I'll dance my life away

Tonight we're gonna party like it's 1999.

Happy New Year!

Mercury dan with a spikey hand

With the end of the calendar year, I got thinking about the end of the world. Here's a happy and upbeat new wave tune from 1983 about just that.

Share it like a rock star

From Wired: Top of the Swaps: P2P's Most-Traded Movies, TV and Songs of 2007

Also:

David Byrne's Survival Strategies for Emerging Artists

R.I.P. Oscar Peterson

Oscar Peterson (1925-2007)

Begone Dull Care (Oscar Peterson Trio & Norman McLaren)

OscarPeterson.com

Oscar Peterson Discography [Discogs]

Oscar Peterson Trio Live at Newport

The spirit of listening

From NPR.org: A mostly-holiday mix from All Songs Considered.

A couple interesting inclusions in this odd selection of tunes. I guess that's why it's called All Songs Considered.

Thin White Christmas

Around 1:28-1:38 Bing has a couple of "What the fuck am I doing?" moments, but puts all his reservations aside and slays the perennial holiday classic with the Thin White Duke himself. By slay I mean that no one ever needs to do this song again. Ever. "What about a band who wants to liven up a show during the holiday season with a cover?" Stand there and put the CD on. Don't say anything, don't play anything. Just stand there and shut up. Probably the only Xmas song I can hear more than once during the season and not feel like smashing the speakers to bits.

Links:

Saw this for the first time: Bowie sings ""Heroes"" on the same holiday special. He puts his mime training to good use here, by making love to himself in-between his own face(s). This would be cooler if it wasn't basically a rip off of the promotional video for the single.

Spoof of Bowie & Bing from This Hour Has 22 Minutes

Presidential rocks!

From boingboing:

George W. Bush sings R.E.M.'s "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)"

George H.W. Bush sings Queen's "We Will Rock You"

The actors change, but the play is the same. It's stunning to think about how little things have actually changed in the past 15-20 years, despite the obvious technological advancements.

It's freaky, but I like it

Justin Timberlake - Lovestoned (Justice Remix) [Hype Machine]

Born to pun

Reborn to run [Eye Weekly]

Helps explain the recent resurgence of The Boss.

Neon lights a Nobel prize

Well played, CBC: Rock Band shortages sure to anger gamers.

"...disappointed and angry rock-star wannabes..."
"...bungle..."
"...total crap shoot..."
"...French-packaging requirements..."

The Bret Michaels Band is a bonus track. There were definitely a few people laughing when they signed off on this game. The inclusion of the Stone Roses almost makes it not-so-laughable. Almost.

Society continues to set record lows:
"The newest trend in nightclubs: guitaraoke" [CBC In Depth]


Real Guitar Hero chasers:

Some 200 Greatest Rock Guitar Albums
Jimi Hendrix Experience - Are You Experienced? [audio CD, Toronto Public Library]
Neil Young - Decade [audio CD, Toronto Public Library]
Led Zeppelin - II [audio CD, Toronto Public Library]

Our tracks are better than your tracks

It's that time of the year. The time where we take a moment or two to reflect on the year that was, the good times that were had, and all the life-changing songs we missed. But, thanks to the modern marriage of pop journalism and the web, you'll never miss a hip track again in your life. Or else.

Any 'best of' list you read this year will be best enjoyed with Hype Machine open in another tab.

Top 50 tracks of '07 [Pitchfork]
Top 50 tracks of '07 [Stylus]

Don't forget about the always hilarious Metacritic. Their 'Top Albums' list is of the organic sort. It could be different next week.

Capitalist Hippie Complex

Always entertaining, and one of the best 'year-end' articles published in the music biz:
The A.V. Club's Worst Band Names of '07

Ten days of perfect tunes

The Knife - Heartbeats - Live


See also: José González version

Winter is officially here... and that means it's the season in which the music of The Knife is best enjoyed. José González is a Swedish singer-songwriter who made a name for himself covering the original "Heartbeats" by The Knife. Whether consciously or not, the band's live rendition takes the song in a similar direction. The album cut, from Deep Cuts, carries the dark introspection of the lyrics upon an electro-pop cloud to the heavens.
González's cover version reached #9 on the UK chart, while the only chart the Knife's version cracked was the Swedish chart - peaking at #54.

Links:

The Knife [official site]
The Knife [myspace]

File under: O, Orwell

From boingboing.net:

This is the best chance we will ever have to make our feelings known about the Canadian DMCA.

I, on the other hand, am looking forward to the coming Draconian copyright laws, and welcome our new evil American-owned music corpoglomerate conquerors with open arms.

