Dennis Lyxzén

Catching Up On The Week (May 8 Edition)

Some #longreads as you make plans for Mother’s Day

In case you were unaware, Mother’s Day is this Sunday, so let this be a reminder to make plans if you have not done so already.  Over the years, there have been plenty of tributes to Dear Mama, though few of them are truly memorable.  The AV Club takes a closer look at an overlooked effort from Menomena, examining the backstory from their album Moms and one of its most personal tracks, “Baton”.

The biggest release of the week was My Morning Jacket’s latest album, The Waterfall.  While we work on our own review of the record, we recommend that you read this Stereogum essay to help provide some perspective, as it analyzes the album not only within the My Morning Jacket discography but in context of trends of the past decade in rock as a whole.

This week’s most entertaining piece was the oral history of the immortal Redman episode of Cribs, courtesy of Thrillist.  Yes, Redman actually lived in that tiny apartment.

Rolling Stone interviewed Dennis Lyxzén to get the story of how after their successful reunion tour that the time was finally right for Refused to record a follow-up to their classic The Shape of Punk to Come, and what to expect from Freedom.

Trunkworthy published an ode to one of our favorite Wilco albums, the underappreciated Summerteeth.  To this day, it is still one of my favorite records, and hopefully when Wilco stops by later this summer they play more than a few cuts from it.

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Over the Weekend (June 30 Edition)

Some videos and news as you begin your week thinking about how dumb Penalty Kicks are

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.

Speaking of Pearl Jam, Eddie Vedder recently received an invitation to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (you know, the Oscars folks).  Maybe he’ll help clear up the mess that is the nominations process for the music categories.

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.

Over The Weekend (Feb. 10 Edition)

It’s Monday, and what better time to watch some videos because doing actual work sounds pretty awful right now.

There goes my plan to invest in Medieval Madness points

Not For Investment Purposes

Justin Vernon from Bon Iver and Volcano Choir sat in with The Roots on Jimmy Fallon’s show last week, and Pitchfork has videos of the combo playing Bon Iver songs.

Punk icon Dennis Lyxzén (Refused, The (International) Noise Conspiracy) has a new group called INVSN, and their sound is a bit different than what you would expect.  Then again, if you expected synths and programmed drums, I would like to learn about the hallucinogenic substances you’ve been ingesting.  But I like the sound, and Stereogum has the video for their song “61”.

I’ve been sticking around after The Daily Show and The Colbert Report to watch the show @Midnight.  I’ve been switching between that and Community reruns, but lately I’ve been sticking around the reruns less often (though this may be the result of the syndication schedule not doing a great job of shuffling the episodes).  I only bring it up here because Neko Case was a contestant on the most recent show; you can watch her Win The Internet here.

And finally, here’s Andrew W.K. doing a guest song for a show on Animal Planet, featuring a ridiculous-looking cat.  It is everything you’d hope and expect it to be.  And that’s the best way to start the week.