nice. -hendrix
Wag that finger Roger, I've been a bad boy. Thu Jun 19 2008
Enthusiastically submitted by will: From the, umm, South Florida Sun Sentinel, comes the worst album covers ever. I disagree with this being included though:
Songza. Listen to songs stream instantly, FF/REW, create playlists, etc. Pretty good sized library but unfortunately the audio quality is all over the place.
New Helicopters shizzle fo' yo' nizzle fizzle dizzle. What? Mon Jun 9 2008
From Caldeira: As a long overdue "thank you" for all your collective help with the Lollapalooza Last Band Standing contest last year, I'm giving everyone our newest album for free. It doesn't come out until June 27, but you guys can download an advanced copy right effing now. What a deal! Download that dirty muthuh here: http://www.ilovehelicopters.com/sutd.zip
That link will only be active for the next week or so, so get it while it's hot.
Again, thank you thank you thank you. I will never, ever again enter a contest like that. Promise.
Just released today, Scarlett Johansson's album of Tom Wait's covers. Included in the link is a video (one of those day in the life type deals). I wouldn't call her a singer, but then again, neither is Tom Waits. And yes, that is David Bowie in the background. All for you, bth. -jm
I said Good Day Wednesday. Gooood Day.Wed May 14 2008
Drum licks from hell. This isn't some amateur hour namby-pamby list made by a 13 year old in his mom's basement. The dude intentionally excludes popular stuff. Schweet. -hendrix
1) If there's a ton of silence in a track (e.g. "hidden tracks") put in an option to auto-skip to the next bit of noise. Clarion CD players used to detect this. I can't imagine it's Hard.
2) When playing shuffle albums, make it so you can jump to the next album somehow. I have a remote for an Onkyo dock that does this. Don't see why it's not possible.
3) If you're playing in Shuffle mode (songs or albums) have the option to play the next track off the album (or the rest of the album). My brain is hardwired to expect this to happen with some songs.
If any of these are possible now, please let me know. And consider this prior art for whoever comes up with these brain busters and tries to patent them.
Hi, this is Larry King. The phone-in topic Today: 'Ghosts and Ghostbusting'Tue Mar 4 2008
Nine Inch Nails new album, Ghosts, is a 2 cd 4 part instrumental album. The first nine tracks are completely free for download and come with a pdf of artwork. For five bucks you get the whole thing as a download in a variety of drm-less formats. Ten bucks gets you the 2 cd set along with the digital download. 75 gets you 2cds, a dvd, an audio blu-ray, and the digital downloads all in a nice case. There was a $300 limited edition which sold out, that I think came with a complimentary handjob.
Sans music tracks. David Lee Roth is just insane. And by insane, I mean it's insane that he was ever a singer for a popular Rock band. This is stolen from Caldeira, and submitted by miolla.
From Team Helicopters: Here's this month's blatent self-promo: we posted a demo of one of the new songs from our upcoming album. (Due out next month) It's called "Getting Out of Town" and can be previewed on www.myspace.com/helicopters. It's just a demo and still needs to be mixed and mastered, but I'll be curious to see whatcha think of it.
Word.
Also, if you're going to be in Chicago this weekend and want to see 'em live:
Saturday, January 12 - Elbo Room, Chicago Doors at 9pm - $10 Performing with: The Redfords, The Cells, Midnight Shows -hendrix
Next they will file charges against Mayes for making a Prince mix tape in the 80sSun Jan 6 2008
The RIAA has now accused a man of making "unauthorized copies" of purchased CDs to his computer. Of course, he was also sharing some music, which is what grabbed their attention to begin with. -decker
This means that the RIAA is saying it could actually come after anyone who has ever used a CD ripping program to transfer tracks from a disc to a computer, regardless of whether or not file sharing was involved.