The Harder They Come

Jimmy Cliff plays Ivanhoe Martin, the original gun-toting, drug-dealing, revenge-extracting, desperately destructive -- and self destructive -- musician/gangster (or gangster/musician). The Harder They Come is a tragic opera, a story of crime and street life in 70s' Kingston, Jamaica. The template for every wannabe -- and otherwise -- gangster/musician (or gangster/musician) since.

While the musical soundtrack is excellent, the audio restoration leaves something to be desired. The ADR is laughably sloppy in places, and the foley & other re-created sounds should have been left alone. Certainly the film didn't have a high budget, but there's so much nostalgia in all the blips, pops, crackles, and electrical hum that make up the rich aural tapestry of the source tape. Damn you, Criterion Collection. Damn you.

Things to watch for: Cliff with perpetually bloodshot eyes, and a couple other things. I'm not a spoiler.

Links:

The Harder They Come [imdb.com]
The Harder They Come (audio CD) [Toronto Public Library]
The Harder They Come (DVD) [Toronto Public Library]

Also:
Midnight Movies - From the Margin to the Mainstream [Wikipedia]

Mad Hatters

Fake book titles #3

Bullet the Blue Sky: U2 After the Fatal '89 Plane Crash



(Happy 20th Birthday, Joshua Tree!)

By day we run, by night we dance, we do

Endlessly imitated, never duplicated: Killing Joke - "Eighties"



The main riff to this song was admittedly copped by Nirvana for their second single off Nevermind

Other links:

Killing Joke - Love Like Blood [video]
Killing Joke [official site]
EG Records discography

A list

Songs featuring Bicycles

Dukes of the Stratosphear - Bike Ride to the Moon
Fats Domino - Rockin' Bicycle
Kyuss - Big Bikes
Ray Parker Jr. & Helen Terry - Dueling Bikes from Quicksilver... (I can't believe that people got paid to make this movie.)
Queen - Bicycle Race
Tomorrow - My White Bicycle

No relation

R.I.P. The Noize

Quiet Riot singer found dead in Las Vegas [Reuters via Yahoo!]



Is this a bad time to mention that the band's biggest song is a cover?

Can't recall what started it all/Or how to begin in the end

Queens of the Stone Age playing "Make It Wit Chu" at the MTV awards this year, featuring Dave Grohl on drums, and Cee-Lo on karaoke machine. Watch for it.

You slammed my face down on the barbecue grill

Some top notch Weird Al clips:

"Another One Rides the Bus" - April 21, 1981
Ghandi II
"I Lost on Jeopardy" (a parody of the Greg Kihn Band's "Our Love's In Jeopardy"
"Interview" with Prince
"You Don't Love Me Anymore"

Some awful Weird Al clips:

"Interview" with Avril Lavigne
"Sue Ya"

The Web is a dangerous place. I have seen things that I wish I never saw. I have seen shit that will turn you white. But this video, Some guy lip-synching along to the Weird Al show theme song,...is one of the dumbest things I have ever seen, and never have I wanted 1.65 seconds back more than after clicking on that link. All I wanted was a couple hilarious Weird Al clips... but GoogleTube suggested that I might like to see that video. I didn't. GoogleTube was wrong. Dead wrong.

The real school of Rock

Brian May to head British University [CBC]

The piano has been drinking

Seemingly, his only video... at least, the only video posted to YouTube. I saw him for the first time tonight. He plays every Sunday night at the Cameron House. Go.

Links:

Kevin Quain @ myspace

Sunday Night Playlist

Matt's Big Day Out

Queens of the Stone Age - If Only
Fela Kuti - Zombie
Philip Bailey & Phil Collins - Easy Lover
The Clash - Train In Vain
Bjork - Crabcraft
The Notorious B.I.G. - Things Done Changed
Bloc Party - Two More Years (MSTRKRFT Remix)
Carly Simon - Coming Around Again
Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Hey Hey My My
The Rapture - Pieces of the People We Love
LCD Soundsystem - Tribulations
N*E*R*D - She Wants to Move (DFA Remix)
Queens of the Stone Age - Lost Art of Keeping a Secret
Joni Mitchell - All I Want
Smashing Pumpkins - Stand Inside Your Love
America - Sister Golden Hair
Marvin Gaye - Heard it Through the Grapevine
Chicago - Saturday In the Park
Iggy Pop - Sixteen
Blancmange - Don't Tell Me
Alan Parsons Project - Eye In The Sky
David Bowie - Breaking Glass
David Bowie - Fame
Cyndi Lauper - Time After Time
XTC - Earn Enough For Us
Ike & Tina Turner - River Deep Mountain High

A list

Songs with 'Telephone' in the title:

Blondie - Hangin' on the Telephone
Sheena Easton - Telefone (Long Distance Love Affair)
Electric Light Orchestra - Telephone Line
The Fall - Telephone Thing (With Coldcut)
New Edition - Mr. Telephone Man
Pete Shelley - Telephone Operator
Sesame Street - Telephone Rock

Na na na na na na na na na na

"The Day the World Went Away" is NIN's highest charting single on the Billboard Hot 100, at #17! Wha... ?! Sometimes you forget. The Fragile famously went to the top of the album chart then disappeared entirely the next week. Few artists have such rabid fan bases.

