Kicking off the week with some videos and various other fun ephemera…
Janelle Monáe released the music video for the title track of last year’s brilliant release, The Electric Lady. Pitchfork gives a rundown of the various cameos in the video, as well as some notes about how both Michelle and Barack Obama are big fans of Janelle. I personally would love to see the “dancing” video that is apparently in Janelle’s possession.
Everyone else seems to have settled into the August doldrums, so we’re keeping it short and sweet this week.
Jason Heller wrote an appreciation of Steve Albini for Pitchfork, highlighting some of his greatest moments as a musician. It’s a nice change of pace for music fans of today that know only of his legendary work as a producer (or as an “engineer”, as he preferred to be called), and should help provide an intriguing playlist for your weekend.
That is, if you need a playlist for your weekend–Lollapalooza is happening right now in Chicago, and you can catch a stream here, courtesy of Pitchfork.
The Colbert Report had a couple of excellent musical guests this week, with Beck stopping by the studio to play from both Morning Phase and his Song Reader project, which just saw its official release this week. “Heart is a Drum”, the song that was played on the broadcast, also had its official music video released this week, and it’s embedded above. The next night, Colbert had Jon Batiste and his Stay Human group, and they proceeded to blow the roof off the studio with a memorable performance of “Express Yourself” that you need to watch now.
The AV Club reminds you that it’s a good idea to listen to Suicide, and also inform you that The Killers wrote apparently the weirdest lyric ever (personally, I think “I Am The Walrus” is weirder, and that’s not even getting into the fact that the list is just pop music and it’s easier to find “weirdness” when you go further beyond the boundaries of Top-40/Classic Rock).
With the news that TV on the Radio will be releasing a new album this fall, Stereogum took the opportunity to list their 10 Best Songs. Not a bad list if you ask me (though “Staring at the Sun” is underrated), and I’m glad they didn’t decide to be pricks and avoid the obvious choice for number 1.
New videos perfect for a lazy summer day and more…
Karen O released a video for “Rapt” from her upcoming solo release, Crush Songs. The song is a delicate lo-fi bitter ode to love, while the video sees Karen O floating underwater. That should be enough to intrigue you.
This weekend saw an unexpected collaboration, as Jack White popped up at a Beck concert, and White joined in for classics like “Loser”, “Pay No Mind”, and “Where It’s At”. The video at Pitchfork gives an incomplete view of what happened, but the glimpses that we see make it seem like a fantastic partnership. Their respective tours mirror each other a bit, so perhaps this we’ll be only the first example of a possible union.
Check out this solo acoustic performance from Adam Granduciel of The War On Drugs, performing “An Ocean In Between The Waves.” The performance shows that even without all the gauzy synths and hazy atmospherics of the album recording, it’s a damn good song that’s still extremely powerful.
The group clipping. has gotten a lot of attention for its experimental take on rap and for being one of the few hip-hop acts on Sub Pop, and they had the music world buzzing last week with their latest video, for “Story 2”. The song is a harrowing tale of a father’s returning home to find a tragedy has occurred at his house, with the style and flow changing as the terror increases once the father realizes what happened. The video follows the same storyline, though it’s shot to show only the father’s lower body, which makes it all the more unsettling. It’s probably one of the best videos you’ll see this year.
We’ll be doing a big feature on Spoon next week in advance of their upcoming release, and to help you prepare you can read up on this Guardian interview where Britt Daniel discusses the songs from their albums over the years that helped define the band. He makes a few surprising choices, while also providing a nice overview of Spoon’s career.
Kanye West provokes a lot of reactions in people, but he’s always an interesting interview no matter how you slice it. GQ has an extended interview with him for this month’s issue.
And finally, we have an interview with Peter Matthew Bauer. Normally we would be excited about posting (and reading) this interview, considering how much we love The Walkmen and Bauer’s solo debut, but the interviewer is Rick Moody. Our hostility towards Moody would make more sense if we published a planned takedown of another interview he did. But since that got pushed to the backburner, we’ll just warn you by saying to be prepared for pretentiousness and general blockheadedness.
New music, new videos, goofy contests…let’s get this week started.
Spoon decided to hit the ground running as they kicked off their week. They released a great (almost) one-shot video for “Do You”, which sees Britt Daniel slowly driving away from what seems to be the wreckage of the night before, until a surprising reveal at the end. They also released a new song, “Inside Out”, which while not a full-fledged video, does include some trippy visuals. And the band did a live chat with fans over at Consequence of Sound this afternoon, and you can find the complete transcript here.
The recent death of Tommy Ramone means that there are no surviving members of the original group. While this is a bummer, the folks at Funny or Die decided to look on the bright side of the situation, and imagine what the reunion in heaven would be like. And it’s always good to see Dave Foley.