Jay-z hasn't put out anything worthwhile since 1998 Tue Dec 18 2007
All Derek: If this list taught me anything, its that Rolling Stone doesn't know anything about music, and that 2007 was a banner year for crap. Rolling Stone's 100 songs of 2007
The Last Great Mystery in the Age of the InternetsWed Nov 21 2007
The one brother's request I would give was to find out the origin of the Beastie Boys sample involving a "mashed potatoes." All of you failed me. However, up until now, even the internet has failed me. As recently as April, I was listening to some obscure 60's African American comedy to no avail (I didn't get it). Behold, the origin revealed. You can bring your black books to me. I'll sign them now. -jm
About 17 percent plunked down between a penny and $4, far below the $12 and $15 retail price of a CD. The next largest group (12 percent) was willing to pay between $8 and $12--the cost of most albums at Apple's iTunes is $9.99. They were followed by the 6 percent who paid between $4.01 and $8 and 4 percent coughed up between $12 and $20.
Pretty spot on. And since I'm posting this, I'm sure you're assuming In Da Club is on the list, but it only made Honorable Mention. Ripped from SI's Extra Mustard section.
Record labels won their first court case on illegal downloads against a Minnesota woman for $220,000. She was accused of sharing 24 songs on Kazaa. It was the first one that hadn't been settled out of court, typically for $5,000. -decker
New Radiohead Album - Pay What You WantMon Oct 1 2007
Radiohead is releasing their new album In Rainbows on October 10th via their website. You can purchase a special deluxe version of the CD for 41 pounds OR you can download the regular album for whatever price you feel is appropriate. - JT
Ryan Adams throws a hissy fit in Minneapolis. I saw him in Portland a couple weeks ago and he pulled the same shit. I'm not sure how he could have been a bigger bitch. Glad I didn't pay for the ticket.
This guy is like the Pied Piper of drugged of ecstasy e-tards. Remember, Technoviking does not dance to the music, the music dances to Technoviking! - Stolen from Break.com
Some indie rock dude talks about licensing. I'm betting most people in the industry feel the same way. I'm not all that familiar with the Iron and Wine, but apparently his music is in a bunch of stuff. -jm
AVC: Is there a song of yours that if someone came asking, you'd say "No, this is too personal?" You said that you were pretty generous to the indies when it comes to licensing, but is there a song you'd feel weird about giving them?
SB: No. I mean, I put it on a record. [Laughs.] If you put it on a record, it can't be something you're too worried about people hearing.
Seeing as how it is "The 90's Are The 60's Month," here is a retrospective on Hootie's seminal work. -jm
Hootie and the Blowfish’s debut album, Cracked Rear View, has sold over 16 million copies in this country to date.
Let that sink in for a moment. Bruce Springsteen has never sold that many copies of a single album in the United States. Neither has Aerosmith or Prince or U2. The best-selling Rolling Stones studio album in the U.S. is Some Girls, and it’s sold ten million fewer copies than Hootie’s inaugural effort.
Most songs are priced from 89 cents to 99 cents, with more than 1 million of the 2 million songs priced at 89 cents. The top 100 best-selling songs are 89 cents, unless marked otherwise. Most albums are priced from $5.99 to $9.99. The top 100 best-selling albums are $8.99 or less, unless marked otherwise.
I haven't looked at the selection, but this seems pretty sweet. -hendrix
The Onion's AV Club has graced us with a Canadian Indie-Rock primer, just in time for the fall touring season. In the very least, you can figure out whose songs are in all thosecommercials.
As an aside, I'm sorry those Feist commercials are show 8 times a half during football. Actually, fuck you. I'm not. She's awesome. -jm
Dressed in sequinned black bra and pants, stiletto boots and a bad blonde hair weave, the 25-year-old paparazzi magnet forgot the lyrics as she half-heartedly lip synced, starred glassily into space and moved awkwardly through a supposedly raunchy dance routine.
Here's the video. It's a sad day for Ryan Jackson.
Recorded music is getting louder at the expense of dynamic range. There's been a trend over time to make songs loud relative to others, and the only way to boost up the average loudness of a song on a CD is to compress the peaks. The result: bad music. -decker
From Caldeira: This random guy made a video for us, and it's pretty cool. The live footage (filmed at the Lollapalooza Last Band Standing finals) doesn't seem to fit the rest of the video, but the rest is pretty cool.