Here's the Still version of the song mashed with promo footage for the track. An official video was never released, but the visuals were put together with a live performance, and available as a hidden track on And All That Could Have Been DVD. To access: In between "Head Like A Hole" and "Just Like You Imagined", at 16:10, press quickly LEFT, RIGHT, DOWN, UP and then press ENTER. (From Wikipedia, and any DVD Easter Egg site)



Can't find the director info for this video, and mvdbase.com has nothing.

That boy needs therapy

The Avalanches - "Frontier Psychiatrist", featuring a Wayne and Shuster bit as the prominent vocal sample.



Other videos on YouTube claim to be the 'Original Video'... this could be entirely true. Cursory web searches yield little information, and a search for 'music videos shot twice' only turns up articles about rappers being shot and this story. The Avalanches are from Australia, this guy got shot in Australia. Coincidence? Obviously.

mvdbase.com tells us that there were, indeed, two versions of the video, apparently shot within a month of each other. Go figure.

What is it good for?...

Here's Edwin Starr (born Charles Hatcher) and the Funk Brothers with this Billboard Hot 100 #1 from August 29 to September 12, 1970, Gordy 7101, "War".




Compare this to the current #1 single, Kiss Kiss, from the talentless hack Chris Brown and featuring the astonishingly pathetic production and icy, soulless, auto-tuned vocals of Mr. T-Pain.

Week by week we continue to see the proof of the devolution of our popular arts... the difference in the two of these songs in musicality, performance and sheer talent on record is nothing short of staggering.

Hot potato

Get it quick, before he sues.

Drained of colour; what else could he say?

Marilyn Manson, "Great Big White World", Big Day Out 1999:



Marilyn Manson, "Great Big White World", Rock AM Ring 2003:



This guy used to be dangerous. He was the king at causing controversy during his day (though he owes his career to Bowie and Alice Cooper). Somewhere along the way he got soft, and for the most part, it really wasn't his fault. The Columbine thing had to do a major number on the guy... as much as he tried to parlay the whole debacle into devilish credibility, there were just too many people in positions of power that made a point of painting Marilyn Manson (the band, and the character) as an actual danger to society... One can only keep up the shock-rock thing for so long before the artist devolves into pure self parody. I desperately fucking hope this guy doesn't become a bible-thumping-Jesus-loving-joke. (not that there's anything wrong with loving Jesus, I'm all for freedom of choice... but come on, if you make your whole career being anti-Jesus...)

As evidenced in the latter video, he has completely lost his zeal for performance. His latest band incarnation has more in common with the poseur-mock-glam/post-punk of My Chemical Romance than anything resembling the group's former evilness. I've already put my two cents in on the subject of Mr. Warner's retirement. Say... speaking of Warner, remember when Manson and WB joined forces to sell The Matrix? An extremely rare instance of corporate artistry that doesn't go down like an ounce of ipecac.

For all the sentimental fools

Yacht Rock is dead!
Long live Yacht Rock!

Channel 101 - Yacht Rock

Be sure to watch them in order. The host, playing a parody of himself, used to write for AMG.

Couldn't leave his chair if he tried

Robert Wyatt and friends miming along to "I'm a Believer".

The same but different

The Cryin' Shames [UK band]

and

The Cryan' Shames [US band]

And they sign their names with a capital 'T'

Radiohead have mastered showmanship in the 21st century. They excel at every aspect of their craft and performance, from musicianship to marketing - it's no mistake that they've just released their most mature album. In Rainbows is refined, and in the same vein as previous releases, carrying the usual undertones of slick, dark alt-pop just under the surface... this time, that undercurrent bubbles up and rears its ugly head. This record feels a lot like what Year Zero means to the career of Nine Inch Nails. Both acts have been around long enough that even if they put in an undercooked effort, they will still sell a boatload of albums and have all the reason in the world to tour to their respective rabid fan bases. Both acts are also no longer under major label contracts, allowing them to take all the risks that their former bosses wouldn't have the guts to pull off, such as releasing albums for free. It's not like they need the money, right?
It's no coincidence that the Trent Reznor-produced Saul Williams album has been given a similar release format to In Rainbows, save for the "guilting-you-into-buying-intellectual-property" act. I can't shake the feeling that Mr. Williams is a willing guinea pig in testing the waters for an upcoming NIN release.