BBC Radio 2 is having a poll to determine the greatest guitar riff of all time, and though those of us in the States are unable to vote, we can at least take a look at the possible selections. Honestly, there are some pretty good choices on the list.
And finally, the Soundgarden/Nine Inch Nails joint tour kicked off this weekend in Vegas, and Rolling Stone has a rave review of the show. I’m definitely excited to see these guys soon.
Some #longreads as you kick back and sit by the pool this weekend…
This is the week of Weird Al Yankovic, everybody, as our foremost parodist delighted the internet with a new music video each day from his new album, Mandatory Fun. You should be able to find tons of features on him this week, but I’m going to highlight this piece from Deadspin in particular. AV Club has had a whole series of articles on him, including a quick interview where Weird Al answers 11 questions. And SPIN has taken the opportunity to rank every music video Weird Al has done.
The New Pornographers are gearing up for the release of their new album, Brill Bruisers, and The Vancouver Sun talks with Carl Newman on how the band was able to record despite the fact that the various solo projects pull the band members every which way. After reading that, be sure to enjoy the band’s take on mid-90’s BritPop one-shot videos with the Dan Bejar-sung “War on the East Coast”.
Earlier this week, Eddie Vedder caught some flack for off-the-cuff remarks he made in-between songs at a Pearl Jam show, which is something that Pearl Jam fans should be used to by now. However, Vedder’s remarks pleading for peace was taken to be anti-Israel by some because of current events, most notably the Jerusalem Post, despite the fact there was no specific party mentioned. Eddie took the time to post a response, clarifying once again that he’s anti-war, and that should come as no surprise.
In contrast to the relative paucity of links from Friday, we’ve got an avalanche of videos and news this week. So here we go!
The music world lost another giant this weekend, as Tommy Ramone passed away due to complications from bile duct cancer. Tommy was a vital part of the Ramones, anchoring their back-to-basics but give-them-hell attitude from behind the drumkit, but he also was an early producer for the band and was the main creative force behind many of the band’s most-loved songs, including “Blitzkrieg Bop”. After he left the Ramones, he continued making his mark, including producing one of the greatest albums of all time, Tim by The Replacements. Now is as good as a time as any to listen to that album along with any and all Ramones albums you may have, and be sure to read this great write-up by Jon Wurster in SPIN.
Interpol released their “first” official video from El Pintor, for the propulsive and upbeat “All The Rage Back Home”. I put “first” in quotations, because that ignores the live video for “Anywhere” that previously was released, but is also understandable because at least this is a studio recording.
Here are some initial thoughts on the song: 1) I love it when Interpol goes for speed, and it works even better in contrast to the slow open; 2) The lead guitar in the verses, while a continuation of the first slow part, clash way too much with the chords once the song gets into gear; it’s a lot like when I was in jazz band in high school, and the director would point to me suddenly and go “you have the next 16 bars”–a lot of noodling on the upper part of the neck that doesn’t make any sense whatsoever; 3) In the video they have Paul playing bass, emphasizing that as a recording unit they’re a three-piece, but live they will have a more traditional lineup with Paul on second guitar; overall, Paul acquits himself quite well, though I hope on other songs he attempts to replace Carlos D’s ability to use space and off-beat rhythms and lines that were such a key part of the early Interpol sound. In related news, Interpol announced today the details of their fall tour, with tickets for most shows going on sale on Friday.
Speaking of tours, the recently reunited Slowdive (and subject of one of the first pieces on our site) have announced that they’re going beyond an initial run of festivals and are going on a full-fledged tour. I can’t wait to see them in November, as that month seems to be shaping up to be “Reunion Month” with Death From Above 1979 stopping by the Northwest a couple of weeks later.
We’ve mentioned before how much we’ve loved Hamilton Leithauser’s solo debut, and we’re glad to see that he’s released another music video, this time for “I Don’t Need Anyone”. This one is pretty funny, and has a nice dark edge to it that’s perfect for a Monday.
Continuing with a theme of funny videos, Metallica cut a humorous promo for Sportscenter, fitting in with the latter’s long run of great ads. In this spot, the band is looking for something to do now that Mariano Rivera has retired and so they no longer have to play “Enter Sandman” for his entrance music.
As there is the “Rule of 3’s” in comedy, so it is with funny music videos, as Weird Al released a video for his parody of Pharrell’s “Happy”, with the clever “Tacky”. Yankovic gets some famous friends in on the fun, and those who have tired of hearing the original should welcome it. (Warning: Video autoplays)
After some rumblings before, it’s now official that Radiohead will be heading to the studio to record their latest album in September, according to Billboard who listened in on a BBC radio interview. As always, it will be interesting to see just what direction the band will take this time around.
Hope everyone remembered to get a free Slurpee today. Because goddammit I forgot to get one.