AT&T censors Pearl Jam's webcast from Lollapalooza. They apparently didn't appreciate what Vedder had to say about the president. AT&T is calling it a 'mistake'. The Pearl Jam writeup brings up some interesting points about net neutrality. -hendrix
The 'copters are playing the Double Door tonight at 8. The two winners of the show will play Lollapalooza this weekend, so all you Copterheads in the area better show up in force.
Wanted to use this thread for well wishes, and to lay down predictions on which other band will join the 'copters at Lollapalooza. My money is on Shockstars, just b/c they are the only other band from Chicago in the show. -decker
All Chicaginians need to get off their asses and get to the Double Door on Milwaukee Ave in Chi-Town. It's a free show so get their early. Have a look at the site in case they go to a ticket based thing. NSFW because I posted it. Otherwise there's nothing NSFW about it.
Okay guys - time to turn it on big time for the voting. We were selected by Perry Farrell and the Lollapalooza team in the top 20, and now we need to finish in the top 5. Then voting is DONE. So please, please, please... tell all your friends, your coworkers, etc. to vote for us every day with all your email addresses!
And again, thanks guys... we couldn't have gotten this far without your votes.
Water based lubricants... friend or foe? Thu Jun 21 2007
From Jay Park: This guy's been my friend since the 1st grade. On his spare time, he's been making music videos and entering in contests here and there (TurboTax song contest, Today show tryout, etc). Some are funny, some aren't.
All we need is to finish in the top 100. If you guys could take a moment to place a vote (you can vote once per day, every day, from now until June 30) you would be helping us tremendously. Once the voting is done, a panel of industry peeps, including Perry Farrell, will narrow it down to the final 20 bands. (i.e. they'll fianlly dump all the shitball retard bands who just happen to have a lot of friends voting.)
Thanks!
Obviously from Caldeira. As P Diddy would say, "Vote or die."
It's always entertaining to watch odd people on YouTube, but this odd person actually does a pretty sweet job of turning his keyboard into an electric guitar. Thanks to the Sports Guy for the link.
If you are like me, you often wonder what a Black (African Canadian?) Jehovah's witness hip hop artist from Toronto might sound like. K-os (not Daily) is here to answer that burning question with a sweet song and video with requisite hot chicks. It's light on rap and heavy on guitar and actual singing.
For those of you who prefer your hip hop old skool, I present to you this affirmation that hip hop is indeed alive from The Teacher. - jm
On a side note, is there a good place to keep track of new music coming out? I tend to miss a lot of stuff like this. Ideally it'd be like "Here's the 50 bands/artists I want to keep track of and any similar stuff as well."
-hendrix
I read The Onion's AVClub, Pitchfork, Stylus, and sometimes Metacritic (rottentomatoes for music). Also, if you "friend" your favorite bands in myspace, they usually keep you updated. It's not just so Dave can mack on 19 years olds. -jm
It's all from Miolla... and it's filed under "Art." Not sure if that was on purpose or because it's the default. Reclassified to Music. Decker has spoken.
Why did the hipster cross the road? Mon Apr 16 2007
My favorite brunette, Leslie Feist, has a new album coming out May 1. I believe this would be her major label debut, so you might be bombarded with this one, and this one. Both feature some of the best choreography not involving charper as the anchor on the wave, and as always, her to-die-for voice.
To tell you that they heard of you before you sold out. -jm
It Has Graphs and 'Music', Maybe Mayes Will Like It Thu Apr 12 2007
A graphical dissertation on what I can only assume is Ryan Jackson's new jam, 'This is Why I'm Hot' by the poet laureate Sean Mims.
For those of you who don't know, the refrain of this excellent song goes something like:
This is why I'm hot, this is why I'm hot, this is why this is why this is why i'm hot, I'm hot 'cause i'm fly, you ain't 'cause you're not, this is why this is why this is why i'm hot.
The musical alchemists that make up helicopters (including Caldeira) have turned in another group of excellent electro-synth-pop tunes. Don't miss the acoustic version of 'Mile Markers'.