Something to think about (for about six seconds): YZ clocks in at 63:42, nearly as long as Reznor's longest single LP, The Downward Spiral, and IR comes in as the band's shortest studio LP, at 42:34.

Read:
Trent Reznor, Saul Williams interview

At Ease [#1 Radiohead fan site]

RIP Stylus Magazine

Stylus Magazine is finished as of Wednesday. Sad times for the internet, as we lose one of the best (if not best) music magazines around. I started reading the magazine back in '03, and to some extent it played the anti-Pitchfork, having multiple writers review the same records, comment sections on each article (which were often great realizations of what online discourse is all about), and an attitude towards music that was more music fan/geek than music fan/snob. This magazine will be missed.

The Bluffer's Guide to Stylus

Separated at birth

A couple of eerily similar videos... with different directors.



Justice - D.A.N.C.E.
[75 Music] - Directed by Jonas & François

---



The Rapture - Whoo! Alright Yeah Uh-huh
[Waverly Films] - Directed by Ben Dickinson

Some bitchin' new videos

The single cut for this song features the old "speed-up-the-track-for-the-single-mix" trick:

I found it, a bear-able rendition of...

I don't think I could ever get tired of watching this.



How he did it. Don't you just love internets?
If you have the time, click on those handy "related" and "more from this user" tabs.

Back from exile

Another unfortunate return of a band in 2007: Matchbox 20 (that is the only way I will write it) releases a greatest hits album this month featuring a couple new songs including "Thanks for the Memories"... I mean... "How Far We've Come". You can practically hear the Fall Out Boys oozing out of the track and leaking all over the rug. The video successfully rips off Linkin Park's formula of mixing performance footage with global history/events in order to give these mediocre talents the emotional buoyancy needed to fool the public.

Digging further, we find the group covers Bowie's "Modern Love" as the b-side to the new single. What a wonderfully brilliant torch-passing, the band paying homage to the now classic single, as they mimic the legendary chameleon in an effort to bolster their own style change and attempt to reconnect to a broad audience.

There was a time, of course, when Rob Thomas and co. were keeping the envelope firmly in the middle-of-the-road rather than playing a desperate game of catch-up. For me, this is the final nail in the coffin for an otherwise inoffensive band that really could have cashed in on the nostalgia factor in another 3 or 4 years. Ironic TV ads, Adam Sandler comedies, student films-turned-viral videos... those sweet royalties and cool factor points were all theirs for the taking. Now they've gone and fucked it up by exhuming the corpse far too early.

No one ever said pop had to be original... though it is becoming clearer these days that the meme has run dry. And now, a quote to illustrate.

From Ghostbusters:

Dr Ray Stantz: Every ancient religion has its own myth about the end of the world.
Winston Zeddemore: Myth? Ray, has it ever occurred to you that maybe the reason we've been so busy lately is 'cause the dead HAVE been rising from the grave?
Dr Ray Stantz: [Pause ] How 'bout a little music?
Winston Zeddemore: Yeah.

Club of choice

Damn you, BRMC, and your insistence on denying me the ability to embed your video into my humble blog! I will promote this song anyway, 'cause it's one of the top rock singles of the year... as for the video, it's visually striking, as far as performance videos go, anyway.

Links:
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club [Official Site]
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club [myspace]

Fake book titles #2

As Weeks Go By: On the Road with Mashmakhan

Charting disaster

The awkwardly designated "Soulja Boy" [sic] continues his reign of terror atop the Billboard Hot 100 for the third straight week (and fifth overall). I find it extremely hard to believe that Kanye West can't overtake this guy, leaving one with the impression that the chart is wholly contrived (nah...). How else could a guy without a high school diploma best a guy who just graduated college? It certainly wasn't Mr. Boy's clever wordplay or immaculately produced tracks, though he apparently conjured up the whole mess all by his little self. He's credited with producing most of the tracks on his album, including the follow up to "Crank That (Soulja Boy)" [sic], the imaginatively titled "Soulja Girl" [sic].

Embarrassingly, the AllMusic guide gives the album 3.5/5... instilling in me with a curiosity that I will likely take to the grave.

In other heinous chart debacles, Feist tumbles from #8 to #27. Maybe that fruit company should run some more ads for mp3 players? With the drop, the 'board is left with Nickelback as its Canadian chart-darling... here's hoping 'Rockstar' can make it to #1 before "Soulja Girl" [sic]

Links:
Soulja Boy [sic] - Crank That (Soulja Boy) [sic]

Playlist of the Century...er...