As a capper for their multi-part feature on punk in the 90’s (“Fear of a Punk Decade”), the AV Club engaged in a roundtable to discuss whether the music had a lasting impact.
Somebody uploaded a video from 1983 that features the first live performance of “Purple Rain”, which would then go on to be used in the film itself. Included in the video is a “director’s commentary” a la Pop-Up Video, providing additional insight into the song. Better watch it soon, before Prince takes it down.
(Update: And sure enough, it’s been pulled. Hope you enjoyed it while it lasted!)
Pitchfork interviews Geoff Rickly about his new band, United Nations. I had been a fan of Thursday (Full Collapse will always be a favorite of mine), but didn’t realize they had broken up with the release of their latest. Rickly talks a bit about Thursday’s break up as well in the interview. Pitchfork also catches up with Christopher Owens, formerly of the band Girls, and they discuss his upcoming album. Father, Son, Holy Ghost was one of the best albums of 2011, but there wasn’t much on Owens’s solo debut Lysandre that seemed worthwhile, so I’ll hold off on my anticipation a little bit.
Hope everyone had a fun holiday weekend, with all fingers and toes still intact. On to the news and videos:
Big news last week as Death Grips broke up, just in time for me to miss seeing them on their tour with Soundgarden and Nine Inch Nails. To tell you the truth, I wasn’t fully expecting the group to show up, considering their history, but it’s a bummer nonetheless. The “break-up” makes sense, in either their own narrative of being an art project or an outsider’s perspective of being a pure troll-job. At least we can say that a lot of rich people gave them money, and they repaid that debt by giving the public a lot of cool music for free.
Some might say that the biggest news was the leak that Pink Floyd is releasing a new album, but this is only significant for people who never listened to The Division Bell and don’t care that Roger Waters is not involved in the new project. Still, if you’re looking for an excuse to turn out the lights and fire up Wish You Were Here, might as well make it this one.
Or you could listen to “Wish I Was Here”, a collaboration between Cat Power and Coldplay for the new Zach Braff film of the same name. I don’t remember much of the movie “Garden State”, but if it got more people to listen to The Shins, I’m perfectly fine with its existence. I still get chills listening to “New Slang”.
Jack White is continuing to clear out his vault, and announced the release of a single from his band The Dead Weather, along with a live album from The White Stripes. Pitchfork has the details if you’re interested.
If you’re in the mood for some reading, you could do better than read the AV Club’s Hatesong feature, which continues to be a waste of time for most everybody involved. This past week saw a comedian complain about Rage Against the Machine’s “Bulls On Parade” because…he was in 8th grade and didn’t like his classmates that liked the song. AV Club, you’re better than this.
If you need something to lift up your spirits after that, no worries: we finally have a new song from Death From Above 1979. The track “Trainwreck 1979” made its debut on Zane Lowe’s program on BBC Radio 1, and you can catch it at about the 1 hour and 54 minute mark. Be sure to set your cursor back a couple of minutes before that, as Zane explains the significance of You’re a Woman, I’m a Machine to many music fans, even if it never sold all that much. It reminds me of “Sexy Results”, but a quicker and dirtier version of it. In other words, it’s grimy, but still has a good dance beat.
[Edited to add:] The band has uploaded a lyric video for “Trainwreck 1979” and have also included information to pre-order the new album The Physical Worldon their Facebook page.
Still bored? Check out some Best Albums So Far lists, courtesy of Relix and Stephen Thomas Erlewine. Several the albums we’ve touted appear on both lists, so good news for us, but they should also provide the opportunity to discover other new artists as well.
Spoon played Jimmy Kimmel Live last week, with tracks from their upcoming album They Want My Soul. We had previously heard “Rent I Pay”, but the band also debuted “Rainy Taxi” at the performance. The first is a ragged, stilted rocker that Spoon has perfected over the years, but the second is a groovy, uptempo number that fits in some of the dissonant touches that the band does so well, and should be a live favorite.
Fans in Oslo were treated to a Pearl Jam rarity, as the band performed “Strangest Tribe” for the first time. It’s a beautiful, somber song that can be found on the Lost Dogs compilation, and was originally released as one of the fanclub Christmas singles. A hearty thanks to the fan that filmed this special occasion.
Rolling Stone has Jack White’s entire Glastonbury set on its site, which included a quick cover of Metallica’s “Enter Sandman” (a specific choice that the article has details about), and also a link to a previous performance with some choice covers including a take on The Stooges’ “I Wanna Be Your Dog”.
And we didn’t get a chance to post this in our traditional Friday #longreads roundup, but here’s a link to an extended interview with Dennis Lyxzen, frontman of the legendary Refused and The (International) Noise Conspiracy, who is now working in a new band called INVSN.
Rust Is Just Right 