Somebody mentioned Talib Kweli to me a while ago. I think it was Shek. Anyway, he just released an album for free download. It's not really my thing, but it's pretty good nonetheless.
Linked are a set of videos (6 in total) detailing Colbert's guitar solo challenge issued against the Decembrists. In it, you'll see yet an even more obscure indie bank, a nobel prize winner, and the source of a lot my company's business, governor elect, Eliot Spitzer.
New version of iTunes is out It implements gapless playback and finds album art in the iTunes store. There's some other stuff as well. Still a 35MB download and it gave me two bizarre errors on install.
Anyway, the album art thing is cool, except that it couldn't find art for albums I can find in the store - e.g. DMB's 'Everyday' and Elliott Smith's 'Figure 8'. Not sure what that's all about, but I assume they're working on it.
With track names like "Skeet Spirit", "Creepin' (on dat ass)", and "Talk Show Hoes", you cannot go wrong with Skeet Spirit: A Crunk Tribute to Radiohead. I've listened to it and its hilarious - download it.
Sample lyrics from "Fitter Hyphier": "Fitter, Hyphier, More productive, Not drinking(?) too much, Rolling on 24's, Gettin' fucked, Not fuckin with those bitch-ass hoes"
Everyone knows that when a new baby comes around, the previous youngest loses all of the attention. To help the formerly youngest Jackson cope, I've found this nice little video for him. Look for this song in a club near you. -TEB
Lance Bass is gay. I don't mean gay like a way of putting someone down. I mean gay as in he hearts dudes. And if you're not gay like me (in the putting someone down way) and don't know who Lance Bass is, he used to be 20% of N'Sync.
So when PiKA did that N'Sync parody in Greek Sing in 2K1, which member was assuming LB's role? (Temp Ed - Boston)
Bhendrix just punched himself in the face Fri Jul 21 2006
Stolen from Deadspin, Big Ben is making the jump to music videos, appearing in the video for "Mr. Right Now" by Fayette County based PovertyNeck Hillbillies. PovertyNeck Hillbillies. Sounds like a name a retarded person suffering from Tourettes would come up with.
If anyone is interested, there is a nice Fresh Air interview with Thom Yorke on the NPR site. And, on a sidenote, his new solo album is excellent, IMO. (obvious temp ed)
This one's from broken social scenester: Pitchfork has decided to grace us with (humorous)reviews of three World Cup related songs (yes, it's going on right now). The write ups are funny. The songs are jaw droppingly horrid.
I never thought I'd come across a situation that would warrant this statement, but Freddie Mercury is blushing in heaven right now, blushing because you've shamed him in front of God.
Last.fm has tons of recommendations and other ways to find new artists or music. It's in the same vein as Pandora, which was posted a while ago. Stolen from /.
However, one viewer chose something different for his allotted hour, requesting continuous playing of "99 Luftballons," said VH1 spokeswoman Maura Wozniak.
And did anyone know this part (aside from Rollins)?:
"99 Luftballons" is a Cold-War era protest song that tells the story of 99 red balloons floating into the air, triggering an apocalypse when the military sends planes to intercept them.
Super Mario Bros. music on an 11 string bass I was unaware of such an instrument. Now I fear and respect it. Update Miolla has informed me that this is a near-repost of the earlier bass player doing SMB. My bad.
I'm sorry if this is widely known pop-culture BS, but Fergie from the Black Eyed Peas was on Kids Incorporated. I find that so entirely bizarre. She was also the voice of Sally on Peanuts in the 80s. This all comes from the IMdb via Wikipedia via the Superficial. The best pic I could find of the Kids Incorporated stint was in the 'Icons' section at KidsIncorporated.us, which is a site to behold in and of itself. Caution: annoying sound with site.
Just like the Olsen Twins... but more racist Tue Dec 20 2005
This is a repost -ed. From decker: Cute kids singing about white power. They are 13 years old, and say things like, "We just want to preserve our race." And David Duke uses them to draw crowds, apparently.