David Kravetz at Wired.com has been following the RIAA trial of a woman who downloaded a few songs from Kazaa. The woman has been ordered to pay up to the tune of over $222,000 (or, $9,250 per song). Score one for the bad guys.

This is the corporation who was awarded the dubious title of "Most Hated Corporation in America" last year, edging out Cheney's Halliburton.

The most interesting part of this whole thing is, of course... the playlist for which Jammie Thomas was liable!

*Guns N Roses "Welcome to the Jungle"; "November Rain"
*Vanessa Williams "Save the Best for Last"
*Janet Jackson "Let's Wait Awhile"
*Gloria Estefan "Here We Are"; "Coming Out of the Dark"; "Rhythm is Gonna Get You"
*Goo Goo Dolls "Iris"
*Journey "Faithfully"; "Don't Stop Believing"
*Sarah McLachlan "Possession"; "Building a Mystery"
*Aerosmith "Cryin'"
*Linkin Park "One Step Closer"
*Def Leppard "Pour Some Sugar on Me"
*Reba McEntire "One Honest Heart"
*Bryan Adams "Somebody"
*No Doubt "Bathwater"; "Hella Good"; "Different People"
*Sheryl Crow "Run Baby Run"
*Richard Marx "Now and Forever"
*Destiny's Child "Bills, Bills, Bills"
*Green Day "Basket Case"

The lesson here is obvious. If you're going to download music, simply avoid downloading songs that are remotely popular. This list contains four tracks that peaked at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 (Bills, Bills, Bills, Iris, Save the Best for Last, and Coming Out of the Dark), not to mention "Basket Case", which went to #1 on the Modern Rock chart, along with chart double-threat "Iris".

The ridiculousness of this situation is hard to overstate... it will do nothing but harm the RIAA's credibility in the eyes of the very people they're selling peddling their wares to. Certainly the RIAA intended to use this poor woman as an example, hoping to incite fear in their consumer base rather than concentrating on re-imagining their business models for the 21st century.

I wonder if anyone is willing to pay $92,500 for the new Radiohead album?

That could never happen here...

Suing your customers is actually expensive.

Happy Monday

Unkle Dysfunctional isn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. After an extended break from producing albums, Manchester's most -lovable miscreants are back at it with a new album that certainly doesn't diminish their legacy. Part of the reason the music sounds fresh is because the band hasn't changed their sound... yes that's right. Thanks to pop's cyclical self-replication regime, 1991's hottest sound is also today's biggest fad. And depending on your viewpoint, this is either terribly sad or terribly impressive.
Besides boasting excellent tunes, the album is actually fun to listen to, there are also sorts of production flourishes that audiophiles will enjoy. It's sort of like going to some ecstacy-fueled carnival, and everyone at the carnival is kind of old. Truth is though that the songs here are filled with more melody and attitude, not an easy feat, than anything the current crop of rock and roll deltas could muster out in their collective careers.

Patrick Polaris

Monday night's Polaris party saw Patrick Watson walking away with the big prize of 20 grand and, of course, a boatload of publicity. Good to see the judges picking one of the artists who will receive the greatest benefit from the prize, a tactic which apparently baffled the Pitchfork writers. That news item ultimately serves to prove the whole point of the prize... exporting Canadian artists and giving them wider exposure. Rolling Stone was also surprised, once again proving they just aren't as cutting edge as they once (never?) were.
Let's face it, if Arcade Fire or Feist did win the award, these outlets would be going on and on about the "obvious" choice, and would temper that by mentioning all the hype that these publications themselves had so very little to do with in the first place.

If you haven't done so already, sign up for the CBC Radio 3 podcast. Right away. The current episode is a Polaris Prize gala edition.

A lot in Common

Lily Allen features on the alleged third single for Common's new album, Finding Forever. This track and most of the album is produced by Kanye West, and I can't help but wonder why he doesn't save more of these killer tracks for his solo material (strong as it is).
An appearance on Joss Stone's album, including an up-and-coming British songstress on an album and single poised to be huge... you'd almost think Common is trying to crack the UK market.

The song is much, much better than the video, but... the video is free, and right in front of your face. And also, you can play spot the reference. Keep an eye out for the "Astronaut lady"... "Hey, I've got an idea, how about everytime he says something, we'll give the audience a literal interpretation.".... "Brilliant, just brilliant. Go with it."