If you're one of those 10, please reassess your taste in everything. This is horrible. Watch the first 10 seconds if you must, but then turn away. It may snare you in its web of suck. Dear God it's awful. Just awful. And it doesn't get better. -ed
More amateur videos - Curry n' Rice girl This one's from Anagha. It gets really repetitive, so if you watch the first minute, you've pretty much got the whole thing.
And in case you wanted more Google video, may I recommend the plethora of car porn that is the Top Gear search. The 430, Carrera GT, and Transit Nurbrgring (Nurbrgring in a Van in under 10 minutes) videos are particularly excellent.
WXPN's 885 greatest albums of all time. If you're in the Harrisburg/Philly area, this is the only station you should listen to. Except when they play kids' music. Also of note are other people's (Gang of Four, etc.) top 10 lists at the bottom.
From miolla: My company is doing some work with these guys. A crazy trio from Finland or Norway or somewhere in that region of the world. Pretty funny little act they got going on. Gotta give them props for their foresight. This was taped in 1995.
According to the National Center for Health Statistics in Hyattsville, Md., slightly more than half of American teenagers, ages 15 to 19, have engaged in oral sex, with females and males reporting similar levels of experience. Among 18- to 19-year-olds, that figure increases to about 70 percent.
It's a Concept album by DJ DangerMouse and MF DOOM with the Adult Swim lineup... I got to hear the promo and it's pretty freakin' awesome. There are some tracks for download here
Providence based album review site run by an old friend of mine which insists all its reviews are 75 words or less. All reviews by "Tom" are my brother, for those who know him...
Our own Jason Caldeira is part of helicopters, which released their album a little bit ago. The whole thing is now available at the iTunes Music Store. I've been enjoying it all day, and if you know my curmudgeonly tastes, that's saying something (or not). I've particularly dug 'Mile Markers', 'Burt Gunplay', and 'While on the West Coast'. The entire purchase is well worth it.
If you're not sure, head over to I Love Helicopters.com where you can get a couple samples.
Transcending the guitar-based rock of their past, helicopters have driven into the land of electronic pop and come out the other side quite interesting to categorize: too rock to be The Postal Service, too pop to be Beck, too modern to be 80’s, too happy to be Radiohead.
I would throw a dash of Ben Folds into that mix as well. The good part.
"I think CS graduates have a better chance than most rappers at calculating and devising hitherto unheard rhyme pairings," he said. "50 Cent has dance clubs and oral sex, we have awesome video cards."
There it is, the first time "CS graduates" and "oral sex" have ever been in the same paragraph. Hiyo!
Excellent interview with Dave Grohl He of Foo Fighters and Nirvana. I picked out all these great quotes to put here, but then realized it amounted to about 1/2 of the interview. Gives a little perspective on how he became so 'normal'.
The new Foo Fighters disc is pretty darn good. The rock CD is better than the acoustic, but they're both worth a listen.
From Brick: R. Kelly releases stupid videos. R. Kelly, the pee-pee man, decided his next great career move would be releasing an epic video saga in 3-minute chapters. Only 5 are on the web site now, but I hear that there will be 12 before this poo-poo fest hits its last intestinal gas pocket. Pow! So awesomely bad...
Steelers holding Kickoff concert at Heinz field Featuring Kansas. This one's from Bean who adds The dude in the chair may be the one that died, but we'll be the ones in heaven. I will not be in town, but expect certain people with the last name of Jackson to make an effort to get there.
Pearl Jam wins USA Today readers' poll of rock bands. The list puts Journey at no. 5 and doesn't include Zep. I almost wish they hadn't won. Update JT has pointed out that I'm an idiot and it was only for American bands. Zeppelin objection withdrawn.
Yeah, Purple Rain. Man, that s**t was so gay - f**king eighties style. Wed Jun 8 2005
Waste 20 minutes of your life doing this, then realize you wasted most of your youth listening to crappy music. Derek sent this write-up and excellent tag line. I know this is a re-post from back in the day, but it's still entertaining.
Iced Out Eskimos Check out the Whataburger video at the bottom. 12MB WMV. These guys are riding that fine line between being serious while sucking and perpetrating an excellent parody. Polega sent this one in, and recalls the whataburger run at 2 in the morning on one of the 'pikes come to visit austin' trips.
Yo, can you, uh, like, pump this party?Wed May 18 2005
Look, Nobody Cares That You're a DJ This guy throws down on DJs. Pretty funny. Be sure to check out the comments for a laugh as well. On a related note (stolen from jwz)...
One DJ says to the other, "Do you want to go to a movie tonight?" and the other one says, "I don't know, who's the projectionist?"
Which came first? The music or the murders?Thu May 12 2005
NYT on how rap has become ultra-violent. This seems this comes up every few years (see: Cop Killer and Biggie/Pac), but the overall trend is toward increased violence. Bring back De La Soul.
R-A-P we runnin' this rap shhhhh...Thu Apr 28 2005
The Sneak-a-Snack All from derek. I thought this had been posted before, but it warrants a double dip.
So yeah, I've come across these before, they're amazingly cheap chips featuring hip-hop artists. Of particular note are the Bel Biv Devoe (back at the) Ranch and the Dirt McGirt Sour Cream & Onion (the official sour cream and onion chips of Bob Douglassssss)
Since there's no 'snack food' category...I guess this goes under 'Music'
Remind me to make friends with this guy.Thu Apr 21 2005
Rolling Stone Article on Rivers Cuomo. Oh yea, he's also in this band called Weezer with three other guys and they have a new album. The phrase 'self-absorbed prick' comes to mind. JT sent this along adding It's always interesting to read about Rivers Cuomo... he's a whack job.here's his MySpace account.
More animated music videos. New Gorillaz single. From rcr, who adds Derek watched it without sound and said the windmill was still creepy. I have to agree. I would also add that streaming video was Hard in 1995, and the amount of buffering I sat through makes me think Microsoft hasn't made any progress since then. Cool video, though.
Adam Sandler does it again - Video for 'Secret'. You'll need to locate 'Secret' and click. From miolla: Saw this on College Humor and had to pass it along. It's so fucking brilliant that I pulled over 10 co-workers to watch it, got caught by my boss, nearly fired and could have given a shit less. It takes a little while to warm up but well worth the wait I assure you. It stars a comedian (whose name escapes me) but his standup is awesome too.
Heads up for Non-311 fans (which means everybody).Sun Mar 20 2005
I'm too late for this because I took Friday off, but Miolla crafted an excellent entry, and I figure these bands must be playing in other places. So without further ado...
18 March, 10:30 pm Velvet Spade - Austin TX 912 Red River St
Buddies of mine are playing at SXSW. The show should be sick. Check out their sites but make it out to the show if you can. You won't be disappointed. Darediablo is a bunch of friends of mine out of NYC who completely kick all ass. And Tight Phantomz is a band from Chicago who beat out Billy Corrigan for best live show in Chicago. Nuff Said. This show is Rock N' Roll. Not pussy tunes to sing to your college sweetheart.
Make sure to identify yourselves as my friend if you go. They'd get a kick out of it.
NPR Feature on the Minibosses. So Rob and I are 1 degree from these dudes. Also, they are playing SXSW tonight at 1 am for those of you in Austin. Thanks to jm for whole thing.
Howling Wolf to Deep Purple in just 25 moves.Thu Mar 17 2005
Degrees of Seperation - for bands. How is Weezer connected to Twisted Sister? Find out which band members played on albums at the same time. Pretty cool time suck.
This is all from Ryan, including the tag line, so there you go. Some people this weekend asked to hear Karen sing. This is the piece she did on Sunday morning (yeah after a weekend of drinking). And Bryan, no this isn't her opera voice. Also, for the record, I taught her most of what she knows.
Profile of Beck and what he's been up to. New album coming soon. He's with Cynthia (the curly red-haired girl Wooderson tries to pick up at the In n' Out burger) and had a kid.