On the subject of Mr. West, Graduation is his first album not to feature Common, funny enough. "Curtis v. Kanye, 2007" didn't hurt either performer's sales... their symbiotic press machines combining for (according to Wikipedia) over 2 million units sold. Graduation also features the usual eclectic and hilarious samples, including Steely Dan's "Kid Charlemagne", Can's "Sing Swan Song", and Jackson's "P.Y.T." The Can sample is the most clever of the bunch, and if you squint your ears, it sounds like Damo is actually singing Kanye's lyrics. It's also probably the first time Can has been sampled in a pop hip-hop song.

Satisfied.

Devo on SNL... 1978.

Cage match

Via YouTube: David Tudor performs John Cage's 4'33".



I've never seen this piece performed live... the score is a nice touch.

Missing lyrics

A couple of songs that I've been trying to figure out the names for...

"These are the times
these are the days
When everyone goes
And everything stays..."

- or some such variant... my memory isn't totally clear on this.

The other one:

"The way you move
it doesn't matter
It doesn't matter how you cut your hair
It's what's inside that counts"

Extensive and repeated web searches have turned up absolutely nothing... my guess at this point is that they're jingles for beer ads from the mid 1990s that have bubbled up into my conscious mind.

Monday's big announcement

The prestigious Polaris Prize is being announced Monday. The Toronto library has 49 (!) copies of the Chad VanGaalen album, and 0 (!) holds! I expect the holds would jump after Monday, especially if he wins. I certainly don't envy the jury, as they've got a tough job ahead of them. My vote would be for Joel Plaskett, but this is a Canadian prize, so it could go to an artist who hasn't had tons of praise heaped on them (even if it is deserved).

Last year's winner, Final Fantasy, was a bit of a surprise to me, I thought it was the weakest of the bunch. I do agree with giving the lesser-known, and perhaps under-appreciated artists the prize. I don't see Miracle Fortress scoring an iPod commercial; and $20,000, though it looks sweet to anyone, would certainly look sweeter to one of the nominees without massive distribution deals.

The Nominees:

Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
Besnard Lakes - The Besnard Lakes are the Dark Horse
The Dears - Gang of Losers
Julie Doiron - Woke Myself Up
Feist - The Reminder
Junior Boys - So This Is Goodbye
Miracle Fortress - Roses
Joel Plaskett - Ashtray Rock
Chad VanGaalen - Skelliconnection
Patrick Watson - Close to Paradise

LCD Nixed

The other night I was checking the musical guest on Leno, and to my surprise, the Info box said 'LCD Soundsystem'. I was very excited. So excited, in fact, that I actually watched seconds of Ali Larter and Dane Cook flinging feces at each other as Jay joined in. Then came the welcome break of the commercial... after minutes of channel flipping, the moment had come. This was going to be so cool! Would James Murphy be as drunk as he usually is at the shows? Would the band be 'rocking' it up this evening? Would Win Butler make a surprise appearance? The answers, of course, were moot, because when the commercial ended, Leno introduced not the dance/post-punk combo, but Chris Cornell.

There he was, and I thank Thor that he didn't play Billie Jean (see previous posts). With my last ounce of strength, I shut the TV off as watched Mr. Cornell settle his hand in pocket and begin to croon away. How disappointing.

Joel Plaskett Video

New video from Joel Plaskett (the Emergency seem to be missing) directed by Canadian music video director RT! I can't recall many other rock videos from by RT... as a matter of fact I can't seem to find a list of his credits, which makes it tough to verify this.

Other RT!-directed Videos:

Talib Kweli - Never Been In Love
Tone Mason feat. Brassmunk - The Throwback

Prince to sue YouTube

From Wired.

Video Vulgaris

The Queens of the Stone Age, currently in the midst of a tour and PR blitz in support of their stellar new album Era Vulgaris, appeared recently on the Henry Rollins show.



The band rolls into Toronto in October, playing the former O'Keefe Centre (3200 capacity)... an odd choice of venue, though it could be that they've outgrown the Kool Haus (2400 capacity) and not quite able to fill the ACC (about 20,000).

Priceless

Pitchfork Gives Music 6.8 [The Onion]

Young covers

There's an excellent feature article this week over at Stylus magazine, a thorough look at just about every Neil Young cover there is. What really caught my attention was the fact that Nicolette Larson's minor hit 'Lotta Love', is indeed, a Young cover. It turns out she was his backup singer. You learn something new every day.

CBC cops NPR

The CBC, following in the footsteps of its American counterpart in the states, has started using corporate sponsorship to support its podcasts. This is unfortunate, because it destroys one of the great aspects of the traditional terrestrial radio stations.