50 Cent and 'The Game' are beefing. That means one of them will be dead by year's end. I'm going to go ahead and nominate rappers and their 'posses' as the morons of the decade. It's all just a publicity stunt until someone ends up in the hospital.
Vince Neil's best man 'mysteriously injured' before wedding. Now we have something to live up to this weekend - mysterious injuries. naj sent this one in along with this tidbit - I will not be wed until a girl can get Hammer to do the ceremony and scream out "can't touch this" before it starts. Ladies, you have your mission.
Nickelback can't buy another hit. From shoof - This NPR reports talks about Nickelback, and how they copy off of themselves on their "new, original album" There is a great demonstration as well when they lay 2 Nickelback songs on top of one another and they sound the same. not kidding. huh, and to think i actually bought the first album.
Prince is the top-grossing tour of '04. If anyone knows the people that ponied up more than $10 to see Elton John, please feel free to beat them about the head. In related news, the announcement of Motley Crüe getting back together and touring shot them to the top of the Pollstar rankings.
They were talking about this on Stern this morning. Apparently the guy went up on stage, said "you broke up Pantera" (the guitarist is the former Pantera guitarist), and started shooting the band memebers.
Rolling Stone puts out top 500 song list. "Like a Rolling Stone" and "Satisfaction" by the Rolling Stones went 1,2. I'm not making this up. I couldn't find the full list. This would be a companion piece to the top 500 albums list and the Bhendrix re-mix. I couldn't find the full list, but if anyone sees it, lemme know.
The Boss is playing a gig in the burgh to aid flood victims. Springsteen is playing Heinz Hall - 2,500 seats. Probably one of the smaller venues he'll play for quite a while. Thanks to Ryan for this one, who adds more good work from bruce. not all of liberal hollywood is bad i guess :)
DJ Danger Mouse a GQ Man of the Year This is the guy that produced the Grey Album - the re-mix of Jay-Z's Balck Album and the Beatles' White Album, which I posted about a while ago. Also, on this note (oh, the punnery), there is a video - the grey video. The site was slow as nuts yesterday, but who knows? Give it a go. It's entertaining.
He said: "They're fun. I like all sizes and shapes in women, they just seem wilder. It's almost like they don't get to play a lot, or something. I'm not sure what that is."
"You can't be crunk all the time. What some people don't understand is that I'm a businessman, too. I have to work, and you can't be screaming and hollering when you're handling business."
Paul Oakenfold on what DJ'ing is. He kind of ramples a bit, but topics include why downloaded music blows and why spinning with CDs also blows. And it's on CNN, which is wierd.
I don't know what got more of a response out of me, the actual incident (that's some funny shit) or the fact that cnn can't get the name of the band right (Matthews Band???). And when it splattered all over the place, how are they then able to estimate it to be 800lbs? Also, is 800lbs of waste in a summer a lot? for a band? Makes me wish I could figure out my yearly waste. I think that is what Karen meant this morning when she told me I was a gross individual.
50 Greatest Parts of songs ever. Pretty good list. Liked the inclusion of the D, Metallica's 'One', and of course, Hendrix (more than once). Also, the tangential need for More Cowbell is once again demonstrated. MP3 bits are included if you can't quite tell which bit they're talking about.
America is an idea, but it's an idea that brings with it some baggage, like power brings responsibility. It's an idea that brings with it equality, but equality even though it's the highest calling, is the hardest to reach. The idea that anything is possible, that's one of the reasons why I'm a fan of America. It's like hey, look there's the moon up there, lets take a walk on it, bring back a piece of it. That's the kind of America that I'm a fan of.
Nick Hornby, author of High Fidelity, weighs in on Pop MusicIn truth, I don't care whether the music sounds new or old: I just want it to have ambition and exuberance, a lack of self-consciousness, a recognition of the redemptive power of noise, an acknowledgment that emotional intelligence is sometimes best articulated through a great chord change, rather than a furrowed brow. If you haven't read his books, they're highly recommended.
Why Clear Channel is the freakin' devil. They're claiming only they can produce instant live CDs. Beautiful. At lest Phish and Pearl Jam escaped their idiocy. In case you wanted to put a face on the beast, here he is. He lives in Boston.