Return to Y2K

Sunday was an interesting night. Britney Spears crashed and burned at the MTV Video Awards, while the Smashing Pumpkins did much of the same at the second and final night at Toronto's Virgin Festival. Corgan and his new lineup played to a typically jaded and unresponsive Toronto audience, save of course when it came to the big hits, which were granted the requisite polite applause. The Pumpkins have a history of reworking their repertoire, and a non-electronic version of '1979' continues the trend. 'Zero' came off as a bit sloppy, though it may have been a 're-imagining' or sorts... a shadow of the former song for a shadow of the former band. The band's usually eclectic additions of covers and teases to their set is also noticeably absent in the band's current incarnation. And despite good intentions, associating 'O Canada' with their new, lackluster track 'United States' is not the way to win over the audience. That was a bit of a joke before about the Pumpkins crashing and burning... as disappointing as it is for Corgan to bring the band back and tarnish what was left of the band's legacy, it's still endlessly watchable and listenable in comparison to the embarrassing sight of the pop industry attempting to revive the career of a chewed up and all-too toasted pop tart.

Links:
Smashing Pumpkins - Virgin Festival setlist, September 9, 2007 [spfc.org]

Picard sings

Yep, it's true. This should be interesting.

National Post

American indie rock band The National released its fourth album this year. Before listening to Boxer, I had only heard their previous album, 2005's Alligator. Every cut is solid, and the new recording easily entices and earns multiple listens. The drums are noticeably louder and punchier, giving the piano and guitar parts more space for melody and texture. You know a rock band is serious about the piano when the piano player doesn't sing. Although, judging from their band configuration for their recent performance on Letterman, one extra slice out of the pie doesn't make a huge difference. Subtlety is the key word with this band, and that performance pretty much caught it... not bad for a TV performance, actually. Stand out tracks include 'Slow Show, 'Fake Empire', and the single Mistaken for Strangers, which sounds like a pseudo-goth/pop track from 1982 that time forgot, then found, then re-wrote, re-arranged and re-forgot. (read: compliment)
Oh, and Sufjan plays on a couple tracks.

Sweet Conchordia

Haven't heard of 'Flight of the Conchords'? Post-modern parody rock/pop for the post-9/11 world. Recently, they took their act from BBC radio to HBO in the States, with an August 7th release of an EP featuring 3 songs featured in the TV series and 3 live tracks. 'The Distant Future' is well-executed, showcasing the group's studio production and performance prowess.
If you're plugged into cable in Canada, The Movie Network has their entire first series available on demand.

Links:
Flight of the Conchords official site
Flight of the Conchords Myspace page

Oh Timbaland...

Anyone else noticed this?

Timbaland et. al - "Give it to Me"
When Timbo is in the party, everybody put up they hands
I get a half a mil' for my beats, you get a couple gra-an-and
Never gon' see the day that I ain't got the upper hand
I'm respected from Californ-I-A, all the way down to Japan

Timbaland et. al - "The Way I Are"
I ain't got no money
I ain't got no car to take you on a date
I can't even buy you flowers
But together we'll be the perfect soulmates

Writers and lyricists can take on characters during a creative process, but this feels more like a calculated business move than an artistic decision. It would be easier to take if Shock Value had a bit more depth (despite its 17 tracks), but hey, with a couple massive singles and McMoney in the bank, who needs artistic fulfillment?

Give It To Me


The Way I Are

Live Nine Inch Nails clip

And it's official, too!

Fake book titles #1

It takes a Rush fan to love Toronto: An Insider's Outsider's Insider's look

Why couldn’t my newspaper do that?

From Wired: LA Times Kills Column Advocating Princely CD Giveaway

Hugh Dillon is the man

The former Joe Dick and former Headstones frontman has come a long way. His new starring role, in "Durham County", has the former (still?) head banger taking on middle class suburbia not as a punk, but as a cop with a hidden secret. Set against the backdrop of wasteland suburbia, the Sweeney family begins their new life in a new county, with Dillon playing the patriarch Mike, looking for a fresh start after the death of his partner. Dillon's antagonist just happens to be an old high school buddy, (played by CanCon favourite Justin Louis) except the two had a falling out... and now they live across from each other! Conflict is character! Character is conflict!

Some of the highlights include dramatic, introspective scenes with Mr. Dillon dealing with family issues while his own music serves as the soundtrack! What a fucking cool job!

Links:
Durham County [imdb site]

Standing in the Shadows of Motown

One 2-hour documentary and one of my favourite groups finally has a name. The Funk Brothers. As Motown's house band from the early '60s to about 1972, they provided the backing instrumentals to over 240 hits. Astonishingly, the group has been forced to live in relative obscurity until 2002's Standing in the Shadows of Motown. The doc goes through the early days of the label's formation, the day-to-day of Studio A (aka the Snake Pit), and the people & personalities who added the true character of America's greatest pop machine.
The group pretty much disbanded when the Motor City Hit machine sold... er... moved out to sunny Los Angeles.
Say what you will, but after the Funk Brothers were no longer behind the hits, it took Lionel Richie and Rick James to bring the label anywhere near its former glory.

The film feels far too short, and despite bevy of special features (including 'Dinner with the Funk Brothers'), only a Ken Burns length documentary would provide any sliver of justice to their criminally underappreciated and virtually unrecognized career. The horn players are pretty much ignored, with the narrative focus on the rhythm players and Martha Reeves is the only vocalist from the era interviewed.
The best moments are the group playing together once again, specifically the moments in Studio A where they jam, or a great moment when Pistol Allen explains how you can tell which of the three drummers was on the kit for a particular song, just by listening to the drum fills.
A live, "reunion" performance, cut to throughout the film, is hit and miss. If you can put up with Joan Osborne and Ben Harper butchering classic performances for the sake of hearing the Funk Brothers play together once again, the show is electric.
Essential viewing for those interested in American pop music.

Links:
Standing in the Shadows of Motown [Official Site]
Standing in the Shadows of Motown [imdb Site]

Chris Cornell is not my lover

Here's another one from the 'bad covers' dossier.

Chris Cornell's rendition of one of the most influential pop songs of all time, 'Billie Jean', officially signals the death of irony. Where we might get the sense that Marilyn Manson somewhere, somehow, deep down, way deep down, MM desperately wanted to once again drink from the cup of skirting with self-parodizing, Cornell presents this as a fully-fledged album track.

I really want to give him another chance, I really do. But after the unimpressive Euphoria Morning, and down-in-flames-Zeppelin-crashing (and 5 years later, still one of the ultimate lackluster and unfulfilling titles in rock history) Audioslave, this yawner has got me stunned. The primary author of the grunge-era megasmash Superunknown settles in to mid-age mediocrity and he's probably loving it. But even though he's four bond themes removed from Tina Turner, and with the Billboard AC chart only two albums away, I don't blame him. After his substance struggles and pretty much hitting rock-bottom, it's his right to take the glass of lemonade instead of the Jack.

Links:
Chris Cornell - Billie Jean [Live in Toronto 2007] (Be warned; the audience is embarrassing.)
Artisan News Service: Chris Cornell on Billie Jean
Chris Cornell - You Know My Name
Audioslave - Original Fire

14 weeks and counting...

What a cruel world we live in where Linkin Park's pop-crossover attempt 'What I've Done' as remained at the top of the Billboard Modern Rock chart for 14 straight weeks, unseating Nine Inch Nails' 'Survivalism' after just one week.

Cruel indeed.

Linkin Park has always had a slick, manufactured feel, but this album feels closer to pop than metal (since screaming has become mainstream, that is). The next single 'Bleed it Out' looks poised for a similar run, with its radio-ready guitar hooks and hand claps. I really thought American pop was supposed to be done with payola? Almost makes me yearn for Meteora. Almost... almost.

I'd give the album a proper review, except I don't really care to listen to it, and Dan Silver at NME pretty much summed it up.

However, the medal for Worst Thing I've Heard in 2007 so far is Marilyn Manson's brutal, fucking brutal cover of Timb/a/erlake/land's What Goes Around... I've considered this career choice (and at this point everything for him is a career choice, when you're crawling up from rock bottom) and the only explanation I can come up with is the following thought must have run through his head: "hey, the hipsters like it, and maybe if I cover it I can be hip, too." Unfortunately, the touches of irony that graced his pre-Tainted Love covers are now totally absent and the track comes of as little more than embarrassing. No one would have blamed him for calling it quits after 1999, but it sure seems like that would have been the right career move.
Mechanical Animals is still in my top 250ish favourite albums... a bit bloated, but that was sorta the point.

Links:

Linkin Park - What I've Done
Nine Inch Nails - Survivalism
Marilyn Manson - What Goes Around... [on BBC Radio 1]

Random - 18 May 2007

indaba music
Mingering Mike

Fred Durst @ Wikipedia.
Don't ask how/why I got there.

That's so U2!

Here's an amusing edit I discovered today in U2's entry on Wikipedia.

According to Alan Cross on the Ongoing History of New Music, [see 'New Rock Secrets - Exposed'] C.C. Deville, of Poison fame, had a big impact on the group's Achtung Baby album.

The only source I could find to corroborate this story was this link, which upon a cursory read appears to be the same content that Mr. Cross used for his radio program.

So one of the few tracks I actually like by U2, post-Joshua Tree, featured lead guitar by this guy.