50 moments that shaped pop music history. I like these lists. I don't know why. The 00s are looking a little light at the moment, but it occurs to me that there may be things going on today that won't shape music for a few more years - a la the Stooges in 1969. It's easy to see their influence today, especially on the punk movement, but if someone did the list in '70, it probably wouldn't be there. That said, for the love of all things good, can someone come up with something that isn't a Britney clone, a rap/rock mix or a blinged out rapper?
Radiohead show voted greatest ever. Voting on concerts has got to be one of the worst ideas ever. No one could have possibly been to all of these shows, so it just comes down to who has the most and biggest fan-boys. And in this case, Scott Tinnerman and Co. threw down. Thanks to naj, who points out that these people obviously did not see Coldplay's Rush of Blood to the Head Tour. Fair trade.
Blender Magazine's Worst 50 songs ever. 'We Built This City' is #1. I take issue with 'Sounds of Silence' being anywhere near this list. Thanks to JT for the link.
Albums that still sound good. I would throw the Joshua Tree and Ten on there, but you probably already knew that. What would you add? Thanks to JT for this one.
Music Plasma - Musical relationship and poularity map. The links and proximity are cool. But the size of the spheres is messed up. Peter Gabriel bigger than Elvis? Miles Davis a small fry? Thanks to Brian E. for this one.
The Minibosses "a: this is the minibosses web site. we are a phoenix based band dedicated to playing nes music with two guitars, a bass, and a drum set. we love playing, it's really fun." These guys were in Wired.
Jin Tha MC interview. Shek saw him on MTV2. Apparently he's good. He's got rhymes like: Ask your girl/ She had my egg rolls and my dumplings in her mouth Beautiful.
Top 25 Worst Albums. The distinction being that these are from people who produced good albums at some point. Vitalogy should not have been included. That said, the rest is pretty good. Thanks to Fark for this one.
Pearl Jam Covers list Pulled from the Sperl thing. I want to blow up my radio every time I hear that Staind cover of 'Black'. There are some things that are just not done. That should be one of them. Anyway, I picked up 'Lost Dogs' the other day, and have digested it and re-digested it a couple times, and here's my conclusion: It's a great album for any Pearl Jam fan. It puts all these odd tunes in one place with some nice packaging and info as well as a pristine copy. I had a lot of them previously through file sharing (apparently not legally) and never knew exactly where they came from. A lot of them are great songs, but I can definitely see why they were excluded, especially in the context of the album that came from the same session. One big issue is that I have bootlegs of several of these songs, and without fail, the live version is superior. For example, I first heard 'Down' on the Pittsburgh bootleg from this year, and it ruled my world. The energy on the recording is unbelievable, the intro from Ed (we're on a short first name basis) really sets it up and the song really is great. The studio version is a good song, but not great. It just sounds too... sterile. And the song suffers for it. It may be because I heard the live version first, but I don't think so. The only song that may benefit from the studio is 'Yellow Ledbetter'. The first few notes with the echo set such a great tone and it's such a mellow song, the crowd energy of a live show tends to take away from it. And last but not least, they should have included 'Leather Man' on the album, in order to complete the 'Man' trilogy. Or does 'Elderly Woman' count as the 3rd? So anyway, I'm curious to see what others think.
Pearl Jam's "Lost Dogs" November 11th Pearl Jam B-sides and limited release stuff. Oh man Oh man Oh man. Wash, Down, Yellow Ledbetter, Hard to Imagine.....
The D are staging a 'hunger strike' outside of TRL "When the pair was asked the longest duration either had gone without sustenance, Gass replied that one time he had gone eight hours between meals. Black said that once he slept for 12 hours, effectively spending 13 hours in-between meals."
Tenacious D DVD comes out Tuesday Damn you Austin dwellers, damn you! If you can ever catch them in concert, it's an awesome time. I gotta get to a Dan Band show to compare.
helicopters' new EP - Walking To Be Looked AT
Get out on the town
